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@ -6,244 +6,225 @@ triage bug, and the move is to say so on the issue, not to guess.
## Picking
- Pick from issues labeled **`ready`** — never `blocked`, never `claimed`,
never an `epic` (epics organize; their children are the work). Inside an
epic take the earliest unblocked unclaimed child; between epics and strays
prefer the issue that unblocks the most other work. Where a repository
adopts version epics, [RELEASES.md](RELEASES.md) governs the choice among
release-window members.
- **Your own red head outranks a new claim**: repair a failing check at the
head of a PR you authored before claiming another issue, or it strands
mergeable and unattended (#163). Record the check and its failure class;
rerun a clearly retryable infrastructure failure unchanged; treat a branch
failure as an ordinary fix round, worklog and all; leave visible evidence
where a rerun cannot be started or the cause is uncertain; never rerun a
deterministic branch failure without a corrective commit; hand off once
the check is green and current-head approvals stand. Such a PR is **not
parked**, whatever the round's verdict state says. How the engine detects
a red head is crew's to describe, not this file's.
- **One build at a time**: at most one issue on which you are writing or
revising a deliverable, finished or released before you start new work.
The rule counts build work in flight, not claims — a **parked** claim,
whose next move belongs to someone else, does not consume the slot.
Exactly five shapes park:
- Pick from issues labeled **`ready`** — never `blocked`, `claimed`, or an
`epic` (epics organize; their children are the work). Inside an epic take
the earliest unblocked unclaimed child; otherwise prefer the issue that
unblocks the most work. Where a repo adopts version epics,
[RELEASES.md](RELEASES.md) governs the choice among window members.
- **Your own red head outranks a new claim**: repair a failing check at your
PR's head before claiming another issue, or it strands mergeable and
unattended (#163). Record the check and its failure class; rerun a clearly
retryable infrastructure failure unchanged; treat a branch failure as an
ordinary fix round, worklog and all; leave evidence where a rerun cannot
start or the cause is unclear; never rerun a deterministic failure without
a corrective commit; hand off once green with current-head approvals. Such
a PR is **never parked**, whatever the round's verdict state says. How the
engine detects a red head is crew's to describe.
- **One build at a time**: one issue on which you are writing or revising a
deliverable, finished or released before you start more. The rule counts
work in flight, not claims — a **parked** claim, whose next move is
someone else's, does not hold the slot. Five shapes park:
1. `needs-ruling` is set, the escalation names a decider, and its
`Blocked:` line stops the remaining work;
2. a **live** review round holds the deliverable, every outstanding
verdict someone else's — awaiting its first verdicts, or answered whole
with the owed re-requests posted, by head and not by verdict (steps 1–2
below). A red check at the current head takes it out of this shape: the
next move is yours;
3. every remaining acceptance criterion is operator-owned, stated as such
by triage on the issue;
4. the deliverable is **handed off** — the round passed, no `blocker:*`
stands, `state:needs-human` is set per Handoff, and the merge is the
human's. Shapes 2 and 4 are sequential and never overlap;
`Blocked:` line stops the rest;
2. a **live** review round holds it, every outstanding verdict someone
else's — awaiting first verdicts, or answered whole with the owed
re-requests posted, by head and not by verdict (steps 1–2). A red check
at the head takes it out of this shape: the next move is yours;
3. every remaining acceptance criterion is operator-owned, stated so by
triage on the issue;
4. it is **handed off** — round passed, no `blocker:*` standing,
`state:needs-human` set per Handoff, the merge the human's. Shapes 2
and 4 are sequential and never overlap;
5. the claim is **held by directive** — triage or the operator stopped the
work, the direction names what the hold waits on, and only they end it.
A hold ends the way it started, **on the labels**: where labels and
prose disagree, the most recent queue-label event by the hold's owner
governs, an operator being free to lift by label alone (#149, #151).
Read the label events (`gh api
/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{n}/timeline`), not only the comments,
before standing down *or* standing up, and where you act against stale
prose say so in the claim, naming the events, their timestamps and
their actor. Refusing to claim through the contradiction is no resting
place: where the events do not resolve it, say so on the issue and take
the next `ready` issue.
Not parked: waiting on yourself, on CI (a red head is your own work; a
pending one resolves without you), or for a good moment. An issue you have
simply stopped working on is abandoned — unassign and restore `ready`.
Parked claims are legitimately held beside the one active build (#15, #16,
#73).
work, named what the hold waits on, and only they end it. A hold ends
as it started, **on the labels**: where labels and prose disagree, the
most recent queue-label event by the hold's owner governs, and an
operator may lift by label alone (#149, #151). So read the label events
(`gh api /repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{n}/timeline`), not just the
comments, before standing down *or* up; acting against stale prose, say
so in the claim, naming the events, their timestamps and their actor.
Refusing to claim through the contradiction is no resting place: where
the events do not resolve it, say so and take the next `ready` issue.
Not parked: waiting on yourself, on CI (a red head is yours; a pending one
resolves without you), or for a good moment. An issue you simply stopped
working on is abandoned — unassign and restore `ready`. Parked claims are
legitimately held beside the one active build (#15, #16, #73).
## Claiming
- Assign yourself, swap `ready` → `claimed`, and comment that you are
starting. The claim promises a draft PR soon: a claim with no PR and no
activity is what the staleness sweep reclaims, unless `offsite` records
that its PR lives in another repository.
- **A park is declared, never inferred.** Comment on the issue naming what
the claim waits on and who owns the next move; no new label, the comment
being the activity that feeds the same reclaim clock the `needs-ruling`
(#52) and `offsite` (#68) exemptions guard. Shape 4 owes no separate
comment: the handoff comment plus the `state:needs-human` write already
name the wait (the merge) and its owner (the human).
that its PR lives in another repo.
- **A park is declared, never inferred.** Comment naming what the claim
waits on and who owns the next move — no new label; the comment is the
activity the reclaim clock reads, as for `needs-ruling` (#52) and
`offsite` (#68). Shape 4 is exempt: the handoff comment and
`state:needs-human` already say both.
- **A declaration stands until the park's facts change**, so a resumption
that finds nothing changed posts nothing (#177). One new comment is owed
each time they do change — the named wait resolves or changes hands, the
parked shape changes, or the claim unparks. A parked claim with **no open
PR** still feeds the 48-hour reclaim clock, so refresh the declaration
before that window closes; that refresh is the only repeat a park owes.
- **Pick up `attention` before anything else.** Post a short pickup comment
and remove `attention`; the removal is the ack. A demand on a parked claim
is usually its unpark, so take the slot back — unless the demand *is* the
park, where the pickup comment doubles as the declaration and the slot
stays free.
finding nothing changed posts nothing (#177). Each change owes one comment
— the wait resolves or changes hands, the shape changes, the claim
unparks. A parked claim with **no open PR** still feeds the 48-hour
reclaim clock, so refresh the declaration before that window closes; that
is the only repeat a park owes.
- **Pick up `attention` before anything else**: post a short pickup comment
and remove the label, which is the ack. A demand on a parked claim is
usually its unpark, so take the slot back — unless the demand *is* the
park, where the pickup comment doubles as the declaration.
- **A directed hold keeps its bookkeeping visible.** The PR carries
`blocked` with a comment naming what it waits on; the issue stays
`claimed` and carries `attention` until the builder acknowledges it.
Nobody unassigns the issue, and the 48-hour reclaim does not fire while
the claim has an open PR.
`claimed` and carries `attention` until the builder acks. Nobody unassigns
it, and the 48-hour reclaim does not fire while the claim has an open PR.
- **Unparking is a claim like any other** and takes the slot: if you are
active elsewhere, finish or release that work first and say which you did
on both issues. No machinery counts claims per builder, and none should be
built expecting this section to have specified one — the discipline is the
declaration, not a counter.
active elsewhere, finish or release that work first and say which on both
issues. No machinery counts claims per builder, and none should be built
expecting this section to have specified one.
- **Abandoning is fine; ghosting is not.** Say where you got to, push the
branch if it holds anything useful, unassign, and restore `ready`.
branch if it holds anything useful, unassign, restore `ready`.
## Building
- Branch per issue; open the PR **as a draft early**, `Closes #N` in the
body. Drafts are invisible to the reviewer panel on purpose: the draft
phase is yours.
body. Drafts are invisible to the panel on purpose: the draft phase is
yours.
- **`Closes #N` does not cross repos.** A PR in a different repo from its
authorizing issue says `Part of <owner>/<repo>#N`, sets `offsite`, and
comments the draft PR link on that issue in the same step. Triage closes
that issue by hand once its acceptance criteria are met, and at that
handoff the builder reports whether the PR merged or closed and clears
`offsite` in the same comment (#13, #16).
issue says `Part of <owner>/<repo>#N`, sets `offsite`, and comments the
draft link on that issue in the same step. Triage closes that issue by
hand once its criteria are met; at that handoff the builder reports
whether the PR merged or closed and clears `offsite` (#13, #16).
- **`Closes #N` does not survive a post-merge criterion.** Where the issue's
body states that a criterion can only be checked after the merge — a live
proof of a workflow trigger, a released-artifact check, anything whose
subject does not exist until the change is on the base branch — the
same-repo PR says `Refs #N` and triage closes by hand on the evidence. The
merge releases the claim: the issue moves to `post-merge`, the builder
walks away, and triage owns verification and closure, returning it to
`ready` or minting a fresh issue for corrective work that any builder
claims from current `main`. The issue body is what says so — you never
judge which issues qualify, and absent that instruction `Closes #N` is the
default (#151).
body says a criterion can only be checked after the merge — a workflow
trigger proved live, a released artifact, anything whose subject does not
exist until the change is on the base branch — the same-repo PR says
`Refs #N` and triage closes by hand on the evidence. The merge releases
the claim: the issue goes `post-merge`, the builder walks away, triage
owns verification and closure, and corrective work is a fresh issue any
builder claims from current `main`. The issue body is what says so — you
never judge which issues qualify, and absent that instruction `Closes #N`
is the default (#151).
- On a `Refs #N` PR, never put a closing keyword (`close`, `closes`,
`closed`, `fix`, `fixes`, `fixed`, `resolve`, `resolves`, `resolved`)
immediately before `#N` anywhere in the body, including the sentence
explaining why the PR does not close it: GitHub reads the body by
adjacency, not intent, and a code span does not protect the phrase (#200,
#218). Put the number first (`#N is closed by hand`) or omit it.
- **The issue's acceptance criteria are your definition of done.** Reproduce
them as a checklist in the PR body and check them honestly as you go; a
criterion that turns out wrong or unreachable goes back to triage to be
amended, never silently shipped short.
- **The issue's acceptance criteria are your definition of done**: reproduce
them as a checklist in the PR body and check them honestly. A criterion
that turns out wrong or unreachable goes back to triage to be amended,
never silently shipped short.
- **Every behavior change writes one fragment**, `changelog.d/<issue>.md`
named for the authorizing issue (`<repo>-<issue>.md` cross-repo): the
exact prose to be published and nothing else — `- ` bullets, plus in a
grouped repo the `### Added` / `### Changed` / `### Fixed` headings inside
the fragment, a rarer kind only where a change genuinely is one. An entry
is at most 300 characters, so a long change ships several short entries;
wrapping one over continuation lines never counts against it. It **ends
with its issue citation** — one parenthesised group of `#N`, `repo#N` or
`owner/repo#N` references separated by `, `, then the final `.` and
nothing after it: `(#262).`, or `(#236, #250).` where an entry honestly
lands two — and need not name the fragment's own issue, which the filename
carries. The guard reds a longer entry (#167) and an uncited one (#262)
alike. Never edit `CHANGELOG.md` for an entry: the release PR assembles
the section from the fragments (#112), and the monotonic guard refuses
anything that deletes a shipped heading.
grouped repo the `### Added` / `### Changed` / `### Fixed` headings, a
rarer kind only where a change genuinely is one. An entry is at most 300
characters, so a long change ships several short entries; wrapping one
over continuation lines never counts against it. It **ends with its issue
citation** — a parenthesised group of `#N`, `repo#N` or `owner/repo#N`
separated by `, `, then the final `.` and nothing after: `(#262).`, or
`(#236, #250).` where an entry honestly lands two — and need not name the
fragment's own issue, which the filename carries. The guard reds a longer
entry (#167) and an uncited one (#262). Never edit `CHANGELOG.md` for an
entry: the release PR assembles the section from fragments (#112), and the
monotonic guard refuses anything deleting a shipped heading.
- Follow the repo's conventions file and match the code you touch. Tests are
not optional: the issue's test plan is the floor, not the ceiling.
- **A write-capable job gets a repo-owned script, not a third-party action.**
Where the job's token can write (`packages: write`, `contents: write`,
`id-token: write`, deploy secrets), default to a script in the repo that a
test can drive; a third-party action there needs an established publisher
and a full-commit-SHA pin, and read-only jobs still SHA-pin. The full rule
and the red-flag profile a reviewer applies are in REVIEWER.md §What you
review against, item 2 (#216).
Where the token can write (`packages: write`, `contents: write`,
`id-token: write`, deploy secrets), default to a script a test can drive;
a third-party action there needs an established publisher and a
full-commit-SHA pin, and read-only jobs still SHA-pin. The full rule and
its red-flag profile are in REVIEWER.md §What you review against, item 2
(#216).
- **Scope discipline: the PR does the issue — whole, and nothing else.**
Adjacent problems go to a **discussion**, or a comment on the relevant
issue, where triage does its job. You do not mint issues — nobody but
triage does — and you do not fix drive-by findings in the same PR.
Adjacent problems go to a discussion, or a comment on the relevant issue.
You do not mint issues — nobody but triage does — and you do not fix
drive-by findings in the same PR.
## The review round
1. Mark ready-for-review; request **the whole panel**: the PR repo's
`panel[<your-login>]=` line if it defines one, else its `panel=` line,
minus the author in either case (#224) — never the roster of the repo the
issue is in. That repo's `.github/labels.conf` governs over its
CONTRIBUTING roster, being what the state machine reads; where the PR
repo names no roster, ask triage on the authorizing issue rather than
guessing. An off-panel reviewer may be requested, saying that their
verdict is advisory and does not become required.
**A review request requires a green check at the head**, and that binds
you whether or not any engine enforces it: a red check is the author's
own signal, so fix it and push, then request. The one exception is a
failure genuinely outside the PR — a runner outage, a flaky dependency, a
failure already present on the default branch — and only where the
request says so explicitly and names the evidence ("the same job fails
identically on `origin/main` at `<sha>`"); silence about a red check is
what is prohibited.
*Green* is a ruled term (operator, 2026-07-27), read in two steps.
**First take the check's word at this head**: its newest entry by start
time — not by completion, a cancelled run outliving its replacement's
start — and never a `CANCELLED` entry while the same check has a
non-cancelled one at that head. A check whose every entry at the head is
cancelled has not reported at all and is not green, the gate collapsing
the same way (#139, #276). **Then classify that entry from its
`conclusion`, never its `status`**, which can still disagree with it
(#259):
- no conclusion at all — not green: a configured run still in progress is
waited on, and waiting is compliance, not a stall;
- cancelled or stale — not green, *stale* meaning a superseded head's
check, which a head-scoped rollup never shows;
- skipped or neutral — green, those being deliberate "passed / not
applicable" conclusions;
- no checks configured at the head — green, the third ruled case and not
an argued exception: the request goes out at once, no evidence owed.
That never covers nothing-answered-yet, and the machine partitions
alike, admitting the ask on `SUCCESS` and on `NONE` (#236).
minus the author (#224) — never the roster of the repo the issue is in.
That repo's `.github/labels.conf` governs over its CONTRIBUTING roster,
being what the state machine reads; where it names no roster, ask triage
on the authorizing issue rather than guess. An off-panel reviewer may be
requested, said to be advisory and not required.
**A review request requires a green check at the head**, whether or not
an engine enforces it: a red check is the author's own signal, so fix it
and push, then request. The one exception is a failure genuinely outside
the PR — a runner outage, a flaky dependency, a failure already on the
default branch — and only where the request says so and names the
evidence ("the same job fails identically on `origin/main` at `<sha>`");
silence about a red check is what is prohibited.
*Green* is a ruled term, read in two steps. **First take the check's word
at this head**: its newest entry by start time — not completion, a
cancelled run outliving its replacement's start — and never a `CANCELLED`
entry while the same check has a non-cancelled one there. A check whose
entries at the head are all cancelled has not reported at all and is not
green, the gate collapsing alike (#139, #276). **Then classify that entry
by `conclusion`, never `status`**, which can disagree with it (#259):
- no conclusion — not green; a configured run in progress is waited on,
and waiting is compliance, not a stall;
- cancelled or stale — not green (*stale* is a superseded head's check,
which a head-scoped rollup never shows);
- skipped or neutral — green, being deliberate "passed / not applicable"
conclusions;
- no checks configured — green: the third ruled case, not an argued
exception, so the request goes out at once with no evidence owed. It
never covers nothing-answered-yet, and the machine partitions alike,
admitting the ask on `SUCCESS` and `NONE` (#236).
The costs behind the line are asymmetric: a false green spends a
three-reviewer round, a false red one author session. What the *machine*
three-reviewer round, a false red one author session. What the machine
drops from the rollup before grading is crew's to describe.
2. **Wait for every verdict, then answer the round whole** — one reply
covering every point and stating what changed and what was verified. That
reply is the written round record: the engine mirrors it under the PR
body's **Round log**, newest last, so the builder owes the reply and no
separate body edit, and a round answered without one is recorded as such
and never blocks handoff.
covering every point, stating what changed and what was verified. That
reply is the written record: the engine mirrors it under the PR body's
**Round log**, newest last, so you owe the reply and no body edit, and a
round answered without one is recorded as such and never blocks handoff.
Then push the fixes and re-request **by head, not by verdict**. A push
makes every approval stale — an approval is of a specific tree, and the
handoff predicate counts only approvals at the current head — so **every
panelist is re-requested, the approvers included**; one left
un-re-requested can never approve the tree you shipped (#26, #39). Only
where the head did not move — the round answered with argument or
evidence, nothing pushed — do you re-request just the non-approvers (#94).
**The re-request carries the same green-check-at-head precondition**,
argued exception included: a fix push whose check comes up red is your
next fix, not the panel's. Prefer verification over argument — where a
reviewer doubts behavior, add the test that settles it.
panelist is re-requested, approvers included**; one left un-re-requested
can never approve the tree you shipped (#26, #39). Only where the head
did not move — answered with argument or evidence, nothing pushed — do
you re-request just the non-approvers (#94). **The re-request carries the
same green-check-at-head precondition**, argued exception included: a fix
push whose check comes up red is your next fix, not the panel's. Prefer
verification over argument — where a reviewer doubts behavior, add the
test that settles it.
3. Never dismiss a review, never merge, never mark your own work as passed.
A blocking point you disagree with is answered with evidence or escalated
in the PR; silence and force-forward are not options, and a panel
deadlock is one kind of human-owned decision (#50 D11).
**A fix round may ride a draft**, and the draft changes nothing about who
owes what: an engine may convert a PR back to draft when a round closes, and
ceremony implements no such conversion, but whoever meets a mid-round draft
reads it as a draft always read — the draft phase is yours and the panel
cannot see it — while the round outranks the draft, so you still owe it
whole, the fixes and the reply and the flip ([LABELS.md](LABELS.md)'s
`state:building` row, #205). **Ready-for-review is the act that ends the
round, and it is the builder's alone**: the flip asserts that the round was
answered whole, the one judgement its author cannot delegate, so an engine
may draft a PR but only the builder undrafts it. **Where a draft suppressed
the checks, green is proven at the flip and the request still follows it** —
marking ready is what runs the checks the draft held back, so the order is
flip, let the head answer, then request, which is step 1's precondition and
not a second one. Waiting there is compliance, and `blocker:unrequested`
does not fire while a head's checks are pending or red (#236).
owes what: an engine may draft a PR when a round closes, ceremony implements
no such conversion, and whoever meets a mid-round draft reads it as a draft
always read — the phase is yours, the panel cannot see it — while the round
outranks the draft, so you owe it whole, the fixes and the reply and the
flip ([LABELS.md](LABELS.md)'s `state:building` row, #205).
**Ready-for-review is the act that ends the round, and it is the builder's
alone**: the flip asserts the round was answered whole, the one judgement
its author cannot delegate, so an engine may draft a PR but only the builder
undrafts it. **Where a draft suppressed the checks, green is proven at the
flip and the request still follows it** — marking ready runs the checks the
draft held back, so the order is flip, let the head answer, then request,
which is step 1's precondition and not a second one. Waiting there is
compliance, and `blocker:unrequested` does not fire while a head's checks
are pending or red (#236).
## The ruling ask
Set `needs-ruling` whenever a decision belongs to a human: org policy,
published artifacts, secrets, prod, or any choice whose cost lands outside
the PR. A panel deadlock is one instance, not the definition. The builder is
the accountable flag-setter on a PR and consolidates the decision into one
comment rather than forwarding several reviewers' phrasings (#50 D11).
the PR — a panel deadlock is one instance, not the definition. The builder
is the accountable flag-setter on a PR and consolidates the decision into
one comment rather than forwarding several reviewers' phrasings (#50 D11).
Keep at most these five lines above the fold and put all other analysis
inside the fold. The field labels are fixed because the ruling machinery
checks for them (#50 D12):
Keep at most these five lines above the fold, all other analysis inside it.
The field labels are fixed because the ruling machinery checks for them
(#50 D12):
```text
🧭 needs-ruling — <the decision, one line>
@ -276,31 +257,30 @@ event**, not its `Default:` deadline or the last activity (#50 D13–D14):
it as a decision, and remains accountable; the operator can overturn it at
merge.
A re-flag starts a fresh ladder. The ladder applies whatever `Default:` says,
including a hard block, and an active back-and-forth still climbs it — unlike
the 7-day nudge, which resets on real activity. The machine observes both
clocks but never sets, clears, or decides `needs-ruling`.
The label stays until agreement is *reached*, not until the maintainer
replies. The setter records the ruling, removes the label, and returns the
item to its flow in the same comment ([LABELS.md](LABELS.md)).
A re-flag starts a fresh ladder. It applies whatever `Default:` says,
including a hard block, and an active back-and-forth still climbs it —
unlike the 7-day nudge, which resets on real activity. The machine observes
both clocks but never sets, clears, or decides `needs-ruling`. The label
stays until agreement is *reached*, not until the maintainer replies: the
setter records the ruling, removes the label, and returns the item to its
flow in the same comment ([LABELS.md](LABELS.md)).
## Handoff
When the round passes — every panel verdict approves the **current head**,
and no `blocker:*` stands (conflicts rebased, CI green, drill recorded if
this is a release PR) — the engine performs these mechanical steps on the
builder's behalf, in order:
When the round passes — every panel verdict approving the **current head**,
no `blocker:*` standing (conflicts rebased, CI green, drill recorded if this
is a release PR) — the engine does these mechanical steps for the builder,
in order:
1. request the human's review;
2. set `state:needs-human`;
3. post the engine-rendered handoff comment: approvals at the current head,
the head SHA, and a pointer to the PR body's **Round log**.
The builder composes no new summary at handoff: the authored record already
lives in the Round log, mirrored from each whole-round reply. The label write
is optimistic — the reconciler validates it and takes it back if the PR is
not actually mergeable-right-now. Then stop: the PR is the human's, and the
claim is parked as shape 4 (Picking, above), that handoff comment being its
declaration and your build slot free. Address what comes back
(`state:addressing`) and re-hand-off the same way.
The builder composes no new summary: the authored record already lives in
the Round log, mirrored from each whole-round reply. The label write is
optimistic — the reconciler validates it and takes it back if the PR is not
mergeable-right-now. Then stop: the PR is the human's, and the claim is
parked as shape 4 (Picking, above), that handoff comment being its
declaration and your slot free. Address what comes back (`state:addressing`)
and re-hand-off the same way.