cxc-loop — Scoped completion

Intent before activation

Apply the current request's authority before choosing a mode:

• An explanation, review, or quoted mention of cxc-loop is not an execution request. Do not create a goal, mutate the FSM, or start implementation merely to explain it.
• Explicit interview-only, plan-only, read-only, no-writes, no-commits, no-goal, no-FSM, no-tests, and no-delegation limits take precedence when actually stated. Do only the authorized work. A plan-only request is not permission for A/B/C/D; an interview is not permission to leave I.
• An operative bare cxc-loop request means HOTL completion of all plans within the agreed objective. An explicit HITL request instead preserves human P/A/B pauses. Ordinary development requests do not become HOTL because this skill was loaded.
• HOTL changes persistence, not permissions. It does not authorize unrelated work, push, merge, release, deployment, installation, destructive actions, or new access. If missing intent or authority prevents progress, report it; do not silently enlarge the scope. Do not enter Interview while a host goal is active.

Only the main session owns host goals and PABCD transitions. A delegated task follows its packet; loading loop never authorizes a leaf to start a goal or spawn. Follow the live host tool contracts, including goal creation and blocked-status conditions. A plugin hook accepting a call is not proof that the call is authorized.

Keep this goal's work local; do not send unsolicited progress or completion notices to other tasks. Peer contact is limited to explicit user requests or necessary confirmed blocking CI/merge collision coordination, subject to host permissions and wake checks. An incoming peer question is not a new loop request or permission to resume an old goal. Follow peer collaboration for question-only wakes and independent task authority; apply this loop only to work the user actually authorized.

For useful mid-work questions, follow Async user questions when the tool is exposed and the host permits it. Leave optional questions without expecting replies, keep working and incorporate answers if they arrive. An unanswered optional question does not block completion. Interview retains its existing goal restrictions; async is not a workaround for a denied question or missing approval.

Select the smallest sufficient reading path

The agent selects owners from the task, work class, risk, and current phase. Read each selected SKILL.md completely; then read only references whose conditions apply. Resolve relative links from this skill's directory, not the working directory. Keep read batches within the active tool's output limits. If output is truncated, recover the missing content before the governed action; command exit0 is not a complete read. Reuse content still present in context; after context loss reload the applicable owner, not the whole skill family. If a selected file's output is truncated, re-read that file separately. Do not guess missing ranges from an elision marker. If it cannot fit one result, use numbered, contiguous, non-overlapping chunks through EOF and verify no gaps. Do not recursively load every linked file. A missing mandatory reference is a preflight failure: resolve it or report the limitation before the governed action.

Condition	Read before the governed action
Development or governed review	cxc-dev, then its matching surface routers
Tool composition, response projection, or in-context JS computation	Native execution; prefer exposed Code Mode, not a forced runtime
Real PABCD work or a PABCD plan	cxc-pabcd, then only the current phase references it selects
Start/resume HOTL or diagnose its continuation/completion	Runtime lifecycle
Create, register, amend, or inspect durable goalplan schema/CLI	Durable goalplan
Two or more work-phases, including scope discovered later	Implementation units
Repeated failure, reviewer FAIL, or unclear loop archetype	Loop engineering
Score optimization, plateau, or mechanism comparison	Optimization rules and loop engineering
Deliberate divergence/candidate comparison	Divergence tiers
Dispatch is authorized and needed	Delegation
Waiting on dispatched work or long external processes, HITL or HOTL	Waiting on work

The installed skill listing and owner routers are the discovery path. cxc skill search searches external catalogs; it is not the native installed-skill loader. Keep explicit-only skills and leaf-safe delivery restrictions intact.

Execution invariants

• ORCH-MANDATE-01 (STRICT): a claimed active loop needs real persisted FSM evidence, not narrated phase names. Read actual session state before entry or re-entry. SESSION-IDENTITY-01 uses your current SessionStart binding, corroborated with cxc session current when native CODEX_THREAD_ID is available. For a missing, inherited or conflicting line, use cxc session current then explicit cxc session bind in the verified native cwd. Never set that environment ID, replay hook JSON or borrow a parent's/history ID. Binding does not verify hooks. If PATH resolves an older development CLI, invoke this installed plugin's node "<pluginRoot>/bin/cxc.mjs" for these commands; preserve the development checkout. Phase-control details belong to cxc-pabcd.
• HOTL needs both an ACTIVE host goal and an in-flight PABCD cycle; HITL needs no host goal. If a required capability or binding is absent, report the preflight failure rather than claiming Stop-continuation is armed.
• One work-phase is one P→A→B→C→D cycle. Do the work and provide each edge's real artifact; state advancement is not proof of work. D closes that cycle to IDLE. Hooks may guard calls or termination; they neither choose nor advance phases.
• LOOP-CONTINUE-01: read the bound goalplan and ledger after D or context loss. Do not shrink criteria to exit. If in-scope work remains under the active goal, re-enter P. A genuinely new in-scope unit is a P-phase amendment to the same goal (LOOP-UNIT-CHAIN-01), not an excuse to stop or permission for unrelated work.
• LOOP-CONTINUITY-01: the next P quotes the previous D conclusion and direction; changing that direction requires a reason. Resume from durable evidence, not transcript momentum. Completion follows cxc-dev's fresh-proof gate.
• LOOP-GIT-01 points to cxc-dev §5: checkpoint authorized implementation locally; external writes still require explicit permission. For a declared PR stack, read cxc-dev references/stacked-prs.md. Planning-only work does not authorize implementation or publication; local documentation checkpoints follow cxc-dev scope and git rules.

Docs-first multi-cycle entry

LOOP-DOCS-FIRST-01 is DEFAULT for multi-cycle loops and STRICT for HOTL. Register the goalplan skeleton and make the first work-phase a docs-only roadmap PABCD cycle. Its D locks the roadmap; implementation begins in the next cycle. Each later work-phase consumes one pre-written decade doc and revalidates it at P. If multi-cycle scope is discovered later, the next P first pays the roadmap debt. No production patches, deploys, or implementation-complete claims in that cycle. A genuine single-cycle task skips this extra cycle; cxc-dev's C0/C1 fast-path remains.

LOOP-READS-PABCD-01 (STRICT): before multi-cycle execution read the implementation units reference. cxc-loop owns WHEN; cxc-pabcd owns DIFFLEVEL-ROADMAP-01, PHASE-SPLIT-01, LEXICO-SPLIT-01, and UNIT-RESIDENCE-01. cxc-dev owns the C0/C1 fast-path exception. Neither a skeleton nor empty decade docs satisfy the roadmap.

Completion and recovery

Report the real outcome: DONE, NOOP, BLOCKED, UNSAFE, NEEDS_HUMAN, or BUDGET_EXHAUSTED. These are report outcomes, not new FSM phases or host goal statuses. DONE requires fresh proof of all recorded criteria. Resource exhaustion requires an actual stated bound; compaction, a wait timeout, or Stop releasing is not success or budget exhaustion. Preserve evidence and continue when appropriate. Do not weaken the goalplan to pass GOAL-COMPLETE-GATE-01. For rejection, stagnation, or lost arming, read runtime lifecycle; for repeated failures read loop engineering.