A decision card is one answerable choice written by the coding agent for the operator. It carries the situation, concrete options, the consequence of each and a recommendation. The answer returns to the work that raised the card.
For the task-tracker app, the card asks what “archive completed projects” should mean. Option one makes archive reversible and retains the data. Option two permanently deletes the data and gives up the same restoration path. The coding agent may recommend reversible archive, but the operator owns the choice.
Why a card instead of a terminal prompt
An ordinary terminal prompt is fast. If the developer is present and understands the current conversation, they can answer immediately. For one short session, turning the question into a durable object may add more structure than the work needs.
The prompt becomes costly when the operator is away or several threads have questions. A bare answer copied later may lose the option set, consequences or originating work. The card preserves that decision-sized context and can appear on another surface because the authoritative object remains in the on-device record.
The card's complete journey
- The coding agent finds a fork that needs operator intent.
- It authors one card with the situation, options, consequences and recommendation.
- ROOK records the card on the machine doing the work.
- Desktop and phone surfaces render that recorded card.
- The operator selects an option and may add a note.
- ROOK records the answer against the originating card.
- A fresh coding session receives the card, answer and documented thread state.
The card and answer remain in the record after the handoff. The surfaces are windows onto that history, not separate authorities.
What “bounded” means
| A card contains | A card is not |
|---|---|
| One decision | A transcript of the entire session |
| The situation that raised it | A summary of everything else that happened |
| Two or three concrete options, each with its consequence | An invitation to invent any answer, or a hidden trade-off revealed after the tap |
| A visible recommendation | An automatic choice |
| A route back to fuller context | A replacement for the project record |
The boundary makes the interrupt portable and scannable. It does not guarantee the coding agent described the situation well, included every option or recommended the right one. ROOK does not add another model to repair or rank the card; the operator sees what the coding agent authored.
The next page opens the archive card itself. If any one of its parts is weak, portability does not make the decision answerable.
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Inspect Card anatomy.