Preflight Workflow

Stop before you break — four mandatory checks before every operation: search, rollback, test, scope

A lightweight safety workflow that stops agents and humans from acting before they think. Four mandatory checks — if even one fails, stop and fix it first.

When to Use

Every time you (or your agent) are about to:

• Run a system command
• Deploy or modify code
• Change configuration
• Execute an unfamiliar or risky operation

Core rule: No search = no action. No preflight = no execution.

How It Works (for agents)

Step 1: User describes what they want to do

If it's a new, unfamiliar, or risky operation → run the full four-question checklist.

Step 2: Four mandatory questions

✅ Q1: Have you searched first?

• Look for existing solutions, known pitfalls, or prior experience
• Don't answer from memory or intuition
• Check at least 2 independent sources

✅ Q2: Is there a rollback plan?

• What state can you return to if it fails?
• Have you made a backup?
• Do you have clear rollback steps?

✅ Q3: Has it been tested or validated?

• Has the approach been verified on a small scale?
• Are you relying on "let's try and see"?

✅ Q4: Is the impact clear?

• What are you changing?
• Who/what will it affect?
• How long to recover if it goes wrong?

Step 3: All pass → proceed. Any fail → stop.

Four ✅ required. Not one less.

Step 4: After the operation

Outcome	Action
✅ Success	Log it (date + what + result)
❌ Failure	Write to LEARNINGS.md (root cause + fix + prevention)
💡 New insight	Update this SKILL.md

CLI Mode (no agent, just a shell script)

chmod +x preflight.sh
./preflight.sh "deploy new cron job"

Answers four yes/no questions interactively. All ✅ → "All passed, go ahead." Any ❌ → "Blocked: ... Fix it first."

Common Pitfalls

• ❌ "I know this one" → No you don't. Search first.
• ❌ "This is too simple to check" → Small ops cause big outages.
• ❌ Trying repeatedly without documenting → Failure is a lesson. Write it down.
• ✅ Getting corrected? Accept → Fix → Remember. No excuses.

Included Files

File	Purpose
preflight.sh	Interactive CLI checklist (4 yes/no questions)
SKILL.md	Loadable skill for any SKILL.md-compatible agent
LEARNINGS.md	Post-mortem template (root cause + fix + prevention)
install.sh	One-command install script
README.md	Quick start guide

Verification

Run the script and answer all four questions:

• All y → ✅ "All passed, proceed."
• Any n → ❌ "Blocked by: [reason]. Fix before proceeding."