Peregrine — what's on your plate

16 September 2026 · your lane only · three handoffs for Claude Code, placed where they belong in the sequence · everything you type is saved in this browser

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Handoff 1 — copy this to Claude Code before you start

Work that needs nothing from you

Ready nowyour part: 1 minute

None of this touches the story, so it can run while you work through the decisions below. It also produces the word-count measurements that task 7 needs.

Peregrine — work that needs no narrative input. Repos:
  app     /Users/sarahwilkerson/Developer/Peregrine
  corpus  /Users/sarahwilkerson/Developer/PressRaven-Corpus
  export  /Users/sarahwilkerson/Developer/PressRaven/tools/export-machine.py
Context: docs/meetings/2026-09-15 - How should Peregrines next phase be split...md

1. PLAYTEST BUILD. Prepare a plain playtest build of The Lineup (f133736) and
   Prime Suspect. Leave the sequential case unlock exactly as it is (b3fc666).
   Show only those two games. Change no game content.

2. INVENTORY THE UNLOCK, CHANGE NOTHING. List every piece of unlock logic and
   every test that asserts unlock order: CaseLadder.swift, CaseListView.swift,
   CaseRun.swift, CaseRunView.swift, PrimeSuspectView.swift,
   PrimeSuspectLadderTests.swift, PeregrineUITests/PrimeSuspectUITests.swift.
   Report the list. Do not edit. The unlock is being REPLACED later, not deleted:
   case 1 open before the burn, cases 2-10 after it, which needs a seasonState
   flag that does not exist yet.

3. VERB CHECK DRAFT. For Clear the Room and Before He's Back, draft the one-word
   verb each game owns, and check it against the verbs the kept games already own
   (Prime Suspect, The Lineup, Target Practice, The Wager). Report conflicts.
   Decide nothing; Sarah rules on it.

4. CORPUS RENAME via /cr-corpus. In guides/peregrine/guide.json, rename the
   mini_game `casing-the-room` to Before He's Back, replace its reskin line with:
   "Ten files on his desk, three minutes. Read what you can and get out."
   Record that it no longer consumes the shared `the-wager` bank. Add no entries
   and no questions.

5. MEASUREMENTS, READ ONLY. Report (a) word counts for each game's smallest text
   unit, including a Blotter line if that game exists under another id, and
   (b) the point value awarded per correct answer in every built game, so scoring
   can be made consistent across games.

Constraints: hand-edit nothing under PeregrineCore/.../Resources/cases (exporter
output). Do not add narrative content, placeholder documents, or story flags.
Notes back from Claude (word ceilings, verb conflicts, point values)

Decisions — short, and four of them unblock other work

1Name the con family

Blocks writing5 min

Your candidate is The Politician. Nothing in the corpus uses the name, and it needs no explaining to a teenager.

Must be true of the name
  • It describes dodging a question, never forgery. Every line the con writes is true; none answers what was asked.
  • It doesn't blur with The Volunteer (support off the brief), the nearest existing con.
  • Result-screen copy stays about the move. No nods to real politics.

Alternatives if the edge bothers you: The Diplomat (answers a nicer question than the one you asked) or The Sidestep.

Decision — con family name
Flows into handoff 2 and the page-one prompt.
One-line description of the method (for the corpus)
Reference corpus guide.json — existing cons: The Literalist, The Volunteer, The Breather, The Understudy, The Padder, The Converter, The Mistranslator, The Absolutist, The Generalizer, The Embellisher, The Illustrator

2Pick the game that hosts the Act I method memo

Blocks the first story build15 min

Prime Suspect is numbers-only, so the memo moved. The pinned current-file marker and the first build that tests whether a story beat lands both wait on this.

What the host game has to do
  • Ask a reading or claims question, since the memo's tell is that every line is true and none answers the question.
  • Guarantee the student reads it. Proof documents must reach every student regardless of what they play.
  • Be assignable in Act I, while the Agency still directs play.

The Dossier fits all three: every source must be opened before the investigation unlocks, and its subject is citing the source that carries the conclusion — the move Act V asks for. It is proposed, not built, so it clears the verb check first. A triage game like Before He's Back fails the second test, because a student can walk past the memo.

Decision — host game for the method memo
Flows into handoff 2, handoff 3 and the page-one prompt.
Why, in a sentence (so the reasoning survives)

3Confirm or overturn the 12 hosting assumptions

Ready now20 min

Each stands until you say otherwise. Tick what you're keeping. The amber ones have the largest knock-on effects. Number 12 is already overturned by your Prime Suspect answer.

Anything you're overturning, and what replaces it
Full text September 14 notes → "Assumed for you"

4Two smaller calls

Ready now10 min
The handler's name — he owns the desk in Before He's Back
Which games Act I has the student try
Act I requires separate play days and makes clear there is more to play later.
Reference casting_pool in guide.json

Handoff 2 — copy this once tasks 1–4 are answered

Record the decisions, and clear the way for the memo

After tasks 1–4your part: 1 minute

Your answers are filled in below as you type them. Nothing here writes story content — it records decisions and moves the plumbing off Prime Suspect.

Peregrine — record decisions from 2026-09-16. Corpus:
/Users/sarahwilkerson/Developer/PressRaven-Corpus/guides/peregrine

1. CON FAMILY via /cr-corpus. Add the con family "{{con-family}}" to the con
   taxonomy in guide.json, described as: {{con-family-desc}}
   It must read as dodging a question, never as forgery, and must not blur with
   The Volunteer (support off the brief). Add no items yet.

2. MEMO HOST. The Act I method memo rides {{host-game}}, not Prime Suspect.
   Reason: {{host-game-why}}
   Retarget the held handoff "Stage the empty Act I pin field from corpus to app"
   so the pin field belongs to {{host-game}}. Do not stage it yet — it waits on
   the season record. Report what the retarget would touch.

3. HANDLER. The desk owner in Before He's Back is {{handler-name}}. Check that
   name against casting_pool (suspect casts and con aliases) and report clashes.

4. ACT I ASSIGNMENTS. Act I has the student try: {{act1-games}}
   Record this in the corpus as the Act I assignment set. The Agency directs Act I,
   it requires separate play days, and the burn ends that direction. Prime Suspect
   case 1 is an Act I assignment; cases 2-10 are freelance files that open after
   the burn.

5. ASSUMPTIONS OVERTURNED: {{assumptions-overturned}}
   Update docs/meetings/2026-09-15 - How should Peregrines next phase...md to match.

Constraints: no story documents, no placeholder memo, no new questions.

Writing — in this order, because each feeds the next

5Page one of the solved case

Blocks everything downstreama day, not a month

Act I can't be written honestly without the ending. A name planted in week two has to pay off in week nine. This one page unblocks the season record, the pin field, the memo, and the three short documents.

Page one covers
  • The dead man: who he is, what he was escaping in the handler's outfit, why he used Wren's reports to pick Peregrine.
  • Wren: the leverage he held over her.
  • The handler: why the agency's copy of the death file convinced him.
  • The Agency in Act I: what it wants from Peregrine, and why it assigns Prime Suspect case 1.
  • The five act turns, as two columns: one sentence of plot, and the SAT reading move that catches it.
  • The seven proof documents: one line each for content, act, delivery, reading move.
Write this one yourself if you can. It sets where the season ends, and every clue points at it. The prompt below is for when you'd rather push against a draft than start from a blank page.
Draft space — the ending, in your own words
Rough is fine. This is the thing everything else checks itself against.
Draft page one of the Peregrine season's solved case as Markdown, working from the
"Working/Finalized Plan" and "Assumed for you" sections of
docs/meetings/2026-09-14 - A Refined Approach to Peregrine...md, plus these decisions
from 2026-09-15/16:
- The Agency directs Act I: it assigns games, gives more guidance, and requires
  separate play days. Prime Suspect case 1 is the Agency's assignment and must be
  completed before Act II.
- The burn ends that direction. Prime Suspect cases 2-10 become freelance client files.
- Prime Suspect is numbers-driven. Case 1 carries traces only (a name, a date, a
  figure that recurs later), never the method memo.
- The Act I method memo rides {{host-game}}.
- Before He's Back takes place at the desk of {{handler-name}}, the handler.
- The con family is {{con-family}}: {{con-family-desc}}
Mark every assumed item "(assumed)".

Page one covers:
1. The dead man: who he is, what he was escaping in the handler's outfit, why he
   used Wren's reports to pick Peregrine.
2. Wren: the leverage he held over her.
3. The handler: why the agency's copy of the death file convinced him.
4. The Agency in Act I: what it wants from Peregrine and why it assigns case 1.
5. The five act turns as a two-column table: one sentence of plot, and the SAT
   reading move that catches it.
6. The seven proof documents: one line each for content, act, delivery, reading move.

Constraints:
- Every line of both death files is true. The two files differ by exactly one line.
  No line says anyone saw a body.
- The tox screen, Wren's memo, and the pharmacy log name the same sedative.
- The neighbor's statement and the clerk's note share one physical detail.
- No document before Act IV supports the idea that Peregrine killed anyone.
- The Docket never lies, and no reveal reverses an answer the student was scored
  correct on.
- The missing hour is never shown.
- Menace sized for a sixteen-year-old: no one dies, and the stakes are a frame-up
  and leverage.
Stop after page one. List any constraint you could not satisfy.
Reference September 14 notes — cast, act beats, the seven proof documents, authoring locks

6Page two — the study

After page one30–45 min

Private reference for you as the author. No player sees it. Its job is keeping the lamp, the courtyard and the timing consistent across four documents written weeks apart.

Two parts
  • A sketch of the dead man's study. A photo of a hand drawing is fine. Label the desk, the window, the door, the lamp, the courtyard sightline.
  • A timeline table for the night of the death. Columns: time · lamp on or off · who is in the room · what the courtyard can see · which document mentions it.
It has to match
  • The housekeeper's complaint that the lamp is "never on past ten."
  • The neighbor's view of the courtyard, described closely enough to rule Peregrine out.
  • The missing hour, which stays off the page.
  • Every detail a proof document names appears here. Nothing else does.
Timeline draft — one line per hour
Where the sketch lives (file name or "on paper, in the folder")

7The Act I memo and the three short documents

After page one and task 2a session each

The lamp complaint, the neighbor's statement and the pharmacy log. Short, and each does three jobs at once: real document, real test question, real story beat.

Length (measured from the corpus)
  • A Prime Suspect evidence card runs 31 to 77 words, averaging 52. Keep each short document at or under about 75 words.
  • The Blotter hasn't been measured — it isn't in the corpus under that name. Handoff 1 item 5 settles it. If these also have to fit one Blotter line, the ceiling drops.
Each document needs
  • The document itself, as plain prose on paper.
  • One SAT-style question, four choices, one answer that holds up.
  • Its reading move, from the proof-document table on page one.
Locks that span documents
  • The pharmacy log, the tox screen and Wren's memo name the same sedative.
  • The neighbor's statement and the clerk's note share one physical detail.
  • Every line of both death files is true, and the two differ by exactly one line.
Visuals
  • Stamps and marks confirm a link; they never carry one alone.
  • No highlights, no bolded names. The app does not do the noticing for the student.
The shared sedative
The shared physical detail (neighbor's statement + clerk's note)
The one line the two death files differ by
Drafts — the memo, the lamp complaint, the neighbor's statement, the pharmacy log

Handoff 3 — copy this once page one and the documents exist

Build the season record, then the plumbing

After tasks 5–7your part: 1 minute

This is the point where structure is safe to build, because the story it has to hold already exists on the page.

Peregrine — build the season record and the item plumbing. Repos:
  app     /Users/sarahwilkerson/Developer/Peregrine
  corpus  /Users/sarahwilkerson/Developer/PressRaven-Corpus
  export  /Users/sarahwilkerson/Developer/PressRaven/tools/export-machine.py
Inputs: Sarah's solved case (page one and page two) and the four short documents.

1. SEASON RECORD via /cr-corpus. Add a guide-level record to
   guides/peregrine/guide.json, beside casting_pool. It is NOT an entry: entries
   are single playable items with section, skill_code and label. It holds the
   cast, the five act turns, the seven proof documents, and the authoring locks.
   Design its shape FROM Sarah's prose, not the reverse.

2. LINTS in the exporter, for the authoring locks:
   - the pharmacy log, the tox screen and Wren's memo name the same sedative
     ("{{lock-sedative}}")
   - the two death files differ by exactly one line
   - the neighbor's statement and the clerk's note share one physical detail
   Each failure names the two entries that disagree.

3. PROOF DOCUMENTS as ordinary entries that reference the season record by act
   and tier. Respect the measured word ceiling. Each carries one question with
   four choices and one defensible answer. No highlighting, no bolded names.

4. PIN FIELD. Stage the current-file field in the entry schema for {{host-game}}
   and pass it through the exporter, omitting the key when unset so existing
   exported JSON does not change byte for byte. Then build the current-file
   marker UI: still paper and ink, no badge, no pulse, no nag.

5. SEASON STATE. Add the seasonState flag (.preBurn / .postBurn), set once by the
   Act I to Act II gate. Then replace the Prime Suspect unlock: case 1 open before
   the burn, cases 2-10 open after it in any order. Update the tests from the
   inventory in handoff 1.

Report drift after every export. Hand-edit nothing under
PeregrineCore/.../Resources/cases.

Then

8The index-card table test

After the documents exist30 min with a teenager

Print the Act I and II documents on cards. Let them read in order at a table. No app, no build.

Write down three things
  • When they first doubt Peregrine's guilt.
  • Whether they catch the lamp detail or the neighbor detail.
  • Whether they suspect he's alive before the ally says so.
What happened

This answers the question no spec can: does an ordinary-looking document carry a story beat without a badge on it? Finding out here costs four documents instead of fifteen.

Standing decisions this sheet assumes