orca-checkpoint

name	orca-checkpoint
description	Pause work at explicit decision points, gather inspection context, and record approve/reject/resume outcomes.

ORCA Framework Checkpoint

What This Skill Is

A practical workflow for pausing risky or ambiguous work so a human can inspect and decide what happens next.

Trigger

Use for scope expansion, destructive edits, dependency changes, architecture pivots, ambiguous verification, or ship-readiness uncertainty.

Do Not Trigger

Do not force checkpoints for already-approved, low-risk work.

Required Inputs

• Triggering risk or ambiguity
• Current state summary

Optional Inputs

• Shared state artifact
• Trace summary
• Approval context

Exact Workflow

1. Pause at a clean boundary.
2. Write a checkpoint request with the decision needed.
3. Link the artifacts a human should inspect.
4. Record the checkpoint decision.
5. Resume only under the recorded decision or revision.

Expected Outputs

• Filled templates/checkpoint-request.md
• Filled templates/checkpoint-decision.md

Quality Bar

The checkpoint should make the decision easy to inspect and easy to resume from.

Common Failure Modes

• pausing without clarifying the decision needed
• resuming without recording the decision
• creating process overhead where no real risk exists

Relationship To Other ORCA Framework Skills And Commands

Works with orca-approve, orca-state, orca-inspect, and orca-ship.