/capture - Shape to Plan

Inventory conversation state, write durable artifacts, and route each entity to its next lifecycle owner. /dump is capture --deep.

Patch, Route, and Clear

Recognize a brain dump as deep capture. Preserve source wording in the existing owning capture when one fits; patch changed rows instead of creating another capture for the same topic. Break the source into rows before enrichment.

Probe prior art for each material row before editing its destination. When the active workflow authorizes delegation, use a small read-only agent fanout and reconcile its findings centrally. Decide whether the row updates, supersedes, duplicates, or conflicts with existing intent. Resolve a conflict from an explicit ruling or ask the human before the dependent write; never silently append contradictory canon.

Write through the destination's owner, then read back its relevant projection and check source fidelity. Only after that check, mark the capture row done with next_route: none and the actual destination_ref. Here done means capture reconciliation, not implemented or shipped. The active queue projects rows whose route_state is not done or rejected; retained ledger rows and source messages preserve history. A missing, failed, or conflicting destination keeps the row active. Leave future implementation work with its owning artifact.

Source Lineage

Carry each row's original source identity in source_refs: the exact turn, path, URL, ID, or revision it came from, not a later summary of it. When a later reference, summary, or projection disagrees with that source, re-read the original; it stands unless an explicit ruling supersedes it, recorded in relationships. A source, destination, or receipt this session cannot read is unknown: report it with the scope attempted, and keep the row's historical route_state and settled decisions. A missing receipt does not show an artifact is unreadable, and unproved implementation does not undo capture routing. Quarantine only a derived claim that new evidence contradicts or its cited source lacks: keep that claim blocked with the claim and searched scope in blocker, and reopen only rows or routes proven to depend on it. A done row changes only when new evidence invalidates its own transition. History is append-only: add the new source span and its delta; earlier rows and summaries stay as written. Keep exact IDs, URLs, paths, error text, failed checks, source revisions, and unresolved needs verbatim.

Structured Data Projection

For YAML/JSON, gauge byte size and structure before loading content into agent context. Use code mode, Bash, or Python with an available parser to inspect top-level keys, collection counts, and the requested paths. Read a small record directly when it fits the current question; for a large record, emit a bounded projection with source path, selected keys/row IDs, and omitted scope. Keep unknown fields intact when patching; use the owner writer or a layout-preserving editor rather than rewriting the whole document from a partial projection.

Treat a large log, tool output, or transcript the same way: keep the full observation at a retrievable location and carry its exact pointer (path with line range, key path, or digest) beside the bounded projection. Report an empty, malformed, truncated, or missing source as that state; none of them shows the content does not exist.

This is a development stopgap using available tools, not a new public CLI. Human-facing prose belongs in Markdown; YAML holds machine declarations and established structured payloads, and JSON holds runtime state. Follow existing contracts until their migration is authorized.

Entity Reconciliation

After authorized material progress, reconcile touched and causally affected artifacts before routing, handoff, or final response. Track entity ref, island/provider locator (a path for file storage), basis/evidence, and the reason/action due. Update through the verified owning CLI/adapter; use a write-authorized skill fallback only when that operation is unavailable. Record updated, no_change(reason), or blocked(reason), preserving unresolved refs. Reading or mentioning a path alone creates no update obligation. Read-only work reports pending changes only. Reminders grant no write authority; task status stays with the bound tracker. Update only artifacts whose content or evidence changed; do not rewrite every referenced document.

Work Link

Lifecycle lane: Shape -> Plan Entity movement: memory -> captured | proposed | blocked Workstream: resolve active workstream before writing capture artifacts Upstream: conversation, /dump, /work Downstream: /prior-art, /interview, /lev-plan, /propose, /exec Router: /work HUD: end with 🧬 {ws} ⚡{exec_count} 📥{capture_count} ⏸️{paused_count} ✅{done_count} | 🚦{gate}={score} | ⏭️ {next} | 🔁{loop_state}

Canon Write Gate

If the user asks "what would you edit", "show me", "audit", "plan", "pass2", "recommend", or "how would you", do not mutate canon files. Render the ledger and proposed changes only. Write artifacts only when the user explicitly asks to apply, edit, patch, emit, or create a durable capture.

Protocol

steps:
  - id: inventory
    action: Inventory ideas, decisions, follow-ups, artifacts, blockers, promises, and proof/QA risks.
    validation: "Every item has a topic and provisional lifecycle state."
    on_failure: "If the thread is too large, bucket by topic and continue."

  - id: classify
    action: Compile user/source prose into agent-operational intent, state, and route, keeping the source's modal force; a relationship the source leaves unestablished stays `unknown`, not same, different, or impossible.
    validation: "Each item has compiled_intent, route_state, and next_route."
    on_failure: "Unknown state stays in memory and becomes the first output bucket."

  - id: prior_art_probe
    action: For every material row, probe existing work and decide update, supersession, duplicate, or conflict before writing canon.
    validation: "An existing home and reconciliation basis are recorded, or the searched scope and missing prior art are explicit; conflicts are resolved or blocked."
    on_failure: "Route to /prior-art before proposing new artifacts."

  - id: seed_qa_contract
    action: For non-trivial items, create a QA seed before route advancement.
    validation: "Runtime, agentic, promotion, cleanup, fallback, or boundary-risk items name proof_required, highest_risk_claim, scenario_classes, and owner-local placement."
    on_failure: "Keep the item captured and route to /interview or /propose before /exec."

  - id: write_artifacts
    action: Patch the existing capture and route each writable row into its owning artifact.
    validation: "No writable item remains only in conversation memory; each destination is read back before the capture row leaves the active queue."
    on_failure: "List only the unwritten items under In Memory with blocker."

  - id: score_fidelity
    action: Score each new or materially changed captured row against its source before advancement. Reuse an accepted score and source mapping when neither the source nor compiled intent changed.
    validation: "Every material row has fidelity_components, fidelity_note, and fidelity >= 0.8; no material constraint, non-goal, decision boundary, relationship, or acceptance condition is silently lost, and no row states a claim more strongly than its source."
    on_failure: "Re-capture at higher zoom or route to /interview."

  - id: reconcile_capture_ledger
    action: Update changed ledger rows, clear verified reconciled rows from the active projection, and retain source history.
    validation: "Every changed row has the full ledger fields; reconciled rows identify their checked destination; unresolved rows remain active."
    on_failure: "Do not advance routes. Show unresolved ledger rows under In Memory or Blocked."

  - id: show_delta
    action: Always show the source-fidelity table plus the compact lifecycle delta. The table is the operator proof that conversation intent reached disk; it is not optional response detail.
    validation: "The user can see every material intent row, destination, fidelity score, loss/narrowing note, route state, and next owner without opening the durable artifact."
    on_failure: "Rewrite output as <capture-results> with the fidelity table present."

Routes

Select routes using the active domain overlay. These are next-owner suggestions, not permission to execute. Show only applicable rows as a numbered table when a choice is needed; otherwise name the single next route using skill://<name>.

Item	Route
Constraint, invariant, gate, policy	skill://lev-plan for broad changes; skill://propose for a bounded SDLC change
Brief or design framing	skill://interview; preserve the resulting design before choosing the next owner
Broad, multi-slice, migration, architecture, or roadmap work	skill://lev-plan; preserve the whole effort before task slicing
Runtime, agentic, promotion, cleanup, fallback, or boundary-risk item	skill://interview or SDLC skill://propose with qa_seed
Coding slice ready for contract review	skill://propose
Authorized execution with sufficient scope, claims, and checks	skill://exec; non-coding may use a sufficient plan without propose
Provenance or duplicate check needed	skill://prior-art
Ambiguous intent or boundary	skill://interview
Workstream identity missing	skill://ws
Different domain or no matching owner	skill://lev

Deep Mode

/capture --deep and /dump add a convergence loop:

deep_capture:
  repeat_until: "all writable items have stored fidelity >= in-memory fidelity and every material source row has a visible destination"
  loop:
    - inventory by topic
    - prior-art per material row
    - write or update durable route
    - read back destination and score fidelity
    - clear reconciled rows from the active queue while retaining history
    - enrich weak captures
  circuit_breaker: "3 iterations without fidelity improvement"

Fidelity Gate

fidelity = 0.30*detail_preservation
         + 0.25*relationship_preservation
         + 0.20*source_attribution
         + 0.15*neighbor_context
         + 0.10*actionability

fidelity >= 0.8 clears the capture preservation floor; plan_required still controls the next route. Broad work advances to /lev-plan, not directly to proposal or execution. Lower scores stay in capture, prior-art, or interview.

Fidelity is a weak-link gate, not permission to average away a missing material constraint. A row with a silent loss in scope, non-goals, decision boundaries, acceptance, relationships, or authority stays captured even if its weighted number is above 0.8.

Source Fidelity Table

Render this table in every non-trivial capture response. One row may summarize several sentences only when they share one destination and lifecycle route.

Field	Meaning
intent_id	Stable identity carried into plans, proposals, and tasks
source_refs	Conversation turn, file, URL, or prior durable artifact supporting the row
source_intent	Concise statement of the user's goal, constraint, non-goal, decision, or acceptance requirement
destination_ref	Exact durable destination, or memory with a blocker
preservation	preserved, narrowed-approved, deferred-explicit, conflict, or lost
fidelity_components	Detail, relationships, attribution, neighbor context, and actionability scores
fidelity	Weighted score from the formula above
fidelity_note	What changed, narrowed, remains absent, or needs human confirmation

No row marked lost advances. narrowed-approved requires an explicit user or source decision; agent simplification alone is not approval.

Lifecycle Ledger Contract

The lifecycle ledger is the core visibility primitive at lifecycle trigger points. /capture, /capture --deep, and /dump all build the same ledger before claiming route advancement. The default human response renders its delta; --full, audit, and debug may render the complete table.

Field	Meaning
intent_id	Stable row id for this lifecycle turn
topic	Short label for the source material
source_refs	Conversation/file/artifact anchors used to re-derive the row
source_intent	Concise source-faithful goal, constraint, non-goal, decision, acceptance, or relationship
compiled_intent	Agent-operational interpretation, not raw user prose
relationships	Dependencies, conflicts, supersession, grouping, and ordering that must survive routing
current_location	disk, memory, both, external, or unknown
artifact_ref	Path or durable id; none if only in memory
destination_ref	Next durable design, plan, proposal, task, or existing authority
route_state	in_memory, captured, planned, proposed, execution_ready, blocked, done, or rejected
fidelity	Preservation score plus reason if below 0.8
fidelity_components	Five component scores used to derive fidelity
fidelity_note	Explicit preservation, narrowing, conflict, deferment, or loss note
plan_required	True for broad/multi-slice/migration/architecture/roadmap work
next_route	/interview, /prior-art, /lev-plan, /propose, /exec, /close, or none
blocker	null or the reason this row cannot advance

No route can advance if a row has current_location: memory without a blocker or planned destination. This prevents hidden in-chat state from being mistaken for durable work.

Durable Artifact

Write capture reports near the workstream:

path: .lev/pm/workstreams/<ws-id>/captures/YYYYMMDD-capture-sweep.yaml
schema:
  date: YYYY-MM-DD
  workstream: <ws-id>
  ledger:
    - intent_id: "<stable row id>"
      topic: "<summary>"
      source_refs: []
      source_intent: "<source-faithful requirement>"
      compiled_intent: "<agent-operational interpretation>"
      relationships: []
      current_location: disk | memory | both | external | unknown
      artifact_ref: "<path, durable id, or none>"
      destination_ref: "<path, durable id, memory, or none>"
      route_state: in_memory | captured | planned | proposed | execution_ready | blocked | done | rejected
      fidelity: 0.0
      fidelity_components:
        detail_preservation: 0.0
        relationship_preservation: 0.0
        source_attribution: 0.0
        neighbor_context: 0.0
        actionability: 0.0
      fidelity_note: "<preserved, narrowed, deferred, conflict, or loss note>"
      plan_required: true | false
      next_route: "<skill/path/none>"
      blocker: "<reason or null>"
  items:
    - topic: "<summary>"
      stage: captured | planned | proposed | blocked | executing | rejected
      fidelity: 0.0
      route: "<path or skill>"
      priority: P0 | P1 | P2 | P3
      unblocks: []
      qa_seed:
        proof_required: true | false
        proof_gate_state: needs_proof_design | needs_proof_gates | needs_runtime_qa | needs_quality_review | needs_close_verdict | proof_blocked | none
        highest_risk_claim: "<claim or null>"
        scenario_classes: []
        owner_local_test_placement: "<module path or null>"
        shared_testing_boundary: "core/testing is a library/evaluator source, not the home for module-specific tests"

Markdown capture reports are projections only when useful.

Output

Render the Markdown inside this template; do not print the XML wrapper tags.

<capture-results> ## /capture results

Source Fidelity

ID	Source intent	Durable destination	Preservation	Detail	Relations	Attribution	Context	Action	Fidelity	Gap / decision
{intent_id}	{source_intent}	{destination_ref}	{preservation}	{detail}	{relationships}	{attribution}	{context}	{actionability}	{fidelity_pct}	{fidelity_note}

Lifecycle Delta

Saved: {count_and_artifact_refs_or_none} Still in memory: {count_and_topics_or_none} Blocked or decision needed: {count_and_highest_leverage_decision_or_none} Ready next: {count_and_route_or_none} Next: {one_primary_action}

Ledger: {ledger_artifact_ref} </capture-results>

Red Flags

• "I'll show the list first and save after approval."
• "This follow-up is obvious enough to leave in chat."
• "Done items should be listed again."
• "Prior art can wait until proposal."
• "The table is optional because I wrote the artifact."
• "The fidelity score is enough; the user does not need to see the row mapping."
• "I can route broad work directly to propose; the task slices will preserve the roadmap."
• "A routed item can stay only in chat memory."
• "Copying user prose is the same as compiling intent."
• "What would you edit means patch it now."

Related

• /work routes lifecycle lanes.
• /dump is a focused alias for /capture --deep.
• /brief turns conversation context into a lifecycle artifact via /interview --auto.
• /prior-art finds existing homes.
• /lev-plan compiles captured/design intent into a fidelity-checked human runbook and slice DAG.
• /propose turns captured/aligned items into task DNA.
• /exec runs shovel-ready items.