Execution Log: the thread is the work item's

Append-only log of progress for the user's visibility.

Phase transitions

Phase	Entered	Reviewed/approved by	Notes
phase-selection	2026-09-02	—	Tier 3 (human-approves-pr; below security.review.humanSignOffMinTier: 4): the change lives in cli/the_loop/channels/, its tests and docs; no schema, workflow or harness-config path is touched. Brainstorming skipped — the ticket's three bullets are the three requirements
requirements-definition	2026-09-02		requirements.md — the four-writer race and the accidental root; three requirements, five abuse cases
design	2026-09-02		design.md — a per-work-item map and a sibling flock; a root then a reply; channels threads; decision-105
test-planning	2026-09-02		testing-plan.md — thirteen rows, seven applicable
tasks-breakdown	2026-09-02		tasks.md — six tasks
implementation	2026-09-02		On claude/github-issue-312-1a2s8n
verification	2026-09-02		evidence/verification.md — rows T1, T2, T8, T10, T12; evidence/security-review.md — five abuse cases, five closed
needs-review	2026-09-02		PR raised; awaiting the owner (tier 3: human-approves-pr)
complete

Pull requests

PR	Scope / tasks	Status
#314	tasks 1–6: the whole work item	open

Progress entries

2026-09-02 — spec chain drafted

• Phase: requirements-definition → tasks-breakdown
• Did: read the channel package at 2bd6d3b; found the first-event root, the newest-wins scan and the unlocked read-modify-write across four writers; wrote the four artifacts and the decision.
• Checkpoint/tests: baseline — the five channel test files, 97 passed.
• Next: task 1 (the state and the lock), red first.
• Blockers: none.

2026-09-02 — implemented, verified, ready for review

• Phase: implementation → verification → needs-review
• Did: tasks 1–6, red first each. ChannelState.conversations and ChannelState.locked (a sibling flock), canonical refs; render_root and _open_thread — the root then the reply, the reply outside the lock; bind, advance, the kickoff baseline and the socket transport's cursor advance all under the lock; channel.thread_opened; the-loop channels threads (--work-item, --json) and the count in status; the five scenarios; the docs, the capability doc, decision-105.
• Checkpoint/tests: make check — see evidence/verification.md. New tests: 20 unit, 5 scenarios; 8 existing assertions re-pointed from posted[0] (the event was the root) to posted[1] (the event is the first reply).
• Finding on the way: one re-pointed scenario had been passing vacuously — the agent comment's fixture URL made the ingress spell the ref with a host the ask had not, so the comment opened a second top-level thread and None == None held. Recorded in evidence/verification.md; refs with and without the default host are now one conversation.
• Self-review: three passes over the diff. Fixed in place: the socket transport's cursor advance was still an unlocked load → advance → save (routed through the lock); channels threads --work-item compared the raw string (canonicalised). Pass three found nothing new.
• Next: the owner's review.
• Blockers: none.

Verification results

Only when this work item declared test-planning away. It did not: results live in testing-plan.md.

What was verified	Command	Outcome	Evidence
—	—	—	see testing-plan.md

Design critic review

Not selected for this work item.

Round	Critic (<harness>/<model>)	Outcome	Findings → disposition	Link

Review cycles

Cycle	Type (self/critic/security)	Reviewer	Outcome	Link
1	self	the-loop (this session)	new findings — the socket transport's unlocked cursor advance; the un-canonicalised --work-item filter: fixed	this log
2	self	the-loop (this session)	zero (converged)	this log
3	self	the-loop (this session)	zero (converged)	this log
—	critic	—	unavailable — reviews.critics is empty in this repository's config; does not count toward criticReviewCount	—
4	security	the-loop checklist	pass; no human sign-off at tier 3	evidence/security-review.md

Security review (gate)

• Mechanism: the-loop checklist (security.review.mechanism: auto; no security-review skill is invocable from this session's plugin set)
• Outcome: pass — evidence/security-review.md, five abuse cases closed
• Human sign-off: n/a (tier 3 is below humanSignOffMinTier: 4)

Final validation evidence

Requirement	Proof
R1.1–R1.3 the root is the work item's, the event a reply, one root per work item	test_the_first_post_opens_a_root_and_replies_into_it, test_the_second_post_is_one_reply, test_a_ref_spelled_with_the_default_host_shares_the_thread; Scenario: Every message about a work item is a reply in its one thread
R1.4 two writers, one thread	test_locked_sections_on_one_path_serialize; Scenario: Two writers open one thread
R1.5 a kickoff thread is the conversation	Scenario: A kickoff thread is the work item's conversation
R1.6 a standing session's thread	test_a_standing_ref_gets_a_bare_root_and_no_link; the issue-277 scenarios, re-pointed
R2.2 the reply carries the event's Block Kit	test_the_first_post_opens_a_root_and_replies_into_it (header, text); the issue-309 button scenarios, re-pointed
R2.3 a failed reply never opens a second thread	test_a_failed_reply_opens_no_second_thread, test_a_failed_root_binds_nothing_and_the_next_event_retries
R3.1 the per-work-item record	test_bind_records_the_conversation_per_work_item, test_the_permalink_is_recorded_when_slack_returns_one
R3.2 channel.thread_opened, ids only	test_thread_opened_is_emitted_with_ids_only; test_eventlog.py catalog
R3.3 channels threads, status	test_channels_threads_lists_and_filters_conversations, test_channels_status_counts_work_items; Scenario: channels threads lists the conversation
R3.4 a pre-issue-312 file	test_a_pre_issue_312_state_file_backfills_its_conversations; Scenario: A pre-issue-312 state file keeps its threads
R3.5 local, no secrets	test_token_never_lands_in_the_state_file (unchanged), the --json assertion
A1–A5	evidence/security-review.md

Capability docs

Capability doc	What changed	History row
channels.md	a new current-behaviour bullet (one thread per work item, rooted on the work item: the root, the lock, the failed-reply rule, the kickoff and standing cases, the keyed record, channels threads, channel.thread_opened, canonical refs, the backfill); the observability bullet names the new event; the Design list links this spec and decision-105	issue-312 row

Documentation

Document	What changed
docs/cli/commands/channels.md	the threads action (columns, --work-item, --json), the flags table, a "One thread per work item" section
docs/cli/state.md	the three maps of slack.json (conversations with its origins), the slack.json.lock sibling, the tree and the table rows, the "if you delete it" note
docs/config/cli/channels-options.md	one paragraph under the intro: the thread is the work item's, opened once under a lock, every event a reply; the listing
skills/the-loop/reference/collaboration.md	one clause in the channels paragraph: one thread per work item, rooted on the work item
docs/decisions/decision-105.md, decisions.md	the decision and its index row
README.md, skills/the-loop/SKILL.md	unchanged — neither describes how the Slack channel threads