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SpecsCLIScaffold, Managed Skill, and Operator Follow-ups

Scaffold, Managed Skill, and Operator Follow-ups Implementation Notes

Implementation Notes

Summary

  • Execution started from the clean child branch based on live PR #123 head.
  • Shared-skill authority fixes are pushed at immutable tag sync/scaffold-skill-followups-408746ad5fdf.
  • Scoped prompt authoring now stays within a 700-line fixed-fixture budget while preserving activation and validation seams.
  • Candidate archive/consumer semantics have an honest pre-sync RED for the malformed Effect table.
  • Exact-ref synchronization turned the archive/consumer semantic contract green with only three generated packaged-file changes.
  • Operator commands recognize supported Codex markers without a Harness-owned prompt while preserving one explicit Skills CLI target.

Deviations From the Plan

  • The control-plane recovered before closeout. hi check --json now resolves authority but reports broad pre-existing active-projection/settings drift, so no update was applied.

Surprises and Decisions

  • PR #123 was rebased after the user captured 435af1ec; the child uses live equivalent head fb8c216f to preserve valid ancestry.
  • Active repository managed projections remain untouched while control-plane baseline authority is unavailable. Candidate-baseline consumer tests own projection proof.
  • AI-context Markdown requires explicit writing-for-agents application evidence; file type alone is not sufficient proof.
  • sync:skills treats an unprefixed ref as refs/heads/*; immutable tags require the explicit refs/tags/* form.
  • The supported fixture refresh also regenerates bundled baseline identity and context outcome provenance; wiki content sync owns the mirrored runbook projection.
  • Authority recovery changed the scaffold check from unavailable to an evidence-backed drift report; the report spans unrelated active skills and settings, so candidate archive/consumer proof remains this branch's bounded projection validation.

Steering

DateFeedbackChanges
2026-08-12Apply writing-for-agents to every AI-context Markdown change.Added a plan invariant, reinforced active worker briefs, and required per-task skill evidence.

Sanity Checks

CheckResultNotes
Child ancestrypassBranch started exactly at live PR #123 head fb8c216f.
Shared sourcepassImmutable tag and branch resolve 408746ad5fdf10d75513cd1b63c71c6f22fa7fb7; shared suite passed 104/104.
CLI focused suitespassPrompt/scaffold passed 51/51; operator/config/adapter passed 55/55; archive/consumer semantic target passed.
Generated projectionspassManaged fixture, bundled identity, context outcome, and wiki runbook were refreshed only through owning generators.
Baseline filepartialRequired semantic case passes; unrelated publisher fixture remains spawnSync git ENOENT under its mocked PATH.
hi check --jsonpartialAuthority resolved; command reports broad pre-existing active projection/settings drift. No write was applied.
Repository checkpassbun run check passed all 12 workspace tasks.
Repository testpartialRoot/non-CLI/runtime/wiki gates and one 23-test CLI update shard passed; the runner terminated three remaining long update shards with SIGTERM and no assertion failure.
Frozen reviewpassFinal standards and spec axes pass after repairing pointer wording and wiki frontmatter.
StackpassDraft PR #127 targets PR #123; applied sync confirms main -> #123 -> #127.

Skill Application Evidence

TaskSkillStatusHow/whereNot-applicable reason and assessment location
T1writing-for-agentsappliedCanonical delivery routing, Effect reference, and docs-onboarding Markdown keep singular authority, exact conditions, and compact positive instructions.
T1tddappliedThree public source contracts failed before the minimal fixes and pass afterward.
T1codebase-designappliedCanonical skill Markdown remains the interface; synchronization remains a later adapter task.
T1simplifyappliedOnly defect-bearing source rows and their contracts changed.
T2writing-for-agentsappliedGoverning spec, generated prompt Markdown, handoff, and summary use repository invariants plus exact-trigger pointers without copying skill semantics.
T2tddappliedPublic rendered-Markdown assertions captured missing compactness, the 705-line boundary, and duplicated handoff policy before production edits.
T2codebase-designappliedrenderPromptSpecMarkdown remains the single detailed renderer seam.
T2quality-typesappliedExisting typed inputs remain unchanged; no parallel descriptive state was added.
T2simplifyappliedRepeated generic authoring prose and handoff checklist were removed.
T4writing-for-agentsnot applicableNo AI-context Markdown changed.T4 owns one executable baseline test.
T4tddappliedCandidate archive and consumer contract captured the pre-sync RED and passes after exact-ref synchronization.
T4codebase-designappliedOne semantic helper verifies both distribution boundaries.
T4simplifyappliedOne focused contract covers archive and consumer without production changes.
T3writing-for-agentsnot applicableNo AI-context Markdown changed.T3 owns executable TypeScript and tests only.
T3tddappliedPackaged CODEX_CI execution prompted before the marker fix.
T3codebase-designappliedHost detection stays at the runtime boundary; mutation stays in the Skills CLI adapter.
T3quality-typesappliedOne typed marker map drives detection and forwarding.
T3effectappliedTyped invalid-context failure and injected operation seam remain intact.
T3simplifyappliedDetection and forwarding share one marker source.
T5writing-for-agentsappliedAccepted exact canonical bytes through the generator and verified full-tree parity; no manual AI-context rewrite occurred.
T5repo-asset-managementappliedPackaged skill assets came only from the supported exact-ref sync adapter.
T5tddappliedThe pre-sync archive/consumer semantic RED became GREEN after synchronization.
T5simplifyappliedGenerated tracked delta is limited to three expected packaged files; docs onboarding was already current.
T6writing-for-agentsappliedDurable docs keep installed skills authoritative, inline stable repository invariants, co-locate operator targeting behavior, and keep exact fixture detail in one runbook.
T6tddappliedExisting public contracts and the pre-sync semantic RED bound the documented behavior; generated changes were accepted only after those contracts passed.
T6codebase-designappliedExecutable changes use CHANGELOG.md; distributed baseline changes use BASELINE_CHANGELOG.md; projections remain generator-owned.
T6simplifyappliedTemporary candidate lineage was removed from repeated durable docs and retained in release/implementation evidence.
T7reviewappliedFrozen standards review found and repaired a circular skill pointer plus invalid wiki frontmatter; frozen spec review passed.
T7writing-for-agentsappliedThe repaired pointer has one concrete branch: explicit <id> invocation discloses the installed skill body; model discovery stays in the installed description.
T7simplifyappliedOne repeated sentence remains in distinct public-output owners; sharing it would add cross-renderer coupling without reducing behavior concepts.

Acceptance Criteria Status

CriterionStatusNotes
AC-001 through AC-008passFocused contracts, candidate distribution readback, exact-ref parity, and frozen spec review pass.

Manual Review Checklist

AreaCheckHow to performExpected result
Prompt outputInspect a representative scoped prompt spec.Run the fixed 15-scope content contract.Exact-trigger pointers, Source Guide, mirror, and validation seams remain within 700 lines.
Operator targetingExercise both Codex markers and unknown-host modes.Run focused public-output/operator tests.Recognized Codex hosts skip the prompt; unknown-host behavior is preserved; child calls have one agent.
Skill distributionBuild/extract candidate and scaffold isolated consumer.Run the focused baseline semantic target.Delivery repair gate, three-cell Effect row, and hi init survive archive and consumer projection.
StackInspect PR base and ancestry.Compare child merge-base and GitHub base.PR #123 remains parent; child PR targets its branch.

Pre-existing Issues

  • hi check --json now reaches the current baseline and reports broad drift across active skills/settings inherited by this checkout. Applying that unrelated projection rewrite is outside this branch.

Remaining Work

  • Parent PR #123 merges first. Then rebase this child onto main, retarget PR #127 to main, and merge it second.

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