next-task

Before writing any project record, confirm you are still in the registered project
checked at session start: this folder's docs/STATUS.md Project root names this folder
(or reads any clone of this repository). If not, write nothing yet; follow the Builder
protocol's location check and write gate, naming the project and this folder.

1. Read the current tasks in docs/STATUS.md and the latest docs/JOURNAL.md entry.
   Preserve active owners. Investigate abandoned work
   rather than resetting every in-progress task.
2. Respect an explicitly requested task. Otherwise choose the highest-priority unblocked
   task, favoring dependencies it resolves and the current project focus. Before the first
   edit, read docs/LESSONS.md and docs/DECISIONS.md in full and say which entry applies, or
   "no recorded lesson applies"; search docs/RESEARCH.md before repeating research.
3. State the intended result and how to check it. Plan only to the detail the task needs.
   Record the task's owner and doing status in STATUS before edits. Use the project's
   existing task entry when one matches; avoid duplicate tasks.
4. Inspect affected references before changes. Execute and validate within the authorized
   scope. Continue without another confirmation when the user asked you to take the task.
5. Work as the orchestrator unless the user asked you to work solo. Split off the parts
   that are routine legwork, bounded and independent of each other, and give each worker
   the task, the files it may edit, the context, a smaller model where the host lets you
   choose one, and the checks for success. Verify that each worker started, then inspect
   each result and how it fits the whole task before it reaches the user.
6. Do the work yourself where delegating would cost more than it saves: a short task, a
   host that offers no helpers, pieces that are not independent, or a piece that needs the
   context you are already holding. That is the ordinary answer on a small plan, not a
   failure. Say which parts you handed out when you report.

Report task, why it was selected, ownership, what you delegated and material blockers concisely. Save a
checkpoint at useful milestones and close your task honestly when finished.