Objectives

Objectives are the questions a pack has to answer correctly. People write them from the work they do. You find them under Objectives on the pack page. MCP tools call them target questions.

Calibration tests the pack against questions. For each question the pack answers correctly, it saves a verified answer plan. Calibration also writes its own test questions from the pack’s documents and data. Those questions do not come from the work people do. Objectives add the questions people will really ask. Calibration tests objectives first. Adding objectives starts calibration right away.

Recommended: brainstorm in the app

Run the brainstorm in the edisyl app when you set up the pack. After that, use MCP or the CLI to add, follow, and edit objectives.

Get objectives in

Brainstorm them

Use a brainstorm when you can describe the work but don’t have a list of questions yet. The assistant asks which workflow the pack supports and agrees the steps with you. It then suggests the questions that come up at each step. It adds only the questions you confirm.

MCP

The assistant calls brainstorm, then target_questions_create for the questions you confirm.

“Brainstorm objectives for the growth-metrics pack. We use it for the weekly growth review.”

CLI

The CLI has no brainstorm command. Run the brainstorm in the edisyl app or in an AI chat client.

Turn notes into objectives

Use this when your questions are already in a document, a meeting note, or a chat. Paste the whole text. One LLM call splits it into questions with hints and topics.

CLI only

edisyl pack objectives structure growth-metrics -f questions.md --dry-run   # preview, nothing written
edisyl pack objectives structure growth-metrics -f questions.md             # create them
pbpaste | edisyl pack objectives structure growth-metrics

structure makes an LLM call each time it runs. Use --dry-run to review the questions before you create them.

Add one question

Use this when you already have the exact wording.

MCP

The assistant calls target_questions_create.

“Add this objective to the growth-metrics pack: How many active wallets last week?”

MCP takes the question and an optional topic. To add a hint, use the CLI.

CLI

edisyl pack objectives add growth-metrics --question "How many active wallets last week?" --topic activity \
  --hint "active = a swap in 30d; use the wallet_daily table"

A hint is knowledge the pack can’t guess, such as which table to use or what a term means. Calibration reads only the question’s text. Put anything the pack needs into the question or the hint, or teach it.

See what a data source can support

Use this before you write any questions. It drafts example questions for a data source and creates nothing. It makes an LLM call.

CLI only

edisyl pack objectives examples growth-metrics --limit 10

What makes a good objective

• Specific. “Which suppliers missed SLA last quarter?”, not “Tell me about suppliers.”
• In the words people really use.
• Self-contained. Calibration reads only the question’s text.
• Enough of them. About 10 per data source and 5 per document set to start.

Follow them

MCP

The assistant calls target_questions_list and calibration_status.

“Which objectives on the growth-metrics pack are failing?”

CLI

edisyl pack objectives list growth-metrics
edisyl calibrate status growth-metrics

Each objective shows a state that comes from calibration:

State	Meaning
waiting	Calibration has not written a test for this wording yet.
calibrating	Its test has an answer key but has not been graded with it yet.
passing	The newest test run graded it correct.
failing	The newest test run graded it wrong.
declined	The pack’s sources have no information about it. Add a source that does.
archived	A person set it aside.

A failing or declined objective is a gap. See Improving answers for what to do next.

Edit and archive

CLI only

edisyl pack objectives update <objective-id> --hint "<better steering>"
edisyl pack objectives archive <objective-id>

How they work together

Objectives decide which questions the pack is tested on. The Lexicon decides how the words in those questions are read. Take the question “What was Q3 on-time delivery for tier-one suppliers?”

Word	The Lexicon maps it to
on-time delivery	OTIF, the DELIVERIES.otif measure
tier-one suppliers	Tier 1 supplier, the SUPPLIERS tier segment

Periods such as “Q3” are not set in the Lexicon. The pack’s calendar sets its fiscal year, the day its weeks start, and its time zone.

Objectives also affect speed. If calibration has already tested a similar question, a verified plan answers in seconds. If not, the pack works out the answer from the start, which is slower. See Known, Understood, New for the three routes a question can take.

For every command and flag, see edisyl pack objectives, edisyl pack vocabulary, and edisyl calibrate.