v6.1.2

v6.1.2 — 2026-06-11

The self-improvement-substrate release: a persistent tool toolkit so a session never forgets a capability, a standardized + back-compatible workdir layout, per-flock-role loop templates, discovery waves on Dynamic Workflows, and a flock-profile polish pass.

Toolkit — persistent tool memory (operator request)

The flagship of this version. A mutable registry (toolkit.json) of commonly-used tools — MCP servers, skills, plugins, CLIs, ssh targets — so a Claude Code session never forgets a capability exists and the operator never has to re-explain it (e.g. ssh pzzld@laptop for a self-hosted dev surface, the context7 MCP). It is the tool-memory sibling of the adaptation loop's lesson-memory (doctrines/self-improvement.md).

• Two tiers, merged at read time. Project-local <namespace>/toolkit.json (tracked) ⊕ user-global $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/shepherd/toolkit.json; the scope field routes each entry, and local overrides global on name collision — so cross-project tools live once, globally.
• Entry schema. Required { name, scope (local|global), type (mcp|skill|plugin|cli), capabilities[], description } plus optional invocation, when, tags, pinned. JSON Schema at skills/context/references/toolkit.schema.json; the validator warns (never fails) on a non-canonical type so ssh/service targets are permitted.
• CLI. New skills/context/scripts/cmd_toolkit.sh (registered in shctx): toolkit list|add|rm|pin|unpin|show|md|init|validate. Lazily creates the file on first add; md emits compact markdown (graceful-empty — nothing on an empty registry, exactly like shctx adapt priors).
• Three surfaces keep it in front of the model. (1) A SessionStart hook hooks/scripts/toolkit_surface.sh injects a compact, ≤12-entry, pinned-first roster every session (fail-open; suppressed by [hooks].quiet_warnings); (2) the shctx toolkit CLI; (3) a [TOOLKIT] block injected into engineer/coder/planter briefs via cmd_inject.sh (variable-tail, cache-discipline-preserving).
• Doctrine + command + examples. skills/shepherd/doctrines/toolkit.md (bounded / graceful-empty / never-store-secrets), commands/toolkit.md (/shepherd:toolkit), examples/{axiom,minimal}/toolkit.json, and the five tool-using agents (engineer, coder, worker, discovery, planter) gained a one-line toolkit-awareness nudge. Test: skills/context/tests/test_toolkit.sh.

Standardized workdir layout — one consistent tree, totally back-compatible (operator request)

The per-project workdir now follows a standardized internal tree — docs/{plans,reports,diagrams,handoffs,specs,journal}/, logs/, archive/, cache/, scripts/, templates/, tmp/, types/, plus toolkit.json (tracked) and shepherd.db (gitignored). Adopted additively per the #121 "never mass-rename" invariant.

• root.db → shepherd.db, with auto-detection. shctx_db_path() prefers shepherd.db, falls back to legacy root.db, defaults to shepherd.db for new projects — mirroring the existing .shepherd/↔.artifacts/ resolution. Zero change for legacy trees.
• plans/ + reports/ now nest under docs/. [paths] defaults updated; scaffold.sh scaffolds the full tree with .gitkeep for tracked-but-empty dirs.
• Opt-in migration. shctx migrate --layout v2 git mvs plans/→docs/plans/, reports/→docs/reports/, renames root.db→shepherd.db, and creates the new dirs — idempotent, no-clobber.
• *.{group}.{ext} naming, formalized. references/naming-conventions.md documents the uniform <slug>.<group>.<ext> rule and adds log patterns {date}.log.md (human) + {ts}.log.jsonl (machine); cmd_lint.sh accepts both the legacy and new locations + log groups. .gitignore covers shepherd.db* under both namespaces and keeps toolkit.json tracked.

Per-role loop templates — bounded, role-shaped Loop-Until-Done (operator request)

/shepherd:loop (Pattern 6) gains a per-flock-role catalog so the loop primitive is reusable per agent. New skills/shepherd/references/loop-templates.md defines seven templates — CODER-CONVERGENCE (fix-until-green), DISCOVERY-EXHAUST (research-until-comprehensive), WORKER-WATCH / WORKER-CONVERGENCE, AUDITOR-REFINE, ENGINEER-PLAN-REFINE, and the orchestrator's FOCUS-LOOP — each specializing an existing composite, each with a hard --max cap and a measurable terminate-on predicate. New binding doctrine skills/shepherd/doctrines/loop-templates.md; commands/loop.md points operators at the catalog. No new halt codes (reuses the v6.0.9 circuit-breaker set).

Discovery waves compile to Dynamic Workflows (operator request)

All discovery fan-out now compiles like coder/audit fan-out instead of dispatching as inline Agent batches. doctrines/workflow-compile-down.md §V documents INTRO-COMBO-WAVE and DISCOVERY-COMBO-WAVE as compile targets (gate-free, parallel-safe → one Promise.all of discovery + auditor [+ worker] spawns); intro-combo-wave.md and discovery-combo-wave.md adopt the compile framing; pipeline.md gains the missing DISCOVERY-COMBO-WAVE taxonomy row. The compiler cmd_graph.sh was already role-agnostic (spawns_for_node expands any role mix) and verified end-to-end — the change is a clarifying comment plus a fixed latent bug where a node typed dynamic_workflow would not have matched the compiler's literal node-type key.

Spawn flow — per-sprint context certification, teammate Dynamic Workflows, default FOCUS-LOOP (operator request)

Four coordinated /shepherd:spawn fixes so the team substrate behaves as designed:

• Per-sprint context-certification wave. The spawn-flow walkthrough now makes the root's INTRO-COMBO-WAVE explicit (it was mandated in agents/shepherd.md but omitted from commands/spawn.md's flow): @discovery × N gather ground-truth, intro-mode @auditor × 2 certify it (regression / carry-forward / freshness) — the sprint's own certifiable current context. Always-on under spawn (every T-shirt) and fresh per sprint — each --scope patch/--auto sprint and each --parallel sibling certifies its own; a prior sprint's context is never inherited. intro-combo-wave.md gains the spawn framing.
• Teammate-conductors compile their lane fan-out. The contract required it (dispatch-cascade.md §IV-bis, conductor.md) but no operational instruction existed, so teammates dispatched in-context. Added the explicit shctx graph compile --segment=<entry> --verify → run → shctx graph mark sequence (in-context fallback only on confirmed runtime failure) to the commands/spawn.md teammate boot prompt and agents/conductor.md Step 2 + hard-prohibition #22; hand-rolled in-context step fan-out is a PRIMITIVE-INVERSION off-substrate violation. Reconciled the self-contradictory SKILL.md §X: under spawn, both root and each teammate compile their respective fan-out (mode-agnostic).
• Root adopts the FOCUS-LOOP by default on team init. Coordinate mode is reframed as operating the Pattern-6 FOCUS-LOOP (wake → act → probe, opened at SEED-VERIFY), entered the instant teammates spawn — the active engine, not a passive focus-record write backstopped only by coordinate_drive_guard.sh. The root stays engaged and drives until CLOSE-FINALIZE.
• Long-running conductors adopt their own FOCUS-LOOP. A teammate-conductor opens a lane-keyed focus loop at Step 0 (lane start, before any node — so a teammate that skips INTRO still gets one) and runs wake → act → probe over its lane micro-Stage-Graph, refreshing at each wave so a long lane doesn't drift.

All four default-on, config-gatable via the new [focus].loop_default key; doctrine framing in coordinate-active-drive.md.

Flock profile polish

Description-field shrink for the two genuinely bloated meta profiles — conductor (198→157 chars) and shepherd (195→152) — moving mode/tier detail into the body; planter/auditor tightened further. Frontmatter already consistent across all nine (name → color → model → thinking → description → tools); no value changes.

Foundation

• Version moved to 6.1.2 across the six sources of truth (plugin.json, marketplace.json ×2 keys, both SKILL.md frontmatters, README.md, this file).
• Removed a stray tracked err.txt and the dogfood repo's .artifacts/ tree reorganized onto the standard layout (plans/+reports/ → docs/).
• All new bash honors house style — set -uo pipefail, source _lib.sh || exit 0, exit-0-always hooks, resolve_namespace/resolve_workdir (never hardcoding .artifacts/.shepherd), and graceful-empty reads. New test auto-discovered by skills/context/tests/run.sh.

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