bug: forge-coordination skill scoping restrictions expressed as parentheticals — lost under compression

[jflowers]

Summary

internal/agentkit/content/skills/forge-coordination/SKILL.md documents the full coordinator and worker protocols. Critical scoping restrictions are expressed as parenthetical asides or single words in bullet lists — exactly the content that DCP context compression drops first.

Related to unbound-force/unbound-force#346 — same class of vulnerability (prompt constraints that do not survive context compression).

Specific Fragilities

1. "(coordinator only)" parenthetical

- Emergency release: comms_release_all() (coordinator only)

The parenthetical "(coordinator only)" is the entire access-control constraint. Under compression, this becomes "use comms_release_all for emergencies" — and a worker could call it, releasing all reservations system-wide including those held by other active workers.

2. Conflict Resolution sequence flattened

If a file reservation fails:
1. Check who holds the reservation
2. Send a message via comms_send to negotiate
3. Wait for release or escalate to coordinator

This three-step escalation process compresses to "resolve conflicts." An agent might skip negotiation and go straight to escalation, or worse, call comms_release_all() (which it learned about in the same skill).

3. Duplicate constraints with different strength levels

The file reservation rule appears in multiple places:

• Worker agent: "Only edit files you have reserved" (soft)
• This skill: "Workers MUST reserve files before editing" (strong)
• Forge command: "Workers reserve their own files via comms_reserve" (descriptive)

A compressor picking one of these three might choose the weakest phrasing. The strongest version ("MUST") should be the one most likely to survive.

4. "exclusive" default not stated prominently

- Use comms_reserve(paths=[...], exclusive=true) for exclusive access

This is a bullet in a list. If compressed away, a worker might call comms_reserve without exclusive=true, allowing concurrent edits to the same file.

Proposed Hardening

• Replace parenthetical access controls with explicit section headers: "## Coordinator-Only Operations" and "## Worker-Only Operations"
• Inline the conflict resolution steps at the point of use rather than as a separate section
• Ensure the strongest phrasing of shared constraints is the one that appears first and most prominently
• Make exclusive=true the documented default behavior, not an option to remember

References

• File: internal/agentkit/content/skills/forge-coordination/SKILL.md
• Related: unbound-force/unbound-force#346