[garrytan]

{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "pr": 3503,
  "head": "6e7b3c298f84358b474c90ba32bc3ef45b4e5792",
  "version": "1.91.258.0",
  "base": "main",
  "gate": {
    "tests": {
      "pass": 34,
      "fail": 0,
      "skip": 0
    }
  },
  "session_kind": "unattended",
  "pregate": "requires-remote cleared @007198c400f6 (1 checks, current for 6e7b3c298f84)",
  "requires_remote": [
    "free-tests.yml/macos-named-regressions: https://github.com/garrytan/gstack/actions/runs/40420942438",
    "windows-free-tests.yml/windows-free-shard: https://github.com/garrytan/gstack/actions/runs/40420942408",
    "pregate.json/remote_gate: remote-gate tree=007198c400f6 tests=9265"
  ],
  "issues": {
    "fixes": [],
    "refs": [
      3493
    ],
    "flakes": []
  },
  "review_loop": {
    "passes": 3,
    "blocking_found": 0,
    "deferred": 0,
    "noted": 0,
    "fixed": 1,
    "scope": "frozen"
  }
}

What changed

One bullet in capy/skill/gstack/captain.md section 1 ("How approvals work, per thread"), after "Always a fresh ask":

Observable questions are not the person's to answer. A question a command, a render or a measurement can settle locally, read-only and for free ("is the new path faster", "does the test endpoint take this payload", "does the test still fail") is settled by the thread: it runs the thing and reports the result. A call that changes state, reaches a live system or spends money is still an ask. Only a product or preference call goes up, with the observation already made. A Captain that receives an observable question sends it back with the check that answers it instead of relaying it.

Before: captain.md listed what always needs a fresh ask but said nothing about questions a thread can answer itself, so "is it faster?" could be relayed up as an ask. After: the thread runs the check and reports it; a Captain bounces an observable question back with the check that answers it. Plus the CHANGELOG entry under ## [Unreleased]. Docs only: no template, no generated output, no code.

Why

Follow-up to #3493 (pstack absorb item 4, GSTA-124), which carries the same rule in plan-tune/SKILL.md.tmpl and docs/proactive.md. This is the Captain-side reading. gstack holds the how; the Drive copy of captain.md needs the owner's recopy after this lands rather than a hand edit.

Approvals

Ask	Date	Words	By	Scope
Combined tstack/pstack plan (plans/absorb-tstack.md, plans/absorb-pstack.md) at full scope	2026-10-26	"Do it, send"	Garry Tan (relayed by GStack Minder, GSTA-36)	pstack item 4; this follow-up was requested by GStack Minder under that approval

Summary

• Observable-questions bullet in captain.md section 1, scoped to local, read-only, free observations.
• CHANGELOG entry.

Test Coverage

Docs only; no test added, none expected. Tests ran: tests 34 (test/capy-skill-wrapper.test.ts, test/captain-skill.test.ts, test/changelog-merge-damage.test.ts). Tests ran: typecheck count unavailable.

Pre-Landing Review

Small diff (12 lines): specialists skipped, core checklist read. Pass 1 found one INFORMATIONAL item (the bullet lacked the local/read-only/free qualifier its sibling rule in #3493 carries, and the endpoint example read as a live call), fixed in a2e53c7. Pass 2 (range eb9e25c..a2e53c7) clean. Pass 3 (range a2e53c7..6e7b3c2, one CHANGELOG sentence from the documentation audit) clean. Pre-Landing Review: 1 issue — 1 auto-fixed, 0 asked, 0 deferred, 0 noted
REVIEW_LOOP: passes=3 blocking_found=0 deferred=0 noted=0 fixed=1 scope=frozen
Gate edits: none detected (0 listed, 0 read; patterns: RH-1,RH-3,RH-4,RH-12,RH-13,RH-14,RH-15,RH-16; unlisted idioms: none)
Outside review: Codex unavailable (CLI not installed on this machine); missing outside coverage. Native adversarial passes completed on the pass-2 range (4 INFORMATIONAL notes below) and the pass-3 range (NO FINDINGS).

Review notes

Below the blocking floor (advisory, informational, test-gap or wording items); recorded here and not fixed in this PR.

• INFORMATIONAL capy/skill/gstack/captain.md:30 "reaches a live system" where v1.91.265.0 docs: absorb four pstack principles into ETHOS.md, the observable-questions rule and candidate-side eval blinding (GSTA-124) #3493's sibling rule says "live or third-party system"; the "test endpoint takes this payload" example is a submission rather than a read.
• INFORMATIONAL capy/skill/gstack/captain.md:32 "Only a product or preference call goes up" reads literally against the "Always a fresh ask" list above it and docs/captain.md's new-scope/conflict/access escalations; the sibling rule defines the phrase with a parenthetical.
• INFORMATIONAL capy/skill/gstack/captain.md:32 "spends money is still an ask" can be read as overriding a cited standing approval (SPEND).
• INFORMATIONAL CHANGELOG.md:9 the "syncs from main" claim; corrected by the documentation audit in 6e7b3c2.

Exploratory QA

No executable surface changed (one Markdown bullet and a CHANGELOG line); the smoke probes were the three test files above at the final tree (34 pass) and a read of the rendered bullet in place. No findings.

Design Review

No frontend files changed — design review skipped.

Eval Results

No prompt-related files changed — evals skipped (captain.md is a Capy-side guide, not a SKILL.md template; no paid case reads it). The PR's E2E Evals lane planned nothing paid.

Greptile Review

No Greptile comments.

Plan Completion

Captain's brief (GSTA-36, 2026-10-26): add the bullet after "Always a fresh ask", trimmed to its neighbours' length, keeping the "sends it back with the check that answers it" sentence; trial-merge against #3487 and #3496; capy-skill tests. 1 of 1 DONE. Trial merges: #3487 and #3496 conflict in CHANGELOG.md only (additive at the stamp); captain.md merges cleanly with #3496's pin 413bce8.

Verification Results

No Step 8.1 obligations; required probes: 3 test files PASS at 6e7b3c2.

Issues

Refs #3493

TODOS

No TODO items completed in this PR.

Documentation

Status: current. No documentation edits were needed; the Step 6 consistency pass found items for the parent, all recorded as decisions (nothing blocks).

Scope. Spawned ship-owned audit (gsta124b-docs-20261026T233307Z), mode edit, Steps 1, 1.5, 2–4 and 6. Base 7dc2f23, head a2e53c7 at audit time; the one later commit (6e7b3c2) changes a CHANGELOG sentence the audit itself asked for. Read in full: CHANGELOG.md (entry), capy/skill/gstack/captain.md, docs/captain.md, docs/proactive.md, capy/skill/gstack/SKILL.md, the "Working under a Captain" section of docs/capy-install.md and the capy-asks text in bin/gstack-skill-start.

Result. The new section 1 bullet is consistent with docs/captain.md (the controller already decides what needs no access, credentials, spend or cited approval; the bullet keeps spend and live-system calls as asks). It agrees with the observable-questions text in docs/proactive.md and plan-tune/SKILL.md.tmpl, which exist only on open PR #3493; this PR adds no link to them and does not depend on #3493 landing first. The bullet is deliberately stricter (local, read-only, free). The audit's one decision for the parent, that "The Drive copy of captain.md syncs from main" is unsupported (capy/skill/gstack/SKILL.md and docs/capy-install.md describe the owner recopying the folder), was applied in 6e7b3c2.

Documentation health:
CHANGELOG.md Current (entry matches the diff; wording corrected per the audit)
capy/skill/gstack/captain.md Current (the new bullet matches the described behavior)
docs/captain.md Current (no contradiction; no edit)
docs/proactive.md Current at this base (the sibling rule lives on #3493)
capy/skill/gstack/SKILL.md Current; does not repeat the new rule (debt)
docs/capy-install.md Current

Coverage debt (reported, not filled): the rule is documented only in captain.md; the lane-side "Working under a Captain" section of capy/skill/gstack/SKILL.md, the capy-asks short form in bin/gstack-skill-start and docs/captain.md (Lane discipline) do not repeat it. No diagrams touched.

Test plan

• bun test test/capy-skill-wrapper.test.ts test/captain-skill.test.ts test/changelog-merge-damage.test.ts: 34 pass, 0 fail (gstack-evidence label tests, 6e7b3c2).
• bun run typecheck: clean (gstack-evidence label typecheck, 6e7b3c2).
• Full free suite on Ubicloud (gstack-pregate --stage tests --remote --spend-cap 2 --timeout 2700 --allow-repo-commands, standard-8): PREGATE_REMOTE tree=007198c400f6 tests=9265 failed=0 spent=$0.03; macOS (run 40420942438) and Windows (run 40420942408) lanes cleared from PR CI at 6e7b3c2; gstack-pregate verify: ok.

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