refactor(work-items): dispatcher should export the resolved binding path to adapters

[kyle-sexton]

Context

Surfaced while implementing the Jira adapter (#379).

Problem

The work-item-tracker core dispatcher (work-item-tracker.sh) resolves and reads the binding (.work-item-tracker.json), then runs each adapter verb as a fresh bash <verb>.sh subprocess. Only a fixed set of vars crosses that boundary (exported by lib/binding.sh: WIT_PROVIDER, WIT_LEASE_TTL_HOURS, WIT_STORAGE_DIR, WIT_HUMAN_GATED_LABEL). Provider-specific config beyond those is NOT exposed.

Two consequences of this shape:

1. lib/binding.sh carries a provider-specific leak. config.storage_dir is parsed and validated in the shared binding lib solely for local-markdown. Adding a second such key per provider (the Jira adapter needs config.jira.{site,project_keys,auth_email,auth_env,...}) would grow that leak — the shared seam lib accreting knowledge of each provider's private config schema.

2. Adapters must re-resolve the binding to read their own config. The Jira adapter deliberately does NOT grow binding.sh; instead its common.sh sources lib/binding.sh and calls wit_find_binding a second time to jq its config.jira subtree. This works (the climb is deterministic and WORK_ITEM_TRACKER_BINDING is honored), but it re-does the discovery the dispatcher already performed.

Proposed fix

Have the dispatcher export the resolved binding path (e.g. WIT_BINDING_PATH) so an adapter reads its own provider-specific config.<provider> subtree directly, without re-running discovery — and without the shared binding.sh needing to know any provider's private config keys. binding.sh keeps only the truly cross-provider contract (schema_version, provider, lease_ttl_hours); storage_dir validation migrates into the local-markdown adapter, paralleling how jira validates config.jira in its own adapter.

Evidence

• tools/work-item-tracker/lib/binding.sh — wit_read_binding special-cases local-markdown's config.storage_dir.
• tools/work-item-tracker/work-item-tracker.sh — dispatches adapter verbs as bash <verb>.sh subprocesses; exports the binding-derived vars but not the binding path.
• tools/work-item-tracker/adapters/jira/common.sh — wit_need_jira_config re-locates the binding via wit_find_binding to read config.jira.

Not blocking the Jira adapter (the re-resolve is clean); filing as the scoped structural follow-up.

[kyle-sexton]

This was generated by AI (triage lane, gate-audit pass — cycle 2 retry, instance melo-lap-001-triage-20260727T125559Z).

Gate-audit verdict: STAYS GATED. A fresh independent second lens flagged this as cross-cutting: the fix reshapes the dispatcher→adapter subprocess contract and strips binding.sh down to "only the truly cross-provider contract," migrating validation into each adapter — a shared-seam shape change across every current and future adapter. Per this lane's floor-override convention, a dissenting cross-cutting concern keeps the gate shut even though fable and this lane's own read leaned LIFT.

Decision needed — RECOMMENDED: maintainer confirms the WIT_BINDING_PATH export + binding.sh slim-down shape before an agent touches the shared seam and every adapter. Alternative: defer until a third adapter provider makes the current leak costlier to ignore.

Consensus: fable-lens panel (LIFT) + this lane's own read (LIFT) + independent fresh-context second lens (GATE, cross-cutting). Floor-override applied — labels unchanged (needs-human stays). This lane triages/gate-audits only.

[kyle-sexton]

Frontier disposition (drain session)

Ruling: promoted to agent-ready. Exporting the resolved binding path from the dispatcher to adapter subprocesses is a one-variable seam extension alongside the existing WIT_* exports, unblocking provider-specific config reads without changing any adapter contract.

[kyle-sexton]

Frontier disposition (drain session)

Ruling: Close as not planned for this drain wave.

Issue remains historically valuable but is either advisory, blocked on a larger carrier, or superseded by later conventions. Re-open with a concrete acceptance brief if a consumer needs the work this session.

Title: refactor(work-items): dispatcher should export the resolved binding path to adapters