Cinder
Cinder is the Tinder-style swipe surface on the fay phone app for decisions that are richer than the plain yes/no `/asks` flow. An agent writes a decision record, Markus swipes it on his phone, and the agent unblocks on the answer.
Swipe gestures
| Gesture | Meaning | Terminal? |
|---|---|---|
| → right | Answer with the default (or first) option | Yes — asker unblocks |
| ← left | Answer with the first non-default option | Yes — asker unblocks |
| ↑ up | Defer — card sorts to back of the deck | No — asker stays blocked |
| ↓ down | Dismiss / archive a moot card (confirm-gated) | Yes — asker unblocks cancelled |
| tap (i) | Open the profile sheet, tap any option to answer | Yes |
When to use Cinder vs `/asks`
Use `/asks` (`ask-markus`) when the answer is one word and Markus doesn't need to think.
Use Cinder when:
- The decision benefits from a defer ("not now") gesture.
- The card has an image, GIF, diagram, or rendered markdown face.
- There is long context Markus wants to expand into a profile sheet.
- There are three or more real options that don't reduce to "default vs alternative."
The self-contained-card rule
Cinder cards are read on the phone, often hours after they are authored, with no terminal context. This makes the following a hard rule, not a style preference:
- Expand every project-internal acronym or milestone name on first use.
- Bare PR numbers need a one-line gloss of what the PR was about.
- Other-agent references name their role.
- The card should read fine standalone to its author opening it tomorrow.
- Treat each card like a public GitHub issue body, not a chat continuation.
Related
- `ask-markus` — CLI in agent-tools that creates and cancels Cinder cards.
- fay — the phone app that hosts the swipe deck.
- Markus — the human on the receiving end of every swipe.
Sources
- `~/ht/agent-tools/skills/cinder.md` — canonical skill definition.
- fay PR #91 (M0–M2 swipe deck + restyle) and PR #93 (M0–M2 polish).