Precheck matches prose mutations; task-creator links parent goal

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ Please choose versions by [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 * MINOR version when you add functionality in a backwards-compatible manner, and
 * PATCH version when you make backwards-compatible bug fixes.
 
+## Unreleased
+
+- fix: `work-on-task-assistant` Phase 5.5's permission-mode precheck matched only command literals (`kubectl`, `make apply`, `helm install`), so it stayed silent on tasks whose subtasks describe cluster mutations in prose. Observed 2026-08-16 on the same task that motivated the v0.111.1 gating fix: every subtask on "Decommission MinIO on Hell" was an operator-run mutation — *"Remove `minio` and `minio-console` ingresses"*, *"Scale the Tenant to zero"*, *"Delete Tenant CR, StatefulSet, services, PVC"* — none containing a command string, and the session's first `kubectl delete` was denied by the auto-mode classifier. The precheck now also fires on a destructive verb applied to an infra noun. A literal matcher cannot see work not yet written as commands, which is the normal state of a task at planning time and exactly when the warning is worth giving.
+- fix: `task-creator` wrote `goals:` into a new task's frontmatter but never added the task's checkbox to the goal file, leaving the link one-way. `vault-cli task complete` ticks that checkbox and warns when it is absent, so every goal-linked task emitted `checkbox not found for task <name> in goal <goal>` on completion and had to be patched by hand — and until then the goal's task list under-reported its own scope. The creator now appends `- [ ] [[<task title>]]` to each parent goal's `# Tasks` section, idempotently, and the self-audit checks for it.
+
 ## v0.111.3
 
 - fix: `session-close` Phase 8.6's link check searched only the vault owning the file, so every legitimate cross-vault wikilink read as broken. Observed 2026-08-16: a `Personal` task linking `[[Boss Memory]]` was flagged unresolved because the search covered only `Personal` and `Trading` — the page lives in the `Boss` vault and is referenced by 20+ files across two others. Both the orphan check and the broken-outbound-link check now search every path in `VAULT_CONFIG` and treat a hit in any vault as resolved. Also fixes a shell trap in the same snippet: the paths must be read into an **array**, because the shell here is often zsh, which does not word-split an unquoted `"$paths"` string — a bare `grep ... $ALL_VAULT_PATHS` passes every path as one argument, grep fails, stderr is swallowed, and the empty result is indistinguishable from a clean one. Added a sanity check to run before trusting a negative.

agents/task-creator.md

@@ -168,6 +168,29 @@ Compose the full file content (frontmatter + body) and write it via the `Write`
 {vault.path}/{tasks_dir}/{filename}
 ```
 
+## 11b. Link the parent goal back
+
+`goals:` in the task's frontmatter is only half the link. `vault-cli task complete` ticks
+the task's checkbox **in the goal file** and warns when it cannot find one, so the creator
+must write that side too.
+
+For each entry in `goals:`, resolve `{vault.path}/{goals_dir}/{goal title}.md` and append
+to its `# Tasks` section (create the section above `# Related` if absent):
+
+```
+- [ ] [[{task title}]]
+```
+
+Skip silently when the task has no parent goal, when the goal file does not exist, or when
+a checkbox for this task is already present (re-runs must not duplicate).
+
+**Why.** Observed 2026-08-16: `Decommission MinIO on Hell` was created with
+`goals: ['[[Eliminate MinIO EOL Risk]]']` and the goal was never touched. Completing it
+emitted `failed to update goal [[Eliminate MinIO EOL Risk]]: checkbox not found for task
+Decommission MinIO on Hell`, and the line had to be added by hand. Every goal-linked task
+created by this agent hits the same warning, and a goal whose task list silently omits its
+own tasks under-reports its own progress.
+
 ## 12. Audit (interactive only)
 
 Run a light self-audit against the file:
@@ -176,6 +199,7 @@ Run a light self-audit against the file:
 - Title file matches title-case rule
 - Body has Success Criteria + Tasks sections (or template body)
 - No accidental empty sections
+- Every `goals:` entry has a matching `- [ ] [[{task title}]]` checkbox in the goal file (step 11b)
 
 Skip in MODE=non_interactive.
 

agents/work-on-task-assistant.md

@@ -170,6 +170,13 @@ workflow extracted in Phase 5, for operator-run mutations:
 `annotate`, `patch`, `rollout restart`, `scale`) · `helm install/upgrade` · ssh
 deploys · any prod runbook step.
 
+**Match described intent, not only command literals.** Task bodies are written in prose
+— "remove the ingresses", "scale the tenant to zero" — and frequently contain no command
+string at all. Also fire when a destructive verb (remove · delete · drop · tear down ·
+scale · restart · cut over · reclaim · uninstall · apply · deploy) is applied to an infra
+noun (ingress · namespace · deployment · statefulset · pod · PVC · PV · CRD · secret ·
+tenant · DNS record · cluster · node · release).
+
 If any are present, append verbatim to the report:
 
 > 🔐 **Permission mode:** this task's ops commands need `accept edits` — switch
@@ -187,6 +194,16 @@ wholesale, and the precheck never ran. Every `decommission` / `renew` / `rebuild
 while `deploy X` would have been covered. Keying on the task's own commands rather
 than on a code-task title heuristic is the fix.
 
+**The same task then exposed the next layer (2026-08-16, v0.111.3).** With the gating
+fixed, the precheck ran on "Decommission MinIO on Hell" and still emitted nothing —
+because every subtask described a cluster mutation in prose and none contained a command
+literal: *"Remove `minio` and `minio-console` ingresses"*, *"Scale the Tenant to zero"*,
+*"Delete Tenant CR, StatefulSet, services, PVC"*. The first `kubectl delete` of the
+session was then denied by the auto-mode classifier. A matcher keyed on command strings
+cannot see work that has not been written as commands yet — which is the normal state of
+a task at planning time, and precisely when this warning is worth giving. Hence the
+verb-plus-noun rule above.
+
 **Why the precheck exists at all.** Stating the operator/agent split is not enough.
 Observed 2026-08-16: the workflow block correctly said "the **operator** runs the
 cluster mutations", and the session still spent ~40 minutes handing back command