git:20260602.2cfb438 to git:20260604.f59d75c

# AGENTS.md — Diffmode Growth Tactics (Codex runtime)

Durable instructions for running the **Diffmode free growth-ideation pipeline** under OpenAI

Codex. Codex merges `AGENTS.md` files walking the tree (nearest wins), so keep this scoped to

the pipeline.

## What this produces — and where it stops

From a fast founder intake to a final `synthesis.md` of **7-9 novel demand-gen tactic IDEAS**,

then it **STOPS**. Prioritization, implementation guides, and the proprietary 576-vector

database are the paid product — never attempt them here.

## Workspace convention

All run state lives on the filesystem (the contract between stages). Resolve `WS = ./<slug>`

under the **current working directory** (slug from the product name, else the URL host, e.g.

`theona.ai`). Create `WS/01-diagnostics`, `WS/02-enrichment`,

`WS/03-think-tanks/demand-generation`. No host repo is required.

The bundled **channel menu** is at `../plugin/reference/Marketing-Channel-Menu-2026.md`

relative to this directory (i.e. `plugin/reference/…` from the repo root). The skill bodies

refer to it as `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/…` — that is a Claude-runtime token; under

Codex the orchestrator simply passes the checkout-relative path as an input. Skills treat the

channel menu as **invoker-supplied**, so no skill edit is needed.

## Skills (single source of truth)

The 12 skills are symlinked into `.agents/skills/` from `../plugin/skills/`. Load a skill by

reading `.agents/skills/<skill>/SKILL.md` and following it step-by-step — the skill is the

authority on scope, frameworks, output template, and validation. Reviewer rubrics live at

`.agents/skills/growth-reviewer/references/<dimension>.md`.

## Orchestration model

top and dispatches worker agents (`codex/agents/*.toml`). Workers do NOT spawn workers.

the `research-worker` dispatch adds `-c web_search="live"` (and attaches Perplexity if

registered) plus `-c sandbox_workspace_write.network_access=true` so its citation-integrity

re-fetch can `curl` full URLs; every other dispatch adds nothing and inherits the

`web_search = "disabled"` baseline (CODEX.md §4). There is no `codex exec --agent` flag — agents are delegated in-prompt,

one `codex exec` per worker.

2. **Workers are stateless and single-shot.** A worker loads one skill, reads inputs, writes

one output, returns a small JSON summary `{status, outputPath, summary}`. It is not

addressable after it returns. Every retry is a FRESH worker with the same brief plus any

injected `blocking_issues`.

3. **State passes through the filesystem.** Workers return only the JSON summary + output path

— keep orchestrator context lean.

4. **The orchestrator is the only thing that talks to the human** (for intake).

### Workers

| Worker (`codex/agents/*.toml`) | Web access | Used for |

|--------------------------------|-----------|----------|

| `research-worker` | native `web_search` (built-in) + Perplexity MCP (optional) | diagnostics-intake (URL), enrichment research dims, platform-arbitrage, growth-factors-mining |

| `analysis-worker` | **none (enforced)** | enrichment-audience, competitor-gaps, cross-industry (analysis mode) |

| `synthesis-worker` | **none (enforced)** | lite-constraints, synthesis explore → build |

| `reviewer-worker` | none | every reviewer-gated stage |

The no-web workers deliberately have **no `mcp_servers`** **and are dispatched with

`web_search = "disabled"`** — both halves are required on Codex (the native `web_search` tool

defaults to `cached`, i.e. web-cache, so "no `mcp_servers`" alone would still leave a web path

open). `research-worker` declares **no** `mcp_servers` array — on Codex that field is a *map* keyed

by server name (a bare list silently voids the whole agent file); instead it **inherits a

globally-registered Perplexity MCP** (`codex mcp add perplexity`) when present, and is the only

worker dispatched with web enabled (`-c web_search="live"`). Absent Perplexity it falls back to the

native `web_search` tool — Perplexity-optional on Codex, mirroring the Claude plugin (v2.4.0).

## The DAG

```

Stage 0 diagnostics-intake → WS/01-diagnostics/founder-input.md

Stage 1 enrichment (2 waves):

Wave 1 (reviewer gate): competitors

Wave 2 (‖, structural check only): audience ‖ acquisition-tactics (depend on competitors)

Stage 1.5 growth-factors mining → …/growth-factors.json (LIGHT DB)

starts right after Wave-1 competitors is APPROVED; runs concurrently through

the rest of enrichment + Stage 2; structural-check-only; collected at the Stage-3 boundary

Stage 2 think-tank ×3 (parallel, after enrichment; structural check only)

platform-arbitrage (research) · competitor-gaps · cross-industry

Stage 3 lite-constraints → WS/03-think-tanks/demand-generation/synthesis-constraints.json

precondition: growth-factors.json present + valid

Stage 4 synthesis explore → build → synthesis.md (STOP)

```

## The quality gate (reviewer → retry loop)

For each **reviewer-gated** stage (in v2.3.0: enrichment `competitors` and the final synthesis

`build`): after the worker writes its output, dispatch `reviewer-worker` with

`{dimension, spec_path, output_path, context_paths}`. Read the JSON verdict.

- **APPROVED** (score ≥ 7, format PASS) → done.

- **REJECTED** and iterations < 3 → spawn a FRESH worker with the same brief plus the reviewer's

`blocking_issues` injected verbatim; re-check; increment.

- **REJECTED** at iteration 3 → mark the stage FAILED, record blocking_issues, stop dependents.

The non-gated stages (growth-factors-mining, lite-constraints, synthesis `explore`, enrichment

`audience` + `acquisition-tactics`, and the 3 think-tanks) get a **structural check only** (file

exists, non-empty, required sections present, JSON parses with expected keys/counts, referenced

vector IDs exist in `growth-factors.json`). Re-dispatch once on a structural failure.

## Clean-room rule (moat-critical)

`growth-factors-mining` and the whole synthesis chain MUST NOT read any proprietary growth

database (`tactics_DB/` and the like). `growth-factors-mining` builds a per-run LIGHT vector DB

**only from freshly researched public case studies**; synthesis reasons over that LIGHT DB and

the lite constraints. If any brief points a worker at a proprietary DB, it refuses and notes it.

The moat is the proprietary DB's breadth + the paid downstream stages — not the method, which

this repo ships.

## Acceptance check

`synthesis.md` has 7-9 tactics, ≥50% unconventional, each traceable to a vector combination from

`growth-factors.json`; the LIGHT DB is clean-room (20-40 vectors, **real, resolvable source URLs**

— Perplexity- or native-`web_search`-sourced, 0 NXDOMAIN/404 — nothing traceable to a proprietary

DB); enrichment + think-tank outputs reached APPROVED (≥7).