Design-only deliverables for the v0.8.53 "tool surface diet / canonical
surfaces" cutover (no catalog code in this cycle). Grounded in a verified
inventory of the actual tool registry.
- docs/TOOL_LIFECYCLE.md (#2681): the umbrella policy. Five lifecycle states
(active / deferred / hidden-compatibility / deprecated / removed) modeled as
const name-sets + an alias table in tool_catalog.rs (not a per-ToolSpec
field), so registration stays untouched and old transcripts always replay.
Includes the deprecation manifest (exec_wait/exec_interact/tts →
hidden-compat; todo_* → checklist_* deprecated; 11 legacy subagent names are
already non-visible dead code → cleanup + guardrail), per-mode/per-provider
active-catalog budget (incl. Arcee's 8-tool first-turn set), prefix-cache
safety rules, and the tool_agent decision: canonical but DeepSeek-V4-gated.
- docs/CODEBASE_SEARCH_DESIGN.md (#2680, v0.9.0): local-first FTS5/BM25 +
symbol/path ranking + RRF hybrid; rusqlite storage; mtime/branch/vendor
invalidation; an explainable tool contract returning reasons[]; and a real
CodeWhale query eval set. Complements grep_files/file_search, never replaces.
- docs/SKILL_INVOCATION_DESIGN.md (0.9.0): the $<skill-name> inline invocation
syntax (the token IS the skill name), namespaced resolution, ambiguity-
suggests-not-guesses, visible activation line, and a smallest-viable slice.
- docs/VISION_NORTH_STAR.md (0.9.0+): intent router, hybrid codebase
intelligence, WhaleFlow typed workflow IR, skills/rules runtime, the layered
context-memory stack, tool repair/autoload, the evaluation loop, and the
command-surface taxonomy (/memory small · /context dashboard · /rules ·
/workflow · /overlay · $<skill> · codebase_search). Marked DIRECTION, not
committed 0.8.53 work; also records the deferred-not-done diet items.
Targets codex/v0.8.53.
Hunter Bown