Rewrite the agent-scope RFC with executable examples and an explicit security non-goal. Harden subagent scalar and depth validation, and pin live tool-filter semantics across code, tests, and generated docs.
Every packages/*/* README now carries a canonical '## Known Limitations and
Deferred Work' section: condensed, evidence-backed bullets for consumer-visible
gaps (unimplemented features, platform caveats, MVP cuts) and consciously
postponed work (TODO/FIXME/XXX markers, RFC deferrals still open). The ten
pre-existing ad-hoc variants ('What is NOT here (TODO)', 'Deferred',
'Limitations (MVP)', 'Known limitations (tracked TODOs)', ...) are normalized
into the canonical heading.
A new doc-sync gate, scripts/verify-readme-limitations.ts, enforces the shape:
exactly one limitations-like heading per package README, byte-equal to the
canonical h2, with at least one bullet; near-miss headings fail so variants
cannot creep back. Packages with genuinely nothing to declare (dsh-brand,
dsh-timeout, dsh-subagent-mock, dsh-app-boot) are whitelisted in the script and
must NOT carry the section; whitelist entries are validated against the scanned
package set so a rename fails loud.
Wired into the doc-sync chain (package.json) and the run-gates doc-sync leaf
set; the standing rule lands in packages/AGENTS.md and the adding-a-package
cookbook; decision record in
docs/rfc/implemented/process/2026-07-10-readme-known-limitations-gate.md
(RFC index regenerated).
Also fixes two stale '(deferred)' markers claiming dsh-compact-basic is
unimplemented (the dsh-compact seam README's package table and the seam's
module doc comment).
Drain idle injection flushes before agent teardown, snapshot approval and subagent provider inputs, and gate subagent lifecycle events on real child readiness. Align the RFCs and generated contracts with the hardened behavior.
SubagentStartRequest gains persona (capability-gated like toolFilter); the
in-process driver composes the child's scoped world in the factory's setup
window — persona as a scoped shadowing deployment:persona section,
toolFilter as a scoped tools.restrict() (loud unknown-name validation),
outputSchema as the scoped structured runtime. spawn/fork now advertise
every start-time capability; ACP stays all-false. A parent-scope teardown
effect links each child to its parent through the memoized handle, so a
disposed parent reaches its whole subtree even if the delegating tool's
finally never runs; subagent/start|end dispatch in the delegating parent's
scope.
structured.ts loses the placeholder schema, the final-assembly swap/strip,
the refcounted root runtime, and the WeakMap state: each child registers
its OWN capture tool (real schema), instruction section, and enforcement
listeners on child.ctx, riding the child's fiber. The commit listener is
call-keyed (a stale stage from a short-circuited post-execute chain is
dropped, never promoted on a later call), and one scoped prepend re-assert
listener preserves the final-assembly guarantee against a stripping global
listener.
tool-subagent gains persona/toolFilter/maxDepth passthrough config —
deny-listing the delegation tool (or maxDepth) is how a deployment bounds
recursion; the omitted-toolFilter schema key is forced absent (a
materialized {} would mean an empty allow-list, i.e. deny-everything).
The Codex simplification concern plus the duplication comment on the spawn
apply, resolved by deletion: the backend-lifetime holds are gone, so the
runtime registers at the first structured run and disposes when the last
settles — a deployment that never passes outputSchema carries no always-on
global state, and there is no per-backend acquisition block left to extract.
The driver spec now drives an INLINE spawn-shaped provider over
startInProcessRun, which removes the spawn/fork devDependencies (the
test-only workspace cycle); plugin-level structured coverage moves to the
backends' own specs (capture through the shipped plugin, mid-run backend
unload, seeded fork capture). tools.md, the driver README, and both backend
READMEs describe the run-scoped lifetime; the module-graph regenerates
without the cycle edges.
Two human review directives:
- No re-prompt. A structured child that finishes a turn cleanly without
calling structured_output settles error to the parent immediately —
readResult already carried that mapping; the nudge loop only delayed it.
Deletes the loop, its cancellation-window guard, STRUCTURED_OUTPUT_NUDGE,
and the structuredNudgeRetries Config on both backends.
- FIXME in the structured module doc: per-agent/per-session tool registry and
prompt assembly would dissolve the final-assembly enforcement dance (the
placeholder tool, the swap, the strip, the global-registration lifetime).
Carved out of #170 per review feedback — the foundation the workflow tool
builds on, now standing alone on master:
- dsh-tools: the structured-output JSON Schema subset (StructuredOutputSchema,
assertSupportedOutputSchema, validateStructuredValue) — rejects loud outside
the enforced subset, listing every violation
- dsh-subagent: SubagentStartRequest.outputSchema / SubagentResult.structured
become a real capability; the service rejects a schema'd request whose
provider lacks it
- dsh-subagent-inprocess: the shared structured runtime — one global
structured_output capture tool, a prepend final-assembly listener that
strips the placeholder for plain agents and swaps in the run's own schema
(plus the calling instruction as a trailing section) for structured
children, an agent/turn-continuation veto once captured, and the
capture/nudge loop in the run driver (structuredNudgeRetries, cancellation
honored mid-nudge); lifetime refcounted by backends and live runs
- subagent-spawn / subagent-fork flip outputSchema: true
One deliberate divergence from the #170 revision: the backends do NOT add
'tools' to their plugin inject. Doing so deferred their apply past the todo
plugin, and the delegation tool mirrors provider lifecycle — so the
model-visible tool order of every existing prompt changed, invalidating every
recorded snapshot fixture. The runtime now gates its capture-tool registration
on tools availability itself (sync when live, a scoped inject fiber when the
Loader starts the backend first), keeping this PR byte-invisible to existing
transcripts: all 35 snapshot scenarios pass against master's fixtures
unchanged.
New doc-sync gate verify-export-jsdoc walks every module-level exported
name under packages/*/*/src and requires description prose everywhere,
plus @param per parameter and @returns on non-void annotated returns for
function-like exports, public class methods, properties, and accessors.
The parsing + check helpers move out of gen-cordis-catalog.ts into a
shared scripts/jsdoc.ts so 'documented' means one thing on both gated
surfaces.
Deliberate exemptions (documented in the RFC): heritage-declared class
members (the seam declaration is the doc's one home — the one checker
query in an otherwise pure-AST walk), cordis plugin-protocol slots
(name/inject/reusable/Config/apply, top-level and static), constructors,
overload implementations, declare-module augmentation bodies, and
re-export statements (checked at the defining module).
The 203 under-documented exports the gate found at adoption are filled
in this change, so the gate lands green; generated catalogs/graphs are
regenerated for the shifted line pointers.
RFC: docs/rfc/implemented/process/2026-07-06-export-surface-jsdoc-gate.md
One principle: every fact in the assembled prompt has exactly one owner.
- dsh-system-prompt: merge-extensible AssembleContext on assemble();
a variable(name, provider) registry; {{name}} interpolation in
renderPrompt, strict (unknown/valueless/malformed references throw);
duplicate section and variable names rejected; assembly carries
resolved section text + variables through the assemble waterfall.
- dsh-agent declares AssembleContext.agent; dsh-agent-loop registers
the agent:persona section (order 0 - identity renders before tool
guidance) and the model/cwd variables, and drops its string join:
renderPrompt(assembly) IS the full prompt.
- Tool guidance moves to its owners: descriptions carry per-tool
semantics; sections only cross-call habits (tool:bash exit-code
habit at order 105; read's not-shell nudge). todo/subagent need no
section - their descriptions already carry the contract.
- SubagentProvider.inheritsParentContext (spawn/acp false, fork true);
dsh-tool-subagent derives truthful per-provider wording and resolves
the provider at load (backend must be listed first).
- Example personas shrink to identity + behavior with {{model}} (and
{{cwd}} in the ACP tree); the welcome banner stops enumerating tools.
RFC: docs/rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-prompt-variables-and-tool-guidance-ownership.md
