Skill: TraceMem Decision Envelopes

Purpose

This skill teaches how to correctly manage the lifecycle of a Decision Envelope. The Decision Envelope is the mandatory boundary for all governed operations in TraceMem.

Use decision_record Instead?

If you only need to document or record a decision (e.g., architecture choice, dependency selection, tradeoff) and do NOT need data product operations (reads, writes, policy evaluations, or approvals), use decision_record instead of the full envelope workflow. It handles everything in one call. See the decision-recording skill.

When to Use

• Every time you intend to perform a task that requires reading private data or affecting system state.
• At the very beginning of a new task or workflow.
• When an existing decision has been closed and you need to perform follow-up actions (start a new decision).

When NOT to Use

• When you only need to document/record a decision without data operations -- use decision_record instead.
• Do not nest decisions (e.g., do not open a decision if you are already inside one, unless explicitly starting a sub-task that requires independent audit).
• Do not open a decision for purely computational tasks (e.g., formatting text) that require no external data or side effects.