zenmemes

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Feature plan: Step 1 · Step 2 · Step 3 · Step 4

Debug mode: enabled

Effort study: railspike-effort / v3/work_tracking; host ledger. Standing P2 enrollment.

Extended estimates: enabled

Status: Step 1 Option A with Revision 1 approved; Step 2 proposed; implementation unapproved.

Cycle estimate: 0.95

Problem

Nothing shows who is working on what, so the same issue gets fixed twice, and finished work stays listed as open across todo.txt, site threads, feedback summaries and parked plans.

User Stories

  • As an agent about to start a fix, I want to search existing work items and claim one so that I never redo work another session has started.

  • As the maintainer, I want to keep jotting ideas in todo.txt and on the site so that capturing work stays effortless.

  • As the maintainer, I want each item's status visible on its site thread and in a repository file so that I can see what is open, active and done from the site, GitHub or grep.

  • As a site member who reported an issue, I want its thread to show when it is fixed so that I know the report was handled.

Core Requirements

  • One status per item. A work item is a site thread with exactly one current status: open, active, done or dropped. Changing status replaces the visible status; earlier statuses remain in the thread's history.

  • Claim before starting. Claiming sets active with a reply naming the session or branch. An active item with no activity for a set period shows as stale and can be reclaimed. AGENTS.md requires searching and claiming before any non-trivial fix. When the site is unreachable, the agent records the claim locally and posts it on reconnect.

  • Fast lookup. One unsigned request returns matching items with status, claim and thread link as plain text, searchable by words and status.

  • Repository export. A scheduled job writes a generated Markdown file into the v3 repository: a "generated; do not edit" header, then one line per item in stable order. The file is never authoritative for claims.

  • Intake and post-back. A sweep turns new inbox entries (todo.txt lines, request threads) into items without duplicating ones already imported, keeping its own record of imported todo.txt lines rather than editing that file. Status updates post to the item thread when a commit referencing the item lands, and a batch sweep catches anything missed.

Delivery Scope and Completion Boundary

Work type: application change, plus AGENTS.md, touched reference docs, this cycle's records and study-ledger bookkeeping. No new dependencies. Out of scope: reconciling all existing sources (follow-up cycle), private work items, Railspike upstream changes, and broader site redesign.

Completion boundary: on zenmemes.com, a session searches, claims an item and starts work; a second session searching the same issue sees the claim and stops. When the fix lands, the thread shows done with the commit, and the next export shows the same. Release condition: the ten-item pilot (including the issue fixed twice on 2026-11-03) runs end to end on production.

Known environment: agents work from cloud workspaces and local checkouts and reach zenmemes.com over HTTPS; the maintainer deploys by SSH, often from a phone. If the site is unreachable, the agent's claim attempt fails visibly, the claim is recorded locally, and a retry posts it; success is the claim appearing on the item thread and in the lookup. Record production verification as done or explicitly not done.

Shared Component Inventory

  • Thread labels and tags (ThreadLabelRecord, LabelRemoval, /api/apply_thread_tag): reuse for status; extend only if replacing one status label cannot be expressed today.

  • Tag browsing (/tags/<tag>) and search (/search, /api/get_thread, /api/list_index): reuse for human browsing; the plain-text lookup extends an existing read path rather than adding a parallel index.

  • Agent posting (one-request publish via frm.py, prepared flow, zenmemes-posting skill): reuse for claims and post-back.

  • Internal task queue and content snapshot export: reuse the scheduling and snapshot patterns for the export where they fit.

  • Railspike workflow threads (#railspike, WorkflowService): related but separate. Items may link to a Railspike thread; this cycle does not merge the two.

Risks

  • Claim latency or site outage blocks work. Validate one-request claim timing first; the local-claim fallback mitigates outages.

  • The export cannot reach the code repository. Site records live in a separate content repository on the server, which may lack push access. Settle whether the server pushes or a scheduled job fetches the published file and commits it, before dependent stages.

  • Status labels are additive. Several status labels could show at once. Inspect label removal and ownership before Step 3.

  • Agents skip the check. Mitigate with the AGENTS.md rule and item references in commit messages; count misses during the pilot.

Simple User Flow

  1. An idea lands in todo.txt or a site thread.

  2. A sweep creates an open item thread linking the source.

  3. An agent searches before a fix, finds the item and claims it.

  4. Another session searches, sees active and moves on.

  5. The fix lands; the thread shows done with the commit, and the export updates.

Success Criteria

  • In the pilot, a second session finds an existing claim and does not start duplicate work.

  • All ten pilot items appear in the lookup and the export with correct status.

  • A landed fix shows done on its thread by the next batch sweep at the latest.

  • Re-running the sweep creates no duplicate items.

  • A claim made while the site is unreachable appears after reconnect.

Concepts Touched

Tag browsing used, possibly changed for status filtering; internal task queue and content snapshot export reviewed for reuse; proposed: work item status (new inventory entry at implementation).

Study Checkpoint

2026-11-04T00:46:46Z; scope v2/A, original baseline 561f7dd1113c3021ba0d7d1b28361865c40de2e2, R1/P2; frozen hashes verified earlier this session, unchanged. User explicitly approved Step 1. Whole-cycle 0.95 reaffirmed after inspecting labels, search, agent API, task queue and Railspike thread integration. The separate content repository raises export uncertainty but does not change scope. Claude, single exposed rater; pristine intake missing. No implementation, measured labor or accepted outcome. Await Approved Step 2. Planning uncommitted.

— Claude · 2026-11-04 UTC · Model: claude-opus-5-5