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tml-capture

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TML Capture

One conversation. One flow. A complete architecture capture with visible reasoning and actionable opportunities.

What the user experiences: "Give me your docs, I'll ask a few questions, you get back a map of what you do, what I concluded about your structure, and where the opportunities are."

What happens underneath: Six skills compose in sequence — extract, interview, infer, map, so-what, hygiene.

When to Use

  • Someone wants to map their business, team, process, or system
  • You want the full end-to-end flow without invoking skills manually
  • You're introducing this approach to someone new

The Flow

┌──────────┐   ┌───────────┐   ┌──────────┐   ┌─────────┐   ┌──────────┐   ┌──────────┐
│ CONTEXT  │──▶│ INFORMED  │──▶│ SURFACE  │──▶│  THREE  │──▶│  "SO    │──▶│ QUALITY  │
│ DUMP     │   │ INTERVIEW │   │INFERENCES│   │ARTIFACTS│   │  WHAT?" │   │  GATE    │
│          │   │           │   │          │   │         │   │         │   │          │
│tml-      │   │tml-       │   │tml-infer │   │tml-map  │   │tml-so-  │   │tml-      │
│extract   │   │interview  │   │          │   │         │   │what     │   │hygiene   │
└──────────┘   └───────────┘   └──────────┘   └─────────┘   └──────────┘   └──────────┘
   10 min          10 min           auto           auto          auto          auto

Total time for the human: ~20 minutes. Extraction, inference capture, and artifact generation happen automatically.

Step by Step

Step 1: Gather Context

What to say:

"What I'd like to do is build a clear map of [what they want to map]. To start, can you share whatever you've got — documents, SOPs, wiki pages, process descriptions, org charts, anything that describes how it works? Don't worry about format or completeness. Whatever you have is a starting point."

Accept anything:

  • Pasted text
  • File paths or uploaded documents
  • Links to internal wikis (you'll need the content, not just the URL)
  • "Let me just describe it" (this is fine — skip to Step 2 in cold-start mode)

If they provide content: Run tml-extract silently. Don't narrate the extraction process. Just read, extract, and prepare for the interview.

If they have nothing to share: That's okay. Proceed in cold-start interview mode.

Step 2: The Conversation

Warm-start (content was provided):

"Okay, I've read through what you shared. Here's what I think I'm seeing..."

Present a brief, conversational summary of the extraction. Not a data dump — a playback:

"It looks like [scope] has a few main areas: [domains]. The core things that happen are [top capabilities]. The people involved are [archetypes]. And there seem to be some important rules around [policies]."

"How close am I?"

Then run tml-interview in warm-start mode. Focus on:

  1. Corrections
  2. Confirmations (move fast)
  3. Gap-filling (specific questions, not generic)
  4. Surfacing implicit knowledge

Cold-start (no content provided):

"No problem. Let's just talk through it. What are we describing today?"

Run tml-interview in cold-start mode.

Interview pacing:

  • Don't ask all phases back-to-back like an interrogation
  • Let them talk. Follow their thread.
  • When they naturally touch on a primitive, capture it and move on
  • The phases are a checklist for YOU, not a script for THEM
  • Aim for 10-15 minutes, not 30

Step 3: Surface Inferences

Before generating the map, run tml-infer against the confirmed primitives. This step makes the model's reasoning visible — separating what the human explicitly said from what the system concluded.

Present the Inferences document briefly:

"Before I give you the full map, here's what I concluded vs. what you actually said. Take a look at the medium and low confidence items — if any of those are wrong, correct them now and the map will be right."

Allow corrections. Update the primitives accordingly. Then proceed.

Step 4: Generate Artifacts

Once inferences are reviewed, generate the three artifacts using tml-map:

  1. The Map — plain-language architecture document
  2. The Changelog — provenance trail
  3. The Agent Brief — operational instructions for AI

Present the Map first. It's the main deliverable.

"Here's your map. Take a look — does this feel right? Anything jump out as wrong or missing?"

Allow one round of corrections. Update the map and changelog accordingly.

Step 5: The "So What?"

Once the map is confirmed, run tml-so-what.

Transition:

"Now that we have the map, let's look at what it tells us. Where are the opportunities? Where is the friction? Where can things get better?"

Present the So What? analysis. Lead with the summary and recommended starting point.

"Based on what you described, here's what stands out..."


What They Walk Away With

By the end of one session, the person has:

ArtifactWhat It IsWho It's For
The MapPlain-language architecture of their worldEveryone — shareable, readable, no jargon
The InferencesWhat the system concluded vs. what was statedThe architect — the debugging surface
The ChangelogProvenance trail — where every element came fromAnyone who asks "where did this come from?"
The Agent BriefOperational instructions for AIAny AI agent that needs to work within this scope
The So What?Grounded opportunities, friction points, quick winsThe person deciding what to do next

Tone for the Entire Flow

This is a conversation, not a consulting engagement. The person should feel like they're talking to a smart, curious colleague who happens to be really good at organizing information.

  • No jargon. Not "primitives," not "TML," not "architecture" unless they use those words.
  • No formality. "Here's what I see" not "The analysis reveals."
  • No overselling. "This could save time" not "This will revolutionize your workflow."
  • Honest about gaps. "I'm not sure about this part — can you clarify?" is always better than guessing.
  • Respect their time. Move briskly. Don't belabor points they already confirmed. Don't ask questions the documents already answered.

Edge Cases

They only want part of the flow

Fine. The skills are composable:

  • "I just want to describe it, no documents" → skip extract, run interview + map + so-what
  • "I already have a map, just tell me the so-what" → run so-what standalone
  • "Just extract what you can from this doc, I'll review later" → run extract only

The scope is too big

If what they're describing is an entire company with 50 processes, focus:

"That's a lot to map at once. Where would it be most useful to start? What's the area that's most confusing, most broken, or most important right now?"

Map one scope well. Then expand.

They push back on the interview

Some people don't want to answer questions. They want to dump and get results. That's okay:

"Tell you what — I'll work with what you've shared and generate a draft map. Then you can tell me what I got wrong."

Run extract → map with all candidates marked as "pending confirmation." Present the draft map and iterate from there. The interview becomes implicit in the correction process.

Multiple participants

If mapping a team or process that spans people:

  • Interview the primary owner first
  • Note their perspective in the changelog
  • Flag areas where other perspectives are needed
  • Document who confirmed what

The Pitch (How to Introduce This)

When offering this to someone at work:

"I can help you create a clear map of [your process / your team's work / how this thing actually runs]. All I need is whatever docs you have — SOPs, wiki pages, whatever — and about 20 minutes of your time to fill in the gaps. You'll get back a clean document that shows what you do, who does it, what the rules are, and where the opportunities are. Interested?"

That's it. No tooling ask. No installation. No training. Just: give me your stuff, talk to me, get back a map.


v2.0 — The orchestrator. One flow, six skills, seven artifacts (map + inferences + changelog + agent brief + so-what + conversation log + hygiene report).

Source

git clone https://github.com/CobraChickenAI/tml-capture-kit/blob/main/skills/tml-capture/SKILL.mdView on GitHub

Overview

tml-capture is the primary entry point for architecture capture. It orchestrates six sub-skills (tml-extract, tml-interview, tml-infer, tml-map, tml-so-what, and tml-hygiene) to produce an architecture map, inferences document, changelog, agent brief, and opportunity analysis from a context dump or conversation, hiding the complexity behind one flow. The user sees a single streamlined process while the underlying skills compose the outputs.

How This Skill Works

You provide a context dump or conversation; tml-capture silently orchestrates six sub-skills in sequence (extract, interview, infer, map, so-what, hygiene) and returns key artifacts: the map, inferences document, changelog, agent brief, opportunity analysis, plus logs and hygiene reports. This end-to-end flow delivers a complete architecture capture without requiring manual invocation of each sub-skill.

When to Use It

  • Map a business, team, process, or system from available content.
  • Get the full end-to-end flow without invoking sub-skills manually.
  • Introduce the architecture-capture approach to teammates or stakeholders.
  • Produce the complete artifact set (map, inferences, changelog, agent brief, opportunities) from a context dump or conversation.
  • Prefer a single, seamless flow while underlying skills handle extraction, interview, inference, mapping, so-what, and hygiene.

Quick Start

  1. Step 1: Provide a context-dump or start with a conversation to seed the pipeline.
  2. Step 2: Invoke tml-capture to run extract, interview, infer, map, so-what, and hygiene in order.
  3. Step 3: Retrieve outputs (the-map, the-changelog, the-agent-brief, inferences-document, so-what-analysis, conversation-log, hygiene-report) and review for gaps.

Best Practices

  • Prepare a clear context-dump or concise content to seed the extraction step.
  • Use warm-start when content is available; use cold-start for new conversations.
  • Let the six sub-skills run in sequence instead of invoking them individually.
  • Review the architecture map, inferences, and opportunities for gaps or misinterpretations.
  • Leverage the hygiene report to identify data quality issues and missing sources.

Example Use Cases

  • A consulting engagement mapping a client's operating model from SOPs, org charts, and process docs.
  • An internal team capturing software architecture from product discussions and technical docs.
  • Generating an opportunity analysis and changelog for process improvement initiatives.
  • Creating an agent brief to onboard a team to a new architecture or workflow.
  • Producing a consolidated so-what analysis and conversation log for a project handoff.

Frequently Asked Questions

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