/pcv — Plan-Construct-Verify

You're about to build something complex and you don't want to discover halfway through that you misunderstood the requirements.

When you need this

• Starting any project that spans multiple files, decisions, or sessions
• Before writing code or a document where getting the structure wrong means rework
• When you have a vague idea and need to turn it into a concrete, reviewed plan before touching anything
• The decisions you make now will be expensive to reverse — multi-file architecture, days or weeks of downstream work

What it does — and what it won't

/pcv runs the full Plan-Construct-Verify workflow: it reads your charge file, asks clarifying questions one at a time to resolve ambiguities, runs an adversarial Critic review of the resulting plan, gets your approval at a Gate, then constructs and verifies the deliverable. Every decision is logged. Nothing is built until the plan is approved.

Note: /pcv is for complex projects — if something is simple and bounded, it will tell you and suggest a lighter path. It does not execute without human approval at key gates. Based on PCV v3.14 by Dr. Michael G. Kay (NC State University).

Worked example

A supply chain PhD student needs to build a Monte Carlo simulation of supplier disruption cascades for her dissertation. She's not sure whether to model it as a stochastic inventory problem or an agent-based simulation — and she has prior work from a failed attempt last semester.

/pcv

/pcv reads her charge file, analyzes the prior work (identifying what's reusable vs. what needs rebuilding), then asks clarifying questions one at a time: What's the primary deliverable — code, a paper section, or both? Are the cascade dynamics the core contribution or a means to an end? After 5 questions and a Critic review that catches an underspecified verification criterion, she approves the plan. Construction begins with a clear file structure, component order, and testable success criteria.

Try it

/pcv
/pcv my_charge.md