goal-protocol

name	goal-protocol
description	Run a traceable durable-goal lifecycle through convergence, dossier, approvals, parent-traced packets, and ledger updates. Use when users invoke /goal, codex-goal, /goal-council, /code-council, /goal-orchestrator, or six-phase.

Goal Protocol

Own durable goal artifacts, phase gates, approved packet state, and ledger updates; agent-orchestration executes approved packets and returns evidence.

Route

Mode	Select when	Read
converge	A new long-horizon goal or /goal-council needs a measurable contract, dissent, review, or pivot	references/convergence.md
goal-file	A /goal or codex-goal request needs a durable GOAL.md contract and start handoff	references/goal-file.md
blueprint	An approved goal or /code-council needs a traced implementation dossier before production code	references/implementation-dossier.md
six-phase	The user explicitly requests six-phase, phased approval, or a trial-implement-then-revert design pass	references/six-phase.md
orchestrate	An approved goal/dossier or /goal-orchestrator needs parent-traced tickets, approved wave state, or replanning	references/orchestration.md
ledger	An existing GOAL_LEDGER.md needs returned dispatch evidence, status, verification, compacting, or continuation handoff	references/ledger-handoff.md

Select exactly one mode. Start with converge for an undecided durable goal, goal-file for a measurable /goal contract, and ledger for an existing goal whose requested phase is unclear. Combine modes only for an explicit lifecycle sequence.

Do not use when

• A one-shot PRD, issue slice, or reviewed implementation plan is wanted; planning-workflow owns that artifact.
• Approved packets need live delegation, monitoring, review, or integration; agent-orchestration owns that execution surface.

Workflow

1. Locate the goal root. Read GOAL_LEDGER.md first when it exists; support root-level legacy artifacts on intake, but write new durable work under docs/goals/<goal-slug>/ unless repository convention says otherwise.
2. Select one mode and read only its reference. Resolve repository conventions, verification commands, and current /goal behavior before making a phase decision.
3. Update the phase artifact, its gate, and the ledger together. Keep a mutable current snapshot and append decisions, assumptions, risks, validation, returned dispatch evidence, and handoffs without erasing history.
4. End orchestration at approved parent-traced packets and wave state. Hand those packets to agent-orchestration; after it returns evidence, use ledger to update gates and lifecycle state.
5. Report the current gate, traced parent IDs, validation evidence, next action, and the exact blocker or human decision when work cannot advance.

Hard rules

• Resume the current ledger phase; do not restart a durable goal without explicit direction.
• Every ticket, behavior, structure, interface, test, location, invariant, and wave has a traceable parent ID.
• Do not blueprint an unconverged goal, ticket an unapproved dossier, dispatch a packet here, or mark a wave integrated here.
• A six-phase pass stops at each human gate; hand edits are authoritative.
• Do not mark a phase complete from an agent assertion alone: record returned evidence, validation, and any unresolved blocker in the ledger.
• After three failed attempts at the same check, stop and append the blocker rather than repeating it.
• Keep credentials and secret values out of goal artifacts, packets, and reports.

Stop conditions

• Route backwards when a parent artifact or gate is missing, revised, or contradicted by current evidence.
• Stop for user approval when the selected mode requires a human choice, especially a six-phase gate or unresolved preserved dissent.

Output

Return the selected mode, authoritative artifacts, current gate, approved packet or returned-evidence state, traced decision, validation, next action, and any required human decision or handoff.