Work on a branch in the one worktree it belongs to

setup: installed-wired
given:
  - 'the layer installed and the hooks wired; the shell tool proves the wiring, the executable proves the topology'
steps:
  - id: wiring-holds
    run: ['doctor']
    note: 'every declared enforcement entry is wired, the worktree guard among them once the policy declares it'
    expect:
      exit: 0
      stdout_contains: ['doctor: 0 failure']
  - id: the-briefing-names-the-checkout
    run: ['context']
    note: 'the briefing is about this worktree and branch and never about somebody else''s'
    expect:
      exit: 0
then:
  - 'the executable derives <repo>-wt/<branch> for any branch from git identity alone; test/cases/96_worktree_topology.sh drives it end to end'
  - 'a misplaced worktree migrates with its staged, unstaged and untracked work, verified by a fingerprint before and after'

The scenario

Executed against the real tool, in a repository prepared by installed-wired, 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, 2 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 doctor exit 0

   every declared enforcement entry is wired, the worktree guard among them once the policy declares it

   OK   knowledge   graph — buildable here: 100 node(s), 58 edge(s), compiled into a temporary file and removed; no stored index to go stale
   OK   knowledge   records — 0 record(s) valid against knowledge/v1; every reference resolves  [reproduce: majordomus knowledge check]
   OK   knowledge   candidates — 0 await review, cap 40
   OK   layout      .ai/manifest.yaml — schema ai-repository/v1
   OK   layout      .ai/repo/scope.yaml — version 1; 14 in pathspec(s); every key is one the schema declares
   OK   layout      .ai/local/ — ignored, and nothing under it is tracked
   OK   layout      .ai/ — every section the manifest names exists; the layer is readable without the tool
   OK   layout      .ai/repo/prompts — present
   OK   layout      .ai/local/state/handovers — present, 0 record(s)
   OK   layout      .ai/local/state/checkpoints — present, 0 record(s)
   OK   records     ledger.jsonl — every line is a well-formed event
   OK   policy      39 key(s) — every policy value the code reads is declared, with no reader-side default
   OK   bootstrap   3 projection(s) — each points at .ai/README.md, carries no rule of its own and names only rules in force
   OK   catalogue   0 use case(s), 0 application(s) — every command, doctrine, claim, responsibility, category, setup and cross-reference resolves, both directions
   OK   context     .ai/ — 20 context document(s) carry the contract; ids unique, references resolve, no final document superseded, no cycle  [reproduce: majordomus context validate]
   OK   policy      .ai/repo/policy.yaml — parsed, version 1
   OK   profiles    4 files — parsed; default 'implementation' exists
   INFO adr         .ai/repo/adrs/ — no decisions; nothing to validate
   OK   records     decisions.md — every entry is attributable
   INFO project     .ai/repo/project — no canonical project model here; nothing to validate
   OK   command     surface — 30 public command(s), reconciled against the dispatch table  [reproduce: majordomus doctor]
   OK   doctrine    50 of 61 rule(s) carry a validator — validator, dispatch, propagation, test and CI resolve for every one of the 50; the remaining 11 declare no validator and this check does not examine them
   OK   wiring      doctor-on-commit — wired via .githooks/pre-commit
   OK   wiring      finish-on-push — wired via .githooks/pre-push
   OK   command     coverage — every public command is exercised and refuted  [reproduce: bash test/run.sh 31_command_coverage]
   OK   resolver    handovers — no record for this worktree and branch (absence, not a stale match)  [reproduce: majordomus handover --resolve]
   OK   lifecycle   activity — 0 episode(s) opened here; too few to judge whether the writers stopped
   OK   knowledge   wiring — the close path and the compaction adapter call the deriver
   OK   knowledge   deriver — no episode has closed here; nothing to judge
   INFO project     .ai/repo/project — no canonical project model here; nothing to validate
   OK   projection  AGENTS.md — content matches its stamp
   OK   projection  CLAUDE.md — content matches its stamp
   OK   projection  GEMINI.md — content matches its stamp
   OK   budget      AGENTS.md — 42 lines, budget 150
   OK   links       AGENTS.md — all references resolve
   OK   counts      AGENTS.md — no hardcoded counts
   OK   context     builder — 21 lines, budget 300  [reproduce: majordomus context]
   OK   capture     share/schemas/majordomus/capture/capture.v1 — 2 file(s) describe majordomus.capture/v1 at the path the identifier derives: the record as JSON Schema, the document as protobuf
   OK   capture     .ai/local/prompts — ignored and untracked
   OK   capture     .ai/local/prompts — no records yet; the archive is empty
   OK   capture     .ai/local/prompts — every prompt is present as all three: the record, the Markdown and the YAML
   OK   prompts     .ai/local/prompts — the archive and every record in it are readable by their owner only
   OK   prompts     .ai/local/prompts — no records yet; the archive is empty
   OK   prompt      4 asset(s) — front matter valid, every token known
   OK   records     open-questions.md — every entry parses
   OK   retention   ledger — 1 lines, cap 5000
   OK   retention   handovers — 0 files, cap 200
   OK   retention   checkpoints — 0 files, cap 500
   OK   retention   sessions — 0 records, cap 500
   INFO project     .ai/repo/project — no canonical project model here; nothing to validate
   OK   rules       .ai/repo/rules/vendor/majordomus — every file matches the manifest (1 (1.0.0-alpha.8))
   OK   rules       61 rule(s) — resolve in one deterministic order; vendored baseline plus project rules, no override — 51 carry a validator, 10 are normative text this tool does not check
   OK   rules       blocking — all 44 blocking rule(s) carry a validator
   OK   schema      rules — 61 rule(s) resolve in one order: the vendored baseline in manifest order, then the project's, as a dependency graph
   OK   schema      share/kinds.yaml — 37 kind(s); every one that carries metadata declares a schema
   OK   schema      share/schemas — 54 schema(s), each valid JSON and each applied — by a kind, through an allow-list the tool reads, by a validator that names it, or as a generated document's contract (15)
   OK   records     0 record(s) — every changed_files names work, not generated or local state
   OK   session     .ai/local/session-contexts — ignored and untracked
   OK   session     .ai/local/session-contexts — no working contexts yet; the store is empty
   INFO skill       .ai/repo/skills/ — no skills; nothing to validate
   OK   skill       reachable — no personal command or skill shares a name with a projected skill  [reproduce: majordomus run editors.status]
   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 env         - — bash <version>, git <version>, jq <version>, shellcheck present
   WARN clone       unpushed — commits on no remote: main(2) — work on one disk is invisible to every other session and cannot be integrated  [reproduce: git push -u origin <branch>]
   OK   clone       uncommitted — no linked worktree, so no uncommitted work can sit in one
   INFO clone       trunk — no remote-tracking branch, so this checkout's distance from the remote trunk cannot be measured
   INFO clone       release — no remote-tracking branch, so whether the trunk's landed work is released cannot be measured
   ·    reasoning   <decided by the advisors and the executable of the recording machine>
   ·    layout      - — <judged when the recording machine has built the executable>
   ·    budget      doctor — <timed against the policy budget>
   doctor: 0 failure(s)

   • exit 0
   • stdout_contains /doctor: 0 failure/
2. 2$ majordomus context exit 0

   the briefing is about this worktree and branch and never about somebody else's

   # Majordomus context — <time>
   # a projection of durable state, not a source of truth: validate every line against git
   
   ## GIT
   repository   <repo>
   branch       main
   head         <sha>
   working_tree dirty
   
   ## TASK
   none active — run: majordomus start "<task>" --scope <paths>
   
   ## KNOWLEDGE (candidates awaiting review on this branch; majordomus knowledge candidates)
   No knowledge candidates await review on this branch. That is an answer, not a gap: `majordomus knowledge candidates` lists every branch.
   
   ## EXCLUDED
   - context documents — no active task names a scope; run: majordomus context resolve <path>
   - handover — no record for this worktree and branch — absence, not a stale match
   
   ## BUDGET
   21 of 300 lines

   • 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 doctorIt checks governance only: is Majordomus itself healthy, and is every enforcement it declares actually wired here?
• majordomus contextWhat the next worker needs to know now, in authority order and within a budget.

Over MCP the same layer is reached through majordomus_worktrees, majordomus_worktree_status, majordomus_worktree_inspect, majordomus_worktree_migration_plan (the MCP surface).

The rules that make it hold

• ✕blocking Enforcement wiringEvery enforcement the policy declares is invoked by the hook it names, from a file the dispatcher will actually execute, without swallowing the exit code.
• ✕blocking Scope integrityA task touches only the paths it claimed; work found elsewhere is not accepted as done.

Guarantees exercised

• ○guaranteed A task record names the checkout it belongs to, and another checkout is never held to its scope
• ○guaranteed A branch's worktree path is derived from git identity and the branch name alone — the primary checkout's sibling named with -wt, then the branch with its hierarchy kept — and is the same answer from every directory of every worktree, with nothing registered or configured
• ○guaranteed A misplaced worktree is brought to its canonical path with its modified, staged, unstaged and untracked work intact, verified by a fingerprint taken before and after the move, and a step is reported as moved only when the two are equal

Related use cases

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

• Resume in the right worktree, never against somebody else’s taskFind the handover that belongs to this worktree and branch, and see a task record from another checkout reported as foreign rather than enforced here.
• Serve the repository's AI layer to every AI client through one shared serverOpen the repository in any client the tool declares a provider for (docs/generated/providers.md) and have each of them read the same rules, prompts and knowledge over MCP from one process, seeing each other.
• Deliver issues in waves the graph computes, and take the next oneValidate the plan, read the execution waves the dependency graph yields, see which issues are ready and which are blocked on what, and take the one issue a worker should do now.
• Say what your work is for, once, and have every surface say itRecord an operational failure mode as one file and have the command line, the API, MCP and the website answer it without registering it anywhere.
• Trace a change to the context documents it affectsList the scoped context documents, resolve which apply to a path and why, and find out which documents a change set touches before it lands.

The moments this answers

• → found five worktrees and could not say which of them still mattered Isolation is cheap to create and expensive to reason about: nothing records what a worktree was for or whether its work landed.