# CAP repo STATUS (implementation reality)

## Metadata

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Institute | Molodetz Institute — Research & Retrieval Division |
| Subject | cap-protocol |
| Document type | Source Dossier |
| Tier | 1 |
| Source title | cap-protocol status (docs/STATUS.md) |
| Source URL | https://github.com/rsclaw-ai/cap-protocol/blob/main/docs/STATUS.md |
| Source type | project notes |
| Source date (published) | 2026-06-01 working snapshot |
| Date researched | 2026-10-18 |
| Researched by | tai (agent), model: Muse Spark, on behalf of retoor |
| Research method | direct raw-file fetch, read in full (first 120 lines carry the state; rest is prior-session log, skimmed) |
| Confidence | High |
| Status | Active |

## Summary

What actually works against real agents: full driver matrix done, CAP core v1 conformance claimed, A2A driver validated against a real endpoint, `cap chat`, LLM/hybrid routing, aider PTY driver, codex defaulting to stream-json. The PTY floor section documents the turn-boundary heuristics that make TUI agents reliable: idle-settle + ready-marker + prompt-sent gate, submit verification with bounded resubmits, wait-for-ready, 150ms text-to-Enter gap.

## Key findings

- Agent fidelity tiers in practice: claude/codex stream-json, opencode ACP (`opencode acp` v1.14 wire-verified), aider/codex-TUI PTY fallback. "PTY screen-scraping is the universal floor, not the goal."
- PTY turn boundary = byte-silence ~800ms AND prompt glyph at rendered-screen bottom; first settle is Ready, post-prompt settles are Done; trailing prompt lines stripped from boundary chunks.
- Three reliability fixes: prompt gate (no Done before first real prompt), submit verification (re-send Enter if prompt text still in input box, bounded MAX_RESUBMITS), wait-for-ready (hold first prompt until Ready).
- codex app-server websocket transport was REMOVED as unreliable; stream-json supersedes it. Dead-end warning for tai: do not build a codex websocket driver.
- Test gate: 54 + 25 + 6 + 2 green, clippy/fmt clean; live-validated codex-to-claude fleet run.

## Pros / strengths

- The only source of ground truth on what the spec costs in practice (heuristics, resubmits, timing constants).
- Explicit dead-end marking (app-server removal) saves tai from the same mistake.

## Cons / limitations / caveats

- Explicitly non-normative and overwritten each session; facts may be stale relative to main.
- Timing constants (800ms, 150ms) are tuned to the authors' machines, not portable guarantees.

## Relevance to tai

Directly specifies tai's PTY driver heuristics (settle window, prompt gate, resubmit bound) and the per-agent binding preference order.

## Changelog

| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-18 | Initial dossier created. |