Capture

/capture - Shape to Plan

Inventory conversation state, write durable artifacts, and route each entity to its next lifecycle owner. /dump is capture --deep.

Entity Reconciliation

After authorized material progress, reconcile touched and causally affected artifacts before routing, handoff, or final response. Track entity ref, island/provider locator (a path for file storage), basis/evidence, and the reason/action due. Update through the verified owning CLI/adapter; use a write-authorized skill fallback only when that operation is unavailable. Record updated, no_change(reason), or blocked(reason), preserving unresolved refs. Reading or mentioning a path alone creates no update obligation. Read-only work reports pending changes only. Reminders grant no write authority; task status stays with the bound tracker. Update only artifacts whose content or evidence changed; do not rewrite every referenced document.

Work Link

Lifecycle lane: Shape -> Plan Entity movement: memory -> captured | proposed | blocked Workstream: resolve active workstream before writing capture artifacts Upstream: conversation, /dump, /work Downstream: /prior-art, /interview, /lev-plan, /propose, /exec Router: /work HUD: end with 🧬 {ws} ⚡{exec_count} 📥{capture_count} ⏸️{paused_count} ✅{done_count} | 🚦{gate}={score} | ⏭️ {next} | 🔁{loop_state}

Canon Write Gate

If the user asks "what would you edit", "show me", "audit", "plan", "pass2", "recommend", or "how would you", do not mutate canon files. Render the ledger and proposed changes only. Write artifacts only when the user explicitly asks to apply, edit, patch, emit, or create a durable capture.

Protocol

steps:
  - id: inventory
    action: Inventory ideas, decisions, follow-ups, artifacts, blockers, promises, and proof/QA risks.
    validation: "Every item has a topic and provisional lifecycle state."
    on_failure: "If the thread is too large, bucket by topic and continue."

  - id: classify
    action: Compile user/source prose into agent-operational intent, state, and route.
    validation: "Each item has compiled_intent, route_state, and next_route."
    on_failure: "Unknown state stays in memory and becomes the first output bucket."

  - id: prior_art_probe
    action: For non-trivial items, search existing work before creating new files.
    validation: "Existing home found, or 'no prior art found' is stated."
    on_failure: "Route to /prior-art before proposing new artifacts."

  - id: seed_qa_contract
    action: For non-trivial items, create a QA seed before route advancement.
    validation: "Runtime, agentic, promotion, cleanup, fallback, or boundary-risk items name proof_required, highest_risk_claim, scenario_classes, and owner-local placement."
    on_failure: "Keep the item captured and route to /interview or /propose before /exec."

  - id: write_artifacts
    action: Save in-memory items to the selected workstream or .lev/pm route.
    validation: "No writable item remains only in conversation memory."
    on_failure: "List only the unwritten items under In Memory with blocker."

  - id: score_fidelity
    action: Score each new or materially changed captured row against its source before advancement. Reuse an accepted score and source mapping when neither the source nor compiled intent changed.
    validation: "Every material row has fidelity_components, fidelity_note, and fidelity >= 0.8; no material constraint, non-goal, decision boundary, relationship, or acceptance condition is silently lost."
    on_failure: "Re-capture at higher zoom or route to /interview."

  - id: reconcile_capture_ledger
    action: Build or update only changed lifecycle ledger rows before routing or final output; preserve accepted unchanged rows by reference.
    validation: "Every changed item has the full ledger fields; unchanged accepted items retain a valid referenced row."
    on_failure: "Do not advance routes. Show unresolved ledger rows under In Memory or Blocked."

  - id: show_delta
    action: Always show the source-fidelity table plus the compact lifecycle delta. The table is the operator proof that conversation intent reached disk; it is not optional response detail.
    validation: "The user can see every material intent row, destination, fidelity score, loss/narrowing note, route state, and next owner without opening the durable artifact."
    on_failure: "Rewrite output as <capture-results> with the fidelity table present."

Routes

Select routes using the active domain overlay. These are next-owner suggestions, not permission to execute. Show only applicable rows as a numbered table when a choice is needed; otherwise name the single next route using skill://<name>.

Deep Mode

/capture --deep and /dump add a convergence loop:

deep_capture:
  repeat_until: "all writable items have stored fidelity >= in-memory fidelity and every material source row has a visible destination"
  loop:
    - inventory by topic
    - prior-art per topic
    - write or update durable route
    - score fidelity
    - enrich weak captures
  circuit_breaker: "3 iterations without fidelity improvement"

Fidelity Gate

fidelity = 0.30*detail_preservation
         + 0.25*relationship_preservation
         + 0.20*source_attribution
         + 0.15*neighbor_context
         + 0.10*actionability

fidelity >= 0.8 clears the capture preservation floor; plan_required still controls the next route. Broad work advances to /lev-plan, not directly to proposal or execution. Lower scores stay in capture, prior-art, or interview.

Fidelity is a weak-link gate, not permission to average away a missing material constraint. A row with a silent loss in scope, non-goals, decision boundaries, acceptance, relationships, or authority stays captured even if its weighted number is above 0.8.

Source Fidelity Table

Render this table in every non-trivial capture response. One row may summarize several sentences only when they share one destination and lifecycle route.

No row marked lost advances. narrowed-approved requires an explicit user or source decision; agent simplification alone is not approval.

Lifecycle Ledger Contract

The lifecycle ledger is the core visibility primitive at lifecycle trigger points. /capture, /capture --deep, and /dump all build the same ledger before claiming route advancement. The default human response renders its delta; --full, audit, and debug may render the complete table.

No route can advance if a row has current_location: memory without a blocker or planned destination. This prevents hidden in-chat state from being mistaken for durable work.

Durable Artifact

Write capture reports near the workstream:

path: .lev/pm/workstreams/<ws-id>/captures/YYYYMMDD-capture-sweep.yaml
schema:
  date: YYYY-MM-DD
  workstream: <ws-id>
  ledger:
    - intent_id: "<stable row id>"
      topic: "<summary>"
      source_refs: []
      source_intent: "<source-faithful requirement>"
      compiled_intent: "<agent-operational interpretation>"
      relationships: []
      current_location: disk | memory | both | external | unknown
      artifact_ref: "<path, durable id, or none>"
      destination_ref: "<path, durable id, memory, or none>"
      route_state: in_memory | captured | planned | proposed | execution_ready | blocked | done | rejected
      fidelity: 0.0
      fidelity_components:
        detail_preservation: 0.0
        relationship_preservation: 0.0
        source_attribution: 0.0
        neighbor_context: 0.0
        actionability: 0.0
      fidelity_note: "<preserved, narrowed, deferred, conflict, or loss note>"
      plan_required: true | false
      next_route: "<skill/path/none>"
      blocker: "<reason or null>"
  items:
    - topic: "<summary>"
      stage: captured | planned | proposed | blocked | executing | rejected
      fidelity: 0.0
      route: "<path or skill>"
      priority: P0 | P1 | P2 | P3
      unblocks: []
      qa_seed:
        proof_required: true | false
        proof_gate_state: needs_proof_design | needs_proof_gates | needs_runtime_qa | needs_quality_review | needs_close_verdict | proof_blocked | none
        highest_risk_claim: "<claim or null>"
        scenario_classes: []
        owner_local_test_placement: "<module path or null>"
        shared_testing_boundary: "core/testing is a library/evaluator source, not the home for module-specific tests"

Markdown capture reports are projections only when useful.

Output

Render the Markdown inside this template; do not print the XML wrapper tags.

Source Fidelity

Lifecycle Delta

Saved: {count_and_artifact_refs_or_none} Still in memory: {count_and_topics_or_none} Blocked or decision needed: {count_and_highest_leverage_decision_or_none} Ready next: {count_and_route_or_none} Next: {one_primary_action}

Ledger: {ledger_artifact_ref}

Red Flags

• "I'll show the list first and save after approval."
• "This follow-up is obvious enough to leave in chat."
• "Done items should be listed again."
• "Prior art can wait until proposal."
• "The table is optional because I wrote the artifact."
• "The fidelity score is enough; the user does not need to see the row mapping."
• "I can route broad work directly to propose; the task slices will preserve the roadmap."
• "A routed item can stay only in chat memory."
• "Copying user prose is the same as compiling intent."
• "What would you edit means patch it now."

Related

• /work routes lifecycle lanes.
• /dump is a focused alias for /capture --deep.
• /brief turns conversation context into a lifecycle artifact via /interview --auto.
• /prior-art finds existing homes.
• /lev-plan compiles captured/design intent into a fidelity-checked human runbook and slice DAG.
• /propose turns captured/aligned items into task DNA.
• /exec runs shovel-ready items.