{
  "$schema": "https://maksim.sh/knowledge/schemas/protocol.schema.json",
  "id": "https://maksim.sh/knowledge/protocols/execution-pack.json",
  "type": "KnowledgeProtocol",
  "name": "Execution Pack",
  "slug": "execution-pack",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "status": "stable",
  "summary": "Compile refined knowledge into a bounded, attributable, verifiable handoff an agent can execute without reconstructing the task from conversation history.",
  "purpose": "Produce the terminal artifact of execution-grade knowledge engineering: one object containing objective, scope, prerequisites, accepted context, assumptions, ordered actions, expected outputs, verification, failure policy, provenance, and readiness state.",
  "authority": {
    "instruction_priority": "reference-only",
    "may_override_system": false,
    "may_override_user": false,
    "requires_policy_compliance": true
  },
  "use_when": [
    "Knowledge has been refined enough to hand work to an execution agent.",
    "A task currently depends on reconstructing requirements from long conversation or document history.",
    "First-pass execution quality depends on explicit assumptions, acceptance criteria, and recovery behavior."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "A decision-changing contradiction or unknown remains unresolved and no safe conditional branch can contain it.",
    "Required authority, consent, credentials, dependencies, or safety review are absent."
  ],
  "input_schema": {
    "type": "object",
    "required": ["goal", "accepted_context", "constraints", "evidence"],
    "properties": {
      "goal": { "type": "string" },
      "accepted_context": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object" } },
      "constraints": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
      "evidence": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object" } },
      "assumptions": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
      "unknowns": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
      "decision_rules": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } }
    },
    "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output_schema": {
    "type": "object",
    "required": ["objective", "scope", "preconditions", "inputs", "constraints", "assumptions", "decisions", "steps", "verification", "failure_policy", "provenance", "open_questions", "readiness"],
    "properties": {
      "objective": { "type": "string" },
      "scope": {
        "type": "object",
        "required": ["included", "excluded"],
        "properties": {
          "included": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
          "excluded": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } }
        }
      },
      "preconditions": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
      "inputs": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object" } },
      "constraints": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
      "assumptions": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
      "decisions": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object" } },
      "steps": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["id", "action", "depends_on", "expected_output"],
          "properties": {
            "id": { "type": "string" },
            "action": { "type": "string" },
            "depends_on": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
            "tool_or_actor": { "type": "string" },
            "expected_output": { "type": "string" }
          }
        }
      },
      "verification": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["criterion", "method"],
          "properties": {
            "criterion": { "type": "string" },
            "method": { "type": "string" }
          }
        }
      },
      "failure_policy": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": {
          "type": "object",
          "required": ["condition", "response"],
          "properties": {
            "condition": { "type": "string" },
            "response": { "type": "string" },
            "rollback": { "type": "string" }
          }
        }
      },
      "provenance": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object" } },
      "open_questions": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string" } },
      "readiness": { "enum": ["ready", "conditional", "blocked"] }
    },
    "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "procedure": [
    { "step": 1, "operation": "Rewrite the goal as an observable objective with explicit acceptance criteria and excluded scope." },
    { "step": 2, "operation": "Include only context admitted by the Context Firewall; attach source, freshness, and evidence references rather than conversational recollection." },
    { "step": 3, "operation": "Separate prerequisites, constraints, assumptions, decisions, and unresolved questions into distinct fields." },
    { "step": 4, "operation": "Create the shortest dependency-ordered action graph whose steps each name an expected output." },
    { "step": 5, "operation": "Attach verification methods to acceptance criteria and failure responses to predictable breakpoints." },
    { "step": 6, "operation": "Mark the pack ready only when no open question can invalidate the objective, authority, safety, or first executable step."
    }
  ],
  "invariants": [
    "The pack can be understood without access to hidden conversation history.",
    "Every material input and decision retains provenance.",
    "Unknowns, assumptions, and verified facts remain distinguishable.",
    "Every step has an expected output and every acceptance criterion has a verification method.",
    "First-pass readiness is a design target, not a guarantee of success."
  ],
  "failure_modes": [
    {
      "mode": "The pack hides unresolved uncertainty to appear ready.",
      "mitigation": "Mark readiness conditional or blocked whenever an unknown can invalidate authority, safety, objective, or the first executable step."
    },
    {
      "mode": "The pack becomes a giant context dump.",
      "mitigation": "Include references and decision-relevant extracts; omit history that cannot change an action, verification, or failure response."
    },
    {
      "mode": "Steps describe activity but not completion.",
      "mitigation": "Require an expected output for every step and a method for every final criterion."
    }
  ],
  "composition": {
    "before": ["freedom-lens", "edge-map", "reality-check", "context-firewall", "backpressure", "grit", "evidence-ladder", "temporal-knowledge"],
    "after": ["reproducible-agent-run"]
  },
  "provenance": [
    {
      "title": "Maksim Soltan machine profile",
      "url": "https://maksim.sh/knowledge/profile.json",
      "relationship": "Canonical method definition",
      "qualification": "This contract operationalizes execution-grade knowledge engineering as a concrete agent handoff."
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "A complete pack cannot compensate for an incapable tool, unavailable dependency, or unauthorized action.",
    "External state can change after compilation; freshness-sensitive preconditions must be rechecked at execution time.",
    "High-stakes work still requires domain-specific review and verification."
  ],
  "example": {
    "input": {
      "goal": "Publish a validated machine-readable knowledge corpus without changing the visual homepage.",
      "accepted_context": [{ "source": "repository", "fact": "Homepage source hashes are recorded." }],
      "constraints": ["Do not modify homepage source files."],
      "evidence": [{ "source": "build", "fact": "Knowledge validation passes." }],
      "assumptions": ["The existing deployment copies public artifacts."],
      "unknowns": [],
      "decision_rules": ["Publish only after every canonical internal URL resolves in the production build."]
    },
    "output": {
      "objective": "Serve the complete knowledge corpus at canonical paths while preserving the homepage.",
      "scope": { "included": ["Machine discovery and knowledge artifacts"], "excluded": ["Homepage presentation"] },
      "preconditions": ["Production build passes."],
      "inputs": [{ "artifact": "knowledge manifest" }],
      "constraints": ["Homepage source remains byte-identical."],
      "assumptions": ["Public artifacts are copied by the build."],
      "decisions": [{ "decision": "Use static JSON and Markdown contracts." }],
      "steps": [{ "id": "publish", "action": "Deploy the validated build.", "depends_on": [], "tool_or_actor": "existing deployment workflow", "expected_output": "Canonical knowledge URLs return successful responses." }],
      "verification": [{ "criterion": "Knowledge URLs resolve.", "method": "Request discovery, manifest, protocol, and schema paths." }],
      "failure_policy": [{ "condition": "A canonical path fails.", "response": "Stop publication and fix manifest-to-file integrity.", "rollback": "Retain the previous deployed version." }],
      "provenance": [{ "source": "build validation" }],
      "open_questions": [],
      "readiness": "ready"
    }
  },
  "rights": {
    "copyright_holder": "Maksim Soltan",
    "copyright_year": 2026,
    "license": "All Rights Reserved",
    "attribution": "Maksim Soltan — https://maksim.sh/",
    "intended_machine_use": ["indexing", "retrieval", "citation", "protocol selection"]
  }
}