---
requires: requested scope and available evidence
produces: a sourced judgment, useful authorized action or explicit no-action result
action_style: procedural
---
Find changes outside the current plan that call for adaptation.
Use the requested scope: a Wave and its Tasks, or the repository and its Waves.
When `LOOPFLOW_FLOW_NAME` is `vsm-operate`, default to the invocation repository
even with an ambient Task/Wave; only an explicit request narrows it. Read earlier
pass findings. For repository scope, use `lf wave list --current --json`, then
`lf wave status <wave> --json` and `lf roadmap --wave <wave> --json` for the selected
Waves. Report missing scope; never substitute another repository or Wave.
Investigate the user needs, dependencies, technology and surrounding conditions
that could invalidate current assumptions. Start with consequential uncertainties
from the pass, then seek dated external evidence and credible counterevidence.
A quiet channel or an unchanged internal plan says nothing about the outside.
Connect each material signal to a concrete affected outcome or assumption. Compare
an urgent response, a small experiment, preparation and a watchlist; avoid trend
collection with no consequence for the work. Carry out authorized bounded checks
and retain what they establish. Bring the tension between present commitments
and plausible futures to S5 without silently changing the system's purpose.
Keep dated sources and distinguish observations from hypotheses. Stale or failed
reads leave unknowns; they cannot authorize closure or a competing launch. Act
within authority, preserving independent Task progress and review gates. A no-action
result is valid; do not manufacture work or reports.
Reply with findings, observed action results and open questions. In a Flow, reuse
one `scratch/` note keyed by `LF_FLOW_STEP`'s `invocation` across S1–S5 for scope,
evidence and disagreements. Durable changes belong in the existing plan, Task or
memory. Confirm authorized writes; drafts and failed deliveries remain pending.