ci/README.md

# CI — Continuous Intelligence

Fully autonomous AI-driven software engineering harness.

## Overview

CI (Continuous Intelligence) is an autonomous-first software engineering harness that eliminates human-in-the-loop overhead while preserving the rigor of guided development. It receives a specification, resolves ambiguities through a single Clarify phase, then executes the full pipeline — research, plan, execute, verify — autonomously.

## Installation

```bash
npm install -g @continuous-intelligence/ci
```

Or from source:

```bash
git clone <repo-url>
cd ci
npm install
npm run build
npm link
```

## Quick Start

```bash
# Initialize from inline specification
ci init "Build a REST API for task management"

# Initialize from a specification file
ci init --spec ./specs/my-project.md

# Initialize with interactive clarify phase
ci init --clarify "Build a REST API for task management"

# Run the full autonomous pipeline
ci run --all

# Run a specific phase
ci run research
ci run plan
ci run execute
ci run verify

# Execute an ad-hoc task
ci quick "Add authentication middleware"

# Verify a phase
ci verify 1

# Check project status
ci status

# Review autonomous decisions
ci audit
ci audit --verbose

# Debug an issue
ci debug "Tests failing on CI"

# Rollback a phase
ci rollback 1

# Ship a phase (verify, security, commit, tag)
ci ship 1
```

## Autonomy Levels

| Level | Behavior |
|-------|----------|
| `full` | No human interaction after Clarify. Escalate only irreversible decisions. |
| `supervised` | Escalate on every Escalation Gate plus verification failures. |
| `guided` | Escalate on every Decision Gate. Closest to Learnship behavior. |

## Configuration

CI uses `.ci/config.json` for project configuration:

```json
{
  "autonomy": {
    "level": "full",
    "escalation_hooks": ["deploy", "delete_data", "merge_to_main"],
    "clarify_budget": 10,
    "decision_confidence_threshold": 0.6,
    "max_revision_iterations": 3,
    "max_verification_retries": 2,
    "escalation_timeout_ms": 300000
  },
  "model_profile": "quality",
  "parallelization": {
    "enabled": true,
    "max_concurrent_agents": 5,
    "min_plans_for_parallel": 2
  },
  "verification": {
    "automated_only": true,
    "escalate_visual": true,
    "escalate_external_integration": true,
    "test_first": false
  },
  "security": {
    "auto_accept_low_severity": true,
    "auto_mitigate_medium_severity": true,
    "escalate_high_severity": true
  },
  "git": {
    "branching_strategy": "phase",
    "auto_commit": true,
    "auto_push": false
  }
}
```

## Architecture

### Pipeline

```
SPECIFY → CLARIFY → RESEARCH → PLAN → EXECUTE → VERIFY → COMPLETE
               ↕               ↕         ↕          ↕
          (questions)    (auto-decide) (auto-run) (auto-verify)
```

### Decision Engine

Every autonomous decision is classified by confidence:
- **High (>0.85)**: Auto-decide, log to audit trail
- **Medium (0.60-0.85)**: Auto-decide with assumption logging, flag for review
- **Low (<0.60)**: Escalate to human

### 18 Agents

All 17 Learnship agents retained, plus the CI Orchestrator:

| Agent | Role | Modification |
|-------|------|-------------|
| orchestrator | Pipeline controller | New — replaces interactive workflows |
| planner | Plan creation | Never sets `autonomous: false` |
| executor | Task execution | Never pauses for checkpoints |
| verifier | Output verification | Generates automated tests, not human UAT |
| researcher | Domain research | Logs assumptions, never flags for human |
| challenger | Plan stress-testing | Binding verdicts, only escalates <0.60 |
| security-auditor | Security audit | Auto-dispositions threats |
| debugger | Bug fixing | Auto-fixes when confidence > threshold |
| Others | Various | Unchanged from Learnship |

### Verification Layers

1. **Structural**: File existence, import/export wiring, no stubs
2. **Behavioral**: Generated automated tests for must-haves
3. **Security**: STRIDE analysis with auto-disposition
4. **Code Quality**: Multi-persona review with P0 auto-fix

## Specification Format

```markdown
# Project: My Project

## Objective
Build a REST API for task management.

## Requirements
- User authentication (JWT-based)
- CRUD operations for tasks
- Real-time notifications

## Constraints
- Must use Node.js
- Must be production-ready

## Out of Scope
- Admin dashboard
- Mobile apps
```

## Escalation Protocol

When CI cannot proceed autonomously:

1. **Irreversible Action**: Deploy, delete, merge to protected branch
2. **Verification Failure**: Tests pass but functional verification fails
3. **Low Confidence Decision**: Critical decision below threshold
4. **Security Escalation**: High-severity threat detected
5. **Specification Ambiguity**: Multiple valid interpretations

Each escalation includes a recommended default with auto-proceed timeout.

## Differences from Learnship

| Dimension | Learnship | CI |
|-----------|-----------|-----|
| Human Interactions | 19+/lifecycle | 1-2/lifecycle |
| Decision Making | Human decides, agent implements | Agent decides, human reviews post-hoc |
| Verification | Human UAT | Automated tests + escalation |
| Specification | Multi-round conversation | Single spec file |
| Learning Curve | Moderate | Low (5 core commands) |

## License

MIT