v6.1.6

v6.1.6 — 2026-06-15

Two-lane release. Lane A makes teammate-conductors actually leverage the
native Claude Code Workflow (Dynamic Workflows) tool instead of reflexively
ToolSearch-ing for it and mis-degrading. Lane B introduces /shepherd:ponytail
and the senior-engineering operating standard — the primitives that turn the
@auditor and @coder into senior devs, cemented into their profiles and adaptable
to the project and user.

The trigger for Lane A was a live failure: an /effort ultracode session, told to
"use the Workflow tool," ran ToolSearch select:Workflow, got nothing, and declared
the tool "confirmed absent" — the exact mistake teammate-conductors make. The fix
is not more prose (there was already plenty) but a recorded first-action
self-check that an agent cannot skip.

Lane A — teammates actually leverage Dynamic Workflows

• New doctrine doctrines/workflow-tool-self-check.md — the operational
  front-end for the native Workflow tool, consolidating the detect / never-
  ToolSearch / benefit guidance that was scattered across references/glossary.md §1,
  capability-discovery.md §V, workflow-compile-down.md, and
  primitive-axis-binding.md §IV (and still got skipped). ONE first action:
  is the token Workflow in your visible tool list? → record
  workflow_tool: present|absent → branch. Present → compile gate-free fan-out
  out-of-context (framed as the conductor's OWN benefit: clean context window + ≤16
  background agents, not a tax). Absent (web/remote, #146) → degrade to in-context
  Agent(...) — correct and expected. NEVER ToolSearch for it (the
  WORKFLOW-SELFCHECK-TOOLSEARCH anti-pattern), not even under /effort ultracode.
• Wired as a first action into agents/conductor.md (prohibition #22 rewritten +
  mode-comparison rows + a step 0 in the teammate compile sequence), agents/shepherd.md
  (root Step 0 + [ROOT-START] workflow_tool=…), commands/spawn.md (teammate boot
  prompt), and commands/start.md (lane walk step 0 + WAVE-COMPLETE.workflow_tool /
  .fanout fields). Corrected the stale "always present" phrasing to the
  environment-dependent visible-tool-list test.
• Enforcement seam: new @auditor completeness extension
  (agents/auditor.md §workflow-substrate discipline) — files PRIMITIVE-INVERSION
  when a lane hand-rolled in-context fan-out where the tool was present, and a LOW
  finding when the self-check was skipped or the tool was ToolSearched. In-context
  fan-out where the tool is absent is correct and never flagged.

Lane B — /shepherd:ponytail + the senior-engineering standard

• New doctrine doctrines/senior-engineering.md (the "ponytail" doctrine) — the
  senior-engineering operating standard for @auditor + @coder, eight primitives
  that build on the existing flock doctrines (cite, never duplicate): (I) comprehend
  intent before you touch (Chesterton's fence); (II) root-cause over symptom;
  (III) blast-radius- & cost-to-reverse-weighted severity; (IV) justify the tradeoff,
  not just the change; (V) conform to THIS project and THIS user via a precedence
  ladder (project doctrines > [CODE-STYLE] ledger > code-style skill > adaptation
  priors > the neighbors > defaults); (VI) cross-concern systemic-risk detection;
  (VII) bounded restraint (the most senior move is often the smaller diff);
  (VIII) preserved read-only/tier discipline. SENIOR-STANDARD-MISUSE anti-pattern.
• New command /shepherd:ponytail (commands/ponytail.md, also /ponytail) — an
  on-demand senior review → refine → verify pass on a target (diff, path, file, or
  PR) outside the sprint pipeline: Pattern 3 (Adversarial Verification) + Pattern 4
  (Generate-And-Filter), bounded as the AUDITOR-REFINE loop. Review-only by default;
  --apply runs the coder-refine + re-verify loop; --cement persists the conventions
  the pass observed into project memory / the style ledger. Fully adapted via styles,
  project doctrines, config, and adaptation priors.
• Cemented into the profiles: agents/auditor.md and agents/coder.md now cite
  senior-engineering.md in §"Doctrines this role honors" with the per-role primitive
  summary, and the FIRST-loaded reference skills (auditor.reference.md,
  coder.reference.md) carry the senior lens. New config section [ponytail]
  (senior_standard, default_mode, max_verify_iterations, apply_requires_approval,
  conformance_sources) in docs/configuration.md.

Wiring

• skills/shepherd/SKILL.md — /shepherd:ponytail + /ponytail triggers, command-table
  row, and §XI file-map rows for both new doctrines + the command.
• skills/shepherd/doctrines/README.md index — rows for workflow-tool-self-check.md
  and senior-engineering.md.
• CLAUDE.md command table + file-contracts; README.md command banner.