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Choose the smallest workflow that still buys back enough attention and safety for the task.
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Based on SOC occupation classification
Record clear evidence that a task works, including commands, results, and remaining risks.
Compress project context into HANDOFF.md with workflow state, active modes, next gate, verification, current hypothesis, and resume packet for the next agent session.
Implement exactly one planned slice after scope is frozen.
Detect context drift, rehydration loops, hypothesis sprawl, scope creep, active-mode loss, and durable-state gaps. Recommend the smallest corrective action.
Create a compact SPEC.md that prevents premature agreement by defining intent, non-goals, likely failure modes, and verification evidence.
Explicitly limit blast radius before any implementation or file changes.
| name | ceremony-budget |
| description | Choose the smallest workflow that still buys back enough attention and safety for the task. |
Spend ceremony only when it buys back attention or safety. Route a task to a workflow that replaces the default larger route; do not append a second process contract.
Use when the safe route is not already obvious. If the task or wrapper already supplies an execution-sized route, use it without re-deriving the route.
Ceremony budget selects a route that replaces the default larger workflow. Do not regenerate the full route after a wrapper has already made it explicit. It must not:
When an existing route is sufficient, prefer:
Route already explicit; no additional ceremony block needed.
If one guard is missing, provide only that delta:
Route already explicit.
Missing guard: stop after verification and required proof pass.
Next action: implement the named seam.
For Level 0 and Level 1, do not create a durable planning artifact by default or run commands solely to document route selection. Identify the concrete action, then begin it once the boundary and proof target are clear.
For Level 2, allow one compact acceptance block only when real ambiguity exists. Implementation must follow immediately; do not create secondary artifacts before the first implementation attempt.
Level 3 may retain fuller safeguards when the risk genuinely warrants them.
Evaluate these from lightest to heaviest and choose the first level that leaves no named risk uncovered:
Do not escalate only because the repository is large, many skills are installed, or a fuller route is available. Escalate because a lighter route leaves a concrete risk unprotected.
Use at most this six-line block, and omit it when the existing route is enough:
CEREMONY ROUTE
Level: 0 | 1 | 2 | 3
Next action: ...
Use: ...
Skip: ...
Proof and stop: ...
Do not create CEREMONY_BUDGET.md or a budget ledger by default.
Use handoff only when another session actually needs to resume, work remains
unresolved, or durable continuation state buys real safety. It is not automatic.
For each named preserved behavior, non-goal, or adjacent compatibility seam, reserve the cheapest relevant negative or regression check when one is available.
Light routing may omit planning artifacts. It must not omit a cheap check that protects an explicitly preserved behavior. Reserving that check is proof work; it does not by itself require a larger route.
Stop when all are true:
After that, do not rerun an already passing proof validator without a concrete reason, repeat Git or status commands for reassurance, rewrite valid artifacts for style, continue because turns remain, add a ceremony retrospective, or expand verification beyond the named risk without evidence that it is needed.
After a targeted check fails:
Do not respond to one failed check by generating additional planning artifacts.
scope-freeze, handoff, a ledger, or a durable artifact for every
Level 1 task.