/cad-stakes: a first-class command for the highest-leverage knob #248

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-08-23 20:43:38 +00:00 by john · 0 comments

john commented

2026-08-23 20:43:38 +00:00

Owner

stakes is the highest-leverage knob in Cadence - one level picks the route-table.json row that sets model, effort, five review gates and the verifier at once - and it changes repeatedly over a project's life. A spike wants solo, a release run wants shipped, auth and migrations want critical.

Today it is buried in /cad-config beside set-once concerns (workflow toggles, provider setup), and the only direct route is node cadence-core/bin/config.mjs set stakes=<level>, which no user will discover or type.

Shape

No argument: REPORT. The current effective level, which config layer set it, and the row it buys phrased as consequences ("plan review adjudicated, diff review advisory, verifier on") rather than raw table cells.
With an argument: SET, and show a before/after diff of what actually changed.

The two things it must surface, or it lies by the same omission a raw `config set` does

An active model.overrides.<role> pin does NOT move with the level. cad-executor: opus stays opus at solo, so the switch looks broken.
A risk-surface floor can raise a phase ABOVE the reported level.

Scope

Defaults to the repo layer, --global for the user layer, and the chosen scope is stated in the output rather than assumed.

Moved to GitHub: https://github.com/crenshawdev/cadence/issues/97

This project's tracker is now GitHub; this repository remains the public archive. Closed here as migrated, not as resolved.

`stakes` is the highest-leverage knob in Cadence - one level picks the `route-table.json` row that sets model, effort, five review gates and the verifier at once - and it changes repeatedly over a project's life. A spike wants `solo`, a release run wants `shipped`, auth and migrations want `critical`. Today it is buried in `/cad-config` beside set-once concerns (workflow toggles, provider setup), and the only direct route is `node cadence-core/bin/config.mjs set stakes=<level>`, which no user will discover or type. ## Shape - **No argument: REPORT.** The current effective level, which config layer set it, and the row it buys phrased as consequences ("plan review adjudicated, diff review advisory, verifier on") rather than raw table cells. - **With an argument: SET,** and show a before/after diff of what actually changed. ## The two things it must surface, or it lies by the same omission a raw `config set` does 1. An active `model.overrides.<role>` pin does NOT move with the level. `cad-executor: opus` stays opus at `solo`, so the switch looks broken. 2. A risk-surface floor can raise a phase ABOVE the reported level. ## Scope Defaults to the repo layer, `--global` for the user layer, and the chosen scope is stated in the output rather than assumed. --- **Moved to GitHub: https://github.com/crenshawdev/cadence/issues/97** This project's tracker is now GitHub; this repository remains the public archive. Closed here as migrated, not as resolved.