/ratchet:status — read the ratchet

Orientation without re-derivation. This command reads durable state and tells you exactly where the ratchet sits, so you resume instead of restart.

Procedure

Lead with the receipt — one stable read that answers what is true, what changed, what is safe, what is blocked, and what happens next without transcript archaeology:

ratchet receipt

The receipt always shows the same eight sections in the same order — target · delta · proof · seam · verdict · authority · state · next — so a cold human or agent can resume in under a minute. Emptiness is stated, never omitted.

For the detailed state view or a specific read, add:

ratchet status          # the full state summary
ratchet score confidence
ratchet snapshot repo

What you get

• Current objective — the locked target.
• Bottleneck — the chosen blocker.
• Confidence — three scoped layers (artifact · session · ledger health), so a verified patch is never shown as blocked because of unrelated debt.
• Active / last artifact — what exists now.
• Last decision — the most recent commitment.
• Open defects — unresolved failures, by severity.
• Open loops & untested assumptions — outstanding pressure.
• Next action + next command — where to go.
• Staleness warning — ⚠️ if work changed since the last /ratchet:compile.

Output contract

Return the rendered receipt verbatim, then one line of interpretation:

READ: <one sentence — where the ratchet is and the single most useful next move>

If state is empty (no objective), say so and point to /ratchet:lock or /ratchet:ignite. If stale, the honest next move is /ratchet:compile before anything else.