Scratch Directory Isolation & Ephemeral Artifact Quarantine

Overview

When agents create temporary helper scripts (e.g., a one-off database migration verification, a JSON test payload generator, or an AST refactoring script), creating these files directly inside src/ or the project root causes severe operational hazards.

Root and source directory pollution causes:

1. Test Runner Collisions: Test runners (jest, pytest, cargo test) automatically discover and attempt to execute .scratch.js or test_temp.py files, causing false-positive CI failures.
2. Git Status Token Flooding: git status outputs 15 untracked scratch files, burning context tokens on every subsequent git check.
3. Accidental Production Commits: Orphaned scratch scripts get inadvertently staged and committed to production repositories.

The Scratch Directory Isolation Protocol establishes a dedicated, strictly ignored scratch/ sandbox for all temporary scripts and diagnostic artifacts.

Workspace Root Pollution vs. Dedicated Scratch Sandbox