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/ork:quickviz

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Explore Visualize Plan

Demo Producer Memory

Quickviz Render an answer as ASCII art plus semantic emojis inline, right now, with no setup questions. Use for a fast visual take on status, comparisons, trade-offs, architecture, or any ad-hoc 'show me X visually' ask. For a full multi-artifact plan playground, use visualize-plan instead.

Quickviz

Render the answer as ASCII art plus semantic emojis, inline, immediately. All output renders in a monospace terminal with no external tools.

Core principle: Encode information into structure, not decoration. Every diagram element should communicate something meaningful.

Execution (run this, do not ask first)

The whole point is speed, so there is no setup phase.

With no argument, the topic is the current conversation. Measured over a real 13-prompt session: zero asks supplied a self-contained topic, and the one direct invocation passed nothing at all. /ork:quickviz on its own means "render where we are right now" — the open work, the decision just reached, the state of the thing being discussed. Render that; do not ask what to draw.

Given a topic (or the conversation, when none is given):

Render immediately. Do NOT call AskUserQuestion to pick a format, do NOT call TaskCreate, do NOT spawn an Agent. Choose the form yourself from the topic shape and draw it. Asking first defeats the skill.

Pick the form from the shape of the data, using the pattern library below:

Topic shape	Form
state / progress / health	status box + bar meters
A vs B, options, trade-offs	comparison table or side-by-side boxes
steps, pipeline, hand-offs	left-to-right flow with `──▶`
containment, layers, layout	nested boxes / tree
ranked list, scores, counts	table + bar meters
over time	sparkline or milestone track

Emit inline in the reply. Never write a file unless the user asked for one. This is a chat answer, not an artifact.
Use the 12-emoji semantic set and box-drawing vocabulary defined in src/rules/visual-style.md. Semantic, never decorative: an emoji must mean something (✅ pass, ❌ fail, ⚠️ risk, 🔴 blocked).
Lead with the answer. The visual comes first; prose after it only if it adds something the diagram cannot carry.
Stay honest. If a number is unknown, print ? rather than inventing one. A confident-looking chart built on guesses is worse than prose.

When NOT to use this skill: if the deliverable is a multi-section HTML playground, a persisted plan artifact, or anything needing file output, use visualize-plan instead. Quickviz is the cheap inline path; visualize-plan is the full pipeline.

Box-Drawing Character Reference

This block intentionally shows multiple sets together as a key. Authors should use ONE set per real diagram; the single-set lint rule enforces this on production diagrams.

default:   ┌─┐ │ └─┘  ├─┤ ┬ ┴ ┼
emphasis:  ┏━┓ ┃ ┗━┛  ┣━┫ ┳ ┻ ╋
title:     ╔═╗ ║ ╚═╝  ╠═╣ ╦ ╩ ╬
soft:      ╭─╮ │ ╰─╯
portable:  +-+ | +-+  +-+ + + +
Arrows:    → ← ↑ ↓ ─> <─ ──> <──
Blocks:    █ ▓ ░ ▏▎▍▌▋▊▉
Status:    ● ○ ✓ ✗ ⚠ ◆ ◇ ▶ ▷  ↑↓→ ▓▒░  (closed-set vocab — see rules)

Set Conventions (D8: intent-driven naming)

Tokens live in tokens.json. Names describe USE not APPEARANCE.

Set	Characters	Use For
`default` `─│`	Normal boxes and connectors	Most diagrams
`emphasis` `━┃`	Headers, focus, draw the eye	Key components, outer frames
`title` `═║`	Document titles	§0-style banners only
`soft` `╭╮╰╯ ─│`	Status cards, ambient UI	Diff blocks
`portable` `+-\|`	NO_COLOR / CI / bare TTY	Fallback

Rename codemod (D8): old light/heavy/double/rounded/ascii-fallback → new names above. Old names accepted with warning for one minor release.

Status Glyph Vocabulary

Closed-set v1 of 11 semantic glyphs (●○✓✗⚠◆◇▶▷ ↑↓→ ▓▒░). Single source of truth — see rules/status-glyph-vocabulary.md. Add-a-glyph process in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Diagram Patterns

Architecture Diagrams

┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐
│   Frontend   │─────>│   Backend    │
│   React 19   │      │   FastAPI    │
└──────────────┘      └───────┬──────┘
                              │
                              v
                      ┌──────────────┐
                      │  PostgreSQL  │
                      └──────────────┘

File Trees with Annotations

src/
├── api/
│   ├── routes.py          [M] +45 -12    !! high-traffic path
│   └── schemas.py         [M] +20 -5
├── services/
│   └── billing.py         [A] +180       ** new file
└── tests/
    └── test_billing.py    [A] +120       ** new file

Legend: [A]dd [M]odify [D]elete  !! Risk  ** New

Progress Bars

[████████░░] 80% Complete
+ Design    (2 days)
+ Backend   (5 days)
~ Frontend  (3 days)
- Testing   (pending)

Swimlane / Timeline Diagrams

Backend  ===[Schema]======[API]===========================[Deploy]====>
                |            |                                ^
                |            +------blocks------+             |
                |                               |             |
Frontend ------[Wait]--------[Components]=======[Integration]=+

=== Active work   --- Blocked/waiting   | Dependency

Blast Radius (Concentric Rings)

            Ring 3: Tests (8 files)
       +-------------------------------+
       |    Ring 2: Transitive (5)      |
       |   +------------------------+   |
       |   |  Ring 1: Direct (3)     |   |
       |   |   +--------------+      |   |
       |   |   | CHANGED FILE |      |   |
       |   |   +--------------+      |   |
       |   +------------------------+   |
       +-------------------------------+

Comparison Tables

BEFORE                          AFTER
┌────────────┐                  ┌────────────┐
│  Monolith  │                  │  Service A │──┐
│  (all-in-1)│                  └────────────┘  │  ┌──────────┐
└────────────┘                  ┌────────────┐  ├─>│  Shared  │
                                │  Service B │──┘  │  Queue   │
                                └────────────┘     └──────────┘

Reversibility Timeline

Phase 1  [================]  FULLY REVERSIBLE    (add column)
Phase 2  [================]  FULLY REVERSIBLE    (new endpoint)
Phase 3  [============....]  PARTIALLY           (backfill)
              --- POINT OF NO RETURN ---
Phase 4  [........????????]  IRREVERSIBLE        (drop column)

Key Rules

Rule	Description
Font	Always monospace — box-drawing requires fixed-width
Weight	Standard for normal, Heavy for emphasis, Double for titles
Arrows	`─>`, `──>`, or `│` with `v`/`^` for direction
Alignment	Right-pad labels to match column widths
Annotations	`!!` for risk, `**` for new, `[A/M/D]` for change type
Width	Keep under 80 chars for terminal compatibility
Nesting	Max 3 levels of box nesting before readability degrades

When to Use Each Pattern

Pattern	Use Case
Layered boxes	System architecture, deployment topology
Concentric rings	Blast radius, impact analysis
Timeline bars	Reversibility, migration phases
Swimlanes	Execution order, parallel work streams
Annotated trees	File change manifests, directory structures
Comparison tables	Cross-layer consistency, before/after
Progress bars	Status tracking, completion metrics

brainstorm — Design exploration where diagrams communicate ideas
architecture-patterns — System architecture that benefits from ASCII diagrams
code-review-playbook — Review comments with inline diagrams

Rules (3)

Create structured ASCII architecture diagrams to communicate system design without external tools — MEDIUM

ASCII Architecture Visualization Patterns

Incorrect — flat text descriptions:

The system has a frontend that talks to a backend API which uses
a database and a cache layer. There's also a message queue for
async processing.

Correct — layered architecture diagram:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Load Balancer                      │
└──────────┬──────────────────────────┬────────────────┘
           │                          │
┌──────────v──────────┐  ┌───────────v────────────┐
│   API Gateway       │  │   API Gateway          │
│   (instance 1)      │  │   (instance 2)         │
└──────────┬──────────┘  └───────────┬────────────┘
           │                          │
           └──────────┬───────────────┘
                      │
        ┌─────────────┼────────────────┐
        │             │                │
┌───────v──────┐ ┌────v─────┐ ┌───────v──────┐
│  PostgreSQL  │ │  Redis   │ │  RabbitMQ    │
│  (primary)   │ │  (cache) │ │  (queue)     │
└──────────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────────┘

Blast Radius Visualization

                Ring 3: Tests (8 files)
           +-------------------------------+
           |    Ring 2: Transitive (5)      |
           |   +------------------------+   |
           |   |  Ring 1: Direct (3)     |   |
           |   |   +--------------+      |   |
           |   |   | CHANGED FILE |      |   |
           |   |   +--------------+      |   |
           |   +------------------------+   |
           +-------------------------------+

Direct dependents:   auth.py, routes.py, middleware.py
Transitive:          app.py, config.py, utils.py, cli.py, server.py

Reversibility Timeline

REVERSIBILITY TIMELINE
Phase 1  [================]  FULLY REVERSIBLE    (add column, nullable)
Phase 2  [================]  FULLY REVERSIBLE    (new endpoint, additive)
Phase 3  [============....]  PARTIALLY           (backfill data)
              --- POINT OF NO RETURN ---
Phase 4  [........????????]  IRREVERSIBLE        (drop old column)
Phase 5  [================]  FULLY REVERSIBLE    (frontend toggle)

Comparison Tables

CROSS-LAYER CONSISTENCY
Backend Endpoint          Frontend Consumer     Status
POST /invoices            createInvoice()       PLANNED
GET  /invoices/:id        useInvoice(id)        PLANNED
GET  /invoices            InvoiceList.tsx        MISSING  !!

Key Patterns

Pattern	Use Case
Layered boxes	System architecture, deployment topology
Concentric rings	Blast radius, impact analysis
Timeline bars	Reversibility, migration phases
Swimlanes	Execution order, parallel work streams
Annotated trees	File change manifests, directory structures
Comparison tables	Cross-layer consistency, before/after

Use consistent box-drawing characters and formatting for correct terminal rendering — MEDIUM

ASCII Diagram Fundamentals

Incorrect — inconsistent characters and alignment:

+-------+    +-------+
| Frontend | -> | Backend |
+-------+    +-------+
              |
          +--------+
          | Database |
          +--------+

Correct — proper box-drawing characters with alignment:

Box-Drawing Characters:
┌─┐│└─┘  Standard weight
┏━┓┃┗━┛  Heavy weight
├─┤┬┴    Connectors
╔═╗║╚═╝  Double lines

┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐
│   Frontend   │─────>│   Backend    │
│   React 19   │      │   FastAPI    │
└──────────────┘      └───────┬──────┘
                              │
                              v
                      ┌──────────────┐
                      │  PostgreSQL  │
                      └──────────────┘

Progress Tracking

[████████░░] 80% Complete
+ Design    (2 days)
+ Backend   (5 days)
~ Frontend  (3 days)
- Testing   (pending)

File Trees

src/
├── api/
│   ├── routes.py          [M] +45 -12    !! high-traffic path
│   └── schemas.py         [M] +20 -5
├── services/
│   └── billing.py         [A] +180       ** new file
└── tests/
    └── test_billing.py    [A] +120       ** new file

Legend: [A]dd [M]odify [D]elete  !! Risk  ** New

Workflow Diagrams

Backend  ===[Schema]======[API]===========================[Deploy]====>
                |            |                                ^
                |            +------blocks------+             |
                |                               |             |
Frontend ------[Wait]--------[Components]=======[Integration]=+

=== Active work   --- Blocked/waiting   | Dependency

Key Rules

Rule	Description
Font	Always monospace — box-drawing characters require fixed-width
Weight	Standard (─│) for normal, Heavy (━┃) for emphasis
Arrows	Use ─>, ──>, or │ with v/^ for direction
Alignment	Right-pad labels to match column widths
Annotations	Use !! for risk, ** for new, [A/M/D] for change type

Use the closed-set status glyph vocabulary for semantic indicators — HIGH

Closed Status Glyph Vocabulary (v1)

Eleven glyphs, frozen at v1.0.0. Adding a 12th is a MINOR bump via the process in CONTRIBUTING.md. Removing or repurposing any of the 11 is a MAJOR bump (rare).

Vocabulary

GLYPH   SEMANTIC                    DON'T USE FOR
─────   ────────                    ─────────────
●       active / on / current       generic bullet
○       inactive / off / pending    decoration
✓       passed / completed          decoration
✗       failed / blocked            general "no"
⚠       warning / attention         hard error
◆       primary / focused           random emphasis
◇       secondary / unfocused       decoration
▶       running / in-progress       generic arrow
▷       paused / awaiting input     generic arrow
↑↓→     trend up/down/forward       random direction
▓▒░     fill: high/med/low          decoration

Incorrect — generic decoration

* Build passed
> Tests running
- Linter clean

Correct — semantic glyphs

✓ Build passed
▶ Tests running
✓ Linter clean

Anti-pattern — repurposing a semantic for decoration

✓ Item 1
✓ Item 2
✓ Item 3

A list of items isn't passing/failing — ✓ is reserved for pass/completed states. Use ● for active items and ○ for inactive/pending ones, or plain - for an unmarked list.

Anti-pattern — mixing semantically-loaded glyphs with decoration

■  Phase 1   ✓  Phase 2   ◉  Phase 3

■ and ◉ are not in the vocabulary — they read as decoration. Pick exactly one glyph from the table above per slot:

✓  Phase 1   ▶  Phase 2   ○  Phase 3
   done       running       pending

Quickviz

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