| name | soe-modes |
| description | Use when configuring or reasoning about soe's interaction level — how much the engine asks vs. resolves autonomously. Defines the three modes (autonomous-guardrailed, interactive, fully-agentic) stored in .soe/config.json `mode`, and how the orchestrator applies each at judgment gates vs. verification gates. Reference from the orchestrator when deciding whether to ask the human or resolve-and-log. |
soe-modes — interaction modes (design §3.3)
soe's mode (in .soe/config.json) selects how much the engine asks the human
vs. resolves autonomously. It changes behavior at judgment gates only.
Verification gates always run autonomously in every mode — they check reality,
they do not ask a human.
The orchestrator reads .soe/config.json.mode once at STEP 0 and applies the
matching behavior at each decision point below.
The three modes
autonomous-guardrailed (DEFAULT)
Approvals are front-loaded: the human is consulted up front at
brainstorm / plan / review, and then the execution loop runs unattended.
During the loop the orchestrator:
- Resolves ordinary judgment calls itself, within its guardrails (the bounded
fix/plan caps), and does not stop to ask.
- Escalates to the human ONLY on:
- high-impact / irreversible actions (destructive/irreversible ops,
security-sensitive or architecturally load-bearing decisions), or
- bound-exhaustion — a loop hitting its cap (
max_fix_cycles = 5 /
max_plan_revisions = 3). (At a cap the track otherwise finishes
completed-with-warnings; escalation lets the human intervene instead.)
- Logs every autonomous decision to
.soe/tracks/{id}/decision-log.md
(what was decided, why, alternatives) so the unattended run is auditable.
This is the default because it keeps human attention on the high-value
front-loaded gates while letting the loop grind autonomously and safely.
interactive
Asks at every judgment gate. Any point where the guardrailed mode would
resolve-and-log, this mode pauses and asks the human instead. Highest oversight,
lowest autonomy. (Verification gates still run autonomously — see below.)
fully-agentic
Never asks — not even on high-impact/irreversible actions or at
bound-exhaustion. Every judgment call is resolved and logged to
.soe/tracks/{id}/decision-log.md. Maximum autonomy; the decision-log is the
sole audit trail.
Judgment gates vs. verification gates
The distinction is the crux of this skill:
| Gate kind | Examples | Behavior |
|---|
| Judgment gate — a call that could defer to a human | choosing a plan direction, accepting a board condition, resolving an ambiguous requirement, deciding a high-impact/irreversible action, hitting a loop cap | Mode-dependent (see table below) |
| Verification gate — a check of reality, not of opinion | TDD red/green, verification-before-completion, review, evaluators (soe:eval-code-quality / soe:eval-integration / soe:eval-business-logic) | ALWAYS autonomous, every mode. They verify facts; there is nothing to ask. |
Behavior at a judgment gate by mode:
| Mode | Ordinary judgment call | High-impact / irreversible / bound-exhaustion |
|---|
autonomous-guardrailed | resolve + log | escalate to human |
interactive | ask human | ask human |
fully-agentic | resolve + log | resolve + log |
Verification gates never appear in this table — they run autonomously in all
three modes. Do NOT gate a TDD/eval/review check on mode.
How the orchestrator applies mode
At each judgment gate the orchestrator (see soe:soe-orchestrator) consults the
mode it read at STEP 0 and:
- Classify the gate: verification → run autonomously, done (mode is
irrelevant). judgment → continue.
- Classify the judgment call: high-impact/irreversible or
bound-exhaustion? vs. ordinary.
- Apply the mode row above: ask, escalate, or resolve-and-log.
- When the resolution is autonomous (resolve/escalate paths that proceed),
append the decision to
.soe/tracks/{id}/decision-log.md.
Red flags (stop and correct)
- Gating a verification check (TDD, evaluators, review,
verification-before-completion) on
mode — these are always autonomous.
autonomous-guardrailed stopping to ask on an ordinary judgment call
(it should resolve + log; it only escalates on high-impact/irreversible or
bound-exhaustion).fully-agentic pausing to ask a human on anything.- Resolving a judgment call autonomously without appending to
.soe/tracks/{id}/decision-log.md.
- Reading
mode per-gate from disk instead of the value captured at STEP 0.
