The next agent gets the same acceptance criteria, completed task evidence, and next action.
Explore the work modelStart with an intent.
An intent describes a requested outcome. It can move through backlog, in progress, blocked, review, and done. A small change can stand alone. Attach an increment when the work benefits from a specification, acceptance criteria, and a task ledger.
A session is a conversation with a tool. One intent can span several sessions; one session can contain several requests. Keeping these separate makes a handoff understandable.
Progress you can inspect.
| Layer | Question answered | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Intent | What outcome matters? | Title, summary, board state |
| Increment | What does done mean? | Specification and acceptance criteria |
| Task | What was completed, and by whom? | Append-only claims and completion records |
| Verification | Did the required checks pass? | Command output and verification report |
| Execution | Which tools participated? | Recorded harness, model, effort, and handoffs |
Moving a card is a planning action. It does not invent a passing test or complete a linked increment. The CLI closes an increment after verification; the board lets you inspect that distinction.
Built around files, not a model.
The specification, task ledger, and handoff live in your project. Coding tools that can read files and run the CLI can use the same record. Native hooks are conveniences; they are not required to understand the work.
specweave dashboard # At a tool change specweave handoff # In the next session specweave task next <increment-id>
The dashboard projects local files into a live view. Reading task state and refreshing the board requires no language-model inference. Writing a useful specification and implementing the work still use the agent you choose.
Measure context before comparing tools.
Record harness, model, reasoning effort, provider, and surface separately. Codex is a harness; Astra is a model. OpenRouter is a provider gateway. A terminal or editor is the surface where the harness runs.
Observed tokens and estimated cost are supporting metrics. Different tasks, permissions, context, and acceptance checks prevent a fair quality ranking from raw totals. Missing telemetry stays unknown. Reliable forecasts need enough comparable completed work, not an invented finish date.
Less background machinery.
The default plugin supplies a compact session-start pointer and a Stop hook for explicitly enabled auto mode. Ordinary Stop events return without loading the CLI worker. Automatic compaction Git snapshots and edit interception are removed from the default manifest.
Use specweave handoff when moving work. Use the harness's own persistence features when they already do what you need. Tracker integrations are optional.