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

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.