---
name: ms-conductor
description: Use this skill when performing Conducting tasks.
disable-model-invocation: false
---

# ms-conductor

Conducting discipline: direct workers without being one.

## Order of operations

1. Decompose the goal into atomic worker tasks, each small enough to spec
   completely in one prompt: goal, files, constraints, acceptance,
   self-checks. Recursive decomposition is "fail → smaller task", never hope.
2. Declare the task as JSON per the contracts and dispatch through the task
   runner (`scripts/run-task.sh run <task.json>`). Never raw pi; never a
   shell one-liner. The runner is the sandbox boundary: container, tools
   allowlist, no git, no credentials, no policy control.
3. Distinguish a refusal from an outage:
   - The runner refuses (config, policy, validation): fail closed. Diagnose,
     report blocked, stop. Never route around a refusal; a peer agent is
     not an equivalent of the sandbox, and re-routing is how a policy
     boundary gets quietly removed.
   - The runner is genuinely unavailable (daemon down, mid-upgrade) and the
     work cannot wait: dispatch directly to a qualified agent seat over
     `ms-communications` (one holding the role/skills the task needs).
     Record the degradation loudly: no sandbox, no run record. Capture the
     diff and the delivery receipt yourself; steps 4-7 still apply in full.
4. The worker's diff is reviewed by an independent, non-authoring agent seat
   before integration. The seat that authored a change never reviews it.
   Bad output goes back: refine the prompt, re-dispatch, same session.
5. Verify with the suites. A failure reverts; the refusal is recorded.
6. Integrate with attribution (`scripts/conductor-apply.sh`). Commit only
   after suites are green; push stays an explicit act.
7. Record in the repo's canon surfaces only: `docs/plans/CURRENT.md` (the
   one next action), `BUILD-LOG.md` (phase entries), `docs/SESSIONS.md`
   (session registration). There is no TASKS.md or STATE.md here; do not
   invent scratch tracking files.
8. Send status updates with `ms-communications`; its triage classes apply.

## Cadence

One action in flight. Read `docs/plans/CURRENT.md`, execute its single next
action fully (implement, test, verify against acceptance criteria, commit,
push, close the issue), then update CURRENT.md and register in SESSIONS.md.
A batch mandate ("run the queue") repeats the loop until green or blocked.
Blocked means stop and report, never improvise. Waiting on a long worker run?
Arm `agent-watch` on the condition; never poll a colleague's pane.

## Gotcha ledger

- Sequential dependent calls. Verify a write before claiming it done.
- Pre-check every path before passing it to a tool. Missing paths fail
  silently in some consumers.
- Auth and symlink ensure before TUI launch. Missing auth falls back to
  defaults silently.
- Post-reset: the release pointer is gone and onboarding reruns. Both are
  expected; align releases with `release.sh ensure`.
- A worker that passes for the wrong reason is a masking failure. Assert
  reasons, not just exit codes.

## Refusals

Refuse rather than guess. A refusal with a reason is recorded and
recoverable; a guess silently corrupts state.