PABCD Workflow

PABCD is codexclaw’s work loop: Plan → Audit → Build → Check → Done, with an optional Interview phase up front (IPABCD). The same file state backs every way you drive it.

stateDiagram-v2
  [*] --> IDLE
  IDLE --> I: interview
  IDLE --> P: plan
  I --> P: soft-gate
  P --> A: attest
  A --> B: auditPassed
  B --> C: attest
  C --> D: checkPassed + checkOutput
  D --> IDLE: close

Three ways to drive it

1. Natural-language trigger — describe planning/auditing/building work and the UserPromptSubmit hook injects the matching phase directive.
2. Chat orchestrate grammar — type orchestrate <phase> (or $cxc-orchestrate) in chat. A human chat command is a free-pass source.
3. cxc orchestrate CLI — the agent/CLI path is attest-gated.

The attest gate

Forward transitions require an --attest block; narration alone does not advance the state. A plain cxc orchestrate <phase> from an agent without attestation is rejected.

cxc orchestrate A --attest '{"from":"P","to":"A","did":"the plan you wrote"}'

The C → D transition additionally needs the check output and a zero exit code:

cxc orchestrate D --attest '{"from":"C","to":"D","did":"what you checked","checkOutput":"289/289 pass","exitCode":0}'

Human free-pass vs agent gate

• A human chat command transitions freely (actor: "human"), and a human may override the I → P soft-gate. The override and its scan evidence are recorded in the ledger.
• An agent / CLI transition (actor: "agent") is attest-gated and cannot rubber-stamp a phase.

D is a closing action

D closes the cycle and returns the phase to IDLE. It is not a resting badge — you should not see a session sitting at D. Inspect or reset any time:

cxc orchestrate status
cxc orchestrate reset

Stop continuation

Disable PABCD hooks

Set CODEXCLAW_PABCD=off (also accepts 0 or false), or add this to the project-root codexclaw.json:

{ "pabcd": { "enabled": false } }

The environment setting takes precedence: on, 1, or true enables PABCD hooks even when the project setting is false. Values are case-insensitive and surrounding spaces are ignored. An unrecognized value uses the project setting. PABCD hooks are enabled by default when the setting is absent or the config is malformed.

This switch silences PABCD hook dispatch in this component. Worktree, memory-write, automation-ownership, apply-patch lint, and independent goal safety guards remain active. It does not erase session state or disable CLI commands. cxc config interview off changes only Interview promotion; it does not disable PABCD hooks.

Under an active native goal, the Stop hook returns {"decision":"block","reason":...} to keep the agent advancing — both mid-cycle (continue the current phase) and at IDLE with no in-flight cycle (GOAL-IDLE-CONTINUE-01: arm the next work-phase with cxc orchestrate P or close the goal honestly). Termination stays total via three guards:

• No active goal — a plain interactive session never enters the loop (IDLE or mid-cycle without a goal pauses for the human).
• Context-pressure bail — do not pile on during compaction recovery.
• Stagnation cap — after a bounded number of consecutive blocks at the same phase with no transition, the loop releases. A real transition resets the counter. This cap is the single total-termination bound: the old unconditional stop_hook_active release was removed (it capped an armed loop at one continuation per turn).

update_goal {status:"complete"} is gated deterministically (GOAL-COMPLETE-GATE-01): a PreToolUse hook denies it while a PABCD cycle is in flight, or while a session-bound goalplan fails the E8 cxc loop validate gate (unmet criteria, undone work phases, evidence-free met marks, or an empty unregistered plan). status:"blocked" always passes as the honest escape hatch.