* test(3631): failing-first coverage for bytecode-cache in the consent hash
bundleContentHash digests a walk with no exclusion, so a routine 'python3 -m unittest'
inside a Python-backed capability bundle writes __pycache__ under the bundle, the
recomputed hash stops matching the consent record, and the capability silently goes
inactive — no error, no warning, and loop render-hooks then omits its step and gate.
Two distinct triggers, and the second is the sharper one: collectBundleEntries pushes a
{kind:'dir'} entry for EVERY directory and the digest emits a TAG_DIR marker for it, so an
EMPTY __pycache__/ flips the hash before a single .pyc is written. A fix filtering only
*.pyc would leave that live. Verified by execution against the built lib: 5 of 7 probe
rows diverge from intent today, including the empty-directory row.
The anti-regression rows are the point of the shape: editing a real scripts/m.py and
adding node_modules/pkg/index.js must BOTH still change the hash. node_modules is
deliberately not excludable — its contents are required at runtime, so dropping it from
the digest would stop consent binding executable content. The symlink row pins ordering:
exclusion must apply after the lstat fail-closed rejection, never before.
Refs #3631
* fix(3631): exclude derived bytecode caches from the consent digest
RED proven at e5ba8f1fe on the remote runner: 8 failures, exactly the rows predicted to
fail, with the four anti-regression rows already green.
collectBundleEntries now skips a hardcoded, gitignore-independent set from the DIGEST:
basenames __pycache__, .pytest_cache, .DS_Store, and any .pyc/.pyo file. Matching is
byte-exact on the raw Buffer name (the walk never utf8-decodes) and case-sensitive, so the
digest does not vary with how a name happens to be spelled on a case-insensitive volume.
Three properties were preserved deliberately, each pinned by a test:
- The filter runs AFTER the lstat symlink/non-regular fail-closed rejection. Filtering
first would have turned the exclusion into a way to smuggle a symlink past the check;
a symlink named x.pyc still throws.
- Excluded entries still count toward BUNDLE_MAX_FILES and BUNDLE_MAX_TOTAL_BYTES. The
caps guard the WALK; the digest answers a different question, and exclusion must not
become an unbounded-bytes hole.
- An excluded DIRECTORY is neither emitted as a TAG_DIR marker nor recursed into. The
directory marker was the sharper half of this bug: an empty __pycache__ flipped the
hash before any .pyc existed, so a *.pyc-only filter would have left it live.
The issue proposed either a gitignore-aware walk or a list including node_modules. Both
are rejected. A consent binding must not delegate its scope to a .gitignore the bundle
author does not control — one line there would drop arbitrary executable content out of
the hash. And node_modules holds code that is required at runtime; excluding it would stop
consent binding executable content, turning a usability bug into a supply-chain hole. What
makes __pycache__ different is that CPython validates each .pyc against its sibling
source, which remains hashed, so a real code change still invalidates consent.
Docs: CONTEXT.md's 'EVERY regular file AND directory' claim is corrected in place.
ADR-2363's residual-gap section said the walk had 'no exclusions' — per
docs/adr/README.md ('ADRs are append-only') that is corrected by a dated amendment rather
than an in-place edit. Its D4 argument is unaffected: skill bodies are .md and stay bound.
Fixes #3631
* fix(3631): narrow the digest exclusion after two isolated security reviews
The first cut of this fix passed the full suite and was still wrong. Both orthogonal
reviews rejected it, and the second one found a hole that has nothing to do with Python.
HIGH — an excluded DIRECTORY was 'continue'd before recursion, so its whole subtree was
permanently outside the digest. Declared hook script paths allow '_', '.' and '/' with no
directory or extension rule, so hooks:[{script:'__pycache__/run.js'}] installed, executed
via node, and its bytes could be rewritten forever without moving the hash. Ship benign
v1, collect consent, then own the machine. No Python involved.
FALSE RATIONALE — the justification I wrote into the code, CONTEXT.md, the ADR amendment
and the changeset claimed CPython validates a cached .pyc against its sibling source, so
the source staying hashed kept consent honest. That is not true, and I proved it by
execution rather than argument: default timestamp invalidation compares only the source's
mtime and size, both settable by anyone who can write the bundle. A forged pyc ran while
the .py was byte-identical.
Also wrong: '*.pyc' matched anywhere, but a legacy sourceless scripts/x.pyc IS importable,
so excluding it was a live vector.
Narrowed to what is actually defensible:
- a DIRECTORY named __pycache__/.pytest_cache has only its TAG_DIR marker suppressed;
the walk still recurses and hashes every non-excluded child.
- .pyc/.pyo are excluded ONLY when the parent basename is exactly __pycache__.
- a regular FILE named __pycache__, and a DIRECTORY named x.pyc, stay bound.
- declared hook paths containing a __pycache__/.pytest_cache segment or a .pyc/.pyo
basename are now rejected in both validator copies — a file named .pyc can contain
perfectly valid JavaScript, so the exclusion must not be reachable from a declared
surface.
Accepted residual risk, stated plainly in ADR-2363 and CONTEXT.md instead of explained
away: a forged __pycache__/mod.pyc matching an unmodified, still-hashed mod.py executes
without moving the digest. Before this change that write was detected. It is accepted to
stop routine bytecode caching from silently deactivating capabilities, and it is bounded —
the attacker needs post-consent write access, everything outside __pycache__/*.pyc stays
hashed, and no declared surface can point into the excluded space.
Known limitation, not papered over: .pytest_cache CONTENTS still move the digest. Only the
directory marker is suppressed. Excluding that subtree would reopen the HIGH finding.
Refs #3631
* fix(3631): drop the .DS_Store exclusion and pin what the caps actually bind
Second round of isolated review findings. The hardening closed the two original holes —
both re-reviews confirmed that by execution — but it introduced a new one of the same
shape, and left three claims unbacked.
HIGH, self-inflicted: .DS_Store was excluded from the digest at any depth, but the hook
path validator was hardened only for __pycache__/.pytest_cache/.pyc/.pyo. So
script:'hooks/.DS_Store' was ACCEPTED, runnableHookCommand emits the bare quoted path for
a non-.js name (the branch .sh hooks already use), and capability-source copies it with
its mode bit intact. Ship it +x with a benign shebang, take consent, then rewrite it
forever — the digest never moves. Fixed by DELETING the .DS_Store exclusion rather than
teaching the validator about it: .DS_Store has nothing to do with this issue's Python
bytecode symptom, and an excluded filename is a permanently unhashed name. The narrower
the exclusion, the smaller the hole.
The residual-risk bound in ADR-2363 and CONTEXT.md claimed declared surfaces cannot reach
excluded space. That is false and is now stated correctly: node resolves an unregistered
extension through the default .js handler, so a hashed, consent-covered hooks/run.js that
requires '../__pycache__/mod.pyc' reaches it in one hop. The validator guard raises the
bar for DECLARED surfaces; it does not contain the risk. The two bounds that are real —
post-consent write access required, everything outside __pycache__/*.pyc still hashed —
are kept.
The BUNDLE_MAX_FILES boundary test had gone vacuous: it padded with root-level *.pyc,
which the hardening made non-excluded, so it no longer proved anything about excluded
entries while the ADR claimed the caps were test-pinned. It now pads __pycache__/f{i}.pyc,
with the arithmetic re-derived by execution (capability.json + the still-counted
__pycache__ dir + N). BUNDLE_MAX_TOTAL_BYTES had zero coverage at all and is now pinned by
a sparse 32 MiB __pycache__/big.pyc that must still trip the size cap — the test that
proves exclusion did not become an unbounded-bytes hole.
Added the parity assertion CLAUDE.md's Generative Fix Divergence rule requires for the two
isSafeHookScriptPath copies, and proved it can fail: mutating one BUILT copy to drop .pyo
made the parity check report the divergence. Also pinned semantics that were correct but
untested and would have survived mutation — __pycache__/sub/x.pyc stays hashed (the parent
resets to sub, which is the recursion threading itself), .pytest_cache/y.pyc stays hashed,
and .pyo in both directions, which was a free surviving mutant.
Changeset rewritten: it still described the rejected wholesale-exclusion semantics.
Refs #3631
* chore(3631): backfill changeset PR number (#3650)
---------
Co-authored-by: sim <sim@local>
GSD Core documentation
Documentation is organised into four quadrants: tutorials help you learn by doing, how-to guides solve specific tasks, reference states authoritative facts, and explanation explores concepts and design decisions.
Language versions: English · Português (pt-BR) · 日本語 · 简体中文
Tutorials
- Your first project — install to first shipped phase, one guaranteed path
- Onboarding an existing codebase — bring GSD Core to a brownfield repo
- Build your first capability — author a tiny declarative capability and watch it act in the loop
- Install your first capability — install a third-party capability end-to-end: consent, verify, check for updates, remove
How-to guides
- Install on your runtime — runtime-specific install steps for all 16 supported runtimes
- Install a minimal GSD and add skills later — install only the core skills, then grow the surface with profiles and
/gsd-surface - Attach a plugin-provided skill to a GSD agent — use the
global:plugin:skillentry form to load Claude Code plugin skills into agent prompts - Discuss a phase — capture implementation decisions before planning begins
- Resolve edge-coverage findings — turn the spec phase's surfaced domain-boundary edges into covered, dismissed, or backstopped spec decisions
- Resolve prohibition findings — turn the spec phase's surfaced must-NOT constraints into resolved, dismissed, or deferred spec decisions
- Resolve an unreachable-workflow finding — wire or fully sweep a shipped workflow that no command, agent, or skill references
- Resolve a contract-drift finding — bring an agent's completion contract, read-tag gate, or deleted-file test reference back into agreement with the registry
- Resolve unreachable-guard findings — fix shell guards whose fallback arm cannot run, and tell "nothing to report" apart from "could not look"
- Resolve an ESLint glob-coverage finding — bring a source file that matches no lint rule under coverage, or record a reasoned exemption
- Keep planning docs out of a shared repo — make
.planning/local-only, including untracking files git already tracks (the step.gitignorealone cannot do) - Plan a phase — run research, decompose work, and verify plan quality
- Execute a phase — run plans in parallel waves with fresh-context subagents
- Verify and ship — walk through completed work, diagnose failures, and create the PR
- Catch complexity before it compounds — enable the post-execute refactor hook, read a proposal's score vs. anchor delta, and accept or decline it
- Run phases autonomously — use autonomous mode for unattended phase execution
- Handle quick and fast tasks — use
/gsd-quickand/gsd-fastfor ad-hoc work outside the phase loop - Configure model profiles — switch between quality, balanced, and budget model tiers
- Control which host runtime GSD reports — read the
agent_runtimeladder, understand what host detection looks at, and pin the runtime when detection is not what you want - Set up cross-AI review — configure a second AI to review code produced by the primary agent
- Work in parallel with workstreams — run independent lines of work simultaneously using workstreams
- Isolate work with workspaces — use workspaces to sandbox experimental or risky changes
- Debug a failed execution — diagnose and recover from broken or incomplete phase execution
- Interpret scope-conformance warnings — read the advisory the worktree-wave merge emits when a plan branch commits outside its declared scope
- Interpret install-shadow warnings — read the advisory GSD Core emits when a
/gsd-*trigger is installed at both scopes and one silently wins, and tell "nothing to report" apart from "could not look" - Interpret
state validateresults — read thescopereason codes and tell "nothing to report" apart from "could not look" - Spike and sketch — use
/gsd-spikeand/gsd-sketchfor exploratory work before committing to a plan - Design a UI phase — use the UI phase loop for frontend and visual work
- Develop a Capability for GSD 1.5+ — add feature Capabilities, hook fragments, and registry entries
- Ship a reviewer lane in your capability — declare a
reviewerbody so/gsd-reviewdiscovers, invokes, and renders your external review CLI or model endpoint - List your reviewer lane in the registry — publish a lane you have built to the Reviewer Lane Registry so other people can find and install it
- Take over a capability or EoS integration — assume maintainership of an existing third-party capability, reviewer lane, or EoS host integration through a handoff, an adoption fork, first-party absorption, or a de-listing
- Add or update a host's integration — set a host's documentation-sourced
runtime.hostIntegrationaxes (ADR-1239 Phase A), with theundocumentedsentinel rule - Migrate an install test to the executed plan — convert an
fs.existsSync-probing install test group to a value assertion againstinstallRuntimeArtifacts's executed-plan return, and test against a fake fs adapter - Turn a capability off (and keep it off) — disable a capability via the surface, or gate individual hooks off without removing the capability
- Drive GSD from a tracker issue — start a phase from a GitHub, Linear, or Jira issue
- Migrate from GSD 2 — upgrade an existing GSD 2 project to GSD Core
- Update GSD — re-run the installer to pick up the latest release
- Clean up get-shit-done-cc — remove leftover old-package artifacts that cause a spurious
⬆ /gsd-updateindicator after migrating to@opengsd/gsd-core - Fix the worktree base-mismatch (exit 42) error — resolve the branch-divergence condition that halts parallel phase execution
- Recover and troubleshoot — fix common problems, rebuild context, and uninstall
Reference
- Commands — every command with flags and examples
- Configuration — full config schema, model profiles, git branching strategies
- CLI tools —
gsd-tools.cjsprogrammatic API for workflows and agents - JSON error mode —
gsd-toolsfailure channels: faults (stderr, exit 1) vs degraded results (stdout, exit 0), and the reason-code taxonomy - Features — complete feature index
- Inventory — installed skills and surface map
- STATE.md schema — field-by-field reference for
.planning/STATE.md - CONTEXT.md schema — field-by-field reference for
.planning/phases/<N>/CONTEXT.md - PLAN.md schema — field-by-field reference for
.planning/phases/<N>/PLAN.md - Planning artifacts — all
.planning/files and their roles - Review and verification capabilities — code review, security, and Nyquist capability ownership and hook contracts
- Gate predicates — canonical specification of the phase-gate predicate vocabulary
- Capability matrix — generated catalogue of every capability's role, tier, extension points, hook kinds, and
engines.gsd - Capability manifest — the full
capability.jsonschema and validation rules gsd capabilitycommand — install / update / remove / list reference for third-party capabilities- Workflow fragments — in-file
<!-- gsd:section -->marker grammar for fragmentizing workflow markdown at emission time - Reviewer Lane Registry — generated catalogue of third-party reviewer lanes, with their flags, transport, and install commands
Explanation
- Context engineering — how context rot forms and how GSD Core prevents it
- The phase loop — design rationale for the Discuss → Plan → Execute → Verify → Ship cycle
- Multi-agent orchestration — how subagents are spawned, scoped, and coordinated
- Security model — trust boundaries, permissions, and safe automation
- The capability trust model — why third-party capabilities are gated by consent + integrity + reversibility, not a sandbox
- How overlay capabilities compose — why first-party always wins and how the loader resolves precedence, conflicts, and fail-open load-failure warnings
- Architecture — system architecture, agent model, and data flow
- The Embeddable Orchestration System — one public, versioned contract for embedding GSD across many hosts
- Discuss modes — assumptions mode vs interview mode for
/gsd-discuss-phase - Context monitoring — context window monitoring hook architecture
- Issue-driven orchestration — recipe for driving GSD from a tracker issue using existing primitives
Related
- What's new in 1.7.0 — curated highlights of the 1.7.0 release
- Root README — landing page, quickstart, and documentation overview
- Changelog — release history