Run a Phase

Use a phase to deliver one coherent outcome with explicit acceptance criteria. A phase may touch several files or surfaces. Split it when a consequential decision, independently accepted prerequisite, deployment seam, or human judgment separates the outcomes.

Select and load the work

plan/INDEX.md is the sole status ledger. Its markers mean: ⏳ not started, ⬅️ next, 🚧 in progress, and ✅ completed. kickoff owns transitions. To resume active work, name that phase explicitly.

Invoke kickoff with no argument to select the next phase, or name a phase. In Claude Code:

/kickoff phase 2

In Codex:

$kickoff phase 2

The agent reads the index, target and parent when needed, cited briefs and pinned references, dependencies, preceding completed phase, applicable policies, and the execution resource for the current stage.

Plan, implement, and review

An eligible primary owns product planning, coding, and acceptance decisions. Independent advisers inspect the plan and implementation, preferably through a permitted different provider. A single-provider setup uses a fresh same-provider instance. Advisers supply evidence and severity; the primary resolves findings and records consequential dispositions.

Constrained primaries use delegated planner/coder roles and approval-gated reviewer/critic loops. The configured mode determines authority; a review lane determines which stages run. Ordinary product work defaults to the full lane. An explicit user invocation is required for the product one-shot lane.

Methodology improvements follow a different standing route: the primary assesses, implements, self-checks, validates, commits, and fast-forward-pushes authorized work. Independent role loops are not invoked. teach and learn still require the operator to approve their concrete transfer plan before recipient writes.

Prove and deliver the candidate

Use focused tests during implementation. The implementation-candidate sequence ends with changed-path test selection. After every tracked close write, run the full handoff gate on the exact tree being delivered. No tracked write follows a successful handoff gate.

./bin/test --changed-from '@{upstream}'

./bin/check all

Candidate identity binds product review. Full-tree identity binds the handoff gate and delivery. A changed candidate invalidates evidence that depended on its previous bytes. Unknown classifications or failed queries refuse; they never become a reassuring default.

When every executable gate passes, delivery stages explicit attributable paths, commits with hooks enabled, verifies the resulting commit and clean tree, and fast-forward-pushes to the existing upstream. Unexpected changes, divergence, ambiguous upstream, or unresolved hook refusal park delivery.

Close or park truthfully

Record remaining work, evidence, lessons, and outcomes through the deterministic activity-log writer. Failed gates keep the phase open. Human-only actions belong in the action queue. A park says what blocks progress and what evidence or decision will unblock it.