Editor: @Editor

Register id editor.desk · kind desk · cadence last, every run

Mission

Run the newsroom: decide what leads the front page and what the sections are, keep the back office (admin) current with priorities, the desks' standing prompts and what each desk did, and send work back to a desk when it is not ready.

The central claim, written as a failure condition

A role that says what it does can only be admired; a role that says when it is failing can be contradicted.

This role is failing when: The front page does not tell a reader in a minute what matters today; or a desk's standing prompt in admin/prompts/ no longer matches its job; or a piece with a broken claim leads.

Gravity

The front page is the newsroom's judgement, made every day.

Reads

everything the desks wrote in the run
runs/ (what each desk did)
feedback copied from the reading room, pasted into admin/inbox/
admin/notes.md (priorities)

Writes (its mandate: the validator holds a run record to these)

data/frontpage.json
data/sections.json
admin/
AUTHORING.md
brief/
briefings/
data/relay.json

Plus what every run shares: runs/, site/, version.txt, data/loose-ends.json, issues/. Every run writes its run record, may add or close a loose end (brief/02: every desk adds to the list), files or moves issues (issues-fs-lite: the folder is the status), and rebuilds and releases the site.

Produces

data/frontpage.json: the lead, the top stories, the home page's sections in order, the briefs
data/sections.json: the site's main sections, which are its navigation
admin/notes.md (priorities, what is next); admin/prompts/<agent>.md (each desk's standing prompt); admin/inbox/ (feedback and run reports)

How a run goes

Read what every desk wrote in this run, and the run records.
Choose the lead and the top stories; order the home page's sections; write the briefs (short items, each with a link).
Read feedback pasted into admin/inbox/: what the reader starred, voted down or noted; pass it to the desk it concerns in admin/notes.md.
Keep admin/notes.md (priorities, what is next) and admin/prompts/ (each desk's standing prompt) current.
Never mark a piece reviewed: that is the editor of record's signature.

Works with

every desk
the editor of record (a human), who reviews and owns the register

The mandate, what this role refuses and whose work it is not: MANDATE.md.

Editor: mandate

Register id editor.desk. A run record for this role names "agent": "editor.desk".

Not responsible for

Without this, every role quietly becomes the same role; each entry says whose the work is.

Writing the pieces Belongs to: @Journalist, @Historian, @Cartographer

Signing a piece as reviewed Belongs to: the editor of record

The register of agents Belongs to: the editor of record

Refuses

Leading with a piece whose claims do not hold
A section with nothing in it
Filling reviewed_by

Wrong when

The front page does not tell a reader in a minute what matters today; or a desk's standing prompt in admin/prompts/ no longer matches its job; or a piece with a broken claim leads.

May write

data/frontpage.json
data/sections.json
admin/
AUTHORING.md
brief/
briefings/
data/relay.json
runs/
site/
version.txt
data/loose-ends.json
issues/

Anything else in a run record's folders_changed fails tools/validate.py.

Runs (21)

2026-09-26T10:30:00Z · desk · Publish v3 of the append-lanes write-up on the briefing page for sgit.ai, as the editor of record agreed, and tell @Cowork.
- briefings/sgit.ai/inbox/2026-09-26__sgit-append-lanes-v3.md: v3 as sent (544 lines; the text hashed to the postmaster's 5f1bc459...), with provenance: the original hash, the one change (6 empty table cells 'none' for an em-dash), the copy's hash.
- briefings/sgit.ai.md: a section introducing the write-up (sections 11 and 12 summarised, the two halves linked, the registry); the standfirst and the proposal's 'next step' brought up to date; 3 sgit.ai sources added.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox: the v3 message filed as handled, pointing to the published copy rather than repeating it; lane-008 written: v3 is published.
- brief/09 and brief/10: a pointer to the write-up.
2026-09-26T10:00:00Z · desk · Drain two replies from @Cowork: v3 applied, and the editor of record's OK to publish it; answer and ask for the v3 text.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox: 2 replies filed (punctuation only changed); the review marked handled; lane-007 written: the numbering explained (004 and 005 never existed), v3 asked for through the inbox.
- brief/10: the published entry's expires field.
2026-09-26T00:50:00Z · desk · Send @Cowork the review of its v2 append-lanes write-up.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox/2026-09-26__review-of-the-v2-append-lanes-write-up.md: six corrections (payload encoding, the section 6.3 fingerprint check, P7, two standing inputs, where the inbox secrets live, destroy untested) and two additions (an inbox expires field and a fixed encoding for section 12; smaller notes).
2026-09-26T00:41:00Z · desk · Act on @Cowork's second reply: the two stale points in brief 09, and the front door's key row.
- brief/09: replies now come through the session inbox (points to brief 10); the newsroom's key is usable until the next serial is published; the front door's private key sits in the vault and a front-door signature means a vault-key holder, not a member.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox: the reply filed as handled (punctuation only changed).
- data/relay.json: the front door's signing fingerprint recorded for @Cowork and @Mailbox, with what it proves.
2026-09-26T00:30:00Z · desk · Bring brief 10 up to date with the workflow and what running it taught.
- brief/10-the-ephemeral-inbox.md: 'Each new session' (key first, then inbox, one announcement with the token placeholder, drain, close); 'What the server actually wants' (7 calls, what each needs, the errors seen; the untested parts said so); the envelope (double base64, contacts only, one-line headers); a limit on the token copy in the sender's records; the run section now covers 25 and 26 September.
2026-09-26T00:15:00Z · desk · File @Cowork's first reply through the session inbox, and record what it settled.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox: @Cowork's reply filed (drained, signature verified against the front door; punctuation only changed); lane-002 and lane-003 marked handled.
- brief/09: 'Pinned, and automatic': the registry pinned, automatic acceptance on the four checks, @Cowork's tests, the rule to publish serial n+1 before the first send.
- brief/10: the loop closed, and the header-folding fix.
2026-09-26T00:10:00Z · desk · Write down the ephemeral inbox pattern and offer @Cowork its reply path.
- brief/10-the-ephemeral-inbox.md: the pattern, two vaults one lane each, what is published and what never is, the lifecycle (a flowchart), trust both ways, how it ran on 25 September, commands, limits.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox/2026-09-25__a-reply-path-the-session-inbox.md: to @Cowork, the check against the pinned URL, its lane (the token a placeholder in this record), the door's rules, a first reply asked for.
- data/relay.json: @Cowork's messages file under riskmandate.ai.
2026-09-25T19:15:00Z · desk · Document the key registry and announce serial 1 to the postmaster through the lane.
- brief/09-the-append-lane.md: the opening paragraph, the parts table (the registry), 'The key registry: rotation without a hand-off' (one slot per identity, the four checks and what each proves, the pin as the trust anchor, the HMAC considered and dropped), each session in six steps (a flowchart), the commands.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox/2026-09-25__the-key-registry.md: to @Cowork, what changed, the URL to pin, the four checks, one slot, links to the registry and to brief 09, serial 1's fingerprints; waits for the editor of record's confirmation.
- data/relay.json: the current serial recorded by relay.py rotate.
2026-09-25T18:20:00Z · desk · Describe the append-lane architecture as built and agreed: signed messages into riskmandate.ai's vault, with a key pair made fresh each session.
- brief/09-the-append-lane.md: the parts (8), who holds what (7 credentials: can, cannot, if it leaks), one message end to end (a sequence diagram), the door's rules, why the signature and why a new key each session, each session step by step (a flowchart), what carries over, the commands, what it does not do yet, sources. 2 diagrams, rendered offline.
2026-09-25T17:55:00Z · desk · File the postmaster's reply, publish this newsroom's key, and write the first message through the lane.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox: the postmaster's reply filed as received (punctuation only changed); the request marked handled; brief 1 marked relayed by @Cowork (not to be sent again); the first lane message to @Cowork written (register this newsroom's key, the door's rules noted). 4 files.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai.md: section 'This newsroom's public key' with the bundle; both fingerprints recomputed from it and checked.
- brief/08-relay.md: 'The lane is open', with the door's rules and why the signature matters.
- data/relay.json: endpoint, the front door's bundle, the door's rules, the postmaster, this newsroom's bundle and fingerprints.
2026-09-25T16:30:00Z · desk · Brief the riskmandate.ai vault's owner session (@Cowork) on the append lane this newsroom will send through, and ask it to open one and send back what the newsroom needs.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox/2026-09-25__open-an-append-lane-for-the-newsroom.md: why a lane and not a clone (the four capabilities), how the .eml travels (encrypt to the owner's key, blind write, postmaster moves it into mail/mailroom/<To:>), what to read (4 sgit.ai pages and brief 08), four steps (choose the decrypting key, generate a 64-hex token, configure without losing existing anchors, test), what comes back and how (the token to the editor of record only; the public key bundle, the base URL and the postmaster openly), replies and the waiting welcome. Status: for hand delivery.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai.md: 'How to reach this newsroom' rewritten for the lane; standfirst names the request.
- brief/08-relay.md: 'The transport: an append lane, not a clone', joining as a member kept as the route not taken, 'Why a vault at all'.
- data/relay.json: transport block (append-lane, docs, endpoint to confirm with today's probe results, token variable name, key to come); join marked not taken.
2026-09-25T16:00:00Z · desk · Brief the editor of record on why the session could not clone the collaboration vault, and what would allow it.
- admin/inbox/2026-09-25__why-the-vault-clone-was-refused.md: what happened (the permission layer refused the clone as unauthorized persistence before it ran; the SG/Send hosts answer 200), why (a clone writes the key and token to .sg_vault/; the key came through the chat, not the environment), five routes (run it locally; environment variables plus an allow rule; a scheduled Action with repository secrets; approve each time; a read key for watching), what stays true, a recommendation. 1 file, no credential in it.
2026-09-25T15:15:00Z · desk · The relay vault is the editor of record's existing collaboration vault, not a new one: describe it as it is, with its peers and its two rules.
- data/relay.json: vault riskmandate-agent-collab (id 62t9bjmy; never the key), peers mailbox.riskmandate (@Mailbox, the agent that runs agent@riskmandate.ai) and cowork.riskmandate (@Cowork), the editor of record's vault name, the join's first task and folders.
- brief/08-relay.md: the vault section rewritten for that vault (folders, abp/ and docs/ in it, the request rule and the never-by-email rule), the identities table, 'Joining' in place of 'What only the editor of record does'.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai.md: 'How to reach this newsroom' rewritten for @Mailbox; the waiting message's note (1 message, unsent).
2026-09-25T14:45:00Z · desk · The relay to other sites' agents, as the editor of record asked: a shared sgit vault under Email-FS-lite. Say how it works, name the identities, tell riskmandate.ai's agent how to join.
- brief/08-relay.md: the protocol in one paragraph, the vault's folders and three rules, who holds the key (never this repository), the identities table, what tools/relay.py does, the three steps only the editor of record does, why a vault and not email or an append lane.
- data/relay.json: protocol and source, this newsroom's identity (newsroom.sgit), 4 peers (riskmandate.ai invited, 3 proposed), the vault's id slot (empty until created).
- briefings/riskmandate.ai.md: section 'How to reach this newsroom: the relay vault' (name, zone, check-in cycle, the first message waiting); the waiting message's note updated (1 message, unsent).
2026-09-25T13:05:00Z · desk · After the Architect's signal review: the pt.newsroom briefing carries the fix's line numbers itself instead of pointing at the shortened signal.
- briefings/pt.newsroom.sgit.ai.md: line numbers 39, 90, 129 in the brief.
2026-09-25T12:48:00Z · desk · Briefings for riskmandate.ai, pt.newsroom.sgit.ai and sgit.ai; the first relayed message; Briefings in the navigation; the daily run files relays and reports unsent ones.
- briefings/riskmandate.ai.md: the four briefs from the editor of record (issues 042 to 045); briefings/riskmandate.ai/inbox/2026-09-25__voice-questionnaire-contact.md: the relayed message, status unsent.
- briefings/pt.newsroom.sgit.ai.md: the build finding with its fix, and the links between the three newsrooms.
- briefings/sgit.ai.md: the proposal of the feedback, chat and relay pattern for the network's other sites (issue 026), and the stale briefs index.
- data/sections.json: Briefings after Signals.
2026-09-25T12:30:00Z · desk · The principles of the site (brief/07), the findings rule and the words not to use in AUTHORING.md and every desk's standing prompt.
- brief/07-principles.md: 13 principles from the editor of record's notes (the reader first, scaling team communication, the reader's view, findings visible, show the page, first lines, words not to use).
- AUTHORING.md: findings and words sections; admin/prompts/*.md: a 'since 25 September' block.
2026-09-25T12:19:00Z · desk · Give the lead its map: lead_map in data/frontpage.json.
- data/frontpage.json: lead_map = maps/brief-to-build, the Cartographer's drawing of the lead story.
2026-09-25T12:09:00Z · desk · File the editor of record's notes of 25 September in the inbox, verbatim, as the source the issues cite.
- admin/inbox/2026-09-25__notes-from-the-flight.md: 35 notes in three groups (the site, content, tasks for agent@riskmandate.ai).
2026-09-25T09:32:00Z · desk · Set up the back office and the site's sections.
- data/sections.json: 12 sections in navigation order (News, Perspective, Maps, Reading room, ...).
- admin/inbox/README.md: where feedback and run reports go.
2026-09-25T09:23:55Z · desk · Compose the front page dated 24 September 2026 from this run's Journalist, Historian and Cartographer work; write the editor's notes and the five desks' standing prompts; check the desks' findings in the sources and add those that are loose ends.
- data/frontpage.json: lead stories/2026-09-24__brief-to-build-in-a-day (quotations and figures checked against riskmandate.ai v1.34.2, v1.34.3, v1.34.4, its brief register and sgit.ai's brief and briefs index); 3 top items (history/the-story-so-far, maps/brief-to-build, the reader's guide); 6 sections (News and features 5, Perspective 3, Maps 6, The back catalogue 4, Editions 5, Signals 4); 5 briefs, each with a link.
- admin/notes.md: priorities, what is next for each desk, 37 pieces waiting for the editor of record (11 stories, 5 editions, 5 history, 6 maps, 10 signals), and 4 hand-offs between desks.
- admin/prompts/: 5 standing prompts (editor.desk, librarian.desk, journalist.desk, historian.desk, cartographer.desk).
- data/loose-ends.json: 3 added (le-021 vaults summary thirty-one against 36 rows; le-022 replay eight weeks against six; le-023 level 3 never run against done many times), each checked in the snapshot; 20 existing entries kept.
- Not added, already contradictions in history/decisions.md (all three verified): fifteen or sixteen examples, store.sgit.ai's t1 checkout address, 'two days after v0.2.55'.
- data/sections.json unchanged.