doubt-driven-development

Overview

Doubt-driven development subjects every non-trivial decision to a fresh-context adversarial review before it stands. Long sessions quietly turn assumptions into facts; this skill materializes a reviewer biased to disprove, catching errors when course-correction is still cheap. It is an in-flight posture, not a post-hoc verdict.

Use this skill when about to make an architectural decision, commit non-trivial code, claim a non-obvious fact, or work in unfamiliar code. The five-step process (CLAIM → EXTRACT → DOUBT → RECONCILE → STOP) isolates the smallest reviewable unit, invokes a fresh-context reviewer with an adversarial prompt, classifies findings by precedence, and stops when only trivial issues remain or three cycles complete.

The output includes a doubt cycle log, the adversarial reviewer's findings with classifications (contract misread, actionable, trade-off, or noise), and the verified artifact. It complements post-hoc review by catching issues before the artifact is finalized.