megaplan-observe

name	megaplan-observe
description	Observe an in-flight megaplan — introspect state, trace events, diagnose blockages, detect drift. Companion to megaplan-prep. Use during and after a run, not before.

Megaplan Observe

When a megaplan is running — or stuck — megaplan introspect, megaplan trace, and megaplan doctor tell you what it's doing, why, since when, and how to intervene. This skill covers the observation surface; megaplan-prep covers profile/robustness/depth selection before a run.

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1. The four signals

megaplan introspect --plan X returns a single structured JSON payload. Four fields in it are the killers — each eliminates a failure mode that previously cost real sessions hours of confusion.

now_utc — the anti-stale-timestamp anchor

Every timestamp in the introspect payload is relative. now_utc is the wall clock at the moment the payload was generated. Never infer recency from JSON timestamps without cross-checking against now_utc from the same payload. A last_artifact_at of 14:25:11Z might look recent — but if now_utc is 15:45:00Z, the artifact is 80 minutes old and the phase is likely stuck.

Rule: when reading introspect output, compute every duration as now_utc - timestamp, not as "when I last looked."

active_phase.liveness — the go/no-go enum

One of four values; each dictates a different response:

Liveness	Meaning	Action
progressing	Events <60s old OR in-flight LLM call exists	Wait. The system is working.
quiet	Last event 60-300s ago, no in-flight LLM	Watch. May be between checks; check again in 30s.
stalled	Last event >300s ago AND no unmatched llm_call_start	Intervene. The phase has stopped.
timeout-imminent	Phase age > 80% of phase_timeout	Decide now. Extend timeout, kill phase, or accept partial results.

Critical rule: a phase with an unmatched llm_call_start (no matching llm_call_end yet) is NEVER classified as stalled, regardless of wall-clock age. The model is still producing — be patient.

block_details.recoverable_via — the only moves the state machine will accept

When state: blocked, this field enumerates the exact recovery actions the state machine will accept. Never try a recovery action that isn't in this list. The invalid_transition error exists precisely because callers guessed — recoverable_via replaces guessing with the canonical transition table.

The list is drawn from workflow_next() / infer_next_steps() — the single-source function in megaplan/_core/workflow.py that the override handler itself checks against. It is always consistent with what megaplan override will accept.

rubric_doc.drift — tooling/doc misalignment before it bites

If rubric_doc.drift.missing_locally is non-empty, the megaplan-prep skill references profile names your binary doesn't expose. This is the exact failure mode that wastes hours: the skill says --profile thoughtful, the binary says Unknown profile 'thoughtful'. drift catches it before the invocation. Use a profile from profiles_available_locally whose recipe matches what the rubric describes, or pin the binary to a state that has the canonical names.

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2. The observation hierarchy

When something seems wrong, investigate in this order:

1. megaplan introspect --plan X — one call, full picture. Always start here. The four killer fields answer 90% of questions.
2. megaplan trace --plan X --follow — if introspect says progressing but you want to watch. Stream events live; narrative format gives prose summaries of LLM calls.
3. megaplan doctor --plan X — if introspect shows a flag or state you don't recognise. Diagnostic checks with remediation hints.
4. Direct filesystem inspection — last resort. Read state.json, events.ndjson, phase artifacts manually. If you need this, file a bug — introspect should cover it.

The hierarchy is deliberate: each step is a thin reader over the same events.ndjson journal. Jumping to the filesystem before trying the surfaces misses the structured analysis those surfaces provide (liveness computation, drift detection, recoverable_via enumeration).

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3. Failure-mode catalog

Each entry: the introspect signature, the recovery, and a worked example from a real session.

Stalled critique

Signature: 4 of N checks complete, active_phase.last_artifact_rel > 15min, subprocess still has open network socket, active_phase.liveness: quiet.

Recovery:

• If last_artifact_rel < phase_timeout / 2: wait. The model may be producing a large check artifact.
• If last_artifact_rel > phase_timeout / 2: check LLM heartbeat via trace --follow --format narrative. If heartbeats stopped, the LLM call may be wedged — kill the phase and resume.
• Check block_details.outstanding_flags — if the critique found flags it can't resolve, it may have looped without producing artifacts.

Worked example:

Session: prompt-registry-and-reminder-bundling-v5, critique phase. 4 of 5 checks completed, last check at 14:25:11Z. At 14:55:00Z, introspect shows liveness: quiet, last_artifact_rel: 29m 49s ago. Subprocess PID 58800 still has an open TCP socket to Fireworks. trace --follow --format narrative shows: "Token stream stopped 28m ago. 4,200 tokens emitted at 18 tok/s. Last token at 14:26:31Z — no tokens since." The model finished producing but hermes didn't close the call — likely a provider-side hang. Kill the phase, megaplan resume picks up from where critique left off.

Blocked state

Signature: state: blocked, block_details.outstanding_flags non-empty, block_details.recoverable_via populated.

Recovery:

1. Read recoverable_via — the list is the exact set of override actions the state machine will accept.
2. Pick the first applicable option. If the flags are addressable, fix the brief and re-init. If they're acceptable tradeoffs, override force-proceed with a note explaining why.
3. Never paste an override not in the list — it will return invalid_transition.

Worked example:

Session: Plan went blocked at gate with 2 outstanding flags (FLAG-V4-001: high severity invariant contradiction, FLAG-V4-002: medium severity missing coverage). recoverable_via shows: ["fix brief and re-init (recommended)", "override add-note + override force-proceed", "override replan (requires state ∈ {critiqued, failed, finalized, gated})"]. FLAG-V4-001 is a genuine correctness issue — fix the brief to resolve the contradiction, re-init. FLAG-V4-002 is acceptable — the uncovered module is out of scope per the brief. Add a note documenting the scope decision, then override force-proceed.

Rubric/binary drift

Signature: rubric_doc.drift.missing_locally non-empty. The decision skill references profiles the binary doesn't have.

Recovery:

• Use a profile from profiles_available_locally whose tier/recipe matches what the rubric describes.
• OR pin the binary to the branch/commit that has the canonical names.
• Run megaplan doctor --repo before megaplan init to catch this proactively.

Worked example:

Session: megaplan init --profile thoughtful → Unknown profile 'thoughtful'. introspect (on a different plan) shows rubric_doc.drift.missing_locally: ["basic","led","thoughtful","super-premium"], profiles_available_locally: ["solo","directed","partnered","premium","apex"]. The binary is on branch sprint-a-base which renamed the canonical profiles to the new 5-tier scheme. The skill doc hasn't been updated yet. Use --profile partnered (the tier-3 equivalent) or switch to main where the old names still exist.

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4. The do-not rules

Four explicit, named rules derived from real failure modes. Violating any of these caused measurable confusion in prior sessions.

Rule 1: Do not infer wall time from JSON timestamps without now_utc cross-check

state.json timestamps are snapshot values — they're only as recent as the last write. now_utc is the actual wall clock. Always compute recency against now_utc. A last_step.timestamp of 5 minutes ago might mean the phase is stuck, or it might mean state.json hasn't been flushed — now_utc tells you which.

Rule 2: Do not retry overrides that returned invalid_transition — read recoverable_via first

The state machine rejects invalid transitions with a specific error. Retrying the same override without checking recoverable_via is the definition of a loop. recoverable_via is computed from the same transition table the handler enforces — it is always correct.

Rule 3: Do not stash / checkout in the megaplan source repo without user consent — editable installs make repo state load-bearing

If megaplan is installed via pip install -e ., any branch switch or uncommitted change in the source tree changes behavior immediately. megaplan doctor --repo surfaces this. Stashing, checking out, or pulling without explicit user consent can silently remove the profile a caller is about to invoke.

Rule 4: Do not assume a phase is stuck before consulting liveness

active_phase.liveness is the single source of truth for whether a phase is progressing. progressing means there's recent activity or an in-flight LLM call — wait. quiet means watch. Only stalled or timeout-imminent warrant intervention. Guessing based on wall-clock intuition leads to killing phases that were about to finish.

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5. Worked invocation chains

"Is it still going?"

User asks whether a long-running plan is still progressing.

megaplan introspect --plan prompt-registry-and-reminder-bundling-v5

Read active_phase.liveness. If progressing: "Yes — critique is still running. Last artifact 3 minutes ago (critique_check_scope.json). Model claude:opus-4.7 is actively producing tokens." If quiet: "Critique hasn't produced an artifact in 8 minutes, but the LLM call is still in-flight. Watching." If stalled: "Critique appears to have stopped — no events in 12 minutes and no in-flight LLM call. Check recoverable_via."

"Plan went blocked, what now?"

megaplan introspect --plan my-sprint

Read block_details.recoverable_via. Execute the first applicable option. Verify the state transition succeeded with another introspect call. If the override was force-proceed, confirm state is now past blocked. If the override was replan, confirm the plan re-entered the planning phase.

"Cost is climbing faster than expected"

megaplan trace --plan my-sprint --format narrative --since 10m

The narrative format groups consecutive LLM calls into prose summaries. Look for which model is being called, how frequently, and at what token volume. Cross-reference against the tier's expected cost profile from megaplan-prep. If the model is correct but call frequency is high, the plan may be looping — check phase_retry events. If the model is wrong (e.g., premium model on a solo-tier phase), check for an unintended override set-profile.

"I switched branches and now megaplan is broken"

megaplan doctor --repo

The repo-level check catches: rubric/binary drift (skill references profiles the current binary doesn't have), editable-install + dirty working tree (uncommitted changes affecting behavior), skill files out of sync with installed copies. Fix the specific WARN/ERROR lines before running any plan.

"Something's wrong but I don't know what"

megaplan introspect --plan X

The full payload has the answer. Start at the top:

1. now_utc — establish the wall-clock anchor.
2. active_phase.liveness — is it progressing?
3. active_phase.last_artifact_rel — how long since the last artifact?
4. block_details — is it blocked? What flags? What recoveries?
5. rubric_doc.drift — is there a profile-name mismatch?
6. binary_git — is the binary on the expected branch? Dirty?
7. timeline — scan the phase-by-phase breakdown for anomalies.

If nothing jumps out, escalate to trace --follow to watch live, then doctor --plan for diagnostic checks.