Finish Line

Convert parallel feature work into one releasable commit history and a verified destination state. The core risk is losing the mapping between the user's intended features, the artifacts agents produced, and what actually reached users.

Build the reconciliation ledger

Before integrating, inventory the requested feature tasks and candidate branches, worktrees, commits, and owned uncommitted diffs. Use the schema in references/ledger-template.md.

For every intended item record:

• source task, branch or worktree, base SHA, and exact commit when available;
• owned files and any intentional overlap;
• tests, migrations, configuration, provider permissions, and deployment ordering;
• truth state: active, uncommitted, committed, integrated, tested, pushed, deployed, or live-verified;
• disposition: include, defer, superseded, or blocked.

Do not silently omit intended work because it lacks a commit, lives on an unexpected branch, or overlaps another change. Do not blindly include every branch. Reconcile candidates against the requested release.

Require a usable handoff

Prefer a commit. Never treat uncommitted files as a completed handoff.

Require:

• branch and exact commit SHA;
• base SHA;
• owned files and intentional overlap;
• checks that passed;
• migrations, environment variables, provider permissions, or deployment order;
• known incomplete or unavailable behavior.

If a completed task left uncommitted work, identify its exact owned diff and preserve it as one coherent commit before integration. Do not include unrelated dirty files.

Integrate from a clean lane

1. Refresh the authoritative remote and inspect every claimed SHA. Keep local, committed, pushed, deployed, configured, and live-verified states separate.
2. Wait for active writers touching overlapping files to produce a stable handoff. Do not integrate a moving checkout.
3. Create a clean integration worktree from the current authoritative release branch.
4. Order commits by dependency: shared schema and contracts, backend, UI, then release and configuration.
5. Integrate one feature commit at a time. After each, run its smallest meaningful check. Resolve conflicts according to current product intent, not by blindly choosing a side.
6. Run the cross-cutting suite on the combined tree. Verify migrations and environment requirements without exposing secrets.
7. Push the exact clean integration SHA only when authorized. Deploy dependencies before consumers.
8. Verify the real destination routes and user flows when release verification is in scope. A successful build or push is not completion.

Keep ownership simple

Default to:

one feature = one worktree = one branch = one coherent commit handoff

Give each active feature a narrow ownership boundary. If two features must edit the same contract or core file, make one depend on the other's commit or give that shared file one owner.

Compatibility is proven centrally, not inferred from clean individual branches. Integrate foundations first, run a focused check after each commit, then run combined checks and the cross-feature flow.

Respect the permission boundary

Integration authorization does not automatically authorize pushing, merging, deploying, production migrations, paid services, secret transfer, destructive actions, or external communication. Stop at the highest authorized state and name the remaining state precisely.

Preserve unrelated user work. Never expose secrets in logs or reports.

Completion gate

Finish only when every ledger item has an explicit disposition and the requested behavior works at the authorized destination.

For a production release, require the production destination and exact deployed SHA. For integration-only work, stop at the exact clean integrated SHA and say that deployment remains unverified.

Report:

1. release outcome and highest proven state;
2. compact final ledger;
3. integrated commits and conflict decisions;
4. focused and combined checks;
5. deployed SHA and live-flow evidence, when authorized;
6. remaining blockers and deferred items.

Never say "done" when only one step in the truth-state ladder is proven.