sweep

Non-interactive end-to-end research pipeline: auto-plan → judge gate → run. Single command from goal to result. Accepts goal string, passes all run/colab/team flags.

NOT for: interactive planning (use /research:plan); methodology review only (use /research:judge); running already-approved plan (use /research:run).

• Key boundaries: end of S2 — program.md written and confirmed; end of S3 — judge+refinement verdict settled.
• Preserve at S2: program-path (output of plan), GOAL string, OUT path (TMPDIR key).
• Mid-loop refresh: after each S3 fix-apply the contract is rewritten with refine-iter/no-fixes-iter/last-verdict (placed after fixes so the "fixes applied" claim is true) — a mid-loop compaction resumes at the current iteration instead of restarting REFINE_ITER=0.
• Preserve at S3: judge verdict, JUDGE_REPORT path, program-path, GOAL.
• Clear at S1 start (stale prior run) and after S5 pipeline completes.

Agent Resolution

Agent resolution: load and follow the protocol below. Contains: foundry check + fallback table. Foundry not installed → substitute each foundry:X with general-purpose per table.

# loads: compaction-contract.md
export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
_RESEARCH_SHARED=$(python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/bin/resolve_shared.py" 2>/dev/null)  # timeout: 5000
[ -z "$_RESEARCH_SHARED" ] && { echo "! Plugin path resolution failed — ensure research plugin installed and CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT set, or invoke from project root."; exit 1; }
echo "$_RESEARCH_SHARED" > "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/research-shared-${CSID}"  # cold resolve — every later site (including the judge/run steps this skill runs inline) reads this sentinel
cat "$_RESEARCH_SHARED/agent-resolution.md"

Sweep delegates to plan (S2), judge (S3), run (S5) — see each skill's Agent Resolution for fallback handling.

Steps S1–S5

Triggered by sweep "goal" [--flags]. Non-interactive end-to-end: auto-plan → judge gate → run.

Shared path resolution (always runs before S1):

_RESEARCH_SHARED does NOT survive the Agent Resolution block — each Bash call is a fresh shell — so re-resolve it here alongside _RESEARCH_SKILLS, and again in every later block that loads a skill file:

export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
IFS= read -r _RESEARCH_SHARED < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/research-shared-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _RESEARCH_SHARED=""  # warm read (Check 41)
_RESEARCH_SKILLS="${_RESEARCH_SHARED%/_shared}"
[ -z "$_RESEARCH_SKILLS" ] && _RESEARCH_SKILLS="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/skills"

Task tracking: create tasks for S1–S5 at start.

Step S1: Parse arguments

Existing program.md guard — sweep creates new program.md; one already exists at output path (default: program.md at project root, or --out <path> if provided) → invoke AskUserQuestion immediately — never silently overwrite, never hard-stop without recovery:

• question: "program.md already exists at <output path> — how to proceed?"
• (a) label: Overwrite and re-sweep — description: overwrite existing program.md, run plan+judge+run pipeline from scratch
• (b) label: Abort — use existing program — description: stop sweep; use /research:run <program.md> to execute the existing program

On (a): proceed to flag extraction below. On (b): print follow-up hint and stop. Check AFTER extracting --out flag so correct output path known before checking. (Single overwrite gate — S2 P-P3 bypassed for sweep since decision already made here.)

Extract <goal> — first positional argument (quoted or unquoted string describing optimization target).

Extract flags:

• --colab[=HW] — passed to plan (Config.compute) and run; if =HW present, extract colab_hw
• --compute=local|colab|docker — passed through
• --team — passed through to run
• --codex — passed through to run
• --researcher — passed through to run; combine with --architect for dual-agent SOTA + architectural hypothesis pipeline
• --architect — passed through to run; enables architectural hypothesis pass via foundry:solution-architect
• --journal — passed through to run when present; preserves per-iteration journal entries (requires --researcher or --architect — enforced by run R2)
• --hypothesis <path> — passed through to run when present; preloads hypothesis queue from the given file
• --skip-validation — passed to judge step (S3)
• --out <path> — optional: write program.md here instead of project root. .md output target determined solely by --out (or default project-root program.md) — never infer output path by scanning <goal> text for .md substrings; goal string is prose describing optimization target, not path argument.
• --keep "<items>" — compaction contract keep-items; appended to preserve: field at each boundary

--out validation: if --out <path> provided, validate path BEFORE any extraction or file write:

export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
# extract --out unquoted path token (mirrors --keep idiom at :107-111)
OUT=""
if [[ "$ARGUMENTS" =~ --out[[:space:]]+([^[:space:]]+) ]]; then
    OUT="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
fi
# POSIX path-traversal check (avoids bash-specific [[ ]])
case "$OUT" in
  *..*)
    [ -n "$OUT" ] && { echo "sweep: invalid --out path (path traversal not allowed): $OUT" >&2; exit 2; }
    ;;
esac

# Verify path stays within project root (macOS-compatible)
if [ -n "$OUT" ]; then
    _PROJ_ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)
    if ! python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/bin/check_output_within_root.py" "$OUT" "$_PROJ_ROOT" 2>/dev/null; then  # timeout: 5000
        echo "sweep: --out path escapes project root: $OUT" >&2; exit 2
    fi
fi
echo "${OUT:-program.md}" > "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/sweep-out-path-${CSID}"  # persist for S2/S3 contract writes (Check 41: fresh shell)

export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/bin/extract-keep-flag.py" sweep "$ARGUMENTS"  # timeout: 5000 — parses --keep, clears a stale contract, persists for S2/S3

Unsupported flag check: load and follow the protocol below. Supported flags for this skill: --team, --compute, --colab, --codex, --researcher, --architect, --journal, --hypothesis, --skip-validation, --out, --keep.

# loads: unsupported-flag-protocol.md
export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
IFS= read -r _RESEARCH_SHARED < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/research-shared-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _RESEARCH_SHARED=""  # warm read (Check 41)
cat "$_RESEARCH_SHARED/unsupported-flag-protocol.md"

If <goal> missing or empty, stop:

⚠ sweep requires a goal prompt.
Usage: /research:sweep "goal description" [--flags]

If extracted <goal> starts with --, treat as flag misparse — stop with ! Misparse: goal starts with '--'. Did you forget to quote the goal or omit it? Usage: /research:sweep "goal description" [--flags]

Step S2: Non-interactive plan

First, load plan mode step definitions below, then execute steps P-P1, P-P2, P-P2b and P-P3 from the same file (P-P0 skipped — <goal> always text string) with overrides:

export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
IFS= read -r _RESEARCH_SHARED < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/research-shared-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _RESEARCH_SHARED=""  # warm read (Check 41)
_RESEARCH_SKILLS="${_RESEARCH_SHARED%/_shared}"
[ -z "$_RESEARCH_SKILLS" ] && _RESEARCH_SKILLS="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/skills"
cat "$_RESEARCH_SKILLS/plan/SKILL.md"

Include P-P2b analysis in S2 synthesis — P-P2b findings are scoped hypotheses needing consolidation into program.md written by P-P3; skipping P-P2b drops hypothesis context from generated program.

Mandatory P-P1 codebase scan — sweep MUST execute P-P1 to derive metric_cmd and guard_cmd from codebase. Skipping P-P1 produces program.md with placeholder commands failing at run-time. P-P1 cannot complete (no detectable test runner, no benchmark scripts, no metric command candidates): mark program INCOMPLETE, do NOT proceed to S3 — print ! sweep: P-P1 codebase scan could not derive metric_cmd/guard_cmd from <project-root>. Program marked INCOMPLETE — manual configuration required. Run /research:plan "<goal>" interactively to configure. and stop.

• P-P2 (config presentation): Accept all auto-detected defaults without prompting. Print proposed config as informational block prefixed sweep: auto-config → — do NOT wait for confirmation.
• --colab[=HW] or --compute=colab passed → write compute: colab (and colab_hw: <HW> if provided) into Config block.
• scope_files: derive from goal string — extract domain-relevant file patterns (e.g. goal mentioning "neural network" → ["*.py", "models/**", "train*.py"]; goal mentioning "config" or "YAML" → ["*.yaml", "*.yml", "*.json"]). Default ["**/*.py"] only when goal gives no domain signals. Multiple keyword matches: merge (union) all matched patterns. Always include derived scope_files in sweep: auto-config → printout — users can't correct silently wrong scope without seeing it.
• agent_strategy: set to value accepted by judge C9 (auto / perf / code / ml / arch). Map flags to strategy matching primary ideation agent run will dispatch (per run/SKILL.md constants table): --researcher (with or without --architect) → "ml" (research:scientist is primary ideation agent for paper-rooted hypotheses); --architect alone (no --researcher) → "arch" (foundry:solution-architect); --team alone → "auto" (team mode generates per-axis hypotheses); no flags → "auto". Never write "dual-agent: ...", "team", "researcher", or "default" — those values fail C9. Record flag combination and dual-agent dispatch intent separately in ## Notes (e.g. dispatch: dual-agent (researcher primary + architect feasibility filter)) so orchestration intent preserved without overriding validated agent_strategy field.
• P-P3 (write program.md): Write to <--out path> if provided; else program.md at project root.
  • Output path exists: P-P3's own AskUserQuestion overwrite gate is bypassed for sweep — already resolved by the S1 guard (see Step S1) before S2 began. Write program.md directly; do not re-prompt.

Print on completion:

sweep: plan → <output path> ✓

export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
# boundary 1: after S2 plan written (compaction-contract.md)
IFS= read -r _OUT < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/sweep-out-path-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _OUT="program.md"
IFS= read -r _KEEP < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/sweep-keep-items-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _KEEP=""
_KEEP_APPEND=""; [ -n "$_KEEP" ] && _KEEP_APPEND="; user-keep: $_KEEP"
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/bin/write-skill-contract.py" "research:sweep" "judge-gate (after S2 plan written)" "n/a" "program-path=${_OUT}${_KEEP_APPEND}" "S3 judge+refinement loop against ${_OUT}"  # timeout: 5000

Step S3: Judge + refinement loop

Load judge mode step definitions — $_RESEARCH_SKILLS from S2 is gone (fresh shell per Bash call), so re-resolve it here rather than dereferencing it bare:

export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
IFS= read -r _RESEARCH_SHARED < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/research-shared-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _RESEARCH_SHARED=""  # warm read (Check 41)
_RESEARCH_SKILLS="${_RESEARCH_SHARED%/_shared}"
[ -z "$_RESEARCH_SKILLS" ] && _RESEARCH_SKILLS="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/skills"
cat "$_RESEARCH_SKILLS/judge/SKILL.md"

Load prints nothing / "No such file or directory" → resolution failed; stop with ! sweep: cannot load judge/SKILL.md — research plugin path unresolved. Never improvise J1–J6: the judge gate is the only check between an auto-generated program and the S5 campaign.

Initialize REFINE_ITER = 0, MAX_REFINE = 3, NO_FIXES_ITER = 0.

Repeat up to MAX_REFINE times:

1. Increment REFINE_ITER. Run judge mode (J1–J6 from the judge/SKILL.md loaded above) against program file.

   • Pass --skip-validation if user provided it; else include validation (J4).
   • Capture J6 verdict and judge report path (JUDGE_REPORT).

2. Print: sweep: judge iteration `REFINE_ITER`/`MAX_REFINE` → `VERDICT`

3. If APPROVED — exit loop, outcome approved.

4. If BLOCKED — exit loop, outcome blocked. No fix attempt — BLOCKED = fundamental design flaw requiring human redesign.

5. If NEEDS-REVISION:

   • REFINE_ITER < MAX_REFINE:

     • Read JUDGE_REPORT. Extract ### Required Changes section.

     • ### Required Changes section absent: increment NO_FIXES_ITER. NO_FIXES_ITER >= 2 (two consecutive judge runs returning NEEDS-REVISION without ### Required Changes section): exit loop with outcome judge-report-malformed and print ! sweep: judge emitted NEEDS-REVISION but report contains no Required Changes section in 2 consecutive iterations — possible judge formatting issue. Inspect <JUDGE_REPORT>. Invoke AskUserQuestion — (a) proceed to run anyway · (b) abort. On (a): proceed to S5. On (b): print follow-up hint and stop. Otherwise (NO_FIXES_ITER < 2): print sweep: judge report missing Required Changes section — re-judging without edits (NO_FIXES_ITER=N) and continue loop (re-judge with unchanged file).

     • Present: reset NO_FIXES_ITER = 0. Apply each fix to program file via Edit tool. Always re-read program file before each sequential Edit call; never assume file content stable between tool calls — earlier Edits in batch may have shifted line offsets or modified surrounding context, so stale old_string from judge report may no longer match. Count applied fixes as N_FIXES; track failures as N_FAILS. Any Edit call fails (old_string not found or not unique): increment N_FAILS, continue remaining fixes. After all fixes attempted: N_FAILS > 0 → print ⚠ N_FAILS edit(s) failed — file may have changed since judge run; re-judging with partial fixes (N_FIXES applied). N_FIXES == 0 AND N_FAILS > 0 → print ! All edits failed — re-judging without changes (edit conflict; check program file manually). Print: sweep: applied N_FIXES fix(es) to <program path> — re-judging

     • Refresh compaction contract now — fixes for this iteration applied, so contract can truthfully assert them. Substitute literal REFINE_ITER, NO_FIXES_ITER, VERDICT, JUDGE_REPORT values tracked (fill-in template like judge-report tokens, not verbatim-run block — counters are prose loop state, not shell vars):

       # WHY: no post-fix refresh → compaction here resumes boundary-1 (pre-loop), re-judges from iter 1. Placed after fixes so "applied through iteration N" holds.
       export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
       IFS= read -r _OUT < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/sweep-out-path-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _OUT="program.md"
       python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/bin/write-skill-contract.py" "research:sweep" "judge+refinement loop (S3, iteration <REFINE_ITER>/<MAX_REFINE> — fixes applied)" "n/a" "program-path=${_OUT}, refine-iter=<REFINE_ITER>, no-fixes-iter=<NO_FIXES_ITER>, last-verdict=<VERDICT>, judge-report=<JUDGE_REPORT>" "re-judge ${_OUT} (it carries the fixes applied through iteration <REFINE_ITER>) → continue loop; do NOT reset REFINE_ITER. Exit on APPROVED/BLOCKED or REFINE_ITER==MAX_REFINE."
       

     • Continue next iteration (loop item 1 will re-judge).

   • REFINE_ITER == MAX_REFINE — exit loop, outcome unresolved.

Safety net: loop edits modify <program path> in place; the S1 overwrite gate (P-P3's own gate is bypassed for sweep, see S2 P-P3 note) already secured user authorization before S2 wrote the file. Recover prior file from git if needed.

Substitute literal VERDICT and JUDGE_REPORT values tracked by the loop (fill-in template, same convention as the mid-loop block above — counters and verdict are prose loop state, never shell vars; ${_OUT}/${_KEEP_APPEND} stay shell-expanded):

export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
# boundary 2: after S3 judge loop settles verdict (compaction-contract.md)
IFS= read -r _OUT < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/sweep-out-path-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _OUT="program.md"
IFS= read -r _KEEP < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/sweep-keep-items-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _KEEP=""
_KEEP_APPEND=""; [ -n "$_KEEP" ] && _KEEP_APPEND="; user-keep: $_KEEP"
python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/bin/write-skill-contract.py" "research:sweep" "run-gate (after S3 judge+refinement)" "n/a" "program-path=${_OUT}, judge-verdict=<VERDICT>, judge-report=<JUDGE_REPORT>${_KEEP_APPEND}" "S4 gate on verdict → S5 run program if approved"  # timeout: 5000

A <VERDICT> or <JUDGE_REPORT> placeholder surviving verbatim into the written contract means substitution was skipped — treat the resumed verdict as unsettled and re-judge; never read it as approved.

Step S4: Gate on loop outcome

Outcome	Action
approved	Print sweep: plan approved (REFINE_ITER/MAX_REFINE iteration(s)) ✓ → proceed to S5
blocked	Print sweep: judge → BLOCKED ✗; show all critical findings from report; print follow-up hint; stop
unresolved	Print sweep: judge unresolved after MAX_REFINE iterations ✗; show remaining Required Changes from last report; call AskUserQuestion tool — do NOT write options as plain text: question "Unresolved — how to proceed?", (a) label proceed to run anyway, (b) label fix manually then re-run, (c) label abort — if a, proceed to S5; if b or c, print follow-up hint and stop
judge-report-malformed	S3 already invoked AskUserQuestion with (a) proceed / (b) abort and handled the answer — S4 is a no-op for this outcome (S3 already proceeded to S5 or stopped).

Follow-up hint (blocked or unresolved):

Fix the issues above in <program path>, then:
  /research:judge <program path>          ← re-validate
  /research:run <program path>            ← run when approved
  /research:sweep "revised goal" [flags]  ← re-sweep from scratch

Step S5: Run

Load run mode step definitions — re-resolve rather than dereferencing the S2/S3 variable, which died with its shell:

export CSID="${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-$PPID}"
IFS= read -r _RESEARCH_SHARED < "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/research-shared-${CSID}" 2>/dev/null || _RESEARCH_SHARED=""  # warm read (Check 41)
_RESEARCH_SKILLS="${_RESEARCH_SHARED%/_shared}"
[ -z "$_RESEARCH_SKILLS" ] && _RESEARCH_SKILLS="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-plugins/cc_research}/skills"
cat "$_RESEARCH_SKILLS/run/SKILL.md"

Load fails → stop with ! sweep: cannot load run/SKILL.md — research plugin path unresolved. Never improvise R1–R7: S5 executes and commits against the user's repo.

Run Default Mode (R1–R7 from the run/SKILL.md loaded above) passing program file from S2 as the first positional argument, plus all flags.

Forward same flags accepted at Step S1 (--colab[=HW], --compute, --team, --codex, --researcher, --architect, --journal, --hypothesis <path>).

Flag-forwarding invariant: any of --journal / --hypothesis set at sweep entry MUST appear in S5 run invocation. Dropping them silently breaks resume continuity and hypothesis queue.

--team and interactivity: --team passed → sweep semi-interactive — run mode Phase B presents user confirmation gate before Phase C. Gate cannot be bypassed from sweep context; sweep pauses and waits. Expected behavior.

On completion, standard R6 terminal summary printed. Also prepend:

sweep: complete — plan → judge → run pipeline finished

rm -f .temp/state/skill-contract.md  # clear contract — sweep pipeline complete (compaction-contract.md §Lifecycle)  # timeout: 5000

• Overwrite gate (S1): output path exists → resolved once via S1's AskUserQuestion — P-P3's own overwrite gate is bypassed for sweep to avoid double-prompting; no silent .bak rename + overwrite. Pipeline exemption applies to non-interactive CI pipelines only, not user-initiated sweeps. Use git to recover prior file if needed.
• --journal and --hypothesis forwarded when present: both flags pass through to S5 verbatim; sweep never strips them. --journal requires --researcher or --architect (validated at run R2). --hypothesis <path> preloads hypothesis queue.
• --team and interactivity: sweep non-interactive except when --team active. Team mode Phase B presents user confirmation gate before Phase C — sweep pauses and waits. Expected; sweep cannot bypass Phase B gate. In automated/CI contexts where interaction impossible, avoid --team flag or pre-confirm via gate prompt manually; no --auto flag to suppress Phase B — by design (Phase B reviews potentially risky parallel agent decisions).
• --skip-validation: passes through to judge step (S3). Useful for cross-machine workflows where metric/guard commands run only on target machine.
• Metric direction conventions (S2 auto-config): minimize for loss/error/latency metrics (loss, error_rate, mse, mae, latency, time); maximize for quality metrics (accuracy, f1, precision, recall, auc, throughput). Goal string ambiguous → default minimize, note assumption in config comment.