Agent Output Schemas

Every PACE agent produces a structured YAML artifact validated against a JSON Schema. These artifacts are stored in .pace/day-N/ and passed as inputs to downstream agents.

---

Story Card (PRIME)

File: .pace/day-N/story-card.yaml

day: 1
agent: PRIME
theme: "User model and password hashing"
stories:
  - title: "Secure user creation"
    acceptance_criteria:
      - "User.create() stores bcrypt-hashed password"
      - "User.verify_password() returns True for correct password"
    out_of_scope:
      - "OAuth / social login"

Field	Type	Description
day	integer	Day number
agent	string	Always "PRIME"
theme	string	Day theme from plan.yaml
stories	list	One or more story objects
stories[].title	string	Story title
stories[].acceptance_criteria	list[string]	Testable conditions
stories[].out_of_scope	list[string]	Explicitly deferred items

---

Handoff Note (FORGE)

File: .pace/day-N/handoff.yaml

day: 1
agent: FORGE
summary: "Implemented User model with bcrypt password hashing."
files_written:
  - src/models/user.py
  - tests/test_user_model.py
commit_sha: "abc123def456"
deferred: []

Field	Type	Description
day	integer	Day number
agent	string	Always "FORGE"
summary	string	Narrative description of what was built
files_written	list[string]	Files created or modified (relative to repo root)
commit_sha	string | null	Git commit SHA of the changes
deferred	list[string]	Items explicitly deferred (not FAIL, just not done today)

---

Gate Report (GATE)

File: .pace/day-N/gate-report.yaml

day: 1
agent: GATE
criteria_results:
  - criterion: "User.create() stores bcrypt-hashed password"
    result: PASS
    evidence: "tests/test_user_model.py::test_create_hashes_password PASSED"
  - criterion: "CI pipeline green"
    result: PARTIAL
    evidence: "CI not yet configured — mapped to out_of_scope"
blockers: []
deferred:
  - "CI pipeline — not yet configured in this sprint"
gate_decision: SHIP
hold_reason: ""

Field	Type	Values	Description
day	integer	—	Day number
agent	string	"GATE"	—
criteria_results	list	—	One entry per acceptance criterion
criteria_results[].criterion	string	—	Exact criterion text
criteria_results[].result	string	PASS, PARTIAL, FAIL	Verdict for this criterion
criteria_results[].evidence	string	—	Test name, log line, CI URL, or code reference
blockers	list[string]	—	Human-readable description of each FAIL
deferred	list[string]	—	PARTIAL items mapped to out_of_scope
gate_decision	string	SHIP, HOLD	Day decision
hold_reason	string	—	Actionable instruction for FORGE when HOLD

---

Sentinel Report (SENTINEL)

File: .pace/day-N/sentinel-report.yaml

day: 1
agent: SENTINEL
findings:
  - check: "Hardcoded secrets in source files"
    result: PASS
    evidence: "Secret pattern scan returned no results"
  - check: "HTTP timeout on external API calls"
    result: ADVISORY
    evidence: "src/clients/payment.py:42 — requests.get() with no timeout parameter"
advisories:
  - "No timeout on requests.get() in payment.py:42 — add timeout=30"
blockers: []
sentinel_decision: ADVISORY
hold_reason: ""

Field	Type	Values	Description
day	integer	—	Day number
agent	string	"SENTINEL"	—
findings	list	—	One entry per security/SRE check
findings[].check	string	—	What was checked
findings[].result	string	PASS, ADVISORY, FAIL	Check verdict
findings[].evidence	string	—	File path, line number, or test name
advisories	list[string]	—	Non-blocking findings (one per ADVISORY result)
blockers	list[string]	—	Exploitable vulnerabilities (one per FAIL result)
sentinel_decision	string	SHIP, HOLD, ADVISORY	Day decision
hold_reason	string	—	Actionable instruction for FORGE when HOLD

---

Conduit Report (CONDUIT)

File: .pace/day-N/conduit-report.yaml

day: 1
agent: CONDUIT
findings:
  - check: "Action version pinning"
    result: ADVISORY
    evidence: ".github/workflows/ci.yml uses actions/checkout@master"
  - check: "Test gate in CI"
    result: PASS
    evidence: "ci.yml job 'test' runs pytest before any deploy step"
advisories:
  - "actions/checkout@master in ci.yml — pin to @v4"
blockers: []
conduit_decision: ADVISORY
hold_reason: ""

Field	Type	Values	Description
day	integer	—	Day number
agent	string	"CONDUIT"	—
findings	list	—	One entry per DevOps check
findings[].check	string	—	What was checked
findings[].result	string	PASS, ADVISORY, FAIL	Check verdict
findings[].evidence	string	—	Workflow file name, step name, Makefile target
advisories	list[string]	—	Non-blocking findings
blockers	list[string]	—	Broken CI or leaked secrets (FAIL)
conduit_decision	string	SHIP, HOLD, ADVISORY	Day decision
hold_reason	string	—	Actionable instruction for FORGE when HOLD

---

Decision semantics

Decision	Meaning	Day advances?
SHIP	No failures or advisories	Yes
ADVISORY	No failures, but concerns worth tracking	Yes (advisory stored)
HOLD	At least one blocking failure	No (FORGE must fix)

For GATE specifically, PARTIAL in criteria_results means a criterion was not fully met but maps to an out_of_scope item — GATE can still issue SHIP or ADVISORY if all non-deferred criteria pass.