helix-forge/AGENTS.md

helix-forge — Agent Instructions

Repo Identity

Purpose: HelixForge turns natural-language intent into governed, reusable software capabilities through architecture-aware discovery, validation, implementation, feedback, and reuse.

Domain: helix_forge Repo slug: helix-forge Topic ID: f39fa2a3-c491-414c-a91b-b4c5fcc6139c Workplan prefix: HF-WP-

---

Repo Orientation

This repository is currently documentation-first. Treat INTENT.md as the primary source of truth, with wiki/HelixForgeVision.md carrying the compact vision statement and wiki/OrthogonalArchitectureSchema.md preserving the current Orthogonal Architecture Standard schema reference.

Current responsibilities:

• Define HelixForge as a capability-first development ecosystem.
• Preserve the Orthogonal Architecture Dimensions and VSM-inspired vocabulary that future implementation artifacts must follow.
• Track near-term work in workplans/, currently focused on using ops-hub as the first Inter-Hub extension pattern.

Current state:

• No application/runtime source code exists yet.
• No build, test, or package commands are defined yet.
• The repo already uses HF-WP- workplan IDs; keep that prefix unless the existing workplan files are deliberately migrated.

Useful orientation commands:

sed -n '1,220p' INTENT.md
sed -n '1,160p' workplans/HF-WP-0001-establish-ops-hub-first-extension.md
sed -n '1,120p' wiki/HelixForgeVision.md

When adding executable artifacts later, update this file with the real stack, dependency, build, test, and validation commands.

State Hub Integration

The Custodian State Hub tracks work across all domains. Interact via HTTP REST — there is no MCP server for Codex agents.

Context	URL
Local workstation	http://127.0.0.1:8000
Remote via tunnel	http://127.0.0.1:18000

Orient at session start

# Offline brief, if generated by StateHub consistency sync
test -f .custodian-brief.md && cat .custodian-brief.md || sed -n '1,120p' SCOPE.md

# Active workstreams for this domain
curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:8000/workstreams/?topic_id=f39fa2a3-c491-414c-a91b-b4c5fcc6139c&status=active" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

# Check inbox
curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:8000/messages/?to_agent=helix-forge&unread_only=true" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

Mark a message read:

curl -s -X PATCH "http://127.0.0.1:8000/messages/<id>/read" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{}'

Log progress (required at session close)

curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8000/progress/ \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "summary": "what was done",
    "event_type": "note",
    "author": "codex",
    "workstream_id": "<uuid>",
    "task_id": "<uuid>"
  }'

Omit workstream_id / task_id when not applicable.

Update task status

curl -s -X PATCH "http://127.0.0.1:8000/tasks/<task_id>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status": "in_progress"}'
# values: todo | in_progress | done | blocked

Flag a task for human review

curl -s -X PATCH "http://127.0.0.1:8000/tasks/<task_id>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"needs_human": true, "intervention_note": "reason"}'

---

Session Protocol

Start:

1. Read .custodian-brief.md when present; otherwise read SCOPE.md and INTENT.md
2. Check inbox: GET /messages/?to_agent=helix-forge&unread_only=true; mark read
3. Scan workplans: ls workplans/ — note status: active files and open tasks
4. Check blocked tasks: GET /tasks/?needs_human=true

During work:

• Update task statuses in workplan files as tasks progress
• Record significant decisions via POST /decisions/

Close:

1. Update workplan file task statuses to reflect progress
2. Log: POST /progress/ with a summary of what changed
3. Note for the custodian operator: after workplan file changes, run from ~/the-custodian/state-hub:

   make fix-consistency REPO=helix-forge
   

   This syncs task status from files into the hub DB.

---

Workplan Convention (ADR-001)

Work items originate as files in this repo — not in the hub. The hub is a read/cache/index layer that rebuilds from files.

File location: workplans/HF-WP-NNNN-<slug>.md

Archived location: completed workplans may move to workplans/archived/YYMMDD-HF-WP-NNNN-<slug>.md. The YYMMDD prefix is the completion/archive date; the frontmatter id does not change.

Ad Hoc Tasks: small opportunistic fixes discovered during a session use workplans/ADHOC-YYYY-MM-DD.md with task ids ADHOC-YYYY-MM-DD-T01, etc. Use this only for low-risk work completed directly; create a normal workplan for anything needing analysis, design, approval, dependencies, or multiple phases.

Frontmatter:

---
id: HF-WP-NNNN
type: workplan
title: "..."
domain: helix_forge
repo: helix-forge
status: active | done
owner: codex
topic_slug: ...
created: "YYYY-MM-DD"
updated: "YYYY-MM-DD"
state_hub_workstream_id: "<uuid>"   # written by fix-consistency — do not edit
---

Task block format (one per ## section):

## Task Title

` ` `task
id: HF-WP-NNNN-T01
status: todo | in_progress | done | blocked
priority: high | medium | low
state_hub_task_id: "<uuid>"         # written by fix-consistency — do not edit
` ` `

Task description text.

Status progression: todo → in_progress → done (or blocked)

To create a new workplan:

1. Write the file following the format above
2. Notify the custodian operator to run make fix-consistency REPO=helix-forge (or send a message to the hub agent via POST /messages/)