Charter Patch: Architect Does Not Hold Merge Authority
The Broader Goal at the End of the Previous PR
Earlier PRs in the #1436 arc audited workspace agent identity routing, enforced role App tokens on parent auto-PRs, and eliminated fallback to host GitHub credentials for unattended tasks. Live verification already proved that synlynk-synlynk-qa[bot] successfully approves and squash-merges PRs under .synlynk/policy.json (can_merge: ["qa"]). However, living documentation—specifically the agent roles and charters design spec, the glossary, and the road to autonomous operations roadmap—still contained legacy prose claiming that the architect role holds merge authority.
Strategic Shifts in This PR (if any)
None. Policy truth has been merge_authority.can_merge: ["qa"] since v0.18.0. This PR executes the charter patch identified in §5–§7 of the workspace agent identity routing design spec (docs/superpowers/specs/2026-09-06-workspace-agent-identity-routing-design.md) to reconcile living documentation with runtime policy truth, ensuring architect only owns spec/plan review while merge authority is explicitly qa-only.
What This PR Shipped
Living document reconciliation across four canonical references:
docs/superpowers/specs/2026-08-09-synlynk-agent-roles-charters-design.md: Updated the architect charter row, dispatch target table, and end-to-end workflow table so architect owns spec and plan review without claiming merge authority, and explicitly noted that merge authority is qa only (can_merge: ["qa"]).docs/glossary-agent-vs-harness.md: Updated the architect row to clarify that PR code review sits with architect while merge authority is qa only.docs/strategy/road-to-autonomous-ops.md: Aligned the Operating Ownership section so architect owns technical design, spec/plan approval, and review, while qa holds merge authority alongside CI/CD and verification.docs/superpowers/specs/2026-09-06-workspace-agent-identity-routing-design.md: Marked the charter patch in §5 and §7 as addressed in this PR.
Historical plans recording point-in-time design evolution were preserved untouched.
Brainstorm Visuals Used
None.
What This Achieved on the Path to Autonomy
Eliminates policy-to-charter contradictions across agent instruction surfaces. When agents read their roles, charters, and glossary definitions, they encounter an unambiguous division of labor: architect provides technical judgment, design spec approval, and code review, while unattended PR merge execution is governed strictly by qa under policy gates.
Strategic Note: The Goal at the End of This PR
With the charter patch complete and parent auto-PR token injection hardened, remaining items in the #1436 arc include completing live verification of a role-bot-authored PR approved by qa bot and optional qa actions: write permission for test rerun workflows.