manage-watching-domains

name	manage-watching-domains
description	Manage domain-watch surveillance configs — seed new domains, review scan status and proposals, activate Watch Log proposals into thinking topics, pause domains, and update PIRs or watch queries
automation	manual
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob, Bash
user-invocable	true
argument-hint	[review|seed|activate|pause|update] [domain-slug]

Manage Watching Domains

Human-in-the-loop manager for the domain-watch surveillance layer. Handles the full lifecycle: seeding new domains for continuous monitoring, reviewing scan status and signal level, activating Watch Log proposals into thinking topics, pausing domains, and updating intelligence requirements.

Companion skills:

• .claude/skills/domain-watch/SKILL.md — the autonomous scanning engine (runs daily, perceives and proposes)
• .claude/skills/manage-thinking-topics/SKILL.md — manages the thinking topics that watching domains feed into

Architecture: domain-watch perceives → manage-watching-domains activates → incubation-loop analyses

State Dependencies

Source	Location	Read	Write	Description
Watching Registry	Brain/05-Meta/Watching/WATCHING-REGISTRY.md	✓	✓	Master list of domains + scan status
Domain Configs	Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md	✓	✓	Per-domain PIRs, queries, baseline counts
Watch Log	Brain/05-Meta/Watching/WATCH-LOG.md	✓	✓	Proposals awaiting activation
Thinking Registry	Brain/05-Meta/Thinking/THINKING-REGISTRY.md	✓	✓	Destination when activating proposals
Thinking Files	Brain/05-Meta/Thinking/[topic-slug].md		✓	Created during activation

Modes

Invoke with one of five modes. If no mode is provided, default to review.

---

Mode: review

Purpose: Full status dashboard — what domains are active, when they last scanned, what signal level they found, and what proposals are sitting in the Watch Log awaiting your decision.

Step 1: Read Registry and Date

date '+%Y-%m-%d'

Read Brain/05-Meta/Watching/WATCHING-REGISTRY.md. Parse all domains.

Step 2: Load Domain Summaries

For each domain, read Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md. Extract:

• label - human-readable name
• mode - surveillance or hypothesis
• last_scan - date of last scan (null = never scanned)
• notes_at_scan - baseline note count
• spawn_threshold - delta needed to trigger proposal
• priority_intelligence_requirements - list of PIRs (count them)
• watch_queries - list of search terms (count them)

Step 3: Load Watch Log Proposals

Read Brain/05-Meta/Watching/WATCH-LOG.md.

Extract all proposals that are not yet marked **Activated:**. For each:

• Domain slug
• Signal level (HIGH/MEDIUM)
• Scan date
• Proposed central question
• Suggested slug
• Whether it has been activated or not

Step 4: Present Status Report

## Watching Domains: Status Review [DATE]

### Active Domains (N)

| Domain | Mode | Last Scan | Notes @ Scan | Threshold | PIRs | Status |
|--------|------|-----------|-------------|-----------|------|--------|
| [label] | surveillance/hypothesis | YYYY-MM-DD or never | N | +N | N | active |

### Proposals Awaiting Activation (N)

| Domain | Signal | Scan Date | Proposed Question | Suggested Slug |
|--------|--------|-----------|------------------|----------------|

### Paused Domains (N)

| Domain | Paused Since | Reason |
|--------|-------------|--------|

### Summary
- [N] domains under active surveillance
- [N] proposals waiting for your activation decision
- [N] domains never scanned (next domain-watch run will establish baseline)
- Next domain-watch run: daily at 7am UTC

If proposals are waiting: "[N] proposals in Watch Log — run /manage-watching-domains activate [slug] to seed into the incubation loop."

If domains have last_scan: null: "[N] domains have never been scanned — run /domain-watch to establish baselines."

---

Mode: seed

Purpose: Add a new domain to the surveillance registry.

Argument: domain slug (e.g., quantum-computing-applications)

Step 1: Gather Requirements

If the domain slug is not provided, ask for it. Then gather:

1. Label - Human-readable domain name (e.g., "Quantum Computing Applications")
2. Mode - surveillance (watch for accumulation of notes on a topic) or hypothesis (track whether specific claims become answerable)
   • Use surveillance for broad domains you want to monitor
   • Use hypothesis for specific questions where you're waiting for evidence
3. Watch queries - 2-4 semantic search terms that capture what to look for in the KB (these run against Local Brain Search)
4. Priority Intelligence Requirements - 2-4 specific questions you want answered when the domain produces new signal. These should be answerable (not vague). Examples:
   • Bad: "What's happening with quantum computing?"
   • Good: "Is there evidence that quantum advantage has been demonstrated for a practical ML task?"
5. Spawn threshold - How many new notes must accumulate before triggering a proposal (default: 3; use 2 for fast-moving areas, 5 for slow ones)
6. Why this domain - 1-2 sentences on why it warrants ongoing surveillance
7. What would trigger incubation - Concrete examples of the kind of signal worth an incubation topic

Step 2: Validate Slug

Check that Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md does NOT already exist. If it does, warn and stop.

Check the slug is not already in the registry. If it is, warn and stop.

Step 3: Create Domain Config

date '+%Y-%m-%d'

Create Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md:

---
created: YYYY-MM-DD
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
created_by: claude-sonnet-4-6
updated_by: claude-sonnet-4-6
agent_version: 01.25
slug: [domain-slug]
label: "[Human-readable label]"
mode: [surveillance|hypothesis]
watch_queries:
  - "[primary search term]"
  - "[secondary search term]"
priority_intelligence_requirements:
  - "PIR 1: [specific answerable question]"
  - "PIR 2: [specific answerable question]"
last_scan: null
notes_at_scan: 0
spawn_threshold: [N]
---

# Watching: [Label]

## Why This Domain
[1-2 sentences on why this domain warrants ongoing surveillance]

## What Would Trigger Incubation
[Concrete examples of the kind of signal that would warrant a thinking topic]

## Related Thinking Topics
None yet.

Step 4: Add to Registry

Edit Brain/05-Meta/Watching/WATCHING-REGISTRY.md:

Add a row to the domains table:

| [domain-slug] | [label] | [mode] | null | active |

Update updated and updated_by in frontmatter.

Step 5: Confirm

Report:

• Domain config created at Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md
• Registry updated - domain is now active
• First domain-watch run will establish the baseline note count (no proposal on first run)
• Subsequent runs will detect delta against baseline and score signal

---

Mode: activate

Purpose: Take a Watch Log proposal and create a thinking topic from it, completing the perception → deliberation handoff.

Argument: suggested-slug from a Watch Log proposal (or domain-slug to pick the latest proposal for that domain)

Step 1: Load the Proposal

Read Brain/05-Meta/Watching/WATCH-LOG.md.

Find the proposal matching the slug argument. If multiple proposals exist for the same domain, show them all and ask which to activate.

If the proposal is already marked **Activated:**, warn and stop.

Extract from the proposal:

• Proposed central question
• Suggested slug
• Initial hypotheses (H1, H2) and starting confidence
• Known evidence (note links and external sources)
• Signal basis (why this was flagged)

Step 2: Validate No Duplicate

Check that Brain/05-Meta/Thinking/[suggested-slug].md does NOT already exist.

Check that the slug is not already in the Thinking Registry. If so, warn and offer to use a variant slug.

Step 3: Gather Any Additions

Present the proposed central question and hypotheses. Ask:

"Activating: [suggested-slug]

Central question: [question] H1: [statement] (~X%) H2: [statement] (~Y%)

Any changes before creating? (Press enter to accept as-is, or describe revisions)"

[APPROVAL GATE] Wait for response.

Step 4: Create Thinking File

Create Brain/05-Meta/Thinking/[suggested-slug].md using the standard incubation-loop template:

---
created: YYYY-MM-DD
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
created_by: claude-sonnet-4-6
updated_by: claude-sonnet-4-6
agent_version: 01.25
topic: "[exact central question]"
run_count: 0
last_run: null
status: active
---

# Thinking: [Topic Title]

## Central Question
[The exact question from the proposal, with any revisions]

## Why This Question Matters
[1-2 sentences synthesized from the Watch Log signal basis]

## Initial Hypotheses
| Hypothesis | Initial Confidence | Basis |
|-----------|-------------------|-------|
| H1: [statement] | X% | [from proposal known evidence] |
| H2: [statement] | Y% | [from proposal known evidence] |

## Known Evidence (Pre-Run)
[Note links and external sources from the Watch Log proposal]

## Constraints and Assumptions
[Any scope limits worth noting]

---
*Analytical runs will be appended below by the incubation loop*

Step 5: Add to Thinking Registry

Edit Brain/05-Meta/Thinking/THINKING-REGISTRY.md:

Add a row to the Active Topics table:

| [suggested-slug] | [central question] | active | 0 | null |

Update updated and updated_by in frontmatter.

Step 6: Mark Proposal as Activated

Edit Brain/05-Meta/Watching/WATCH-LOG.md:

Find the proposal entry and append under it:

**Activated:** [[suggested-slug]] — YYYY-MM-DD

Update updated and updated_by in frontmatter.

Step 7: Update Domain Config (Related Thinking Topics)

Edit Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md:

In the Related Thinking Topics section, add:

- [[suggested-slug]] — activated YYYY-MM-DD

Update updated and updated_by in frontmatter.

Step 8: Confirm

Report:

• Thinking file created at Brain/05-Meta/Thinking/[suggested-slug].md
• Added to Thinking Registry as active
• Watch Log entry marked activated
• Domain config updated with related topic link
• First incubation-loop run will apply: ACH Audit (move 0)

---

Mode: pause

Purpose: Temporarily suspend a domain from scanning (without deleting its config or history).

Argument: domain slug

Step 1: Load Domain

Read Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md. Show:

• Label, mode, last scan date, note count at last scan
• Any related thinking topics

Step 2: Confirm Pause

[APPROVAL GATE] Ask:

"Pausing '[label]' will stop domain-watch from scanning this domain on scheduled runs. The config and Watch Log history are preserved. Reason for pausing? (or type 'cancel')"

Capture the reason.

Step 3: Update Domain Config

Edit Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md:

• Add paused_reason: "[reason]" to frontmatter
• Add paused_on: YYYY-MM-DD to frontmatter
• Update updated and updated_by

Step 4: Update Watching Registry

Edit Brain/05-Meta/Watching/WATCHING-REGISTRY.md:

• Change the domain's Status column to paused
• Update updated and updated_by in frontmatter

Step 5: Confirm

Report:

• Domain config updated with pause reason and date
• Registry status set to paused
• To resume: edit the domain config, remove paused_reason and paused_on, set registry status back to active

---

Mode: update

Purpose: Modify a domain's PIRs or watch queries to sharpen its signal detection.

Argument: domain slug

Step 1: Load Current Config

Read Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md. Display current:

• Watch queries (numbered list)
• Priority Intelligence Requirements (numbered list)
• Spawn threshold

Step 2: Gather Changes

[APPROVAL GATE] Ask:

"What do you want to update for '[label]'?

1. Add/remove/edit a watch query
2. Add/remove/edit a PIR
3. Change the spawn threshold (or describe the change directly)"

Apply the requested changes. Do not overwrite other frontmatter fields.

Step 3: Write Updated Config

Edit Brain/05-Meta/Watching/[domain-slug].md:

• Update the changed fields in frontmatter
• Set updated: YYYY-MM-DD and updated_by: claude-sonnet-4-6

Step 4: Confirm

Report the specific fields changed and their new values.

---

Error Handling

Error	Recovery
Watching Registry missing	Stop; inform user to create it or run /domain-watch first
Domain config missing for registry entry	Log warning; show the slug and offer to remove the orphaned registry entry
Slug already exists (seed mode)	Stop; show existing file path
No proposals in Watch Log (activate mode)	Report; suggest running /domain-watch to scan domains
Proposal already activated (activate mode)	Stop; show the thinking topic it was activated into
Domain already paused (pause mode)	Show current pause reason; ask if they want to resume instead

---

Self-Improvement

After completing this skill's primary task, consider tactical improvements:

• Review execution: Were there friction points, unclear steps, or inefficiencies?
• Identify improvements: Could the review output, activation flow, or PIR guidance be sharper?
• Scope check: Only execution changes — NOT changes to the perceive-flag-propose pipeline design
• Apply improvement (if identified):
  • Edit this SKILL.md with the specific improvement
  • Keep changes minimal and focused
• Version control:
  • git add .claude/skills/manage-watching-domains/SKILL.md
  • git commit -m "refactor(manage-watching-domains): <brief improvement>"