topology-eager

Topology changes commit to main eagerly; node content lives long in worktrees.

raw source

Two kinds of change. Topology (create / reparent) must commit to main eagerly so children are visible and child worktrees can be seeded. Content (a node's spec body) can live as a long-running worktree diff until merged. The two have different urgencies, so they have different commit cadences.

expanded spec

Topology is structural: it changes which nodes exist and where they sit in the tree (the parent edge, derived from the directory layout). A child can't be seeded into its own worktree until its directory exists on main, so topology can't wait in a long-lived diff — it commits to main eagerly (the SPEXCODE_ALLOW_MAIN escape hatch from main-guard exists precisely for these seeding/topology commits). Content is the spec body; it carries the session's in-flight intent and is fine to sit as a worktree diff until reviewed and merged, which is the normal dogfood ritual.

The project's own .spec history was bootstrapped on this principle: a one-shot seeding replayed the real design conversation as one eager main commit per spec change (subject = the reason, Session: trailer = attribution), so each node's version history is just git log of its spec.md. That seeding was inherently single-use — it refused to run once the tree existed — and has been retired now that the history is in place; the eager-topology cadence it demonstrated is the durable rule.