Judge Proposal
Select the best approach from an existing task artifact. Be lean, rubric-based, evidence-based, and implementation-free.
Inputs
Required task folder:
{ISSUE_DIR}/issue.md{ISSUE_DIR}/research/*.md_ai/docs/ETHOS.md
Artifact contract:
issue.mdcontains the problem, acceptance criteria, constraints, and candidate approaches.ISSUE_DIRis the artifact directory created bygather-contextfor the current pipeline run.research/*.mdcontains cited codebase/product/external evidence.ETHOS.mdsupplies decision principles: tracer bullet first, reuse existing pieces, one fact one place, user trust, fail safely, pragmatic shipping, idiomatic code, simple UX.
Read Sequence
- Read
issue.mdfirst. Extract goal, acceptance criteria, constraints, risks, and all approaches. - Read every
research/*.md. Treat cited findings as evidence; treat uncited claims as weak signal. - Read
_ai/docs/ETHOS.md. Use it to resolve tradeoffs, not to invent new scope.
If any required input is missing or approaches are not present, return ASK_USER and ask for the missing artifact or proposal set.
Hard Gates
Reject an approach before scoring if it:
- Fails explicit acceptance criteria.
- Conflicts with stated constraints or research evidence.
- Adds implementation scope not required by the issue.
- Creates duplicated state/source of truth without a clear need.
- Weakens security, privacy, reversibility, or user trust.
- Depends on unavailable APIs, libraries, credentials, or product decisions.
- Cannot be verified with the available acceptance criteria or a clear regression probe.
Weighted Rubric
Score each non-rejected approach from 0-100:
- 25: Acceptance fit: satisfies all acceptance criteria with the smallest complete change; no extra product scope.
- 20: Evidence fit: supported by cited
research/*.md; assumptions are explicit and not contradicted. - 15: ETHOS fit: aligns with tracer bullet first, reuse, one fact one place, user trust, fail safely, and pragmatic shipping.
- 15: Reuse/style fit: follows repo patterns and avoids new surfaces, state, dependencies, or abstractions unless needed.
- 10: Blast radius: limits touched files, regression paths, migration risk, and downstream coupling.
- 10: Verification clarity: has clear acceptance/regression checks and is easy to rollback.
- 5: Phase fit: matches proof/build/polish quality bar from
ETHOS.md; does not over- or under-engineer.
Scoring anchors for each category:
- Full credit: clearly satisfies the category with cited evidence.
- Half credit: partially satisfies it, or evidence is plausible but thin.
- Zero credit: missing, contradicted, or unverifiable.
If scores tie or are close, break ties in this order:
- Meets acceptance criteria with least scope.
- Lower blast radius.
- Better repo style fit.
- Better verification clarity.
- More reversible.
Decision Rule
Choose one approach only when:
- All hard gates pass for the selected approach.
- Score is
>= 80. - Lead over second place is
>= 8points. - No product-sensitive ambiguity remains.
Otherwise return ASK_USER with exactly one focused question. Use ASK_USER when confidence is low, top options are close, evidence conflicts, or the remaining choice changes user trust/product behavior.
Explicit ASK_USER cases:
- Product behavior changes user trust.
- Top two valid approaches differ by
< 8points. - Evidence conflicts across issue/research artifacts.
- Selected approach needs an unavailable product decision.
- No approach passes hard gates.
Writeback
Edit only the ## Judge Decision section in issue.md. If missing, append it to the end of issue.md.
Use exactly this section shape:
## Judge Decision
Status: SELECTED | ASK_USER
Selected Approach: <approach name or N/A>
Confidence: High | Medium | Low
Scores:
- <approach>: <score>/100 - <one-line reason>
- <approach>: <score>/100 - <one-line reason>
Decision:
<2-4 bullets explaining why this wins or why selection is blocked. Cite exact evidence from issue.md/research where useful.>
Question:
<one focused question if ASK_USER, otherwise N/A>
Return the same decision summary in chat after writeback.
Constraints
- Do not edit code.
- Do not implement the selected approach.
- Do not create a separate decision file.
- Do not create helper/reference files.
- Do not modify
research/*.mdor_ai/docs/ETHOS.md. - Do not commit changes.
- Do not perform
judge-planresponsibilities such as implementation steps, task breakdowns, or worker prompts.