# ADR 005: Explicit work-item termination

- HTML version: https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/work-graph/adrs/005-explicit-work-item-termination
- Project: Work Graph (https://robbiepalmer.me/projects/work-graph.md)
- Status: Accepted
- Date: 2026-09-13
- Initiatives: Semi-autonomous Software Development (https://robbiepalmer.me/initiatives/semi-autonomous-software-development.md)

## Context

[ADR 000](/projects/work-graph/adrs/000-flexible-work-item-graph) makes a work
item non-actionable while it has non-terminal direct children. Once its last
child terminates, the parent becomes executable again. The graph still needs a
clear rule for whether that event also completes the parent.

Child completion does not prove that the parent outcome is complete. The
parent may need synthesis, verification, a final note, or evidence assembled
from several children. Automatically completing it would skip that work and
make decomposition an implicit completion policy.

The model also uses `released` and `cancelled` in stored lifecycle, projected
board stage, and lease history. Their relationship must be explicit so those
representations do not drift.

## Decision

Terminating the final direct child only removes the child blocker. The parent
remains open, its readiness is recomputed, and a worker must claim it before an
explicit release or cancellation. The system never completes or cancels a
parent solely because all of its children are terminal.

Use `released` and `cancelled` as the canonical terminal work-item values.
Stored lifecycle and projected board stage share those values because they
describe the same current terminal condition.

Keep lease outcome as a separate historical type. A lease outcome of
`released` or `cancelled` records how that lease ended and identifies the lease
that performed the transition. It does not independently determine current
work-item state.

## Consequences

A decomposed item may return to the ready queue after its children finish. A
worker can then combine their results, check the parent acceptance criteria,
attach evidence, and terminate the parent deliberately.

Some parents will need a short final claim even when their children did all of
the implementation. That extra transition preserves an accountable completion
decision and avoids silently losing parent-level work.

The domain package must define terminal work-item values once and compose the
lifecycle and stage vocabularies from them. Lease outcomes may reuse the same
strings while retaining their own type and storage meaning.

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