Stop

Pause the host-opened project immediately so the owner can edit the punch list and resume later.

Resolve the installed plugin root to an absolute $NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT — ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} on Claude Code, $PLUGIN_ROOT on Codex when set, otherwise the absolute path this skill was attached from (skills/stop/SKILL.md). Run every command below through "$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/runtime/ns" — native Windows: & "$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT\runtime\windows\ns.ps1" in the PowerShell tool, same verbs — which resolves the host and the workspace; ns help lists the verbs, and ns bind prints the six resolved facts (TASK_ROOT, NIGHTSHIFT_WORKSPACE, NS, NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT, HOST, SOURCE); $NS below is that NS. Never a bare relative path: the working directory persists between calls.

Run the trusted helper. Do not write $NS/STOP by hand, do not delete $NS/.shift-armed, and do not kill $NS/.watchman yourself — the helper performs the safe teardown:

"$NIGHTSHIFT_PLUGIN_ROOT/runtime/ns" stop-shift

The helper writes $NS/STOP with a reason and UTC timestamp, appends stopped by owner to $NS/shift-log.md, and kills only a verified live Nightshift watchman. It does not remove $NS/.shift-armed. Open boxes stay open as the record. Hardhat stays until clock-out writes $NS/.ended. Reset is the manual escape. The deadline, punch list, rules, parking lot, work orders, receipts, archives, research, opportunities, and shift history stay on disk. Do not wait for a later Stop event to write the marker — the helper writes it now.

Report the helper's open-items count and that the deadline was preserved. A second Stop is safe.

Resume later with Start (/nightshift:start on Claude Code, or ask Nightshift to start on Codex). Start clears the pause markers and begins a new ownership lease. A future preserved deadline remains the deadline. An expired preserved deadline is not silently renewed: write a new UNIX epoch to $NS/deadline, or run Reset then Start.

This works from the bound conversation, from a helper conversation, and when a failed clock-out left a recovery nonce that still fences the recorded conversation.

Panic form (does not disarm immediately): from any POSIX terminal, touch "$NS/STOP". In native Windows PowerShell, run New-Item -ItemType File -Force "$NS\STOP". That marker is honored at the next Stop event or watchman wake. Prefer the helper when the model is stuck — it does not wait for that event.