README instructs `warded engineer #98 --watch`, a flag retired in ward#356 that now errors as unknown #474

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opened 2026-07-01 22:40:33 +00:00 by coilyco-ops · 1 comment

coilyco-ops commented

2026-07-01 22:40:33 +00:00

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Why

Persona agent-power-user / angle feature-gaps. A day-1 must-have for this persona is live observability of an autonomous run ("watch what the agent is doing; kill a runaway"). The README's third paragraph answers it directly:

A bare ref runs the fire-and-forget engineer; warded engineer #98 --watch attaches to watch.

But docs/agent-flags.md § "Retired: --watch and --new-tab (ward#356)" says the engineer is detached / autonomous only, all interactive work funnels to the director, and — verbatim — "The flags error as unknown."

So the front page teaches a command that errors on a fresh install, and it does so about the exact capability (watching an autonomous agent live) that a safety-tool adopter checks first. The reader is factually misled about what the tool does: attach-to-watch was deliberately removed, not renamed.

Deliverable

Rewrite the README sentence to the current model: bare ref → detached engineer; watching/interactive work → the director (warded director ...); plus one clause on where a detached run's logs land afterward (~/.ward/agent-logs/<container>/, per docs/agent-observability.md).

Done condition

--watch appears nowhere in README.md; every command line the README shows parses on the shipped binary (the only "watch" hit, if any, is ward ci watch).

Severity: adoption-fatal · persona: agent-power-user · angle: feature-gaps
Filed by Claude Code during a cold-read release pressure test (run 30).

## Why Persona `agent-power-user` / angle `feature-gaps`. A day-1 must-have for this persona is live observability of an autonomous run ("watch what the agent is doing; kill a runaway"). The README's third paragraph answers it directly: > A bare ref runs the fire-and-forget `engineer`; `warded engineer #98 --watch` attaches to watch. But `docs/agent-flags.md` § "Retired: `--watch` and `--new-tab` (ward#356)" says the engineer is **detached / autonomous only**, all interactive work funnels to the director, and — verbatim — "The flags error as unknown." So the front page teaches a command that errors on a fresh install, and it does so about the exact capability (watching an autonomous agent live) that a safety-tool adopter checks first. The reader is factually misled about what the tool does: attach-to-watch was deliberately removed, not renamed. ## Deliverable Rewrite the README sentence to the current model: bare ref → detached engineer; watching/interactive work → the director (`warded director ...`); plus one clause on where a detached run's logs land afterward (`~/.ward/agent-logs/<container>/`, per `docs/agent-observability.md`). ## Done condition `--watch` appears nowhere in README.md; every command line the README shows parses on the shipped binary (the only "watch" hit, if any, is `ward ci watch`). --- **Severity: adoption-fatal** · persona: agent-power-user · angle: feature-gaps Filed by Claude Code during a cold-read release pressure test (run 30).

coilyco-ops added the

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2026-07-01 22:40:33 +00:00

coilyco-ops referenced this issue

2026-07-01 22:42:08 +00:00

meta: release pressure-test run log (cold-read usability sweeps) #428

coilyco-ops referenced this issue

2026-07-01 22:43:17 +00:00

README still advertises retired warded engineer --watch even though the flag now errors #468

coilyco-ops added this to the ward launch milestone

2026-07-01 23:29:27 +00:00

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2026-07-01 23:30:22 +00:00

coilyco-ops commented

2026-07-01 23:57:01 +00:00

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Merged into #468 (same finding: README advertises the retired --watch flag). #468 folds into the #444 README epic. Recorded by Claude Code (Fable) during the 2026-07-01 ward launch triage session with Kai.