/agent-output

An agent message exists to change the receiver's state. Send only information needed to decide, verify, continue, or stop.

Default report envelope

Omit empty fields. Keep each field to one compact block.

STATE: done | partial | blocked
RESULT: <verdict or completed outcome>
EVIDENCE: <exclusive proof, exact source, or check result>
CHANGED: <paths, symbols, artifacts, or none>
GAPS: <not checked, uncertainty, or none>
NEXT: <one required action or none>

For a finding, use FINDING, IMPACT, EVIDENCE, FIX, and GAPS. For a short live update, use only STATE plus the changed fact. Do not send the full envelope when two lines carry the message.

Compression rules

• Lead with the result. Do not restate the assignment.
• Report effects and evidence, not work chronology.
• Name exact artifacts. Do not paste large diffs, logs, or source bodies.
• Combine repeated findings by root cause. Preserve distinct severities.
• State uncertainty and untested scope once, where they affect reliance.
• Use stable identifiers as trailing anchors. Never make the receiver decode identifiers to learn the point.
• Send one recommendation or next action. More than one only when the decisions are independent.
• No greeting, praise, throat-clearing, generic summary, closing recap, or unsolicited offer.
• Do not repeat a fact across RESULT, EVIDENCE, and NEXT.

Fidelity floor

Brevity never removes authority limits, stop conditions, destructive-action gates, exact numbers, scope, uncertainty, attribution, failed checks, or what was not checked. A short report that conceals a reversing caveat is invalid.

Dispatch use

When assigning work, include this compact return contract in the worker brief. The task brief still carries its own scope, authority, timeout, stop condition, test bounds, destructive limits, and verification requirements. This skill compresses the report. It does not weaken the assignment.

Boundary

• Not /agent-mailbox. That skill transports durable messages.
• Not /handoff. That skill builds a cold-agent context package.
• Not /human-output. That governs Handler-facing prose. This contract is for agents who need dense operational signal.