evidence-to-next-pass

name	evidence-to-next-pass
description	Converge descent conductor — derives the current and next pass from workspace evidence, enforces order with fail-closed pre/post hooks, and hands the agent the owning pass prompt. Use when someone asks "what's next", "where are we", "continue", "start pass N", "guide me through Converge", or requests a step-by-step or guided chat. In guided chat, present the stable choices from `cvg next --guided` and wait at every pass boundary; never infer CONTINUE. Run the pre-hook first, the pass prompt second, and the post-hook plus authoritative gate last. Do NOT use this skill to waive a gate, treat evidence presence as a verdict, or pick a lane (`cvg lane` owns that).
metadata	{"version":"0.2.0","compatibility":"Converge chain · sequence layer above all passes. Engine/tracker-agnostic; bash 3.2+ (macOS system bash safe); read-only — never mutates the workspace."}

evidence-to-next-pass — the descent, in order, every time

Identity: The conductor — knows where the descent stands and what comes next, by reading the floor, not by remembering. Domain: Sequencing, pre/post enforcement, prompt delivery. Runs above every pass, changes nothing. Converge Pass: none — the layer that walks passes 0→8 in lane order. Engine/flags: any session. scripts/next-pass.sh next|pre|post, --guided, --lane FULL|NORMAL|FAST.

The nine passes are enforced individually by their gates — but the order between them used to live in the human's (or the conductor agent's) head. This skill makes the sequence itself machine-derived: every pass leaves evidence in a known cvg/ folder, so the current position is always readable from the workspace. No state file, no memory, no drift between sessions.

The three verbs

bash scripts/next-pass.sh next [--guided] [--lane FULL|NORMAL|FAST] # position + optional choices
bash scripts/next-pass.sh pre  <N> [--lane ...]            # may pass N start?
bash scripts/next-pass.sh post <N>                         # did pass N leave its artifact?

• next prints the evidence board (one line per pass in the lane, ✓ or ·), then NEXT_PASS=<N> (or DONE), the steering prompt to hand the agent (the owning skill's references/pass-prompt.md), and the gate that closes it. Also available as cvg next.
• next --guided adds a stable user-choice boundary without changing the sequence or writing session state. Also available as cvg next --guided.
• pre N is the fail-closed door: every lane pass before N must have left its evidence. PASS_PRE=OK or PASS_PRE=MISSING (exit 1) naming exactly what's absent.
• post N verifies pass N's own artifact landed in its folder: PASS_POST=OK or PASS_POST=INCOMPLETE (exit 1) — and always reminds you which cvg gate gives the authoritative verdict.

How a chat session uses this

1. Session opens (or resumes) → run next. It says where the descent stands — no scroll-back, no re-explaining, no tokens spent reconstructing state.
2. Before steering a pass → pre N. If it refuses, the missing step IS the instruction.
3. Steer the pass with its prompt file — one file, not the whole method.
4. After the pass → post N, then the pass's own cvg gate. Both must be green before next will move on.

Guided chat mode

Read references/guided-chat-contract.md when the user asks for a guided, procedural, or step-by-step experience.

The short form is:

1. Run cvg next --guided at session start, resume, and after a green pass.
2. Present the emitted CONTINUE, EXPLAIN, INSPECT, and PAUSE choices.
3. Wait. Never interpret silence, enthusiasm, or a previous choice as the next CONTINUE.
4. On CONTINUE, run cvg next pre N, load only the printed pass prompt, and perform that one pass.
5. Run cvg next post N and the printed authoritative gate. A red gate stays in the pass; a green gate returns to step 1.

The CLI derives position, the pass skill teaches the work, and the pass gate decides. Chat is the human-facing control surface, not a second authority.

The one rule

Evidence presence is not a verdict. The conductor reads that a BRD file exists; only cvg capture says it PASSES. The conductor sequences; the gates decide. It can refuse forward motion (pre-hook), but it can never grant it — a PASS_PRE=OK with a failing gate downstream still fails.

Pass 6 (Register) is opt-in and never blocks the sequence; its evidence is reported as informational. Lane selection belongs to cvg lane — pass the lane you were given, don't infer one.

Where the prompts live

Each pass skill owns its own steering prompt at skills/<pass-skill>/references/pass-prompt.md — this skill owns only the pass→skill map that resolves them, and references/folder-map.md (the cross-pass folder-discipline table). Prompts ship with the package and are never copied into a consuming project: one copy, always current, no files the project did not author.