---
name: intake
description: Turn research, planning notes, or supplied context into an evidence-backed decision brief and reviewable backlog proposal.
---

# Intake

Use intake when source material needs to become a clear work decision. Start
with the intended outcome and consumer project contract. A local brief is useful
without a tracker or GitHub client.

Read the relevant sources and preserve origin, date and important uncertainty.
Separate observed facts, interpretations, proposed solutions and unsettled
product decisions. Compare conflicting versions explicitly. Keep lengthy
evidence in linked source material rather than inflating the decision brief.

Inspect the repository or current records for factual answers before asking.
Ask only questions whose answers change scope, feasibility or a product or
policy decision; explain their effect. Infer ordinary drafting choices from
context. Do not turn every missing detail into a blocker.

Describe the problem, intended observable outcome, constraints, supporting
sources and remaining decision. For proposed work, identify dependencies and a
small useful first slice with acceptance examples. Distinguish a proposal from
an accepted commitment and avoid implementation estimates unsupported by a
technical owner.

Use the consumer's own issue types, relationships, fields and ranking policy.
Do not invent labels, actors, priorities or delivery stages. If the user already
authorized implementation, carry the accepted work into `delivery-lifecycle`
within that scope rather than requiring another approval for routine
continuation.

Use `gh-steward` for coordinated GitHub changes; ordinary single-record work may
use the existing connector or native `gh` under consumer policy. Keep a local
proposal distinct from an authorized live apply and verify any resulting
records. See the [decision rubric](../_shared/references/agent-decision-rubric.md).

Finish with a decision-ready brief, proposed work and dependencies, evidence
gaps, and the next action supported by the user's requested stage.