Workbook mode

Ask for it directly (“let’s work this through on paper”), or let the agent offer it when the work is foggy, creative, decision-heavy, or has to be learned. A factual question or a mechanical task is just answered; there is no workbook for those, and the agent should not slow you down for one.

What you say

Describe the problem the way you would to a colleague: “I can’t decide whether to kill the sync feature,” “help me name this project,” or “I need to actually remember this for the interview next week.” You do not need to name a style — the agent chooses one from the shape of the job — but you can ask for one directly with /switchback workbook.

What you get

One message with everything before anything is printed: the style and why, one line per page telling you what it asks, which roles have no matching pen (printed as a circled letter instead), and the folder the files will live in. Nothing is built until you say yes. If your desk has no saved profile yet, the agent assumes a basic kit — A4, a black pen, a highlighter, a phone camera — states that assumption, and asks one batched question about what else is on your desk.

Once you confirm, you get a PDF (or an HTML page with print steps, if no PDF renderer is available), in a switchback/<date>-<slug>/ folder. Most workbooks open with a cover that teaches the colour language for that sitting, hold a handful of content pages built for your problem, and close with a decision page, a blank question queue for your Ask pen, and a checklist of exactly what to photograph afterwards — a Ritual is the exception: a single page, with no cover and no closing pages.

What you do with the paper

Print it, put your phone in another room, and work through it in the ink the cover describes. Keep to the timebox on the cover and stop mid-sentence when it runs out — an unfinished sentence is a real stopping point, not a failure. Cross-outs stay on the page; nothing gets tidied before the photos are taken.

When you are done, photograph every page flat with its header visible and send them all back. That hands you to read mode.

The four styles

Which style you get depends on the job:

The job	Style
Decide, diagnose, or plan	Sitting — one session, opening to closing
Remember something over weeks	Series — three rounds, spaced out
Create, name, or invent	Incubation — a generating half, a real break, a judging half
Come back to the same question weekly	Ritual — one identical page, every time

Each style’s shape, cadence and starting pages are on the styles page.