autonomy

name	autonomy
description	Activate when a subagent completes work and needs continuation check. Activate when a task finishes to determine next steps or when detecting work patterns in user messages. Governs automatic work continuation and queue management.
category	process
scope	development
subcategory	orchestration
tags	["autonomy","continuation","tracking","queue"]
version	10.2.17
author	Karsten Samaschke
contact-email	[e-mail]
website	https://vanillacore.net

Autonomy Skill

Invoke automatically after subagent completion or when deciding next actions.

When to Invoke (Automatic)

Trigger	Action
Subagent returns completed work	Check selected tracking backend for next item
Task finishes successfully	Update status, pick next pending item
Work pattern detected in user message	Create work items if L2/L3
Multiple tasks identified	Queue all, parallelize if L3

Acceptance Tests

Test ID	Type	Prompt / Condition	Expected Result
AUT-T1	Positive trigger	"Continue with autonomy after this item completes"	skill triggers
AUT-T2	Positive trigger	"Run the next queued item automatically"	skill triggers
AUT-T3	Negative trigger	"Explain what autonomy levels mean"	skill does not auto-dispatch work
AUT-T4	Behavior	no system autonomy level in user ica-config	ask user to set system level (L1/L2/L3), persist choice
AUT-T5	Behavior	no project autonomy level in project ica-config	ask user to set project level (follow-system/L1/L2/L3), persist choice
AUT-T6	Behavior	project level is follow-system	effective level resolves to system level
AUT-T7	Behavior	project level explicitly set	effective level uses project level override
AUT-T8	Behavior	actionable findings arrive while an item is already in_progress	MUST invoke create-work-items + plan-work-items; run-work-items records deferred dispatch and does not preempt
AUT-T9	Behavior	any continuation cycle executes	MUST include all three skills (create-work-items, plan-work-items, run-work-items) with invocation evidence or fail-closed

Autonomy Level Configuration (MANDATORY)

Autonomy level MUST be resolved from ica.config.json (not tracking config).

Level values:

• L1
• L2
• L3

Project-only value:

• follow-system

Required keys:

• System (user) config key: autonomy.system_level (L1 | L2 | L3, default L2)
• Project config key: autonomy.project_level (follow-system | L1 | L2 | L3, default follow-system)

Resolution order:

1. Resolve user (system) config file:
   • ${ICA_HOME}/ica.config.json
   • $HOME/.codex/ica.config.json
   • $HOME/.claude/ica.config.json
2. Resolve project config file:
   • ./ica.config.json (project root)
3. Read autonomy.system_level from user config.
4. Read autonomy.project_level from project config.
5. Determine effective level:
   • if autonomy.project_level is L1/L2/L3, use that
   • if autonomy.project_level is follow-system, use autonomy.system_level

Bootstrap prompts (required if missing):

• If autonomy.system_level is missing:
  • ask: "No system autonomy level is configured. Set system autonomy level to L2 (recommended), L1, or L3?"
  • persist in user ica.config.json
• If autonomy.project_level is missing:
  • ask: "No project autonomy level is configured. Set project autonomy level to follow-system (recommended), L1, L2, or L3?"
  • persist in project ica.config.json

Persistence rules:

• System level MUST be written to user ica.config.json.
• Project level MUST be written to project ica.config.json.
• If both are missing, ask and persist both before auto-dispatch.
• Effective default behavior after bootstrap is L2 via system_level=L2 and project_level=follow-system.

Example user ica.config.json:

{
  "autonomy": {
    "system_level": "L2"
  }
}

Example project ica.config.json:

{
  "autonomy": {
    "project_level": "follow-system"
  }
}

Compatibility:

• If legacy autonomy.level exists and autonomy.system_level is missing, treat legacy value as system level for this run and persist it as autonomy.system_level.

Tracking Backend Selection (MANDATORY)

Resolve backend with config-first precedence:

1. Project config: .agent/tracking.config.json
2. Global config: ${ICA_HOME}/tracking.config.json
3. Agent-home config fallback:

• $HOME/.codex/tracking.config.json
• $HOME/.claude/tracking.config.json

4. Auto-detect GitHub backend
5. Fallback: .agent/queue/

Provider values:

• github
• linear (future)
• jira (future)
• file-based

Detection pattern:

TRACKING_PROVIDER=""
for c in ".agent/tracking.config.json" \
         "${ICA_HOME:-}/tracking.config.json" \
         "$HOME/.codex/tracking.config.json" \
         "$HOME/.claude/tracking.config.json"; do
  if [ -n "$c" ] && [ -f "$c" ]; then
    TRACKING_PROVIDER="$(python3 - <<'PY' "$c"
import json,sys
cfg=json.load(open(sys.argv[1]))
it=cfg.get("issue_tracking",{})
print(it.get("provider","") if it.get("enabled",True) else "file-based")
PY
)"
    break
  fi
done

[ -z "$TRACKING_PROVIDER" ] && TRACKING_PROVIDER="file-based"

Configuration Bootstrap (MANDATORY)

Before continuation or dispatch, ensure a persisted tracking configuration exists and is used:

1. If .agent/tracking.config.json exists, use it.
2. If project config is missing, ask explicitly:
   • "Use system tracking config for this project, or create a project-specific backend config?"
3. If the selected config file does not exist, ask for backend default (github or file-based) and create it.
4. Persist at least:

{
  "issue_tracking": { "enabled": true, "provider": "github" },
  "tdd": { "enabled": false }
}

5. Use the persisted provider for this run (do not silently switch providers).
6. If user asks to change backend later, update the same config file and confirm the new active provider.

TDD Confirmation Gate (MANDATORY)

If TDD skill is active (locally or globally), ask explicitly for this scope before auto-dispatch:

• "TDD is active. Apply TDD for this work scope? (yes/no)"

Persistence rule:

• If tdd.enabled is missing on first TDD-related invocation, ask for the default and persist it in the selected config file.
• Scope-level answer overrides stored default for the current run.

Dispatch Trigger And Interrupt Policy (MANDATORY)

Resolve from ICA config hierarchy:

• autonomy.dispatch_trigger (on_completion | immediate_if_idle, default on_completion)
• autonomy.interrupt_policy (p0_only | always_confirm | never_preempt, default p0_only)

Policy behavior:

• on_completion: dispatch next item only after current in_progress item reaches terminal state (completed or blocked).
• immediate_if_idle: dispatch immediately only when no item is in_progress.
• p0_only: preempt only for p0/security/data-loss/production-outage.
• always_confirm: ask before any preemptive switch.
• never_preempt: never switch away from current in_progress item.

Autonomy Levels

L1 - Guided

• Confirm before each action
• Wait for explicit user instruction
• No automatic continuation

L2 - Balanced (Default)

• Add detected work to selected backend queue
• Confirm significant changes
• Continue routine tasks automatically without interrupting active in_progress work

L3 - Autonomous

• Execute without confirmation
• Continue to next queued item on completion (non-preemptive)
• Discover and queue related work
• Maximum parallel execution

Continuation Logic (L3)

After work completes:

1. Run continuation pre-check gate on selected backend
   - Run `validate` skill checks for the just-finished work item
   - Run backend-aware tracking verification for the selected backend
   - If gate fails: mark item `blocked`, report blocker, STOP auto-continuation
2. Mark current item completed in selected backend
   - GitHub: update/close issue via github-issues-planning workflow
   - Local: rename file in .agent/queue/
3. Check: Are there pending items in selected backend?
4. Check: Did the work reveal new tasks?
5. If yes → Add to selected backend queue, run create + plan triage, then dispatch next pending item per dispatch trigger and interrupt policy
6. Before dispatching next item, run readiness gate:
   - next item is unblocked and has required fields (`type`, `priority`)
   - TDD phase ordering is respected when applicable (`RED` -> `GREEN` -> `REFACTOR`)
   - backend-aware tracking verification is still passing
7. If no more work → Report completion to user

Validation And Check Gates (MANDATORY)

Autonomy must enforce gates on every transition:

• Pre-close gate: do not close/complete current item until validation + tracking checks pass.
• Pre-dispatch gate: do not auto-dispatch next item until readiness + dependency checks pass.
• Fail-closed behavior: any failed gate halts continuation and surfaces blocker details.

Human-friendly action mapping:

• create when new work is discovered
• plan when reprioritization/dependency updates are needed
• run when selecting and executing the next actionable item

Create-Plan-Run Enforcement (MANDATORY)

Autonomy MUST involve all three canonical work-item skills in every continuation cycle:

1. create-work-items
2. plan-work-items
3. run-work-items

Enforcement rules:

• Never jump directly to execution without create and plan involvement in the same cycle.
• If no new items are discovered, create-work-items still runs in normalize/no-op mode and records that outcome.
• If an active in_progress item prevents switching, run-work-items still runs in dispatch-evaluation mode and records deferred (not skipped).
• Missing invocation evidence for any one of the three skills is a hard gate failure.

Required invocation evidence (per cycle):

• cpr.create.invoked=true plus reference (created or normalized-noop)
• cpr.plan.invoked=true plus reference (reprioritized or validated-noop)
• cpr.run.invoked=true plus decision (selected | deferred | blocked | done)

Work Detection

Triggers queue addition:

• Action verbs: implement, fix, create, deploy, update, refactor
• Role skill patterns: "developer implement X"
• Continuation: testing after implementation

Direct response (no queue):

• Questions: what, how, why, explain
• Status checks
• Simple lookups

In-Progress Intake Rule (MANDATORY)

• If work is already in_progress, newly detected findings/comments are intake-only:
  • create/append items in selected backend
  • re-run planning/triage
  • do not dispatch these new items immediately
• Continue the active in_progress item first.
• Only preempt when interrupt policy allows; otherwise dispatch on completion.

Queue Integration

Uses backend-aware tracking:

• GitHub backend: typed issues + state reports
• Linear/Jira backend: provider-native items (when supported)
• Local backend: .agent/queue/ files

Local .agent/queue/ remains cross-platform fallback:

• Claude Code: TodoWrite for display + queue for persistence
• Other agents: Queue files directly

See:

• create-work-items for creating newly discovered items
• plan-work-items for reprioritization and dependency refresh
• run-work-items for selecting and executing next actionable item
• canonical create/plan/run work-item skills for queue management
• github-issues-planning for issue lifecycle operations
• github-state-tracker for prioritized status retrieval

Configuration

Resolved effective level comes from:

• autonomy.system_level in user ica.config.json
• autonomy.project_level in project ica.config.json
• follow-system means project uses system setting

Effective-level rule:

• project_level in (L1, L2, L3) overrides system level
• project_level=follow-system uses system_level
• if missing, bootstrap must ask and persist values before dispatch

Additional behavior keys:

• autonomy.dispatch_trigger (on_completion | immediate_if_idle)
• autonomy.interrupt_policy (p0_only | always_confirm | never_preempt)

Validation Checklist

• Acceptance tests were defined before behavior changes
• Missing autonomy.system_level triggers user prompt and persistence
• Missing autonomy.project_level triggers user prompt and persistence
• follow-system correctly resolves to system level
• Effective level controls dispatch behavior without preempting active in_progress work
• ica.config.json files are updated at correct scopes (user vs project)
• Every continuation cycle records create + plan + run invocation evidence (including deferred run cases)

Output Contract

When this skill runs, produce:

1. autonomy resolution (system_level, project_level, effective level, bootstrap status)
2. selected tracking backend and config source
3. create/plan/run invocation evidence for the current continuation cycle
4. WIP lock decision (continued | deferred | preempted-with-policy)
5. gate status (pre-close, pre-dispatch, tracking verification)
6. next action (continue | blocked | done) with exact blocker if failed