Work Intake Node Shaping

---
name: work-intake-node-shaping
description: >
  Capture one WorkIntent, record six local topology signals with reasons, select
  one local work shape, and audit supplied route-trace evidence before admitting
  the canonical WorkIntent to WorkPlan pipeline. Use when a request may need a
  node, scout, chain, DAG workgroup, tournament, watcher, or human gate.
  NOT for universal topology classification, proving a route never writes state
  from a boolean alone, or preserving a legacy launch route by default.
license: Apache-2.0
allowed-tools: Read,Write,Edit,Bash,Grep,Glob
metadata:
  category: Agent & Orchestration
  tags: [work-intake, workintent, topology, route-audit, human-gate]
  provenance:
    kind: first-party
    source: repaired work-intake-node-shaping bundle
  pairs-with:
    - skill: swarm-invocation-designer
      reason: Once a chain/dag-workgroup/tournament archetype is chosen, this skill hands off the actual inter-agent invocation and coordination mechanics to it.
    - skill: task-decomposer
      reason: A dag-workgroup or chain archetype still needs its sub-tasks decomposed; this skill only proves the archetype call itself is singular and legacy-safe.
    - skill: next-move
      reason: next-move's synthesizer picks a planning/runtime topology per subtask; this skill is the upstream gate proving the operator-level WorkIntent resolved to one archetype before that DAG is even built.
  io-contract:
    kind: deliverable
    consumes:
      - kind: work-intent-signal-vector
        format: json
      - kind: legacy-route-manifest
        format: json
    produces:
      - kind: topology-archetype-decision
        format: markdown
      - kind: node-shaping-audit
        format: json
---

# Work Intake Node Shaping

The seven labels are a local planning policy, not a universal taxonomy. The
planner records coupling, context pressure, skill boundary, review independence,
budget and operator burden with reasons. A human or policy chooses exactly one
shape; the script validates the supplied declaration and route evidence, it
does not calculate a score or prove a call path.

## Method 1 — capture judgment before materialization

1. Capture one WorkIntent and its acceptance artifact, constraints, authority and
   unknowns.
2. Select values from the six enumerated signals and give a reason for each.
3. Compare nearest shapes using the local archetype table. Record why the runner
   up lost; if that cannot be stated, use scout or hold for clarification.
4. Select exactly one of node, scout, chain, dag-workgroup, tournament,
   ambient-watcher or human-gate. A human-gate is structural: its action remains
   blocked until explicit approval, even if all other signals are favorable.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
  A[WorkIntent, acceptance, constraints, unknowns] --> B[Six signals with reasons]
  B --> C{One local shape justified?}
  C -->|no| S[Scout or hold for clarification]
  C -->|yes| D[Record selected shape and runner-up reason]
  D --> E{Structural approval required?}
  E -->|yes| H[human-gate: block action until approval]
  E -->|no| R[Route-trace audit]
  H --> R
```

## Method 2 — audit the current canonical pipeline

The current desired pipeline is WorkIntent → WorkPlan → governed materialization.
When auditing an existing legacy entrypoint, record an actual call trace reference
and persisted-state readback reference for every reachable route. A false boolean
is only a supplied assertion until that evidence exists. Unknown/legacy route
identity or missing trace blocks this supplied-data audit; it must not score 90
and pass.

This is an audit of existing routes, not an instruction to create or preserve a
compatibility shim. Under supplant-not-migrate, new work uses the canonical
pipeline; retaining an old route needs separate authorization.

```mermaid
flowchart TD
  I[Selected local shape] --> T[Trace existing reachable route]
  T --> C{Call trace reaches canonical WorkIntent to WorkPlan pipeline?}
  C -->|no, unknown, or absent evidence| X[Hold: investigate route and state readback]
  C -->|yes| P{Independent persisted node/session/transcript write?}
  P -->|yes| X
  P -->|no evidence or false assertion| X
  P -->|no with evidence| G{Graph, authority, resources, approval all admitted?}
  G -->|no| H[Hold declared plan; name unsatisfied gate]
  G -->|yes| M[Admit declared plan; not runtime proof]
```

## Method 3 — use the shapes as contrasts

- node: one coherent, bounded change.
- scout: reduce an unknown that prevents a safe shape decision.
- chain: ordered handoff where each output is the next required input.
- dag-workgroup: distinct branches with explicit interfaces and independent
  validation; a shared input alone is not proof of parallel safety.
- tournament: independent attempts at the same task with a declared evaluator.
- ambient-watcher: recurring/event-driven work, not merely a lengthy task.
- human-gate: explicit approval before a specified action.

Use the five disambiguation recipes in [Seven local archetypes](references/seven-archetypes.md): node/scout, chain/DAG, DAG/tournament, watcher/other, and human-gate/node. A release needing external approval is human-gate even if implementation resembles a node; a vague request with unknown files and acceptance condition is scout. These are local judgments, not deterministic scores, generic invariants, or validator output.

## Verify a supplied record

Run node scripts/node_shaping_audit.mjs --input examples/sample-input.json.
The audit compiles its Draft 2020 schema before cross-field checks. `pass` and
`declarationValid` mean the supplied record is coherent; `eligibleToAdmit`
additionally requires any declared approval plus authority and resources. A
valid-but-blocked human gate must not be treated as admitted, and the CLI exits
nonzero unless `eligibleToAdmit` is true. It does not prove
the trace exists, the readback is authentic, or any daemon/runtime behavior.
See [Schema enforcement](references/schema-enforcement.md).

## References

- [First-party method boundary](references/method-boundaries.md)
- [Seven local archetypes](references/seven-archetypes.md)
- [Existing-route audit](references/legacy-verb-compatibility.md)

## Bundle navigation

[agents index](agents/INDEX.md), [examples index](examples/INDEX.md), [schemas index](schemas/INDEX.md), [templates index](templates/INDEX.md), [tests index](tests/INDEX.md).