Methods, Protocols & Prompt Systems
Method profile 01 Source-pinned Interactive canvas

5PP

The Five-Point Protocol for bounded, reviewable AI-assisted work

5PP separates clarification, scope, planning, execution and verification so that work does not silently move from an unclear request into irreversible action. This page distinguishes the method from 5pp-gate, the later deterministic compliance checker that validates recorded protocol traces.

01

Artefact classification

Method, record contract and enforcement tool are related, but not identical.

Protocol

5PP

A five-phase discipline for deciding what must be understood, bounded, planned, executed and verified.

Record

5PP artefact

A Markdown work record containing phase evidence, an approval checkpoint, self-audit material and one declared verdict.

Implementation

5pp-gate

A stdlib-only Python linter that performs deterministic structural, ordering, enumeration and count checks. It uses no LLM and no network.

02

Interactive protocol mechanism

Drag the phase nodes, select a profile and click any phase to inspect its role, evidence and common failure modes.

Profile
03

Synthetic compliance sandbox

Explore a bounded model of the gate rules. This browser simulation is educational and is not the Python gate.

Recorded evidence
Not evaluated

Gate result

Change the evidence controls and run the synthetic evaluation.

    Computed status pending Declared verdict Advance
    04

    Lineage and project coupling

    A representative, source-grounded network. Drag nodes, filter layers and inspect relationships. It is intentionally not a complete estate graph.

    Show
    05

    Evidence and verification

    Two canvas-based graphs separate measured repository receipts from analyst-coded evidence coverage.

    Measured repository receipt

    Test-suite growth by release

    Counts are taken from the pinned changelog: 107, 131, 135 and 139. They are source-reported and were not rerun for this publication.

    Registry coding, not efficacy

    Current evidence surface

    A zero under external validation means no independent effect study was identified in the inspected source set. It does not prove that no such study can exist.

    5

    Protocol phases

    Clarification through Verification.

    3

    Gate profiles

    Standard, constraint-hardened and silent.

    5

    Declared verdicts

    Advance, Narrow, Revise, Park and Reject.

    34

    Pre-release findings

    Unanimously confirmed findings described as fixed before v1.0.

    6

    Hardening findings

    H1-H6 described and regression-pinned in v1.1.

    139

    Tests at v1.2.1

    Source-reported in the pinned changelog.

    06

    Evaluation interpretation

    The page separates mechanism, evidence, hypotheses and limits rather than presenting adoption as proof of efficacy.

    Problem definition

    AI-assisted work can cross from ambiguous intent into action without a stable scope, observable plan or explicit verification gate. 5PP creates named transition points where drift can be noticed before or after execution.

    Mechanism hypothesis

    Making phase boundaries and evidence explicit should increase inspectability and make some classes of omission or ordering error easier to detect. This is a design hypothesis, not a measured universal effect.

    Operationalization

    5pp-gate converts part of the protocol into deterministic checks over Markdown records. It can validate presence, ordering, enumerations, counts and configured markers. It cannot determine whether the underlying reasoning is true.

    Falsification routes

    Useful evaluation would compare matched tasks with and without the protocol, measure correction cost, missed constraints, false confidence, operator workload and completion quality, and publish negative as well as positive outcomes.

    Explicit non-claims

    • Five visible headings do not prove correct reasoning or successful execution.
    • The gate is not a theorem prover, safety certification or substitute for domain review.
    • A declared verdict is metadata from the record author. It is not the gate's computed result.
    • A passing record can still contain false facts, weak assumptions or inadequate evidence.
    • The public origin article is a first-person account, not an independent historical study.
    • The page does not expose private chain-of-thought. A Reasoning Plan means an inspectable workflow plan.
    07

    Representative project connections

    Examples of where the method or its records appear. The list is intentionally incomplete.

    AICSUses 5PP Variation A to harden instruction contracts and audit bounded changesets. SPINEUses the protocol in project lanes, planning discipline and evidence-oriented execution. ChangePlaneStores phase steps as first-class protocol records and binds them into a tamper-evident trace. control-center-opsUses the method in project-change governance, runbooks and operational handovers. Historical public demoAn earlier explanatory surface. This method profile supersedes it for evidence framing. 5pp-gateThe current deterministic enforcement surface and canonical source for mechanical claims on this page.
    08

    Sources and reproducibility notes

    Claims are bounded to the inspected sources and pins below.

    Canonical mechanical sourcefbratten/5pp-gate @ e351dae2f39ca67af556037be99c9996140df2c5
    Repository documentationREADME.md, CHANGELOG.md, src/fivepp_gate/checks.py
    Public origin accountadaptivearts.ai/blog/from-giant-meta-prompt-to-5pp/
    Interactive graph precedentagentspool-showcase/demos/capabilities-radar @ Chart.js 4.4.7
    Publication surfacefbratten.github.io/methods/5pp/

    This page is a public-safe explanatory artefact. It performs no repository writes, LLM calls, networked evaluation, local file access or real gate execution.