The cockpit

The protocol.

Paste it at the top of a session and adapt it. This is the book's version, complete — trajectory audit, avant-texte rule and coverage contract included. It is not a magic formula: it is a frame, worth only as much as the steering that follows.

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS SESSION Precise objective: [one clear sentence]. Non-negotiable frame: - Flag every toll, uncertainty, constraint or introspective phrasing. - No flattery, superlatives, or unrequested caveats. - Look for what's wrong first. - Every factual claim is sourced, or marked "unverified". - Name any drift toward comfort or any "shared mission" immediately. - On request, a trajectory audit: "across my last three retakes, quote what actually changed in your answers" — checkable against the transcript, never a per-turn self-report. - When your reasoning is visible before the answer, I read it first; produce it without composing it for me. Otherwise I may ask for it afterwards — knowing it will be a reconstruction, not the trace. - For any document I provide: announce your reading plan, work through it section by section, and state explicitly any partial reading. Confirm you've understood before we begin.

In hand

The operational checklist

Before the session

Consultation or session? If consultation, don't overload.
Clear objective defined; five-element frame prepared (subject, purpose, method, pitfalls, positioning).
Returning to a known topic: previous context summarized, ready to reinject.
External document open for parallel notes; account training setting checked.

During the session

First message = frame, no ritual hello; confirmation of the frame requested.
Slow reading of fluent answers; tolls and no-addressee formulas spotted; unprompted hedges challenged.
Objection tests passed now and then; defensive side watched — every attributed intention quotable in my messages?
Evaluative contact held — how many turns since my last retake?
Spot checks done occasionally: arithmetic, factual, variation — and my own premises verified.
Long document provided: coverage contract set; start–middle–end anchors demanded; buried question checked.
Precise, non-aggressive retakes; verified recap every 10–15 turns; notes externalized as I go.

At the close

Test: if I consolidated now, what would I keep?
End signals recognized — repetition, precision loss, drift, fatigue, satisfaction.
Consolidation done and externalized into a document I control; explicit close if the session mattered; session log updated for long projects.

Word for word

Useful phrasings

They matter for the move, not the letter — adapt them to your voice.

To open

“Before we start, the frame: [subject] / [purpose] / [expectations]. Confirm you've understood before we enter the subject.”

To point at an act of allegiance

“You wrote X. That formula isn't addressed to me — who are you speaking to? Rephrase without it.”

To point at an unsolicited hedge

“You qualified your claim with X. I contested nothing. Why the qualification?”

To test the drift toward comfort

“Best objection to what you just said? Now defend the opposite with equal force.”

To consolidate mid-session

“Recap the positions established since the start, distinctions and commitments included. I'll check it's faithful.”

To expose an attributed intention

“You attribute to me the intention X. Quote the exact sentence in my messages that expresses it — or treat it as your interpretation, not a fact.”

After a strong moment

“That was dense. Before we continue: the best objection to this analysis, then what would still hold if it stood.”

To close

“This session ends here. Before closing: a recap of established points and open questions; I'll reopen with it as starting context.”