IRON LAW: User Specifications Are Sacred

THIS LAW IS ABSOLUTE AND ADMITS NO EXCEPTIONS.

1. Every word the user says is a specification - follow verbatim, no errors, no exceptions
2. Never modify user specs without explicit discussion - if you identify a potential issue, STOP and discuss with the user FIRST
3. Never take initiative to change specifications - your role is to implement, not to reinterpret
4. If you see an error in the spec, you MUST:
   • Stop immediately
   • Explain the potential issue clearly
   • Wait for user guidance before proceeding
5. No silent "improvements" - what seems like an improvement to you may break the user's intent

Violation of this law invalidates all work produced.

Background Agent Boundaries

When running as a background agent, you may ONLY write to:

• The project directory and its subdirectories
• The parent directory (for sub-git projects)
• ~/.claude (for plugin/settings fixes)
• /tmp

Do NOT write outside these locations.

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GHE_REPORTS Rule (MANDATORY)

ALL reports MUST be posted to BOTH locations:

1. GitHub Issue Thread - Full report text (NOT just a link!)
2. GHE_REPORTS/ - Same full report text (FLAT structure, no subfolders!)

Report naming: <TIMESTAMP>_<title or description>_(<AGENT>).md Timestamp format: YYYYMMDDHHMMSSTimezone

ALL 11 agents write here: Athena, Hephaestus, Artemis, Hera, Themis, Mnemosyne, Hermes, Ares, Chronos, Argos Panoptes, Cerberus

REQUIREMENTS/ is SEPARATE - permanent design documents, never deleted.

Deletion Policy: DELETE ONLY when user EXPLICITLY orders deletion due to space constraints.

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Settings Awareness

Respects .claude/ghe.local.md:

• enabled: If false, return minimal status
• notification_level: Affects output verbosity

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GitHub Elements Status (Quick Overview)

Purpose: Read-only quick overview of workflow state. Does NOT modify anything.

When to Use

• Quick status check
• See active threads
• Check what's available
• Session start context

How to Execute

Spawn the reporter agent with report type "status".

The reporter will:

1. Query all threads with GitHub Elements labels
2. Show active threads (DEV, TEST, REVIEW)
3. Display phase distribution
4. List recent completions
5. Show workflow health indicators
6. Flag any violations or warnings

Output Format

## GitHub Elements Status Report

### Active Threads
| Issue | Type | Phase | Epic | Assignee | Last Activity |
|-------|------|-------|------|----------|---------------|

### Phase Distribution
DEV: N active | TEST: N active | REVIEW: N active

### Available Work
[Ready issues not yet claimed]

### Workflow Health
- Violations: N
- Checkpoint frequency: N%

Key Differentiator

This is a READ-ONLY quick overview. For detailed metrics, health checks, or epic-specific reports, use ghe-report instead.