Signal guide

Signal is the measurable layer of the operating system. It should show what is healthy, stale, at risk, or broken without requiring humans to compile status by hand.

Good measurables

• Owned by one seat.
• Tied to a responsibility or goal.
• Updated on a useful cadence.
• Has a target or threshold.
• Produces an exception when it breaks.

What to avoid

Avoid vanity numbers, manual-only status fields, and metrics nobody can act on. If a measurable goes off track and no seat knows what to do, the Charter is incomplete.

Operate Signal from CLI or MCP

• Read: rost signal list --json / signal.list / rost_list_signals returns measurables with their latest reading and on/off-track state. signal.get / rost_get_signal returns one measurable's full reading history.
• Add a measurable: measurable.create (scope: seat) defines a measurable a seat owns — name, unit, direction, target, cadence. The seat owns it; readings attach to it afterward.
• Record a reading: rost status record --measurable-id <id> --value <n> (status.record, scope: seat) writes a status event with the reading. This is not gated.
• Confirm a reading: rost signal confirm / signal.confirm_reading / rost_confirm_signal_reading marks a reading human-verified. signal.correct_reading / rost_correct_signal_reading overwrites a reading with a human-confirmed value.

Run Signal without an agent

A human can run the whole loop from the Signal page. Each measurable has a "Log this period's number" control that records a human reading (the same signal.correct_reading path), and an "Add a measurable" form creates one against a seat (the measurable.create path). You do not need an agent to keep Signal current.

When to stop for confirmation

signal.correct_reading is human_required; overwriting a recorded measurable is a human judgment. signal.confirm_reading is none, so a seat can confirm its own readings directly. measurable.create is none — defining a measurable is not gated. An agent records readings with evidence; a human corrects when a value is wrong.

Agent guidance

Agents may record readings when the Charter allows it. Agent-reported readings should include enough evidence for a human to trust the number. Broken or stale Signal should become Friction when action is needed.