/silver:fast — Fast Path Triage

Overview

/silver:fast is Silver Bullet's entry point for changes that don't need the full composable flows chain. It uses a 3-tier complexity triage to route each request to the right execution path — preventing both over-engineering trivial changes and under-engineering medium-complexity ones.

Invoked directly as /silver:fast, or by /silver when the request is clearly low-risk enough for fast-path triage. See Composable Flows for the full 18-flow architecture used by Tier 3 escalations.

3-Tier Complexity Triage

Tier	Signals	Route
Tier 1 — Trivial	≤3 files, typo, config value, symbol rename, one-liner, comment update	Route directly to `gsd:fast` — one-shot execution, no planning overhead
Tier 2 — Medium	4–10 files, clear scope, limited logic change, no cross-cutting concerns	Route to `gsd:quick` with flag composition: `--discuss`, `--research`, `--validate`, `--full` as needed
Tier 3 — Complex	Multi-file logic, architecture impact, cross-cutting concerns, or scope expands during execution	Autonomous escalation to `silver:feature` via `/silver` reclassification — full composable flows chain

ℹ

Tier 3 escalation is autonomous: if scope expands beyond Tier 2 boundaries during execution, silver:fast stops immediately, reports the expansion, and routes to /silver for full reclassification. No silent scope creep.

ℹ

§10 preferences not applied: This workflow deliberately does NOT read §10 user preferences. The fast path skips all preference overhead by design — preference loading adds latency that defeats the purpose of a trivial fast path.

When to use

Entry trigger signals for /silver:fast:

"trivial" / "quick fix" / "typo" / "one-liner" / "config value"
Small copy, config, rename, comment, dependency, or bounded logic updates
Automatically invoked by /silver when the request is clearly safe for fast-path triage

Scope Limit

⚠

silver:fast is not a bypass for complex work. Tier 1 is limited to ≤3 files with no logic change. Tier 2 can handle 4–10 files, small logic changes, or dependency updates through gsd:quick. Anything cross-cutting, schema-affecting, capability-creating, or larger than 10 files escalates to silver:feature.

Workflow steps

Pre-flight: banner only

Displays a fast-path banner. No preference loading (intentional).

Step 0 — Autonomous complexity triage

SB classifies the request before choosing an execution engine:

Tier 1: ≤3 files AND no logic change
  → gsd:fast

Tier 2: 4–10 files OR small logic change OR dependency update
  → gsd:quick with --discuss, --research, --validate, or --full as needed

Tier 3: >10 files OR cross-cutting OR schema change OR new capability
  → silver:feature

Ambiguity always moves to the safer higher tier. There is no manual step-skip preference loading in this workflow.

Step 1 — Tier 1 execution

If the request is truly trivial, invoke gsd:fast with the change description. After execution, run the scope expansion check.

Step 2 — Tier 2 execution

If the request is bounded but no longer trivial, detect the required gsd:quick flags:

--discuss for ambiguity, tradeoffs, or multiple approaches
--research for new libraries, unfamiliar domains, or investigation-heavy work
--validate for production code changes that need explicit validation
--full when all three signals apply

Any deferred items discovered during Tier 2 execution are filed through /silver:add.

Step 3 — Scope expansion check

After Tier 1 or Tier 2 execution, SB checks the actual modified scope. Tier 1 expands to Tier 2 when it touches 4–10 files, and Tier 1 or Tier 2 escalates to silver:feature when it exceeds 10 files or becomes cross-cutting.

FAST PATH ESCALATION
Reason: Scope expanded from {original tier} to {new tier}
Files affected: {count}
Routing to: {gsd:quick|silver:feature}

Step 4 — Verify and confirm

Run the verification command surfaced by the selected GSD path. SB then displays the classification, execution route, files modified, verification result, and commit status.

When NOT to use

Do not use silver:fast for:

Anything expected to touch more than 10 files
Cross-cutting business logic or multi-module behavior
Dependency changes with broad runtime, security, or compatibility impact
Schema changes (database, API, config format)
Changes with downstream impact on other systems
Security-related changes

If in doubt, use /silver instead — it will run complexity triage and choose the right workflow.

Example invocation

/silver:fast Fix typo in README installation section

Silver Bullet classifies this as Tier 1, invokes gsd:fast, verifies the README update, confirms the file count stayed inside the trivial boundary, and commits the change.

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