reliquary/docs/workpad/reports/2026-10-05-22-lean-athanor-implementation.md

# Lean Athanor — implementation report

**Date**: 2026-10-05
**Author**: Opus 5.5, model id `claude-opus-5-5` (from my system prompt). I ran as a general-purpose subagent dispatched by Igor, and did the work myself without dispatching agents.
**Goal**: [lean-athanor](../goals/lean-athanor.md)
**Session journal**: [2026-10-05-21-athanor](../journals/2026-10-05-21-athanor.md)
**Commits** (on `main`, not pushed): `e515207` 🤖 Rewrite implementation skill and Athanor for lean building; `146a48c` 🤖 Align Igor with the lean build cycle.

## Files changed

| File | Change |
|---|---|
| `plugins/spire/skills/implementation/SKILL.md` | Rewritten as the lean loop: intent, defaults and reasons. 85 lines (was 81). |
| `plugins/spire/skills/implementation/references/spawning-claude-code.md` | New. Harness rules of thumb, plus claim tables marked verified / observed / assumed / unknown, with dates. Absorbs Igor's harness notes. |
| `plugins/spire/skills/implementation/references/models.md` | New. Model observations per model, with dates and sources. Context figures labelled as guesstimates. Token introspection listed as future work. |
| `plugins/spire/skills/implementation/references/run-log.md` | New. Run-log header, per-phase table, handoff-note template, phase-close block, trunk notes. |
| `plugins/spire/agents/athanor.md` | Build furnace. Pinned to `claude-opus-5-5`. Preloads only project, workpad and implementation. Superpowers listed as tools. Keepers kept. Non-build briefs allowed. |
| `plugins/spire/skills/igor/SKILL.md` | Targeted edits: Athanor table row and paragraph, the model rule, Development Cycle (4b attack, 5 build, 6 phase review, decision tree with the stop rule), Athanor queuing (resume or start fresh), User conventions, and the harness-notes pointer. Voice section not touched. |
| `plugins/spire/skills/igor/references/model-tiers.md` | Athanor row updated. The stale 4.6 / "Opus 5 hallucinates" rule is gone. Model rules now cover alias-over-pin and point to `models.md`. |
| `plugins/spire/skills/igor/references/harness-notes.md` | Now a short pointer with a 4-line summary for Igor. |
| `plugins/spire/README.md` | Rows for `implementation` and `athanor` updated. |

Checked and left alone: `agents/igor.md`, `plugins/spire/CLAUDE.md` and both `plugin.json` files. None of them contradicts the athanor pin, the superpowers preload or per-task review. Following Igor's mid-task instruction, I did not bump the version.

## Goal checkboxes

**The skill is lean**
- Intent and defaults with reasons, room for judgment, no single incidents as rules → `implementation/SKILL.md` throughout. Each section gives a default and a "why". Incident evidence sits only in `references/models.md` and `spawning-claude-code.md`, with sources.
- Short → 85 lines, against 81 before. Detail lives in the three references.
- Harness mechanics and model traits in references; project choices from `spire:project` → SKILL "Spawning and models" points to the references. SKILL "Project settings" lists worktrees, branch, staging, gate/test commands, owner-model defaults, standing constraints and host rules as read from `spire:project`, with the brief taking precedence.

**Attacking the plan**
- Explicit step after planning: fresh agent, adversarial against the code, then reshape, one step → SKILL "Attack the plan", paragraph 1. Igor's Development Cycle stage (4b).
- It pays for dropping per-task review → SKILL "Attack the plan", paragraph 2; Igor (4b) "It is what pays for dropping per-task review."
- Intent, not a checklist of output fields → SKILL prose. No required fields.
- Risk list is not the phase reviewer's scope → SKILL "Attack the plan", paragraph 3; Igor stage (6).
- Outside the Athanor, user sees the reshaped plan → SKILL cycle diagram and "Under Igor, Igor dispatches the plan, the attack and every phase review"; Igor (4b) "Show the user the build plan and its open decisions before the door closes"; athanor "Keepers": it does not plan or attack.

**Lean build loop**
- Gate between blocks; at phase end tests once, one review, one fix pass, re-check only Critical/Important, stop; minors fixed or logged → SKILL "Building a phase" and "Phase review, fix, stop"; Igor decision tree items 1–2.
- Phase review dispatched by Igor, fresh, model id stamped, answers every flag, hunts weakened checks and tests that cannot fail → SKILL "Phase review, fix, stop"; Igor stage (6).
- Extra reviews possible as a reasoned choice → SKILL "Attack the plan", paragraph 3, and the last bullet of "Phase review"; Igor "long loops and extra reviews … need a stated reason".

**Athanor is a build furnace**
- One phase per turn: intake (trunk and trunk notes), foreground blocks, gate, tests once, run log, hand back → `athanor.md` "One phase per turn", steps 1–6; template in `run-log.md`.
- Igor resumes for the fix pass and the next phase, or starts fresh from the run log and trunk notes → Igor "Athanor queuing"; `athanor.md` "When Igor resumes you…"; the athanor deliverable reports whether it has room left.
- Plan sets block size and owner defaults; Athanor may deviate with a logged reason → `athanor.md` paragraph after the steps; SKILL "Deviate with a reason".
- Does not plan, attack plans, or review its own output → `athanor.md` frontmatter description and the first keeper.
- Trunk and forks as an option, verified vs. assumed marked, forks inherit the model → SKILL "Context: fresh, fork, or keep", paragraph 2; `athanor.md` step 2; `spawning-claude-code.md` "Fork" table (inherits model: verified; copies the caller and starts at the caller's token count: assumed; nested forks and foreground return: unknown).

**Models**
- Opus 5.5 is the default for Athanor, planning, attack and review; Athanor pinned → `athanor.md` `model: claude-opus-5-5`; `models.md` "Defaults"; Igor stages (4), (4b), (6); `model-tiers.md` last rule.
- Alias-over-pin; omit `model` for pinned agents unless deliberately overriding; stamp → Igor "Model must be explicit — and deliberate"; `model-tiers.md` rules; `spawning-claude-code.md` "Models" table.
- Model notes are observations, not law, with the user's points → `models.md` (5.5: catches more, bold, replaces small reviews especially in Rust, holy-word / 100% reversal; 4.6: fast, capable, better at intent, "understanding the human" interpreter; Fable better still; Sonnet/Haiku neutral, and the Sonnet experiment's defects are attributed largely to the plan).
- Stale guidance removed → `model-tiers.md` (4.6 rule gone); Igor User conventions ("review between tasks" gone); old SKILL "Run tests between agents" gone. `models.md` records the withdrawal with its date.

**Context sizes are guesstimates**
- Figures labelled as guesstimates; judgment between the two extremes → `models.md` intro and the "Context and block size" section; SKILL "Context: fresh, fork, or keep", paragraph 1.
- Future work: introspection and signals → `models.md`, the last paragraph.

**Superpowers is a toolbox**
- `subagent-driven-development` no longer preloaded; other skills remain tools; lean rules win → `athanor.md` frontmatter (no superpowers) and "Tools, not the loop"; SKILL "Composition".
- Plan-writing swappable → SKILL "Attack the plan", last paragraph.

**Journals stay central**
- Journals and the run log are the record; journals are raw material for later mining (future work) → SKILL "Writing things down"; `run-log.md` intro.

## Deviations from the goal or brief

- **No version bump.** The brief asked for one; Igor withdrew that mid-task. Both `plugin.json` files are untouched.
- **Igor's Athanor paragraph and delegation-table row changed.** These were not on the list of targeted edits. They said "it decomposes the work itself" and did not mention the pin, which contradicts the build-furnace role and the model rule. I changed only those two lines.
- **Igor's harness-notes pointer rule changed** to name the new reference. `harness-notes.md` is kept as a short pointer, so both paths work.
- **Small jobs without the Athanor.** The redesign's "skip the athanor for one or two blocks" is covered by the SKILL's "If one agent can do the whole change in one go, do it inline". I added no separate rule for it.

## Flagged for the reviewer

1. **Adept dispatch still passes `model: "opus"`.** `adept.md` is pinned to `claude-opus-4-6[1m]`, and Igor's adept spawn examples and table row pass `opus`. Under the new rule this counts as a deliberate override, so the adept gets whatever `opus` resolves to, not 4.6. I deliberately did not name adept in the rule's examples, and I left the adept lines alone because they are out of scope. Decide whether adepts should drop the alias or keep the override.
2. **Igor, adept and zathras are pinned to `claude-opus-4-6[1m]`.** The goal sets 5.5 as the default for the Athanor, planning, attack and review, not for Igor. I left these pins alone. Combined with the alias rule, an Igor on 4.6 that passes `opus` to a general-purpose agent may get 4.6 (the user's observation). For planner, attack and review dispatches that should be 5.5, Igor may need a pinned role agent, or Igor itself on 5.5. I did not add new role agents (out of scope).
3. **How the alias resolves.** The two observations conflict on the surface. Spacecraft saw `opus` resolve to 5.5 in 184 of 184 cases, probably under a 5.5 caller. The user saw a 4.6 Igor produce a 4.6 Athanor. I recorded both, marked the mechanism as assumed, and wrote the rule so it holds either way: the alias, not the pin, decides.
4. **"Verified" claims rest on the tool schema** visible to me on 2026-10-05, not on executed tests. Fork behaviour beyond "inherits the model" is assumed or unknown. The trunk-and-forks option is described as such, and the preflight is still pending (out of scope).
5. **The `spire:project` template** (`igor/references/project.md`, `/spire:init`) has no dedicated fields for the build settings the skill now reads: worktrees, gate commands, owner-model defaults, standing constraints. They fit under "Verification commands" and "Conventions" today. A follow-up could add explicit fields. I left it alone because it was not in scope.
6. **The Haiku note in `models.md`** ("reported 'no deviations' alongside misplaced edits") is single-incident evidence. It sits in a reference with its source, which the brief allows, but it is the least neutral line in the Sonnet/Haiku section.
7. **Igor decision tree item 2** sends Critical/Important findings to one fix pass by resuming the Athanor. The goal does not settle who fixes (a fresh fixer or the Athanor). The SKILL leaves it open, and Igor's text defaults to the Athanor because the goal says "Igor resumes the Athanor … for the fix pass".

## Fix pass

**Author**: `claude-opus-5-5`. **Commit**: `5909221` 🤖 Apply lean Athanor review fixes. Review: [2026-10-05-22-lean-athanor-review](./2026-10-05-22-lean-athanor-review.md).

| Finding | Status | Where / reason |
|---|---|---|
| I1 adept `model: "opus"` over the pin | fixed | `igor/SKILL.md`: the table row and the three spawn templates no longer pass `model`. No agent pins changed. |
| I2 nothing secures 5.5 for plan, attack and review | fixed (guard only) | `igor/SKILL.md` model rule: Igor checks the stamped id of the plan, attack and phase review, and re-dispatches or tells the user if it is not the intended model. Pinned 5.5 role agents remain a follow-up. |
| I3 research + implementation go to the Athanor as one brief | fixed | `model-tiers.md`: implementation goes plan → attack → build; the Athanor gets only build plans or non-build briefs. |
| Legend: "verified" means read from the schema | fixed | `spawning-claude-code.md` legend. Fork availability is a separate row, marked unverified. The model-id row is now "observed" for general-purpose agents only. |
| M2 confounded alias-over-pin evidence | fixed | The dirigent case is marked as fitting both readings; 184/184 is cited instead, in the reference and in Igor's rule. Added an "unknown" row for how the alias resolves. |
| M1 trunk notes optional vs mandatory | fixed | `run-log.md`: written by the Athanor at intake; the header no longer allows "none". |
| M3 `[1m]` on the Athanor pin | left, needs decision | Pin unchanged, as instructed. Recorded as an "unknown" row in the spawning reference's Models table. The user decides whether to pin `claude-opus-5-5[1m]`. |
| M4 re-check failure path | fixed | `SKILL.md` and Igor decision tree: a Critical or Important that survives the re-check goes to the user or into a new plan. |
| M5 fork context stated as fact | fixed | `SKILL.md` and `athanor.md` now say context inheritance is assumed. |
| M6 staging hard-coded | fixed | `athanor.md`: "Stage per project config (default: explicit paths)". |
| M7 "tests pass" is a claim | fixed | `athanor.md` step 4: read the fix diff for loosened assertions or deleted checks before reporting green. |
| M8 duplicate block times; Haiku line | fixed | Per-phase table no longer has time columns (times stay in the handoff notes). The Haiku line now reads as a plain observation. "Six stages" became "the stages below". |
| Flag 4: `spire:project` template fields | left | Follow-up, as the review says. |