forge-goal

Forge Goal Composition Contract

This canonical workflow is installed only as .forge/workflows/goal.md. Forge must never install .claude/commands/goal.md or .agents/skills/goal/SKILL.md; each host retains its native /goal.

Activation

1. Read .forge/local/state.md and the active workflow. The developer's native /goal invocation or explicit native Goal request is the human activation; agent-written state never grants autonomy.
2. For a new objective, create a nonce, stable objective hash, and activation UUID. Set turn_count to 0, activation_count to 1, and turn_ceiling to 20. For a same-objective reactivation after exhaustion, retain the nonce and validated count, generate a new activation UUID, increment activation_count, and set the ceiling to 20 * activation_count. A changed objective always gets a new nonce and starts from zero.
3. Persist the exact goal fields from state.template.md, then run .forge/hooks/lib/goal-ledger.sh activate --project <root> --state .forge/local/state.md (or the PowerShell twin). The helper must accept the next sequential activation before work continues.
4. Compose the host's native Goal over this contract only when authenticated qualification proves every Must behavior. Otherwise report BLOCKED; never claim reduced parity.

Loop

On every turn:

1. Validate the repository binding, activation sequence, objective nonce, durable count/ceiling, state, and evidence. At the start of every continued turn, first sync the state's turn_count to the ledger's already-published count. The Stop hook appends the current turn afterward, so state may lag the ledger by exactly one only between Stop and the next turn; any greater lag or count reduction fails closed.
2. Resume the exact next unchecked durable step. A same-host resume may restore native context; a cross-host resume starts a fresh native session and never claims session transfer.
3. Increment the persistent Forge count through hook-owned records. Native session, token, or turn counters may reset; the Forge ceiling and consumed count never reset after interruption or host switching.
4. Record measurable checklist progress and the next step. FORGE_GOAL_STUCK_WARNING is advisory: inspect progress, run the cheapest safe falsifying check, or surface a blocker; it does not reset the budget or authorize another broad loop. Do not invoke /council as a routine response. During Goal, Council may resolve a genuine non-destructive decision. It must concern product or engineering judgment and be required to continue the active native Goal. If the check produces a deterministic smallest answer, use that instead. Otherwise apply the chairman's verdict and continue. Council also remains available for an explicit developer request or a concrete high-impact architectural fork that remains unresolved after the check.
5. If FORGE_GOAL_BUDGET_EXHAUSTED appears, preserve the exact checkpoint and stop native autonomy. Resume requires a new native /goal invocation or explicit native Goal request. Same-objective reactivation adds exactly one 20-turn tranche and continues with the existing count; it never starts at zero.
6. Invalidate only receipts whose candidate boundary changed and rerun the affected final gates.