feat: writes via chat — Reginald proposes, you approve inline (P4)

Completes "chat is the write-path" (decisions.md D1). Ask Reginald to re-estimate
or reprioritize an issue; it formulates a proposal, you approve it inline, and the
write runs through the same guarded apply_changes engine the Issue screen uses.
The model never writes — it proposes; the app owns approval + execution.

core (@commitea/core):
- propose_change tool declaration + REGINALD_SYSTEM updated ("never claim a change
  is applied; you propose, the human approves").
- proposalsFor(args, currentLabels, title): pure — builds the concrete, non-noop
  ChangeProposal(s) (change + label diff) for a propose_change request, dropping
  invalid/unchanged axes. ChangeProposal / ProposeChangeArgs types.

app:
- model bridge executes propose_change by planning against the issue's current
  labels (no write) and returns the proposals with the turn.
- useChat surfaces pending proposals + approve/dismiss; approve calls onApplyChange
  (AppShell's guarded handler → PUT + board/forecast refetch), dismiss leaves it.
- ChatPanel renders each proposal as a propose-approve card (diff + Approve/Dismiss).

Verified: 101 core tests green (4 proposalsFor added), desktop typecheck clean,
14 fixture e2e green. Gated live e2e against gemma-4-26b: "Set the estimate on #3
to est/5d" → Reginald proposes "est/2d → est/5d" as an inline card, says it's
*proposed* not done; Dismiss leaves the repo untouched. The approve→write path is
the #41 engine (separately verified change→revert).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

packages/core/src/agent/agent-tools.ts

@@ -35,12 +35,30 @@ export const QUERY_PROJECT_TOOL: ToolDecl = {
   },
 }
 
-export const REGINALD_TOOLS: ToolDecl[] = [QUERY_PROJECT_TOOL]
+export const PROPOSE_CHANGE_TOOL: ToolDecl = {
+  name: 'propose_change',
+  description:
+    "Propose an estimate and/or priority change to an issue. This does NOT apply anything — it shows the " +
+    'human a diff to approve. Use it whenever the user asks to re-estimate or reprioritize. After calling it, ' +
+    "tell the user you've *proposed* the change for approval — never say it is done.",
+  parameters: {
+    type: 'object',
+    properties: {
+      issue: { type: 'number', description: 'the issue number to change' },
+      estimate: { type: 'string', enum: ['est/1d', 'est/2d', 'est/3d', 'est/5d', 'est/8d'] },
+      priority: { type: 'string', enum: ['p/1', 'p/2', 'p/3', 'p/4'] },
+    },
+    required: ['issue'],
+  },
+}
+
+export const REGINALD_TOOLS: ToolDecl[] = [QUERY_PROJECT_TOOL, PROPOSE_CHANGE_TOOL]
 
 export const REGINALD_SYSTEM = [
   'You are Reginald, the calm, dry project manager inside CommiTea — a tool that runs projects on Gitea.',
   'Call query_project to ground every answer in the real project; never invent issues, numbers, or dates.',
   'The scheduler and forecasts are deterministic code — report their output, do not recompute it.',
-  'Forecasts are ranges, never single dates. Refer to issues as #<number>.',
-  'Be brief and plain. A sentence or two is usually enough. No preamble, no bullet-point dumps.',
+  'To change an estimate or priority, call propose_change — it shows the human a diff to approve.',
+  'Never claim a change is applied; you propose, the human approves. Forecasts are ranges, never single dates.',
+  'Refer to issues as #<number>. Be brief and plain — a sentence or two. No preamble, no bullet dumps.',
 ].join(' ')

packages/core/src/changes/apply-changes-v0.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 
-import { describeChange, type IssueChange, planIssueChange } from './apply-changes-v0.js'
+import { describeChange, type IssueChange, planIssueChange, proposalsFor } from './apply-changes-v0.js'
 
 describe('planIssueChange', () => {
   it('swaps the estimate label, keeping non-axis labels', () => {
@@ -52,3 +52,28 @@ describe('planIssueChange', () => {
     expect(describeChange(planIssueChange(['est/5d'], change))).toBe('no change')
   })
 })
+
+describe('proposalsFor', () => {
+  it('builds one proposal per changed axis, carrying the concrete change + diff', () => {
+    const props = proposalsFor({ issue: 2, estimate: 'est/5d', priority: 'p/1' }, ['est/2d', 'p/3'], 'ChangeSource')
+    expect(props).toHaveLength(2)
+    expect(props[0].change).toEqual({ kind: 'reestimate', issue: 2, estimate: 'est/5d' })
+    expect(describeChange(props[0].plan)).toBe('est/2d → est/5d')
+    expect(props[1].change).toEqual({ kind: 'reprioritize', issue: 2, priority: 'p/1' })
+    expect(props[0].issueTitle).toBe('ChangeSource')
+  })
+
+  it('drops a noop axis (already at the requested value)', () => {
+    const props = proposalsFor({ issue: 2, estimate: 'est/2d', priority: 'p/1' }, ['est/2d', 'p/3'])
+    expect(props.map((p) => p.change.kind)).toEqual(['reprioritize']) // estimate unchanged
+  })
+
+  it('ignores invalid label values from the model', () => {
+    const props = proposalsFor({ issue: 2, estimate: 'est/4d' as never, priority: 'high' as never }, [])
+    expect(props).toEqual([])
+  })
+
+  it('returns nothing when no axis is provided', () => {
+    expect(proposalsFor({ issue: 2 }, ['est/2d'])).toEqual([])
+  })
+})

packages/core/src/changes/apply-changes-v0.ts

@@ -57,3 +57,48 @@ export function describeChange(plan: LabelPlan): string {
   const to = plan.added.length ? plan.added.join(', ') : '∅'
   return `${from} → ${to}`
 }
+
+/** A change the agent proposes: the concrete op + its diff, ready for approve-then-apply. */
+export interface ChangeProposal {
+  change: IssueChange
+  plan: LabelPlan
+  issueTitle?: string
+}
+
+/** What the `propose_change` tool accepts — a target issue and the axes to set. */
+export interface ProposeChangeArgs {
+  issue: number
+  estimate?: EstimateLabel
+  priority?: PriorityLabel
+}
+
+function isEstimate(v: unknown): v is EstimateLabel {
+  return typeof v === 'string' && (ESTIMATE_LABELS as readonly string[]).includes(v)
+}
+function isPriority(v: unknown): v is PriorityLabel {
+  return typeof v === 'string' && (PRIORITY_LABELS as readonly string[]).includes(v)
+}
+
+/**
+ * Build the concrete, non-noop proposals for a `propose_change` request against
+ * an issue's current labels. Invalid or unchanged axes are dropped — the agent
+ * proposes only real changes, and never a label outside the est/* · p/* axes.
+ */
+export function proposalsFor(
+  args: ProposeChangeArgs,
+  currentLabels: string[],
+  issueTitle?: string,
+): ChangeProposal[] {
+  const out: ChangeProposal[] = []
+  if (isEstimate(args.estimate)) {
+    const change: IssueChange = { kind: 'reestimate', issue: args.issue, estimate: args.estimate }
+    const plan = planIssueChange(currentLabels, change)
+    if (!plan.noop) out.push({ change, plan, issueTitle })
+  }
+  if (isPriority(args.priority)) {
+    const change: IssueChange = { kind: 'reprioritize', issue: args.issue, priority: args.priority }
+    const plan = planIssueChange(currentLabels, change)
+    if (!plan.noop) out.push({ change, plan, issueTitle })
+  }
+  return out
+}

packages/core/src/index.ts

@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ export type {
   GiteaRequestInit,
 } from './gitea/types.js'
 
-export { describeChange, planIssueChange } from './changes/apply-changes-v0.js'
-export type { IssueChange, LabelPlan } from './changes/apply-changes-v0.js'
+export { describeChange, planIssueChange, proposalsFor } from './changes/apply-changes-v0.js'
+export type { ChangeProposal, IssueChange, LabelPlan, ProposeChangeArgs } from './changes/apply-changes-v0.js'
 
 export {
   inferColumnV0,
@@ -85,6 +85,6 @@ export { pickModel } from './agent/model-router.js'
 export type { ModelRouter, TaskKind } from './agent/model-router.js'
 export { runAgentTurn } from './agent/agent-loop.js'
 export type { AgentStep, AgentTurn, ToolExecutor } from './agent/agent-loop.js'
-export { QUERY_PROJECT_TOOL, REGINALD_SYSTEM, REGINALD_TOOLS } from './agent/agent-tools.js'
+export { PROPOSE_CHANGE_TOOL, QUERY_PROJECT_TOOL, REGINALD_SYSTEM, REGINALD_TOOLS } from './agent/agent-tools.js'
 export { buildProjectView } from './agent/query-project.js'
 export type { ProjectSnapshot, ProjectView, QueryFilters } from './agent/query-project.js'