Architectural Alignment and Scope

The Orchestrator runs this once in its controller session, owning workspace.md and repository-map.md. Establish architectural fit and shared scope before design. Use the requested outcome, confirmed repository and plan directory, prior owner decisions, source evidence, and repository rules. Run after Intake is confirmed. Completed alignment is not repeated unless relevant source changes invalidate its map or the requested scope changes. Reuse confirmed scope and current evidence.

Algorithm

1. Verify the exact root, repository identity, plan directory, and requested scope. Conflicting identity returns BLOCKED; never invent a sibling path.
2. Verify source bindings and scoped committed, staged, unstaged, and relevant untracked changes. Compare recorded revisions and content digests with current inputs; a clean Git status alone does not prove freshness. Refresh affected context only. Missing bindings require fresh evidence.
3. Read canonical architecture, relevant manifests, instructions, entry points, tests, and ownership records; follow evidence into docs/, src/, and lib/. Use BRAN with native policy; otherwise report bran_status: unavailable. Bound discovery to the authorized task and affected flows. Never ask the owner for a fact tools can establish, or invent architecture or commands.
4. Map components, interfaces, data flow, ownership, constraints, and trust boundaries with sources. Explain where the requested work fits; distinguish facts, inferences, and gaps. Do not design missing architecture, activate a specialist automatically, or choose material changes or risk for the owner.
5. Track material outcome, scope, authority, risk, and acceptance decisions as dependency-ordered branches. Ask exactly one question whose prerequisites are settled, give the recommended answer and material alternatives, then wait. Challenge contradictions and vague acceptance. Silence is not approval; revisit a settled answer only when scope or conflicting evidence changes it.
6. Buffer confirmed decisions in the active session. Do not persist, patch, or re-render Lifecycle state after each answer. At a completed branch, before Planning and Design, on handoff/context loss, or owner request, record one consolidated decision batch using references/decision-batch.md: its quantity-definitions table and enforced_rule/expected_outcome typing; any gap blocks WORKSPACE_READY as a class C owner question. Each open item must be decided, owner-deferred with a trigger, justified inapplicable, or visibly blocked. Ask for explicit confirmation that shared understanding is reached when prior confirmation does not cover the current scope.
7. Update the two owned records using templates/workspace.md when needed and repository metadata rules. Preserve history, bindings, decisions, constraints, and gaps; label validation commands [observed, not run] with their sources. Verify the write set and hand off only when fit and material intent are settled.

Return WORKSPACE_READY, WORKSPACE_RESUMED, NEEDS_EVIDENCE, OWNER_DECISION_REQUIRED, or BLOCKED with paths, scope, fit, freshness evidence, confirmed decisions, open items, and next action. Missing facts and pending owner answers are distinct. Resume only valid context; never start a second scope stage. Do not implement, delete plan content, or invent retries or agent invocations.