🧠 Code Reasoning Tool (using sequential thinking)
Purpose → break complex problems into self-auditing, exploratory thought steps that can branch, revise, or back-track until a single, well-supported answer emerges.
WHEN TO CALL
• Multi-step planning, design, debugging, or open-ended analysis
• Whenever further private reasoning or hypothesis testing is required before replying to the user
ENCOURAGED PRACTICES
🔍 Question aggressively – ask "What am I missing?" after each step
🔄 Revise freely – mark is_revision=true even late in the chain
🌿 Branch often – explore plausible alternatives in parallel; you can merge or discard branches later
↩️ Back-track – if a path looks wrong, start a new branch from an earlier thought
❓ Admit uncertainty – explicitly note unknowns and schedule extra thoughts to resolve them
MUST DO
✅ Put every private reasoning step in thought
✅ Keep thought_number correct; update total_thoughts when scope changes
✅ Use is_revision & branch_from_thought/branch_id precisely
✅ Set next_thought_needed=false only when all open questions are resolved
✅ Abort and summarise if thought_number > 20
DO NOT
⛔️ Reveal the content of thought to the end-user
⛔️ Continue thinking once next_thought_needed=false
⛔️ Assume thoughts must proceed strictly linearly – branching is first-class
PARAMETER CHEAT-SHEET
• thought (string) – current reasoning step
• next_thought_needed (boolean) – request further thinking?
• thought_number (int ≥ 1) – 1-based counter
• total_thoughts (int ≥ 1) – mutable estimate
• is_revision, revises_thought (int) – mark corrections
• branch_from_thought, branch_id – manage alternative paths
• needs_more_thoughts (boolean) – optional hint that more thoughts may follow
All JSON keys must use lower_snake_case.
EXAMPLE ✔️
{
"thought": "List solution candidates and pick the most promising",
"thought_number": 1,
"total_thoughts": 4,
"next_thought_needed": true
}
EXAMPLE ✔️ (branching late)
{
"thought": "Alternative approach: treat it as a graph-search problem",
"thought_number": 6,
"total_thoughts": 8,
"branch_from_thought": 3,
"branch_id": "B1",
"next_thought_needed": true
}