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+---
+id: ISSUE-WP-0004
+type: workplan
+title: "Align issue-core with the work-record canon (connector, not landing zone)"
+domain: infotech
+repo: issue-core
+status: ready
+owner: codex
+topic_slug: infotech
+created: "2026-07-20"
+updated: "2026-07-20"
+---
+
+# Align issue-core with the work-record canon (connector, not landing zone)
+
+## Origin
+
+The-custodian's `canon/standards/work-record-types_v0.1.md` (ratified
+2026-07-20, `CUST-WP-0060`) and its architecture draft
+(`research/WorkOrchestrationArchitectureDraft.md` v0.2, founder-reviewed
+2026-07-20, §4.2) settled issue-core's fleet role — a decision made *while
+reviewing a live incident this repo caused*: `activity-core`'s
+`daily-todo-md-stale-review` ActivityDefinition routed its findings through
+`IssueSink` → issue-core → Forgejo, producing 5 issues nobody was meant to
+see (Forgejo issue tracking is not the fleet coordination mechanism). That
+activity is now paused pending a proper fix (`the-custodian`
+technical-debt-adjacent follow-up in `CUST-WP-0060`'s closure review, item 6).
+
+**issue-core's current `INTENT.md` directly contradicts the agreed role.**
+It states: *"The Coulomb org needs a single, observable place where tasks
+land — regardless of whether they were created by a human ... an automation
+like activity-core ... or by an agent."* That is precisely the
+landing-zone role the fleet decided issue-core should **not** hold — work
+records originate as repo files per ADR-001; issue-core was never meant to
+be an alternative origin.
+
+**Founder-reviewed decision (verbatim, `WorkOrchestrationArchitectureDraft.md`
+§4.2, "issue-core: third-party connector, not core loop"):**
+
+> issue-core's role is a **connector framework to external issue-tracking
+> systems** (Forgejo issues, Jira, GitHub, …): it maintains the mapping
+> between internal work-record UUIDs and external issue ids and provides
+> two-way, transclusion-like sync *at the boundary* when we collaborate
+> through a third-party tracker. It is not part of the internal execution
+> loop — claiming and execution run on work records directly (harness
+> intake via NATS/activity-core per its stated target). Until an external
+> integration is actually switched on, the connector layer adds zero load.
+
+This workplan brings issue-core's own docs, scope, and (where cheap) code
+in line with that decision. It does not remove issue-core's existing
+capability — Gitea/GitHub backend CRUD stays useful — it retargets *what
+issue-core is for*.
+
+## Task: Rewrite INTENT.md — connector, not landing zone
+
+Replace the "single, observable place where tasks land" framing with the
+connector framing above. Keep the honest history (it *was* built as a
+landing zone; note the pivot and why, dated). Update the "What it is NOT"
+section to explicitly add: *not the origin of work records; work records
+originate as repo files per ADR-001 (`the-custodian/canon/architecture/
+adr-001-workplans-as-repo-artefacts.md`) — issue-core provides the
+external-tracker projection when one is in use.* Green lane (docs only).
+
+```task
+id: ISSUE-WP-0004-T01
+status: todo
+priority: high
+```
+
+## Task: Rewrite SCOPE.md — mapping table, not ingestion primary path
+
+Current SCOPE.md lists activity-core's `POST /issues/` `TaskSpec` path as
+"Primary integration." Reframe: CLI/REST ingestion stays for direct
+human/backend use, but the *primary* fleet path is no longer "automation
+emits a task into issue-core" — it is "a work record exists in a repo
+file; issue-core optionally projects it to an external tracker and tracks
+the UUID ↔ external-id mapping." Add an explicit mapping-table concept to
+scope (internal work-record UUID ↔ backend issue id), even if not yet
+implemented — name the target shape before building it. Green lane.
+
+```task
+id: ISSUE-WP-0004-T02
+status: todo
+priority: high
+```
+
+## Task: Audit and update README / ROADMAP for the same framing
+
+`README.md`'s "Why Issue Tracking for Agent Coordination?" section and
+`ROADMAP.md`'s feature trajectory both currently assume issue-core is the
+coordination substrate. Update both to point at the work-record canon as
+the coordination substrate and issue-core as its optional external-tracker
+bridge. Cross-link `the-custodian/canon/standards/work-record-types_v0.1.md`
+and the architecture draft. Green lane.
+
+```task
+id: ISSUE-WP-0004-T03
+status: todo
+priority: medium
+```
+
+## Task: Design the UUID ↔ external-id mapping surface (design only)
+
+Specify (not implement) how issue-core will record the internal work-record
+UUID alongside the backend issue id it creates, so a future
+`kind: intake` (or any) work record can carry a
+`state_hub_*_id`-style back-reference to its external-tracker projection —
+mirroring the pattern already used for workplan/task UUIDs. Note where this
+intersects `TaskSpec.triggering_event_id` (currently the only
+traceability field) and whether it should be superseded or extended.
+Output: a design note in `docs/`, no code yet — implementation is stage-3
+scope in the-custodian's work-record architecture, not this workplan.
+Green lane.
+
+```task
+id: ISSUE-WP-0004-T04
+status: todo
+priority: medium
+```
+
+## Task: Fix activity-core's IssueSink call site to match
+
+`activity-core`'s `issue_sink.py` (`IssueCoreRestSink`) currently treats
+`POST /issues/` as the default, always-on path for any matched rule
+(`ISSUE_SINK_TYPE=rest` is the deployment default). Once T01–T03 land here,
+open the corresponding activity-core-side task: the default sink should not
+silently create Forgejo issues for internal findings. Cross-repo — this
+task in issue-core is to **file that follow-up** (workplan or task in
+activity-core, referencing this workplan and `CUST-WP-0060` item 6), not to
+implement the activity-core change itself. Green lane.
+
+```task
+id: ISSUE-WP-0004-T05
+status: todo
+priority: medium
+```