Rite Clarify

$rite-clarify: resolve product decisions

Run this required pass between spec and strategy. If the spec covers every material decision, ask no questions. Otherwise stay until each material decision has an owner. This phase settles behavior and constraints; $rite-define settles implementation.

Reuse devrites-interview in /clarify mode. Write decision-coverage.md as scan evidence, not an interview transcript.

Rules consulted

Read core.md, its afk-hitl.md, and reference/decision-coverage.md. Fresh evidence dispatch uses agents.md.

Rules

• Search code/docs/contracts first. Facts and reversible implementation/test choices are agent-owned; ask only about product, scope, policy, irreversible risk, or human-only access.
• Enumerate the full topology before details so no sibling surface is omitted.
• Ask one coherent human-owned decision packet at a time. One packet may close several rows only when owner and trade-off match; never ask permission for routine repair/retry.
• One scan may cap at five packets for cognitive load, but readiness has no question cap: re-scan until clear.
• Material assumptions carry evidence, confidence, owner, validation, and consequence.

Workflow

1. Orient. Read .devrites/ACTIVE, state.md, and spec.md. Require Spec gate: passed; otherwise stop at $rite-spec. Apply the native cursor protocol below before changing workspace artifacts.
2. Enumerate the topology. From the spec, live code, contracts, references, and recorded decisions, list every material stakeholder/priority, invariant, actor, journey/component, state, data lifecycle, integration, failure/recovery path, operation, proof surface, applicability row, and must-NOT boundary.
3. Scan coverage. Apply devrites-interview in clarify mode and mark each material surface Clear, Partial, Missing, not-applicable, or justified deferred-nonblocking with evidence and an owner. Use native repository search first. Ask the host to run devrites-evidence-scout only for a bounded missing fact, then reconcile its cited result.
4. Close decisions. Record facts and reversible technical choices directly. Ask one coherent option packet only for product, scope, policy, irreversible risk, or human-only access. Persist answers in the owning artifacts and repeat the scan until no blocking Partial/Missing row or unowned material assumption remains.
5. Write the verdict. Write Decision coverage: CLEAR only after re-reading all inputs and confirming every material row has current evidence and an owner. Normal flow sets phase=clarify and next_action=$rite-temper. A low-stakes spec — the significance trigger temper itself skips (rite-temper step 1) — sets next_action=$rite-define instead. A contract-neutral later-phase return uses the native restore below; changed behavior or acceptance routes to $rite-plan repair instead. Stop without starting the next phase.

Native clarify cursor protocol

The controlling root edits only cursor rows in state.md; it must preserve unrelated Markdown and the file's existing table/bullet presentation.

• Normal entry from Spec: set phase=clarify, status=running, and next_action=$rite-clarify <slug>; omit both return fields.
• Already in Clarify: no-op. Do not overwrite an existing valid return cursor.
• Later-phase entry: only temper, define, plan, vet, build, converge, prove, polish, review, seal, or ship may return. First copy the current phase and non-empty next_action to return_phase and return_next_action; then set phase=clarify, status=running, and next_action=$rite-clarify <slug>. Missing/unknown cursor values fail closed before any write.
• Contract-neutral restore: after a fresh Decision coverage: CLEAR, require phase=clarify, both return fields, a recognized later return_phase, and a non-empty return_next_action. Restore those values to phase and next_action, set status=running, and remove both return fields in the same rewrite. Re-read the cursor and confirm the return rows are absent.
• Contract changed: do not restore the saved cursor. Record drift and route through $rite-plan repair, which owns the changed plan and next action.

Never normalize or rewrite the rest of state.md while applying this protocol.

Output

Done: decision coverage closed for <slug>; <n> topology surfaces scanned.
Changed: decision-coverage.md, spec.md, decisions.md, assumptions.md, questions.md
Evidence: Decision coverage: CLEAR; human packets <n>; agent-owned facts <n>
Open: none blocking; deferred-nonblocking <n>
Next: $rite-temper (or $rite-define for a low-stakes spec temper skips)
Record: .devrites/work/<slug>/decision-coverage.md
↻ Hygiene: /clear before $rite-temper (or $rite-define)

If not clear, name the exact rows and next genuine decision packet. An objective spec defect or factual search task never routes through $rite-resolve.