glas-harness/docs/channel-contract.md
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Formalize the CLI as the first Channel extension (GLAS-WP-0003)
channels/base.py: GatewayInvocation dataclass + Channel ABC
(parse_invocation/render_result), mirroring Rein one layer up -- a
channel turns an external invocation into what run_task_through_rein
needs, and turns its result back into whatever the invocation medium
expects.

channels/cli_channel.py: CLIChannel, a pure refactor of what cli.py did
inline -- argparse Namespace -> GatewayInvocation, result dict ->
json.dumps(..., indent=2). cli.py's run handler is now a thin
construct-parse-invoke-render wrapper.

docs/channel-contract.md documents the pattern and sketches (without
building) a second channel.

Found and fixed a real bug while live-testing this refactor:
ReinAharness's default cli_bin was still "agent-harness", stale from
before HARNESS-WP-0002-T02's rename.

4 new tests (27/27 passing), plus a real live run through
python3 -m glas_harness.cli against rein-aharness/real Claude Code
confirming identical output shape and a real commit.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-26 22:41:51 +02:00

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# Channel contract
How an external invocation reaches the gateway, per `GLAS-WP-0003`.
Mirrors `docs/harness-contract.md`'s `Rein` at a different layer: `Rein`
governs how a session runs once glas-harness has decided to run one; a
`Channel` governs how an external caller (CLI today; a future Slack
message, HTTP request, or scheduled trigger) gets translated into that
decision in the first place, and how the result gets translated back.
## Interface
```python
@dataclass
class GatewayInvocation:
"""Everything run_task_through_rein needs, channel-agnostic."""
sandbox_profile: str
repo: str
title: str
description: str
actor: str = "agt"
project: str = "glas-harness"
report_to_hub: bool = True
class Channel(ABC):
"""Base class for concrete invocation channels (CLI, Slack, HTTP, ...)."""
@abstractmethod
def parse_invocation(self, raw: Any) -> GatewayInvocation:
"""Turn a channel-specific invocation into a GatewayInvocation."""
@abstractmethod
def render_result(self, result: dict[str, Any]) -> Any:
"""Turn a gateway result dict into whatever this channel returns."""
```
`src/glas_harness/channels/base.py`. A channel does not choose the rein
or run the gateway itself — `cli.py`'s `main()` still does that, calling
`parse_invocation`/`render_result` around the existing
`run_task_through_rein` call. Keeping channel construction and gateway
invocation separate (rather than folding gateway-calling into the
`Channel` ABC itself) is what lets `CLIChannel` be a pure
input/output mapper, easy to unit test without touching sand-boxer or a
rein at all.
## CLIChannel — the first, and so far only, implementation
`src/glas_harness/channels/cli_channel.py`. Maps an argparse
`Namespace` to `GatewayInvocation` (one field each, `--no-hub` inverts
to `report_to_hub`) and renders a result dict as
`json.dumps(result, indent=2)` — exactly what `cli.py` did inline before
this existed. This was a refactor, not a behavior change: verified with
a real live run through `python3 -m glas_harness.cli run ...` producing
byte-identical output shape to the pre-refactor version, plus unit tests
for the mapping in isolation (`tests/test_cli_channel.py`).
## Adding a second channel (not done — pattern only)
No second channel exists yet, and none should be built speculatively —
same discipline as ADR-002/ADR-004 (generalize from a real second
example, not in anticipation of one). If/when one is needed, e.g. a
Slack channel:
1. Implement `Channel` in `src/glas_harness/channels/slack_channel.py`:
`parse_invocation` turns a Slack event payload into a
`GatewayInvocation` (message text → `title`/`description`, a
configured default `sandbox_profile`, the Slack user id as `actor`
or `project`); `render_result` turns the result dict into a Slack
message (success/failure, commit sha if present).
2. Whatever process receives Slack events constructs the channel and
calls `run_task_through_rein` the same way `cli.py` does — no change
needed to `gateway.py`, `contract.py`, or any rein.
3. If two real channels turn out to share invocation-parsing logic (e.g.
both need the same `sandbox_profile` defaulting rule), factor that
shared piece out then — not before, and not into the `Channel` ABC
itself unless every channel needs it.