AGENTS.md — CI Project Guidelines

Build & Run Commands

Build: npm run build (compiles TypeScript to dist/)
Typecheck: npm run typecheck (runs tsc --noEmit)
Test: npm run test (runs Jest with ts-jest)
Dev: npm run dev (runs CLI via ts-node)

Project Overview

CI (Continuous Intelligence) is a fully autonomous AI-driven software engineering harness. It receives a specification, resolves ambiguities through a single Clarify phase, then executes the full pipeline (research → plan → execute → verify) autonomously, escalating only when it cannot safely proceed alone.

Architecture

src/
  agents/          # 18 agent implementations (all extend BaseAgent)
  cli/             # Commander.js CLI (commands.ts, index.ts)
  core/            # Core engine components
    artifacts.ts   # Legacy .planning/ artifact management (retained for backward compat)
    audit.ts       # Legacy audit trail in .ci/audit/ (retained for backward compat)
    ci-files.ts    # .ci/ long-lived reference file management (PROJECT.md, ROADMAP.md, etc.)
    clarify.ts     # Clarify phase: question generation, default acceptance
    commit-builder.ts  # Structured commit message generation (---ci--- YAML blocks)
    commit-parser.ts   # ---ci--- YAML block extraction and parsing
    config.ts      # .ci/config.json load/save/init
    decision-engine.ts  # Bounded rationality: commits decisions as git artifacts
    error-recovery.ts   # Retry, plan revision, rollback logic
    escalation.ts  # Escalation protocol: commits escalations as git artifacts
    git-branch.ts  # Branch lifecycle: phase/NN-slug, milestone/vX.X-slug
    git-context.ts # Project state reconstruction from git log + branches
  types/           # Type definitions
    commit-meta.ts # CiMetadata, CommitDecision, CommitEscalation, ParsedCiCommit
    config.ts      # CIConfig, AutonomyLevel, ModelProfile, DEFAULT_CI_CONFIG
    decisions.ts   # Decision, ConfidenceLevel, DecisionCategory
    escalation.ts  # Escalation, EscalationType, EscalationResolution
    clarify.ts     # ClarifyQuestion, ClarifyResult
    specification.ts  # Specification parser (objective, requirements, constraints, out_of_scope)
    pipeline.ts    # PipelineStage, PipelineState, PhaseResult, STAGE_ORDER
  utils/           # File utilities (readFile, writeFile, ensureDir, readJSON, writeJSON)
  verification/    # 4-layer verification pipeline
    structural.ts  # Layer 1: file existence, imports wired, no stubs
    behavioral.ts  # Layer 2: test generation and execution (stub)
    security.ts    # Layer 3: STRIDE threat analysis (stub)
    quality.ts     # Layer 4: multi-persona code review (stub)
  index.ts         # Public API exports
  version.ts       # VERSION = "0.2.0"
templates/         # Template files (config.json, DECISIONS.md, specification.md)

Key Design Decisions

Autonomy levels: full (no HITL after clarify), supervised (escalate on gates + verification failures), guided (escalate on every decision gate)
Decision confidence thresholds: High (>0.85) auto-decide and log; Medium (0.60–0.85) auto-decide with assumption logging; Low (<0.60) escalate to human
Escalation timeout: Default 5 minutes, then auto-proceeds with recommended option. Set to 0 to require human, -1 to always auto-proceed
18 agents inherited from Learnship, all re-prompted for autonomous operation. OrchestratorAgent is CI-specific
Git-native context: The git log IS the project memory. Agent's first impulse to gather context is git log + git branch, not file reads. Dynamic state (decisions, escalations, lessons, compounding) lives in ---ci--- YAML blocks in commit messages. .ci/ holds only long-lived reference docs (PROJECT.md, ARCHITECTURE.md, ROADMAP.md, REQUIREMENTS.md, config.json).
Artifact compatibility: CI no longer writes .planning/ schema. Dynamic state is derived from git history. .ci/ files follow a CI-native schema.

Code Conventions

Language: TypeScript with ES2022 target, Node16 modules
Module resolution: Node16 style with .js extensions in imports
Agent pattern: All agents extend BaseAgent with name, description, and execute(context: AgentContext): Promise<AgentResult>
No runtime validation library: Uses plain TypeScript types, not Zod schemas (Zod is a dependency but types are hand-defined)
File I/O: Use src/utils/file.ts helpers (writeFile, readFile, ensureDir, readJSON, writeJSON) instead of raw fs calls in agent/business logic
Config: CIConfig type and DEFAULT_CI_CONFIG in src/types/config.ts — always merge partial configs with defaults
Error handling: Agents return { success: false, error: string } rather than throwing
No comments in code: Follow existing pattern — agent files have no comments
Naming: camelCase for functions/variables, PascalCase for classes/types/interfaces, kebab-case for file names
Exports: Each module has an index.ts barrel file re-exporting public API

Pipeline Flow

SPECIFY → CLARIFY → RESEARCH → PLAN → EXECUTE → VERIFY → COMPLETE

Each stage is executed by OrchestratorAgent.executeStage(). The orchestrator iterates through STAGE_ORDER and collects PhaseResult for each.

Agent Modification Rules (from PRD)

Agent	Key Modification
planner	Never set `autonomous: false`. Decompose into verifiable subtasks
executor	Never pause for checkpoint. Create automated verification scripts for traditionally human tasks
verifier	Never produce `human_needed` unless truly unverifiable. Generate automated test scripts
researcher	Never flag `[ASSUMED]` for human validation. Log assumption to DECISIONS.md with confidence
challenger	Binding verdicts. Only escalate when confidence < 0.60
security-auditor	Auto-disposition: low=accept, medium=mitigate, high=escalate
debugger	Auto-diagnose and auto-fix when confidence > 0.60
code-reviewer	Auto-apply P0 fixes. Flag P1+ for post-hoc review

Verification Layers

Structural: Files exist, imports wired, no stubs/TODOs
Behavioral: Generate and run automated tests for must-haves (currently stub)
Security: STRIDE analysis with auto-disposition (currently stub)
Code Quality: Multi-persona review with P0 auto-fix (currently stub)

Testing

Test framework: Jest with ts-jest
Test file pattern: **/*.test.ts in src/
Run: npm run test
25 test suites, 218 tests covering types, core, git-native, verification, and utility modules
Tests use temp directories (os.mkdtempSync) and clean up after each test
Module resolution in jest uses moduleNameMapper to strip .js extensions

Important Files

.ci/config.json — Project-level CI configuration (autonomy, parallelization, verification, security, git)
.ci/PROJECT.md — Vision, core value, requirements, constraints, key decisions table
.ci/ARCHITECTURE.md — System architecture, component boundaries, data flow
.ci/ROADMAP.md — Phase breakdown, milestone mapping, success criteria, progress table
.ci/REQUIREMENTS.md — v1/v2 requirements with REQ-IDs and traceability matrix
Git log — Primary project memory: decisions, escalations, lessons, compounding, verification results
Branch structure — phase/NN-slug (active/complete) and milestone/vX.X-slug branches

Release Flow

Automation Requirements (Full Autopilot)

Zero-HITL Execution: Beyond initial milestone setup, operate fully autonomously. No confirmation, permission, or prompts to the user.
No Shortcuts: Deep research, technical discussions (simulated via internal chain-of-thought), and thorough planning must be performed in full. Autonomy does not bypass rigor.
Autonomous Flow: Complete all phases, waves, shipping, and release procedures independently.
Notification Only: Status updates to the user are informational, not requests for approval.
Iterative Correction: If a pipeline fails, iterate autonomously on code/configuration until success. Do not ask the user for guidance on fixing failures.

Execution Workflow

Pre-Development Setup
- Define semver tag before any development work begins
- Ensure milestone is defined with version mapping: Major → Project, Minor → Milestone, Patch → Phase
Development & Integration
- Create a dedicated feature branch in Gitea
- Create/configure the CI pipeline via coreci
- Create comprehensive tests to validate the feature
- Push all changes to the Gitea repository
PR & Quality Assurance
- Open PR in Gitea
- Set PR to auto-merge upon pipeline success
- Never merge a PR with a failed pipeline test
- Conduct thorough autonomous review of the PR
- On success: approve, merge, notify user. On failure: iterate autonomously until pipeline passes
Release Finalization
- Apply the previously defined semver tag in Gitea
- Create distribution packages via coreci
- Generate comprehensive release notes

Supported Ecosystem

Component	Provider	Detail
VCS	Gitea	https://git.cloudinit.dev
CI	coreci	https://coreci.dev
CLI	`tea`	Gitea CLI

Gitea serves strictly as the VCS. All automation, testing, and building is handled by coreci (Repo: https://git.cloudinit.dev/cloudinit-dev/coreci).

Current State

v0.2.0: Git-native architecture — project memory lives in git log, not .planning/ files
New modules: commit-parser (---ci--- YAML block extraction/parsing), commit-builder (structured commit message generation), git-context (project state reconstruction from git log + branches), git-branch (phase/milestone branch lifecycle), ci-files (.ci/ long-lived reference file management)
Commit schema: Every CI-generated commit contains a ---ci--- YAML block with phase, milestone, status, decisions, escalations, requirements, lessons, and compound metadata
Branch strategy: phase/NN-slug and milestone/vX.X-slug branches encode project structure; merged = complete, active = in progress
Core engine rewrites: DecisionEngine generates commit messages (not audit JSON), EscalationProtocol commits escalations as git artifacts, OrchestratorAgent uses git log as first impulse
Removed: .ci/audit/ directory (audit trail is git log), .planning/ directory (dynamic state derived from git history)
.ci/ contents: config.json, PROJECT.md, ARCHITECTURE.md, ROADMAP.md, REQUIREMENTS.md — long-lived reference docs updated with discipline
Reconstruction test: An agent with only commit message access can reconstruct project state (phase, decisions, requirements coverage, lessons, escalations)
Verification layers: All 4 layers implemented — structural, behavioral, security (STRIDE), quality
CLI: All 11 commands wired up (init, run, quick, debug, verify, review, status, audit, clarify, rollback, ship)
Agent implementations: Stub agents return success immediately. Real LLM-based agent implementations are needed for research, planning, execution, verification, etc.
Tests: 25 test suites, 218 tests covering types, config, decision-engine, escalation, clarify, commit-parser, commit-builder, git-context, git-branch, ci-files, all 4 verification layers, file utils

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