/stale-work-loop

This skill operates the two-stage contract in docs/stale-work.md. The discovery session never edits a candidate. A dedicated issue is the only authority for a fresh worker to retain, update, or delete that candidate.

1. Plan first

Capture the #6613 packet and an issue read-back containing open plus recently closed rows, then run the loop without a live flag:

fak stale-work --json --limit 20 > packet.json
fak stale-work loop --packet packet.json --issues open-and-recent.json --json

Inspect every unit:

• issue.contract.ok must be true before filing a generated body.
• dispatch.status must remain REFUSE while no dedicated issue exists.
• every ready issue has a distinct worker_id;
• overlapping paths occupy different waves; and
• counts.launches is zero.

Do not edit candidate content during this phase.

2. Explicit live gates

No live action is implied by invoking this skill. Use a live flag only when the operator explicitly asked for that exact effect:

# GitHub mutation only. Requires the dedupe snapshot.
fak stale-work loop --packet packet.json --issues open-and-recent.json --live-issues --json

# Worker launch only. Re-read issues after filing and inspect contracts first.
fak stale-work loop --packet packet.json --issues refreshed-issues.json --live-launch --json

Never combine discovery and candidate mutation in one worker identity. The loop routes every issue through fak dispatch tick with its own issue-derived identity and lease tree.

3. Reconcile from witnesses, not narration

Feed the dispatch/issue read-backs through --witnesses. SHIPPED requires all four:

1. independent issue state is CLOSED;
2. dos commit-audit says OK with diff-witnessed;
3. the focused acceptance read-back is CLAIM_TEST_GREEN; and
4. an independent source records retained, updated, or deleted.

Anything less is STILL_OPEN or ABSTAIN. A worker log or final message is never closure evidence.

Persist only when requested:

fak stale-work loop --packet packet.json --issues refreshed-issues.json \
  --witnesses witnesses.json --state prior.json --state-out next.json --json

The evidence digest invalidates a cached adjudication whenever the candidate evidence changes.