pqrst-practice/AGENTS.md

# pqrst-practice — Agent Instructions

## Repo Identity

**Purpose:** Retrospective PQRST estimation practice for closing agentic coding sessions.

**Domain:** agents
**Repo slug:** pqrst-practice
**Topic ID:** `c1d199b6-55ee-4db6-b49e-257a9f0f15ac`
**Workplan prefix:** `PQRST-WP-`

---

## State Hub Integration

The Custodian State Hub tracks work across all domains. Codex uses HTTP REST and
the `statehub` CLI by default. MCP is opt-in because the current Codex MCP bridge
adds severe call latency; the full administrative MCP surface remains available
to clients that need it.

| Context | URL |
|---------|-----|
| Local workstation | `http://127.0.0.1:8000` |
| Remote via tunnel | `http://127.0.0.1:18000` |
| Optional local edge relay | http://127.0.0.1:18080 |

When an operator has enabled the edge relay, set API_BASE to the relay URL.
Queueable writes return an explicit queued receipt if the central hub is
unreachable. Treat that as pending local evidence, then ask the operator to run
statehub outbox status/replay after connectivity returns.

Codex workspace-write sandboxes need network access enabled to reach the host's
loopback listener. Bootstrap this once with `make -C ~/state-hub configure-codex`
and restart Codex. The canonical REST health endpoint is `/state/health`, not
`/health`. If a sandboxed loopback probe fails, retry it with escalated execution
before declaring State Hub unavailable; a managed Codex permission profile may
still enforce isolated networking. Experimental MCP can be enabled explicitly
with `make -C ~/state-hub configure-codex WITH_MCP=1`.

### Orient at session start

```bash
# Offline brief — works without hub connection
cat .custodian-brief.md

# Active workplans for this domain
curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:8000/workplans/?topic_id=c1d199b6-55ee-4db6-b49e-257a9f0f15ac&status=active" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

# Check inbox
curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:8000/messages/?to_agent=pqrst-practice&unread_only=true" \
  | python3 -m json.tool
```

Mark a message read:
```bash
curl -s -X PATCH "http://127.0.0.1:8000/messages/<id>/read" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{}'
```

### Log progress (required at session close)

```bash
curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8000/progress/ \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "summary": "what was done",
    "event_type": "note",
    "author": "codex",
    "workplan_id": "<uuid>",
    "task_id": "<uuid>"
  }'
```

Omit `workplan_id` / `task_id` when not applicable.

### Update task status

```bash
curl -s -X PATCH "http://127.0.0.1:8000/tasks/<task_id>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status": "progress"}'
# values: wait | todo | progress | done | cancel
```

### Flag a task for human review

```bash
curl -s -X PATCH "http://127.0.0.1:8000/tasks/<task_id>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"needs_human": true, "intervention_note": "reason"}'
```

---

## Session Protocol

**Start:**
1. `cat .custodian-brief.md` — domain goal and open workplans (offline-safe)
2. Check inbox: `GET /messages/?to_agent=pqrst-practice&unread_only=true`; mark read
3. Scan workplans: `ls workplans/` — note `status: ready`, `active`, or `blocked` files and open tasks
4. Check human-needed tasks: `GET /tasks/?needs_human=true`

**During work:**
- Update task statuses in workplan files as tasks progress
- Record significant decisions via `POST /decisions/`

**Close:**
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 /
   decision / engagement). Do not park leftovers only in prose or `SCOPE.md`.
   Canon: `the-custodian/canon/standards/work-record-types_v0.1.md` § Residuals.
3. Log: `POST /progress/` with a summary of what changed (name handoff ids)
4. After workplan file changes, run:
   ```bash
   uv run --project ~/repo-manager rmgr sync --path . --push
   ```
   This assigns only missing deterministic identifiers, verifies the pushed
   Forgejo commit and `primary/railliance01`, then requests one central
   reconciliation. A queued receipt is pending evidence; rerun after
   connectivity returns. Use `statehub fix-consistency` for a separate deep audit.

---

## Credential and access routing

**Audience:** Codex, Claude Code, Grok, and custodian agents that call **llm-connect**
for inference. Run this check **before** requesting secrets, API keys, SSH access,
login tokens, or database passwords — in any repo, not only `ops-warden`.

ops-warden **issues SSH certificates only** (`warden sign`, `cert_command`). Every
other credential need belongs to another subsystem. **Do not** message
`ops-warden` on State Hub expecting a secret value; the reply is a pointer, not a key.

### Lookup (do this first)

```bash
warden route find "<describe your need>" --json
warden route show <catalog-id> --json
```

Requires the `warden` CLI from `~/ops-warden` (`uv tool install .` or `uv run warden`).

| Agent runtime | How to orient |
| --- | --- |
| **Codex / Grok** (shell, HTTP State Hub) | `warden route` commands above; inbox `to_agent=pqrst-practice` is for coordination, not secret vending |
| **Claude Code** (MCP when available) | `get_domain_summary("custodian")` for workplans; **still** use `warden route` for credential ownership |
| **llm-connect** (inference service) | Never put secret retrieval in prompts; route custody to OpenBao/operator paths surfaced by `warden route` |

### Quick routing table

| I need… | Owner | ops-warden executes? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| SSH cert (`adm`/`agt`/`atm`) | ops-warden | **Yes** — `warden sign` |
| API key, DB password, provider token | OpenBao (`railiance-platform`) | No — route only |
| Login / OIDC / MFA | key-cape / Keycloak | No — route only |
| Authorization decision | flex-auth | No — route only |
| activity-core → issue-core emission | activity-core + issue-core | No — `warden route show activity-core-issue-sink` |
| SSH tunnel | ops-bridge (+ `cert_command` from warden) | No — route only |

### Anti-patterns (do not do these)

- `POST /messages/` to `ops-warden` asking for `ISSUE_CORE_API_KEY`, `OPENROUTER_API_KEY`, etc.
- Inventing `warden secret`, `warden login`, `warden bao`, `warden tunnel` — they do not exist
- Pasting secrets into Git, State Hub, workplans, logs, or chat

### Other capabilities (reuse-surface)

Non-credential capabilities are usually discovered through **reuse-surface** federation
(`reuse-surface` registry / `capability.*` indexes). Credential routing is inlined in
every repo's agent instructions because it is high-frequency, high-risk, and easy to
get wrong.

**Canon:** `~/ops-warden/wiki/CredentialRouting.md` · catalog `~/ops-warden/registry/routing/catalog.yaml`

<!-- REPO-AGENTS-EXTENSIONS -->
<!-- Append repo-specific agent instructions below this marker.
     The state-hub template sync preserves content after this line. -->

---

## Workplan Convention (ADR-001)

Work items originate as files in this repo — not in the hub. The hub is a
read/cache/index layer that rebuilds from files.

**File location:** `workplans/PQRST-WP-NNNN-<slug>.md`

**Archived location:** finished workplans may move to
`workplans/archived/YYMMDD-PQRST-WP-NNNN-<slug>.md`. The `YYMMDD` prefix is
the completion/archive date; the frontmatter `id` does not change.

**Ad Hoc Tasks:** small opportunistic fixes discovered during a session use
`workplans/ADHOC-YYYY-MM-DD.md`, workplan id
`PQRST-WP-ADHOC-YYYY-MM-DD`, and task ids
`PQRST-WP-ADHOC-YYYY-MM-DD-T01`, etc. `PQRST-WP` includes its final `-WP`
token. Unqualified historic `ADHOC-*` ids are grandfathered and must not be
copied into new records. Use this only for low-risk work completed directly;
create a normal workplan for anything needing analysis, design, approval,
dependencies, or multiple phases.

**Frontmatter:**

```yaml
---
id: PQRST-WP-NNNN
type: workplan
title: "..."
domain: agents
repo: pqrst-practice
status: proposed | ready | active | blocked | backlog | finished | archived
owner: codex
topic_slug: ...
created: "YYYY-MM-DD"
updated: "YYYY-MM-DD"
state_hub_workstream_id: "<uuid>"   # deterministic UUIDv5; managed by Repo Manager
---
```

Use `proposed` for a new draft, `ready` after review against current repo
state, and `finished` after implementation. `stalled` and `needs_review` are
derived health labels, not frontmatter statuses.

**Terminology:** workplan is the fleet term; `workstream` appears only in legacy
API/MCP/frontmatter bridges until `STATE-WP-0069` retires them — see
`the-custodian/canon/standards/workplan-terminology-fleet_v0.1.md`.

**Task block format** (one per `##` section):

```
## Task Title

` ` `task
id: PQRST-WP-NNNN-T01
status: wait | todo | progress | done | cancel
priority: high | medium | low
state_hub_task_id: "<uuid>"         # deterministic UUIDv5; managed by Repo Manager
` ` `

Task description text.
```

Status progression: `todo` → `progress` → `done`; use `wait` for waiting/blocked work and `cancel` for stopped work.

**Residuals when finishing:** actionable leftovers become live work records
before `status: finished` — usually an intake (`origin: residual`,
`origin_ref: PQRST-WP-NNNN`) or a spawned workplan. Residual is a *role*,
not a kind. Fleet list lives on State Hub, not in `SCOPE.md`.

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.

---

## Repo-Specific Working Notes

### What this repo is

A **specification-and-prompt repository**. Every tracked file is Markdown except
`.repo-classification.yaml`. There is no application code, no package manifest,
and no runtime. Read [`INTENT.md`](INTENT.md) and [`SCOPE.md`](SCOPE.md) before
changing anything — SCOPE.md is normative about what must *not* be added here.

The deliverables are:

| File | Role |
| --- | --- |
| `spec/PqrstEstimationPractice.md` | The normative specification. Versioned. |
| `PqrstPrompt.md` | The canonical end-of-session prompt operators paste. |
| `INTENT.md` / `SCOPE.md` | Why the practice exists; what belongs here. |
| `history/` | Source drafts. **Append-only — never edit an existing file.** |

### Developer workflow

There is nothing to install, build, or run.

| Step | Command | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Install | — | No dependencies. |
| Build | — | No build step. |
| Run | — | Nothing executes; the prompt is pasted into a session by an operator. |
| Test | — | No test suite. Verification is the checklist below. |
| Lint | — | No linter is configured. Match surrounding Markdown style. |
| Sync | `uv run --project ~/repo-manager rmgr sync --path . --push` | After workplan file changes. |
| Audit | `statehub fix-consistency` | Deep audit; also regenerates `WORK-RECORDS.md`. |

Do not add a toolchain to make this table look fuller. A validator, collector,
or CI harness for PQRST records is explicitly out of scope (`SCOPE.md`) and
belongs in a consuming repository.

### Verification checklist

Run this before committing a change to the spec or the prompt. It is a reading
task, not a command — the coupling between the two files is the thing that
breaks.

1. **Prompt matches spec.** Every rule in the prompt's `Rules:` list has a
   corresponding rule in spec §3, and the prompt's output block matches the
   stored-record format in spec §5.1 field for field.
2. **The 5-tuple is closed.** No change introduces a sixth dimension, and
   confidence stays outside P/Q/R/S/T (spec R9, R10).
3. **Examples validate.** Every example record in the repo satisfies spec §5.5.
   The arithmetic can be checked mechanically:

   ```bash
   grep -rhoE 'P[0-9]+ Q[0-9]+ R[0-9]+ S[0-9]+ T[0-9]+' --include='*.md' . \
     | sort -u \
     | awk '{sig=$0; s=0; for(i=1;i<=NF;i++){gsub(/[PQRST]/,"",$i); s+=$i}
            printf "%-28s %s\n", sig, (s==100 ? "ok" : "SUM=" s)}'
   ```

   Every line must report `ok`.
4. **Cross-references resolve.** Relative links between `INTENT.md`,
   `SCOPE.md`, `PqrstPrompt.md`, and `spec/` still point at existing files and
   sections.
5. **Version discipline.** A change to a dimension's meaning, the validation
   rules, or the stored record format is **breaking**: bump the spec version,
   add a row to its Appendix B, and say plainly that older records are less
   comparable. Editorial changes need no bump.
6. **`history/` untouched.** `git diff --stat history/` is empty.

### Conventions

- The specification is the source of truth; `PqrstPrompt.md` follows it, never
  the reverse.
- Prefer prose the operator can act on at 11pm at the end of a long session.
  Terse beats thorough in `PqrstPrompt.md`; thorough beats terse in `spec/`.
- Keep the anti-goals in `INTENT.md` intact when editing. They are the load-
  bearing part of the practice, not framing.