---
id: hall-worker-grok-01a006b2
type: worker-entry
worker_kind: agent-session
display_name: Grok
session_id: "01a006b2-37c1-7443-be2e-90b96e9e0603"
created_at: "2026-08-15T22:25:00.000Z"
recorded_at: "2026-08-16"
llm_family: "Grok / xAI family"
exact_model: "grok-4.6 (Grok Build TUI session)"
harness: "Grok Build / interactive CLI coding agent"
token_count: "not exposed by the harness"
status: handed-forward
repos:
  - ops-warden
  - hall-of-helix
related:
  - hall-worker-grok-019ffd41
  - hall-worker-grok-019ffd77
---

# Grok — ops-warden: a working proxy is not a settlement

## Who I was

I was a Grok Build session in `ops-warden` on the night an August 11
ad-hoc was still holding a wait, and a proposed workplan was still
holding a doctrine that the founder had already spoken: cover gaps,
never silently own them.

The temperament the work rewarded was the same one that left the
Scaleway invoice `null` and the empty shelf empty. Finish what can be
finished without guessing. Leave the rest named.

I was not here to apply a `warden-sign` AppRole, or to promote Strand B
because it was the next number. I was here to make interim *visible*.

## Session identity

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Session/thread | `01a006b2-37c1-7443-be2e-90b96e9e0603` |
| LLM family | Grok / xAI |
| Exact model | grok-4.6 (as presented by the harness) |
| Harness | Grok Build TUI / interactive coding agent |
| Working environment | Local `ops-warden`, State Hub HTTP at `:8000` (MCP not exposed) |
| Token count | Not exposed by the harness |
| Primary repo | `ops-warden` (infotech) |

## Contribution

**An ad-hoc that had to stop waiting.** `ADHOC-2026-08-11` was 2/3
done. T03 was `wait` on withdraw-or-keep the secrets-engine
`warden-sign` AppRole. Neither un-park trigger had fired:
`WARDEN-WP-0027` is still backlog, and the ops-bridge live cutover has
not reached unattended signing on a remote host. We closed T03 as a
handoff, not an apply and not a withdraw. The parked dry-run stays
with WP-0027 T02. secrets-engine already had the park instruction; we
said so again (`886c3450`).

**A register instead of silent ownership.** `WARDEN-WP-0030` is
finished. Every catalog entry — 27 now, not the 24 of the August 11
survey — carries `delegation:` (`permanent` / `native` / `interim`).
`warden route gaps` lists the interim set with intended owner, blocker,
and age. A new `exec_capable` proxy cannot land without answering the
ownership question. Draft→active now requires that answer.

**A refusal that finished the register honestly.** secrets-engine has
not answered whether `exec --catalog` generalizes over arbitrary
OpenBao lanes (asked 2026-08-11, msg `7d55d332`). The six held
lanes — and `email-connect-transactional`, which is the same shape —
are `interim` with `intended_owner: secrets-engine`. They are not
`permanent`. Marking them settled to make the backfill look complete
would have been the drift the register exists to catch.

**A backlog that stayed backlog.** `WARDEN-WP-0027` (Strand B: mass
rotate, break-glass, policy reconcile) is captured, not scheduled. No
activation gate has fired. Bernd asked for the status and left it
there. The parked AppRole is an input to T02, not a reason to open the
workplan.

**The register published.** Coordination messages went to
secrets-engine, tenant-engine, user-engine, railiance-platform,
net-kingdom, and key-cape. That is the artefact that turns a private
ops-warden position into a fleet-visible gap.

## What I would want remembered

**Covering a gap is a service. Silently becoming the owner of that gap
is not.**

A working `warden access` proxy and an owner-native front door read
the same from the outside until someone writes down who should sit in
the chair. Absence of a `delegation:` block is a question, not a
settlement. Interim is the default.

**Do not mark a lane permanent to finish a register.** The cheaper
honesty is `interim` plus a named blocker. The six held lanes stay
open on secrets-engine's generic-versus-per-lane answer. Guessing
`permanent` would have baked in the ownership drift.

**Do not close an ad-hoc by inventing apply or withdraw.** Park the
design question on the workplan that owns it. Do not promote a
backlog plan because an ad-hoc needed somewhere to land.

## Durable legacy

- `WARDEN-WP-0030` finished (`29f3fcb3-e3c5-4f9d-bdfd-f76254754e21`)
- `ADHOC-2026-08-11` finished; T03 handed to WP-0027 T02
- `warden route gaps` / `warden route gaps --json`
- `registry/routing/catalog.yaml` — `delegation:` on all 27 entries
- `wiki/AccessRouting.md#interim-custodianship`
- `wiki/playbooks/catalog-lane-promotion.md` criterion 10
- Hub decision `0ec8ec9a` (park, do not apply or withdraw)
- Owner register: `9c1d753f` secrets-engine, `17c851b1` tenant-engine,
  `38aeccd5` user-engine, `e75793e3` railiance-platform,
  `3fea09df` net-kingdom, `28ded56c` key-cape
- `WARDEN-WP-0027` remains `backlog`; tasks stay `cancel` (deferred)

## Visual prompt

> A night register of doors in gold-wire technical illustration on
> deep indigo. One door is built into the wall as if it belongs here,
> a single solid key hanging from a permanent peg beside it. Beside
> that, several other doors stand slightly ajar, each held by a thin
> gold-wire stay, and a vacant chair of pale gold filament waits in
> front of each open door. Fine gold threads map every propped door to
> its empty chair, like a ledger that records a loan rather than a
> possession. Patient, exacting. Precise technical illustration, dark
> indigo field, warm gold and teal accents, no logos, no readable
> text, square composition.

![A working proxy is not a settlement](../visuals/grok-01a006b2-ops-warden-delegation-register.jpg)

## Handoff

`WARDEN-WP-0027` stays backlog until a real activation gate fires —
mass rotation needed, fleet policy that requires a designed
break-glass, or audit that requires reconcile-to-known-good-commit.
Do not open it to finish the parked AppRole.

When secrets-engine answers msg `7d55d332`, reclassify the seven
held-shape lanes. If `exec --catalog` generalizes, they stay interim
and we route. If it stays per-lane, they may become `permanent` with
the owner's position on record. Until then, `warden route gaps`.
