cursor__plugins/pstack/docs/guide/02-poteto-mode.md

Route work through /poteto-mode

/poteto-mode is the front door. You give it a goal, it matches one of sixteen playbooks, copies that playbook's steps into the todo list, and calls the other skills as the steps need them. In this page you learn what a good prompt looks like, and how little of one you actually need.

What happens to your prompt

flowchart TD
    A[Your prompt] --> B[poteto-mode]
    B --> C[Read the Principles section]
    C --> D{Match the task}
    D -->|Read-only question| E[Investigation]
    D -->|Defect| F[Bug fix]
    D -->|New behavior| G[Feature]
    D -->|Structure only| H[Refactoring]
    D -->|Measured slowness| I[Perf issue]
    D -->|Large work or no match| J[figure-it-out]
    E --> K[Verify and report]
    F --> K
    G --> K
    H --> K
    I --> K
    J --> K

The diagram shows the common routes. There are also playbooks for hillclimbing a metric, diagnosing runtime symptoms and captured traces, prototypes, visual parity, authoring and evaluating skills, autonomous runs, session pickup, pausing safely, and multi-phase plans. The playbook directory has the full set.

Say the goal, not the ceremony

You don't write a spec. You say what's wrong or what you want, plus anything you already know that saves the agent time:

/poteto-mode users get two notifications after a retry. repro first, then fix and verify.

That's a Bug fix prompt. "repro first" is a real constraint, not politeness, and the playbook honors it. Watch the todo list fill with the Bug fix steps. A skipped step stays visible with skip: <reason>.

When the conversation already carries the context, the prompt shrinks to almost nothing. All of these are enough:

/poteto-mode do it

continue

keep going until done

Short works because the mode is sticky and the playbook holds the structure. Your words carry the intent, and the skill carries the rigor.

Switch tasks with "new task"

A long chat accumulates context from the last task. When you change subjects, say so:

/poteto-mode new task. figure out why the cache entry survives logout. don't change any code yet.

"new task" tells /poteto-mode to re-match rather than continue the prior playbook. "don't change any code yet" pins this one to Investigation. Without those two phrases, a mode mid-Feature tends to treat your question as the next feature step.

Give parallel work its own worktree

If you run several agents against one repository, they will fight over the working tree. Ask for isolation up front:

/poteto-mode new task. branch off <base> in a fresh worktree, then port the parser change there.

Each task in its own branch and worktree means no agent stomps another's files. The Opening a PR playbook already works from a worktree for code changes, so mostly you only say this when a specific base or location matters.

Leave it running

When you step away, say what done means and go:

/poteto-mode im stepping away. keep going until the migration check reports zero old callers. log your decisions.

Work you'll review later routes through /figure-it-out, which designs the run's phases and keeps a /show-me-your-work decision log. Run work while you sleep covers the full overnight contract.

Pitfall: don't enumerate skills in your prompt ("use /how, then /architect, then /arena..."). The playbook already sequences them, and a hand-written sequence usually reorders or drops steps the playbook would have kept. Name a skill only when you want to override a specific choice.

Read poteto-mode itself for the full routing rules.

Next: Understand the code.