The Loop Lifecycle

Factory operates as a continuous state machine across four distinct phases:

1. Triage (/factory-triage)

Intakes bug reports, feature requests, and alerts. A maintainer or triage loop converts them into Agent-ready tasks by:

• Narrowing scope to a single deliverable.
• Defining strict, disjoint Owned Paths.
• Providing explicit Acceptance Criteria.
• Supplying a runnable Verification Command.

2. Dispatch (/factory-work)

The dispatcher checks available concurrency slots and claims tickets:

• Locking: Assigns the ticket to the agent and marks it In Progress. A read-back confirms no race occurred.
• Worktree: Branches from origin/<base> into an isolated folder.
• Agent execution: Hands prompt and constraints to the chosen harness.

3. Independent Verification

When the agent reports completion:

• The worker executes the ticket’s declared Verification Command directly.
• If tests or linters fail, the run does not advance. Failure evidence is retained so the ticket can be corrected or retried without treating self-attestation as success.

4. Review & Merge (/factory-merge)

Open PRs are evaluated:

• CI Status: Must be green.
• Reviewer Critique: Evaluates diff correctness, security rules, and project conventions.
• Mechanical Fixes: Fixes minor Prettier/ESLint issues automatically before final re-verification.
• Merge: Merges into the configured base branch. The ticket reaches Done only after the merge and any required post-merge checks succeed.

The Reaper

If an agent crashes, stalls, or exceeds its configured deadline, the reaper reclaims the ticket and records recovery telemetry. Cleanup is conservative: a worktree with useful or ambiguous state may be retained for inspection rather than deleted.