Dorodango Polishing Workflow Skill

Dorodango Polishing Workflow

Named after the Japanese art of polishing a ball of dirt into a high-gloss sphere. Applied to code: take the initial implementation (the "mud ball") and refine it through successive quality passes until it shines.

When To Use

After initial implementation is complete and tests pass
Code works but needs refinement across multiple quality dimensions
Preparing code for review or release
Resuming a previous polishing session

When NOT To Use

Code does not compile or pass basic tests (fix first)
Single-dimension improvement needed (use the specific skill directly: pensive:code-refinement, etc.)
Greenfield design phase (use brainstorming instead)

Pass Sequence

Four quality dimensions, each a self-contained pass:

Correctness - run tests, fix failures
Clarity - code readability and structure
Consistency - naming, patterns, style alignment
Polish - documentation, error messages, edges

See modules/pass-definitions.md for detailed scope of each pass type.

Convergence Model

Each pass targets one dimension
A pass that finds issues_found: 0 marks that dimension as converged
Convergence is irreversible per run; a converged dimension is not re-run
When all 4 dimensions converge, polishing is complete
Maximum 10 total passes (hard limit)
If not converged after 10 passes, surface state to human with recommendation to split into smaller units

State Persistence

State tracked in .attune/dorodango-state.json:

{
  "target": "plugins/foo",
  "started_at": "2026-03-18T12:00:00Z",
  "pass_count": 3,
  "passes": [
    {
      "type": "correctness",
      "issues_found": 2,
      "issues_fixed": 2
    },
    {
      "type": "clarity",
      "issues_found": 5,
      "issues_fixed": 5
    },
    {
      "type": "consistency",
      "issues_found": 0
    }
  ],
  "converged_dimensions": ["consistency"],
  "converged": false
}

This file enables resume across sessions. On resume, skip converged dimensions and continue from the next unconverged dimension.

Subagent Isolation

Each pass dispatches a self-contained subagent to prevent context accumulation. The subagent receives:

Target directory/files
Pass type and scope (from pass-definitions module)
Previous pass results (summary only, not full context)

Subagent dispatch is optional for targets under 100 lines of code; in-session review is sufficient for small files.

Workflow

Initialize state file (or load existing)
Determine next unconverged dimension
Dispatch subagent for that dimension
Record results in state file
If dimension converged (0 issues), mark it
If all dimensions converged or 10 passes reached, stop
Otherwise, proceed to next dimension

Cross-References

pensive:code-refinement - used in clarity pass
conserve:code-quality-principles - KISS/YAGNI/SOLID
imbue:latent-space-engineering - frame pass prompts with emotional framing for better results

Agent Skills: Dorodango Polishing Workflow

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