SAM (Stateless Agent Methodology) — Definition

SAM (Stateless Agent Methodology) — Definition

What SAM Is

SAM (Stateless Agent Methodology) is a constraint-driven development framework that compensates for LLM limitations through architectural structure rather than behavioral instructions. It treats Claude as a stateless computation engine—not a knowledge worker—that receives complete context and returns verified artifacts.

Core insight: Claude is a pure function. Input: complete context (task file with all answers). Output: verified result. No side effects: fresh context each time. No memory: everything externalized to artifact files.

The canonical SAM specification lives in the bitflight-devops/stateless-agent-methodology repository. The work-backlog-item skill and development-harness plugin in claude_skills implement SAM patterns for backlog-driven feature work. This file is the self-contained SAM definition for use within this repo. Flow experiments and learnings live in sam-flow-experiments.

Core Principles

(Canonical spec: https://github.com/bitflight-devops/stateless-agent-methodology — stateless-software-engineering-framework.md Part 2.)

• Stateless agents — Each agent gets fresh context with exactly what it needs. Eliminates context pressure and accumulated errors.
• Externalized memory — All state lives in artifact files, not in conversation. Survives session resets, enables verification.
• Single responsibility — Each agent does exactly one thing. Reduces complexity, enables specialization.
• Message passing — Agents communicate via artifacts, not shared context. Decouples stages, creates audit trail.
• Verification at boundaries — Every stage validates the previous stage's output. Catches errors before they propagate.
• Deterministic backpressure — Gate progress on deterministic checks (build/tests/lint/security scans) executed by tools, not "advice" in prompts. Converts non-deterministic generation into a measurable loop.
• Embedded methodology — The process IS the prompt, not instructions to follow. Cannot skip what structures the task.
• No recall required — Task files contain all answers needed for the task. Reduces reliance on unverified recall; verification still required for synthesis/logic.
• RT-ICA gate — Reverse Thinking - Information Completeness Assessment runs before planning. Prerequisites marked AVAILABLE | DERIVABLE | MISSING; BLOCK if any MISSING.
• Semantic artifact tokens — Storage-agnostic pattern ARTIFACT:{TYPE}({SCOPE_OR_ID}) for DISCOVERY, PLAN, TASK, EXECUTION, REVIEW, VERIFICATION.
• Structure over instruction — Behavioral instructions cannot override architectural limitations. The pipeline structure enforces behavior.
• AI cannot self-evaluate — Independent verification required. Execution Agent and Forensic Review Agent are structurally separate.

Pipeline Stages

(Canonical spec: https://github.com/bitflight-devops/stateless-agent-methodology — stateless-software-engineering-framework.md Part 2.2 and Part 3.)

Iteration loop: If S6 returns NEEDS_WORK, Planner Agent creates new tasks; Orchestrator dispatches back to S5. Loop until COMPLETE, then S7.

Artifact Flow

User Request → DISCOVERY → PLAN → PLAN (contextualized) → TASK(s) → EXECUTION(s) → REVIEW(s) → VERIFICATION

Each artifact type uses the token pattern ARTIFACT:{TYPE}({SCOPE_OR_ID}). Storage is implementation-dependent (filesystem, SQL, etc.); the framework document gives example mappings (e.g. .sam/artifacts/).

How to Embody SAM

For Agents and Developers

1. Use the SAM pipeline for feature work

   • Canonical flow: Follow the 7-stage pipeline in the framework document.
   • In claude_skills: Invoke /development-harness or /python3-development:add-new-feature for feature planning and implementation.
   • Bridge backlog items: Invoke /work-backlog-item to bring BACKLOG.md items into SAM planning.

2. Produce artifacts at every stage

   • Use ARTIFACT:{TYPE}({ID}) tokens in artifact headers; cross-reference predecessor/successor.
   • In claude_skills: Store in .planning/harness/ with naming discovery-{feature-slug}.md, plan-{feature-slug}.md, task-{id}-{task-slug}.md, etc.

3. Apply structural gates, not instructions

   • Run quality gates (format, lint, typecheck, test) after each stage.
   • Gate progression on artifact completion and validation.
   • Use RT-ICA before planning; do not proceed if BLOCKED.

4. Separate producer from evaluator

   • S5 Execution Agent implements; S6 Forensic Review Agent verifies. Do not rely on self-critique alone.
   • Forensic Review compares execution against acceptance criteria and returns COMPLETE or NEEDS_WORK.

5. Escalate when constraints are unbound

   • Gate 1 (after S1): Escalate if unbound constraints or domain knowledge gaps.
   • Gate 2 (after S4): Escalate if high complexity or novel architecture.
   • After 3 NEEDS_WORK loops on the same task, escalate to human.
   • After 2 NOT_CERTIFIED loops in S7, escalate to human.

6. Commit atomically per task

   • One atomic git commit per completed task for granular rollback.

Source

Canonical SAM (external repo)

Canonical spec: https://github.com/bitflight-devops/stateless-agent-methodology. Key documents: stateless-agent-methodology.md, stateless-software-engineering-framework.md, README.md, docs/guides/sam-harness.md.

Fetch via gh (when repo is not cloned locally): Requires gh and auth (gh auth status). Example:

gh api repos/bitflight-devops/stateless-agent-methodology/contents/stateless-agent-methodology.md -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.raw"
gh api repos/bitflight-devops/stateless-agent-methodology/contents/stateless-software-engineering-framework.md -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.raw"

claude_skills implementation

Access date: 2026-02-23