auto-iterate-goal

name	auto-iterate-goal
description	Internal Harness instruction source for auto-iterate-goal. Route through visible Harness aliases or hook contracts instead of invoking directly.

Purpose

Bridge skill between WF9 PASS and WF10 auto-iterate start. Produces or validates docs/auto_iterate_goal.md — the operator-facing research objective that the controller's goal parser consumes.

When To Use

• After $validate-run returns PASS (WF9 gate cleared)
• Before running tooling/auto_iterate/scripts/auto_iterate_ctl.sh start --goal docs/auto_iterate_goal.md
• When the orchestrator auto-triggers a goal readiness check

References (read before executing)

• ./references/goal-template.md
• .agents/references/workflow-guide.md
• .agents/references/context-layering-policy.md
• .agents/references/contract-gating-rule.md
• .agents/references/lesson-quality-rule.md
• .agents/references/documentation-evidence-rule.md
• .agents/references/documentation-style.md
• ../evaluate/references/stage-report.md
• tooling/auto_iterate/docs/auto_iterate_goal_template.md
• docs/context/contracts.md if it exists
• legacy docs/10_contract/Evaluation_Contract.md and docs/10_contract/Baseline_Contract.md only before dynamic-context-v2 migration Tooling:
• tooling/evidence/check_context_gates.py

Subcommands

init

Generate docs/auto_iterate_goal.md when it does not exist.

Sources:

• WF5 baseline metrics and evaluation protocol
• WF9 validate-run output
• Project context from CLAUDE.md / PROJECT_STATE.json
• Dynamic projects: docs/context/contracts.md when present; legacy docs/10_contract/Evaluation_Contract.md and docs/10_contract/Baseline_Contract.md are fallback inputs before migration

Output: docs/auto_iterate_goal.md with all required structured fields.

refresh

Update an existing goal when fields are missing, defaults changed, or new context is available.

Behavior:

• Read existing docs/auto_iterate_goal.md
• Identify missing or outdated fields
• Generate updated version or draft
• Do NOT silently overwrite human-edited objective constraints (name, direction, target)
• Present diff or highlight changes for operator review

check

Validate the existing goal file without modifying it.

Checks:

• All required fields present (see goal-template.md)
• primary_metric.direction is maximize or minimize
• budget.max_rounds is a positive integer
• screening_policy.enabled is boolean
• No placeholder {{...}} markers remain
• Dynamic projects: Evaluation Contract is approved, or the current operator explicitly accepts running with a draft contract
  • Grill-derived Automation Policy is present or the Gate ledger records why automation defaults are being used
  • Commit checkpoint policy requires pre-train and pre-eval execution commits
  • Claim delta policy records Claim Delta Evidence instead of default approval pauses
  • Prefer python tooling/evidence/check_context_gates.py --workspace-root . --stage wf10-auto when shell access is available
• Report the Gate ledger for goal validation and context-gate readiness before handing control to WF10 auto-iterate.

Output: PASS or list of validation errors.

What This Skill Does NOT Do

• Does not write .auto_iterate/goal.md (that is the controller's job via start --goal)
• Does not write .auto_iterate/state.json
• Does not start, stop, pause, or resume the auto-iterate loop
• Does not decide NEXT_ROUND / CONTINUE / etc. (that is $evaluate's job)
• Does not promote raw auto-run observations into MEMORY.md; lesson promotion must follow lesson-quality-rule.md through $iterate eval or human review, using docs/context/experiments.md and docs/context/memory.md as the canonical v2 surfaces.

Orchestrator Integration

The orchestrator should auto-trigger after WF9 PASS:

WF9 validate-run PASS
  → $auto-iterate-goal check
    → goal exists + valid: no-op
    → goal missing: $auto-iterate-goal init
    → goal invalid/incomplete: $auto-iterate-goal refresh

Durable Docs Render

After stable Markdown outputs for this skill are finalized, invoke $docs-site or report docs_site_boundary_report. Do not render after temporary draft edits; Markdown remains the source of truth.

Durable Docs Render

After stable Markdown is finalized, invoke $docs-site or report docs_site_boundary_report / docs_site_render_or_NOT_RUN. Do not render for temporary drafts.