porch - Protocol Orchestrator

Porch manages the state machine behind development protocols. It tracks phases, gates, consultations, and transitions.

Commands

porch status [id]              Show current project state and phase
porch run [id]                 Run the protocol loop (strict mode)
porch next [id]                Get next tasks as JSON
porch done [id]                Signal current phase is complete
porch check [id]               Run checks for current phase
porch gate [id]                Request human approval at a gate
porch approve <id> <gate> --a-human-explicitly-approved-this
porch rollback <id> <phase>    Rewind to an earlier phase
porch init <protocol> <id> <name>   Initialize a new project

Project ID auto-detects from worktree path when inside a builder worktree.

Gate approvals

Gates are human-only approval checkpoints. The --a-human-explicitly-approved-this flag is required — it exists to prevent AI agents from auto-approving.

Gate	Protocol	When
spec-approval	SPIR	After spec is written
plan-approval	SPIR	After plan is written
pr	SPIR, TICK, AIR	After PR is created

porch approve 42 spec-approval --a-human-explicitly-approved-this
porch approve 42 plan-approval --a-human-explicitly-approved-this
porch approve 42 pr --a-human-explicitly-approved-this

ASPIR and BUGFIX have no spec/plan gates — they run autonomously through those phases.

Checking pending gates

porch pending                  # List all gates waiting for approval
porch pending --all            # Include stale records on finished/advanced projects (hidden by default)

Critical rules

• Builders must NEVER call porch approve — only humans approve gates
• Never edit status.yaml directly — porch manages all state
• Builders signal completion with porch done, not porch approve
• porch run is for strict mode only — soft mode builders follow the protocol document manually
• When running porch approve from the architect, use a subshell if you need worktree context: (cd /path/to/worktree && porch approve ...)

Language-agnostic checks (porch.checks override)

Protocol check commands default to the npm toolchain (npm run build, npm test, etc.) baked into each protocol.json. A non-Node project (Python/uv, Go, Rust) will BLOCK at the first implement-phase check because npm can never pass there — even when the code is green under its real test runner.

You do NOT need to fork protocol.json. Override check commands per-name in .codev/config.json under porch.checks. Each entry takes command (replace), cwd (replace), and/or skip: true. This covers both phase checks and the phase_completion predicates (build_succeeds / tests_pass).

// .codev/config.json — Python/uv example
{
  "porch": {
    "checks": {
      "build":          { "command": "uv build" },
      "test":           { "command": "uv run pytest" },
      "build_succeeds": { "command": "uv build" },
      "tests_pass":     { "command": "uv run pytest" },
      "e2e_tests":      { "skip": true }
    }
  }
}

A phase check is killed after 5 minutes unless it sets timeout_ms — in protocol.json or in its porch.checks override (phase_completion predicates take no timeout), e.g. "tests": { "command": "uv run pytest", "timeout_ms": 900000 } for a long suite. On timeout porch kills the check's whole process tree.

Keys are the check names from the protocol: build / test / e2e_tests live in phases; build_succeeds / tests_pass live in phase_completion. An override key that matches no check in the protocol prints a warning. Shipped by Spec #550.

State storage

Project state lives in codev/projects/<id>-<name>/status.yaml, managed automatically by porch. The status file tracks current phase, gate states, consultation results, and timestamps.