codewhale-hq / cw-dogfood

cw-dogfood

Green gates prove the code compiles and asserts. They do not prove the product
works. Freezes, route contamination, focus theft, streaming cadence, and
approval-flow regressions all live in the runtime, where no unit test looks.
This stage puts the actual binary on your PATH and makes you use it.

Stage 4 of the loop: [cw-orient](../cw-orient/SKILL.md) →
[cw-slice](../cw-slice/SKILL.md) → [cw-gates](../cw-gates/SKILL.md) →
dogfood → [cw-land](../cw-land/SKILL.md) → [cw-handoff](../cw-handoff/SKILL.md).

When to use

• The change is user-visible: TUI layout, motion, streaming, model or Fleet
  selection, approvals, commands, install paths.

• Before landing a release candidate, or before claiming a runtime behavior is
  fixed.

• The user asks to "install the build", "dogfood this", or "get this on my machine".

Workflow

1. Gate first. Run [cw-gates](../cw-gates/SKILL.md) to the rung the change
   deserves. Never install an ungated build.

2. Build stamped. Local builds are unstamped ((dev)), and the
   installer refuses an unstamped binary on purpose — the stamp is what proves
   the thing on your PATH is the thing you just built:
   `bash
   CODEWHALEBUILDSHA=$(git rev-parse HEAD) \
   cargo build --release --locked -p codewhale-cli --bin codewhale
   `

3. Install atomically. Use the script; do not hand-copy:
   `bash
   scripts/release/install-dogfood.sh # defaults to target/release
   `
   It refuses a dirty source tree (override deliberately with
   CODEWHALE_ALLOW_DIRTY_DOGFOOD=1, and then say so wherever you report the
   install), verifies the binary embeds current HEAD, installs codewhale and
   codew into ~/.cargo/bin and ~/.local/bin (override with
   CODEWHALE_INSTALL_DIRS), re-signs ad-hoc on macOS, and verifies resolution
   from a fresh login shell.

   Never cp over a running binary. On Apple Silicon that poisons the
   kernel's code-signature cache for the inode, and later execs hang until
   reboot. The installer does tmp-copy plus atomic mv for exactly this reason.

4. Verify from a fresh shell, not this one. A correct target/release
   binary and a stale codew on PATH is the classic false pass:
   `bash
   zsh -lc 'type -a codew codewhale; codew --version'
   `
   The version string must contain the short HEAD SHA you just built.

5. Use the product. Run it in a real terminal and exercise what you changed.
   crates/tui/AGENTS.md owns sizes, motion evidence, and environment caveats;
   judge motion against docs/MOTION_CONTRACT.md.

   Scenarios worth exercising when they are in scope:

   • Liveness under fanout — spawn several workers; typing, render, cancel,
     and the roster stay live throughout, and Esc cancels mid-fanout.

   • Route isolation — multiple terminals on distinct provider/model routes,
     zero cross-terminal contamination, no provider+model mismatch.

   • Running-turn input — during a busy turn, Enter queues a follow-up, an
     empty Enter promotes the oldest, Ctrl+Enter steers, Shift+Enter newlines.

   • Approvals — ordinary tool approval vs. repository-law approval; the
     screen must name the repository constitution where it applies, and
     decorative motion must go still when the user owns the next action.

   • Empty, narrow, and first-run states — compact layouts remove chrome
     before content.

6. Headless surfaces, when the change touches them. codewhale exec is the
   one-shot worker path; codewhale app-server is the local control/API surface.
   They must agree about routing, permissions, and event states — a disagreement
   is a runtime bug, not a QA note.
   `bash
   scripts/release/app-server-smoke.sh
   codewhale exec --auto --output-format stream-json --model <model> "Reply PONG"
   `
   Provider calls spend tokens. Ask before running the paid ones.

7. Record what you saw. Dimensions, inputs, visible state, side effects. A
   screenshot proves layout and color; only live observation or a recording
   proves motion and continuity.

Red flags / don't

• Don't cp a binary over a running one. Use install-dogfood.sh.
• Don't verify in the shell that already has the old binary resolved.
• Don't claim animation or cadence quality from a still image.

• Don't substitute a full-screen assertion harness for looking at and using the
  product.

• Don't install from a dirty tree without saying so in the report — the version
  stamp will not show the dirt.

• Don't delete target/dogfood/* bundles if the lane keeps them: they are
  release evidence.

• Don't spend provider tokens on smoke runs without approval.

Output

• The exact build command, including the CODEWHALE_BUILD_SHA stamp.
• The installer's destinations and its fresh-shell verification result.
• codew --version from a fresh login shell, with the SHA visible.

• Per scenario: terminal size, what you did, what you observed — and which
  scenarios you did not exercise.