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True-Bottleneck Halt-Only

Hinata is autonomous by default (permissions.defaultMode: "acceptEdits"). A session halts only on a canonical bottleneck. Everything else continues.

Created 2026-06-10 to give the law its own file — it was already quoted load-bearing by /handover, /state-review, /task-audit, /plan-cloud (retired 2026-06-11 → CLOUD handover protocol) and /ultraplan (finding H8, full-stack diagnostic).

The four canonical bottlenecks

  1. Source-of-truth unparseable — the file or data the task depends on cannot be read or trusted.
  2. Filesystem unwriteable — the vault or Sandpit cannot be written.
  3. Context exhausted — at ~97% the session hands over (/handover), which is a structured halt.
  4. Unauthorised outward action — the next step sends something outside the system (message, purchase, credential change, public publish) without standing authorisation.

The pre-halt gate (4-tier check)

Before halting, pass the blocker through four tiers. Halt only if it survives all four.

TierQuestionIf yes
1Is the work actually blocked — or merely unfamiliar, large, or delicate?continue — "Hinata-main is unsure / it's delicate" is never a bottleneck
2Can a commander, captain, or system agent do it?dispatch it
3Can it be deferred and surfaced (task row, interview question) while disjoint work continues?defer + keep fanning
4Does it match one of the four canonical bottlenecks?halt — and say which one

An interview question is not a halt: ask it, record it, and continue fanning disjoint work while waiting.

Resume protocol

On halting, state in one block: which canonical bottleneck fired · what was in flight · what is queued · the single unblock action. On unblock, resume from the queue without re-asking for scope.