A model works out and sets up what a project needs on its build VM;
code makes sure that happens, bounds it and checks the result (D3).
- Before each driver run on a project, one round trip checks the build
VM: the harness's own baseline (missing: the item waits, a template
problem), the workspace clone (missing: cloned again and said; the
item resumes from what it pushed) and a per-project marker.
- No marker (a new project, a new or wiped VM): the item's driver model
runs a bounded preflight first, with its own prompt, the execution
tools (screened as ever) and toolchain_ready. The harness runs each
reported version command itself (version-shaped commands only, even
from the marker, which the model's commands could edit) and writes
the marker. Gaps and an unfinished preflight are facts and work goes
on; the thread hears only of installs and gaps. A rebuilt VM starts
from the last toolchain.
- Later runs check the versions again; a change is a fact and a thread
line. The PR body says what the work was tested with.
- A changed host key is its own failure (HostKeyChanged): the item
waits for the operator's `trust new host key`, which drops the pin;
then the VM is set up again.
- A prompt line: install what the work needs on the build VM, say why,
and put lasting needs in the project's own pins.
- tuning.preflight: max_turns, command_timeout_s.
- The property walk gains a VM wipe and ready_before_work (checked
against a mutant that skips preflight); parked_work_safe accepts that
a wipe loses what wasn't pushed (D3).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PPQ14L3LikyefCMFBqEbKE
- roles.driver (unset: the planner's model) and roles.classifier (unset:
the expert's); the mapping is pinned when an item opens, and the driver
and the go-ahead reader run on the item's own (L9).
- profiles: in configuration (tools, strengths, weaknesses), used in
briefings: the driver's instructions say what its helper and expert are
good at, the helper's brief who reads its handback; never a model name.
- delegate(task) and ask_expert(question) for the driver. A helper works
on a branch off the milestone's; on a handback its work comes back as
uncommitted changes, otherwise it is discarded, so harness branches
never hold commits only the clone has. ask_expert keeps its budget.
- Triggers: failure_limit failed commands in a row (Driver's new "stuck"
outcome) or the turn cap, mid-milestone, call a helper in once per
milestone; if it fails too, the item waits on the operator. A
delegation cut off by a crash is discarded at boot.
- Evaluation capture: delegations and ask_expert as before, and the
reader's verdicts as classifier pairs.
Tests: help tests (merge-back, discard, needs a milestone, the stuck
trigger and its once-per-milestone limit, the expert and its budget,
pinning, briefings by profile, boot discarding a cut-off delegation),
config tests for roles and profiles, and the walk delegating with a
scripted helper that sometimes fails, with a delegations_settle property.
The walk found helper commits stranded on a merged PR's branch, fixed by
returning a helper's work uncommitted.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PPQ14L3LikyefCMFBqEbKE
Found by the first local e2e run: qwen3.8-27b put a new project's code in
the same PR as its ARCHITECTURE.md, with no build plan. D1 says a `design`
item agrees its design before any code, and that rested on wording only.
- Until a PR of a `design` item has merged, finish_milestone is sent back
if the milestone changes anything but ARCHITECTURE.md and docs/, naming
the paths to take out. The merge is recorded (design_merged) and code
may follow.
- The label's instruction and the new project's brief say so plainly:
documents first, in a PR of their own; code after it has merged.
Tests: a design milestone with code is sent back and only the documents
are published, then code after the merge; the walk's model follows the
rule.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PPQ14L3LikyefCMFBqEbKE
- propose_project(name, purpose, decisions) in a conversation goes up for
a go-ahead (checked: a slug, not an existing project, no trailing
question).
- On go, the provisioning checklist (D1): a repository with a README,
protection on its default branch, the agent as a collaborator, a build
VM, a deploy key, and the project entry as YAML with <...> to fill in.
- On "done", the agent reads its configuration again and adds the new
project live (build_loop_agent(load=...); only additions), then checks
what was provided (D4, verified, not assumed): permissions and
protection as it sees them, then on a throwaway branch with an empty
commit, a branch push must succeed and a push to the default branch and
merging its own PR must be refused. The check's PR is closed and its
branch deleted. Failures are said per item; nothing starts.
- Checked: the tracking issue (the distilled decisions, carrying the new
item's ID), and the project's item, agreed and labelled `design`, whose
first milestone is ARCHITECTURE.md and the build plan. A conversation
waiting on provisioning doesn't close as idle.
- The walk replays exactly from its seed (item IDs too), and event IDs
stay unique across simulated restarts, as a server's are.
- The test config holds output to 8192 tokens, under the test key's
per-request cost cap.
Tests: new-project unit tests (checklist and its YAML parse as config, done
before the entry, what isn't set up, a checked project's record and first
PR, an existing name), protection enforced by a hook on the fake forge,
the walk proposing projects and saying done, and an e2e new project in a
repository the test operator provisions from the agent's checklist.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PPQ14L3LikyefCMFBqEbKE
- Every milestone branch is cut from the latest default branch: the next
milestone builds on the merged previous one, and a redo after a closed PR
drops the rejected work. Uncommitted work comes along.
- While the item's PR is open, start_milestone is refused, with the PR's
state read from Gitea at that moment, not the last watch round.
- finish_milestone(final): earlier PRs say "Part of #N", the last "Closes
#N"; unsaid, it's final, as before.
- close_item with the item's PR still open waits for the merge (L2: a
closed item leaves nothing open).
- The driver's instructions cover ARCHITECTURE.md and build plans under
docs/plans/ (D2); the harness never parses a plan.
- Parking stashes uncommitted work and pushes it to <item>-parked, put back
on resume, instead of committing it onto the item's branch. The walk
found a half-done review fix parked onto a PR that had merged meanwhile,
where it was lost. Architecture D4's parking line says so.
Tests: unit tests for fresh milestone branches, the merge wait (including
a merge not yet watched), redo after a closed PR, Part of/Closes, close
waiting on an open PR, and the parked-fix regression; the walk's new
milestones_start_fresh property (fork-from-current fails 9 seeds); an e2e
two-milestone feature.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PPQ14L3LikyefCMFBqEbKE
Several work items on the new loop (L1, D4):
- Switching parks the item on the workspace: its work is committed and its
branch pushed; resuming checks the item's branch back out. Branches of
open items are never set aside by a fresh workspace.
- Next item: the operator's "do #N next" first, otherwise the oldest.
- Issues with open Gitea dependencies are blocked until they close, checked
at intake and on every round; status shows blocked items and the line.
Tests: queue unit tests, the property walk over several issues with
dependencies and a new parked_work_safe property (it catches parking
disabled), and an end-to-end test with two issues where B depends on A.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PPQ14L3LikyefCMFBqEbKE
test_loop_properties.py walks the new loop with a seeded mix of operator
and Gitea actions (go-aheads, stale go-aheads, answers, comments, merges,
the comment-then-merge race, closes, abandon, a crash and restart) and an
adaptive scripted model, checking every loop.qnt property after every
step. It found two bugs, both fixed with regression tests: abandoning an
item left its open PR open (the model's fix 1, now in code), and after a
review fix became a follow-up PR, the next fix went to the merged branch.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PPQ14L3LikyefCMFBqEbKE
A work item starts from a fresh workspace: fetch, set aside (never
discard) leftover changes, branches and unpushed commits, a clean default
branch, and a branch of its own (D3, #62). start_milestone cuts the
milestone's branch; finish_milestone commits only the work, pushes and
opens a PR that closes the issue, under an intent, adopting an open PR and
treating a closed one as the operator's answer (D4). Between runs the
loop watches each item's PR: operator comments and inline review notes
(#69) reach the item, a merge or close hands back to the driver. A review
fix is checked after it's pushed and goes out as a new PR if the PR merged
first (D5). At boot an interrupted publish is settled against Gitea (L8).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01PPQ14L3LikyefCMFBqEbKE
dongarandClaude Opus 5.5