The card behavior this handbook can state publicly is blocking: when a decision must be answered before its originating thread can continue, ROOK parks that thread. Parking one thread does not automatically stop every other runnable path of work.
The archive card is blocking because implementing reversible archive and implementing permanent deletion lead to different product behavior. The coding agent cannot responsibly continue that thread until the operator chooses.
What blocking changes
When the coding agent authors the archive card, ROOK records it and the archive thread waits. The driver does not infer this effect from urgent wording or the size of the card. It follows the recorded instruction and supplies no product judgment.
Once the operator answers, ROOK records that answer against the card. A fresh coding session can then receive the choice and the archive thread's documented state. The old terminal process does not need to remain paused in the background.
What may happen elsewhere
The search-shortcut thread is independent of the archive policy. If the coding agent identifies it as runnable, the work loop can continue it while archive waits.
| Archive thread | Search-shortcut thread |
|---|---|
| Stops at the unresolved product choice | Already has a documented result to implement |
| Waits for the recorded answer | May run in a fresh session |
| Returns after the answer is bound to its card | Records its own result independently |
Without ROOK, a developer can pause one terminal and work in another. That is a perfectly adequate manual version when only a few sessions are open and their state is easy to track. ROOK's useful difference is the durable relation between the parked thread, its card and its eventual answer.
The public boundary
This page deliberately does not publish a complete internal matrix of attention labels or card types. The approved public claim is narrower: a blocking card parks its own thread, and other work continues only when the coding agent can identify something else as runnable.
Blocking is not a global urgency score. It does not mean the whole project or every device stops. It also does not promise that useful work will always be available elsewhere; if the queue is empty and every live thread is parked, the machine can be idle.
The archive card is now open and its thread is waiting. The final handoff is to record one answer against that exact card and return it to a fresh session without guessing from recency.
Next
Follow the choice back through Answering.