voidmachine 4.0.0 → 5.0.0

package/core-assets/skills/void-autopilot/SKILL.md

@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 ---
 name: void-autopilot
-description: Use to run the continuous delivery loop, where a curator ranks the backlog, up to four workers each run void-implement to a PR, and a bounded review gates the GitHub merge queue until drained or stopped.
+description: Use to run the continuous delivery loop, where a curator ranks the backlog, up to four workers each run void-implement to a PR, and a local review verdict gates each merge until drained or stopped.
 ---
 
 # autopilot
 
 A continuous loop that takes tickets from the tracker to the integration branch without a human
 at each merge. A curator ranks what is worth doing, up to four workers each carry one ticket to
-a pull request, a reviewer reads each one once, and GitHub merges what is green through its merge
-queue. Promotion to the branch that deploys stays human.
+a pull request, a reviewer reads each one once, and the loop merges the head it passed, through
+GitHub's merge queue when the base has one. A person who says they merge themselves gets every
+reviewed pull request instead. Promotion to the branch that deploys stays human.
 
 **Attribution**: see `.source`.
 
@@ -22,25 +23,31 @@ then reviews..." inside autopilot, stop: that behaviour has one owner, and two c
 a ticket gets a different standard depending on how it was started.
 
 It never merges on a flag. Not on the command line, not because the checks are green, not because
-the diff is small. Consent to a machine merge is a durable declaration in the programme --
-`mergeGate: union-reviewed` together with a `deployBranch` -- and there is no `--auto-merge` on
-any path. Under `mergeGate: human` a ready pull request goes to a person; that wait is by design
-and never counts toward the streak that stops the loop. Promotion from the integration branch to the one that deploys stays human
-under both gates.
+the diff is small. There is no `--auto-merge` on any path and no merge gate to configure: the loop
+merges into the integration branch only a head a local verdict passed, and never into the branch
+that deploys -- `autopilot.deployBranch`, or the repository's default branch when the programme
+names none. When the person says they merge themselves, run `void-machine autopilot merges
+--by-human`: from the next tick every reviewed pull request goes to them instead (see Who merges).
+Promotion from the integration branch to the one that deploys stays human.
 
 It never merges a change to the machinery that judges merges. A pull request touching
 `.github/**`, `scripts/independent-review-check.mjs`, `.void/program.md`, `packages/core/hooks/**`,
 what a judging workflow runs from outside `.github`
 (`scripts/promotion-authority.mjs`, `scripts/auto-merge-contract.mjs`, `scripts/verify.mjs`,
 `packages/core/enforce/**`), what judges a publication (`scripts/prepare-release-artifact.mjs`,
-`scripts/verify-release-publication.mjs` and the two release contracts they read), the loop code that believes a verdict and arms a merge (`loop.ts`,
-`loop-observe.ts`, `review-signature.ts`, `commands/autopilot-loop.ts`), or the hooks installed here (`.void/hooks/**`, `.claude/settings.json`,
-`.codex/**`, `.void/config.json`) goes to a person with the file named (`protected-path`). A rename
+`scripts/verify-release-publication.mjs` and the two release contracts they read), the loop code that believes a verdict and merges (`loop.ts`,
+`loop-observe.ts`, `branch-identity.ts`, `commands/autopilot-loop.ts`), the local chain of judgment
+(`packages/void-machine/src/**`, `commands/agents.ts`, `program.ts`, `judgments.ts`,
+`merge-hold.ts`, the review command, its parser and the reviewer's definition,
+`footprint-area.ts`), or the
+runtime configuration installed here, which a reviewer running in a worktree of the head loads too
+(`.void/hooks/**`, `.claude/**`, `.mcp.json`, `.codex/**`, `.void/config.json`) goes to a person with the file named (`protected-path`). A rename
 counts by its source and its destination. The programme adds paths through
 `autopilot.protectedPaths`; nothing removes from that floor.
 
-It never closes, cancels or deletes a ticket, and it never touches `main`, the secrets or the
-repository settings.
+It never closes, cancels or deletes a ticket, and it never touches `main` or repository settings.
+Autopilot consent alone never authorizes credential operations: these require separate explicit
+scope under `void-security-guidance`. Role restrictions, including read-only reviewers, remain binding.
 
 ---
 
@@ -52,7 +59,9 @@ the `autopilot` block, so there is nothing to ask: not which ticket, not which p
 That file is also the consent, and consent is never inferred. An absent `.void/program.md`, a
 `status` other than `executing`, an `autopilot` block that is missing or unreadable, or
 `autopilot.enabled: false` all mean the same thing -- say so and stop. `void-machine autopilot next`
-refuses the same cases; inventing a target claims tickets nobody agreed to hand over.
+refuses the same cases; inventing a target claims tickets nobody agreed to hand over. A programme
+still written for the 4.0 merge gate (`autopilot.schemaVersion: 1` with `mergeGate`) is refused
+too, with its migration; a former `mergeGate: human` runs `autopilot merges --by-human` first.
 
 ---
 
@@ -84,9 +93,10 @@ skip a step, merge, or decide that a refusal does not apply to it.
 **Workers**, one per slot. Each carries one ticket from claim to an open pull request, in its own
 worktree, by running `void-implement` whole.
 
-**Reviewer.** The independent pass of `void-implement`, run by GitHub itself: the
-`independent-review` job, in a fresh context, on the exact head SHA of every ready pull request.
-There is no second review at merge time: its check is what GitHub requires.
+**Reviewer.** The independent pass of `void-implement`, invoked by ORCH through
+`void-orchestrate` in a fresh read-only context on the exact head SHA. `autopilot review`
+prepares and collects its canonical receipt locally. There is no second review at merge
+time: the merge happens on that head alone.
 
 A role that starts doing another's job is the failure this split exists to prevent: an orchestrator
 that "just looks at the diff" becomes a reviewer nobody bounded, and a worker that posts its own
@@ -145,9 +155,11 @@ Act on each returned action, then ask again:
 | `wait` | nothing; the reason says who is working |
 | `hand-back-to-worker` | give the ticket back to its worker, alive or respawned in the same worktree, with the reason and the pull request; a respawned worker resumes its mission (see Respawning) |
 | `mark-human-wait` | record it in `recent` with its `reason`, which `recent` requires and the recap repeats, put the decision's `humanWaitLabel` on the ticket, comment the reason and detail, free the slot; keep reporting its pull request and footprint, which hold its ground until that pull request merges or closes |
-| `enable-auto-merge` | `void-machine autopilot arm --ticket <id> --pr <n> --head <headSha>`: it records the head, arms on exactly that head and reads GitHub back; never `gh pr merge --auto` by hand, never `--admin` |
+| `merge` | `void-machine autopilot merge --ticket <id> --pr <n> --head <headSha>`, on a base with no merge queue: it proves again the hold, the verdict and the target, merges exactly that head with `--match-head-commit`, and arms the native auto-merge on it when the base's policy refuses a direct merge; never `gh pr merge` by hand, never `--admin` |
+| `update-branch` | `void-machine autopilot update-branch --pr <n> --head <headSha>`: GitHub merges the base into the branch if its head is still that one; the new head is reviewed before anything merges it |
+| `enable-auto-merge` | `void-machine autopilot arm --ticket <id> --pr <n> --head <headSha>`, on a base with a merge queue: the same guards, then it records the head, arms on exactly that head and reads GitHub back; never `gh pr merge --auto` by hand, never `--admin` |
 | `disable-auto-merge` | `void-machine autopilot disarm --pr <n>`, before the action that follows it for the same ticket; it turns its auto-merge off, then takes it out of the merge queue, and fails while GitHub still shows either; never `gh pr merge --disable-auto` alone, which leaves a queued pull request in the queue |
-| `rerun-review-check` | `gh run rerun <run> --failed`: the review job failed on this head without posting a verdict, a crash or an output it refused; twice at most per run, then `review-check-reruns-exhausted` |
+| `review` | `void-machine autopilot review --ticket <id> --pr <n> --head <headSha> --round <round> --mission <canonical-id>`; on awaiting-native-review use `void-orchestrate` for the actual reviewer, record canonical receipts, then repeat to collect. The same attempt keeps its 30 minute deadline; failures retain the existing budget |
 | `requeue` | the same command, to put an ejected head back in the queue; the kernel bounds how often |
 | `drain` | take nothing new; keep acting on the tickets in flight |
 | `freeze` | stop acting, once the disarms before it succeeded |
@@ -159,12 +171,20 @@ send each back to the agent that produced it.
 
 **Spawning.** Every worker gets its worktree before it starts, at the durable location the
 doctrine's worktree rule names, reused when its branch already has one. A worker never chooses its
-own checkout and never works in the main one. When the project uses the cockpit presentation
-described in the harness's native supervision guide, each worker and reviewer is launched once in
-its own surface to the right of the orchestrator; without it, workers are native subagents. The
-presentation shows the loop; it never grants a permission, a proof or a merge.
-
-**Respawning.** A respawned worker resumes; it never starts the ticket again. Its code is in its
+own checkout and never works in the main one. Compose `void-orchestrate` to choose supported
+native delegation, including the session-host selection policy and the Herdr adapter
+with its central files when applicable. Count writers,
+researchers and reviewers against available dispatch capacity; the ticket cap is unchanged.
+An assigned worker executes the unit once, without recursively delegating the complete cycle.
+`liveWorkers` reflects reconciled actual sessions and current evidence, never stale pane hints.
+No permission is widened. Collect results before closure; uncertainty requires reconciliation.
+
+**Respawning.** A hand-back goes to the same native session that holds the ticket, with the
+reason and pull request as data. Re-read mission, Git and actual session evidence; consult central
+brief/report and fresh Herdr identities only when that adapter is selected. Never a second run
+beside an existing or uncertain invocation. A missing session is reported; retain its evidence.
+
+A respawned worker resumes; it never starts the ticket again. Its code is in its
 worktree and its branch, its progress in its mission journal, `.void/machine/runs/<mission>/events.jsonl`
 under the installation root, which is the main checkout and not the worktree. It finds its mission
 as the open one whose `mission.json` carries the ticket id as its title, runs
@@ -194,24 +214,36 @@ GitHub keeps an auto-merge armed across a push by anyone with write access, show
 no armed head, and its required check trusts the status alone. So `arm` records the head it armed,
 and `next` returns `disable-auto-merge` when it can no longer vouch for an armed pull request: its
 head moved since `arm` recorded it (then `hand-back-to-worker`, `head-moved-after-arming`: the new
-head is unreviewed), the seal no longer proves a clean verdict on the armed head (then
-`mark-human-wait`, `armed-verdict-unproven`), or nothing recorded the arming (then
-`mark-human-wait`, `ambiguous-state`). An armed merge survives a tick only while the loop vouches
-for its head and hands it to nobody (`wait merging`, `rerun-review-check`): a worker at work, any
+head is unreviewed), no clean local verdict holds the armed head (then
+`mark-human-wait`, `armed-verdict-unproven`), nothing recorded the arming (then
+`mark-human-wait`, `arming-unrecorded`), or a person took the merges back (then
+`mark-human-wait`, `human-merge-hold`). An armed merge survives a tick only while the loop vouches
+for its head and hands it to nobody (`wait merging`): a worker at work, any
 hand-back, a human wait and an immediate stop all come with the disarm. Disarm first, always.
 
-**The review runs in GitHub.** `.github/workflows/independent-review.yml` reviews every ready
-pull request into the base on `pull_request_target`: GitHub runs its workflow, scripts and
-instructions from the default branch, which only a person merges into, so a change to the review
-takes effect once promoted there; the head is read as data and never run, and the verdict becomes the
-`independent-review` check on that head, posted by the review App, a GitHub App holding the Checks
-permission alone. Branch protection requires the check from that App, so the same name from any
-workflow's `GITHUB_TOKEN` does not count. For each merge group, `independent-review-queue.yml`, on
-`workflow_run` of `ci` and also from the default branch, posts the App's check on the group commit
-once every head of the group carries it. No key or secret for it lives on this machine, so neither a
-worker nor a compromised dependency it runs can forge an approval: the App's key and the
-`CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN` live in the `independent-review` environment, whose deployment branch
-policy admits the default branch alone.
+**The review is local.** `autopilot review` prepares the exact head in a detached worktree,
+checks its `HEAD` before and after collection and refuses any protected path. ORCH invokes the
+native reviewer there. Collection requires the canonical independent receipt and actual matching
+request/start/completion: reviewedCommit, baseCommit, acceptanceCriteriaHash, distinct writer and
+reviewer, read-only scope and authentic native-context or review-artifact provenance. A central
+report marked done proves none of these. The verdict is recorded in
+`.void/machine/autopilot/reviews/<ticket>/<head>.json`; `next` decides on that record alone.
+One attempt runs per head, pending rereads do not reset its deadline, recorded verdicts are
+immutable and rounds are counted from existing records. Legacy in-flight runs retain their own
+collector and journals. A verdict posted on the pull request is a copy for people. Checks,
+protected paths, shared-state fingerprints, human holds and merge permissions are unchanged.
+Remove a review worktree with the ticket's own only after the pull request is observed merged.
+
+**Who merges.** The loop, by default. When the person says they merge themselves, run
+`void-machine autopilot merges --by-human`; `--automatic` gives the merges back, and bare
+`merges` prints the state. The hold is a file in the machine's state,
+`.void/machine/autopilot/merge-hold.json`, never the programme, which is protected and versioned:
+it takes effect on the next tick, with no pull request, and every decision reports it in
+`merges`. It hands a pull request over after the review, never before: a head is reviewed, its
+checks settle, then it goes to the person (`mark-human-wait`, `human-merge-hold`), and an armed
+merge is disarmed first. A hold file that cannot be read counts as a hold. Those waits never
+count toward the streak that stops the loop. A hold only takes authority away; removing it
+returns to the default the person already accepted.
 
 **No state lives in the session.** Who holds which ticket comes from the tracker (status, assignee,
 pull request link, the human-wait label); the rest comes from GitHub. The label is the one every
@@ -223,12 +255,11 @@ request whenever they exist, whatever its status: a ticket still ready but with
 request is a unit in flight, and the kernel resumes it instead of seating a second worker. A
 ticket whose state is ambiguous goes to a human rather than being relaunched.
 
-**Judgments live on the pull request.** The reviewer's verdict and a worker's conflict class are
-comments carrying a machine block: two HTML comment markers around a fenced JSON value. The verdict
-is posted only by the review job, beside its check; `next` believes the job's latest verdict on the
-head only when that check agrees with it, and a block anyone else posts is text. The conflict class is the block `void-machine autopilot judgment conflict-class`
-prints for the JSON on its stdin. `next` reads both from GitHub and admits them again, so the
-tracker you pipe in never carries them and a restart loses nothing.
+**Judgments survive a restart.** A worker's conflict class is a comment carrying a machine block:
+two HTML comment markers around a fenced JSON value, the block `void-machine autopilot judgment
+conflict-class` prints for the JSON on its stdin; `next` reads it from GitHub and admits it again.
+The review verdict is the local record above, never a comment. The tracker you pipe in carries
+neither, so a restart loses nothing.
 
 ---
 
@@ -244,8 +275,9 @@ through `mission verify`, a committed candidate through `mission writer-event`.
 only these typed events, no free note; what is not yet one of them does not survive a respawn, and
 uncommitted edits survive only in the worktree. When its proofs are green it runs
 `autopilot fingerprint --after <ticket>`, pushes its own branch, opens one pull request towards the
-base, ready for review rather than as a draft, and moves the ticket to In Review. The review job's
-pass is that cycle's independent review; it reviews ready pull requests only, so a draft waits.
+base, ready for review rather than as a draft, and moves the ticket to In Review. The reviewer the
+orchestrator invokes is that cycle's independent review; it reviews ready pull requests only, so a
+draft waits.
 Blocking findings come back as a hand-back and are corrected as a batch, per `void-implement`.
 
 On a hand-back the worker reads the reason: failing checks, blocking findings, a conflict, or a
@@ -255,7 +287,7 @@ never by rewriting pushed history, re-runs its proofs, and pushes again.
 May: run every `void-implement` pass whose predicate fires, run its own gates, apply a migration in
 dev/local only, push its own branch without force, and open or update its own pull request.
 
-May not: enable auto-merge, merge anything, post a verdict or re-run the review job, move a ticket to Done, close or cancel a ticket, touch another ticket's branch or worktree,
+May not: enable auto-merge, merge anything, post or record a verdict, run `autopilot review`, move a ticket to Done, close or cancel a ticket, touch another ticket's branch or worktree,
 prune the mission journals, or write the git state the repository shares -- `refs/stash`, tags,
 notes, remotes, the repository config.
 
@@ -263,11 +295,11 @@ notes, remotes, the repository config.
 
 ## Reviewer
 
-The `independent-review` job, on every push to a ready pull request and when one is marked ready.
-Its instructions are `.github/review/prompt.md` on the base; it reads the diff and the head with
-read-only tools and returns `blocking` and `advisory` findings under a JSON schema. The job binds
-them to the head and the round, posts the verdict comment and concludes the check: success with no
-blocking finding, failure otherwise, failure too when the output is missing or out of bounds.
+`independent-code-reviewer`, collected by `autopilot review` on the head of a ready pull request.
+Its brief carries the diff against the merge base as data, what blocks, and the answer it returns:
+its own completion contract, each finding classified, a blocking one located at `path:line` in the
+head. The kernel binds the answer to the head and the round; a reviewer that could not judge, whose
+verdict contradicts its findings, or whose answer the contract refuses, gives no verdict.
 
 **What blocks.** Only what is wrong or dangerous, with a concrete scenario: incorrect behaviour, a
 vulnerability, an unstable or empty proof, a broken consumer. Each blocking finding names its
@@ -279,17 +311,20 @@ orchestrator, and never come back into the loop.
 
 **Rounds.** After a correction, round 2 is handed round 1's blocking findings and checks only those
 against the new diff; it opens no new general reading. Still blocking after round 2, the kernel
-hands the ticket to a human with the finding. The kernel counts rounds on GitHub, one per head the
-job blocked, not from the round a verdict announces, and a job that failed without a verdict is a
-crash it re-runs, not a round.
+hands the ticket to a human with the finding. The kernel counts rounds from the local records, one
+per head a verdict blocked, not from the round a verdict announces, and a reviewer that failed
+without a verdict is an attempt it delegates again, not a round.
 
 ---
 
 ## Conflicts and the merge queue
 
-When the base has a merge queue, GitHub rebuilds the combined commit of every pull request ahead
-and reruns the required checks, `independent-review` included, before it merges. Two tickets green
-alone and broken together cannot reach the base.
+A head merges once a clean local verdict holds it, no check on it fails or is pending (a head no
+check runs on merges on its verdict alone), no protected path is touched and its branch is up to
+date with the base. When the base has a merge queue, GitHub rebuilds the combined commit of every
+pull request ahead and reruns the required checks before it merges. Two tickets green alone and
+broken together cannot reach the base. Required checks a repository adds on the base are one more
+gate GitHub enforces at merge time; the loop needs none.
 
 A pull request ejected from the queue whose head still passes its checks and carries a clean
 verdict has nothing for its worker to fix: the kernel answers `requeue`, at most twice for the same
@@ -302,11 +337,11 @@ sends the ticket to a human. A worker never picks a side of a semantic conflict
 moving.
 
 **Serial fallback.** Without a merge queue, merges run one at a time: the oldest ready pull request
-(or the one already merging) holds the turn, is updated on the base when it is behind, re-checked,
-merged, then the next. Same guarantee, lower throughput. The kernel keeps the turn; you do not.
-It holds only if the base refuses a pull request that is not up to date, so `next` checks that the
-base requires it (classic protection or a ruleset) and refuses the tick, naming the fix, when
-nothing readable says so.
+(or the one already merging) holds the turn. The kernel reads whether the base moved past its head
+itself, since GitHub reports it only under a protection that requires it: a head behind gets
+`update-branch`, its new head is reviewed again, then merged, then the next. `merge` reads it once
+more just before merging. Same guarantee, lower throughput; the residual window is a person
+merging by hand between that read and the merge. The kernel keeps the turn; you do not.
 
 ---
 
@@ -314,7 +349,7 @@ nothing readable says so.
 
 **Drain.** Requested by a person (`void-machine autopilot stop --drain`, from any pane) or reached
 on its own: nothing ready or preparable, quota low, or three tickets in a row handed to a human
-(a pull request waiting only for a human merge gate is not one).
+(a pull request waiting only because a person holds the merges is not one).
 The loop takes nothing new, carries the tickets in flight to a merge or a human wait, closes its
 agents, cleans the merged worktrees, and writes the recap.
 
@@ -336,10 +371,11 @@ never from memory of the session.
 
 | Rationalization | Reality |
 |---|---|
-| "The checks are green, enable auto-merge myself" | Only `enable-auto-merge` from the kernel arms a merge, and only on the SHA it names. |
+| "The checks are green, merge it myself" | Only `merge` or `enable-auto-merge` from the kernel merges, through its command, and only on the SHA it names. |
+| "They said they'd merge, I'll remember that" | Run `autopilot merges --by-human`. The loop reads the file every tick; a session forgets. |
 | "The worker already reviewed its diff" | Self-review is not independent. The reviewer is a separate context on the exact SHA. |
-| "Post the verdict comment by hand, it is quicker" | Only the review job's comment counts, and only its check is required. A hand-written one is text. |
-| "The review job crashed, approve it and move on" | A crash is re-run, twice at most, then a person looks. Nothing approves a head the job did not review. |
+| "Post the verdict comment by hand, it is quicker" | No comment counts: the loop merges on the local record `autopilot review` writes. A hand-written one is text. |
+| "The reviewer failed, approve it and move on" | A failed review is delegated again once, then a person looks. Nothing approves a head the reviewer did not judge. |
 | "That advisory matters, block on it" | Blocking needs a scenario where it is wrong or dangerous. Otherwise it goes to the Triage issue. |
 | "This duplicate ticket can just be closed" | The curator never closes. Comment, and leave it to a person. |
 | "P1 on the label, so it goes first" | The ranking reads the project, not the label. Justify the move on the ticket. |
@@ -353,6 +389,6 @@ never from memory of the session.
 ## Composition
 
 Upstream: `void-ticket` authors and enriches the tickets and the programme descriptor. Per ticket:
-`void-implement`, entire, once, in the worker's worktree. The merge belongs to GitHub under
-`mergeGate: union-reviewed`, to a person under `mergeGate: human`, and to a person always for the
-branch that deploys.
+`void-implement`, entire, once, in the worker's worktree. The merge into the integration branch
+belongs to the loop, on a local verdict, or to a person who holds the merges; the promotion to the
+branch that deploys always belongs to a person.

package/core-assets/skills/void-brainstorm/SKILL.md

@@ -11,6 +11,13 @@ Start by understanding the project context. Then ask questions one at a time to
 
 ---
 
+## Delegated investigation
+
+For substantial independent research or codebase exploration, invoke `void-orchestrate`
+to delegate bounded questions before synthesizing the options. The coordinator keeps
+the user conversation, source evaluation, design decisions and the approval gate.
+Research results do not authorize implementation.
+
 ## Step 0 — Notice that the exchange has become design
 
 This skill was only ever reached when someone asked for it, which is the half of

package/core-assets/skills/void-context/SKILL.md

@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Exploration is the biggest context sink: reading twenty files to answer one ques
 
 This is the cure for "infinite exploration," where the agent keeps reading more files in a widening search and the window fills with material it will never cite. Dispatch a subagent, state the question, accept the conclusion.
 
-Vendored targets: `superpowers:dispatching-parallel-agents` (fan out several investigations at once) and `superpowers:subagent-driven-development` (run independent plan steps in subagents). Until vendored, use those directly.
+Invoke `void-orchestrate` for the native delegation contract. If capabilities are unavailable, follow its explicit fallback without weakening a mandatory independent review.
 
 A subagent must return a **compacted structured summary** — findings, the answer, the relevant file:line pointers — never the raw bytes it read. Raw output dumped back into the main window defeats the delegation.
 
@@ -129,8 +129,7 @@ Decompose long tasks into sub-tasks with their own gates (composes with `void-pl
 - **`void-debug`**: investigate without drowning the window — gather evidence in a subagent, bring back the timeline and root cause, not every log line read.
 - **`void-plan`**: owns the approved execution structure; mutable progress remains with its declared provider.
 - **`void-checkpoint`**: owns semantic session residue; the lifecycle hook owns only the delimited mechanical block it must preserve.
-- **`superpowers:dispatching-parallel-agents`** (vendored target): fan out independent investigations to protect the main window.
-- **`superpowers:subagent-driven-development`** (vendored target): run independent plan steps in fresh-context subagents.
+- **`void-orchestrate`**: delegate bounded independent investigations with fresh context by default; it owns capability fallback, dispatch bounds, isolation and collection. Keep conclusions and evidence references in the coordinator rather than full child transcripts.
 
 This skill absorbs the "context-engineering / anti-context-rot" concept; other skills do the work, this one keeps the window clean enough for them to do it well.
 

package/core-assets/skills/void-implement/SKILL.md

@@ -13,6 +13,15 @@ One ticket, taken from ready to shipped, with the coverage a senior expert team
 
 ---
 
+## Assign the writer once
+
+The interactive coordinator invokes `void-orchestrate` to delegate substantial
+implementation to one writer before starting this cycle. An agent already assigned the unit
+executes it: never delegate this complete workflow again. Tiny direct work and
+capability fallbacks follow that policy without skipping triggered quality gates.
+Preserve one `leadWriterId` through corrections; the coordinator retains user intent
+and decisions. Pass any orchestrator-owned panel contract unchanged.
+
 ## Canonical team orchestration
 
 When the caller supplies `panel.provider: orchestrator`, the orchestrator owns specialist
@@ -28,16 +37,16 @@ materializes its runtime-neutral specialist envelopes from the current plan.
    the worktree and code; specialists and the independent reviewer never edit.
 2. Start with `mission start --ticket <ticket>` and follow `mission dispatch --id <mission>
    --json`. The frozen task and controller own routing, state and correction budget. Before
-   implementation, invoke only the risk-relevant preparation specialists returned by dispatch.
-   Supply their exact envelopes and context packs; collect each result without inventing a
-   completion. Record each actual start and completion with `mission specialist-event --id <mission>`.
-   A missing response calls for resumption, not another correction cycle.
+   implementation, launch only the risk-relevant preparation specialists returned by dispatch,
+   each envelope through `void-orchestrate` using the native runtime (pass 5). Collect each result without
+   inventing a completion. Record each actual start and completion with `mission specialist-event
+   --id <mission>`. A missing response resumes the run it already has, never another cycle.
 3. The implementer implements and verifies, then commits the candidate. Record the pending
    writer receipt with `mission writer-event --id <mission>`. Review must bind an exact
    `reviewedCommit`, `baseCommit` and `acceptanceCriteriaHash`; a mutable worktree is insufficient.
    Prefer a dedicated worktree pinned to that commit, with native read-only permissions.
-4. Dispatch one independent general review. Use the runtime's native separate reviewer context
-   and preserve its actual result. Submit the canonical completion and minimal review receipt:
+4. Dispatch one independent general review through `void-orchestrate` in a fresh native
+   read-only context, preserving its actual invocation. Preserve its actual result. Submit the canonical completion and minimal review receipt:
    task, reviewer and writer identities, exact subject, conclusions, proofs and resolutions.
    Native context identity supplements provenance; missing or refused identity alone does not
    invalidate an executed, traceable independent review. Use the supported artifact provenance
@@ -92,7 +101,7 @@ Run in order. Each pass names the skill it composes and the predicate that fires
 2. **Architecture pass** (IF it touches structure, a module boundary, the data model, or public types). Compose `void-hexagonal-architecture`, `void-domain-driven-design`, agents `type-design-analyzer` + `doctrine-critic`. Confirm the applicable ADR is honored.
 3. **Source grounding** (ALWAYS; the source depends on what the change touches). Read the relevant sources before the first line, per the Anti-rustine section of `PHILOSOPHY.md`. For a third-party configuration, schema or call signature, compose `void-source-driven-development`: official documentation **of the installed version**, never an upgrade by default. For internal code, read the owning contract, types, source and project docs of what you are about to change. Assumed semantics produce bugs that cost hours to find, and the assumption is invisible in the diff — which is why this runs before the writing rather than at review. Cite a source briefly when it helps understand or record a choice; a missing citation never blocks on its own.
 4. **Migration safety** (IF it changes a DB schema or ships a migration). Compose `void-migrations` (and `void-drizzle-migration-safe` on a Drizzle/Postgres stack): zero-downtime, two-phase, batched backfill, locking analysis. **Once the migration is generated and safety-reviewed, apply it to the dev/local database before the TDD and E2E passes run** — otherwise those tests execute against a stale schema and prove nothing about the new shape. **This cycle only ever applies to dev/local; production migrations run through CI / GitHub Actions on merge, never from a worker or this session** (see the `void-migrations` anti-rule). A schema change must never reach the rest of the cycle without this pass.
-5. **Convene the panel** (ALWAYS once, in `team` mode). Call `mission dispatch --json` and act on what it returns. In `team` mode its first action is `invoke-specialists` at `stage: 'pre-implementation'`: the panel speaks **before** the first line is written, which is the whole reason it exists. Invoke each returned envelope's exact `agentName` in a fresh context and paste that envelope's `contextPack` into the prompt verbatim -- the diff, the touched paths, the artifacts, and `omitted` naming what the budget refused. Do not point a specialist at a file to read and do not send it exploring: its turns are few, and a specialist that spends them looking returns nothing. Record `started`, then `completed` or `failed`, for every envelope. Findings from this pass are the brief the writer implements against; a `blocked` verdict stops the cycle here rather than after the code exists. Later dispatches follow the controller's current stage and never replay this preparation pass.
+5. **Convene the panel** (ALWAYS once, in `team` mode). With `panel.provider: orchestrator`, consume ORCH's supplied panel and never launch another. Otherwise call `mission dispatch --json`: its first `invoke-specialists` action is at `stage: 'pre-implementation'`, before code. Compose `void-orchestrate` for native invocation. Pass the envelope's runtime, agentName, missionId, contextPack, reviewSubject and reviewScope unchanged; record actual starts and complete results using `mission specialist-event`. Reconcile an existing invocation before dispatch; uncertain identity means no launch. Keep at most four simultaneous agents, wait in bounded slices, and never fail an agent merely because a wait timed out. Findings brief the single writer; a concrete blocked verdict is resolved before implementation. Later controller stages reuse this transport and never replay preparation. Missing required capability is diagnosed, never fabricated.
 6. **TDD implementation** (ALWAYS). The single lead writer composes `void-tdd` + `void-testing`. Red, green, refactor. Unit tests for the behavior, green before moving on. Review specialists remain read-only.
 7. **Async + idempotency** (IF it sends email, calls an external side-effecting API, enqueues a job, or mints a single-use token). Compose `void-async-safety`: idempotency keys, replay/dedup window, bounded retries, single-use enforcement.
 8. **End-to-end tests** (IF it touches a user-facing flow). Write/extend the E2E suite (Playwright). The path a user actually walks, not just the unit.

package/core-assets/skills/void-orchestrate/.source

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+Distilled from official contracts, checked against installed versions on 2026-10-08:
+- Herdr 0.9.0 automation: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/herdrdev/herdr/v0.9.0/docs/next/website/src/content/docs/agent-automation.mdx
+- Herdr 0.9.0 restoration: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/herdrdev/herdr/v0.9.0/docs/next/website/src/content/docs/session-state.mdx
+- Herdr metadata implementation: https://github.com/herdrdev/herdr/blob/v0.9.0/src/metadata_tokens.rs
+- Herdr resume_argv version boundary: https://github.com/herdrdev/herdr/blob/v0.9.2/CHANGELOG.md
+- Native runtime CLI help (Codex and Claude) and mission-engine review-receipt/specialist-lifecycle contracts in this repository.
+Adaptations/rejections: docs/plans/skill-audits/void-orchestrate.md.
+
+Adaptive delegation, researched 2026-10-13 (distilled, no upstream code copied):
+- OpenAI native subagents: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/agent-configuration/subagents
+- Anthropic research teams: https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/multi-agent-research-system
+- OpenClaw context and collection: https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/subagents/tool-reference
+- OpenClaw lifecycle: https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/subagents/slash-command
+- OpenClaw responsibilities: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/parallel-specialist-lanes
+- Hermes delegation: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/delegation
+- Hermes task selection: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/guides/delegation-patterns