Prove what a task owed before calling it done

setup: task-owes
given:
  - a repository with the layer installed and a task active
steps:
  - id: owes-and-cannot-prove-it
    run: ['finish', '--outcome', 'completed', '--note', 'done']
    expect:
      exit: 10
      output: 'owed, and no evidence was recorded'
  - id: honest-is-never-refused
    run: ['check']
    expect:
      exit: 0
      output: 'obligation'
  - id: record-it
    run: ['evidence', '--covers', 'tests', '--type', 'test', '--command', 'bash test/run.sh']
    expect:
      exit: 0
      output: 'evidence: tests recorded'
  - id: now-it-discharges
    run: ['check']
    expect:
      exit: 0
      output: 'discharged over inputs'
then:
  - the obligation is discharged while the files it names are unchanged
  - a change to any of those files makes the same evidence stale, and finish refuses again
  - an outcome other than completed is never refused for owing something

The scenario

Executed against the real tool, in a repository prepared by task-owes, every time this site is generated. What follows is not a description of what should happen; it is what happened.

What the tool did

Evidence of the run this page was generated from: pass, 4 step(s). Output is normalised: the repository's path, timestamps, ids and durations are placeholders; nothing else is edited.

Tested by test/cases/94_use_cases.sh, which runs every scenario and refuses a step whose recorded output is not what it produced.

1. 1$ majordomus finish --outcome completed --note done exit 10

   OK   blockers    t-<id> — none open
   FAIL note        t-<id> — no --note file and no handover for this task  [reproduce: majordomus handover < note.md]
   INFO regression  t-<id> — profile implementation adds no requirement beyond the shared contract
   OK   scope       t-<id> — 1 touched file(s), all within scope
   OK   state       t-<id> — exact (head <head>)
   INFO continuity  t-<id> — applies to partial and blocked
   INFO mesh        t-<id> — the repository declares no enabled mesh
   INFO use-case    30 advisory gap(s) — not covered by an active use case, and the policy does not require it: command:init command:update command:doctor command:watch command:start command:context command:checkpoint command:handover command:check command:finish command:history command:decision command:question command:prompt command:evidence command:skills command:capture command:search command:doctrine command:plan command:version command:session command:knowledge command:adr command:usecase command:rules command:migrate command:recover command:bench command:archive  [reproduce: majordomus usecase coverage]
   OK   use-case    0 of 30 target(s) covered — every public command the policy requires is named and run by an active use case (policy use_cases.coverage)
   FAIL verification t-<id> — profile implementation requires --verify-command  [reproduce: majordomus finish --outcome completed --verify-command "<cmd>"]
   FAIL obligation  tests — owed, and no evidence was recorded  [reproduce: majordomus evidence --covers tests --command 'usecase impact']
   INFO gate        t-<id> — this repository declares no CI model at .ai/repo/ci/gates.yaml; nothing can be planned
   INFO gate        t-<id> — not in verification.finish_requires
   finish: refused, 3 unmet
   blocking doctrines:
   - majordomus.note-integrity
   - majordomus.verification-integrity
   - majordomus.obligation-closure

   • exit 10
2. 2$ majordomus check exit 0

   OK   knowledge   records — 0 record(s) valid against knowledge/v1; every reference resolves  [reproduce: majordomus knowledge check]
   ·    checkpoint  t-<id> — <timed against the checkpoint interval>
   OK   records     ledger.jsonl — every line is a well-formed event
   OK   blockers    t-<id> — none open
   OK   records     decisions.md — every entry is attributable
   OK   scope       t-<id> — 1 touched file(s), all within scope
   OK   state       t-<id> — exact (head <head>)
   INFO mesh        t-<id> — the repository declares no enabled mesh
   INFO use-case    30 advisory gap(s) — not covered by an active use case, and the policy does not require it: command:init command:update command:doctor command:watch command:start command:context command:checkpoint command:handover command:check command:finish command:history command:decision command:question command:prompt command:evidence command:skills command:capture command:search command:doctrine command:plan command:version command:session command:knowledge command:adr command:usecase command:rules command:migrate command:recover command:bench command:archive  [reproduce: majordomus usecase coverage]
   OK   use-case    0 of 30 target(s) covered — every public command the policy requires is named and run by an active use case (policy use_cases.coverage)
   INFO obligation  tests — owed, and no evidence was recorded (not refused: the outcome is not completed)
   INFO gate        t-<id> — this repository declares no CI model at .ai/repo/ci/gates.yaml; nothing can be planned
   check: 12 finding(s), 0 failing

   • exit 0
3. 3$ majordomus evidence --covers tests --type test --command 'bash test/run.sh' exit 0

   evidence: tests recorded for t-<id> (inputs <hash12>)

   • exit 0
4. 4$ majordomus check exit 0

   OK   knowledge   records — 0 record(s) valid against knowledge/v1; every reference resolves  [reproduce: majordomus knowledge check]
   ·    checkpoint  t-<id> — <timed against the checkpoint interval>
   OK   records     ledger.jsonl — every line is a well-formed event
   OK   blockers    t-<id> — none open
   OK   records     decisions.md — every entry is attributable
   OK   scope       t-<id> — 1 touched file(s), all within scope
   OK   state       t-<id> — exact (head <head>)
   INFO mesh        t-<id> — the repository declares no enabled mesh
   INFO use-case    30 advisory gap(s) — not covered by an active use case, and the policy does not require it: command:init command:update command:doctor command:watch command:start command:context command:checkpoint command:handover command:check command:finish command:history command:decision command:question command:prompt command:evidence command:skills command:capture command:search command:doctrine command:plan command:version command:session command:knowledge command:adr command:usecase command:rules command:migrate command:recover command:bench command:archive  [reproduce: majordomus usecase coverage]
   OK   use-case    0 of 30 target(s) covered — every public command the policy requires is named and run by an active use case (policy use_cases.coverage)
   OK   obligation  tests — discharged over inputs <hash12>
   INFO gate        t-<id> — this repository declares no CI model at .ai/repo/ci/gates.yaml; nothing can be planned
   check: 12 finding(s), 0 failing

   • exit 0

Why the tool knows this

The chain from this page to the code: the use case names commands, rules and claims; each rule is dispatched from the registry and each claim names the test that proves it; the scenario above executed the commands. Nothing in this chain is prose about intent.

• majordomus startBegin one scoped task under a profile, and refuse while another is active.
• majordomus evidenceRecord evidence against the active task: one obligation it declared, discharged, or one validation gate of the CI model that has reported — each as a ledger line carrying the hash of the files it was taken over.
• majordomus checkIs the current task still consistent with its policy, its scope and this checkout?
• majordomus finishEvaluate the finish contract and refuse the outcome if any line of it is unmet.

The rules that make it hold

• ✕blocking Obligation closureA task that declares obligations reaches the outcome completed only when each one is established by the tool or has evidence, and that evidence still describes the tree or the commit it was taken over.

Guarantees exercised

• ○guaranteed A task that declares obligations reaches the outcome completed only when each one has evidence recorded against it, and evidence taken over files that have since changed, or at a commit the branch has since left, no longer discharges anything

Related use cases

Computed from what they share: claims, rules, commands, category, applications. Nobody maintains this list.

• Say what reached the remote and what did notThe obligations that reach past the working tree are settled by asking git and the published site, so a report cannot call uncommitted work committed or unpushed work pushed.
• Catch an agent that says it is done when it is notOne task, start to finish: a worker strays outside its scope, claims it is finished, hands over, and is accepted only once the repository's own verification passes.
• Hand work over with a question still open, and keep it blockingClose a task into a handover while a question is unresolved, start the follow-up task, and see the same question still refuse acceptance there.
• Know whether the work in this checkout is finishedAsk the repository you are standing in, and be told what is still owed by name.
• Run several workers in one repository without them collidingGive each worker a declared scope, and find out immediately when two of them claim the same paths.