---
name: choose-work-profile
description: Recommend and ask the Captain to choose POC, Pilot, or Production before a work item enters its first working stage, or when an observed promotion trigger makes the committed profile stale.
---

# Choose Work Profile

Select the lifecycle before loading its working contract. The Captain chooses;
this skill has recommendation and question authority only.

## Resolve the choice

Read the exact work item and its `## Work profile receipt`. Reuse an unchanged
`kc-dev-flow-work-profile/v2` receipt. Treat it as stale when audience, lifespan,
valuable state, mutation boundary, authority need, or operational commitment
changes.

An unchanged v1 receipt already records the Captain's profile choice. Return a
mechanical v2 candidate with the same `selected`, current route, basis, and
task-specific obligations; do not ask the Captain to repeat the decision. Ask
again only when its basis is stale or the selected profile no longer contains
the accepted scope.

| Choice | Route | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| `POC / Exploration` (`poc-exploration`) | `build -> prove` | A disposable experiment must prove one real journey and its riskiest assumption. |
| `Pilot / Product slice` (`pilot-product-slice`) | `shape -> build -> verify-deliver` | Limited real use creates persistent value and likely iteration. |
| `Production` (`production`) | `shape -> build -> verify -> release` | The scope accepts a production boundary or long-term operational commitment. |

A POC label cannot downscope production credentials or data, destructive
external mutation, irreversible migration, public compatibility, unattended
operation, broad exposure, SLO/support duty, or release/rollback ownership.

Derive a recommendation from the task. Ask one clarifying question only when one
missing fact could change it. State the task-specific difference in architecture,
implementation, testing, stages, and delivery. Use the host's best structured
Ask UI when available; plain chat is the fallback. In a non-interactive worker,
return `NEEDS_PROFILE_DECISION` instead of selecting automatically.

## Return the candidate receipt

```yaml
work_profile:
  schema: kc-dev-flow-work-profile/v2
  selected: poc-exploration | pilot-product-slice | production
  recommended: poc-exploration | pilot-product-slice | production
  basis: <audience, lifespan, state, mutation boundary, and commitment>
  route: [<ordered logical working stages>]
  obligations:
    architecture: [<task-specific obligations>]
    implementation: [<task-specific obligations>]
    testing: [<task-specific obligations>]
  scope_boundary: <what this profile excludes>
  promote_when: [<observable task-specific triggers>]
  decision:
    authority: <captain identity or bound authority>
    at: <RFC3339 timestamp>
```

The locally authorized actor re-reads the entity, records the receipt in the
existing work item, syncs it through the existing safe transaction, and re-reads
the committed result. Do not write a sidecar or start a working stage before
that re-read.

## Promotion

Promote POC to Pilot for accepted real users, persistent valuable state, reused
shortcuts, beyond-session operation, or retry/recovery duty. Promote either
lower profile to Production for any production trigger above. Outside profile
selection, stop at the boundary and return `PROFILE_PROMOTION_REQUIRED`; do not
rewrite the receipt or stage.

The profile never grants secrets, permission, spend, destructive action,
irreversibility, red-residual acceptance, merge, release, or closeout authority.