---
name: identify-key-failures
description: Synthesize the common stuck points across failed decomposition plans and recursive sub-agent reports. Use when the current batch of decomposition plans has failed.
---

# Identify Key Failures

Use this skill to turn many failed attempts into reusable guidance for the next planning round.

## Input Contract

Read:

- the failed decomposition plans
- direct-proving stuck points
- recursive sub-agent reports
- existing `failed_paths`
- relevant `counterexamples` and `toy_examples`

## Procedure

1. Gather the reports from all failed plans and sub-agents.
2. List the key stuck points for each plan.
3. Identify common points across those failures:
   - recurring obstructions or counterexamples
   - decomposition patterns that keep breaking
   - search gaps or missing background facts
4. Summarize what the failures suggest for the next generation of decomposition plans.
5. Save the synthesized failure knowledge to `failed_paths` so later planning skills can use it.
6. After recording the failure synthesis, return control to `$propose-subgoal-decomposition-plans`.

## Output Contract

Append to `failed_paths`:

```json
{
  "record_type": "key_failures_summary",
  "failed_plan_ids": ["..."],
  "plan_failures": [
    {
      "plan_id": "...",
      "stuck_points": ["..."]
    }
  ],
  "common_failures": ["..."],
  "implications_for_next_plans": ["..."]
}
```

Also append an `events` record indicating that a new planning round is needed.

## MCP Tools

- `memory_search`
- `memory_append`
- `branch_update`

## Failure Logging

If the reports are too weak to identify meaningful common failures, append an `events` record with `event_type="key_failures_inconclusive"` and state what information is still missing.