Candidate — Candidate Pipeline Lifecycle

Candidates are the bridge between implementation and validation. When a builder finishes a work item, the result is enqueued as a candidate. The orchestrator then activates the next candidate into the exclusive validation slot, where exactly one candidate is validated at a time. After validation, the candidate is cleared — either because it passed and is done, or because it failed and needs rework.

When This Skill Runs

• Builder finishes implementation and has a candidate branch/commit ready (enqueue)
• Orchestrator is ready to start validation on the next queued candidate (activate)
• Validation passes and the work item is complete (clear with completed)
• Validation fails and the work item returns to implementation (clear with demoted)

Prerequisites

• Orchestration must be initialized
• For enqueue: work item must be in implementing status
• For activate: active_candidate must be null and candidate_queue must be non-empty
• For clear: active_candidate must be non-null

Allowed Tools