# Conductor protocol — poor-man orchestration loop

How the stack orchestrates headless pi workers to do work on itself.

## Role contracts

Role authority is declared in role contracts, one file per role, under
`roles/` (e.g. `roles/conductor-policy.json`). The repository root holds
only first-class, bootstrap-required configuration; role contracts are
tracked, versioned files whose changes arrive as reviewed commits.

## Roles

| Role | Runs where | Powers | Never has |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Conductor** | host (assistant or owner) | git (clone/commit/push), task dispatch, review, verification suites, Gitea | nothing new |
| **Worker** | container (headless pi via `scripts/run-task.sh`) | read/write/edit/bash inside its workspace; persistent session on request | git credentials, docker socket, host filesystem |

## The loop

1. **Decompose**: conductor turns a goal into worker tasks small enough to
   specify completely in one prompt (file paths, acceptance criteria, style
   constraints, verification the worker can run itself, e.g. `node --check`).
2. **Mirror**: conductor maintains the repo clone at
   `<dataRoot>/workspaces/stack-repo` (host-side git; workers see it read-write
   through their workspace mount).
3. **Dispatch**: `scripts/run-task.sh run <worker-task.json>` — worker edits the
   clone. Session name `worker-<n>` keeps continuity across refinement rounds.
4. **Extract**: `git -C <workspace> diff > patch` — the worker's entire output
   is a reviewable diff. Run record (result.json, stderr.txt) is the receipt.
5. **Review**: conductor reads the diff line by line. Bad output → refine the
   prompt, re-dispatch (same session: "your patch had these problems…").
6. **Integrate**: conductor applies the patch to the real repo, runs the full
   suites, commits and pushes. Suites failing → revert apply, back to step 5.
7. **Record**: update CURRENT.md, BUILD-LOG, close the Gitea issue.

## Guardrails

- Workers never receive credentials; they never run git; they never leave the
  workspace (container is the boundary; tools allowlist is the gate).
- Every worker diff is reviewed by the conductor before integration. No
  auto-apply. (Auto-apply would be a capability-policy decision for later.)
- Verification is mechanical: suites + `node --check` / `bash -n` gates.
- Recursive decomposition = "fail → smaller task", never "hope."

## Landing approved work

A stack coder pushes `work/vikunja-<p>-<t>` to the working repository, the
reviewer approves a commit on it, and the PM raises a `git.merge.protected`
decision for the human. After the human resolves it with the merge option,
the conductor runs:

```bash
scripts/land-work.sh <decision-id> --dry-run
scripts/land-work.sh <decision-id>
```

The tool binds the commit to what was reviewed and decided. It reads the
decision, its raise and the latest verdict from the bus database
read-only, requires the work ref to be at the approved commit, squashes
the reviewed diff onto `refactor` in a detached worktree, checks the
patch-id, runs the full gate and commits once, locally. It refuses work
that adds a file at the repository root, in a new top-level directory, or
under `src/` or `v1/`. Each
refusal names its reason (`docs/TOOLS.md`). Don't work around one; fix the
cause or go back to the PM.

The conductor then reviews the commit, pushes it as a separate act and
sends the PM the line the tool printed. Only `refactor` lands this way.
Merges to `next` or `main`, re-pins and restarts keep their own authority,
and no stack role runs this tool.

## Worker task template

```json
{
  "taskVersion": 1,
  "id": "t-worker-<name>",
  "prompt": "<full spec: goal, files, constraints, acceptance, self-checks>",
  "workspace": "stack-repo",
  "capabilities": { "tools": ["read", "write", "edit", "bash"] },
  "session": "worker-1",
  "timeoutSeconds": 600
}
```