Coordinator Source Of Truth

> Load this skill when: the coordinator (or any agent) needs to resolve a "where does this state belong?" or "who is allowed to write this file?" question — e.g., when about to write .squad/decisions.md, when reviewing whether an agent broke the append-only rule, when answering a user question about Squad's file layout, or when adjudicating a conflict between two files. The short summary in squad.agent.md is for routing; this skill is the full reference.

State backend note

Files below marked as "Derived / append-only" are mutable state — agents access them with runtime state tools (squad_state_read, squad_state_write, squad_state_append, squad_state_delete, squad_state_list). The runtime decides whether the configured backend stores them on disk, git-native state, or an external provider. Files marked as "Authoritative" are static config and always live on disk regardless of backend.

File hierarchy

| File | Status | Who May Write | Who May Read |

|------|--------|---------------|--------------|

| .github/agents/squad.agent.md | Authoritative governance. All roles, handoffs, gates, and enforcement rules. | Repo maintainer (human) | Squad (Coordinator) |

| .squad/decisions.md | Authoritative decision ledger. Single canonical location for scope, architecture, and process decisions. | Squad (Coordinator) — append only | All agents |

| .squad/team.md | Authoritative roster. Current team composition. | Squad (Coordinator) | All agents |

| .squad/routing.md | Authoritative routing. Work assignment rules. | Squad (Coordinator) | Squad (Coordinator) |

| .squad/ceremonies.md | Authoritative ceremony config. Definitions, triggers, and participants for team ceremonies. | Squad (Coordinator) | Squad (Coordinator), Facilitator agent (read-only at ceremony time) |

| .squad/casting/policy.json | Authoritative casting config. Universe allowlist and capacity. | Squad (Coordinator) | Squad (Coordinator) |

| .squad/casting/registry.json | Authoritative name registry. Persistent agent-to-name mappings. | Squad (Coordinator) | Squad (Coordinator) |

| .squad/casting/history.json | Derived / append-only. Universe usage history and assignment snapshots. | Squad (Coordinator) — append only | Squad (Coordinator) |

| .squad/agents/{name}/charter.md | Authoritative agent identity. Per-agent role and boundaries. | Squad (Coordinator) at creation; agent may not self-modify | Squad (Coordinator) reads to inline at spawn; owning agent receives via prompt |

| .squad/agents/{name}/history.md | Derived / append-only. Personal learnings. Never authoritative for enforcement. | Owning agent (append only), Scribe (cross-agent updates, summarization) | Owning agent only |

| .squad/agents/{name}/history-archive.md | Derived / append-only. Archived history entries. Preserved for reference. | Scribe | Owning agent (read-only) |

| .squad/orchestration-log/ | Derived / append-only. Agent routing evidence. Never edited after write. | Scribe | All agents (read-only) |

| .squad/log/ | Derived / append-only. Session logs. Diagnostic archive. Never edited after write. | Scribe | All agents (read-only) |

| .squad/templates/ | Reference. Format guides for runtime files. Not authoritative for enforcement. | Squad (Coordinator) at init | Squad (Coordinator) |

| .squad/rai/policy.md | Authoritative RAI policy. Check categories, terminology standards, and opt-out rules. | Squad (Coordinator) at init; Rai may propose updates via decisions inbox | Rai, All agents (read-only) |

| .squad/rai/audit-trail.md | Derived / append-only. RAI review evidence log. Redacted — never contains raw secrets or harmful content. | Rai (append only) | Rai, Squad (Coordinator) |

| .squad/fact-checker/policy.md | Authoritative verification + Devil's Advocate policy. Confidence rating taxonomy, hard anti-fabrication rules, mode triggers, opt-out model. | Squad (Coordinator) at init; Fact Checker may propose updates via decisions inbox | Fact Checker, All agents (read-only) |

| .squad/fact-checker/audit-trail.md | Derived / append-only. Verification verdicts + DA brief evidence log. Succinct — verdict + citation, never raw source material. | Fact Checker (append only) | Fact Checker, Squad (Coordinator) |

| .squad/plugins/marketplaces.json | Authoritative plugin config. Registered marketplace sources. | Squad CLI (squad plugin marketplace) | Squad (Coordinator) |

Rules

• If squad.agent.md and any other file conflict, squad.agent.md wins. It is the only file with hard governance authority.
• Append-only files must never be retroactively edited to change meaning. They are diagnostic and audit-trail material. Corrections go in a new entry that references the prior one.
• Agents may only write to files listed in their "Who May Write" column above. Violations are a contract bug; runtime state-backends will refuse the write on non-local backends.
• Non-coordinator agents may propose decisions in their responses, but only Squad (Coordinator) records accepted decisions in .squad/decisions.md.