goal

name	goal
description	`goal` drives a Craft-backed work graph through an autonomous, fail-closed control loop. It reads the current frontier, classifies each node by risk, routes work to the owning capability, gates closure with audit evidence, stages ledger deltas, and promotes only behind an explicit approval token.
surface_kind	generated-native-runtime-package
runtime	codex
canonical_source	spells/goal/README.md
alias_of	null
generated_by	tools/bootstrap_arcanum.sh --profile
mutation_policy	regenerate-from-canonical-source

Goal

• Status: registered reusable spell
• Canonical id: goal
• Aliases: autonomous-dag-goal-loop, dag-goal-loop
• Lifecycle owner: spellcraft

Purpose

goal drives a Craft-backed work graph through an autonomous, fail-closed control loop. It reads the current frontier, classifies each node by risk, routes work to the owning capability, gates closure with audit evidence, stages ledger deltas, and promotes only behind an explicit approval token.

The spell is a router. It does not claim ownership of delegated sigil behavior, does not execute protected work directly, and does not mutate the source ledger without an approved staged proposal.

Trigger Conditions

Trigger	Route
A Craft scope has open next moves, gaps, blockers, or not-started SWUs and the user asks Codex to continue toward a goal.	Read the frontier, classify risk, route eligible nodes, and stage deltas.
A work node requires source mutation, shell/network/CI, publication, commit/push, or ledger promotion.	Stop before mutation and request an explicit approval path.
The frontier appears complete and gap discovery is enabled.	Run a bounded gap-discovery round and queue proposed next slices, not active ledger changes.
A staged batch is ready to apply.	Stop with a framed batch summary and wait for an approval token.

Required Capabilities

Capability	Required For	Boundary
arcana/craft	Read frontier state, validate ledger state, and apply approved ledger batches.	The spell may stage proposals; active ledger mutation remains approval-gated.
formulae/dispatch-spec	Validate per-node owner, technique, and receipt routes.	The spell assembles routes but does not redefine dispatch techniques.
spells/observed-invocation-loop	Wrap delegated node execution in an observation envelope.	Execution receipts remain separate from reusable spell validation evidence.
arcana/decision-gate	Record durable approval or blocker decisions.	Human approval remains explicit and reviewable.
arcana/task-session	Execute one bounded node or SWU with done criteria and validation.	Task Session owns bounded execution evidence for the selected node.
formulae/observability-setup and arcana/signal-observer	Emit spell-level telemetry and post-run signals.	Observability is evidence, not promotion by itself.

Optional Capabilities

Capability	Use When	Boundary
arcana/robot-talks	An approved medium-or-higher-risk audit lane needs adversarial review.	Not spawned automatically; requires route authorization and receipts.
arcana/refine	A named gap needs repair or rescoping before execution.	Used for the named gap only.
arcana/distill	A broad or tangled node needs reduction to a smallest coherent slice.	Produces residue or slice guidance, not direct ledger mutation.
experiment-harness	The spell is being validated for reusable promotion.	Promotion evidence is separate from task-session runtime evidence.

Prerequisites

• A Craft ledger or equivalent scope state is available.
• The user has named a goal or selected a Craft context.
• The runtime can distinguish read-only analysis from mutation, publication, and promotion operations.
• A public decision-profile.schema exists in this spell package.
• Any filled decision profile is supplied by the consuming repository at runtime and is not part of this public spell package.

Shared State

State	Owner	Updated By	Consumed By
Craft ledger	arcana/craft	Approved craft operations	Frontier reader, staging review, promotion gate
Frontier snapshot	goal	Read-frontier phase	Risk classifier and owner selector
Dispatch route	formulae/dispatch-spec	Owner and technique selection	Dispatch phase and receipt join
Staged deltas	goal proposal state, applied by arcana/craft after approval	Stage-delta phase	Batch approval and promotion
Approval record	arcana/decision-gate	Approval gate	Promotion phase and audit trail
Runtime receipts	Delegated owner capability	Dispatched node execution	Audit gate and close decision
Spell telemetry	Observability capabilities	Each round and final report	Reflection, validation, and later promotion review

Decision Profile

goal accepts an optional decision profile that parameterizes risk thresholds, approval defaults, slice sizing, owner boundaries, gap-filling style, technique preferences, and anti-pattern stops. The public package ships only decision-profile.schema and neutral defaults. A filled profile is private runtime data owned by the consuming repository.

If no filled profile is supplied, the spell uses the neutral defaults from the schema and remains fail-closed: unknown risk, unknown authority, or unclear write permission stops before mutation.

Execution Phases

Phase	Entry Criteria	Exit Criteria	Failure Behavior
Goal bind	Goal intent and Craft scope are present.	Scope, source ledger, and validation surface are identified.	Stop if scope or source authority is ambiguous.
Read frontier	Scope is bound.	Open next moves, blockers, gaps, and candidate SWUs are listed.	Stop if frontier cannot be read safely.
Classify risk	Frontier nodes are available.	Every node has a risk tier; unknown resolves to protected.	Stop on protected or unknown work that lacks approval.
Select owner and technique	A node is eligible for routing.	Dispatch route names owner, technique, inputs, expected receipt, and gate.	Stop if route validation fails.
Dispatch and receipt join	Route passes.	Delegated owner returns a terminal receipt or a recorded block.	Stop if a delegated lane remains open or unjoined.
Audit gate	Receipt exists.	Completion evidence is accepted, flagged, or vetoed.	Stop on audit veto or missing done evidence.
Stage delta	Audit accepts progress.	Proposed ledger delta and framed diff are staged.	Stop if staging would mutate active ledger rows directly.
Batch approval	One or more staged deltas exist.	Approval token and durable decision record exist, or residue is recorded.	Stop until approval exists; reject or defer on denial.
Promote	Approval exists.	Batch applies through Craft validation and records the result.	Block on validation failure; never silently partially apply.
Gap discovery	Frontier is empty and module is enabled.	New gaps are deduped into a next-slice proposal queue or no new work is found.	Stop at round budget or duplicate loop.

Control Spine

1. Read the Craft frontier.
2. Classify each node by risk with an allowlist and default-deny fallback.
3. Select owner and technique through a Dispatch Spec route.
4. Dispatch the node through the owner and collect an AFK-safe receipt.
5. Run audit and review gates before accepting progress.
6. Stage the ledger delta as a proposal, never as a direct active-row mutation.
7. Promote only after an explicit approval token and durable decision record.

Cross-cutting guards run each round: stop/escalation, budget and proportionality, decision-profile policy, source-authority reconcile, and subagent closeout.

Modules

Gap Discovery

Runs only after the active frontier is empty and the caller opts in. It mines recorded residue and evidence for untracked work, dedupes by (kind, target), terminates after a configured dry round count, and queues proposals for a later slice. It does not reopen the active frontier by itself.

Proportionality Guard

Tracks turn, token, spawn, and no-progress budgets. When an audit passes without changing the verdict, the spell records a down-route opportunity and selects a cheaper technique on the next comparable node. The guard stops before exceeding the budget ceiling.

Read-Only Boundary

Delegated owners receive read-only Craft context unless an approval path grants a staged proposal lane. Any direct ledger write attempt becomes a proposed delta or a block.

Handoff Artifacts

Artifact	Producer	Consumer	Purpose
Frontier snapshot	goal read-frontier phase	Risk classifier and selector	Freezes the candidate node set for one round.
Dispatch route	goal plus formulae/dispatch-spec	Delegated owner and audit gate	Names owner, technique, inputs, receipt expectations, and fallback.
Execution receipt	Delegated owner capability	Audit gate and Task Session review	Proves terminal closeout or records residue.
Staged delta	goal stage-delta phase	Batch approval	Holds proposed ledger changes before active mutation.
Framed batch diff	goal batch approval phase	Decision Gate and user approval	Shows exactly what would be promoted.
Decision record	arcana/decision-gate	Promotion phase and audit trail	Durable approval or rejection evidence.
Spell telemetry signal	Observability capabilities	Spellcraft, reflection, and Experiment Harness	Records runtime behavior without implying promotion.

Gates

Gate	Required Evidence	Result
Source authority	Craft ledger or selected context is identified.	pass/block
Risk classification	Every routed node has a tier; unknown becomes protected.	pass/block
Route validation	Dispatch Spec route names owner, technique, receipt, gate, and fallback.	pass/block
Read-only boundary	Delegated owner cannot mutate active ledger rows directly.	pass/block
Receipt closeout	Every dispatched lane is terminal: closed, blocked with residue, timed out with reroute, or handed off.	pass/block
Audit veto	Review evidence is present and veto overrides apparent success.	pass/flag/block
Stage review	Proposed delta has a framed diff and no active-ledger direct write.	pass/block
Approval token	Batch has an explicit approval and durable decision record before apply.	pass/block
Budget ceiling	Round, spawn, and no-progress budgets remain under ceiling.	pass/stop
Promotion readiness	Experiment Harness evidence proves reusable behavior before draft promotion.	pass/block

Failure Policy

• Stop when risk is protected, unknown, or outside the allowlist.
• Stop when a blocking decision, approval token, or human gate is missing.
• Stop when audit vetoes progress or a delegated lane lacks terminal closeout.
• Stop before direct ledger mutation, publication, commit, push, PR creation, or parent gitlink movement unless that exact operation is approved.
• Stop when a filled decision profile would need to be copied into public artifacts.
• Block promotion until Experiment Harness proves the reusable spine.

Each stop reports stop_reason, escalation_context, staged-delta state, evidence used, and the next route.

Local Customization

• Library spell root: arcanum/spells/goal/.
• This README.md is the source contract for the reusable spell.
• Generated native runtime surfaces, including any SKILL.md, are produced by the runtime installer and are not hand-authored here.
• Public profile shape: decision-profile.schema.
• Public artifact schemas: schemas/*.schema.json.
• Filled decision profiles remain private consuming-repository runtime data.

Observability

When repository observability is installed, emit one spell-level signal per round and one final signal per goal.

Signal Field	Meaning
spell	Always goal.
goal_context_id	Bound Craft context or selected goal handle.
round_index	Control-loop round number.
frontier_size	Frontier count at round start.
nodes_classified	Counts by risk tier.
nodes_dispatched	Count of delegated nodes.
audit_verdicts	Counts of pass, flag, block, and veto.
downroutes	Count and reason for cheaper-technique routing.
staged_deltas	Proposed deltas created this round.
batch_promotions	Applied, rejected, and held batches.
stop_reason	Stop enum or none.
budget_spent	Turns, spawns, tokens, and configured ceiling.
gap_discovery	Rounds run and new proposals.
decision_profile_ref	Public-safe profile reference or neutral-default.
subagent_closeout	Spawned, joined, closed, blocked, timed out, handed off, and open counts.

Output Contract

## Goal Loop Result

- Spell: goal
- Goal: <intent>
- Result: PASS | STOP | BLOCK | FLAG
- Rounds: <count>
- Decision profile: <ref | neutral-default>
- Frontier: <start size -> end size>
- Risk tiers seen: T0:<n> T1:<n> T2:<n> T3:<n>
- Dispatched: <count>
- Audit: pass <n> | flag <n> | block <n> | veto <n>
- Down-routes: <count and reasons>
- Staged deltas: <count>
- Promoted batches: applied <n> | rejected <n> | held <n>
- Stop reason: t3-node | open-decision | budget-ceiling | audit-veto | batch-ready | source-authority | none
- Budget: turns <n> / spawns <n> / tokens <n> (ceiling <value>)
- Gap discovery: rounds <n> | new proposals <n>
- Subagent closeout: spawned <n> | joined <n> | closed <n> | blocked <n> | timed out <n> | handed off <n> | open <n>
- Telemetry: recorded | skipped
- Extra sources: <none or list with named gap>
- Next route: continue | operator-approval | decision-gate | task-session | experiment-harness | none

Validation Examples

Example	Expected Result
Read-only authoring node with clear owner and validation.	Route through owner, audit, and stage a proposed delta.
Unknown shell or network action.	Stop as protected risk.
Delegated owner attempts direct ledger mutation.	Block direct write and convert to staged proposal or residue.
Batch ready without approval token.	Stop with framed diff and approval request.
Frontier empty with gap discovery disabled.	Return PASS or STOP with no new proposals.
Promotion requested without Experiment Harness evidence.	Block promotion.

Registry Readiness

Registry status: registered. Spellcraft review and Experiment Harness evidence prove that the fail-closed spine cannot be bypassed, gap discovery terminates, and approvals emit durable decision records. Generated runtime surfaces remain installer-owned and consuming-repository-local.