Add `pipeline.boss.spec_auto_sign` (default off). With it on, a /boss
run may sign a spec in the user's place — but only through a gate built
to never rely on the orchestrator's own confidence: all objective gates
green (precondition, parse, grounding-check PASS with no human override)
AND a unanimous five-lens adversarial spec-skeptic panel (criterion,
grounding, scope-fork, ambiguity, plan-readiness). Any single BLOCK
falls back to the human sign-off pause.
On a clean sign the orchestrator commits the spec ((boss-signed) in the
subject), fires a mandatory informational-with-veto notify, and proceeds
to planner without stopping. A later veto is a forward correction, never
a history rewind.
- new agent: specify/agents/spec-skeptic.md (read-only, one lens per dispatch)
- specify Step 6 + Iron Law: approval may come from the auto-sign gate,
never from model self-confidence
- boss: third notify category, §"Spec auto-sign", rationalisations, red flags
- profile-schema + template: the opt-in slot
- pipeline.md, agent-template.md, README: the auto-sign path documented
Architect drift review (cycle 9e8b9ec..HEAD) returned drift_found. Three
cycle-introduced items, all repaired here as tidy edits:
- planner/SKILL.md: the cycle never touched it (recon never scoped it,
the feat commit body's "every pipeline rendering agrees" over-claimed).
Its Handoff Contract still named `brainstorm → planner` and the bounce
`planner → brainstorm`; the Input-source cross-ref and two
rationalisation rows still pointed at brainstorm as the spec producer.
All repointed to specify (specify produces and owns the spec; brainstorm
is the optional discovery stage upstream of it). The skip rule now lists
specify in the design path tdd bypasses.
- specify/agents/grounding-check.md: the agent move left one stale pair —
"self-review (Step 7) and user-approval (Step 8)" were brainstorm's old
numbers; in specify they are Step 4 and Step 6.
- profile-schema + template: the `optional: true` per-phase key I
introduced in the plan was undocumented AND rested on a semantic error —
`brainstorm: { gates: [specify] }` reads as "specify cannot start until
brainstorm has run", which is false (specify enters directly from
sources). Corrected to `brainstorm: {}` (an active phase with no hard
gate of its own, like implement); specify keeps `gates: [planner]` as
the one real hard gate. The optional key is gone; brainstorm's
optionality lives in the skip rules and SKILL prose, where it belongs.
Why these escaped the cycle's own grep suite: the consistency greps used
`brainstorm *-> *planner`, which does not match the real renderings
`` `brainstorm` -> `planner` `` (backticks between the words). The same
filter-string blind spot recurred twice this session; the verification
greps here tolerate optional backticks.
Pre-existing debt (NOT cycle-introduced), filed as backlog Brummel/Skills
issue #5 rather than fixed here: docs/migration.md's layout tree and
README's migration-status both predate tdd/glossary/pseudo/issue/
postmortem and misdescribe the roster.
Verdict: cycle drift-clean after these repairs (carry-on). No regression
gate (prose repo, no scripts). Not a milestone close.
Add `specify` as a third co-equal entry path into the dev cycle: it
produces an approved spec from already-settled sources (an exhaustive
issue, a long in-context design discussion, or a design brainstorm just
ratified) with review but no interview. This is the producing half of a
deliberate deciding/producing split — `brainstorm` shrinks to optional
discovery, `specify` becomes the sole spec-production gate before
`planner`, mirroring the RED->GREEN split that keeps tdd/debug honest.
What moved:
- brainstorm/SKILL.md: stripped of the hard-gate, the acceptance
criterion, write-spec, self-review, grounding-check, user-review, and
planner-handoff steps; terminal state is now handing a ratified design
narrative to specify. Steps renumbered 1-5 (production steps left).
- specify/SKILL.md (new): the production core, with a precondition gate
(Step 1.5) that bounces to brainstorm the moment the sources do not
resolve a load-bearing decision — the same discipline tdd uses.
- The grounding-check agent moved brainstorm/agents/ -> specify/agents/
(no-orphan-agents: it lives under its dispatcher), refs repointed.
- boss/SKILL.md: Entry-path reflection is now three-way (tdd / specify /
brainstorm). specify dispatches autonomously (bounded, no interview)
and pauses at its user-review gate; only a fresh brainstorm cycle
stays a pre-dispatch bounce-back.
- pipeline.md, README, profile-schema, the profile template, and the
migration layout updated so every pipeline rendering agrees; specify
is a CORE node (not opt-in, unlike tdd) carrying gates: [planner].
Design alternative rejected: parallel sibling skills sharing a
docs/spec-production.md (extract-to-doc). Chosen extract-and-chain
instead — the shared surface is ~70%, so a shared doc would either
become the skill body or drift; chaining keeps one executed home for the
gates.
Verification (prose repo, no test suite): the spec's internal-
consistency grep suite (no two-path drift, no direct brainstorm->planner
edge, specify referenced in every rendering, grounding-check single home
under specify, specify structural completeness) all green. Orchestrator
inspection additionally fixed two dead step-refs the plan under-scoped
(a "(Step 4)" lift-validation pointer and a "Skipping Step 7
self-review" red flag, both pointing at steps brainstorm no longer has)
and corrected six pre-existing brainstorm->planner renderings in
pipeline.md and tdd that predated this cycle.
Known follow-ups (non-blocking): the committed spec writes
`skills/specify/` in places (typo; skill dirs are repo-top-level) — to
be corrected separately. The grounding-check hard-gate was degenerate
for this very cycle (this repo has no profile and no test suite); the
skip is documented in the spec and the session.
Brummel