Skill: map only what is about to run; later cuts are lines in the prose map's cut sequence

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

SKILL.md

@@ -116,8 +116,8 @@ different is not waste; discovering it after the code lands is.
 
 ### 1. Imagination maps the cut
 
-Brief an Imagination agent to admit the cuts: one `cut_spec` per cut against
-the current Body, ordered by `depends_on`, which names cut labels. The fields are the spec standard:
+Brief an Imagination agent to admit the `cut_spec` for the next cut against
+the current Body; `depends_on` names the cut labels it waits on. The fields are the spec standard:
 repo, branch and base; `deletes` first, with exact paths and line counts;
 `keeps_moves`; `adds`; `file_changes` at `file:line` **for code that exists**;
 an `authority_map` for anything that changes ownership; `verification` (builds,
@@ -126,6 +126,22 @@ for the ledger; and the `rulings` and `questions` it rests on. A changed spec is
 a new revision, admitted with the resolution that supersedes the old one, never
 an edit.
 
+**Map only what is about to run.** A `cut_spec` is admitted for a cut Self
+dispatches as soon as the spec is in: its dependencies have landed or are in
+their Soul pass, and Self has the head and the machine for it. That is the next
+cut of a campaign, plus a sibling that can run beside it in its own worktree.
+Every later cut is one line in the prose map's cut sequence (a title and what
+it waits on), never a spec. A cut split for budget admits its first part; the
+rest stay lines. A spec waits on the Body and goes stale: the variants specs of
+2026-10-02 sat ten days behind a moving CultLib and needed a fresh Imagination
+pass before Hands could use them. Operator, 2026-10-12: "Originally a spec
+would get dispatched as soon as it's written, but we've been drifting way ahead
+of the work". So the specs-with-no-report recipe is the dispatch queue, and a
+spec on it that Self is not dispatching this session is a defect. A spec
+already in force from before this rule is refreshed (revision N+1) or
+withdrawn when its campaign's frontier reaches it, never dispatched on a base
+`tools/context-pack.py` reports as moved.
+
 **Spend the detail where the map can be wrong, not where Hands will rewrite it
 anyway.** Anchors against existing code earn their length: they say what to
 delete and what not to touch. They are also Hands' context pack, pinned at base

references/briefs.md

@@ -133,8 +133,10 @@ question ids you admitted.
 Dispatch: `subagent_type: imagination`, model Opus.
 
 ```
-Migration: <migration>. Admit a cut_spec for <cut or cuts> so
-Hands can go straight to the cut with little reading.
+Migration: <migration>. Admit a cut_spec for <the next cut, and at most a
+sibling Self will run beside it> so Hands can go straight to the cut with
+little reading. Map nothing further ahead (SKILL.md step 1, "Map only what is
+about to run"): later cuts are one line each in the prose map's cut sequence.
 
 Admit only cut_specs, their superseding resolutions, and questions. In the
 prose map at <path>, edit body facts and rationale. Also edit the model page
@@ -177,8 +179,8 @@ The cut_spec's fields are the spec standard. Beyond filling them:
   revision N by it, in one batch; never a second spec for the same cut
 
 If a cut would not fit one Hands pass under <Self's context budget, SKILL.md
-step 3>, split it into specs ordered by depends_on (cut labels), each with its own
-verification.
+step 3>, admit its first part as the spec, with its own verification, and add the
+rest to the prose map's cut sequence.
 
 Where only the operator can decide, admit a question with a recommended
 option, raised in the spec it blocks.

references/campaign-state.md

@@ -326,6 +326,9 @@ reads its gaps with this query:
   happens to it over time, and who decides (SKILL.md step 0b).
 - **Rationale:** why the cut order is what it is, why a design was rejected,
   and anything longer than a `Para`.
+- **The cut sequence:** one line per cut not yet mapped (a title and what it
+  waits on). A cut leaves the list when its `cut_spec` is admitted, which is
+  only when Self is about to dispatch it (SKILL.md step 1).
 
 It has no progress section, no per-cut sections, no rulings and no ledger table:
 those are documents, and the recipes above read them. `docs/<campaign>-target.md`

references/changelog.md

@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@
 
 Record each change to the skill together with the evidence that motivated it.
 
+## 2026-10-12: map only what is about to run
+
+Self, session `self-2026-10-12-eureka`.
+
+Evidence. 26 cut specs in force across nine Eureka-area campaigns had no report, and almost none was blocked: their dependencies had landed. Imagination had mapped each campaign's whole cut chain at once (step 1 said "admit the cuts ... ordered by depends_on"), while each cut took up to seven Soul rounds through one Self. The variants parity specs of 2026-10-02 went ten days stale behind CultLib and need a fresh Imagination pass. Operator, 2026-10-12: "Absolutely it should be a rule. Originally a spec would get dispatched as soon as it's written, but we've been drifting way ahead of the work for some reason."
+
+What changed. `SKILL.md` step 1 admits a spec only for the cut Self is about to dispatch (plus a parallel sibling); later cuts are lines in the prose map's new cut sequence (`references/campaign-state.md`). The Imagination brief in `references/briefs.md` maps the next cut only, and a budget split admits its first part. Specs already in force are refreshed or withdrawn when their campaign's frontier reaches them.
+
 ## 2026-10-12: the tool-calling map is dated; two admission notes
 
 Self, session `self-2026-10-12-eureka`.