Scope

/scope — Edit Scope Guard

Purpose: Declare which directories are in scope for the current work session. Edits outside the declared scope are hard-blocked by a PreToolUse hook.

YOU MUST EXECUTE THIS WORKFLOW. Do not just describe it.

Quick Start

/scope freeze cli/cmd/ao/                   # Freeze a single directory
/scope freeze cli/cmd/ao/ skills/scope/     # Freeze multiple (additive)
/scope unfreeze cli/cmd/ao/                 # Remove one frozen directory
/scope unfreeze                             # Clear ALL frozen directories
/scope status                               # Show current lock state
/scope status --json                        # JSON output

Behavior Contract

When .agents/scope.lock declares one or more frozen_dirs:

• Any Edit, Write, or Bash tool call whose target path is outside every frozen directory is rejected by hooks/edit-scope-guard.sh with a structured stderr reason and a non-zero exit code (Claude Code converts that into a tool-use refusal).
• Edits to paths under any frozen directory are allowed.
• When the lock file is missing OR frozen_dirs is empty, the hook short-circuits with exit 0 (no enforcement; allow everything).
• The hook fails open on malformed JSON or missing target-path fields — do not block when the input contract is violated. Defensive default protects against harness changes.

The lock file is written via cli/internal/llmwiki/scope_guard.go:SafeAtomicWrite, so concurrent freeze / unfreeze calls converge atomically (last writer wins, never tears).

Subcommands

/scope freeze <dir>...

Append one or more directories to the frozen set. Idempotent; re-freezing an already-frozen directory is a no-op. Updates acquired_at (ISO-8601) and acquired_by (session id or PID) on every write.

/scope unfreeze [<dir>]

Without arguments, clears the entire frozen set. With one or more directory arguments, removes just those entries. Removing a directory that is not frozen is a no-op.

/scope status [--json]

Print the current lock state. With --json, emit a single JSON object matching the schema in references/lock-file-format.md. Without flags, print a human-readable summary including each frozen directory, the acquisition timestamp, and the acquiring session.

/scope guard (future combo skill)

Reserved for a follow-up skill that combines freeze + status + spawn-orchestration. Not implemented in this release; documented here for forward reference.

Lock File Format

.agents/scope.lock is a single JSON object. Full schema lives in references/lock-file-format.md. Key fields:

• schema_version — currently 1
• frozen_dirs — list of repo-relative directory prefixes (trailing slash optional)
• acquired_at — ISO-8601 UTC timestamp
• acquired_by — string identifying the writer (session id, PID, or label)

Examples

Freezing scope before a swarm wave

User says: /scope freeze cli/cmd/ao/ cli/internal/scope/

What happens:

1. ao scope freeze cli/cmd/ao/ cli/internal/scope/ writes .agents/scope.lock via SafeAtomicWrite.
2. hooks/edit-scope-guard.sh (registered as PreToolUse on Edit|Write|Bash) consults the lock on every subsequent tool call.
3. A worker that tries to Write to skills/foo/SKILL.md is rejected; a worker editing cli/cmd/ao/scope.go proceeds.

Releasing scope at the end of a wave

User says: /scope unfreeze

What happens:

1. ao scope unfreeze rewrites .agents/scope.lock with frozen_dirs: [].
2. The hook short-circuits to exit 0 on the next tool call.

Notes

• Wave 1 hardcodes the .agents/scope.lock path. Wave 2 (issue I5) migrates the path through lib/ao-paths.sh.
• The hook's defensive parse on malformed JSON is intentional. See references/lock-file-format.md for the rationale.
• Hooks (session-boundary) and agentopsd (cron-cadence) compose; this skill is purely session-boundary.
• Path-scope freezing handles where edits land. For a complementary lane that gates what commands run (rm -rf, git reset --hard, DROP DATABASE, kubectl delete, terraform destroy) — including allowlist layering, one-shot override codes, and PreToolUse wiring — see references/destructive-command-guard-patterns.md. Wire it alongside the scope guard when a wave touches infrastructure or shared data.
• When a workflow needs human approval, hook parity, or simultaneous command review rather than only path freezing, use references/command-approval-and-hook-guardrails.md.
• When authoring new hook behavior rather than using scope's existing guard, use /hooks-authoring.

References

• references/lock-file-format.md
• references/destructive-command-guard-patterns.md
• references/command-approval-and-hook-guardrails.md
• references/scope.feature — Executable spec: declare in-scope dirs, allow in-scope edits, hard-block out-of-scope edits via PreToolUse hook, report/release scope state (soc-qk4b)