Coldstart has not been released. The queue is present in the development repository, while some drain behavior remains a design contract rather than automatic execution.
The export session discovers that old orders need stable customer IDs. The migration matters, but adding it now would mix a data change into a bounded endpoint session. Leaving it in chat would make it disappear when the conversation ends.
Coldstart uses an open-work queue: a durable list of unfinished actions that do not belong to the current session. Each item names where it belongs so a later visit can find it.
What belongs here
A queue item is valid when both are true:
- it needs no unanswered human decision; and
- it sits outside the current session's approved work.
If a person still needs to choose, it is a checkpoint. If the action is required for the current outcome, it belongs in the plan. If its result must remain true after completion, that lasting fact belongs in a decision or reference record.
The ordinary alternative
A short notes file works well for a small project. The problem is not informality; it is loss of ownership. “Fix IDs later” says neither where the work belongs nor when anybody will see it again.
Coldstart's queue item carries a short action, optional evidence, and an owning location such as the export feature. A compact identifier and severity can help scanning, but the location and action carry the meaning.
| Field | Export example | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Action | Migrate historical customer IDs | What remains open? |
| Evidence | The approved raw-data read route | Why was it recorded? |
| Owning location | Export feature | Where should it return? |
Open work only
When an item ships, its line leaves the queue. Version control keeps the history, so the live file does not need a growing done column.
Removal still needs an honest reason. “I do not remember this item” calls for review, not deletion. The action may have shipped, become obsolete, moved to a plan, or still be valid.
Two return paths
The cheapest review happens when planned work returns to the owning location. The export context is already warm, so the team can decide whether the migration is now required, stale, complete, or still separate.
Section close is the backstop. Every item owned by the closing section should be handled or explicitly carried forward with a reason. This forces a look; it does not run the migration or decide that the work remains valuable.
The pinned cleanup entrance reflects that limit. It checks, reads the queue, groups findings, and proposes repairs. Structural changes remain a human call.
The nearest limit
An owning location improves reachability without guaranteeing retrieval. The queue can still hold a vague action, stale evidence, or the wrong owner. Its full drain-on-touch behavior is partly a design contract, not an installed service that completes work automatically.
The queue also says nothing about whether residue from the rejected route can be deleted. That needs evidence of deadness and ownership.
Next
Move from preserving useful work to judging rejected residue: safe subtraction.