Specgate Work Delivery

Delivering Work

Apply the [SpecGate operating contract](../specgate/SKILL.md#operating-contract). This phase implements the approved contract, then stops at the next actor. Never approve an artifact or make a human delivery decision.

1. Load the exact contract

Start with the named work item:

specgate work show "$WORK_REF" --json
specgate work context "$WORK_REF" --json
specgate change status "$WORK_REF" --json

Stop before editing when approval is absent, the Context Pack is stale, or criteria are missing or placeholders. Quick work may lack an artifact. If artifact-backed work lacks its canonical approved version, hand the blocker to the human or specgate-work-preparation.

Read only change status.data:

• If data.next_actor is not implementing_agent, hand off without editing.
• For review_pending, require next_command to be exactly one specgate CLI

command without shell operators. Otherwise hand off. Run it verbatim immediately before sections 2–5. On failure, go to section 7. On success, reread only Change status and route again; stop if still review_pending.

• For rework_requested, record guidance and missing, then carry this

sequence through later steps: focused fix, affected checks, updated evidence, submit, fresh status. Never submit old evidence first.

• Otherwise record missing and guidance, then enter next_command's named

section; stop if none matches.

Completion criterion: every change/check maps to a criterion or required repository-doc update.

2. Resume safely

When resuming, check the persisted receipt:

specgate change status "$WORK_REF" --json

Continue only when freshness confirms a match. Stop on any mismatch signaled by stale: true. Treat an unavailable comparison as a blocker. Receipt metadata is not source, a patch, or cryptographic proof.

Completion criterion: the receipt matches this checkout, or mismatch is a human-owned blocker.

3. Check artifact drift

Skip when no artifact exists. Otherwise dispatch tasks, locate spec_repo_drift, and follow its frozen skill_content:

specgate gates tasks dispatch "$ARTIFACT_ID" --json
specgate gates tasks list "$ARTIFACT_ID" --json
specgate gates tasks show  --json
specgate gates tasks submit-result  \
  --file .specgate/work/gate-.json --json

Use exact task digests. Put examined_docs and repo_commit under evidence; keep findings top-level. Report out-of-scope drift without editing it.

Completion criterion: the exact drift task has a result, or no artifact exists.

4. Implement and verify

Implement approved scope and preserve non-goals. Record required tests, lint, type checks, builds, and every skip reason. Never mutate an approved snapshot; a new artifact version belongs to specgate-work-preparation.

For a pull or merge request, include `` in its description. Do not infer work identity from branches, titles, commits, filenames, headings, or keywords.

Completion criterion: every criterion is implemented or explicitly not done, and every required check has an observed result or explained skip.

5. Report criterion evidence

Create the CLI-owned scaffold:

specgate delivery report "$WORK_REF" --init --json

Keep returned data.path verbatim as $COMPLETION_PATH. When command reports an existing regular scaffold, reuse exact error.details.path only when change_request_id matches work show; when context_digest is present, it must match the Context Pack. Never overwrite automatically. Stop when an existing file cannot be attributed safely.

Fill agent.name, summary, affected_files, checks[], and exactly one criteria[] entry per canonical criterion. Give each criterion an independently reviewable claim and evidence path, line, heading, file key, or URL; a command name alone is not evidence. Replace every pending check with pass, fail, or skipped plus observed detail; submission rejects untouched placeholders. Evidence paths must exist. satisfied cannot depend on a failed, missing, or skipped required check. Every non-skipped checks[].command must be non-interactive and valid for sh -c.

Review the completion file, especially its shell commands, then submit:

specgate change submit "$WORK_REF" \
  --file "$COMPLETION_PATH" --run-checks --yes --json
specgate change status "$WORK_REF" --json

--run-checks replaces self-reported results with observed results. Fix failures before claiming completion.

Completion criterion: submission succeeded and fresh Change status was read.

6. Follow the authoritative actor

Use only change status.data. For implementing_agent, complete missing, run the supplied SpecGate next_command at its named step, then read status again. A scaffold command does not complete work.

Hand off next_command verbatim.

For human_reviewer, maintainer, or none, stop. awaiting_review belongs to the human reviewer. Run peer review only when the human explicitly requests it; use a different review-only agent:

specgate delivery peer-review "$WORK_REF" --init --json
specgate delivery peer-review "$WORK_REF" \
  --file "$PEER_REVIEW_PATH" --json

Keep its returned data.path verbatim as $PEER_REVIEW_PATH; apply the same existing-file rule.

A pass means ready for human review, not accepted. Implementing agent never runs accept, request-changes, or another human-decision command.

Completion criterion: the implementing agent has no remaining authoritative action, or one exact blocker is reported.

7. Show the delivery handoff

Read specgate change status "$WORK_REF" --json immediately before responding. For awaiting_acceptance, render:

SpecGate delivery receipt —  ()
Evidence: 
Assurance: 
Decision: 
Receipt: 
Freshness: 
[Stale:  — only when stale]
Next (): 

Preserve values verbatim. Stale is a warning, not a state override. For any other state, show a compact SpecGate delivery handoff with state, missing, next_actor, and next_command; do not use success wording. If status fails, report failure. If state is accepted, echo it without claiming this agent accepted it.

In Full mode only, use the URL returned by specgate open "$WORK_REF" --print --json. In Local mode, never call open. Do not read the completion file again or call stats or audit. Never claim cleanup eligibility, bugs prevented, time saved, accepted, or delivered without authoritative status.

Completion criterion: the response names state, evidence quality, freshness, next actor, and next command without crossing authority.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: thanhtung2693
• Source: thanhtung2693/specgate
• License: Apache-2.0
• Homepage: https://thanhtung2693.github.io/specgate/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.