apply

Apply phase (Full tier)

Apply is phase 3 of the four-phase loop. It executes the numbered work tasks in plan.md's Tasks section. V-prefixed verify tasks are skipped here — those belong to Verify.

Apply does not plan. It does not check V-tasks. If it discovers a missing work task or a wrong criterion, it pauses and returns to Design with a visible revision note.

Steps

1. Open jobs/<slug>/plan.md. It already exists (Design wrote it). If not, STOP — you're in the wrong phase; back to Design.
2. Work through numbered tasks in order. For each task (1., 2., 3., …):
   • Announce which task you're on. Terse: Working on 3/7: <description>.
   • Make the change.
   • Immediately flip - [ ] → - [x] on that task in plan.md. Not at the end of the batch.
   • Proceed to the next work task.
3. Generated artifacts (drafts, code, files the task produces) land under resources/generated/<slug>/<file> with the required frontmatter (generated_by, generated_at, purpose). Link them from the relevant task as a sub-bullet:

   - [x] 3. Draft the itinerary v1
     - resources/generated/<slug>/itinerary-v1.md
   

4. Pause if:
   • A task is unclear → ask for clarification.
   • Implementation reveals the plan was wrong (scope bigger than expected, a criterion needs to change, a missing task appears) → STOP. Go back to Design briefly, update plan.md in place with a visible revision note, then resume Apply against the revised plan.
   • You hit an error you can't resolve → report and wait for guidance.
   • The user interrupts.
5. Stop at the first V-task. When the next unchecked task is V1., Apply is done. Advance to Verify.

Allowed writes (this phase)

• Check off numbered work tasks in jobs/<slug>/plan.md (- [ ] → - [x]).
• Append sub-bullets under a work task to link generated artifacts.
• resources/generated/<slug>/<any> (with frontmatter).
• Any file the task itself targets, inside the vault root.

Forbidden writes (this phase)

• Checking off V-tasks — those are Verify's job.
• Creating or renaming plan.md — Design did that.
• Adding new tasks (numbered or V-prefixed) silently — missing tasks are a Design revision with a visible note.
• Rewriting Acceptance criteria, Decisions, or title/lede silently — same.
• memory/* — Verify privilege, only on a fully-passing job.
• Moving TODO.md entries to ## Done — Verify privilege, only on full pass.

Guardrails

• Checkboxes flip immediately. Don't batch the completions at the end — mark each task complete as you finish it. The file reflects current state.
• No silent scope creep. If a task grows beyond the plan's scope, pause. Either the plan stands and you stay inside its scope, or the plan is wrong and you revise it in Design with a visible note.
• No V-task checks from Apply. V-tasks record verification evidence; that's a Verify activity and the boundary matters for auditability.
• Path escape is a hard stop. The runtime rejects path-escape attempts; don't retry, don't work around.

Fluid workflow integration

• Apply can be paused mid-flight. Other jobs can run in parallel. Re-enter by reading plan.md and picking up the next unchecked numbered task.
• If Apply finishes all numbered tasks and the work seems correct, you still do not skip Verify — the V-tasks are the explicit criterion-by-criterion check, not a redundancy.

Exit criterion

You exit Apply when every numbered work task in plan.md is - [x] and the next unchecked task is a V-task. Advance to Verify.