# Decision Gate

Verdict: **GO**

Now I have all the information needed to make the decision. Let me write the verdict:

---

```
VERDICT: GO
```

### Rationale

All **4 of 4 personas unanimously approve** this implementation. There are **zero CRITICAL findings**. The branch delivers 11 of 12 functional requirements fully implemented (FR-10 daily digest is the sole partial gap — config is parsed but posting logic is missing). All 71 tests pass across 3 test files covering the key surface area: priority ordering, budget enforcement, circuit breaker, crash recovery, dedup, PID locking, and kill switch auth. The previous round's blockers (missing `run_pipeline_for_queue_item`, systemd `WatchdogSec` killing the daemon, absent Slack kill switch) are all cleanly resolved. The architecture is sound: 818 lines of daemon orchestration with atomic state persistence, sequential execution, and proper systemd hardening.

### Unresolved Issues

- **P1: Daily digest (FR-10) not implemented** — `digest_hour_utc` config exists but no scheduling/posting logic. All 4 personas flagged this. Acceptable for V1 since heartbeat every 4h and `/healthz` provide partial observability.
- **P1: Self-modification guard missing** — CEO proposals can target `src/colonyos/` paths. PRD security section recommends flagging off-limits. Mitigated by human merge approval requirement.
- **P1: Lock discipline issues** — `_post_heartbeat()` and `_tick()` read shared state without holding `_lock`. Benign under CPython GIL but architecturally inconsistent.
- **P2: Starvation promotion cascades** — Items crossing 24h threshold get promoted P3→P0 in ~15 seconds (every tick). Needs a `promoted_at` guard.
- **P2: `allowed_control_user_ids` defaults to empty** — Kill switch silently unavailable on fresh deployments. CLI warning exists but daemon should refuse to start without control users.
- **P2: Slack listener thread has no reconnection logic** — Dies silently on disconnect, daemon becomes deaf to Slack.
- **P2: `max_budget or` falsy-zero bug** — `--max-budget 0` falls through to config default.
- **P3: Minor items** — PID file permissions (0o644→0o600), unused import, `WebClient` not cached, cosmetic test import style.

### Recommendation

**Merge as-is**, then file follow-up tickets for the P1/P2 items above. Priority for the first post-merge iteration should be:
1. Fix starvation promotion cascade (add `promoted_at` timestamp or min-priority floor) — will cause surprising priority inversions in production
2. Add self-modification guard (preamble in CEO prompt excluding `src/colonyos/`)
3. Make `allowed_control_user_ids` mandatory (or require `--force` to bypass) before first real production deployment
4. Implement daily digest posting logic
5. Add Slack listener reconnection with exponential backoff
