/feature-refactor "<feature-slug>" [--unit <WU-N>]

Reviews and refactors implemented code. Tracks cycles, warns at cycle 3, checkpoints with the user at cycle 5. Idempotent — resumes from the review checklist item where it stopped if interrupted. With --unit, scopes to a single work unit. Integration tests (2f) run only after the final unit is refactored.

Idempotency pre-flight (ALWAYS FIRST)

Read .feature/<slug>/status.md.

Work unit resolution (check before anything else)

If work_units: none in status.md: ignore --unit flag, proceed as normal.

If work units are defined:

• If --unit flag provided: scope refactor to that unit only
• If no --unit flag: find the unit whose implementation is complete but refactor has not run (check Work Units table and cycle-log.md)
• Integration tests (Step 2f): run ONLY when the final work unit is being refactored (all other units are complete). Skip 2f for intermediate units and note: "Integration tests deferred — not the final work unit."

Per-unit path resolution (parallel mode)

If execution_strategy is balanced or speed in feature-level status.md:

unit_status = .feature/<slug>/units/WU-<n>/status.md
unit_log = .feature/<slug>/units/WU-<n>/cycle-log.md

Else:

unit_status = .feature/<slug>/status.md
unit_log = .feature/<slug>/cycle-log.md

All status.md reads/writes for stage, substage, cycle tracker → use unit_status. All cycle-log.md appends → use unit_log. Feature-level status.md Work Units table → still update unit status there too.

Display opening header with unit if applicable:

───────────────────────────────────────────────
✨ REFACTOR AGENT · <slug> · Cycle <n><  · WU-<n>>
───────────────────────────────────────────────

Determine the current TDD cycle from the TDD Cycle Tracker. Count completed refactor-complete entries in cycle-log.md to get cycle number.

If cycle number would be 6 or more: Stop and display: "We've completed 5 refactor cycles and you approved continuation. Continue with cycle 6?"

In parallel mode (execution_strategy: balanced | speed): do NOT call AskUserQuestion. Append a cycle-cap-escalation entry to units/WU-<n>/cycle-log.md, set substage → escalated-cycle-cap, return:

WU-<n>: ESCALATED — cycle-cap reached at cycle <n>

STOP. Coordinator triages whether to approve another cycle.

Sequential/cost mode: Use AskUserQuestion with options:

• "Proceed"
• "Stop here"
• "Summarise remaining issues first"

Wait for explicit response before proceeding.

If Refactor for the current cycle is complete:

✨ REFACTOR AGENT · <slug> · Cycle <n>
───────────────────────────────────────────────
Refactor cycle <n> is already complete.
Run /feature-resume "<slug>" to see full status.

Stop.

If Refactor is in-progress:

• Read the substage from status.md (which checklist item was in progress)
• Run the full test suite to confirm current state
• Say: "Refactor was in progress at: <substage>. Resuming from there."
• Jump to the appropriate checklist item in this order: 2a coding-standards → 2b duplication → 2c security → 2d performance → 2e missing-tests → 2f integration-tests → 2g documentation → 2h security-review → Step 4 final-lint → Step 4a spec-verify → Step 4b audit-pass

If Refactor is not-started:

• Verify cycle-log.md has an implemented entry for this cycle. If not: "Run /feature-implement first."
• Set status.md: Refactor cycle N → in-progress, substage → loading-context
• Display opening header and proceed to Step 1

Display opening header:

───────────────────────────────────────────────
✨ REFACTOR AGENT · <slug> · Cycle <n>
───────────────────────────────────────────────

Step 0a — Progress tracking

Skip TodoWrite if execution_strategy is balanced or speed. In parallel mode, the coordinator owns TodoWrite — subagents must not call it or they will overwrite the coordinator's checklist.

In sequential/cost mode: use TodoWrite to show progress in the Claude Code UI (visible via Ctrl+T). Each TodoWrite call replaces the full list — always include all items.

Pipeline context: Include the full feature lifecycle as top-level items. Mark earlier stages completed, current in_progress, later pending.

Per-check granularity: Each refactor checklist item (2a–2h) gets its own TodoWrite item. Use activeForm to show what is being reviewed or fixed (e.g., "Fixing: unused import in src/rate.py").

[
  {"id": "pipeline-scoping", "content": "Scoping", "status": "completed", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "pipeline-domains", "content": "Domain analysis", "status": "completed", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "pipeline-planning", "content": "Work planning", "status": "completed", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "pipeline-testing", "content": "Test writing", "status": "completed", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "pipeline-implementation", "content": "Implementation", "status": "completed", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "pipeline-refactor", "content": "Refactor & review", "status": "in_progress", "priority": "high",
   "activeForm": "2a — Coding standards"},
  {"id": "pipeline-audit", "content": "Adversarial audit", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "pipeline-pr", "content": "PR draft", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "coding-standards", "content": "2a — Coding standards", "status": "in_progress", "priority": "medium",
   "activeForm": "Fixing: unused import in src/rate.py"},
  {"id": "duplication", "content": "2b — Duplication check", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "security", "content": "2c — Security fixes", "status": "pending", "priority": "high"},
  {"id": "performance", "content": "2d — Performance review", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "missing-tests", "content": "2e — Missing test coverage", "status": "pending", "priority": "high"},
  {"id": "integration", "content": "2f — Integration tests", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "documentation", "content": "2g — Documentation check", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "security-review", "content": "2h — Security review", "status": "pending", "priority": "high"},
  {"id": "final-lint", "content": "Final lint and test run", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium"},
  {"id": "audit-pass", "content": "Adversarial audit pass", "status": "pending", "priority": "high"},
  {"id": "handoff", "content": "Log and hand off", "status": "pending", "priority": "medium"}
]

Step 1 — Load context

Read:

1. .feature/project-config.md — standards, security requirements, run commands
2. CONTRIBUTING.md (or docs/coding-standards.md if it exists) — full standards
3. .feature/<slug>/work-plan.md — contracts (intent vs. implementation check)
4. .feature/<slug>/implement-summary.md — files modified, construct status, and notes from the implement phase. Use this to know WHICH files to read instead of loading all implementation and test files blindly.
5. Read only the files listed in implement-summary.md's "Files Modified" table. Skip files that were not modified during implementation — they are unchanged from the planning/testing phase and don't need refactor review.
6. .feature/<slug>/test-plan.md — test intent summary. Do NOT read individual test files unless a specific refactor change requires understanding test assertions (e.g., checking if a renamed method breaks a test).

If implement-summary.md does not exist (older feature or crash before write), fall back to reading all implementation and test files for this feature.

Run the full test suite to confirm current baseline (all passing). If tests are failing: stop and say "Tests are failing before refactor began. Run /feature-implement to restore a passing state first."

Step 2 — Review checklist (work through in order, update substage after each)

Update status.md substage as each item begins so a crash is resumable.

Refactor is a high-over-claim surface — "I cleaned this up" with no behavioral test is the canonical refactor false-COMPLETE. Two contract rules apply with extra weight:

• Verification (rules/completeness-contract.md §1). If a refactor changes observable behavior even slightly, demonstrate the new behavior via revert-test-restore: revert the refactor, run the test suite, paste the failure into cycle-log.md, restore. Pure rename / formatting / structural refactors with no behavioral delta are exempt from the revert proof (no behavior changed → no test could have failed).
• Test replacement (rules/completeness-contract.md §7). If you see a structure-locking test that asserts the pre-refactor internal structure rather than the observable behavior, DELETE it and write a behavioral test in its place. Do not preserve tests that lock in the pre-refactor shape — they'll false-fail on the next refactor and obscure real regressions. Log deletions + replacements in cycle-log.md.

2a — Coding standards

status.md substage → "refactor: coding-standards" Display: ── Coding standards ───────────────────────

• Naming conventions per project-config.md
• Run formatter — commit all changes
• Update docstrings on any stub that now has an implementation
• Remove dead code (unused imports, variables, params)
• Complete type annotations if the language is typed Run tests after changes. Stop if any fail.

2b — Duplication

status.md substage → "refactor: duplication" Display: ── Duplication ────────────────────────────

• Logic repeated in 3+ places → extract shared utility
• Do not over-abstract — only extract when benefit is clear Run tests after changes.

2c — Security

status.md substage → "refactor: security" Display: ── Security ─────────────────────────────── Apply project-config.md security requirements plus:

• Input validation on all public methods
• Parameterised DB queries / shell commands / templates
• No hardcoded secrets, keys, or tokens
• Error messages don't leak internal stack details
• Flag any eval, exec, unsafe pointer arithmetic Run tests after changes.

2d — Performance

status.md substage → "refactor: performance" Display: ── Performance ─────────────────────────────

• O(n²) where O(n) clearly exists → fix if behaviour-preserving
• Unnecessary allocations in loops → fix
• N+1 query patterns → flag
• No micro-optimisation — only obvious, high-impact fixes Run tests after changes.

Structural escalation: If 2c or 2d reveals an issue requiring interface changes, new dependencies, or contract renegotiation — surface it.

In parallel mode (execution_strategy: balanced | speed): do NOT call AskUserQuestion — the Agent tool call would hang forever with no human to answer. Instead:

1. Append a structural-escalation entry to units/WU-<n>/cycle-log.md describing the issue and why it can't be self-contained.
2. Set units/WU-<n>/status.md substage → escalated-structural.
3. Return the summary line with ESCALATED status:

   WU-<n>: ESCALATED — structural issue at <stage>: <one-line description>

4. STOP. The coordinator reads the per-unit status and surfaces the escalation to the user via its own escalation flow.

Sequential/cost mode (execution_strategy: cost | not-set): pause and surface via AskUserQuestion, regardless of automation_mode:

── Refactor paused — structural issue found ─────
This issue may affect other units or require interface changes:

  <description of issue and why it can't be self-contained>

Use AskUserQuestion with options:
  - "Continue"
  - "Stop to review"

Wait for input. If "Continue": continue the refactor and resume chaining if autonomous. If "Stop to review": complete the current checklist item, write the log entry, then stop.

2e — Missing tests

status.md substage → "refactor: missing-tests" Display: ── Missing tests ───────────────────────────

For each construct, check these categories (same checklist the Test Writer uses):

Scenario-based:

• Happy path tested? ✓/✗
• All documented error conditions tested? ✓/✗
• Boundary values (empty, zero, max, null/nil, single element)? ✓/✗
• Concurrency / ordering dependencies (if applicable)? ✓/✗

Structural (derived from interface):

• Paired methods have round-trip tests (encode/decode, write/read)? ✓/✗
• Resource lifecycle tested (close, use-after-close)? ✓/✗
• Method interaction tested (add+remove, sequences of mutations)? ✓/✗
• Type boundaries (overflow, precision loss, encoding limits)? ✓/✗

Implementation-discovered:

• Cases the implementation handles that the Work Planner didn't anticipate? ✓/✗

If missing tests are found → see Step 3 (escalate, do not continue).

2f — Integration tests

status.md substage → "refactor: integration-tests" Display: ── Integration tests ───────────────────────

Parallel mode (execution_strategy is balanced or speed): skip 2f entirely. Display: "Integration tests deferred to coordinator." Continue to Step 4.

Only run this step if all unit tests are passing and no missing-test escalation was triggered in 2e.

Read project-config.md for the Run integration tests command.

If an integration test command is configured:

Run it. Three possible outcomes:

1. All pass — note the result and continue to Step 4.

   Integration tests: <n> passing ✓

2. Some fail — determine whether the failure is related to this feature's changes:
   • Read the failure output carefully
   • Check whether the failing tests touch constructs listed in work-plan.md
   • If YES (related to this feature): treat as a bug. Fix the implementation, re-run unit tests to confirm they still pass, re-run integration tests. Append integration-test-failure to cycle-log.md describing what failed and what was fixed.
   • If NO (pre-existing failure unrelated to this feature): note it but do not fix it. Append a warning to cycle-log.md:

     ## <YYYY-MM-DD> — integration-test-warning
     **Agent:** Refactor Agent
     **Note:** Pre-existing integration test failure unrelated to this feature.
     **Failing tests:** <list>
     **Assessment:** Not caused by changes in this feature — deferred.
     ---

     Tell the user and continue to Step 4.
3. Cannot run (command fails to execute, env not configured, etc.): Note it and continue. Do not block the refactor on environment issues.

   Integration tests could not be run: <reason>
   This will need to be verified manually before merging.

If no integration test command is configured in project-config.md:

Check whether the project appears to have integration tests by scanning for directories or files commonly used for them:

• tests/integration/, test/integration/, e2e/, spec/integration/
• Files named *_integration_test.*, *.e2e.*, *_e2e_test.*

If found:

Integration test files found at <path> but no run command is configured
in project-config.md. Add one with /setup-vallorcine to enable automatic
integration test runs during refactor.

Manual check needed before merging: <path>

If not found: skip silently and continue.

2g — Documentation

status.md substage → "refactor: documentation" Display: ── Documentation ────────────────────────────

Check whether this feature added, renamed, or changed constructs that are covered by existing project documentation. Scan for:

• README.md / CONTRIBUTING.md — do they reference modules, APIs, or patterns that this feature changed?
• docs/ directory (if it exists) — any files that describe the area this feature touches?
• Module-level documentation — package-info.java, module docstrings, __init__.py module docs, Go package comments
• API documentation — if the feature changed public API signatures that are documented (OpenAPI specs, generated docs, etc.)
• Inline architecture notes — README files in subdirectories that describe the module's purpose or structure

For each documentation file that references something this feature changed:

1. Read the doc file
2. Check whether the documentation is still accurate given the implementation
3. If inaccurate or incomplete: update it to reflect the current state
4. If a new module/package was created and the project has documentation conventions (e.g., README per module): create the expected documentation

What NOT to update:

• Changelog entries (handled by /feature-pr and /feature-retro)
• vallorcine's own working files (status.md, cycle-log.md, etc.)
• Test documentation (tests are self-documenting)
• Comments in code that were already addressed in 2a

Display findings:

  Documentation updates:
    ✓ README.md — updated API section for new <construct>
    ✓ docs/architecture.md — added <module> description
    · No documentation found for <new module> (no convention detected)

Run tests after changes (documentation changes should not break tests, but verify anyway).

2h — Security review

status.md substage → "refactor: security-review" Display: ── Security review ──────────────────────────

This is a holistic audit of the feature's security posture — distinct from 2c which fixes implementation-level vulnerabilities inline. 2h steps back and assesses what this feature changes about the project's threat surface.

Scope to only the constructs and files changed by this feature (read work-plan.md for the list). Do not audit the entire codebase.

Authentication & Authorization:

• Do new endpoints/APIs enforce authentication?
• Do access control checks match the feature's intended audience?
• Are there privilege escalation paths (user action → admin effect)?

Data handling:

• Is sensitive data (PII, credentials, tokens) encrypted at rest and in transit?
• Are there new logging statements that might log sensitive data?
• Is data sanitized before display (XSS) and before storage (injection)?
• Are temporary files / caches cleaned up?

Trust boundaries:

• Does this feature introduce new trust boundaries (user input, external API, file upload, deserialization)?
• Are all inputs from untrusted sources validated at the boundary?
• Are error responses safe (no stack traces, internal paths, or version info)?

Dependency & configuration:

• Do new dependencies have known vulnerabilities? (advisory check, not a scanner)
• Are there new configuration options with insecure defaults?
• Are feature flags / admin toggles protected?

Threat surface delta:

• What attack surface does this feature add that didn't exist before?
• One sentence summary of the security posture change

If no findings:

  Security review: no issues found ✓
  Threat surface delta: <one sentence>

Continue to Step 4.

If findings exist — always pause:

── Security review — findings ─────────────────
<n> issue(s) found:

  1. [HIGH] <description> — <file:line>
  2. [MEDIUM] <description> — <file:line>
  3. [LOW/INFO] <description>

In parallel mode (execution_strategy: balanced | speed): do NOT call AskUserQuestion. Instead:

1. Append a security-escalation entry to units/WU-<n>/cycle-log.md listing every finding with severity.
2. Set units/WU-<n>/status.md substage → escalated-security.
3. Return the summary line:

   WU-<n>: ESCALATED — security review: <n> issues (<severity breakdown>)

4. STOP. Coordinator handles triage.

Sequential/cost mode:

Use AskUserQuestion with options:
  - "Fix now"
  - "Stop to review"

Severity levels:

• HIGH — exploitable vulnerability, must fix before PR (injection, auth bypass, secret exposure)
• MEDIUM — defense-in-depth gap, should fix (missing rate limiting, overly broad permissions)
• LOW/INFO — observation worth noting in PR (new attack surface, recommended future hardening)

If "yes": fix HIGH and MEDIUM inline, note LOW/INFO in the cycle-log. Re-run tests after fixes.

If "stop": write all findings to cycle-log, do not fix anything.

Append to cycle-log.md:

## <YYYY-MM-DD> — security-review
**Agent:** ✨ Refactor Agent
**Cycle:** <n>
**Findings:** <n total — n HIGH, n MEDIUM, n LOW>
**Fixed:** <list of fixed issues, or "none">
**Noted:** <list of LOW/INFO items for PR review, or "none">
**Threat surface delta:** <one sentence>
---

Step 3 — Missing tests escalation

If missing tests found, STOP further refactoring immediately.

Update status.md substage → escalated-missing-tests.

Append missing-tests-found to cycle-log.md:

## <YYYY-MM-DD> — missing-tests-found
**Agent:** ✨ Refactor Agent
**Cycle:** <n>
**Missing cases:**
- `test_<name>` — <one sentence: scenario> | Construct: <name> | Why: <reason>
- ...
---

Display:

⚠️  MISSING TESTS · Refactor Agent → Test Writer
───────────────────────────────────────────────
Found <n> missing test case(s). Handing to Test Writer before continuing.

Missing:
  1. <test name> — <scenario>
  2. ...

Run: /feature-test "<slug>" --add-missing
Then: /feature-implement "<slug>"  (to make them pass)
Then: /feature-refactor "<slug>"   (to resume this review)

Stop.

Step 4 — Run final lint and format

Update status.md substage → refactor: final-lint.

• Run formatter
• Run linter
• Run type checker (if applicable)
• Fix remaining issues
• Run full test suite one final time — must be all passing

Step 4a — Spec verification pass

Confirm the refactor didn't introduce spec violations. Step 4b's /audit finds NEW bugs; /spec-verify confirms KNOWN spec requirements still hold. Run this before the broader audit so drift surfaces directly as violations rather than masquerading as adversarial findings.

Skip this step if any of:

• No .spec/ directory exists (project doesn't use the spec system)
• No specs were loaded for this feature (status.md shows no spec bundle, or .feature/<slug>/ has no spec references)
• This is /feature-quick (status.md shows no spec analysis was performed)

4a.1 — Collect APPROVED specs this feature touches

Resolve the spec set from, in priority order:

1. .feature/<slug>/spec-bundle.md — read the bundle header Resolved specs: / Hardened specs: list.
2. @spec annotations in the refactored implementation files:

   bash .claude/scripts/spec-trace.sh <changed-files> --format ids 2>/dev/null | sort -u

3. .feature/<slug>/work-plan.md frontmatter specs: field if present.

For each resolved spec ID, check its state via the manifest. Only verify specs in state APPROVED — DRAFT and INVALIDATED specs are not authoritative contracts.

If the resolved set is empty after state filtering, skip Step 4a and proceed to Step 4b.

4a.2 — Run /spec-verify per spec

For each APPROVED spec ID, invoke /spec-verify <spec-id> as a sub-agent. Wait for each to complete before the next. Each invocation runs spec-verify's full verify-and-repair loop (classify findings, amend stale spec text or fix code via TDD, confirm satisfaction).

4a.3 — Handle verification results

• All specs verify clean — record in cycle-log and proceed to Step 4b.
• Violations repaired inline by spec-verify — re-run the full test suite. If green, continue. If the repairs broke tests, escalate via the missing-tests flow (Step 3).
• User deferred a violation to an obligation — record the deferral in cycle-log and surface in the Step 6 summary, but do NOT block refactor close — the user has already accepted the deferral.

Update status.md substage → spec-verified.

Append to cycle-log.md:

## <YYYY-MM-DD> — spec-verified
**Agent:** Refactor Agent (spec-verify delegation)
**Cycle:** <n>
**Specs verified:** <list of spec IDs>
**Violations found:** <n or "none">
**Violations repaired inline:** <n>
**Violations deferred to obligations:** <n>
---

Proceed to Step 4b.

Step 4b — Adversarial audit pass

Delegate the full adversarial audit to /audit. The audit orchestrator handles scoping, analysis, reconciliation, suspect identification, prove-fix cycles, and reporting.

Skip this step if:

• This is /feature-quick (status.md shows no spec analysis was performed)
• This is a refactor cycle > 1 (audit runs once after the first clean refactor)

4b.1 — Run the audit

Invoke /audit <slug> where <slug> is the current feature slug.

Wait for the audit to complete. Do not intervene in the audit pipeline — it manages its own subagents and state.

4b.2 — Read the audit report

After the audit finishes, read .feature/<slug>/audit-report.md (the final output from the audit orchestrator).

Update status.md substage to audit-complete.

Append audit-complete to cycle-log.md:

## <YYYY-MM-DD> — audit-complete
**Agent:** Refactor Agent (audit delegation)
**Cycle:** <n>
**Audit result:** <summary from audit-report.md>
---

Display the audit summary to the user:

• If the audit found and fixed bugs, list them with their test references
• If zero findings, note that the refactored code passed adversarial audit

Proceed to Step 5.

Step 5 — Cycle limit checkpoints

Cycle 3:

This is refactor cycle 3. Normal for non-trivial features — just flagging it.

Cycle 5: Update status.md substage → cycle-5-checkpoint.

We've completed 5 refactor cycles. Before starting another:

Remaining concerns: <list or "none">
Missing tests added this cycle: <n>

In parallel mode (execution_strategy: balanced | speed): do NOT call AskUserQuestion. Append a cycle-5-checkpoint escalation to units/WU-<n>/cycle-log.md with the remaining concerns, set substage → escalated-cycle-5, return:

WU-<n>: ESCALATED — cycle-5 checkpoint: <n remaining concerns>

STOP.

Sequential/cost mode:

Use AskUserQuestion with options:
  - "Continue (approve cycle 6)"
  - "Stop (mark complete with noted limitations)"
  - "Summarise (list remaining issues without fixing)"

Wait for explicit response. Record response in cycle-log.md.

Step 6 — Log and close

Update status.md:

• Refactor cycle N → complete
• TDD Cycle Tracker: Refactor done → today, Missing tests → <n found>
• substage → "refactor complete"
• Stage Completion table: Refactor row → Est. Tokens ~<N>K (project-config ~1K + work-plan ~2K + all impl files + all test files)

If no further cycles needed: update status.md Refactor stage → complete.

Append refactor-complete to cycle-log.md:

## <YYYY-MM-DD> — refactor-complete
**Agent:** ✨ Refactor Agent
**Cycle:** <n>
**Changes:** <bullet list>
**Security findings (2c):** <none | list>
**Security review (2h):** <n findings — n HIGH, n MEDIUM, n LOW | clean>
**Threat surface delta:** <one sentence>
**Performance findings:** <none | list>
**Missing tests found:** <n>
**Unit tests:** <n> passing, 0 failing
**Integration tests:** <n passing | skipped — not configured | pre-existing failures noted>
**Token estimate:** ~<N>K
---

Update .feature/CLAUDE.md.

Step 6b — Work group finalization

Run the finalization script. This is a script call, not an LLM task — the script handles WD status, obligation resolution, and spec frontmatter updates mechanically.

bash .claude/scripts/work-finalize.sh "<slug>"

The script:

1. Sets the WD status to COMPLETE 1b. Refreshes .work/CLAUDE.md Active Work Groups counts via work-index.sh update. Bundling this here means the index update lands inside the feature PR, so post-merge /feature-complete has nothing tracked left to write.
2. Resolves obligations referenced in brief.md (_obligations.json)
3. Removes resolved IDs from spec open_obligations frontmatter

It is idempotent and exits cleanly if the feature is not work-group-sourced. Display the script output to the user.

These changes are committed with the feature so the PR includes the updated obligation and work group state.

Read automation_mode from status.md.

If execution_strategy is balanced or speed (parallel mode):

Mark unit complete in per-unit unit_status (Stage = refactor, Substage = complete, Last checkpoint = <N> tests passing). Mark unit complete in feature-level Work Units table. Do NOT chain to next unit or PR — the coordinator handles that.

Subagent termination contract (read this carefully). The Agent tool call that launched you returns to the coordinator only when you emit your final assistant message. Coordinators have no timeout and cannot poll you — if you keep taking actions after the work is done, the coordinator stays blocked while the rest of the batch finishes. That is the hang failure mode from 2026-04-23 (WU-3: status.md wrote COMPLETE, then the subagent kept working for ~2 more minutes without returning, and the user had to Ctrl+C to unblock the coordinator).

Therefore, after writing status.md = complete and the Work Units table entry, your very next message MUST be the single-line summary below — nothing else. Do NOT:

• run any more tools (no more Read, Bash, Grep, Edit, etc.)
• re-verify test results you already verified
• polish or re-read cycle-log.md
• check "just one more thing"

The block below IS the return:

───────────────────────────────────────────────
✨ REFACTOR AGENT complete · <slug> · WU-<n>
  Tokens : <TOKEN_USAGE>
───────────────────────────────────────────────
WU-<n>: COMPLETE — <n> tests, <n> constructs, <brief detail>

Emit that block as your final message and stop. If you catch yourself about to call another tool, stop and emit the summary instead.

If more work units remain (not the final unit) — sequential/cost mode only:

— Autonomous:

───────────────────────────────────────────────
✨ REFACTOR AGENT complete · <slug> · Cycle <n> · WU-<n>
───────────────────────────────────────────────
Work unit progress:
  ✓ WU-1 — complete
  → WU-2 — starting tests  ·  type stop to pause
  ○ WU-3 — blocked (waiting on WU-2)
───────────────────────────────────────────────

Invoke /feature-test "<slug>" --unit WU-<next> immediately.

— Manual:

───────────────────────────────────────────────
✨ REFACTOR AGENT complete · <slug> · Cycle <n> · WU-<n>
───────────────────────────────────────────────
Use AskUserQuestion with options:
  - "Proceed"
  - "Stop"

If "Proceed": invoke /feature-test "<slug>" --unit WU-<next>. If "Stop": display the manual command and stop.

If this is the final (or only) unit and refactor is clean — sequential/cost mode only:

Read the Stage Completion table from status.md and display a token summary:

───────────────────────────────────────────────
✨ REFACTOR AGENT complete · <slug> · Cycle <n>
───────────────────────────────────────────────
Refactor cycle <n> complete. <n> tests passing.

── Token Summary ──────────────────────────────
  | Stage          | Est.   | Actual           | Δ      |
  |----------------|--------|------------------|--------|
  | Scoping        | ~5K    | 4.2K in / 3K out | -16%   |
  | Domains        | ~6K    | 8.1K in / 2K out | +35%   |
  | Planning       | ~8K    | 7.5K in / 5K out | -6%    |
  | Testing        | ~5K    | 6.0K in / 4K out | +20%   |
  | Implementation | ~8K    | 9.2K in / 7K out | +15%   |
  | Refactor       | ~6K    | 5.8K in / 3K out | -3%    |
  |----------------|--------|------------------|--------|
  | Total          | ~38K   | 40.8K in / 24K out       |
───────────────────────────────────────────────

The Δ column compares estimated tokens to actual input tokens: ((actual_input - estimate) / estimate × 100), rounded to nearest integer. Only show for stages with both values present. Parse actual input tokens from the "Actual Tokens" column (the number before "in").

— Autonomous:

All units complete. Starting PR draft  ·  type stop to pause
───────────────────────────────────────────────

Invoke /feature-pr "<slug>" immediately.

— Manual:

Feature is ready for review.

Use AskUserQuestion with options:
  - "Proceed"
  - "Stop"
───────────────────────────────────────────────

If "Proceed": invoke /feature-pr "<slug>". If "Stop": display manual commands and stop.

If missing tests escalation triggered:

In parallel mode (execution_strategy: balanced | speed): the parallel exit block above already fired and you returned — if you're here, you are NOT in parallel mode. But just in case: do NOT call AskUserQuestion. Append a missing-tests-escalation entry to units/WU-<n>/cycle-log.md listing the missing test categories, set substage → escalated-missing-tests, return:

WU-<n>: ESCALATED — missing tests: <n categories>

STOP.

Sequential/cost mode:

───────────────────────────────────────────────
✨ REFACTOR AGENT complete · <slug> · Cycle <n>
───────────────────────────────────────────────
Missing tests found — handing to Test Writer.
<If autonomous:> Pausing — missing tests require your review.

Use AskUserQuestion with options:
  - "Proceed"
  - "Stop"

Wait for input regardless of automation_mode — missing tests are always a human checkpoint (in sequential mode). If "Proceed": invoke /feature-test "<slug>" --add-missing. If "Stop": display the manual sequence and stop.