judge-proposal

name	judge-proposal
description	Judge proposed approaches from a gather-context task artifact. Use after `{ISSUE_DIR}/issue.md` contains candidate approaches and research artifacts exist. Scores options against hard gates, ETHOS, and evidence; writes the selected decision back into issue.md or returns ASK_USER with one focused question. Does not implement anything.

Judge Proposal

Select the best approach from an existing task artifact. Be lean, rubric-based, evidence-based, and implementation-free.

Inputs

Required task folder:

• {ISSUE_DIR}/issue.md
• {ISSUE_DIR}/research/*.md
• _ai/docs/ETHOS.md

Artifact contract:

• issue.md contains the problem, acceptance criteria, constraints, and candidate approaches.
• ISSUE_DIR is the artifact directory created by gather-context for the current pipeline run.
• research/*.md contains cited codebase/product/external evidence.
• ETHOS.md supplies decision principles: tracer bullet first, reuse existing pieces, one fact one place, user trust, fail safely, pragmatic shipping, idiomatic code, simple UX.

Read Sequence

1. Read issue.md first. Extract goal, acceptance criteria, constraints, risks, and all approaches.
2. Read every research/*.md. Treat cited findings as evidence; treat uncited claims as weak signal.
3. Read _ai/docs/ETHOS.md. Use it to resolve tradeoffs, not to invent new scope.

If any required input is missing or approaches are not present, return ASK_USER and ask for the missing artifact or proposal set.

Hard Gates

Reject an approach before scoring if it:

• Fails explicit acceptance criteria.
• Conflicts with stated constraints or research evidence.
• Adds implementation scope not required by the issue.
• Creates duplicated state/source of truth without a clear need.
• Weakens security, privacy, reversibility, or user trust.
• Depends on unavailable APIs, libraries, credentials, or product decisions.
• Cannot be verified with the available acceptance criteria or a clear regression probe.

Weighted Rubric

Score each non-rejected approach from 0-100:

• 25: Acceptance fit: satisfies all acceptance criteria with the smallest complete change; no extra product scope.
• 20: Evidence fit: supported by cited research/*.md; assumptions are explicit and not contradicted.
• 15: ETHOS fit: aligns with tracer bullet first, reuse, one fact one place, user trust, fail safely, and pragmatic shipping.
• 15: Reuse/style fit: follows repo patterns and avoids new surfaces, state, dependencies, or abstractions unless needed.
• 10: Blast radius: limits touched files, regression paths, migration risk, and downstream coupling.
• 10: Verification clarity: has clear acceptance/regression checks and is easy to rollback.
• 5: Phase fit: matches proof/build/polish quality bar from ETHOS.md; does not over- or under-engineer.

Scoring anchors for each category:

• Full credit: clearly satisfies the category with cited evidence.
• Half credit: partially satisfies it, or evidence is plausible but thin.
• Zero credit: missing, contradicted, or unverifiable.

If scores tie or are close, break ties in this order:

1. Meets acceptance criteria with least scope.
2. Lower blast radius.
3. Better repo style fit.
4. Better verification clarity.
5. More reversible.

Decision Rule

Choose one approach only when:

• All hard gates pass for the selected approach.
• Score is >= 80.
• Lead over second place is >= 8 points.
• No product-sensitive ambiguity remains.

Otherwise return ASK_USER with exactly one focused question. Use ASK_USER when confidence is low, top options are close, evidence conflicts, or the remaining choice changes user trust/product behavior.

Explicit ASK_USER cases:

• Product behavior changes user trust.
• Top two valid approaches differ by < 8 points.
• Evidence conflicts across issue/research artifacts.
• Selected approach needs an unavailable product decision.
• No approach passes hard gates.

Writeback

Edit only the ## Judge Decision section in issue.md. If missing, append it to the end of issue.md.

Use exactly this section shape:

## Judge Decision

Status: SELECTED | ASK_USER
Selected Approach: <approach name or N/A>
Confidence: High | Medium | Low

Scores:
- <approach>: <score>/100 - <one-line reason>
- <approach>: <score>/100 - <one-line reason>

Decision:
<2-4 bullets explaining why this wins or why selection is blocked. Cite exact evidence from issue.md/research where useful.>

Question:
<one focused question if ASK_USER, otherwise N/A>

Return the same decision summary in chat after writeback.

Constraints

• Do not edit code.
• Do not implement the selected approach.
• Do not create a separate decision file.
• Do not create helper/reference files.
• Do not modify research/*.md or _ai/docs/ETHOS.md.
• Do not commit changes.
• Do not perform judge-plan responsibilities such as implementation steps, task breakdowns, or worker prompts.