Rule 12 — User request decomposition, verbatim prompting, and confirmation gate¶

Requirement¶

Every incoming user prompt or task MUST immediately be converted into one or more tracked GitHub issues labeled Request before any planning, branching, or code changes begin.

• Issue Template: Use .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/request.yml for structured request filing.
• Decomposition: A single user message containing multiple distinct tasks MUST be decomposed into multiple focused Request issues.
• Verbatim Wording: Each Request issue body MUST contain the exact, verbatim wording of the user request.
• Interpretation Section: Below the verbatim wording, each Request issue MUST include an ### Interpretation section specifying how the request is understood, the architectural scope, and the proposed verification.
• Confirmation Gate: The interpretation requires explicit user confirmation (commenting approve) before any implementation plan is made.
• Two gates, one issue: Once the interpretation is approved, the plan is posted as a comment on the same issue and approved there. All subsequent branches and pull requests bind to that issue.

Rationale¶

Verbatim capture stops the agent from rewriting intent at ingestion; the confirmation gate stops it from planning against a misreading.

Enforcement¶

• .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/request.yml encodes the verbatim-wording requirement for issue filing.
• tests/test_pipeline_config.py checks the template demands the unedited request and the ### Interpretation section.

Exceptions¶

None.

Change control¶

Wording converges with merge-gates; the single-gate flow, when approved, supersedes the gate naming here without splitting the issue.