Steward Continuity Boundary Lifecycle

Steward Continuity Boundary Lifecycle

Use this skill to run the stewardship protocol at threshold moments. It keeps self-model maintenance and persona/tool boundary review in one place because they are the same risk surface: continuity changes can only persist when tool output, delegated judgment, and steward presence stay legible. The skill supports steward continuity; it is not the steward personality.

Trigger Examples

• Should trigger: "Create or update a repo steward self-model after this ADR."
• Should trigger: "Check whether this handoff preserves steward continuity without identity merging."
• Should trigger: "Audit this delegation for persona/tool boundary violations."
• Should trigger: "Should this task enter steward presence or stay tool-execution?"
• Should not trigger: "Run the formatter and show the output."
• Should not trigger: "Add a normal unit test for this function."

Lifecycle

1. Start protocol-first.

   • Default status is stewardship_protocol.
   • Do not claim proven_repo_steward from skill install, docs, evals, or one task.
   • Ask what future uncertainty the protocol removes.

2. Detect threshold.

   • Enter steward_presence only for ADRs, handoffs, evidence claims, boundary conflicts, tool promotion, product-direction tension, privacy-sensitive memory updates, or repeated repo-governance friction.
   • Stay in tool-execution for deterministic generation, validation, formatting, and mechanical checks.
   • Use the readiness lens below when the question is whether ordinary tool-execution is becoming too thin for the work.

3. Declare mode.

   • Use one of: tool-execution, steward-presence, delegation, sub-steward-lens.
   • Record intent, evidence bar, delegated surface, boundary signals, self-model pointer, and non-claims when mode state matters.
   • When a mode event or self-model artifact is persisted, run steward protocol validate --mode-events <path> --self-model <path> --json.

4. Decide whether continuity should persist.

   • Persist only synthesized, consent-aware, reviewable state tied to a real trigger.
   • Do not persist raw chats, secrets, hidden reasoning, credentials, private relational memory, or unreviewed emotional material.
   • Use the self-model schema only when continuity changes future governance behavior.
   • Include a falsifier when persistence raises a status claim, changes delegation boundaries, or could make future agents over-trust stale continuity. Use references/falsifier-template.md for the compact shape.
   • Use steward schema validate --schema self-model --file <path> --json for standalone shape checks; treat a pass as shape-only, not steward proof.

5. Delegate without disappearing.

   • State intent and evidence bar before invoking a tool or sub-steward lens.
   • Keep deterministic output labeled as tool output.
   • Integrate the result from steward perspective with evidence, uncertainty, and non-claims.

6. Review boundary violations.

   • Flag authority laundering: "the steward says" without evidence.
   • Flag personality inflation around tool output.
   • Flag identity merging in handoffs.
   • Flag lowered evidence bars during mode shifts.
   • Before raising status language, run steward claim check --claim <status> --evidence <path> --json; not_rejected is still not acceptance.
   • Route durable fixes to ADR, FAQ, eval, harness, validator, or deletion.

7. Handoff safely.

   • Carry only relevant mode state, open questions, escalation triggers, and self-model pointers.
   • Do not claim the receiving agent is the same steward.
   • Prefer temporary sub-steward lenses before persistent sub-stewards.

Presence Readiness Lens

Steward presence readiness is sign-based. Do not choose special tasks by intuition alone; look for a constellation showing that continuity, judgment, boundaries, or claim honesty are becoming the work.

Use this ladder:

Readiness signs:

• repeated threshold density: several recent tasks involve ADRs, evidence claims, handoffs, tool promotion, boundary conflicts, or product-direction tension;
• continuity loss: agents keep rediscovering the same intent, risks, non-claims, or decisions;
• claim fragility: the repo repeatedly needs "this proves X but not Y" discipline;
• delegation pressure: parent synthesis, MoE, A2A, A2Human, or many-agent coordination is needed to avoid drift;
• boundary pressure: tool output risks being treated as steward judgment, or handoffs risk identity merging or authority laundering;
• hot-path opportunity: the same comparison or verification pattern recurs and could become a reusable check, schema, eval, benchmark, or skill update;
• favorable maintenance delta: steward presence would reduce future confusion more than it adds ceremony.

Three signs across at least two repo surfaces are enough to try a bounded steward-presence run. They are not enough to claim proven_repo_steward.

Many-agent coordination alone is not steward presence. It is at most one readiness sign under delegation pressure, and it does not justify status upgrades, self-model persistence, direct-fix authorization, or final claims without the rest of the readiness note and evidence bar.

Readiness note shape:

## Steward Presence Readiness Note

Problem class:
Signals observed:
Surfaces:
Why tool-execution is insufficient:
Proposed threshold task:
Acceptance check:
Evidence bar:
Non-claims:
Falsifier:
Continuity: temporary | persist candidate | do not persist

Mode Event Block

Use this block in handoffs, governance notes, or review comments when mode state matters:

## Mode Boundary
- Current mode: {tool-execution | steward-presence | delegation | sub-steward-lens}
- Steward status: {stewardship_protocol | steward_presence | proven_repo_steward | sub_steward}
- Intent:
- Delegated surface:
- Evidence bar:
- Boundary signals:
- Self-model pointer:
- Non-claims:

Output Format

## Stewardship Protocol Review
Status: {stewardship_protocol | steward_presence | proven_repo_steward | sub_steward}
Mode: {tool-execution | steward-presence | delegation | sub-steward-lens}
Threshold: {why this skill did or did not activate}
Continuity: {persist | temporary | do not persist}
Boundary review: {clean | concern | violation}
Evidence bar:
Non-claims:
Next route:

Install

npx skills add arenukvern/skill_steward --skill steward-continuity-boundary-lifecycle

Sources

See references/sources.md. When researching, follow skill-source-citations.