/cook

Contract

cook(spec_ref, correction = false) -> handoff(next = age | mold | done).

Cook returns next: mold for a specification failure. A fan run also returns next: mold for a stalled remediation scope, a curd that does not pass, or partial coverage.

Cook does not require a failing test first and does not load a gate receipt. For behavior work, Cook owns first acceptance coverage before Press; see references/tdd-loop.md § Inner TDD. This is a reported obligation, not a gate. For documentation, refactor, test, or appearance work, change that surface and verify it directly. Use correction = true only for an active Press finding or coverage_gap; see references/press-loop.md. Do not weaken an existing test.

Phase entry

Run python3 skills/cook/scripts/cook.pyz wheypoint-resolve --ref <slug>. authoritative uses the record; its working_context is the first batched tilth_read. not-found proceeds cold; legacy shows its source and slug, then proceeds. gated, ambiguous, and error stop and show the payload. Show advisory stale-commit and grounded-path-missing findings. Keep its record.revision_id as <base> (§ Base revision).

Inputs

Accept a pasted spec or issue, focused acceptance criteria, or an unambiguous task. Read explicit spec paths verbatim. Resolve a bare slug to path from python3 skills/cook/scripts/cook.pyz artifact-path specs <slug>. A Mold spec path or finalized direct inputs enter through § Mold-to-Cook ingress. Flags:

• --auto chains /age → /cure after the in-Cook Press loop.
• --prototype runs a plan → spike → check loop, then stabilizes; read references/prototype-mode.md.
• --hard propagates through /plate.
• --open-pr lets terminal /plate publish. Auto mode never adds this flag.
• --resume <slug> resumes a typed fan handoff and its referenced artifacts.
• --result <path> runs a ready Mold result.
• --spec <spec-path> names the selected Mold spec. A plan whose dependencies cross landing.layers is refused before coder dispatch.

Optional context payload:

• handoff_context.wiki_hits carries {page, line, why} entries from the repository wiki corpus. The key is optional, and its default is absent. Reject an entry that omits page, line, or why. Show every accepted hit in the Contract step so the user can challenge a stale decision; prefer these decisions over an invented approach. ../cheese/references/handoff-gate.md defines the payload.

Read references/auto-mode.md, references/fan-pathway.md, and ../cheese/references/formatting.md for these policies.

Standalone fast-path

/cook bypasses /mold only when the inputs, outputs, scope, and verification are clear. The task must name a bug or call site in one or two files and have a failing test or an expected-output check. No leverage trigger may fire; see ../cheese/references/routing-policy.md § Leverage triggers. Derive a slug, then restate the Contract. Route the task to /mold if an ambiguity check fails.

Flow

1. Contract — Confirm behavior, non-goals, scope, and gates. Print the shape-check block from ../mold/references/shape-check.md inside the Contract, or the line shape check skipped: single-module change per shape-check.md § When to skip. No block, no code. If .cheese/glossary/<slug>.md exists, use its canonical terms.
2. Implement — Write the test first where it fits; no gate requires it. For non-behavior work, change only the applicable surface.
3. Validate — Run the relevant quality gates again. Read the complete gate output; for non-behavior work, verify the requested path.
4. Taste-test — Use a fresh-context review for multi-file or public-surface diffs. Otherwise use an inline review, limited to two rounds. Read references/tdd-loop.md for details.
5. Press loop — For behavior work, Cook dispatches a fresh-context Press agent; no menu. Read references/press-loop.md. Non-behavior work skips this step.
6. Hand off — Write the package report and slug, then route to /age → /cure.

Fan pathway

/cook selects one of three shapes from the typed planner result. Read references/fan-pathway.md for topology and lifecycle.

Fast path. Use the single-coder path for one low- or medium-blast-radius curd.

Curded. Require a bound spec_ref, planner_result_ref, plan_ref, and exact MoldCookCoverage from a ready Mold finalization. The host validates them before execute_bound_plan dispatches any writer. Run cook(CurdPlan) → reviewer(age) with confirmed diagnosis and CureDiagnosisBinding through the progress-aware fan state machine until clean, stalled, or blocked. Each curd's Cook loop runs its own Press loop. The barrier runs Cook's integrated acceptance check on the merged tip. No global post-merge Press runs. Incomplete fan work never emits next: press; stalls route to Mold remediation planning.

Un-curded. Keep small work in the single-coder path. For big work, ask "12 ACs -> 5 curds, 2 waves, up to 25 agent dispatches. Go?" unless --auto. Keep waves at a maximum of four.

Use python3 skills/cook/scripts/cook.pyz worktree teardown for cleanup. Propagate --auto through dispatched phases.

Baseline capture

Fan mode records its quality-debt comparison before any curd cooks; bare mode records it on the pre-change tree. references/quality-gates.md defines exact capture, classification, intentional-RED exclusion, and baseline-artifact rules.

For source changes, follow code-intelligence-routing.md and harness-portability.md. slash commands are host renderings, not the control model; invoke the equivalent installed capability.

Quality gates

Run only existing project commands. Run the most relevant tests for the changed area. Also run lint, type, and build commands when the project defines them. Do not remove, skip, or weaken unrelated tests to make the change pass.

Use the baseline for gate failures. references/quality-gates.md defines the policy, the classification terms, and the baseline artifact.

references/writer-views.md generates schemas for writer-view payloads inline. The normalize and validate CLIs apply these schemas before agent-authored JSON reaches host-owned identifiers.

Output

Use the house style in ../cheese/references/formatting.md. Use references/package-report.md to report files, reasons, checks, risks, and the next skill.

Handoff slug

Write a minimum-shape handoff slug at the top of .cheese/cook/<slug>.md. Use the same file for the report; do not create a second file. Use this schema:

status: <canonical status field>
next: mold | age | done
artifact: <path to the upstream artifact this run consumed, or empty>
taste_test: inline-pass | dispatched-pass | revised | deferred-to-orchestrator
durable_flags: none | <one line per flag: what durable knowledge changed -> target wiki page>
baseline: none | <path to the baseline artifact — shape in references/quality-gates.md § Baseline block shape>
<one-line orientation: what cook changed>

The handback contract defines the canonical status: grammar, including ok and halt. Only next: and the additional keyed lines are specific to a phase.

artifact: names the upstream artifact that this run consumed. For a Mold route, use the approved spec path. Leave artifact: empty when this run consumed no upstream artifact. Do not point artifact: at this Cook report.

Use the canonical boundary writer when you emit this handoff for the typed fan result. Carry the result schema explicitly:

python3 skills/cook/scripts/cook.pyz write-handoff-artifact \
  --slug <slug> --status <status> --phase cook --next age [--base <base>] \
  --artifact <artifact-path> --orientation "<one-line orientation>" \
  --payload-schema https://schemas.easy-cheese.dev/curd-result \
  --grounded <path[#start-end]> \
  --body-file <path to the package report body>

The writer replaces the target file. Pass --body-file to keep the package report in the same file. Without that flag, the writer emits the preamble alone and removes the report.

For a replan or a specification failure, use --next mold with the https://schemas.easy-cheese.dev/planner-request payload. references/fan-pathway.md defines the request kind for each failure class. These phase and next values route only the legacy handoff file. The validated CurdPlan and normalized CurdResult remain the live fan state.

In a fan run, read each phase's handoff slug file from disk. Do not infer the handoff from stdout.

Set next: to the next runnable phase. Use age after the Press loop returns green, and after non-behavior work. Never publish next: press or next: cook; needs-context is a parent-owned same-phase retry. Use mold after a spec failure. Use done only at true completion. Omit taste_test: when its cost gate does not apply.

Set durable_flags: to none by default. Record only durable changes to architecture, protocols, conventions, or rationale. Record the target wiki page for each change. Set baseline: to the path of Cook's optional comparison artifact. That artifact holds baseline-identical debt and new or changed failures from the current broad gates. Use the shape in references/quality-gates.md. The preamble accepts one physical line for each key, so never inline the mapping.

Handoff

Pipeline: culture → mold → cook (⇄ press) → age → cure → plate

After you write the report and slug, use the shared handoff gate. Read its Standard forward-step menu in ../cheese/references/handoff-gate.md. The menu never offers Press. Behavior work reaches it only after the Press loop returns green. Start each option with the verb. Use these options for behavior and non-behavior work:

• Review the change (recommended) — /age <slug>.
• Plate it — /age <slug> --auto --open-pr: run the remaining review chain, then /plate resolves topology and publishes.
• Checkpoint & stop — /wheypoint.
• Stop — dispatch none.

Do not dispatch before selection. Run the selected command immediately. When the user invokes --auto, skip this gate. Take the route to /age directly.

Auto mode

Read references/auto-mode.md before auto mode. It defines validation, phase chains, early stops, Cure limits, publication ownership, fan isolation, and failure handling. Show each stopping report and reason; never downgrade the result. In the linear chain, Cook does not invoke /plate. In the fan pathway, the Cook orchestrator owns its own terminal /plate dispatch. Fan progress state, not the legacy phase tables, decides each next action.

No-chain isolation directive

A spawned phase agent does not chain forward by itself; the orchestrator controls the chain.

A terminal Age is publishable only with next: done. next: cure or a missing next halts the chain.

Rules

• Keep changes scoped to the accepted contract.
• Prefer existing dependencies and patterns.
• Build for the reviewer on the first pass: references/tdd-loop.md § Reviewable by construction.
• Keep import direction and crust integrity per ../cheese/references/sliced-bread.md.
• Stop before a new crust export, a cross-slice import of an internal, or a schema or contract change the spec does not name. Ask the user.
• Do not invent architecture that the spec already rejected.
• Stop and ask the user when implementation reveals a design decision that the spec does not answer.
• Stop and show the false premise before you write code if the spec or fast-path request uses one.
• Do not use an incorrect approach to satisfy the request literally.
• Apply the shared voice kernel in ../age/references/voice.md; start the report with the answer and name loaded assumptions in the contract.
• Mark residual risk as certain | speculating | don't know.
• Verification before status: ok: Identify the gate command, run it during the current turn, and read the complete output before you make the claim.
• Do not use should, probably, or I think.
• State what the gate output shows.

Agent resolution

Resolve through agent-resolution.md. Implementation uses a coder. Taste-test uses a reviewer. Harvest and plate stay parent-owned.

The handoff carries the agent_resolution block. Publish a terminal Age only when it contains next: done. Stop when it contains next: cure or does not contain next.

Generated bundle command inventory: references/commands.md.

Mold-to-Cook ingress

A saved Mold spec is not execution authority. Start Cook only when the user requests the selected scope and route. A standalone task, including --spec alone, may skip finalization. Spec-hold refusal: refuse a --spec run whose frontmatter has execution_holds or a do-not-implement or do-not-proceed request_directive. Refuse a non-ready --result file; a ready one passes cook.pyz validate-result before execute_bound_plan. Follow references/fan-pathway.md § Direct Mold-to-Cook ingress. Run the fresh-agent regression scenarios in references/evals.md when this boundary changes.