Wire the governed runtime into Claude Code agent teams. Classifies work into R1–R5, spawns bounded swarm teams for R3/R4, manages packet execution with reviewer barriers, enforces postflight gates, and sends completion notifications.
Wire the governed runtime into Claude Code agent teams. Classifies work into R1–R5, spawns bounded swarm teams for R3/R4, manages packet execution with reviewer barriers, enforces postflight gates, and sends completion notifications.
This skill is the runtime interpreter for the route manifest (~/.claude/state/route_manifest.json)
and the enforcer of the canonical 9-phase workflow (~/.claude/standards/WORKFLOW_PHASES.md).
It classifies work, enforces route-specific execution discipline, spawns agent teams for bounded swarms,
and gates closure on convergence and postflight evidence.
Phase mapping: govern's internal phases map to the canonical workflow as follows:
Phase 0 (Memory Retrieval) = WF Phase 3 (Research). Phase 1 (Route Classification) = WF Phase 2
(Classify). Phase 2 (Execute by Route) spans WF Phases 4–9 (Blueprint → Validate), with
/planning-gate owning Phase 5 (Plan) and the orchestration loop covering Phases 7–8
(Implement → Test). See WORKFLOW_PHASES.md for the full sequence and route × phase matrix.
Usage
/govern Add a helper function to utils.ts
/govern Add JWT auth to the API with refresh tokens
/govern --route R2 Fix the typo in the README
/govern --dry-run Refactor the billing module
Route the whole task through Hermes phase orchestrator (~/chad_work/hermes, REST :3345) instead of in-session dispatch. R3/R4 only. Greenfield uses 8 phases (plan/design/backend/frontend/test/e2e/security/validate); refactor uses 5 (index/plan/refactor/test/validate). Falls back to standard dispatch if Hermes is unreachable and --strict-hermes is not set.
--worker-runtime {claude|goose|opencode}
Override the dispatch profile's worker_runtime for this run. goose routes through ~/.claude/bin/goose_dispatch.py (ACP → Pro/Max subscription, no per-token cost). opencode routes through anthropic-concurrency-system. Default inherits from route_manifest.json profile.
Members per the team spec (respecting lane_caps and profile_overrides)
Create worktree for isolation:
Branch: govern-<track-id>
Workers operate in the worktree
Create tasks for each packet using TaskCreate:
Set addBlockedBy for DAG dependencies between packets
Include acceptance checks in task description
Sprint-contract ack (ENFORCED gate): send the planner's sprint contract
to the reviewer; on explicit ack, record it — R3/R4 dispatch_track blocks
with missing_reviewer_ack until this runs:
Reviewer rejects → planner revises criteria → re-ack. Never record an ack
the reviewer didn't give.
Enter the orchestration loop (Phase 3)
At reviewer barrier points → spawn reviewer, wait for verdict
On completion → postflight gates (Phase 4)
R4 — Conservative Bounded Swarm
Same as R3 with tighter constraints:
Reviewer is co-primary from the start (joins team at creation, not just at barriers)
Swarm cap: 2 (from manifest)
All lane caps: 1
Extra barrier: adaptation_generated_packets
Reviewer must approve the plan before any execution begins
All worker packets require explicit reviewer sign-off
Codex delegation: For complex investigation or fix sub-tasks within R4, use /codex:rescue to hand off asynchronously while Claude coordinates:
/codex:rescue --background investigate <specific problem>
/codex:rescue --resume apply the top fix from the last run
/codex:status # check progress
/codex:result # retrieve findings
Use codex resume <session-id> (from /codex:result output) to hand off into Codex directly.
R5 — Ambiguity Resolution
Identify the specific ambiguities preventing classification
Generate targeted clarifying questions (batch-limited per manifest)
Present questions to the user
On resolution, re-classify the prompt and re-enter Phase 2
Phase 3: Orchestration Loop (R3/R4)
The session running /govern acts as team lead (coordinator):
LOOP:
1. TaskList → get current task states
2. Compute runnable set:
- Tasks whose blockedBy are all completed
- Respect lane_caps (don't exceed per-lane concurrent limit)
- Respect route_swarm_cap (total concurrent active tasks)
3. Dispatch in frontier_dispatch_order:
validator → explorer → worker → reviewer
For each dispatchable task:
- TaskUpdate: set owner = agent name, status = in_progress
- SendMessage: packet instructions + acceptance checks + scope constraints
4. Wait for agent completion messages
5. On task completion:
- Handoff-integrity check FIRST (see "Truncation tripwire" below);
a result that fails it is a FAILED dispatch, not a completion
- TaskUpdate: mark completed with evidence
- Check reviewer_barrier_points:
- "closure": all required packets must be reviewer-approved before closing
- "high_risk_boundary_shrink": reviewer approves any scope reduction
- "adaptation_generated_packets" (R4): reviewer approves generated work
- If barrier hit → dispatch reviewer task, wait for verdict
- If reviewer rejects → create rework tasks, continue loop
- Recompute runnable set
6. Check terminal conditions:
- All required packets accepted + convergence → OBJECTIVE_COMPLETE
- No runnable packets + all blocked → ESCALATION_REQUIRED
- Retry budget exhausted (max 2 same-strategy) → boundary shrink
- No frontier movement for 2 cycles → escalate
7. If not terminal → GOTO 1
Timeout safety (no-nudge policy):
If an agent hasn't reported in 5 minutes, send ONE status ping via SendMessage.
No response after that single ping (10 min total) → the worker is DEAD to this
task: mark the task failed and respawn a FRESH worker with the stall folded
into its prompt ("previous worker stalled at ; <known cause/fix if any>").
Reassignment means fresh respawn — never resume-nudge the same stalled session.
Hard cap: one nudge per worker per task. A second stall by the SAME task's
replacement worker is a step problem, not a session problem — stop respawning
and fix the step (pre-authorize the command, add env determinism like
CI=1 npm install --no-audit --no-fund, or split the packet). "Nudge #3" must
never exist: babysitting a stalled context costs more than a clean window.
A stalled worker that eventually replies WITHOUT its mandatory handoff
artifacts still fails the truncation tripwire below — nudged-back-to-life is
not completion.
Respawns count toward the retry-policy caps below.
Track noop_cycle_count and no_frontier_movement_cycle_count per manifest thresholds
Truncation tripwire (handoff integrity):
maxTurns truncation cuts the END of an agent's output, so a turn-capped agent
looks like a finished one unless you check. Worker/planner/test-strategist
handoffs are contractually required to end with the literal final line
HANDOFF-COMPLETE. On any completion message:
Missing HANDOFF-COMPLETE final line, OR missing mandatory handoff artifacts
(worker: diff + test output + criterion mapping + verify:<slice-id>:exit=<code>
token) → treat as a FAILED dispatch. Never grade prose; never accept partial
artifacts as "close enough".
Respawn with the failure folded into the retry prompt ("your previous attempt
was cut off after X; resume from the last complete artifact"), under the same
retry policy caps below. Repeated truncation of the same packet → split the
packet, don't raise maxTurns first.
Effort escalation on rework dispatch:
When re-dispatching a slice that entered rework (via update-node --state rework), the auto-runtime records a suggested bumped effort in governance.slice_escalations[slice_id]. Resolve the effective effort for the dispatch via:
Use $EFFORT when invoking the agent for the retry. The helper returns base-effort unchanged if no escalation is recorded, so it's safe to always call. Ladder: low → medium → high → xhigh; ceiling is xhigh.
Phase 4: Postflight (R3/R4)
Compile artifacts in standard planning-gate schema:
