Rule
Brief each agent with a bounded packet: the exact intent source, constraints, relevant files, and proof command. That packet is the interface between units of work. The running transcript stays behind.
A transcript accumulates; a packet is selected. When work moves from one context to another, pass the caller-owned bead, issue, or intent snapshot plus the evidence the next role needs. AgentOps does not require a second model-written plan packet that can drift from the source.
Put It to Work
- Start every unit of work from the caller's durable intent: task, boundary, relevant files, constraints, validation path.
- Hand work between agents as packets (findings, decisions, open questions). Leave raw transcripts out of the handoff.
- Keep unrelated history, broad docs, stale assumptions, and speculative plans out of the window.
- Amend the source when the task changes instead of dragging an obsolete brief forward.
Failure Signal
- A handoff pastes the whole conversation because nobody decided what mattered.
- The agent repeats itself, ignores recent instructions, or asks for information it already saw.
- The answer sounds plausible but cannot point to files, commands, or evidence.
- The session keeps growing because nobody knows what can be removed.
Done Looks Like
The next context can state the task, boundary, relevant files, and proof command from the same intent source without reading the author's transcript.