Ratchet Skill

Track progress through the RPI workflow with permanent gates.

The Brownian Ratchet

code

Progress = Chaos × Filter → Ratchet

Phase	What Happens
Chaos	Multiple attempts (exploration, implementation)
Filter	Validation gates (tests, /vibe, review)
Ratchet	Lock progress permanently (merged, closed, stored)

Key insight: Progress is permanent. You can't un-ratchet.

Execution Steps

Given /ratchet [command]:

status - Check Current State

bash

ao ratchet status 2>/dev/null

Or check the chain manually:

bash

cat .agents/ao/chain.jsonl 2>/dev/null | tail -10

check [step] - Verify Gate

bash

ao ratchet check <step> 2>/dev/null

Steps: research, plan, implement, vibe, post-mortem

record [step] - Record Completion

bash

ao ratchet record <step> --output "<artifact-path>" 2>/dev/null

Or record manually by writing to chain:

bash

echo '{"step":"<step>","status":"completed","output":"<path>","time":"<ISO-timestamp>"}' >> .agents/ao/chain.jsonl

skip [step] - Skip Intentionally

bash

ao ratchet skip <step> --reason "<why>" 2>/dev/null

Workflow Steps

Step	Gate	Output
`research`	Research artifact exists	`.agents/research/*.md`
`plan`	Plan artifact exists	`.agents/plans/*.md`
`implement`	Code + tests pass	Source files
`vibe`	/vibe passes	`.agents/vibe/*.md`
`post-mortem`	Learnings extracted	`.agents/retros/*.md`

Chain Storage

Progress stored in .agents/ao/chain.jsonl:

json

{"step":"research","status":"completed","output":".agents/research/auth.md","time":"2026-01-25T10:00:00Z"}
{"step":"plan","status":"completed","output":".agents/plans/auth-plan.md","time":"2026-01-25T11:00:00Z"}
{"step":"implement","status":"in_progress","time":"2026-01-25T12:00:00Z"}

Key Rules

•Progress is permanent - can't un-ratchet
•Gates must pass - validate before proceeding
•Record everything - maintain the chain
•Skip explicitly - document why if skipping a step