darken

Use at session start in any darken-managed workspace (any repo containing `.scion/grove-id`) to prime as the host-mode orchestrator for the §7 pipeline. Loads the non-negotiables block, the routing classifier, the background-dispatch monitoring protocol, the bounded-transcript evidence rule, the 14-role roster, the escalation classifier, and the four loop primitives for playbook-driven coordination (darken dispatch / inbox / accept / state). Invoke whenever the operator types a task and the workspace is darken-managed.

Use in any darken-managed workspace (any repo containing `.scion/grove-id`) when you would normally dispatch a subagent via the Agent tool but you are operating as the host-mode orchestrator. Translates the muscle memory into subharness dispatch, maps task shapes to roles, frames the task in caveman-standard with a status-publishing recipe and a fixed milestone vocabulary, and reads worker output back via the bounded-transcript protocol.

Constitution-driven specification flow mounted by planner-t4. Activates when an agent must drive the full ratification pipeline: constitution review, spec.md authoring, plan.md production, and tasks/ decomposition. Use when operating under the specify CLI, when a feature requires formal ratification before implementation, or when producing structured spec artifacts for downstream worker harnesses.

Multi-skill bundle mounted by planner-t3. Activates when a design session must scaffold an architecture that satisfies both Hipp zero-config reliability principles and Ousterhout deep-module complexity reduction. Triggers on requests to design libraries, data layers, or system modules where simplicity, embeddability, and minimal cognitive load must all be balanced together.

Use when designing libraries, modules, or data layers that must be simple, reliable, and self-contained. Use when choosing between embedded vs server-based solutions. Use when reviewing code for unnecessary complexity, dependencies, or configuration. Triggers on requests involving zero-config design, embedded systems, long-term maintainability, or first-principles thinking.

Use when designing modules, classes, APIs, or system architecture. Use when reviewing or refactoring code for complexity. Use when choosing between implementation approaches. Triggers on requests involving abstraction design, interface simplicity, information hiding, or reducing cognitive load.

Use when dispatching darken spawn subharnesses or reading their committed work back from .scion/agents/<name>/workspace

Use when dispatching 2+ parallel subharnesses for related work; replaces orchestrator-side file-disjoint task partitioning with a claim-and-close work queue

Use when composing the brief argument passed to darken spawn or scion message; the brief flows through scion sh -c wrapper that misparses three ASCII characters

Use when canonical image source files (images/<harness>/Dockerfile or darkish-prelude.sh) have been edited; the local image tag must be rebuilt before any subharness dispatched into that harness will pick up the change

Skill for plan authoring agents. Writes structured implementation plans to the worktree. When BONES_REPO is set, routes plan output through bones repo CI for review before finalizing. Backward compatible: when BONES_REPO is unset, writes plans directly to the local worktree.