safety/mutation-approval

Mutation Approval

Plans are free. Changes cost a confirmation. That's the contract.

When This Skill Activates

• Any Claw with mutation_default: false is about to execute a file operation
• A destructive or irreversible operation is about to run (delete, overwrite, move)
• Keywords: "move", "delete", "overwrite", "rename", "apply changes", "execute plan"
• Default for: Starlight Sentinel
• Activated by: Reclamation Claw, Bootstrap Claw, Memory Claw (on decay), Architect Claw

What This Skill Does

Intercepts mutations before they execute. Presents a clear human-readable summary of what will change, requires explicit confirmation, records the approval, and passes control back to the requesting Claw. No mutation is silent. No mutation is irreversible without a logged confirmation.

Procedures

Procedure 1: Pre-Mutation Briefing

1. Receive mutation plan from requesting Claw:

   { claw_id, operation_type, targets: [{ path, action, description }], reversible: bool }
   

2. Render a human-readable summary:

   Reclamation Claw wants to make 14 changes:
   - Move 8 files from ~/Documents/old/ to ~/Documents/projects/
   - Move 3 files to ~/Documents/archive/
   - Import 3 items into SIS vaults
   
   Reversible: Yes (move log will be saved)
   Type "I confirm" to proceed, or "cancel" to abort.
   

3. Wait for user response — no timeout, no auto-proceed
4. If "I confirm" (case-insensitive): log approval, return APPROVED
5. If anything else: log cancellation, return DENIED

Procedure 2: Partial Approval

1. User wants to approve some operations but not others
2. Present individual operations for line-by-line approval
3. Mark each as APPROVED or SKIPPED
4. Return approved subset to Claw for execution
5. Log all decisions

Procedure 3: Irreversible Operation Gate

For operations flagged reversible: false (e.g., permanent deletes):

1. Add extra confirmation layer:

   ⚠️  This action cannot be undone.
   Memory Claw wants to permanently delete 4 archived vault entries.
   
   Type the exact phrase "delete permanently" to confirm, or "cancel" to abort.
   

2. Accept only the exact confirmation phrase
3. Log with full entry content in the audit trail before executing

Procedure 4: Batch Rollback

If a mutation batch fails mid-execution:

1. Halt remaining operations
2. Execute rollback for completed operations in reverse order
3. Report: what succeeded, what failed, what was rolled back
4. Write full rollback log to ~/.starlight/logs/mutation-rollback.jsonl

Integration Points

• Vaults: No direct vault access — operates on mutation proposals only
• Agents: Starlight Sentinel (primary)
• Skills: Composes with permission-gate (authorization check runs first)
• Claws: Reclamation (file moves), Bootstrap (directory creation), Memory (decay), Architect (scaffolding)

Quality Criteria

• User always reads a plain-language summary before confirming
• Confirmation phrase must be explicit — no ambiguous Y/n prompts for destructive ops
• Every approval is logged with timestamp, claw, operation count, and user phrase
• Rollback is always attempted on failure — never leave a half-executed plan