Plan Gated Issue Execution Wave

Plan-Gated Issue Execution Wave

Use when:

• working in workspace-hub or a similar repo with strict plan gates
• a parent architecture issue must be decomposed into child issues
• the user wants Codex prompt files + subprocess launches instead of manual step-by-step orchestration
• some issues are planning-only while others later become implementation-ready

Core pattern

1. Create/confirm the parent issue and child issue tree first.
2. For each not-yet-approved issue, generate a self-contained planning prompt file under docs/plans/.
3. Launch Codex in a background subprocess using the prompt file and monitor it via process polling/watch patterns.
4. When plan-review artifacts land, move issues to status:plan-review only.
5. After explicit user approval, convert the issue to status:plan-approved, create .planning/plan-approved/<issue>.md, and commit that marker before any implementation run.
6. Generate a separate implementation prompt with strict owned paths and forbidden paths.
7. Launch implementation in a subprocess and monitor completion.
8. Review the output, verify git/GitHub state, and handle residual cleanup or sandbox-blocked follow-ups.

File-based subprocess launch pattern

cd /mnt/local-analysis/workspace-hub
PROMPT=$(< docs/plans/<prompt-file>.md)
Codex -p --permission-mode acceptEdits --no-session-persistence --output-format text "$PROMPT" </dev/null | tee /tmp/<run>.log

For read-only planning dry runs:

Codex -p --permission-mode plan --no-session-persistence --output-format text "$PROMPT" </dev/null | tee /tmp/<run>-plan.log

Planning wave workflow

For each issue in the architecture chain:

• read the approved parent/sibling artifacts first
• keep the prompt planning-only unless the issue is already approved for execution
• tell Codex to produce:
  • plan file in docs/plans/
  • review artifacts in scripts/review/results/
  • GitHub summary comment
  • status:plan-review only if the plan is actually ready

Recommended architecture order used successfully:

1. parent operating model
2. provenance/reuse contract
3. durable-vs-transient boundary
4. accessibility map
5. canonical entry points
6. accessibility registry
7. retrieval contract
8. conformance checks

Approval transition pattern

When the user wants to execute an approved plan:

1. switch GitHub label from status:plan-review to status:plan-approved
2. create .planning/plan-approved/<issue>.md
3. commit the marker by itself with a small commit message
4. only then launch implementation Codex prompt

Example commit:

git add .planning/plan-approved/2104.md
git commit -m "chore(planning): approve issue #2104 for execution"

Implementation prompt design

Every implementation prompt should include:

• approved issue number and plan path
• review artifact paths
• owned implementation paths only
• explicit forbidden paths
• instruction to stage only owned files, never git add .
• exact success criteria from the approved plan
• exact verification checklist
• GitHub closeout instructions

When a planned issue should split further

If an approved plan still mixes multiple concerns, split into child implementation issues before coding.

A reusable example from this session:

• source registration + initial indexing/dedup
• ledger/provenance backfill
• wiki promotion
• accessibility/entry-point updates

This worked better than forcing one T3 implementation issue.

Monitoring pattern

Use subprocess monitoring with watch patterns like:

• APPROVED
• status:plan-review
• What changed
• Verification performed
• GitHub comment URL
• issue was closed

After launching a multi-session wave, immediately produce an operator-facing launch report before ending the turn. Include: batch root, README/summary path, one row per lane with issue number, Hermes process session ID, OS PID, worktree/workdir, prompt path, log path, and max turns/budget if applicable, plus the result/artifact directory and copy/paste monitoring commands. Verify current status with process poll or ps -p ...; do not rely only on a successful launch command.

Remember that unattended Codex -p logs may remain 0 bytes until output flush/completion. Treat PID liveness and expected artifact creation as primary health signals, and include that caveat in the report so zero-byte logs are not mistaken for failed launches. If a context compaction/handoff happens after launch, poll the preserved Hermes process IDs first and complete the report rather than relaunching duplicate sessions.

After a watch hit, still wait for the process to exit and then inspect:

• final process output
• gh issue view <n>
• relevant changed files / review artifacts
• latest commit(s)

Host-vs-sandbox execution lesson

If the implementation depends on mounted paths outside the repo (for example /mnt/ace/...) Codex sandbox may be unable to access them even when the host can.

Use this rule:

• planning can still proceed if the limitation is documented
• implementation should honestly stop short of completion if live filesystem access is required and unavailable
• if appropriate, follow up with direct host-side execution or a more privileged path for the blocked step

Good example:

• source registration/config changes were completed in-repo
• actual Phase A indexing against /mnt/ace/mkt-a-codes remained blocked by sandbox access
• issue stayed open instead of falsely claiming completion

Hook false-positive lesson

Workspace hooks may incorrectly treat all AGENTS.md files as harness adapter files.

Observed false positive:

• .Codex/hooks/check-Codex-md-limits.sh enforced a 20-line limit on knowledge/wikis/*/AGENTS.md
• wiki Codex files are generated schema/config docs, not harness adapters

Minimal fix used:

STAGED=$(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter=ACMR 2>/dev/null | grep -E "$HARNESS_PATTERN" | grep -v '^knowledge/wikis/' || true)

Apply this only if the user approves a hook fix.

Verification/cleanup discipline

After implementation completes:

• inspect git show --stat <commit> to verify only intended files landed
• inspect gh issue view <n> to confirm comment + close state
• check for residual working-tree edits that Codex reported but did not commit
• if a residual is tiny and well-bounded, use a cleanup prompt instead of reopening broad implementation

Pitfalls

• launching implementation without both label and .planning/plan-approved/*.md marker committed
• letting one implementation prompt touch broad/unowned paths in a dirty worktree
• assuming a watch-pattern hit means the process has finished; always wait for exit
• closing an issue when a known residual edit is still only in working tree
• treating sandbox-inaccessible mounted paths as if they were successfully processed