ulw-loop

Use this skill when the user asks for ulw-loop, ulw, durable goal execution, evidence-led work, manual QA, or checkpointed long-running delivery.

This Codex skill is intentionally compact to avoid adding a large operating manual to an already-full conversation. The full workflow lives in references/full-workflow.md. Read only the sections needed for the current phase, then execute them exactly.

Required First Steps

1. Open references/full-workflow.md.
2. Read through Bootstrap, Execution Loop, and the Manual-QA channels table before running any ULW command or recording evidence.
3. If the task has code edits, tests, QA, or commit work, follow the full workflow's delegation and evidence rules. Tests alone never prove done.

Non-Negotiables

• Use the ulw-loop CLI state under .omo/ulw-loop; do not hand-edit goal state.
• After any compaction or context loss, re-read brief + goals + ledger FIRST (omo sparkshell cat .omo/ulw-loop/ledger.jsonl or read directly) plus omo ulw-loop status --json, then resume; never re-plan from scratch.
• If omo ulw-loop create-goals says the existing aggregate is already complete, start unrelated new work with a fresh --session-id <new-id> instead of steering or forcing the completed default state. Use --force only to intentionally overwrite completed evidence.
• Every success criterion needs observable evidence from a real channel: tmux, HTTP, browser, or computer-use.
• Record evidence through the CLI only after cleanup receipts are available.
• Delegate code edits, test writes, fixes, and QA execution to right-sized Codex subagents when the workflow requires it.
• Every spawn_agent message starts with TASK:, then names DELIVERABLE, SCOPE, and VERIFY; put role and specialty instructions inside message because the Codex tool schema only accepts task_name, message, and fork_turns; prefer fork_turns: "none" unless full history is truly required.
• Plan and reviewer agents may run for a long time; spawn them in the background, keep doing independent root work, and poll with short wait_agent cycles. Never use a single long blocking wait for them.
• For work likely to exceed one wait cycle, require the child to send WORKING: <task> - <current phase> before long reading, testing, or review passes, and BLOCKED: <reason> only when it cannot progress.
• While any child is active, keep the parent visibly alive with brief status updates that include active subagent count, agent names, latest WORKING: phase, and whether the parent is waiting for mailbox updates.
• Track spawned agent names locally. Use wait_agent for mailbox signals, not proof of completion. A timeout only means no new mailbox update arrived; after a timeout, run a single list_agents check for the named child when you need reassurance. If it is running or its latest message is WORKING:, treat it as alive.
• Do not use list_agents as a polling loop or status feed; it can replay large payloads. Fallback only when the child is completed without the deliverable, ack-only after followup, explicitly BLOCKED:, or no longer running. Then record inconclusive and respawn a smaller fork_turns: "none" task with the missing deliverable.
• Use git-master for git-tracked edits: inspect recent and touched-path commit history, then commit each verified work unit atomically in the repository's observed language, scope, and message style with only that unit's files staged.

Codex Tool Mapping

The full workflow may mention OpenCode-style orchestration examples. In Codex, translate them to native tools:

Workflow intent	Codex tool
Plan agent	spawn_agent({"task_name":"...","message":"TASK: act as a planning agent. ...","fork_turns":"none"})
Search/read-only worker	spawn_agent({"task_name":"...","message":"TASK: act as an explorer. ...","fork_turns":"none"})
Implementation or QA worker	spawn_agent({"task_name":"...","message":"TASK: act as an implementation or QA worker. ...","fork_turns":"none"})
Final verification reviewer	spawn_agent({"task_name":"...","message":"TASK: act as a rigorous reviewer. ...","fork_turns":"none"})
Wait for background result	wait_agent(...)
Clean up finished worker	close_agent(...)

When translating load_skills=[...], include the requested skill names in the spawned agent's message.