Core workflow commands

Core workflow commands move work from intent to reviewed evidence. Use the generated command inventory or day-shift commands describe "<command path>" --format json for the exact current arguments, options, aliases, preconditions, and effects of any command below.

Contract shared by every family

Before calling a command, resolve its descriptor and check prerequisites, selection requirements, authorization, confirmation, mutation posture, and effects. Text output is for operators; --format json returns the protocol envelope. Supported structured controls can include --detail, --fields, finding filters, lane-specific --limit, --page-lane, --page-size, opaque --cursor, and --output-budget. Support is command-specific.

Success exits with 0. Usage, validation, conflict, environment, and unexpected failures use typed non-zero exit classifications in JSON. Inspect writeOutcome before retrying. Recovery guidance is evidence, not authorization for a different write.

Workspace and specification intake

Exact roots: init, spec, and slice.

• init creates workspace-owned Day Shift state; preview or compatibility evidence should precede replacement of existing state.
• spec list, spec search, and inspection variants are read-only. Spec capture/update and slice new are explicit writes to selected artifacts.
• Inputs are repository-relative spec ids, registered sources, or selected overview paths. Outputs include created paths and traceability evidence.

Start with workspace initialization and continue through intake to implementation.

Planning hierarchy

Exact roots: phase, milestone, task, and planning.

planning inventory, planning gap-report, and planning next-action report evidence only. phase new, milestone new, and task new scaffold only declared children; --full-set never authorizes nested layers. Update commands mutate only their selected overview or task definition. Review and readiness-review commands are read-only.

day-shift planning next-action --artifact .day-shift/planning/example/phase-overview.md --format json
day-shift milestone new --phase-overview .day-shift/planning/example/phase-overview.md --full-set

The first example is read-only. The second is an explicit write and must follow the declared-child and active-artifact gates in plan from spec.

Work selection and task execution

Exact roots: work, run, and agent context.

Candidate, current, context, and inspection commands are read-only derived evidence. Selection/checkpoint commands write coordination state but do not implement a task. run executes only the resolved command contract and preserves its filesystem, network, host-state, confirmation, and idempotency boundaries.

Use implement from task for readiness, target-path, validation, rollback, and closeout gates.

Implementation evidence and reconciliation

Exact roots: implementation-summary and reconciliation.

build refreshes the canonical paired artifact; update applies explicit supported metadata changes; review is read-only. Reconciliation is eligible only after all declared task summaries are completed and non-placeholder.

day-shift implementation-summary review --task-definition .day-shift/planning/example/task-definition.md --format json
day-shift reconciliation build --milestone-overview .day-shift/planning/example/milestone-overview.md

Review does not repair or complete evidence. Build is an explicit planning-artifact write. See evidence review and reconciliation.

Metadata and lifecycle status

Exact root: metadata, plus the layer-specific slice update, phase update, milestone update, task update, implementation-summary update, and reconciliation update commands.

Inventory and validation are read-only. Update and sync commands require exact fields, compatible artifact families, and active-artifact preconditions where declared. Status changes record administrative state; they cannot replace body evidence.

Validation and trace links

Exact roots: validation and link.

validation smoke, links-check, rollups, scope guards, and diff checks report evidence only. Link materialization and disposition previews are read-only previews; their write/apply variants mutate only the explicitly selected scope after candidate-path review.

day-shift validation links-check --scope planning --artifact .day-shift/planning/example/phase-overview.md --format json
day-shift link materialize --dry-run --artifact .day-shift/planning/example/phase-overview.md --format json

Do not infer replacement targets or repair links from validation output. Use the safe materialization gate described in resume, trace, archive, and release handoff.

Structural pressure

Exact root: structural-pressure.

Reports are read-only. Sync is an explicit derived-state write allowed only after completed reconciliation establishes a current classification. Markdown task and reconciliation evidence remains canonical.

Common failures

• Unknown command or option: run commands search, then commands describe; do not guess syntax.
• Missing selection or precondition: refresh current/context evidence and retry only the same authorized action.
• Stale cursor or derived context: discard it and request a fresh bounded page or context pack.
• Validation finding: classify blockers separately from warnings; validation never grants repair authority.
• Partial write or conflict: stop and follow the typed rollback, inspection, or retry action.

For environment and recovery diagnosis, use troubleshooting.