Worktree management & Git Versioned Memory

Release Notes
Agents Remember, May 10, 2026

Big Tickets

1. C-09 became a real Git lifecycle manager
   C-09 now covers the full worktree task lifecycle: intake polish, attach/status improvements, closeout previews, explicit commit approval, integration, replay conflict handling, cleanup, and direct current-checkout closeout.

2. Closeout now preserves the memory invariant
   The workflow now enforces the correct ordering:
   code commit → refresh onboarding metadata to that code commit → memory commit → ledger commit.
   This prevents memory commits from recording stale verification hashes.

3. Direct closeout was added for micro edits
   Small approved edits no longer need a worktree just to preserve the memory procedure. direct-closeout handles the same code-first, memory-second, ledger-third sequence from the current checkout.

4. Shared memory became inspectable as a product artifact
   The memory repo now has its own README and the code README links to the memory repo as a working example of the memory layer.

5. Drift reports were moved firmly into coordination temp
   C-02 now keeps drift reports out of durable memory repos, even when an explicit report path points inside the memory layer. Temporary reports now stay under coordination temp.

Feature Details

• Added C-09 lifecycle polish for task intake, status, cleanup, and wrapper task roots.
• Added direct --contract-path status lookup.
• Added explicit commit approval gate and approval-note recording.
• Added closeout dry-run previews with proposed code, memory, and ledger commits.
• Added metadata refresh enforcement before memory commits.
• Added C-09 direct-closeout for approved current-checkout edits.
• Added regression tests for missing onboarding, metadata refresh, direct closeout, and drift report placement.
• Updated W-02 guidance to reflect the C-09 closeout handoff.
• Updated AGENTS/README guidance for chat-mode direct closeout.
• Added README material showing the shared memory repo and ledger model.
• Added memory repo README as a showcase for the memory layer.
• Added local notes for future polish: health check, bootstrap polish, demo walkthrough, happy-path command guide, failure docs, architecture diagram, metrics hook, and README polish.

Behavior Changes

• Real C-09 closeout now requires explicit commit approval and an approval note.
• Shared-memory closeout fails before committing if required onboarding or verification metadata is missing.
• Direct closeout requires shared memory, matching branches, valid ledger branch metadata, and actual code or memory changes.
• C-02 report paths inside memory_root are redirected to coordination temp.

Validation

• Targeted Python unit suite passed during closeouts.
• C-02 drift detection reported touched onboarding as up to date after each ledgered closeout.
• Both code and memory repos were pushed and clean after the final closeout.

Code Commits

• b6a5c21 C-09 intake cleanup lifecycle polish
• d7da2fc C-09 contract-path status lookup
• 584f15f C-09 commit approval gate
• 1879e36 C-09 closeout metadata ordering
• 6f439b2 README shared memory layer example
• bcbce24 C-09 direct closeout
• d4843af C-02 drift reports out of memory repos

Memory Repo
The memory repo received paired onboarding updates and ledger sync commits for each code change, plus its own README.