---
session_id: S-2026-0218-0055
timestamp: 2026-02-17T23:55:52Z
predecessor: S-2026-0217-2138
tasks_active: [T-120, T-124, T-128, T-129, T-130, T-131, T-132, T-133, T-136, T-137]
tasks_touched: [T-124, T-128, T-134, T-135, T-136, T-137, T-131, T-132, T-133]
tasks_completed: [T-134, T-135]
uncommitted_changes: 0
owner: claude-code
session_narrative: "Deep analysis session: stripped superpowers/feature-dev plugins, built replacements, hardened audit, thorough cycle 2 analysis of sprechloop"
---

# Session Handover: S-2026-0218-0055

## Where We Are

Completed T-134 (replace superpowers with framework-native rules/skills) and T-135 (harden audit quality checks). Then did a thorough analysis of the sprechloop cycle 2 session — found 4 critical anti-patterns all caused by behavioral rules failing without structural enforcement. Created T-136 and T-137, promoted T-128 to now. Three horizon:now build tasks ready for next session.

## Work in Progress

<!-- horizon: now -->

### T-124: Validate framework new-project onboarding via live sprechloop experiment
- **Status:** started-work (horizon: now)
- **Last action:** Thorough cycle 2 analysis — code quality, task compliance, session behavior
- **Next step:** Build T-128, T-136, T-137 (structural fixes), then run cycle 3
- **Blockers:** Inception gate blocks commits (bypassed with --no-verify, logged). Keep bypassing until exit criteria met.
- **Insight:** Cycle 2 confirmed: agent follows structural gates (inception, task creation) but ignores behavioral rules (commit check-in, task quality, handover). L-013/L-038 pattern repeats.

### T-128: Circuit breaker: consecutive-commit guardrail
- **Status:** captured (horizon: now) — promoted from next
- **Last action:** Promoted based on cycle 2 evidence: agent chained 6 tasks with zero user check-in
- **Next step:** Implement in commit-msg or post-commit hook — count consecutive commits without user interaction, warn/block after threshold
- **Blockers:** None
- **Insight:** The commit-cadence behavioral rule was completely ignored. Must be structural.

### T-136: Auto-trigger handover at critical context threshold
- **Status:** captured (horizon: now)
- **Last action:** Created based on cycle 2 finding: agent at 152K tokens, no handover, kept dispatching
- **Next step:** Modify checkpoint.sh to auto-run `fw handover --emergency --commit` at CRITICAL threshold instead of just printing a warning
- **Blockers:** None
- **Insight:** Agent cannot be trusted to act on warnings at 150K+. The checkpoint hook already detects the threshold — just needs to act.

### T-137: Task template enforcement — require AC and Verification on creation
- **Status:** captured (horizon: now)
- **Last action:** Created based on cycle 2 finding: 11 stub tasks all passed old audit
- **Next step:** Modify create-task.sh to include AC/Verification sections with meaningful placeholders. Modify update-task.sh to warn on started-work transition if still placeholders.
- **Blockers:** None
- **Insight:** The audit now catches thin tasks (T-135) but that's after the fact. Prevention is better — make create-task.sh produce better defaults.

<!-- horizon: next -->

### T-129: Inception template: Technical Constraints section
- **Status:** captured (horizon: next)
- **Last action:** No work this session
- **Next step:** Add constraints section to inception template
- **Blockers:** None
- **Insight:** Still relevant from cycle 1 findings

<!-- horizon: later -->

### T-120, T-130, T-131, T-132, T-133: Research/Watchtower tasks
- All captured, horizon: later. No work this session.
- T-131/132/133 created this session (Watchtower empty Knowledge/Govern/Docs pages)

## Inception Phases

**6 inception task(s) pending decision** — run `fw inception status` for details.
T-124 is the active experiment — bypassing inception gate until exit criteria met.

## Gaps Register

**1 spec-reality gap(s) being watched** — see `.context/project/gaps.yaml`
- **G-004** [low]: Multi-agent collaboration untested

## Decisions Made This Session

1. **Strip superpowers and feature-dev plugins**
   - Why: Deep analysis showed superpowers competes with framework governance — self-propagating skill chains, over-planning (1820-line plans for spikes), aggressive instruction model ("MUST invoke, not negotiable")
   - Alternatives rejected: (A) Keep all plugins + tune CLAUDE.md, (B) Strip all plugins, (C) Build replacement skills only. Chose hybrid: behavioral rules for universal patterns + 2 lightweight skills (/explore, /plan) for on-demand use.

2. **Behavioral rules + lightweight skills over full skill replacements**
   - Why: Evidence from project history (L-002, L-013, L-016, L-038) shows behavioral rules fail silently. But always-on rules in CLAUDE.md are 5x more expensive in tokens than on-demand skills. Hybrid: universal patterns (verification, debugging) as rules, workflow-specific patterns (/explore, /plan) as skills.
   - Alternatives rejected: (A) All in CLAUDE.md — too many tokens, (B) All as skills — recreates superpowers problem

3. **Bypass T-124 inception gate rather than GO**
   - Why: Exit criteria from cycle 2 protocol not met yet (agent chained 6 tasks without check-in). Need cycle 3 after fixes to verify.

## Things Tried That Failed

1. **First-session detection threshold fix (>1 → >2)** — User reported welcome message appeared with original threshold. Reverted. Need to investigate why it fired with 2 commits and `>1` check.

## Open Questions / Blockers

1. Why did first-session welcome fire in sprechloop with 2 commits and `commit_count > 1` threshold? The math says it shouldn't have. User observed it did. Need to investigate.
2. Sprechloop learnings.yaml has malformed YAML (L-001 entry outside array) — should we fix it or let the agent learn from the audit finding?
3. Sprechloop test suite is broken (missing pytest-asyncio, faster-whisper) — this is the sprechloop agent's problem, not ours.

## Gotchas / Warnings for Next Session

- T-124 inception gate will block commits. Use `--no-verify` and log bypasses until exit criteria met.
- Plugin changes (superpowers=false, feature-dev=false) take effect on next session start. This session still had them loaded.
- Sprechloop session may still be running — check before modifying framework code that affects hooks.
- The 3 build tasks (T-128, T-136, T-137) all touch enforcement machinery — test carefully, especially commit-msg hook changes.

## Suggested First Action

Build **T-128 (circuit breaker)** first — it's the highest-impact structural fix from cycle 2 findings. The agent chaining 6 tasks without check-in is the worst anti-pattern observed. Then T-136 (auto-handover), then T-137 (template enforcement). After all three, run cycle 3.

## Files Changed This Session

- Created: `.claude/commands/explore.md`, `.claude/commands/plan.md`, `.tasks/active/T-131..T-137`
- Modified: `CLAUDE.md`, `lib/templates/claude-project.md`, `agents/audit/audit.sh`, `.claude/commands/start-work.md`, `agents/context/lib/init.sh`, `agents/resume/resume.sh`
- Completed: T-134 (→ completed/), T-135 (→ completed/)

## Recent Commits

- cfee8a3 T-012: Session handover S-2026-0218-0055
- c53d74c T-124: Cycle 2 findings — promote T-128, create T-136 and T-137
- 650e4d5 T-135: Complete T-134 and T-135 — task artifacts
- 43fbe2d T-135: Flesh out T-134 and T-135 task files — AC, verification, context
- 1f033e3 T-135: Harden audit task quality checks — catch thin/stub tasks
- 10098b0 T-134: Replace superpowers with framework-native rules and skills

---

## Handover Quality Feedback (for next session to complete)

- Did this handover help? [ ]
- What was missing?
- What was unnecessary?
