automation-shape-routing

name	automation-shape-routing
description	Front door for agent automation: choose inline, bounded fanout, reusable skill/workflow/gate, persistent agent-native workers, or explicit Gas City. Triggers: "build automation", "which orchestration shape", "should this use NTM".
practices	["hexagonal-architecture","team-topologies","pragmatic-programmer"]
hexagonal_role	supporting
consumes	["task-intent"]
produces	["automation-shape-verdict"]
context_rel	[{"kind":"supplier-to","with":"skill-builder"},{"kind":"supplier-to","with":"workflow-builder"},{"kind":"supplier-to","with":"agent-native"},{"kind":"supplier-to","with":"using-gc"},{"kind":"supplier-to","with":"operationalize"}]
skill_api_version	1
context	{"window":"inherit","intent":{"mode":"task"},"intel_scope":"none"}
metadata	{"capabilities":["automation_shape_routing"],"effects":[],"canonical_status":"canonical","disposition":"keep_optional_adapter","tier":"meta","dependencies":[]}
output_contract	a one-line routing verdict naming the shape and deciding axis

Automation Shape Routing

Choose the smallest execution shape that preserves the required evidence and control. This skill routes; it does not build or start a substrate.

Ordered routing works because each rung is strictly cheaper to operate than the next: if the smallest shape truly preserves the evidence and control the task needs, every larger shape can only add coordination cost, never correctness.

Named failure mode — substrate romance: routing to persistent workers because the topology is interesting, not because any deciding axis demands it.

Anti-pattern: starting the chosen substrate as part of routing "to save a step". Corrective: return the one-line verdict and let the owner start under its own authority.

Critical Constraints

• Route only; do not start a substrate. Why: choosing an execution shape is a judgment step, while launching NTM, Agent Mail, or Gas City changes runtime state and requires separate operator authority.
• Prefer the smallest shape that preserves evidence. Why: persistence and coordination add recovery and ownership costs that one-shot work cannot repay.
• Partition write scopes before choosing concurrency. Why: a larger worker topology cannot make overlapping production writes safe.

Route in order

1. One deliverable? Do it inline. Use a small in-session fresh-context fanout only when independent perspectives are the product. Do not create a reusable artifact for a one-off task.
2. Reusable sequential procedure? Use skill-builder.
3. Must-never-regress constraint? Route through operationalize to a gate.
4. Fixed typed DAG, headless, no attach/steer? Use workflow-builder only where that runtime is explicitly selected and available.
5. Persistent, attachable roles over caller-supplied packets? Use agent-native. NTM is the pane adapter; Agent Mail coordinates only explicitly selected live actors.
6. Durable city of quests with GC-native supervision/store? Route to using-gc only when the operator explicitly selects Gas City. GC is not an automatic fallback or an ao runtime enum.

Deciding axes

Axis	Lightweight choice	Escalated choice
lifetime	current turn