docs: align scoped runtime contracts

docs/architecture.md

@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ forever:
     checkpoint persistence and notify idle/running status
 ```
 
-Prompt assembly is single-path: the loop sends `renderPrompt(await assemble(assembleContextFor(agent)))`; the helper couples the explicit agent and scope. Plugins contribute ordered sections, tool schemas, and named variables interpolated as `{{name}}` at render — strictly, so an unknown or valueless reference fails the turn instead of shipping a hole. `dsh-system-prompt` owns the openers — the static `harness:identity` section (order −100) and the deployment's persona (order 0, its `persona` config, shared context-wide) — while the loop registers the `model`/`cwd` variables; prompt-fact ownership is pinned by the [prompt-variables RFC](rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-prompt-variables-and-tool-guidance-ownership.md).
+Prompt assembly is single-path: the loop sends `renderPrompt(await assemble(assembleContextFor(agent)))`; the helper couples the explicit agent and scope. Plugins contribute ordered sections, tool schemas, and named variables interpolated as `{{name}}` at render — strictly, so an unknown or valueless reference fails the turn instead of shipping a hole. `dsh-system-prompt` owns the openers — the static `harness:identity` section (order −100) and the deployment's global default persona (order 0, shadowable by a same-named agent-scoped section) — while the loop registers the `model`/`cwd` variables; prompt-fact ownership is pinned by the [prompt-variables RFC](rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-prompt-variables-and-tool-guidance-ownership.md).
 
 Post-tool context lands after all tool results so tool-call/result adjacency stays stable. Steering drains between steps; ordinary leftover steering after a turn is re-queued as input. A terminal `agent/turn-stop` is the explicit exception: it runs after ordinary continuation and steering folding, then remains authoritative through turn close and flush so steering from those later listeners is discarded rather than becoming another step or turn; ordinary queued prompts are preserved.
 

docs/cordis-catalog/services.md

@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ list(): Session[]
 fork(source: SessionForkSource, boundary?: number, childSessionId?: SessionId): Session
 ```
 
-Source: [`packages/core/session/src/index.ts:591`](../../packages/core/session/src/index.ts)
+Source: [`packages/core/session/src/index.ts:590`](../../packages/core/session/src/index.ts)
 
 ## `ctx.skills` — `SkillService`
 

docs/core-data-structures/core.md

@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ interface Agent {
 }
 ```
 
-`AgentStatus` is `'idle' | 'running' | 'disposed'`. `AgentId` is a branded string. `AgentOptions` (`model?`) is merge-extensible — plugins add creation options by declaration merging; the persona is NOT an agent option but the `dsh-system-prompt` plugin's `persona` config, shared context-wide. The `agent/*` event taxonomy (lifecycle emits incl. `agent/session-start`, serial `agent/pre-step`/`agent/turn-stop` checkpoints, and the `agent/prompt-submit`/`agent/request`/`agent/session-prefix`/`agent/step-result`/`agent/turn-continuation` waterfalls) is in [architecture.md § Event taxonomy](../architecture.md#event-taxonomy); turn/step boundaries are durable `session/event` records, not `agent/*` emits.
+`AgentStatus` is `'idle' | 'running' | 'disposed'`. `AgentId` is a branded string. `AgentOptions` (`model?`) is merge-extensible — plugins add creation options by declaration merging. Persona is not an agent option: the `dsh-system-prompt` config supplies the global default, and an agent-scoped `deployment:persona` section may shadow it. The `agent/*` event taxonomy (lifecycle emits incl. `agent/session-start`, serial `agent/pre-step`/`agent/turn-stop` checkpoints, and the `agent/prompt-submit`/`agent/request`/`agent/session-prefix`/`agent/step-result`/`agent/turn-continuation` waterfalls) is in [architecture.md § Event taxonomy](../architecture.md#event-taxonomy); turn/step boundaries are durable `session/event` records, not `agent/*` emits.
 
 ## Interception decisions
 

docs/rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-06-14-session-persistence.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ Key choices recorded here because they are durable, contested, and surprising:
 - **Append-only; a crashed turn is closed, never truncated.** Committed events — those at or below a flushed `turn/end` — are never rewritten. The loop only flushes at `turn/end`, so a crash can leave a durable log whose final turn never closed: real, fully-written events sit after the last `turn/end`. **A single turn can be huge in a long-horizon task** (many steps, large tool output spanning a long autonomous run), so discarding the interrupted turn would silently destroy a large amount of real work — truncating a turn is wrong. Instead, on reload `load` PRESERVES those events and CLOSES the orphaned turn by durably appending the minimal synthetic boundary events: an error `tool/result` for every `tool-call` the crash left unanswered, then a `step/end` if a step was still open, then a `turn/end` carrying the merge-extensible `{ kind: 'interrupted' }` reason (a marker that records the turn was cut short by a crash, not completed by the model — no loop ever emits it). The synthetic tool results matter for resume correctness: the loop logs the `assistant/message` (carrying the `tool-call` blocks) BEFORE running the tools, so a crash mid-tool leaves calls without results; `deriveMessages()` would then replay a dangling assistant tool-call, which every provider rejects as an invalid transcript on the next request. Answering each orphaned call with an error result keeps the rehydrated history valid. `load` returns the balanced log, so a resumed session is immediately usable. The ONLY thing discarded is a never-fully-written **torn tail fragment** — a final record whose bytes (JSONL) or row were never completely flushed; that fragment is not a valid event and is dropped before the synthetic closers are written. A parse error or `seq` gap in the COMMITTED region (at or before the last real `turn/end`) is genuine corruption and makes the session unloadable.
 - **File backend canonical, DB backend a proven drop-in.** `SessionEvent` maps 1:1 onto a row `(session_id, seq, type, time, data)` — `append` is INSERT (in a transaction asserting the contiguous-seq contract), `load` is SELECT … ORDER BY seq. `dsh-session-persistence-sqlite` is exactly this: a `SessionPersistence` subclass with no interface change (opencode runs this exact shape on SQLite/WAL), and it passes the same `runPersistenceContract` suite as the JSONL backend — so the contract holds both backends to identical semantics (lazy materialization, interrupted-turn close on load, contiguous-seq), expressed once over file bytes and once over rows.
 - **Metadata is out-of-log.** Format version, cwd, and lineage are storage concerns, not replayable conversation state, so they live in a `SessionHeader` owned by `dsh-session` and attached to a `Session` via a new readonly `session.header` — never in `SessionEventMap`, never reaching `deriveMessages()`. The alternative (a merge-extensible `session/meta` event as log line 0) was rejected: an in-log event would ride along with a seeded/forked session for free, but metadata is not replayable state, so the explicit out-of-log header seam is the cleaner cost. (The header was originally split into an immutable `SessionHeader` plus a mutable `SessionSummary` whose union was `SessionMeta`; the mutable summary was later removed as dead state — see [Drop the mutable session summary](../simplification/2026-06-19-drop-mutable-session-summary.md).)
-- **Resume is an async factory, not a change to synchronous create.** `ctx.agents.resume({ resumeSessionId })` awaits `ctx.sessionPersistence.load`, recreates the live session with the loaded events (so `lastTurnNumber`/`deriveMessages` continue), and starts a fresh agent on the resumed id (NOT `${agentId}-session`). The agent-loop does NOT hard-inject `sessionPersistence` (that would pend non-persistent demos forever); `resume` rejects with a clear error when it is absent.
+- **`ctx.agents.create()` and `ctx.agents.resume()` are async factories; resume additionally crosses the persistence boundary.** `ctx.agents.resume({ resumeSessionId })` awaits `ctx.sessionPersistence.load`, recreates the live session with the loaded events (so `lastTurnNumber`/`deriveMessages` continue), and starts a fresh agent on the resumed id (NOT `${agentId}-session`). The agent-loop does NOT hard-inject `sessionPersistence` (that would pend non-persistent demos forever); `resume` rejects with a clear error when it is absent.
 
 ## Alternatives considered
 

docs/rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-prompt-variables-and-tool-guidance-ownership.md

@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@ The assembled system prompt had four defects, all of one family: facts the harne
 
 ## Decision
 
-**One principle: every fact in the prompt has exactly one owner.** The model name and workspace are config/session facts → the harness exposes them as variables and the persona references them. Per-tool semantics and when-to-use → the tool's `description`. Cross-call habits a description cannot carry → the tool package's prompt section. Identity and behavior → the deployment's persona, and nothing else.
+**One principle: every fact in the prompt has exactly one owner.** The model name and workspace are config/session facts → the harness exposes them as variables and the persona references them. Per-tool semantics and when-to-use → the tool's `description`. Cross-call habits a description cannot carry → the tool package's prompt section. Harness provenance → the static `harness:identity` section. Deployment role and behavior → the deployment's persona.
 
 ### Assemble context
 
-`SystemPrompt.assemble(context)` takes an `AssembleContext` — declared EMPTY and merge-extensible in `dsh-system-prompt` (the package stays agnostic of who assembles); `dsh-agent` declaration-merges `agent?: Agent` onto it (a new type-level edge `agent → system-prompt`, no cycle — `tools` already depends on both). The loop passes `{ agent }` each step; section text providers become `string | ((context) => string)` (zero-arg providers stay valid), and the `system-prompt/assemble` waterfall gains the context parameter so a listener can filter or extend per agent.
+`SystemPrompt.assemble(context)` takes a merge-extensible `AssembleContext`. `dsh-system-prompt` declares the optional `scope` selector used for scoped routing, while `dsh-agent` declaration-merges the optional typed `agent` field onto it (a type-level edge `agent → system-prompt`, with no runtime dependency cycle). The loop calls `assembleContextFor(agent)` each step so both fields identify the same agent; section text providers may read that context, and the `system-prompt/assemble` waterfall receives it so a listener can filter or extend per agent.
 
 ### Prompt variables
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Plugins contribute named values via `ctx.systemPrompt.variable(name, provider)`;
 
 ### Persona as the order-0 section
 
-`dsh-system-prompt` itself registers the two harness-owned sections (they must survive a swapped loop plugin, so they do NOT live on `dsh-agent-loop`): the static `harness:identity` at order `-100` — every prompt opens by stating the agent is powered by the DeepSeek Harness SDK — and `deployment:persona` at order 0, whose text is the plugin's own `persona` config. The persona is per-DEPLOYMENT, not per-agent: every agent in the context (subagents included) renders the same one, `AgentOptions.systemPrompt` is deleted along with the per-agent forwarding plumbing (the app configs' `systemPrompt` keys become a `persona` key routed to this plugin through `dsh-agent-core`), and the ACP bridge and `dsh-tool-subagent` stop carrying persona configuration entirely. The loop's special-case join is deleted: `fullSystemPrompt ≡ renderPrompt(assembly)`, one ordered pipeline for everything the model sees, and `agent/pre-step` (compaction's token-pressure input) measures exactly the real prompt. Order bands are now convention: harness identity `-100`, persona `0`, tool guidance `100–199`; other negative orders also render before the persona.
+`dsh-system-prompt` itself registers the two harness-owned sections (they must survive a swapped loop plugin, so they do NOT live on `dsh-agent-loop`): the static `harness:identity` at order `-100` — every prompt opens by stating the agent is powered by the DeepSeek Harness SDK — and the global default `deployment:persona` at order 0, whose text is the plugin's own `persona` config. `AgentOptions.systemPrompt` and the loop's special-case join are gone: `fullSystemPrompt ≡ renderPrompt(assembly)`, one ordered pipeline for everything the model sees, and `agent/pre-step` (compaction's token-pressure input) measures exactly the real prompt. An agent-scoped section with the same `deployment:persona` name shadows the default for that agent; programmatic setup may register one directly, and the subagent persona feature installs one before publishing an in-process child when the selected provider supports it. Order bands are convention: harness identity `-100`, persona `0`, tool guidance `100–199`; other negative orders also render before the persona.
 
 ### Tool guidance ownership
 
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ Per-tool semantics and when-to-use live in tool DESCRIPTIONS, which already ship
 
 ## Shipped invariants
 
-- `renderPrompt(assemble({ agent }))` for the coding-agent example renders the persona FIRST (with the agent's model name interpolated), then the fs/bash/web guidance sections; the loop has no other prompt-composition path.
+- `renderPrompt(await assemble(assembleContextFor(agent)))` for the coding-agent example renders the harness identity, then the persona (with the agent's model name interpolated), then the fs/bash/web guidance sections; the loop has no other prompt-composition path.
 - The `subagent_fork` schema description says the child inherits the conversation; the `subagent` one says it does not. The tool follows its provider: absent before the backend activates, present after, gone when the backend unloads, re-worded from the fresh provider on reload.
 - Unknown/valueless/malformed/unbalanced `{{…}}` references throw with the section name in the message; duplicate section, variable, and tool-name registrations all throw.
 - Snapshot goldens are prompt-independent by construction: llm-replay keys replay on (turn, step) chunk streams and never re-verifies the outgoing request.

docs/rfc/implemented/feature/2026-06-21-subagent-capability-seam.md

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ A provider exposes `start(request) → Promise<SubagentRun>`. Promise fulfillmen
 
 ### Two kinds of optional capability, discovered two ways
 
-- **Start-time features** (`outputSchema`, `depthLimit`, `toolFilter`) ride on a static `provider.capabilities` descriptor. The service checks every requested one BEFORE delegating and **rejects loud** (`SubagentError('UNSUPPORTED_CAPABILITY')`) if the provider lacks it — never accepted-then-ignored. They must be checked before a run exists, which is why they cannot be runtime methods.
+- **Start-time features** (`outputSchema`, `depthLimit`, `toolFilter`, `persona`) ride on a static `provider.capabilities` descriptor. The service checks every requested one BEFORE delegating and **rejects loud** (`SubagentError('UNSUPPORTED_CAPABILITY')`) if the provider lacks it — never accepted-then-ignored. They must be checked before a run exists, which is why they cannot be runtime methods.
 - **Runtime features** (steering via `sendMessage`, follow-up via `resume`) are **optional methods** on `SubagentRun`. The method's presence IS the capability, and TypeScript narrowing is the discovery mechanism: a consumer cannot call an absent method without narrowing first, so there is no silent-degradation path and no separate flags object to keep in sync.
 
 ### Fork vs. fresh are separate backends, not a flag

packages/core/agent-loop/README.md

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ interface Config {
 }
 ```
 
-Agents listed in config are auto-created at startup. `cwd` applies only to fresh config-created sessions; `resumeSessionId` keeps the persisted session header. Config agents have no per-agent persona field: they use `dsh-system-prompt`'s deployment default, while programmatic factory callers can register an agent-scoped `deployment:persona` shadow in `setup`. The plugin registers the built-in `model`/`cwd` prompt variables on `ctx.systemPrompt`, resolved per step from the `assemble({ agent })` context — runtime facts of the agents THIS loop drives, unlike the `harness:identity` and default `deployment:persona` sections, which live on `dsh-system-prompt` so they survive a swapped loop plugin.
+Agents listed in config are auto-created at startup. `cwd` applies only to fresh config-created sessions; `resumeSessionId` keeps the persisted session header. Config agents have no per-agent persona field: they use `dsh-system-prompt`'s deployment default, while programmatic factory callers can register an agent-scoped `deployment:persona` shadow in `setup`. The plugin registers the built-in `model`/`cwd` prompt variables on `ctx.systemPrompt`, resolved per step from `assembleContextFor(agent)` — the helper couples the typed agent with its matching scope selector. These are runtime facts of the agents THIS loop drives, unlike the `harness:identity` and default `deployment:persona` sections, which live on `dsh-system-prompt` so they survive a swapped loop plugin.
 
 ### Exported concrete class
 
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ forever:
     if every prompt blocked: 'turn/end'(rejected), no step  ⟵ zero-step turn
     STEP loop:
       drain steering
-      assembly = systemPrompt.assemble({agent})  ⟵ renderPrompt(assembly) IS the full prompt
+      assembly = await systemPrompt.assemble(assembleContextFor(agent))
+                                                ⟵ renderPrompt(assembly) IS the full prompt
       prefix ??= waterfall agent/session-prefix   ⟵ once per instance (first step): frozen
                                                 session prefix; on the header, never history
       await serial agent/pre-step(…, prefix)  ⟵ surface mutation (compaction) outside the step;

packages/core/agent/src/types.ts

@@ -82,9 +82,9 @@ declare module '@deepseek-ai/dsh-system-prompt' {
 }
 
 /**
- * Options an agent is created with. The persona is NOT here — it is the
- * deployment's `persona` config on the dsh-system-prompt plugin, shared by
- * every agent in the context.
+ * Options an agent is created with. The persona is NOT here: the
+ * dsh-system-prompt config supplies the global default, and a scoped
+ * `deployment:persona` section may override it for one agent.
  * Merge-extensible: plugins declare extra fields via declaration merging.
  */
 export interface AgentOptions {

packages/core/session/src/index.ts

@@ -363,8 +363,7 @@ export class Session {
    * @returns the logged event — its assigned `seq`/`time` plus the SNAPSHOT of
    *   `data` that entered the log, so reading `event.data` back sees the logged
    *   value, never the caller's still-mutable input.
-   * @throws if `type` is not a string, or if `data` or surface metadata is not
-   *   losslessly JSON-serializable
+   * @throws if `data` or surface metadata is not losslessly JSON-serializable
    *   (BigInt, function, symbol, undefined, negative zero, non-finite number,
    *   circular reference, sparse array, or an exotic object such as
    *   Map/Set/Date/class instance). One recursive pass reads, validates, and

packages/subagent/subagent-spawn/tests/harness.ts

@@ -23,9 +23,10 @@ export async function spawnHarness(workdir: string): Promise<Context> {
   const ctx = new Context()
   await ctx.plugin(LlmService)
   await ctx.plugin(SessionStore)
-  // The deployment persona is context-wide (parent AND spawned children
-  // render it), so it stays neutral for both roles; the delegation nudge
-  // lives in the e2e's user prompt and the subagent tool's own description.
+  // This harness installs only the global default persona, so both parent and
+  // spawned children render it. It stays neutral for both roles; the
+  // delegation nudge lives in the e2e's user prompt and the subagent tool's
+  // own description.
   await ctx.plugin(SystemPrompt, { persona: 'You are a coding agent. Report only when the requested work is done.' })
   await ctx.plugin(ToolRegistry)
   await ctx.plugin(AgentRegistry)

packages/subagent/subagent/src/types.ts

@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ export interface SubagentStartRequest {
    * afterward.
    */
   readonly signal: AbortSignal
-  /** Per-child agent options (model, system prompt). */
+  /** Per-child agent options (model and plugin-defined extension fields). */
   readonly agentOptions?: AgentOptions
   /**
    * Optional structured-output schema — an object-rooted JSON Schema within the

packages/subagent/tool-subagent/README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ The description is derived from `provider.inheritsParentContext`: spawn and ACP
 
 ## Lifecycle
 
-`execute` passes the tool execution's abort signal directly as the required `SubagentStartRequest.signal`, awaits `ctx.subagents.start(...)`, then awaits `run.result` inside a `try/finally` that always calls `run.dispose()`. The same signal therefore covers startup and live execution, while disposal guarantees quiescence on success, failure, and abort.
+`execute` passes the tool execution's abort signal when present, otherwise supplies an inert signal to satisfy the required `SubagentStartRequest.signal`. It awaits `ctx.subagents.start(...)`, then awaits `run.result` inside a `try/finally` that always calls `run.dispose()`. The selected signal therefore covers startup and live execution, while disposal guarantees quiescence on success, failure, and abort.
 
 A non-`completed` stop reason becomes an `isError` tool result; partial child output is never reported as success. The current tool blocks the parent turn until collection finishes; background and polling modes are deferred.
 

packages/ui/acp/README.md

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ It is a **client-driver / UI plugin**, the structured analogue of the readline `
 |---|---|---|
 | `model` | — | Model name for created agents (must have a registered adapter). |
 
-(No persona key: the deployment persona is `dsh-system-prompt`'s own `persona` config — a context-wide section, so ACP-created agents render it without the bridge carrying prompt text.)
+(No persona key: `dsh-system-prompt`'s own `persona` config supplies the global default section, so ACP-created agents render it without the bridge carrying prompt text. An agent-scoped same-name section may still shadow that default.)
 
 The `initialize` handshake reports a fixed server identity (`agentInfo: { name: 'deepseek-harness-acp', version: '0.0.1' }`) — branding is a literal at the `initialize` site, not config.