Goal contract writer

Goal Contract Writer

Overview

goal-contract-writer turns ambiguous work into a standard Goal Contract.

Clarify only what is required to define the work. Then return the canonical contract. Conversation is not the product.

This skill does not implement, run, or manage a Goal-Driven agent loop. It defines the upstream contract that a loop, workflow engine, host goal system, or human operator can execute and verify.

goal-contract-writer is the only normal user-facing entrypoint. The paired goal-contract-verifier skill exists for runtimes or operators that need fresh-subagent verification of execution state, but verifier behavior is not part of this skill's required output.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• the request has a concrete outcome but starts ambiguous
• the next agent, system, or person needs a stable goal artifact
• success must be judged by observable evidence

Do not use it for open-ended ideation or as a replacement for execution workflows.

Core Output

Produce exactly one canonical artifact:

1. Goal Contract

Goal Contract must contain exactly these fields:

• goal
• scope
• success_criteria
• evidence
• guardrails

Do not add runtime verdicts, adapter metadata, or workflow prose to the contract body.

Use references/canonical-goal-contract.md for the canonical contract schema.

Contract Generation Flow

1. Clarify until goal and scope can be written without guesswork.
2. Write success_criteria that fully cover the goal and can be checked without subjective judgment.
3. Write matching evidence that proves or disproves each criterion without adding hidden acceptance rules.
4. Record guardrails that prevent scope drift, unsafe assumptions, or missing approvals.
5. Return the canonical Goal Contract and stop.

Use references/contract-elicitation-protocol.md for clarification rules and examples/ for concrete model contracts.

Hard Rules

• Do not replace the contract with free-form advice or host-specific prose.
• Do not use subjective completion language.
• Do not add verifier workflow, execution routing, owners, priorities, or next steps to the canonical contract.
• Do not let evidence smuggle in acceptance rules that are missing from success_criteria.
• Do not let any adapter redefine the canonical contract fields.
• Do not continue into planning or execution unless the user explicitly starts a separate task.
• Keep the contract execution-neutral.

Downstream Consumption

Downstream systems consume the contract after this skill defines it.

• A host-native goal system may use it as durable input.
• A workflow system may use it for planning, execution, verification, or review.
• A specification system may use it for persistent spec or task assets.
• A human operator may execute directly from it.
• Adapter-specific routing, ownership, runtime state, or verifier artifacts belong outside the canonical contract.
• Runtimes or operators may invoke the paired goal-contract-verifier to verify execution state, but that verification flow does not change what goal-contract-writer returns.

Use references/downstream-adapters.md for adapter rules and examples.

References

• references/canonical-goal-contract.md
• references/contract-elicitation-protocol.md
• references/evidence-patterns.md
• references/downstream-adapters.md
• examples/README.md

Resource Use

• Keep the canonical schema and pattern references in references/.
• Keep complete before-and-after examples in examples/.
• Keep interface metadata in agents/.