Monitor for Spec Drift¶

/intent-watch detects when code changes conflict with a source-of-truth document (typically HYPOTHESIS.md or a pre-registration spec). It's used at two points in the ml-lab workflow.

Gate 1: one-time clean pass¶

Before Step 6 (experiment execution), ml-lab requires a clean /intent-watch pass:

/intent-watch <experiment_dir> HYPOTHESIS.md

Any HIGH or CRITICAL conflict blocks the experiment. Resolve conflicts before proceeding.

Step 6: continuous monitoring¶

During experiment scripting, run /intent-watch in a loop to catch drift as it happens:

/loop 2m /intent-watch <experiment_dir> HYPOTHESIS.md

This checks every 2 minutes for changes that violate the pre-registration constraints.

What it checks¶

The intent-monitor agent:

1. Indexes binding constraints from the source-of-truth document
2. Detects recent git changes in the experiment directory
3. Evaluates diffs for introduced conflicts

Handling conflicts¶

When a conflict is detected, you have two options:

1. Fix the code — revert the change that caused the drift
2. Amend the spec — if the drift is justified, update the source-of-truth document and log the amendment in the spec's amendment log

Always log amendments with /log-entry so the audit trail captures why the spec changed.

You have now...¶

Set up pre-registration compliance monitoring using /intent-watch at Gate 1 and during experiment execution.