Procedures

High-level session and deliberation flow. Full detail is in the repo: core/procedures.md.

Session Lifecycle

1. Session start (/morningstar): Read state, summarize context, predict likely failures, await matter.
2. State backup (recommended): Before major sessions, copy state/current.md to state/backups/YYYY-MM-DD-current.md. See Error-Recovery.
3. Checkpoint (/update): Update state with progress, decisions, pending matters.
4. Session close (/end): Finalize deliberations, update CHANGELOG and transcripts, checkpoint state.

Deliberation Flow

1. Opening — Judge states the matter and feasibility.
2. Arguments — Each personality presents position (3–5 lines).
3. Hail-Mary — Prophet offers one radical alternative.
4. Vote — YES/NO/ABSTAIN; tally and ruling.
5. Ruling — Decision, Rationale, Risk, (optional) Dissent.

Optional: cross-examination, Consultant (Edward) invocation.

Dissolution Protocol

When not to convene: F0 trivial, pure implementation, already decided by precedent, formatting-only, or R/Quarto-only (hand to OCTAVIUS). See When-to-Convene.

Checklists: checklists/judge-morningstar.md (presiding), checklists/courtroom-scribe.md (transcripts).

See also: The-Court · State-and-Metrics