Manual exploratory (T11): against a real workspace

Row T11 of testing-plan.md § Evidence plan. Not executed here: the verification ran in a cloud checkout with no Slack workspace and no bot credentials (the plan's Verification environment names them by reference only), so the procedure is recorded for the owner or a reviewer to run, one section per step, with the outcome column empty. The same code paths are driven by T2 with Slack's payload shapes as fixtures (cli/tests/fixtures/slack/).

Bring-up

1. the-loop channels manifest → Create New App → From a manifest (or re-import on the existing app), then Reinstall so app_mentions:read is granted.
2. A scratch config with channels.slack.read.mode: socket, both tokens exported under the names botTokenEnv / appTokenEnv resolve to, and publish holding work-item.reply, context.added, decision.recorded, control.command.
3. the-loop start; the-loop channels status --probe reports no [!] for app_mentions:read.
4. A scratch public channel and a scratch issue; the-loop add-channel <ref> slack@#room.

Procedure

#	Step	Expected	Outcome
1	Post a plain message in the room	nothing: no reaction, no reply, no comment on the ticket; the-loop events --tail shows channel.dropped reason=not-addressed
2	@the-loop help	an ephemeral answer only you see, listing the grammar and this channel's grants; nothing on the ticket
3	In a thread of three messages, @the-loop record-context	👀 then ✅ on the mention; one marked 📎 context comment on the ticket quoting the three messages with names and permalinks; one reply in the thread with the comment's link; the running session receives the context frame; the-loop channels records <ref> lists it
4	@the-loop record-context again in the same thread	✅ and an ephemeral Nothing new in this thread; no second comment
5	⋯ → Add to the-loop as context on a message in another thread	exactly step 3's outcome for that thread, the answer ephemeral
6	⋯ → Record a decision with the-loop	the modal, pre-filled from the message; submit with kind tech and a rationale → a marked 📌 decision comment with kind: tech, _why:_ and _discussed at:_ the message's permalink; the session receives the decision frame
7	@the-loop add-collaborator slack:U… (a member not on the allow-list), then that member's @the-loop record-context	the roster entry lands (the-loop sessions collaborators <ref>); the member's act is recorded and ✅
8	That member's @the-loop record-decision we ship	⚠️ and an ephemeral only an authorized user may …; nothing on the ticket
9	the-loop add-channel <ref> slack@#room --listen all, then a plain message	the message is a work-item.reply again; channels status counts one room hearing every message; channels threads shows listen: all
10	A plain DM to the bot	input, as before this change
11	read.mode: poll and the-loop channels status	mentions: off (read.mode is poll — nothing addressed can arrive …)

Captures

Redacted screenshots of the room message, the ticket record, context.md, the modal and the decision file, and the shortcut → modal → record capture, go under ui/ when the procedure is run; none is committed with this PR.

Tear-down

the-loop stop; delete the scratch room and issue after the captures.