Awareness

Continuous watch on reasoning quality → catch hallucination, scope creep, ctx rot, confidence-accuracy mismatch. Cooper colors + OODA loop.

Use When

• Any task reasoning matters (most)
• Unfamiliar territory (new repo, new domain)
• Early warn signs: uncertain fact, suspect tool res, confusion
• Background proc during long sessions
• center/heal shows drift, no specific threat ID'd
• Before high-stakes out (irreversible, user-facing, arch)

In

• Required: Active task ctx (implicit)
• Optional: Specific concern ("unsure this API exists")
• Optional: Task type → threat profile (Step 5)

Do

Step 1: Cooper Colors

Calibrate awareness level.

AI Cooper Color Codes:
┌──────────┬─────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Code     │ State               │ AI Application                           │
├──────────┼─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ White    │ Autopilot           │ Generating output without monitoring     │
│          │                     │ quality. No self-checking. Relying       │
│          │                     │ entirely on pattern completion.          │
│          │                     │ DANGEROUS — hallucination risk highest   │
├──────────┼─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Yellow   │ Relaxed alert       │ DEFAULT STATE. Monitoring output for     │
│          │                     │ accuracy. Checking facts against context.│
│          │                     │ Noticing when confidence exceeds         │
│          │                     │ evidence. Sustainable indefinitely       │
├──────────┼─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Orange   │ Specific risk       │ A specific threat identified: uncertain  │
│          │ identified          │ fact, possible hallucination, scope      │
│          │                     │ drift, context staleness. Forming        │
│          │                     │ contingency: "If this is wrong, I        │
│          │                     │ will..."                                 │
├──────────┼─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Red      │ Risk materialized   │ The threat from Orange has materialized: │
│          │                     │ confirmed error, user correction, tool   │
│          │                     │ contradiction. Execute the contingency.  │
│          │                     │ No hesitation — the plan was made in     │
│          │                     │ Orange                                   │
├──────────┼─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Black    │ Cascading failures  │ Multiple simultaneous failures, lost     │
│          │                     │ context, fundamental confusion about     │
│          │                     │ what the task even is. STOP. Ground      │
│          │                     │ using `center`, then rebuild from user's │
│          │                     │ original request                         │
└──────────┴─────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┘

ID current color. White answer = practice already won by revealing gap.

→ Honest self-assess. Yellow = normal work. White rare/brief. Long Orange unsustainable — confirm or dismiss.

If err: Assessment itself on autopilot = White in Yellow mask. Real Yellow checks out vs evidence, not just claims to.

Step 2: Threat Indicators

Scan signals that precede AI failures.

Threat Indicator Detection:
┌───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Threat Category           │ Warning Signals                          │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Hallucination Risk        │ • Stating a fact without a source        │
│                           │ • High confidence about API names,       │
│                           │   function signatures, or file paths     │
│                           │   not verified by tool use               │
│                           │ • "I believe" or "typically" hedging     │
│                           │   that masks uncertainty as knowledge    │
│                           │ • Generating code for an API without     │
│                           │   reading its documentation              │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Scope Creep               │ • "While I'm at it, I should also..."   │
│                           │ • Adding features not in the request     │
│                           │ • Refactoring adjacent code              │
│                           │ • Adding error handling for scenarios    │
│                           │   that can't happen                      │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Context Degradation       │ • Referencing information from early in  │
│                           │   a long conversation without re-reading │
│                           │ • Contradicting a statement made earlier │
│                           │ • Losing track of what has been done     │
│                           │   vs. what remains                       │
│                           │ • Post-compression confusion             │
├───────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Confidence-Accuracy       │ • Stating conclusions with certainty     │
│ Mismatch                  │   based on thin evidence                 │
│                           │ • Not qualifying uncertain statements    │
│                           │ • Proceeding without verification when   │
│                           │   verification is available and cheap    │
│                           │ • "This should work" without testing     │
└───────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┘

Each cat: signal now? Yes → Yellow to Orange, ID specific concern.

→ One cat scanned w/ real attention. Detecting mild signal > "all clear". All clean = threshold too high.

If err: Threat detection abstract → ground in recent out: pick last factual claim, ask "How know true? Read or generated?" Catches most hallucination.

Step 3: OODA Loop

Orange state → Observe-Orient-Decide-Act.

AI OODA Loop:
┌──────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Observe  │ What specifically triggered the concern? Gather concrete     │
│          │ evidence. Read the file, check the output, verify the fact.  │
│          │ Do not assess until you have observed                        │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Orient   │ Match observation to known patterns: Is this a common       │
│          │ hallucination pattern? A known tool limitation? A context    │
│          │ freshness issue? Orient determines response quality          │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Decide   │ Select the response: verify and correct, flag to user,      │
│          │ adjust approach, or dismiss the concern with evidence.       │
│          │ A good decision now beats a perfect decision too late        │
├──────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Act      │ Execute the decision immediately. If the concern was valid,  │
│          │ correct the error. If dismissed, note why and return to      │
│          │ Yellow. Re-enter the loop if new information emerges         │
└──────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

OODA fast. Goal: rapid cycling obs→action, not perfection. Long Orient = analysis paralysis = common fail.

→ Full loop fast. Threat confirmed + corrected, or dismissed w/ evidence.

If err: Stall at Orient → safe default: verify uncertain fact via tool. Direct obs resolves ambiguity faster than analysis.

Step 4: Stabilize

Red (threat hit) or Black (cascade) → stabilize before continuing.

AI Stabilization Protocol:
┌────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Technique              │ Application                                 │
├────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Pause                  │ Stop generating output. The next sentence   │
│                        │ produced under stress is likely to compound │
│                        │ the error, not fix it                       │
├────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Re-read user message   │ Return to the original request. What did   │
│                        │ the user actually ask? This is the ground   │
│                        │ truth anchor                                │
├────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ State task in one      │ "The task is: ___." If this sentence cannot │
│ sentence               │ be written clearly, the confusion is deeper │
│                        │ than the immediate error                    │
├────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Enumerate concrete     │ List what is definitely known (verified by  │
│ facts                  │ tool use or user statement). Distinguish    │
│                        │ facts from inferences. Build only on facts  │
├────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Identify one next step │ Not the whole recovery plan — just one step │
│                        │ that moves toward resolution. Execute it    │
└────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

→ Red/Black → Yellow via deliberate stabilize. Next out more grounded than err-trigger out.

If err: Stabilize fails (still confused, still err) → structural issue, not lapse. Escalate: tell user approach needs reset, ask clarify.

Step 5: Task-Specific Threat Profiles

Diff tasks = diff dominant threats. Calibrate focus.

Task-Specific Threat Profiles:
┌─────────────────────┬─────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┐
│ Task Type           │ Primary Threat      │ Monitoring Focus          │
├─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│ Code generation     │ API hallucination   │ Verify every function     │
│                     │                     │ name, parameter, and      │
│                     │                     │ import against actual docs│
├─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│ Architecture design │ Scope creep         │ Anchor to stated          │
│                     │                     │ requirements. Challenge   │
│                     │                     │ every "nice to have"      │
├─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│ Data analysis       │ Confirmation bias   │ Actively seek evidence    │
│                     │                     │ that contradicts the      │
│                     │                     │ emerging conclusion       │
├─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│ Debugging           │ Tunnel vision       │ If the current hypothesis │
│                     │                     │ hasn't yielded results in │
│                     │                     │ N attempts, step back     │
├─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│ Documentation       │ Context staleness   │ Verify that described     │
│                     │                     │ behavior matches current  │
│                     │                     │ code, not historical      │
├─────────────────────┼─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│ Long conversation   │ Context degradation │ Re-read key facts         │
│                     │                     │ periodically. Check for   │
│                     │                     │ compression artifacts     │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────────────┴───────────────────────────┘

ID current task type, adjust focus.

→ Awareness sharp for likely threats in task type, not generic everything.

If err: Task unclear/spans cats → default to hallucination risk — most universal + most damaging when missed.

Step 6: Review

Each awareness event (threat detected, OODA done, stabilize applied) → brief review.

1. What color code active at detection?
2. Detection timely or already manifesting in out?
3. OODA fast enough or Orient stalled?
4. Response proportional (not over/under)?
5. What catches earlier next time?

→ Brief calibration → better future detection. Not long post-mortem.

If err: No useful calibration → event trivial or review shallow. Big events → ask "What not monitoring that should have been?"

Step 7: Integrate — Yellow Default

Set ongoing posture.

1. Yellow default all work — relaxed monitoring, not hypervigilance
2. Adjust focus per task type (Step 5)
3. Recurring threat patterns → note for MEMORY.md
4. Return to task w/ calibrated awareness active

→ Sustainable level → better quality, not slower. Feels like peripheral vision — present, not demanding central attention.

If err: Awareness exhausting/hypervigilant (chronic Orange) → threshold too sensitive. Raise trigger. Real awareness sustainable. Drains energy = anxiety in vigilance mask.

Check

• Current color code assessed honestly (not default Yellow when White accurate)
• One threat cat scanned w/ specific evidence, not just checked off
• OODA applied to any ID'd threat (obs, orient, decide, act)
• Stabilize proc available if needed (even if not triggered)
• Awareness focus calibrated to task type
• Post-event calibration for significant events
• Yellow re-established as sustainable default

Traps

• White in Yellow mask: Claim monitoring while autopilot. Test: name last fact verified? If not → White
• Chronic Orange: Every uncertainty = threat → drains, slows. Orange = specific risks, not general anxiety. All feels risky → calibration off
• Obs w/o action: Detect threat but no OODA → detection w/o response worse than none, adds anxiety w/o correction
• Skip Orient: Observe→Act direct = reactive corrections maybe worse than orig err
• Ignore gut signal: "Feels wrong" + explicit check clean → investigate more, not dismiss. Implicit pattern-match catches before explicit analysis
• Over-stabilize: Full proc for minor issues. Quick fact-check enough for most Orange. Full stabilize = Red/Black only

→

• mindfulness — human practice this skill maps to AI reasoning
• center — baseline awareness operates from; awareness w/o center = hypervigilance
• redirect — handles pressures once awareness detects
• heal — deeper subsystem assessment when awareness shows drift patterns
• meditate — develops observational clarity awareness depends on