[dnth]

Summary

Every Discord decision now has to arrive as buttons, and every choice of two or more options has to name a recommendation.

emit(kind, state, decision_file, no_buttons)
  if state == needs-you and kind != ack
    refuse unless decision_file or no_buttons

ask(options, recommended, no_recommendation)
  if len(options) >= 2
    refuse unless recommended or no_recommendation

 bin/
   fm-ext-emit.sh   # + needs-you rule, + --no-recommendation (record only)
   fm-ext-ask.sh    # + recommendation rule, forwards the recorded reason
   fm-ext-open.sh   # + --decision-file / --no-buttons passthrough
   fm-ext-lib.sh    # payload schema accepts no_recommendation_reason
 docs/configuration.md          # Decision buttons rule + Topic threads pointer
 .agents/skills/ext-respond/SKILL.md  # two sentences
 tests/
   fm-ext-needs-you-buttons.test.sh   # new: AC1-AC3
   fm-ext-ask.test.sh                 # fixtures mark a recommendation
   fm-ext-topic-threads.test.sh       # needs-you status posts record a reason

Evidence

• Before: bin/fm-ext-emit.sh --kind answer --thread-state needs-you with no buttons published a plain post; three such choice posts reached the captain on 2026-11-06 because the text-shape guard only matched numbered or coded option lines.
  After: the same command exits 2 and publishes nothing:

  fm-ext-emit: a needs-you answer must carry decision buttons; post the choice with bin/fm-ext-ask.sh (or --decision-file), or pass --no-buttons "<reason>" when it asks no choice
  

  With the escape it publishes an ordinary payload: {"thread_state":"needs-you","no_buttons_reason":"status reminder, no choice asked"}.

• Before: bin/fm-ext-ask.sh --option North --option South posted a two-option choice with no starred option.
  After: it exits 2 before touching the hold:

  fm-ext-ask: a post of 2 options must mark one --recommended, or pass --no-recommendation "<reason>" when no option is genuinely better
  

  With --no-recommendation 'both routes cost the same' the payload carries the record: {"no_recommendation_reason":"both routes cost the same","labels":["North","South"]}.

• Tests: env -u FM_TASK_ID bash tests/fm-ext-needs-you-buttons.test.sh passes all 4 cases; all 12 tests/fm-ext-*.test.sh suites exit 0. FM_TASK_ID is unset only because a worker environment deliberately makes the watcher and drain suites refuse.

• Lint: bin/fm-lint.sh clean at pinned ShellCheck 0.11.0.

Merge Danger

Door: two-way

The rule is validation only: no data migration, no payload field is required, and reverting restores the previous posting behavior.

Blast Radius: bridge

Any home running this commit must pass buttons or --no-buttons "<reason>" on a needs-you reply, and a starred recommendation on a choice of two or more options; the emit and ask headers, docs/configuration.md, and the ext-respond skill say so.

Pipeline

Updates from git push no-mistakes

✅ **Intent** - passed

✅ No issues found.

✅ **Rebase** - passed

✅ No issues found.

✅ **Review** - passed

✅ No issues found.

✅ **Test** - passed

✅ No issues found.

• Live validation: ✅ go - 6 of 6 scenarios driven live against the product

Scenario	Result	Live	Evidence
Local emit refuses needs-you answers, followups, and finals—including bold-bullet choices—without changing persisted state	✅ pass	live	Live CLI transcript; state snapshots asserted by live-cli-driver.py
Local emit accepts decision buttons or a recorded no-buttons reason for each needs-you reply kind	✅ pass	live	Live CLI transcript; actual generated outbox payloads
Done, none, unstated followups, and exempt acknowledgements retain their behavior while the existing choice guard remains effective	✅ pass	live	Live CLI transcript; actual generated outbox payloads
Local ask rejects unstarred choices, records explained ties, stars recommended choices, and accepts single-option asks	✅ pass	live	Live CLI transcript; actual generated outbox payloads; persisted captain holds
Ask and emit reject contradictory recommendations; ask rejects malformed reasons before creating a hold	✅ pass	live	Live CLI transcript; state and backlog snapshots asserted by live-cli-driver.py
Local open refuses an unbuttoned needs-you post and accepts buttons or a no-buttons reason	✅ pass	live	Live CLI transcript; actual generated outbox payloads

• python3 .test-validation/live.py — real intake, emit, ask, hold, open, and lookup commands against an isolated FM_HOME
• for suite in tests/fm-ext-*.test.sh; do TMPDIR="$PWD/.test-validation/tmp" bash "$suite"; done — all twelve suites exited successfully
• bin/fm-ext-emit.sh --help, bin/fm-ext-ask.sh --help, and bin/fm-ext-open.sh --help
• Manually reviewed documentation changes and the skill's two added sentences

🔧 **Document** - 1 issue found → auto-fixed ✅

• ⚠️ .agents/skills/ext-respond/SKILL.md:70 - The new sentence says emit refuses any needs-you reply, but ack is exempt. Narrow it to answer/followup/final. Left unchanged because this phase forbids rewording runtime-loaded prompts.

🔧 Fix applied.
✅ Re-checked - no issues remain.

✅ **Lint** - passed

✅ No issues found.

✅ **Push** - passed

✅ No issues found.