# CARBON run modes

Use the smallest mode that can answer the user’s release question. Default the first unspecified run to **CARBON Quick**.

## CARBON Quick

**Purpose:** Fast change-focused confidence.

- Scope the current diff plus direct consumers, adjacent flows, schema/API clients, shared styles/components, and likely regression blast radius.
- Prioritize build/start health, the changed promise, one ordinary path, exact code-derived boundaries, null/empty/error behavior, authorization, and the highest-risk adjacent integration.
- Re-evaluate visual layout when structure/CSS changes and contract consumers when APIs, schemas, storage, events, or prompts change.
- Prefer 10–30 high-signal checks and roughly 5–15 minutes when the target permits it.
- Default to breadth with two generated user perspectives. Select depth instead
  when the diff crosses an identity, authorization, data-integrity, migration,
  security/privacy, payment, or AI model/prompt/agent boundary.
- Stop when the changed claim and likely adjacent regressions have enough evidence or a blocker invalidates further work.

## CARBON Medium

**Purpose:** Avoid obvious release embarrassment without destructive depth.

- Include Quick scope plus the primary non-destructive happy paths, representative user roles, common edge/error/recovery cases, accessibility smoke checks, safe security/privacy probes, responsive behavior, and AI-code-smell checks.
- Prefer 40–150 checks and roughly 30–90 minutes, adjusted for setup and product size.
- Use balanced coverage: breadth across representative product surfaces, then
  depth on the strongest risk signal. Include four product-grounded user
  perspectives and persist their page-linked qualitative feedback.
- Do not perform destructive, payment, notification, privilege, privacy-invasive, or load actions without explicit safe authorization.

## CARBON Large

**Purpose:** Broad, resumable, overnight confidence.

- Expand across all evidenced critical flows/items, supported roles/tenants/locales/platforms, code-derived boundaries, compatibility, resilience, concurrency, authorized security, performance, and lifecycle/recovery.
- Plan for approximately 4–12 hours by default; report the estimate and cut line before starting.
- Run in resumable batches ordered by risk. Continuously persist progress and partial results.
- Use breadth then depth across the authorized envelope with up to six
  product-grounded user perspectives. Keep each exploratory charter and persona
  observation tied to screenshots, tests, and safe telemetry.
- “Full” means full within the declared environment, authorization, data, time, and safety envelope—not every theoretical permutation.

## Selection and handoff

If the user names a size, use it. Otherwise run Quick first. Before Medium or Large, show estimated duration, test count, required environment/data, destructive or costly cases, and the proposed stop conditions.

After every major pass, offer:

- **Quick:** retest changed/failed/adjacent scope.
- **Medium:** broaden to safe happy paths and representative edges.
- **Large:** schedule the authorized broad overnight pass.
