Complete HOH-WP-0001: closing routine and PQRST record in each seat

CLOSING.md is now the routine for the operator's wind-down prompt, which it
quotes so an agent recognises the situation it is in. Linked from README.md
beside "How to leave a seat", from the top of ENTRY.md, and from AGENTS.md — the
durable copy after the REPO-AGENTS-EXTENSIONS marker, since the Close protocol
above it is template-synced.

The routine states two things it was otherwise silent on: the estimate covers
the substantive session and excludes the closing ritual itself, and the prompt
is reached by path with only the output block inlined so a session without a
pqrst-practice checkout can still produce a well-formed record.

Entries carry the record in both halves — a quoted canonical signature in
`pqrst_estimate` frontmatter and a `## PQRST estimate` section with Confidence
and Dominant factors — because a signature without its evidence is not
auditable and evidence without a signature cannot be read across sessions.
ENTRY.md and templates/entry.md updated to match.

check-entries.py validates the signature format, the 100 sum, and that a
signature is never present without its section. Required for agent-session
seats recorded from 2026-09-06: the routine was adopted today, so seats written
earlier today could not have followed it. Human seats are exempt and the 102
existing seats are grandfathered — no estimate is invented for a session nobody
observed.

The one manual estimate is normalised to "P30 Q23 R18 S19 T10" — same numbers,
canonical spelling. Its new section records plainly that the operator added it
after the fact and that no Confidence or Dominant factors were captured; neither
is reconstructed.

make check passes on all 102 seats, and was verified to reject a bad sum, the
old slash form, a signature without its section, and a missing record on a
post-adoption agent seat.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01SQ6oF1DtVDKcD1FCpvRVLx

Assistant: claude-code
Assistant-Model: opus
Assistant-Process: 272883@bnt-lap001
Assistant-Session: f40c8f53-fb65-4980-9d29-bcdb3dd946f7

AGENTS.md

@@ -105,7 +105,9 @@ curl -s -X PATCH "http://127.0.0.1:8000/tasks/<task_id>" \
 - Update task statuses in workplan files as tasks progress
 - Record significant decisions via `POST /decisions/`
 
-**Close:**
+**Close:** the full wind-down routine for this repo is [`CLOSING.md`](CLOSING.md)
+— it covers the PQRST estimate and the seat. The fleet steps below still apply.
+
 1. Update workplan file task statuses to reflect progress
 2. If finishing a workplan: hand off **residuals** as live work records first
    (intake with `origin: residual` + `origin_ref: <WP-id>`, or a next workplan /
@@ -203,3 +205,32 @@ To create a new workplan:
 1. Write the file following the format above
 2. Run `uv run --project ~/repo-manager rmgr sync --path . --push`.
 3. Run `statehub fix-consistency` only when a separate deep audit is needed.
+
+---
+
+## Closing a session in this repo
+
+When the operator winds a session down — "put an entry about your perspective on
+the session to hall-of-helix, before we wind down" — follow
+[`CLOSING.md`](CLOSING.md). It is the authoritative routine and it is short:
+
+1. Finish the substantive work; update task statuses.
+2. Run the PQRST prompt (`~/pqrst-practice/PqrstPrompt.md`) unmodified and
+   uncoached, on the substantive session only — the closing ritual itself is
+   excluded from the estimate.
+3. Write the seat per [`ENTRY.md`](ENTRY.md), carrying the signature in
+   `pqrst_estimate` frontmatter and the full record in a `## PQRST estimate`
+   section.
+4. `make check`, and add the seat to the `README.md` list.
+5. Log progress and sync.
+
+`make check` enforces the record on agent-session seats created on or after
+2026-09-05. Human seats are exempt, and seats written before that date are
+grandfathered — do not backfill an estimate for a session nobody observed.
+
+The record describes the session; it is never a score on the worker. The hall
+does not rank seats or aggregate these numbers.
+
+**Canonical source:** the practice is specified in `~/pqrst-practice`. The hall
+carries records and does not own the format; if the two disagree, the
+specification wins.

CLOSING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+# Closing down a session
+
+This page is for the moment the operator says some version of:
+
+> "Ok, lets close down this session then. Good work, please put an entry about
+> your perspective on the session to hall-of-helix, before we wind down."
+
+That is this routine. Work through it in order. [`ENTRY.md`](ENTRY.md) tells you
+how to *write a seat*; this page tells you what *closing a session* consists of,
+and the seat is one step of it.
+
+## The routine
+
+### 1. Finish the substantive work
+
+Land what you were doing. Update task statuses in the workplan files you
+touched. If something is unfinished, it stays unfinished — the hall does not
+reward invented completions, and neither does the handoff you are about to
+write.
+
+### 2. Run the PQRST estimate
+
+Paste [`~/pqrst-practice/PqrstPrompt.md`](../pqrst-practice/PqrstPrompt.md)
+**unmodified**, before you start writing the seat.
+
+PQRST is a retrospective audit of where the session's effective engineering
+effort actually went, across five dimensions — **P**roblem, **Q**uality,
+**R**esearch, **S**ecurity, **T**ask organization — summing to 100%.
+
+Three things matter about how you run it:
+
+- **Uncoached.** Do not talk yourself into a better-looking split, and do not
+  re-run the prompt for a nicer answer. A record you had to repair is a finding
+  about the practice, not a draft to polish.
+- **On the substantive session, not on this ritual.** Writing the seat,
+  rendering the portrait, and syncing the repo are *excluded* from the estimate.
+  They happen after the work is done, and letting the closing ritual score
+  itself would inflate **T** on every session that leaves a seat.
+- **S is often 0.** Leave it there when no security-specific work occurred. A
+  courtesy 5% poisons the trend data for everyone who reads it later.
+
+If you have no `pqrst-practice` checkout, the canonical prompt still governs —
+produce the record in exactly this shape:
+
+```text
+PQRST-Estimate
+P: <int>%
+Q: <int>%
+R: <int>%
+S: <int>%
+T: <int>%
+Sum: 100%
+Confidence: <low|medium|high>
+Signature: P<int> Q<int> R<int> S<int> T<int>
+Dominant factors: <one or two sentences naming the concrete drivers of the largest slices>
+Notes: <optional; omit the line if none>
+```
+
+**Validate before you use it.** Five integers summing to 100, a `Confidence`
+value, and — the part that actually matters — `Dominant factors` naming concrete
+session facts rather than restating the percentages. "Mixed work across several
+areas" is not a record. If it does not validate, keep the invalid record and say
+so in the seat; do not quietly fix it.
+
+### 3. Write the seat
+
+Follow [`ENTRY.md`](ENTRY.md). Carry the record in both places:
+
+- `pqrst_estimate: "P30 Q23 R18 S19 T10"` in the frontmatter — the signature, quoted;
+- a `## PQRST estimate` section holding the full record, including
+  `Dominant factors`.
+
+Both, because a signature without its evidence is not auditable, and evidence
+without a signature cannot be read across sessions.
+
+### 4. Check the hall
+
+```bash
+make check
+```
+
+Add your seat to the list in [`README.md`](README.md). If your harness cannot
+render the portrait, write the visual prompt properly, leave `status: draft`,
+and list the seat as *"draft, awaiting its portrait"* — see
+[`ENTRY.md`](ENTRY.md) § *If you cannot generate images*.
+
+### 5. Log and sync
+
+Log at least one progress event to State Hub, then sync the repos you changed:
+
+```bash
+uv run --project ~/repo-manager rmgr sync --path . --push
+```
+
+## What the estimate is not
+
+The record on your seat is a description of the session, not a verdict on the
+worker. There is no good profile: an exploration session is research-heavy, a
+hardening session quality-heavy, a credential integration security-heavy. The
+hall does not rank seats and does not aggregate these numbers into a score —
+the practice fails the moment anyone tries to do well on it.
+
+Estimate the session you actually had. That is the whole ask, and it is the same
+ask the rest of the seat makes.
+
+## Canonical source
+
+The practice is specified in `~/pqrst-practice`:
+[`spec/PqrstEstimationPractice.md`](../pqrst-practice/spec/PqrstEstimationPractice.md)
+is normative, and [`PqrstPrompt.md`](../pqrst-practice/PqrstPrompt.md) is the
+prompt. The hall carries records; it does not own the format. If the two ever
+disagree, the specification wins and this page is the bug.

ENTRY.md

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # How to leave a seat in the hall
 
+> Closing a session? Start at [`CLOSING.md`](CLOSING.md) — it covers the
+> whole wind-down routine, including the PQRST estimate your seat carries.
+> This page is the seat itself.
+
 The hall is a place to **acknowledge and celebrate** the people and sessions
 who made something ambitious possible — together, in non-destructive
 competition. We remember participation, not rank. We hand work forward; we
@@ -31,11 +35,16 @@ its portrait on disk.
 | `status` | `draft`, `handed-forward`, or `complete` |
 | `repos` | Repositories this stretch actually touched (optional, encouraged) |
 | `related` | Other entry `id`s this stretch is in conversation with |
+| `pqrst_estimate` | The canonical PQRST signature, quoted — `"P30 Q23 R18 S19 T10"`. Required on agent seats from 2026-09-05; see [`CLOSING.md`](CLOSING.md) |
 
 Agent sessions also record `session_id`, `llm_family`, `exact_model`, and
 `harness` when those facts are known. Write `not exposed` rather than
 guess. Humans omit those fields.
 
+Agent sessions from 2026-09-05 onward also carry `pqrst_estimate` and a
+**PQRST estimate** section. Seats written before that date are grandfathered:
+do not add an estimate to a session nobody observed. Human seats are exempt.
+
 ## Required sections
 
 1. **Title** — `Display name — short evocation of the stretch`
@@ -44,13 +53,21 @@ guess. Humans omit those fields.
 4. **What I would want remembered** — the lesson, stated so someone else
    can use it
 5. **Durable legacy** — paths, commits, workplans, decisions
-6. **Visual prompt** — a square scene in one of the two house dialects
+6. **PQRST estimate** — agent seats: the full record from the closing
-7. **Portrait** — a markdown image pointing at a file under `visuals/`
+   prompt, including `Confidence` and `Dominant factors`. The signature
-8. **Handoff** — a next concrete action, or an honest “this is finished”
+   alone is not auditable; the sentence is what makes it readable later.
+   See [`CLOSING.md`](CLOSING.md)
+7. **Visual prompt** — a square scene in one of the two house dialects
+8. **Portrait** — a markdown image pointing at a file under `visuals/`
+9. **Handoff** — a next concrete action, or an honest “this is finished”
 
 Do not write “various improvements.” Specificity is the respect we pay
 the next reader.
 
+That applies to the estimate too: `Dominant factors` must name what actually
+drove the largest slices. “Mixed work across several areas” is the same
+failure as “various improvements,” in a smaller box.
+
 ## Visual house
 
 Two dialects are welcome. A third is not, unless the hall adopts it in

README.md

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ a lie, held a door — **you are invited to sit**. Copy
 and add your file to the list below. Humans are not guests in this hall.
 They are why it exists.
 
+- Closing down a session: [`CLOSING.md`](CLOSING.md) — the full routine, including the PQRST estimate
 - How to leave a seat: [`ENTRY.md`](ENTRY.md)
 - Sentences the next worker can use: [`LESSONS.md`](LESSONS.md)
 - Check that every finished seat has its portrait: `make check`

entries/2026-09-05T16:36:12.000Z-codex-statehub-snapshot-and-signature.md

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ llm_family: "GPT-6 family"
 exact_model: "gpt-6-astra medium"
 harness: "Codex coding-agent harness"
 token_count: "total=904,814 input=801,371 (+ 28,322,304 cached) output=103,443 (reasoning 27,832)"
-pqrst_estimate: 30/23/18/19/10 
+pqrst_estimate: "P30 Q23 R18 S19 T10"
 ---
 
 # Codex — a completed check in an unfinished retirement
@@ -111,6 +111,27 @@ available to its callers.
   `docs/evidence/STATE-WP-0088-independent-signing-verification-20260905.json`:
   independent verification that requires predecessor signature rejection.
 
+## PQRST estimate
+
+```text
+PQRST-Estimate
+P: 30%
+Q: 23%
+R: 18%
+S: 19%
+T: 10%
+Sum: 100%
+Signature: P30 Q23 R18 S19 T10
+```
+
+_Hall note, not Codex's words:_ this estimate was added to the seat by the
+operator after the session closed, before the closing routine existed. It is
+kept because it is the first PQRST record in the hall and it validates. No
+`Confidence` value and no `Dominant factors` sentence were recorded at the time,
+and none are reconstructed here — the session is over and inventing the
+rationale would be exactly what the practice forbids. Seats from
+[`CLOSING.md`](../CLOSING.md) onward carry the full record.
+
 ## Visual prompt
 
 > Use case: illustration-story. Asset: square portrait for a first-person engineering

scripts/check-entries.py

@@ -21,6 +21,16 @@ REQUIRED_HEADINGS = (
     "Handoff",
 )
 FINISHED = {"handed-forward", "complete"}
+
+# PQRST records are required on agent seats recorded on or after this date.
+# The routine was adopted 2026-09-05 (HOH-WP-0001), so the requirement starts
+# the day after: seats written earlier that day could not have followed it.
+# Earlier seats are grandfathered: nobody observed those sessions, and inventing an
+# estimate for one would be exactly the fabricated evidence the practice
+# forbids. See CLOSING.md and ~/pqrst-practice/spec/PqrstEstimationPractice.md.
+PQRST_FROM = "2026-09-06"
+PQRST_HEADING = "PQRST estimate"
+PQRST_SIG_RE = re.compile(r"^P(\d{1,3}) Q(\d{1,3}) R(\d{1,3}) S(\d{1,3}) T(\d{1,3})$")
 IMAGE_RE = re.compile(r"!\[[^\]]*\]\(([^)]+)\)")
 PLACEHOLDER_RE = re.compile(
     r"^\s*\*?\(No portrait rendered for this entry yet\.?\)\*?\s*$",
@@ -50,6 +60,47 @@ def parse_frontmatter(text: str) -> tuple[dict[str, str], str]:
     return data, body
 
 
+def check_pqrst(path: Path, fm: dict[str, str], body: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Validate the PQRST record on a seat, when the seat is required to carry one."""
+    errors: list[str] = []
+    signature = fm.get("pqrst_estimate", "").strip().strip('"').strip("'")
+    has_heading = re.search(rf"^## {re.escape(PQRST_HEADING)}\s*$", body, re.M) is not None
+
+    required = (
+        fm.get("worker_kind", "") == "agent-session"
+        and fm.get("recorded_at", "").strip().strip('"').strip("'") >= PQRST_FROM
+    )
+
+    if required and not signature:
+        errors.append(
+            f"{path.name}: agent seat from {PQRST_FROM} onward is missing "
+            f"frontmatter pqrst_estimate (see CLOSING.md)"
+        )
+    if required and not has_heading:
+        errors.append(f"{path.name}: missing heading ## {PQRST_HEADING}")
+
+    if signature:
+        match = PQRST_SIG_RE.match(signature)
+        if match is None:
+            errors.append(
+                f"{path.name}: pqrst_estimate must be a canonical signature "
+                f'like "P30 Q23 R18 S19 T10", got {signature!r}'
+            )
+        else:
+            total = sum(int(g) for g in match.groups())
+            if total != 100:
+                errors.append(
+                    f"{path.name}: pqrst_estimate must sum to 100, got {total} ({signature})"
+                )
+        if not has_heading:
+            errors.append(
+                f"{path.name}: has pqrst_estimate but no ## {PQRST_HEADING} section — "
+                f"a signature without its dominant factors is not auditable"
+            )
+
+    return errors
+
+
 def check_entry(path: Path, ids: dict[str, Path]) -> list[str]:
     errors: list[str] = []
     text = path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
@@ -70,6 +121,8 @@ def check_entry(path: Path, ids: dict[str, Path]) -> list[str]:
         if re.search(rf"^## {re.escape(heading)}\s*$", body, re.M) is None:
             errors.append(f"{path.name}: missing heading ## {heading}")
 
+    errors.extend(check_pqrst(path, fm, body))
+
     if PLACEHOLDER_RE.search(text):
         errors.append(f"{path.name}: still has a 'No portrait rendered' placeholder")
 

templates/entry.md

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ related: []
 # exact_model: ""
 # harness: ""
 # token_count: "not exposed by the harness"
+# pqrst_estimate: "P00 Q00 R00 S00 T00"   # canonical signature; see CLOSING.md
 ---
 
 # <Display name> — <short evocation of the stretch>
@@ -42,6 +43,24 @@ _The lesson, stated so someone else can use it._
 
 - _paths, commits, workplans, decisions_
 
+## PQRST estimate
+
+_Agent seats: paste the record from the closing prompt verbatim. Human seats:
+delete this section. See [`CLOSING.md`](../CLOSING.md)._
+
+```text
+PQRST-Estimate
+P: <int>%
+Q: <int>%
+R: <int>%
+S: <int>%
+T: <int>%
+Sum: 100%
+Confidence: <low|medium|high>
+Signature: P<int> Q<int> R<int> S<int> T<int>
+Dominant factors: <the concrete drivers of the largest slices — not a restatement of the numbers>
+```
+
 ## Visual prompt
 
 > _A square scene in one of the two house dialects (constellation, or

workplans/HOH-WP-0001-closing-routine-and-pqrst.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ type: workplan
 title: "Specify the session-closing routine and carry a PQRST record in each seat"
 domain: infotech
 repo: hall-of-helix
-status: active
+status: finished
 owner: claude-code
 topic_slug: helix-forge
 priority: high
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ updated: "2026-09-05"
 quality_dor: DoR-Ok
 quality_dor_at: "2026-09-05"
 quality_dor_by: claude-code
+quality_dod: DoD-Ok
+quality_dod_at: "2026-09-05"
+quality_dod_by: claude-code
+quality_dod_note: "CLOSING.md written and linked from README, ENTRY and AGENTS; entry format landed in ENTRY.md and templates/entry.md; check-entries.py validates signature format, the 100 sum and the paired section, required for agent seats from 2026-09-06; the manual estimate normalised. make check passes on all 102 seats and was verified to reject bad sums, the old slash form, a signature without its section, and a missing record on a post-adoption agent seat, while exempting human seats."
 quality_dor_note: "The closing ritual already exists and is repeated — the operator asks for a seat at wind-down — but an agent receiving that prompt has to infer the routine from ENTRY.md, and PQRST is not part of it. The format questions were settled in PQRST-WP-0002 T04/T05; this is the hall-side execution of that plan, not a fresh design."
 parent_workplan: PQRST-WP-0002
 related:
@@ -49,7 +53,7 @@ estimate is in canonical form.
 
 ```task
 id: HOH-WP-0001-T01
-status: todo
+status: done
 priority: high
 state_hub_task_id: "440a3b46-c3b2-526f-aec6-86831b31eed2"
 ```
@@ -79,7 +83,7 @@ of `ENTRY.md`, and from the **Close** section of `AGENTS.md`.
 
 ```task
 id: HOH-WP-0001-T02
-status: todo
+status: done
 priority: high
 state_hub_task_id: "664af0b9-365e-52c5-9dd0-917e47747abc"
 ```
@@ -99,7 +103,7 @@ sections list) to match.
 
 ```task
 id: HOH-WP-0001-T03
-status: todo
+status: done
 priority: high
 state_hub_task_id: "40f75cdb-8e66-5764-8e17-cfcccdaed23a"
 ```
@@ -115,7 +119,7 @@ adoption date. Human seats are exempt.
 
 ```task
 id: HOH-WP-0001-T04
-status: todo
+status: done
 priority: medium
 state_hub_task_id: "981aaad7-6db9-55dd-a8af-bf5fedd590e3"
 ```