Resume, trace, archive, and release handoff

This workflow continues from Evidence review and reconciliation after a task, milestone, or larger planning run pauses or reaches a reviewed handoff. It shows operators, implementing agents, reviewers, and release owners how to recover from repository evidence instead of private memory, and how to preserve provenance when links or artifacts change.

Resume from durable evidence

Start by re-resolving the effective workspace and selected artifact. Inspect git status, the task definition, paired implementation summary, milestone reconciliation, and the last completed lifecycle gate. Then rerun the matching read-only readiness, review, or validation command. Do not infer completion from chat history, a stale terminal, or a status field whose body evidence is incomplete.

resume inspect and resume revalidate read a named local resume capsule and compare it with current repository evidence. They do not select work, repair artifacts, or advance status. resume save creates or replaces a capsule; resume clear removes one; and resume cleanup clears stale or expired capsule state. A capsule is a convenience pointer, not the source of truth. On conflict, trust the current repository artifacts and stop before writing.

An implementing agent resumes at the last proven gate: rerun readiness before untouched implementation, rerun declared validation after partial edits, rebuild and review a changed implementation summary, or reopen reconciliation after a build. Preserve declared task order and report an ambiguous or missing handoff as blocked.

Keep trace links explainable

Trace links connect specifications, slice, phase, milestone, task, implementation summary, reconciliation, and downstream evidence. validation links-check, planning validation, link disposition list, link disposition show, and link disposition preview are read-only. Their findings can identify a missing, stale, retired, deleted, migrated, or malformed relationship, but cannot rewrite a reference or choose its replacement.

Use link materialize --dry-run after a planning scaffold or overview-body change. Run link materialize --write only when the preview names changes inside the selected artifact and the current workflow authorizes that body-link write. Materialization makes an already valid relationship clickable; it does not change lineage or lifecycle disposition.

When an artifact is intentionally retired, deleted, or migrated, record that decision separately with link disposition add or link disposition update. link disposition delete removes a disposition record and therefore requires the same explicit ownership. link disposition apply is limited to migrated dispositions with a known replacement; it must not apply retired or deleted dispositions, infer a target, or become a fallback for malformed storage. Preview affected links first and preserve the decision rationale and replacement provenance.

Archive without erasing history

Archival retains evidence that no longer participates in active selection. A spec archive operation updates the registry through its supported write surface; it is not equivalent to deleting the source or silently breaking downstream references. Before archival, confirm completed implementation and reconciliation evidence, inspect inbound trace links, record the archive reason and successor when one exists, and preview any migrated disposition.

Deletion is a different decision. It needs an explicit disposition, affected-path accounting, and a recovery plan. Never recommend deleting or manually rearranging .day-shift/ to recover a stale or partially migrated workspace. Use read-only diagnosis and migration preview first, then a separately authorized apply path.

Recover safely from disagreement

If a capsule, metadata field, body link, generated archive, and repository tree disagree, stop normal writes. Re-open the selected artifacts, run scoped validation, and classify the conflict. Fresh evidence may justify a narrow supported update; stale or partially upgraded workspace evidence routes through doctor and migration preview. Wrong-family, ambiguous, inconsistent, under-specified, and lossy updates remain blocking no-write failures.

Recovery should be reversible and selected-artifact scoped. Record the failed command, expected evidence, substitute inspection, residual risk, and next validation. A review or validation recommendation remains guidance until an operator selects the matching update, materialize, disposition, migration, archive, or release write.

Prepare the release handoff

The reviewer confirms that summaries and reconciliation are completed, non-placeholder, validation-backed, and explicit about accepted residuals. The implementing agent supplies changed paths, executable evidence, deviations, rollback notes, and unresolved ownership. The operator confirms repository and workspace health. Only then does the release owner select the release workflow.

release validate checks local release inputs and staged output without publishing a release. Release build, manifest, notes, checksum, installer, and archive commands generate local release output; prune and clean mutate generated output according to their explicit boundaries. These writes do not publish, approve, sign, or announce a release by implication. Detailed flags and external publication mechanics belong to Reference and the release documentation.

A complete handoff names the reviewed reconciliation, source revision, release version or candidate identity, generated manifest and checksums, validation results, accepted residuals, rollback path, and owner of the next action. The release owner revalidates that evidence before any external mutation.

Role-based scenarios

Operator returns after an interrupted session

Resolve the workspace, inspect the capsule and repository tree, reopen the selected task and summary, and rerun the current gate. If the capsule conflicts with the tree, treat it as stale and clear or replace it only through the explicit resume command after repository evidence selects the correct handoff.

Agent finds a moved planning artifact

Run links-check and disposition preview. If the move has a known replacement, record or update a migrated disposition, preview affected links, and apply only that migrated record through the explicit write. If the artifact was retired or deleted, preserve that disposition as history and do not invent a replacement.

Reviewer archives completed planning evidence

Confirm reconciliation and parent review evidence, inspect inbound relationships, and preserve the archive rationale. Archive through the owning registry or release surface. Keep retained evidence readable and route stale links through explicit dispositions rather than filesystem deletion.

Release owner receives a candidate

Read the reconciliation and handoff manifest, run release validation, verify checksums and residual-risk ownership, and generate or inspect local output. External publication remains a separate authorized step; a successful validation or archive build is not release approval.

The lifecycle is complete when another qualified owner can reconstruct what was selected, what changed, which evidence was accepted, how links evolved, what was archived, and which explicit action comes next. Troubleshooting begins in Guides; command syntax stays in Reference.