Long Task Continuation

Overview

Keep long work checkpointed, resumable, drift-aware, and evidence-gated. This protocol does not execute plans, dispatch subagents, run tests, or grant completion authority.

Authority Boundary

The Method Pack owns continuation discipline only. It does not own the parent plan, host retry/watchdog behavior, authoritative GateDecision, evidence sufficiency, requirement acceptance, or completion.

When To Use

Use this skill when the work has meaningful phases, may be compacted/resumed or handed off, uses subagents, or explicitly needs continuity and drift control. Architecture, contract, shared-workflow, and verification-gate changes also benefit from it. Do not force it onto a short answer or one-command check.

Choose exactly one state carrier:

• within this continuation workflow, use a durable work/ record for medium/high work, or for work of any complexity that actually crosses sessions, needs handoff, or requires resumable state;
• otherwise keep one inline checkpoint.

Multi-step, todo-driven, possible-compaction, and subagent use do not force durable records for low-complexity work by themselves. Do not create both carriers or a record per slice.

Required Artifacts

A durable task has one process trail under docs/aegis/work/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>/. It keeps logical intent/baseline state, the latest todo/checkpoint/resume state, terminal evidence/drift state, and a completion reflection when warranted. These are TaskIntentDraft, BaselineReadSetHint, BaselineUsageDraft, ImpactStatementDraft, TodoCheckpointDraft, ResumeStateHint, DriftCheckDraft, and EvidenceBundleDraft views—not authoritative runtime records or separate plan owners.

Read only the lifecycle-matched section of durable-work-guidance.md:

• ## Required Artifact Layout and ## Create A Durable Work Record for a new durable work record;
• ## Update A Slice when an existing helper-backed record needs sidecar updates;
• ## Retry Convergence Detail for retry/attempt bookkeeping;
• ## Pause, Handoff, And Completion Bundle when preparing a pause, handoff, or completion bundle; and
• ## Expanded State Fields only when natural checkpoint prose is ambiguous.

The reference owns artifact layout and <aegis-workspace-helper> command detail; this file owns carrier selection, resume order, drift decisions, and stop conditions.

An Execution Readiness View may be kept in the intent or active checkpoint for medium/high, handoff-prone, long-running, subagent-driven, architecture, contract, compatibility, or retirement-sensitive work. It renders existing intent, scope, baseline, owner, test, review, and drift constraints; it is not a new JSON artifact or completion authority.

Planless Slice Lane:

• When an existing parent plan/spec owns a bounded task, reuse it and the current checkpoint. For a no-parent direct bounded request with no new durable or unclear verification boundary, use an inline checkpoint.
• State one compact Slice Card: Goal, Parent plan/spec (or none — direct bounded request), Files, Boundary, Verification, and Stop.
• The slice goal closes only that slice. Final completion returns to the parent or direct bounded request through verification-before-completion.
• Do not create a plan/spec merely to give a micro-slice a parent, and do not create per-slice plans/specs or work records.
• Escalate when a new owner, contract, schema, public API, architecture, migration, persistence, security/permission, distribution/release surface, unclear verification boundary, or mismatch with parent scope or acceptance appears.

When durable architecture decisions are in scope, these work records are the preferred ADR Auto Backfill source. Preserve decision signals, source refs, alternatives, compatibility, retirement, drift, and baseline-sync questions.

Start Protocol

Before execution:

1. Capture requested outcome, scope, non-goals, risks, parent plan/goal, success evidence, and stop states (done | blocked | needs-verification | scope-exceeded).
2. Identify required baseline refs and record acknowledged, cited, and missing refs. Missing authority pauses in needs-baseline-readback.
3. Choose inline or durable state once, then record the todo map, active slice, completed slices/evidence, blockers, next step, and current branch/HEAD.
4. When an Execution Readiness View exists, retain its intent lock, scope fence, baseline lock, compatibility/retirement boundary, tests, reviews, evidence, and rewind rules.
5. For a new helper-backed record, use durable-work-guidance.md to create and structurally check it before implementation.

Retry Convergence Protocol

A failed verification is another attempt in the current slice, not a new slice. Keep failed-attempt telemetry out of terminal evidence and normal commits. Only evidence-finalized, blocked, or abandoned is terminal. When retry state reaches process-artifact-pressure, stop auto-retry and route to systematic-debugging or verification-before-completion. Load the durable reference only when the attempt/evidence commands or sidecar rules are needed.

Per-Slice Protocol

Before each slice, state the current goal/todo, intended edits, explicit non-edits, verification, and readiness alignment. A bounded parent-plan or no-parent slice uses the compact Slice Card rather than a new plan/spec.

After each slice, update completed todos, evidence refs, newly used baseline refs, blockers, next step, and drift decision. When an active helper-backed work record exists, read durable-work-guidance.md and update that same record; never create another workstream for bookkeeping.

When patch-shape/ripple triage, an H-class finding, or a bounded compatibility mitigation fired, a locally green result does not clear the direction. Retain PatchShape, CanonicalOwner, UpwardDrillSignal, latest outcome, and one bounded evidence ref; do not copy raw logs or full diffs. If no fresh evidence exists, the state is needs-verification or partial.

Resume Protocol

Resume in this order:

1. Read original intent, parent plan/goal, latest checkpoint and resume hint. Reconcile current user instructions: continuation, amendment, pause, or replacement. Preserve outstanding deliverables; update authorized scope before treating a valid amendment as drift. Internal milestones are not substitutes for the user's delivered result.
2. Re-read required baseline refs and relevant active CONTEXT.md language.
3. Read the Execution Readiness View when present.
4. Compare checkpoint branch/HEAD, completed commits, evidence refs, and claims with the current worktree. Treat inherited completion claims as unverified until the worktree confirms them. Correct contradictions in the checkpoint, disclose them in the final report, and do not republish stale claims as current. Preserve the claim's subject, scope and resume-time state; distinguish that from later repair and from historical execution you cannot verify. One accurate correction may cover related claims. The record must adopt it, without elsewhere denying it or assigning it to another scope. A reviewer's classification is contestable: if material disagreement remains unresolved after checking evidence, retain needs-verification without forcing assent. If evidence resolves it, retain the supported conclusion and verify normally.
5. Compare the active slice against intent lock, scope fence, baseline lock, compatibility/retirement boundary, tests, reviews, and non-goals.
6. Re-run the drift decision, then name the next smallest authorized action.

Any disagreement among plan, checkpoint, baseline, context, readiness view, or worktree pauses execution. A semantic conflict routes to establishing-project-context; an unplanned repair re-reads the retained invariant, owner seam, patch shape, and causal topology, then route comparison to systematic-debugging. A new carrier name alone does not prove a new direction. Never resume from memory alone.

Drift Check

Check original intent and stop condition, parent scope/acceptance, compatibility, new owners/fallbacks/adapters/branches, retirement, evidence freshness, and any readiness locks. Allowed decisions are continue, pause-for-user, needs-baseline-readback, needs-verification, and blocked.

Never emit gate-passed, completion-granted, or authoritatively-safe.

Completion Candidate Protocol

Before a completion claim:

1. Use aegis:verification-before-completion.
2. Confirm every todo has status, blockers are resolved/externalized, evidence covers acceptance, and drift has no blocking state.
3. If a durable record exists, load durable-work-guidance.md for the completion bundle and structural workspace check.
4. For durable architecture work, pass the work record, proof bundle and ADR signals to verification for ADR Backfill Check.

Generated packs are future-runtime inputs only. Method Pack output remains verified evidence and advisory judgment, not authoritative completion.

Minimal Reporting Shape

Report naturally and omit empty structures. Keep these semantic slots visible: Aegis Visibility; current todo/active/completed/next; baseline usage decision; readiness state when present; fresh evidence; inherited-claim corrections when a resumed record overstated its state; retry/convergence state when relevant; drift decision; risk/unknown; and the next smallest safe action.