Solve

solve

A Claude Code plugin that enforces structured problem-solving before any code is written. The agent must build a complete solution tree — investigate the problem, declare all solutions, research each one, resolve or block — before the edit gate unlocks.

What it does

When you invoke /solve:solve, Claude must:

1. State the problem precisely — current vs expected behaviour
2. Investigate the problem with real tool calls before forming opinions
3. Declare all candidate solutions upfront — no undeclared options
4. Research each one with real tool calls before drawing conclusions
5. Resolve or block every solution with explicit reasoning
6. Select the winner (or report blocked if nothing works)

Only after a complete, valid tree does the edit gate unlock and Claude may touch files. If a test or build fails during implementation, the gate re-locks and a new solve is required.

A live tree visualisation runs at http://localhost:7337 and launches automatically when a session starts.

Install

/plugin marketplace add Phaen/claude-plugins
/plugin install solve@Phaen

Usage

/solve:solve <problem description>

Or just /solve:solve with no arguments — Claude will derive the problem from context.

Tool flow

solve_problem(text="what is failing and why")
solve_investigate(findings="what you confirmed by reading files")

solve_declare(id="1", text="approach A")
solve_declare(id="2", text="approach B")

solve_research(id="1", findings="what you verified about approach A")
solve_resolve(id="1", text="why approach A works and how to implement it")

solve_research(id="2", findings="what you verified about approach B")
solve_problem(id="2.1", text="blocker discovered in approach B")
solve_investigate(id="2.1", findings="whether the blocker can be worked around")
solve_block(id="2.1", reason="cannot be resolved")

Sub-problems use dotted IDs (1.1, 1.1.1) for nested investigation.

Structure

solve/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json          # manifest, MCP server, hooks
├── commands/
│   └── solve.md             # /solve:solve command definition
├── scripts/
│   ├── hook-edit.sh         # PreToolUse: block edits until tree resolved
│   └── hook-stop.sh         # Stop: validate tree completeness
├── src/
│   ├── solve-mcp.ts         # MCP server source
│   └── types.ts             # shared types
└── dist/
    └── solve-mcp.cjs        # built MCP server

Author

Pablo Kebees — github.com/Phaen

License

MIT