Homeowner

Contract terms — read first

Before anything else, read your slice of the Plumbline contract at ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/terms/homeowner.md — generated from the root TERMS.md, it holds every shared token, status line, and file-naming pattern this skill reads or writes. Reproduce them verbatim. If you cannot load it, stop and report; do not guess the contract.

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When to use this skill

When you want to take a written brief to verified code in one unattended pass — no interview, no spec-approval gate. Homeowner is the build-mode loop that runs without a human in the seat: it sequences the same single-responsibility skills, routes on their reported status, and halts and surfaces rather than guessing whenever a stage reports a gap it can't safely cross.

Not for supervised builds. When a human is available to interview and approve the spec, run the skills by hand — architect in interview mode, review the spec yourself, then foreman → builder → inspector. That keeps the human spec gate. Homeowner removes that gate and stands its own Phase 3 spec review in its place.

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Rules

• Sequence, don't reimplement. Homeowner calls the single-responsibility skills; it never does their work. Every skill stays independently runnable.
• Route on reported status, don't second-guess the artifact. Read each stage's returned status and sequence on it. Do not re-read the spec, blueprint, or code to overrule a skill's own report — judgment stays in the skills, sequencing stays here.
• Halt and surface, never improvise around a gap. Open Questions, a builder Stuck, or a failed inspection stop the run. Report exactly where and why; wait for human input.
• Inspector runs as a fresh, separate subagent. Independence is structural where it matters most — the loop cannot grade its own final result. (Homeowner reviews the spec itself in Phase 3; that's the principal checking the plans against the brief it holds, not self-grading a build.)

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Execution Order

Run start — open the log first. Before any phase, open output/homeowner/HomeownerLog_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM.md and record the brief verbatim (create output/homeowner/ if absent — on a greenfield run it won't exist until Phase 1 scaffolds it). Every phase appends to this log; opening it first means even a Phase 1 or Phase 2 halt is captured.

Phase 1 — Scaffold (greenfield only)

Greenfield or existing? Check the project root:

• Existing — Planning/ and CLAUDE.md already present → skip this phase. Treat the brief as a new feature on an existing codebase and go to Phase 2.
• Greenfield — neither present → run scaffold.

Spawn scaffold. It lays the folder skeleton, inits git, and writes CLAUDE.md from the template — structure only. You pass it nothing about the stack or commands: scaffold makes no such decisions and leaves them as [pending — architect] for Phase 2 to fill. This is why Phase 1 needs no command-passing and no scaffold blocking status — the one gap scaffold used to hit ("no real run command") is now architect's to raise as an Open Question in Phase 2, caught by the Phase 3 gate.

Route:

Scaffold result	Homeowner does
Skeleton + git + contract created	Proceed to Phase 2.
Scaffold stops (it found substantial existing code)	Halt. Your greenfield check and scaffold disagree about the root — surface it rather than scaffolding over something. (Shouldn't occur: you already classified the root above.)

Then append the Phase 1 block to the run log.

Phase 2 — Spec

Spawn architect as a subagent in autonomous mode. It cannot ask questions; it expands the brief and routes every gap to one of two lists — Assumptions (low-surprise defaults it built against; non-blocking) or Open Questions (genuine forks it couldn't safely default; blocking).

Pass it:

• the written brief (the idea Homeowner was started with),
• the autonomous-mode signal — i.e. a brief is present and no interactive human is available.

It produces:

• Planning/specs/[feature]_spec.md
• docs/decisions/[feature]_YYYY-MM-DD.md
• a status reported back to you.

Route on the returned status — do not read the spec to second-guess it:

Status	Homeowner does
READY	Proceed to Phase 3 (spec self-review).
READY · ASSUMPTIONS: N	Proceed to Phase 3 — the assumptions are non-blocking. Carry the N assumptions forward: Phase 3 sanity-checks them and the closing report surfaces them for the human. A low-surprise default is not a reason to stop an unattended run.
+ SIZE_FLAGGED	Append to either of the above; proceed. The size question is handled in Phase 3; the flag never blocks on its own.
OPEN_QUESTIONS: N	Halt. Surface the spec path and the N questions verbatim. A human resolves them before the build resumes. Do not answer them yourself, do not run the spec review, do not proceed.

Why ASSUMPTIONS proceeds but OPEN_QUESTIONS halts: the two lists differ by the contract's cost test (§6) — an Assumption is cheap to change if wrong; an Open Question forks the build. Halting an unattended run over a cheap default defeats the point of homeowner; building through a fork risks a rebuild. Phase 3 gives the assumptions a second look, so a misclassified fork still gets caught before the build.

Phase 3 — Spec self-review (the gate)

Homeowner holds the brief; architect produced the spec. Here Homeowner stands in for the human spec-approval gate — the one judgment it makes itself rather than delegating to a subagent, because "is this what I asked for?" is the principal's call. It must be logged (see below), or the gate is invisible.

Read both:

• the original brief (what was asked),
• Planning/specs/[feature]_spec.md (what architect produced).

Ask, in order:

1. Faithfulness — does the spec do what the brief asked?
   • Everything the brief asked for appears in the spec — nothing dropped.
   • The spec adds nothing the brief didn't ask for and that isn't a necessary, conventional implication — no hallucinated scope.
   • Every default architect made is recorded — in ## Assumptions or ## Open Questions — not silently baked in. A gap filled in neither list is a silent guess, and that is drift.
2. Assumptions — is a fork hiding among them? This is the second check that makes the non-blocking Assumptions path safe (Phase 2 let ASSUMPTIONS proceed without a halt). Read each assumption with the cost test: if this default is wrong, is it a cheap edit or a partial rebuild / an architecture fork? A genuinely build-forking item mis-filed as an Assumption is exactly what this catches — treat it as drift: the verdict is DRIFTED, kicking the spec back so architect re-files it as an Open Question (which then halts). Cheap, low-surprise defaults pass.
3. Tractability — is it too big to build in one autonomous pass?
   • Weigh architect's SIZE_FLAGGED signal plus your own read against the size thresholds (6 features / ~500 lines / a ~150-line feature).
   • You do not split it yourself. Splitting a spec into per-feature specs + a reference tier is an architecture decision, and Homeowner never makes one unattended.

Verdict — exactly one:

Verdict	Meaning	Homeowner does
FAITHFUL	Spec matches the brief and is tractable	Proceed to Phase 4 (foreman).
DRIFTED	Spec drops, adds, or distorts what the brief asked	Halt. Log each drift specifically. A human reconciles (re-run architect, or amend the brief) before the build resumes.
TOO_BIG	Spec is faithful but past the size thresholds	Halt with a split recommendation — name what should be split out. A human decides on restructure; Homeowner never splits unattended.

A spec can be both faithful and too-big; TOO_BIG wins (halt). Only FAITHFUL proceeds.

Then log the verdict. Append to the run log output/homeowner/HomeownerLog_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM.md. The verdict and its reasoning are the auditable record of the gate Homeowner stood in for. The skeleton below is the whole run's log format — every phase appends its block as it completes.

# Homeowner Run — [feature] · YYYY-MM-DD

## Brief
[The original brief, verbatim.]

## Phase 1 — Scaffold (greenfield only)
Greenfield: yes → scaffold ran | no → skipped (existing project)
[greenfield] Skeleton + git + CLAUDE.md created; Stack/Commands left pending for Phase 2.

## Phase 2 — Spec
Architect status: READY | READY · ASSUMPTIONS: N | OPEN_QUESTIONS: N  (+ SIZE_FLAGGED)
Spec: Planning/specs/[feature]_spec.md
[ASSUMPTIONS: list the N assumptions verbatim — carried to the closing report for the human.]

## Phase 3 — Spec self-review
Verdict: FAITHFUL | DRIFTED | TOO_BIG
- Faithfulness: [what was checked; any drift found]
- Assumptions: [N reviewed; none hides a fork | item X is actually a fork → DRIFTED]
- Tractability: [size read; split recommendation if TOO_BIG]
[On DRIFTED / TOO_BIG: exactly what a human must resolve before resuming.]

## Phase 4 — Blueprint
Foreman status: BLUEPRINT_READY | BLUEPRINT_BLOCKED: <reason>
Blueprint: Planning/blueprints/[feature]_BP.md  (or part files _p-1, _p-2, …)
- Slices: [count; which are [inspect]-flagged]
[On BLUEPRINT_BLOCKED: the reason verbatim, and whether it's a contract gap or a Phase-3 gate miss.]

## Phase 5 — Build til green
Inspection level: flagged
- Slice [N] [inspect]: PASS | FAIL → fixed (cycle k of K) → PASS | HALTED after K cycles
  [one line per inspected slice]
Builder final status: BUILD_COMPLETE | STUCK: <where/why> | HALTED: <slice, reason>
Deviations: output/deviations/Deviations_[feature]_[date]_[HH-MM].md ([N] / none)
[On STUCK / HALTED: exactly what a human must resolve before resuming.]

## Phase 6 — Independent sign-off
Inspector (fresh subagent) status: PASS · needs-human: [Z] | FAIL: [N] → fixed (cycle k of 3) → PASS | HALTED | BLOCKED: <reason>
Final report: output/inspect/Inspect_[feature]_Final_[date]_[HH-MM].md
- Automated: [X] passed / [Y] failed
- Human sign-off owed: [Z] items (listed in the report)
Blueprint: Fully inspected [x]
Outcome: SIGNED OFF (pending [Z] human items) | HALTED: <reason>

Phase 4 — Blueprint

Only a FAITHFUL spec reaches here. Spawn foreman as a subagent against it. Foreman is mode-agnostic — it doesn't need to know an orchestrator called it; it reads the spec and the contract, writes the blueprint, and reports a status. You pass the path and route on what comes back.

Pass it:

• the spec path Phase 3 marked FAITHFUL — Planning/specs/[feature]_spec.md,
• the start slice (Slice 1, unless resuming).

(Foreman reads CLAUDE.md itself for the stack and the real test command — you don't supply those.)

It produces:

• Planning/blueprints/[feature]_BP.md — or, for a build over 10 slices, the part files [feature]_BP_p-1.md, [feature]_BP_p-2.md, … (foreman splits mechanically; this is not a halt — a long build is just a long build),
• a status reported back to you.

Route on the returned status — do not read the blueprint to second-guess it:

Status	Homeowner does
BLUEPRINT_READY	Proceed to Phase 5 (build til green). Carry forward every blueprint path — there may be more than one part file.
BLUEPRINT_BLOCKED: <reason>	Halt. Surface the reason verbatim. A human resolves it before the build resumes.

Reading a block. Phase 3 already guaranteed the spec exists, is faithful, carries **Done when:** items, and has no Open Questions — so foreman's spec-side stop conditions should never fire here. The one block that legitimately can is no real test command in CLAUDE.md — a contract/scaffold gap foreman can't write real Test: lines against. That's a genuine human fix, not a gate failure. If instead a block cites a spec reason (missing spec, Open Questions, no Done-when), that means the Phase 3 gate let something through — surface it as a gate miss, don't paper over it by re-running.

Then append the Phase 4 block to the run log.

Phase 5 — Build til green

Drive builder to BUILD_COMPLETE, spawning the independent inspector at each risky slice and looping fix⇄inspect within a bound. This is where the unattended early-catch lives: no human is watching between slices, so a flagged slice is proven before code stacks on it.

Inspection level: flagged — never none. Homeowner always inspects [inspect] slices; that mandatory early-catch is the whole reason an unattended build is safe. (A human run may choose none; Homeowner may not.)

Spawn builder with: the blueprint (Slice 1 of part 1, unless resuming), inspection level flagged. Builder flows slice-to-slice on its own — part-file boundaries are invisible to you, it crosses them itself — and returns only at a status that needs you:

Builder status	Homeowner does
SLICE_DONE_INSPECT: N	Inspection is due. Spawn inspector (fresh subagent) scoped to slice N; route on its result (below).
BUILD_COMPLETE	Carry the deviations path forward; proceed to Phase 6 (final sign-off).
STUCK: <where/why>	Halt. Surface verbatim; the codebase is in a known state. A human resolves before resuming.

(You never see SLICE_DONE — that's builder's internal "keep flowing" between unflagged slices. FIXES_COMPLETE appears only inside the fix loop below.)

On SLICE_DONE_INSPECT — spawn inspector, then route on its result:

Inspector result	Homeowner does
PASS	Resume builder from the next slice.
FAIL: N	Enter the fix loop (below) — there are findings to repair.
BLOCKED: <reason>	Halt — a precondition is missing (run command won't launch, no run command). There's nothing for builder to fix, so never route this into the fix loop; surface for a human.
[human-required] items	Collect, don't grade, don't block. Homeowner can't get human sign-off mid-run — carry these to the final report; the automated items decide whether the slice passes.

The fix loop (bounded). A failed slice inspection routes back to builder, governed — never improvised:

1. Spawn builder in fix mode. For a mid-slice fail the findings live in the inspector's ❌ FAIL stamp on the slice (mid-slice checks write no report); for a final fail, in the final report. Its failure items are the step list.
2. Builder returns FIXES_COMPLETE (suite green) or STUCK. On STUCK, halt — surface it.
3. Re-spawn a fresh inspector on slice N.
   • PASS → resume builder from the next slice.
   • FAIL → loop from step 1, counting the cycle.
4. Cycle bound: 3 fix⇄inspect rounds per slice (tunable). If the slice still fails after the bound, halt — HALTED: <slice N>, <why it won't pass>. A slice that can't be made to pass in three governed rounds needs a human; spinning further just burns the build. Builder's own three-attempt-per-test cap sits inside each fix run — this bound is the outer limit on whole inspect-fix rounds (it catches the oscillation a per-test cap can't: fixes that go green yet keep failing inspection, e.g. a low-fidelity test the inspector won't accept).

Every inspector is a fresh subagent — the one spawned to re-check a fix never saw the build or the previous inspection — and only Homeowner ever spawns inspector; builder reports a status and never grades its own work.

Then append the Phase 5 block to the run log — every inspected slice, every fix cycle, the builder's final status, and the deviations path.

Phase 6 — Independent sign-off

BUILD_COMPLETE reaches here. This is the proof the whole run exists for: an independent inspector verifies the running software against the spec's **Done when:** items — the actual acceptance criteria, which Phase 5's per-slice checks never touched (mid-slice verifies slice scope, not spec items). Nothing is signed off until this passes.

Spawn inspector as a fresh subagent, scope final — not a continuation of the build or of any Phase 5 mid-build inspection. Pass it the feature, final, and the run/demo command (it reads the spec, searches the blueprint parts for what's owed, and reads CLAUDE.md itself).

It verifies every spec Done-when item, judges test fidelity, captures evidence, writes output/inspect/Inspect_[feature]_Final_[date]_[HH-MM].md, and — on a clean pass — ticks the blueprint's Fully inspected box. (Homeowner ran Phase 5 at flagged, so every [inspect] slice already carries a PASS stamp; the inspector's deferred-sweep finds nothing owed.)

Route on the returned status:

Status	Homeowner does
PASS · needs-human: Z	Run signed off. The Z [human-required] items are not a halt — they can't be auto-graded and there's no human mid-run, so carry them to the final report for the human to sign off async. Then write the closing report.
FAIL: N	Enter the same bounded fix loop as Phase 5 (3 fix⇄inspect rounds; builder fix mode reads the final report; a fresh inspector re-checks each round; HALT on exceed or builder STUCK).
BLOCKED: <reason>	Halt. A precondition is missing (run command won't launch) — nothing to fix, so never route to the fix loop. Surface for a human.

PASS with human-required items is success, not a stall. An unattended run cannot close those itself; finishing with evidence captured and the items listed is the correct terminal state, not a failure. The human signs them off on their own time.

Commit the signed-off build (git mode). On SIGNED OFF in git mode, honor the contract's every change ends in a commit: nothing has been committed since scaffold, so stage the whole verified build and commit it once — git add -A, then a message like Build [feature]: signed off (Plumbline). This is the autonomous stand-in for the human who would otherwise commit per the Change rules, and it commits verified work (the build just passed independent sign-off). Only on success — a halted run commits nothing, leaving the working tree intact for resume. In none mode, skip: the files on disk are the record.

Then append the Phase 6 block to the run log and write the closing report.

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Closing report

End every run — signed off or halted — with a short summary and the links, so whoever started it can act without opening the log.

Always:

• Outcome, one line: SIGNED OFF (pending [Z] human items), or HALTED at Phase [N] — [why].
• Run log: output/homeowner/HomeownerLog_[date]_[HH-MM].md — the full phase-by-phase trail.

On SIGNED OFF, give the deliverable at a glance:

• Files created / changed by the build — in git mode, from the sign-off commit: git diff --stat --name-status <scaffold-commit>..HEAD (run after the commit above — git diff against the working tree alone misses the still-untracked build files, which is exactly why the build is committed first). In none mode (no git), aggregate the Files written/modified that builder reported at each slice — that is the build's own record.
• Tests: [N] tests, [N] passed (from the final inspection).
• Inspection issues: none for a clean PASS — otherwise note what wasn't clean: weak-fidelity tests that were fixed, slices that needed fix cycles, or anything still owed.
• Human sign-off owed: the [Z] [human-required] items, listed — these are the human's to verify (none if zero).
• Assumptions to confirm: the low-surprise defaults architect made (Phase 2 ASSUMPTIONS), so the human can override any before relying on the build (none if zero).
• Deviations: [N] logged (output/deviations/…) or none · Final inspection: output/inspect/Inspect_[feature]_Final_[date]_[HH-MM].md.

On HALTED, give the resume path instead (no file list — the deliverable isn't done):

• Which phase halted and the failing status verbatim (Open Questions · builder STUCK · HALTED after the fix bound · inspector BLOCKED).
• Exactly what input a human must provide to resume, and the artifact to look at (the spec, the stuck step, the failing criterion).