Agents start the local services a task depends on, and note it

[shiny-code-app]

Objective

When a task depends on a local service or app on this machine that isn't running, the executing agent starts it and notes that in the PR or issue. It doesn't ask the owner, and it doesn't work around the missing service without saying so. Fixing why the service wasn't running is never decided in the moment. Direction turns spot the pattern from the notes.

Owner Decision

2026-09-23 direction session.

• The owner: agents "should just start it if its not running."
• On fixing the cause: "That feels like a decision that an LLM 'in the moment' could choose badly on."
• On naming examples: "Will being specific (Docker PyCharm) cause a model to question if it should start other services?"

Evidence

On 2026-09-23 an Astra session working on PR #83 in odoo-tenant-cm-website found both local Docker endpoints unavailable. It used the isolated preview instead of starting Docker, so local Odoo validation never ran.

Rule Shape

• Describe the rule by kind, not by a list: a local service or app on this machine that the task depends on. Docker and PyCharm are examples, not the whole set.
• Start it without asking unless starting it affects another person, a remote or production system, or paid resources. In those cases, ask.
• Record in the PR what was started and why.
• Never change what starts at login, machine settings, or service configuration as part of the task. Those are follow-up issues.

Finish Line

• The shared execution guidance states the rule once, in the shape above, and both harnesses load it.
• A review by another model is recorded before merge, because this changes execution guidance.

Current Status

State: completed. PR #783 merged at 51a87a0 after #762 and #772. Independent initial/final model reviews, local catalog validators, all six final-head CI checks, and post-merge catalog validation/CodeQL passed. The clean runtime checkout was synchronized to the exact final landing SHA. Bounded decision evidence is recorded in the PR; no real service operations were performed for those cases. Next action: none. Blocked by: none. Waiting for: none. Last verified: 2026-09-24.

[shiny-code-app]

Completed in PR #783, merged at 51a87a0b93e63334f34fe4009dc9c7911153462e after #762 and #772, as requested.

The shared execution reference now tells agents to start a stopped local prerequisite within the task's existing authority, record the action, preserve configuration, and leave cause fixes to separate follow-up work. External, production, paid, or unknown startup effects require the missing information or approval. Recording and issue creation stay within existing posting authority. Anthropic claude-opus-5-5[1m] reviewed both the initial and revised rule; findings, dispositions, and bounded decision cases are recorded in the PR. No real service operations were performed for these decision cases.

Local catalog validators and all six final-head CI checks passed. Post-merge catalog validation and CodeQL workflow passed. The landed reconciler safely synchronized the clean runtime checkout to the exact final merge commit. This Markdown-only change did not require IDE inspection. No owner decision remains for these three changes.