Central execution policy: agents stop hard-coding pi-phase rules; pi-phase decides direct/fast/queued #29

The implementer, careful-implementer, opus-implementer and general-purpose agent definitions each carry their own copy of the pi-phase execution rules. Agent types then behave differently under the same policy. On 2026-10-23 the GPT implementer refused direct light builds that its parent had approved, citing "higher-priority execution rules", and stalled 3 times in the queue (exit 75). careful-implementer followed the same brief and built directly.

woksin (via SPEC, 2026-10-23): agent definitions should not hard-code pi-phase execution rules; pi setup should manage them centrally, so one place decides and the parent or user can override per repository or task.

Scope

• Remove the pi-phase command, priority and phase rules from the agent definitions. Each keeps one line: "Run builds and tests as AGENTS.md 'Execution budgets' says; a parent's explicit decision in your brief overrides it."
• pi-phase decides admission itself. Agents always call pi-phase for builds and tests, and pi-phase starts a phase immediately when policy allows:
  • the fast lane (pi-phase fast lane: short builds and tests must not wait behind long phases #27);
  • a per-repository or per-path direct policy in pi-phase config, for example "Cratis/Specifications builds and tests up to 90 s run directly";
  • a task-level override set by the parent through PI_PHASE_POLICY=direct|fast in the environment, which subagents inherit, or a --policy flag.
  • pi-phase records the decision in the ledger and in status.
• AGENTS.md "Execution budgets" states the single rule and names these overrides. A parent's brief decision is binding for every agent type.

Status

State: Done — Released v2026.10.23.29, installed live.
Branch: -
Scope: Slice 1 of #30: pi-phase --policy, per-path config, agent files carry one pointer line, drift test.
Delivered: Nothing yet.
Remaining: To be confirmed.
Follow-ups: None.