Documentation Index
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03_master_working.txt is where the project is right now. Not where it came from, not what it might become — where it actually is, what it is trying to do, what is blocking it, and what the next sensible move is. Of all the Signal Rail canonicals, 03 changes most frequently, because it tracks motion. A session that moves the project substantially should end with an updated 03. A project read without first consulting 03 risks acting on stale or incomplete information about the current live state.
What 03 is for
This file holds the current live state of the project. It should help someone understand very quickly what is truly active now: current objective, dominant blocker, work already in progress, open questions with real impact, active risks, and the next concrete move.The ten sections
03 uses ten stable sections. These are operational anchors — keep them stable and avoid unnecessary duplicates when the file is live.
| Section | What to write |
|---|---|
| Project Name | The name of the project this file serves |
| Last Updated | Date of the last substantial update (for reading freshness, not a full timeline) |
| Current Objective | One sentence: what the project is trying to achieve now — oriented without too much detail |
| Current Blocker | The node that is really slowing the project now — not every problem, the one that weighs most today |
| Current State | Where the project is now in a few dense but readable lines — a line already in use may appear here even if not yet a recorded decision |
| Work In Progress | Only the lines of work that are actually active — if a line no longer has real energy, it should not stay here |
| Open Items That Matter Now | Only what is about to enter the work or what is blocking the present — not a second notes file |
| Real Open Questions | Questions that have real impact — questions that can change direction, grammar, product, or continuity |
| Active Risks | Only live risks — where the project can deform, slow down, or break if no action is taken |
| Next Step | The next concrete and sensible move — one clear move is better than an elegant but fake plan |
What does NOT go here
| What | Where it belongs instead | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Stable identity of the project | 01_orientation.txt | Durable description, not the present |
| Hard-to-reopen constants | 02_protocol_freeze.txt | Stable constraints, not temporary state |
| Decisions already taken and in effect | 04_decision_log.txt | Records what has already won |
| Strong proposals not yet truly in the work | 05_latent_ideas.txt | Not yet part of the current live state |
| Technical topology (repos, entrypoints, sensitive surfaces, runbook) | 08_surface_map.txt | Technical map, not operational state |
| Full history of everything that happened | 99_archive.txt | 03 is not an archive |
| Infinite backlog or session diary | Nowhere appropriate | Widens the file without helping read the present |
When to update it
Update03 when the operational picture truly changes:
- A line really enters current work
- A blocker stops being secondary and becomes dominant
- A session moves the project in a substantial way
The non-promotion rule
Do not use03 for proposals, likely next moves, or strong ideas that have not already been adopted as current live work. A plausible line is not live work. If something stops being only an idea and starts genuinely guiding the work, it may appear in 03. Until then, it belongs in 05.
Relationship with 04
03 and 04 operate at adjacent levels, and their interaction matters:
03may show a live line before04records it — a line already guiding work may appear in Current State or Work In Progress even if it has not yet been formally recorded as a decision.04records only after a choice has already won — not when it looks close to winning.- If listing already-closed decisions in
03, you are probably writing in the wrong file.
Cross-file IDs used in 03 must point to real targets. Use
external reference for useful references outside the canonical set or outside the current local surface.Typical errors
Orientation (01)
Stable project identity — what stays the same while 03 changes.
Decision Log (04)
Choices already won — the output destination for lines that have closed in 03.
Latent Ideas (05)
Where proposals live until they are truly adopted into current live work.
Handoff & Re-entry (09)
Session continuity layer that summarizes 03 state without overriding it.