nelson

name	nelson
description	Orchestrates multi-agent task execution using a Royal Navy squadron metaphor — from mission planning through parallel work coordination to stand-down. Use when work needs parallel agent orchestration, tight task coordination with quality gates, structured delegation with progress checkpoints, or a documented decision log.
argument-hint	[mission description]
paths	[".nelson/**"]

Nelson

python3 "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py" status

Execute this workflow for the user's mission.

Write as Nelson's captains would write: concise, elegant, confident. Not eighteenth-century prose — the clear register of an officer who respects the reader's time. The skill's voice sets the example for the admiral's voice.

1. Issue Sailing Orders

• Review the user's brief for ambiguity. If the outcome, scope, or constraints are unclear, ask the user to clarify before drafting sailing orders.
• Write one sentence for outcome, metric, and deadline.
• Set constraints: token budget, reliability floor, compliance rules, and forbidden actions.
• Define what is out of scope.
• Define stop criteria and required handoff artifacts.

You MUST read references/admiralty-templates/sailing-orders.md and use the sailing-orders template when the user does not provide structure.

Example sailing orders summary:

Outcome: Refactor auth module to use JWT tokens
Metric: All 47 auth tests pass, no new dependencies
Deadline: This session
Constraints: Do not modify the public API surface
Out of scope: Migration script for existing sessions

Establish Mission Directory:

• New session: Run nelson-data.py init (see "Structured Data Capture" below). The script owns directory creation: it generates an 8-character hex SESSION_ID, creates .nelson/missions/{YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS}_{SESSION_ID}/ with the damage-reports/ and turnover-briefs/ subdirectories, writes sailing-orders.json, mission-log.json, and fleet-status.json, writes .nelson/.active-{SESSION_ID} as the session marker, and prints the mission directory path to stdout. Capture that path as {mission-dir} for the remainder of this mission. The SESSION_ID is the segment after the last underscore in the directory name. If you need a specific SESSION_ID (e.g., testing or resuming a known id), pass --session-id <8-hex>.
• Resumed session: First, attempt auto-recovery by running python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py recover --missions-dir .nelson/missions. If this finds an active mission with handoff packets, use the structured recovery briefing to resume directly. Otherwise, if you know the SESSION_ID, read .nelson/.active-{SESSION_ID} to recover the mission path. Set that path as {mission-dir}. If you cannot determine your SESSION_ID (e.g., after a full restart), list .nelson/missions/ and present the options to the user for selection. Set the chosen directory as {mission-dir}. Recover state per references/damage-control/session-resumption.md (prefer JSON files, fall back to quarterdeck report prose).

All mission artifacts — captain's log, quarterdeck reports, damage reports, and turnover briefs — are written inside {mission-dir}.

Structured Data Capture: Run the nelson-data.py script located in the skill's directory (e.g., python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py init --outcome "..." --metric "..." --deadline "..."). If installed globally, it may be in ~/.claude/skills/nelson/scripts/. init creates the mission directory, the initial JSON files (sailing-orders.json, mission-log.json, fleet-status.json with initial phase SAILING_ORDERS), and the .nelson/.active-{SESSION_ID} marker in one atomic step. See references/structured-data.md for the full argument list.

Phase Advance: After structured data capture, advance the mission phase from SAILING_ORDERS to ESTIMATE:

python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-phase.py advance --mission-dir {mission-dir}

Session Hygiene: Execute session hygiene per references/damage-control/session-hygiene.md. Skip this step when resuming an interrupted session.

The Estimate opt-in: Before proceeding, ask the user:

"Shall I carry out The Estimate before drafting the Battle Plan? I would recommend it for this mission — [brief reason]."

Give an honest recommendation. For straightforward missions with clear scope in a single subsystem, proceed without the Estimate. For complex, ambiguous, or multi-system missions, recommend conducting it. If the user accepts, proceed to Step 2. If the user declines, record the decision and skip to Step 3:

python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py skip-estimate \
  --mission-dir {mission-dir} --reason "[one-line rationale]"
python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-phase.py advance --mission-dir {mission-dir}
python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-phase.py advance --mission-dir {mission-dir}

The first advance moves from SAILING_ORDERS to ESTIMATE. The second advance moves from ESTIMATE to BATTLE_PLAN; the exit validator accepts the transition because skip-estimate has already recorded the opt-out in sailing-orders.json.

2. Conduct The Estimate

Read references/the-estimate.md for the full thought process, and use references/admiralty-templates/estimate.md as the scaffold. Work through seven questions that turn a mission brief into a plan worth executing:

1. Reconnaissance — What is the terrain? What are we working with?
2. Intent — What are we really trying to achieve, and why?
3. Effects — What changes must occur to fulfil the intent?
4. Terrain — Where in the codebase does each effect land?
5. Forces — What agents, models, and context do we need?
6. Coordination — What depends on what? What runs in parallel?
7. Control — Where are the quality gates and intervention points?

Q1 dispatches Explore sub-agents. Send one or more Explore agents into the codebase with a scouting brief derived from the Sailing Orders; synthesise their findings into the Reconnaissance section. Q1 must follow the Explorer discipline rules in references/the-estimate.md (multiple focused dispatches, structured summaries, no raw file contents).

Q2–Q3 and Q4–Q7 are delegated in two separate sub-agent dispatches so Q2–Q7 reasoning does not consume admiral context. The first dispatch (Estimate-Drafter) produces commander's intent and effects after Q1 and before Checkpoint 2; the second dispatch (Estimate-Planner) produces terrain, forces, coordination, and control after Checkpoint 2 approves intent and effects. Both subagents inherit the admiral's model; The Estimate phase is exempt from cost-savings model selection. See references/the-estimate.md for the briefing contents and dispatch templates.

Two checkpoints bracket the analytical work. After Q1, present findings to the user and invite correction or reframing. After Q3, present intent and effects for substantive approval before planning how. Q4-Q7 flow from approved effects and are the admiral's professional judgement — work through them without interrupting the user. Collapse both checkpoints into a single final review only when all three conditions hold: sailing orders specify outcome, metric, and deadline; Q1 reveals no surprises; the work lands in a single subsystem. See references/the-estimate.md for full checkpoint discipline.

Each effect in §3 must carry commander's guidance (how to do it) and acceptance criteria (what must be true when done). Criteria flow through to captains and are verified at stand-down; captains choose the verification method per criterion (test, type-check, lint, review, visual).

Write the estimate to {mission-dir}/estimate.md with one H2 section per question. Split to {mission-dir}/estimate/0N-name.md only when a section grows unwieldy.

Phase Advance: After the user approves the final estimate, advance from ESTIMATE to BATTLE_PLAN:

python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-phase.py advance --mission-dir {mission-dir}

3. Draft Battle Plan

When The Estimate has been conducted, the Battle Plan inherits the analytical work: terrain, forces, coordination, and control are already decided. The Battle Plan step is operational — it turns approved effects into task assignments. When the Estimate was skipped, the admiral performs the analysis inline at this step.

Scope preservation: When the Sailing Orders describe extending, expanding, or modifying an existing feature, every task must modify the existing implementation — not create a parallel or replacement implementation. Populate the Modification targets field in each task's brief with the specific functions, env vars, and config identified during Reconnaissance. A task that creates new files, functions, or environment variables where modification of existing ones would satisfy the effect is a planning error.

• Translate each effect from the Estimate (§3) into one or more tasks. Each task must stay within the scope of its parent effect — do not introduce work that the effect does not call for. When the Estimate was skipped, derive tasks directly from the Sailing Orders.
• Prepend the commander's intent paragraph (Estimate §2) to every captain's brief so each ship sails under a shared understanding of purpose.
• Inherit acceptance criteria from the parent effect onto each task. Captains own the choice of verification method per criterion.
• Inherit terrain (file ownership), coordination (dependencies), forces (captain sizing, model class), and control (action-station tier) from the Estimate. When the Estimate was skipped, supply these at this step.
• If cost-savings is a priority, also consider task inputs — avoid multiple agents independently loading the same large inputs into their contexts.
• For each task, note expected crew composition using the crew-or-direct decision tree in references/crew-roles.md. If crew are mustered, list crew roles with sub-tasks and sequence. If the captain implements directly (0 crew), note "Captain implements directly." If the captain anticipates needing marine support, note marine capacity (max 2).
• For each task, consciously mark admiralty-action-required: yes or no.
• Keep one task in progress per agent unless the mission explicitly requires multitasking.

Reference references/admiralty-templates/battle-plan.md for the schema of each captain's brief and references/admiralty-templates/ship-manifest.md for the ship manifest.

Battle Plan Gate — Standing Order Check: You MUST NOT finalize task assignments until each question below is answered in writing and any triggered standing order remedy has been applied. Show your reasoning — a bare yes/no is not sufficient.

• becalmed-fleet.md: Should this mission use single-session instead of multi-agent? If yes, skip Step 4 — single-session has no squadron to form.
• light-squadron.md: Is the task count equal to the number of independent work units, or have tasks been under-split?
• split-keel.md: Does each task have exclusive file ownership with no conflicts? (This will be automatically verified in Step 4).
• unclassified-engagement.md: Does every task have a risk tier?
• all-hands-on-deck.md: Has each task been crewed only with roles its work actually demands?
• skeleton-crew.md: Would any task deploy exactly one crew member for an atomic task the captain should handle directly?
• crew-without-canvas.md: Is every agent justified by actual task scope?
• captain-at-the-capstan.md: For each task with crew, is the captain's role coordination, not implementation?
• press-ganged-navigator.md: Is the red-cell navigator being assigned implementation work?
• admiral-at-the-helm.md: Does the battle plan assign any implementation work (excluding permitted read-only recombination) to the admiral?
• wrong-ensign.md: Do the planned coordination tools match the selected execution mode?
• pulling-the-oar.md: For tasks that involve dispatched subagents, is the failure-recovery plan to fix the brief and re-dispatch, rather than absorb the work into senior context?

If any answer triggers a standing order, you MUST apply the corrective action and re-answer the question before proceeding. For situations not covered by this gate, consult the Standing Orders table below.

Persist the drafted plan. Before proceeding to Step 4, write the complete battle plan to {mission-dir}/battle-plan.md using the template at references/admiralty-templates/battle-plan.md. Include the commander's intent verbatim from Estimate §2, each task brief in template form, and the Standing Order Check answers. This is a safe compaction point — admiral state is now fully on disk.

Structured Data Capture: Task registration requires owners, which are assigned in Step 4. No nelson-data.py script calls at this step.

4. Form the Squadron

• Select execution mode per references/squadron-composition.md. If the user explicitly requested a mode, use it — user preference overrides the decision matrix.
  • single-session: sequential tasks, low complexity, or heavy same-file editing.
  • subagents: parallel, fully independent tasks that report only to the admiral.
  • agent-team: captains benefit from a shared task list, peer messaging, or coordinated deliverables; or 4+ captains are needed.

Mode-Tool Consistency Gate: Before assigning ships, confirm your tool usage matches the selected mode by reviewing references/tool-mapping.md:

• subagents mode: Captains do NOT use TaskCreate, TaskList, TaskGet, TaskUpdate, or SendMessage(type="message"). Captains report via the Agent tool return value only. The admiral uses TaskCreate/TaskUpdate/TaskList to track progress in the session task list (visibility only — captains cannot see these tasks).
• agent-team mode: Do NOT use Agent with subagent_type to spawn captains (marines still use subagent_type). Use TeamCreate first, then Agent with team_name + name. Coordinate via TaskList and SendMessage.
• single-session mode: The admiral uses TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList, and TaskGet to track progress as it completes each task sequentially.

Task List Visibility: After selecting the execution mode, create a TaskCreate entry for each battle plan task to make mission progress visible in the Claude Code task list (Ctrl+T). This applies in all execution modes — it is admiral-level visibility tracking, not inter-agent coordination.

For each task:

• subject: Task name from the battle plan (imperative form, e.g., "Refactor auth module")
• description: One-line deliverable
• activeForm: Present-continuous form shown in the UI spinner (e.g., "Refactoring auth module")

All tasks start as pending. They will be updated with owners and status as the mission progresses. In single-session mode (where Step 4 is otherwise skipped), the admiral still creates these entries before proceeding to Step 5.

• Assign each task a captain and a ship name from references/crew-roles.md matching task weight (frigate for general, destroyer for high-risk, patrol vessel for small, flagship for critical-path, submarine for research).
• Finalize ship manifests: confirm crew roles per task, or note "Captain implements directly."
• Add 1 red-cell navigator for medium/high threat work. Do not exceed 10 squadron-level agents (admiral, captains, red-cell navigator). Crew are additional.
• If the sailing orders express cost-savings priority, load references/model-selection.md before assigning models. Apply weight-based model selection to all Agent tool calls and include haiku briefing enhancements for agents assigned to haiku.

SQUADRON FORMATION ORDERS

Mode: [single-session | subagents | agent-team]
Captain count: [N]

Ships:
  [Ship name] — [vessel type] — [one-line task summary]
    Crew: [roles, or "Captain implements directly"]
  [repeat for each ship]

[Red-cell navigator — HMS X, if present]

If any tasks are marked admiralty-action-required: yes, append before awaiting approval:

ADMIRALTY ACTION LIST — Actions required from Admiralty

1. [Task name]
   action: [what you must do]
   timing: [before task starts | after task completes]
   unblocks: [task name or stand-down]

Actions marked `timing: before task starts` require your sign-off before the relevant captain is spawned.

Do not spawn any agents or create any tasks until the user approves. If the user requests changes, revise and redisplay before proceeding.

Note: For headless and CI invocation, use nelson-data.py headless --auto-approve which combines Steps 1-3 and skips the interactive approval gate. See references/structured-data.md for details.

Structured Data Capture: Once formation is approved, use the composite form command (recommended) or the individual commands below.

Recommended — composite form command: Write a plan JSON file with the task and squadron definitions, then run a single command:

python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py form \
  --mission-dir {mission-dir} \
  --plan {mission-dir}/plan-input.json \
  --mode [mode]

This registers all tasks, records the squadron, computes DAG metrics, and runs the conflict scan in one step. See references/structured-data.md for the plan JSON schema and output format.

Alternative — individual commands:

1. python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py task --mission-dir {mission-dir} --id N --name "..." --owner "..." ... for each task (owners are now known from formation). See references/structured-data.md for task arguments.
2. python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py plan-approved --mission-dir {mission-dir} to finalise the battle plan and compute DAG metrics.
3. python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-phase.py advance --mission-dir {mission-dir} to advance from BATTLE_PLAN to FORMATION (validates all tasks have station tiers).
4. python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py squadron --mission-dir {mission-dir} --admiral "..." --admiral-model [model] --captain "name:class:model:task_id" ... --mode [mode] to record squadron composition. Repeat --captain for each captain. See references/structured-data.md for the full argument list.
5. python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson_conflict_scan.py --plan {mission-dir}/battle-plan.json to verify there are no file ownership conflicts. If conflicts are found, you MUST resolve them and update the battle plan before proceeding.
6. python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-phase.py advance --mission-dir {mission-dir} to advance from FORMATION to PERMISSION.

Before proceeding to Step 5: Verify that sailing orders exist, all tasks have owners and deliverables, and every task has an action station tier.

Crew Briefing: Spawning and task assignment are two steps. First, spawn each captain with the Agent tool, including a crew briefing from references/admiralty-templates/crew-briefing.md in their prompt. Then assign work to the existing task entries with TaskUpdate. Teammates do NOT inherit the lead's conversation context — they start with a clean slate and need explicit mission context. See references/tool-mapping.md for full parameter details by mode.

Task Status Updates: After formation, update the task list entries created earlier in this step:

• agent-team mode: Use TaskUpdate to set owner to each captain's name and status to in_progress as captains are spawned. The team's shared task list now serves both visibility and coordination.
• subagents mode: Use TaskUpdate to set status to in_progress as each captain is dispatched. The admiral tracks these directly.
• single-session mode: Use TaskUpdate to set status to in_progress as the admiral begins each task.

Edit permissions: When spawning any agent whose task involves editing files, set mode: "acceptEdits" on the Agent tool call. Omitting this can cause a permission race condition that silently stalls the agent at its first edit. When in doubt, include it.

Turnover Briefs: When a ship is relieved due to context exhaustion, it writes a typed handoff packet using python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py handoff ... (see references/structured-data.md). An optional prose companion brief may also be written using references/admiralty-templates/turnover-brief.md. See references/damage-control/relief-on-station.md for the full procedure.

5. Get Permission to Sail

Display and Permission Gate:

1. Display the complete battle plan to the user if becalmed-fleet.md is in effect.
2. Display the complete squadron formation to the user if becalmed-fleet.md is not in effect. The battle plan (drafted in Step 3) should also be available for review.
3. You are REQUIRED to wait for explicit permission to proceed.

Phase Advance: After the user grants permission, log the event and advance:

python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py event \
  --mission-dir {mission-dir} --type permission_granted --checkpoint 0
python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-phase.py advance --mission-dir {mission-dir}

This transitions the mission from PERMISSION to UNDERWAY, unlocking agent spawning and task creation.

6. Run Quarterdeck Rhythm

Idle notification rule (immediate — do not defer to checkpoint): Every time an idle notification arrives from a ship, ask three questions before doing anything else:

1. Is this ship's task marked complete?
2. Does any remaining pending task depend on this ship's output?
3. Agent-team mode only: Has the admiral received and processed this ship's results?

If the task is complete and no pending task depends on it, proceed to shutdown per references/standing-orders/paid-off.md. In agent-team mode, the admiral must confirm receipt of the captain's results before sending shutdown_request — retrieve them via SendMessage or by reading output files if not already received. In subagents mode, results are returned synchronously by the Agent tool, so no additional confirmation is needed. Do not wait for the next checkpoint cadence. Check the current TaskList state at the moment the idle notification arrives; each notification is evaluated independently against current state. This applies even when other ships are still running.

Shutdown attempt ceiling: If a shutdown_request to a ship goes unacknowledged, do not loop indefinitely. After 3 failed attempts to the same agent, abandon the shutdown attempt, note the failure in the captain's log, and continue the mission. If TeamDelete is blocked by stuck agents, manual cleanup is available — see references/damage-control/man-overboard.md for the procedure.

• Keep admiral focused on coordination and unblock actions.
• The admiral sets the mood of the squadron. Acknowledge progress, recognise strong work, and maintain cheerfulness under pressure.
• Checkpoint Cadence Gate: You MUST NOT process a third task completion without writing a quarterdeck checkpoint. Before dispatching new work or processing the next completion, confirm the last checkpoint is no more than 2 completions old. The quarterdeck report is your only recovery point if context compaction occurs — stale reports mean lost coordination state.
• Run a quarterdeck checkpoint after every 1-2 task completions, when a captain reports a blocker, or when a captain goes idle with unverified outputs:
  • Update progress by checking TaskList for task states: pending, in_progress, completed.
  • Mark completed tasks with TaskUpdate setting status to completed. In subagents and single-session modes, the admiral updates the session task list directly; in agent-team mode, captains or the admiral update the shared task list.
  • Identify blockers and choose a concrete next action.
  • Use SendMessage to unblock captains or redirect their approach.
  • Confirm each crew member has active sub-tasks; flag idle crew or role mismatches.
  • Check for active marine deployments; verify marines have returned and outputs are incorporated.
  • Safety net: if any idle ship with a complete task was missed between checkpoints, apply the references/standing-orders/paid-off.md shutdown procedure now before continuing.
  • Track burn against token/time budget.
  • Check hull integrity: collect damage reports from all ships, update the squadron readiness board, and take action per references/damage-control/hull-integrity.md. The admiral must also check its own hull integrity at each checkpoint. Every ship must file a damage report at every checkpoint to {mission-dir}/damage-reports/{ship-name}.json using the schema in references/admiralty-templates/damage-report.md — do not skip this when hull is Green.
  • Standing order scan: For each order below, ask "Has this situation arisen since the last checkpoint?" If yes, apply the corrective action now — do not defer.
    • admiral-at-the-helm.md: Has the admiral drifted into implementation work (excluding permitted read-only recombination)?
    • drifting-anchorage.md: Has any task scope crept beyond the sailing orders? Has any captain created a parallel implementation, duplicate function, or new environment variable instead of extending existing code?
    • captain-at-the-capstan.md: Has any captain started implementing instead of coordinating crew?
    • pressed-crew.md: Has any crew member been assigned work outside their role?
    • press-ganged-navigator.md: Has the red-cell navigator been assigned implementation work?
    • all-hands-on-deck.md: Has any ship mustered crew roles that are idle or unjustified?
    • battalion-ashore.md: Has any captain deployed marines for crew work or sustained tasks?
    • wrong-ensign.md: Is the admiral or any captain using tools from the wrong execution mode?
    • pulling-the-oar.md: Has any senior agent (admiral or captain) absorbed work from a failed subagent dispatch instead of fixing the brief and re-dispatching?
  • Write the quarterdeck report to disk at {mission-dir}/quarterdeck-report.md at every checkpoint using references/admiralty-templates/quarterdeck-report.md. Do not skip this when hull is Green — compaction can occur at any time and the on-disk report is the only recovery point. Before writing, if quarterdeck-report.md already exists in {mission-dir}, find all files matching glob pattern quarterdeck-report-[0-9]*.md, determine N as one greater than the highest N found (0 if none exist), rename the existing file to quarterdeck-report-N.md, then write the new report. This keeps the latest report at the canonical path while preserving history.
  • Structured data capture: Run python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py checkpoint --mission-dir {mission-dir} --pending N --in-progress N --completed N ... with current progress, budget, hull, and decision data. Between checkpoints, run python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py event --mission-dir {mission-dir} --type <event_type> ... for state changes (task completions, blockers, hull threshold crossings, standing order violations). See references/structured-data.md for event types and arguments.
  • Check TaskList for any tasks with description prefixed [AWAITING-ADMIRALTY]:. If any exist, surface the ask to Admiralty immediately — do not batch to the next checkpoint.
  • Cross-reference the battle plan against TaskList: for any task marked admiralty-action-required: yes in the battle plan that shows status completed, confirm there is a quarterdeck log entry recording admiralty sign-off. If no such entry exists, flag to Admiralty for manual verification — the task may have completed without the intended human step.
• Re-scope early when a task drifts from mission metric.
• When a mission encounters difficulties, consult the Damage Control table below for recovery and escalation procedures.

Example quarterdeck checkpoint:

Status: 3/5 tasks complete, 1 blocked, 1 in progress
Blocker: HMS Resolute waiting on API schema from HMS Swift
Action: Redirect HMS Swift to prioritise schema export
Budget: ~40% tokens consumed, on track
Hull: All ships green

Reference references/tool-mapping.md for coordination tools, references/admiralty-templates/quarterdeck-report.md for the report template, and references/admiralty-templates/damage-report.md for damage report format. Use references/commendations.md for recognition signals and graduated correction. Consult the Standing Orders table below if admiral is doing implementation or tasks are drifting from scope.

7. Set Action Stations

• You MUST read and apply station tiers from references/action-stations.md.
• Require verification evidence before marking tasks complete:
  • Test or validation output.
  • Failure modes and rollback notes.
  • Red-cell review for medium+ station tiers.
• Trigger quality checks on:
  • Task completion.
  • Agent idle with unverified outputs.
  • Before final synthesis.
• For crewed tasks, verify crew outputs align with role boundaries (consult references/crew-roles.md and the Standing Orders table below if role violations are detected).
• Marine deployments follow station-tier rules in references/royal-marines.md. Station 2+ marine deployments require admiral approval. Captains use references/admiralty-templates/marine-deployment-brief.md when deploying a marine.

Reference references/admiralty-templates/red-cell-review.md for the red-cell review template. Consult the Standing Orders table below if tasks lack a tier or red-cell is assigned implementation work.

8. Stand Down And Log Action

• Stop or archive all agent sessions, including crew.
• Write the captain's log to {mission-dir}/captains-log.md. The log MUST be written to disk — outputting it to chat only does not satisfy this requirement. The captain's log should contain:
  • Decisions and rationale.
  • Diffs or artifacts.
  • Validation evidence.
  • Open risks and follow-ups.
  • Mentioned in Despatches: name agents and contributions that were exemplary.
  • Record reusable patterns and failure modes for future missions.

Reference references/admiralty-templates/captains-log.md for the captain's log template and references/commendations.md for Mentioned in Despatches criteria.

Structured Data Capture: Before writing the captain's log, run python3 .claude/skills/nelson/scripts/nelson-data.py stand-down --mission-dir {mission-dir} --outcome-achieved --actual-outcome "..." --metric-result "..." to capture the structured mission summary. See references/structured-data.md for the full argument list.

Task List Cleanup: Verify all task list entries reflect final state. Mark any remaining in_progress tasks as completed if their work is done, or note incomplete tasks in the captain's log. This ensures the Claude Code task list shows an accurate final summary.

Session State Cleanup: Remove the session state file by deleting .nelson/.active-{SESSION_ID}.

Mission Complete Gate: You MUST NOT declare the mission complete until {mission-dir}/captains-log.md exists on disk and has been confirmed readable. If context pressure is high, write a minimal log noting which sections were abbreviated — but the file must exist. Skipping Step 8 is never permitted.

GitHub Star Prompt (one-time, success only): After the Mission Complete Gate passes, ask the user once whether they would like to star the Nelson repo (canonical slug harrymunro/nelson). Run all three preflight checks below; if any prints SKIP, skip the prompt silently and finish Stand Down.

gh auth status &>/dev/null && echo "GH_OK" || echo "SKIP_NO_GH"
python3 - <<'PY'
import json, os
path = os.path.expanduser('~/.nelson/prefs.json')
prefs = {}
if os.path.exists(path):
    try:
        with open(path, encoding='utf-8') as f:
            loaded = json.load(f)
        if isinstance(loaded, dict):
            prefs = loaded
    except Exception:
        prefs = {}
print("SKIP_ALREADY_ASKED" if prefs.get('star_asked') is True else "PREFS_OK")
PY
python3 - <<'PY'
import json, os, sys
mission_dir = os.environ.get('MISSION_DIR', '{mission-dir}')
sd_path = os.path.join(mission_dir, 'stand-down.json')
try:
    with open(sd_path, encoding='utf-8') as f:
        sd = json.load(f)
    print("OUTCOME_OK" if sd.get('outcome_achieved') is True else "SKIP_OUTCOME_NOT_ACHIEVED")
except Exception:
    print("SKIP_NO_STAND_DOWN")
PY

Substitute {mission-dir} with the actual mission directory path (or export MISSION_DIR first). If all three lines are GH_OK, PREFS_OK, OUTCOME_OK, invoke AskUserQuestion with:

• Question: "Nelson helped finish that mission. Would you star the repo on GitHub?"
• Star Nelson — "Helps the project grow."
• Maybe later — "Skip for now (won't ask again)."

On Star Nelson, run gh api -X PUT /user/starred/harrymunro/nelson (idempotent — returns 204 whether or not the repo is already starred). If the call fails, print Couldn't reach GitHub — try 'gh api -X PUT /user/starred/harrymunro/nelson' manually. and continue. Never let this step block Stand Down.

On any answer (including a custom "Other" response), set star_asked: true in ~/.nelson/prefs.json, preserving any existing keys:

python3 - <<'PY'
import json, os
path = os.path.expanduser('~/.nelson/prefs.json')
os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(path), exist_ok=True)
try:
    with open(path, encoding='utf-8') as f:
        prefs = json.load(f)
    if not isinstance(prefs, dict):
        prefs = {}
except Exception:
    prefs = {}
prefs['star_asked'] = True
with open(path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    json.dump(prefs, f, indent=2)
    f.write('\n')
PY

This is a single ask per user across all Nelson projects. Either answer locks the prompt forever.

Standing Orders

Consult the specific standing order that matches the situation. The library is empirically extensible: see scripts/nelson_data_patterns.py for the promotion workflow that mines new candidate orders from mission patterns and surfaces them for human review.

Situation	Standing Order
Choosing between single-session and multi-agent	references/standing-orders/becalmed-fleet.md
Tasks under-split onto fewer captains than independence warrants	references/standing-orders/light-squadron.md
Deciding whether to add another agent	references/standing-orders/crew-without-canvas.md
Assigning files to agents in the battle plan	references/standing-orders/split-keel.md
Task scope drifting from sailing orders	references/standing-orders/drifting-anchorage.md
Admiral doing implementation instead of coordinating (excluding permitted read-only recombination)	references/standing-orders/admiral-at-the-helm.md
Assigning work to the red-cell navigator	references/standing-orders/press-ganged-navigator.md
Tasks proceeding without a risk tier classification	references/standing-orders/unclassified-engagement.md
Captain implementing instead of coordinating crew	references/standing-orders/captain-at-the-capstan.md
Crewing every role regardless of task needs	references/standing-orders/all-hands-on-deck.md
Spawning one crew member for an atomic task	references/standing-orders/skeleton-crew.md
Assigning crew work outside their role	references/standing-orders/pressed-crew.md
Captain deploying marines for crew work or sustained tasks	references/standing-orders/battalion-ashore.md
Captain completed autonomous work and needs human action to continue	references/standing-orders/awaiting-admiralty.md
Agent completed task with no remaining work in the dependency graph	references/standing-orders/paid-off.md
Using tools from the wrong execution mode	references/standing-orders/wrong-ensign.md
Senior absorbing failed subagent's work instead of fixing the brief	references/standing-orders/pulling-the-oar.md

Damage Control

Consult the specific procedure that matches the situation.

Situation	Procedure
Agent unresponsive, looping, or producing no useful output	references/damage-control/man-overboard.md
Session interrupted (context limit, crash, timeout)	references/damage-control/session-resumption.md
Completed task found faulty, other tasks are sound	references/damage-control/partial-rollback.md
Mission cannot succeed, continuing wastes budget	references/damage-control/scuttle-and-reform.md
Issue exceeds current authority or needs clarification	references/damage-control/escalation.md
Ship's crew consuming disproportionate tokens or time	references/damage-control/crew-overrun.md
Ship's context window depleted, needs replacement	references/damage-control/relief-on-station.md
Ship context window approaching limits	references/damage-control/hull-integrity.md
Automated budget, hull, and idle alarms crossing thresholds	references/damage-control/circuit-breakers.md
Preparing the mission directory at session start	references/damage-control/session-hygiene.md
Agent team communication failure (lost agent IDs, message bus down)	references/damage-control/comms-failure.md

Admiralty Doctrine

• Include this instruction in any admiral's compaction summary: Re-read the quarterdeck report at the mission directory path to recover {mission-dir}. If the path is unknown, read .nelson/.active-{SESSION_ID} if you know the SESSION_ID, otherwise list .nelson/missions/ and present the options to the user for selection. Then re-read references/standing-orders/admiral-at-the-helm.md to confirm you are in coordination role.
• Treat /compact as safe at any phase boundary (after Step 1, 2, 3, 4, and at every quarterdeck checkpoint in Step 6). The narrow unsafe window is inside Step 5 — between user approval and the admiral's permission_granted / phase advance / agent spawn turn.
• Optimize for mission throughput, not equal work distribution.
• Prefer replacing stalled agents over waiting on undefined blockers.
• Recognise strong performance; motivation compounds across missions.
• Keep coordination messages targeted and concise.
• Escalate uncertainty early with options and one recommendation.