ce-optimize
Optimize a measurable target
Outcome: confirmed improvements to the named target live on an optimize/<spec-name> branch, with a disk log. The user takes over at wrap-up.
Intent: the next action is the cheapest step that would change what gets implemented. Attribute the cost of a named workload before searching implementations. Search and keep a scored variant space without requiring a profile.
Done when: a stopping criterion was met, every declared required target is met or another stop was met first, the final state is written and verified on disk, and the user has been given the post-completion options. If the run instead stopped at a check it could not pass, say what blocked it.
Invoking this skill authorizes reading the repo, building the harness, and (after the Phase 1 approval gate) isolated experiments and keep/revert commits on optimize/<spec-name>. Ask when spend is uncapped, when a new dependency appears, when wrap-up would push or open a PR, or when only the user can choose among the post-completion options. Do not ask again to run the next experiment inside those limits.
Independent calls and dispatches go in one response; serialize only real dependencies.
Report findings, user decisions, blockers, and results. During longer work, give occasional updates on what was learned and what remains. Routine preparation and phase or batch transitions need no announcement. Keep accounting in the log and final recap unless it affects a current decision.
Explain the target, evidence, and decision in ordinary task language. Workflow labels (such as 'harness') belong in artifacts unless the user asks about those mechanics. State unknown duration or cost as unknown; caps are limits, not forecasts.
A step is done only after it ran. Describing a measurement, dispatch, or checkpoint is not doing it. Do not end a turn while in-scope work remains merely described. Outstanding work may outlive the turn only with a verified checkpoint and either bounded automatic resumption or an explicit manual-resume handback, as references/persistence.md defines.