§1 The chain

Eight phases. A gate between every one.

Control point

Exit gate

At this phase

Verdict

Six gates a machine can checkTwo a person has to closeEvidence lands in .adlc/manifest.jsonl

P0
Triage: Triage the ticket: is this executable by an agent at all, and at what dial settings?essay ↗
P1
Interrogate◆ HUMAN GATE: Interrogate the spec until it is unambiguous. Human gate one.essay ↗
P2
Decompose: Decompose into cold-startable units that an agent with zero context can pick up.essay ↗
P3
Rail: Rail the work: write and freeze the tests that define done.essay ↗
P4
Build: Build inside the rails. Supervision tooling watches for flailing and drift.essay ↗
P5
Prosecute: Prosecute the change: prove the tests are load-bearing, not hollow.essay ↗
P6
Integrate◆ HUMAN GATE: Review the evidence, not the diff. Human gate two.essay ↗
P7
Distill: Distill what the review found into permanent, deterministic defenses.essay ↗

§2 Calibration

Three dials, set per ticket

Not every ticket deserves the same autonomy. You set three dials at triage, and the gates hold you to whatever you chose.

Dial · setting · rangeIllustrative settings

Autonomy

How long the agent runs unsupervised

70%

Oversight

How much of the output humans gate

50%

Scope

How much surface one ticket may touch

35%