chore(work-items): bind tracker seam to github, seed empty recurring schedule

[kyle-sexton]

Summary

• Binds the work-item-tracker seam for this repo: .work-item-tracker.json with provider: github, lease_ttl_hours: 24.
• Seeds .github/recurring-schedule.json as an empty {"items":[]} skeleton so due/recheck/work stop reporting "no recurring schedule configured" instead of hard-erroring.

Fix

.work-item-tracker.json was never committed on this repo (the flagship dogfood repo for the work-items plugin family), so every seam coordination verb (list-frontier, claim, reclaim) exit-3'd here. This forced the /work-items:work loop lanes to bypass the seam entirely via direct gh label queries.

Per issue #560's decision brief (RECOMMENDED option, confirmed via a live human interview this session):

• Provider: github — the only bundled adapter with reclaim/race-safe claim; local-markdown is never a coordination surface (reclaim: false in its manifest).
• lease_ttl_hours: 24 — reclaim's activity check (non-lease comments, open cross-referenced PRs) means TTL never steals active work; it only bounds a crashed session's stale claim.
• Empty recurring-schedule skeleton — stops degradation without starting any cadence clock; real recurring items deferred to a separate seeding pass.
• No config.role_labels remap — verified against CONTRACT.md's list-frontier spec directly: --autonomous only excludes needs-human-labeled items, it never gates inclusion on the autonomous-eligible label. So this repo's status: ready (vs. the skill's agent-ready default, which is actually a medley-only GovernedRepositories.cs ExtraLabel, not part of the org _core taxonomy) is a cosmetic naming difference, not a functional gap.

Verification

• jq . on both new files: valid JSON.
• git check-ignore -v on both paths: not ignored (exit 1).
• Re-ran the setup check probes against the written files: binding parses, carries schema_version/provider/config.lease_ttl_hours; schedule parses with the {"items":[]} root shape.
• No lint/build changes — pure config addition, no code touched.

Related

• Closes work-items(work): tracker seam never bound in claude-code-plugins itself — .work-item-tracker.json absent, every seam verb exit-3's #560
• Cross-referenced in work-items(work): tracker seam never bound in claude-code-plugins itself — .work-item-tracker.json absent, every seam verb exit-3's #560: planning: wayfind hardcodes GitHub Issues/gh as the only tracker backend, bypassing the work-item-tracker seam #416 (wayfind seam-bypass), work-items(triage): absorb v4 loop-prompt routing rules into the skill #478/work-items(work): absorb v4 loop-prompt execution rules into the skill #479 (absorb loop rules into skills), work-items: triage/work lanes have no documented no-local-checkout mode — seam assumes a project root #449 (seam no-local-checkout mode, since resolved by feat(work-items): loud binding-presence entry invariant + role-default warning (#449) #690)

Closes #560

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[claude]

Claude finished @kyle-sexton's task in 2m 17s —— View job

---

PR Review

• Gather context from PR description and changed files
• Read .work-item-tracker.json
• Read .github/recurring-schedule.json
• Review config values for correctness and schema alignment
• Check security considerations
• Post findings

---

Verdict: LGTM — both files are minimal, correct, and ready to merge.

.work-item-tracker.json

The committed file exactly matches the canonical example in both CONTRACT.md (Setup section) and setup/SKILL.md:

{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "provider": "github",
  "config": { "lease_ttl_hours": 24 }
}

Validated against lib/binding.sh wit_read_binding:

Check	Value	Result
schema_version matches 1.*	"1.0"	✓
provider matches ^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$	"github"	✓
config.lease_ttl_hours matches ^[0-9]+$	24	✓
config.storage_dir required only for local-markdown	omitted	✓

lease_ttl_hours: 24 is the value the setup skill explicitly recommends. As the PR notes, reclaim's activity check (non-lease comments, open cross-referenced PRs) means the TTL only bounds a crashed session's stale claim — it won't steal active work. Sound choice.

No config.role_labels remap is correct. The PR's reasoning is verified directly against lib/frontier.sh:

and (if $auto == "true"
     then (((.labels // []) | index($human_gated)) | not)
     else true
     end)

--autonomous only excludes items labeled needs-human — it never gates inclusion on agent-ready. The default role mappings work for this repo without any remap.

.github/recurring-schedule.json

The {"items":[]} skeleton is exactly what setup/SKILL.md prescribes as the fallback:

otherwise write the empty {"items": []} skeleton so the recurring actions stop degrading

And it satisfies the check probe shape requirement (line 119 of setup/SKILL.md):

a present file parses as JSON with the root {"items": [ ... ]} shape (FAIL otherwise)

With this file present, track due will now report "All recurring items are current" (with zero due items) instead of hard-stopping with "no recurring schedule configured". Correct behavior change.

Security

Both files are pure non-secret config — no tokens, no paths, no execution surfaces. The github adapter requires no secrets in the binding (ambient gh CLI only), as CONTRACT.md explicitly documents. Nothing concerns me here.

Minor Notes (non-blocking)

1. Zero-item edge in track due: due.md ends with "If nothing is due: 'All recurring items are current. Next due: {item} on {date}'". With zero items in the schedule, there is no {item} or {date} to interpolate. This is a pre-existing spec gap surfaced by the empty skeleton — worth a follow-up issue when the seeding pass happens, but not a blocker here.

2. Recurring-schedule seeding deferred: The PR correctly defers seeding real items to a separate pass. Given the volume of candidates this repo would generate (CI workflows, plugin manifests, dependency files), a dedicated seeding session makes sense.

Both files check out against the contract, implementation, and recommended values. No changes needed.

[claude]

Claude finished @kyle-sexton's task in 1m 27s —— View job

---

PR Review — chore(work-items): bind tracker seam to github, seed empty recurring schedule

• Gather context from PR description and changed files
• Read .work-item-tracker.json
• Read .github/recurring-schedule.json
• Verify against plugin contracts and schemas
• Check security considerations
• Post findings

---

Verdict: LGTM — both files are minimal, correct, and ready to merge.

.work-item-tracker.json

{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "provider": "github",
  "config": { "lease_ttl_hours": 24 }
}

Validated against lib/binding.sh wit_read_binding:

Field	Constraint (from binding.sh)	Value	Result
schema_version	[[ "$version" == 1.* ]] (line 38)	"1.0"	✓
provider	^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$ (line 44)	"github"	✓
config.lease_ttl_hours	required (line 45, no empty)	24	✓
config.storage_dir	required only for local-markdown (line 48)	omitted	✓

lease_ttl_hours: 24 matches the value the setup skill recommends. Per CONTRACT.md, reclaim's activity check (non-lease comments, open cross-referenced PRs) means the TTL only reclaims crashed-session claims, not active work.

No config.role_labels remap is correct. CONTRACT.md lines 58–61 confirms --autonomous only excludes needs-human-labeled items from the frontier — it never gates inclusion on agent-ready. The default mappings are sufficient for this repo.

.github/recurring-schedule.json

{
  "items": []
}

The {"items":[]} skeleton exactly satisfies the check probe shape requirement from setup/SKILL.md line 119:

a present file parses as JSON with the root {"items": [ ... ]} shape (FAIL otherwise)

And it stops the degradation path documented at line 118: track due will now report "All recurring items are current" instead of hard-stopping. Correct behavior change.

Security

Both files are pure non-secret config — no tokens, credentials, paths, or execution surfaces. The github adapter requires no secrets in the binding (ambient gh CLI only), as documented in CONTRACT.md. Nothing concerns me.

Minor Note (non-blocking)

Zero-item edge in track due: With no items in the schedule, the "All recurring items are current. Next due: {item} on {date}" message template has no values to interpolate. This is a pre-existing spec gap now surfaced by the empty skeleton — worth tracking when the seeding pass lands, but not a blocker here.

Both files check out against the contract, implementation, and recommended values. No changes needed.