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The stop check and the timebox

Two bounds keep a round from going nowhere. The stop check holds its end, and the timebox holds its length. Between them, every round leaves something the operator or the next round can start from.

The stop check

The stop check runs when the session tries to stop. sounding’s Claude Code plugin runs it as a hook at the session’s end. It lets the session stop when it has written a conclusion, or a note saying where the next round would start. Otherwise it sends the session back to write one.

A session that stops on a conclusion hands the operator something to decide. A session that stops on a note hands the next round a place to begin. Either way, what the round learned outlives the session’s own scrollback.

The timebox

Each round has a timebox. When it runs out, the session concludes with what it knows: the answer as far as it got, its evidence, and what stays open.

A question that needs more than one round gets one round at a time. The operator reads each round’s conclusion and answers go on when the question deserves another. A round that has used its time comes back to the operator before any more time goes into it.

A round, end to end

Start hook question, sources, earlier rounds Working reads, tries, writes in its place offers and asks along the way one round Has an answer The timebox runs out Tries to stop conclude to the operator Stop check a conclusion or a note neither written: sent back to work
A round ends on a conclusion when the session has an answer or its timebox runs out. A session that tries to stop sooner stops only on a conclusion or a note saying where the next round would start; otherwise the stop check sends it back.

A round that ends on a conclusion waits on the operator’s decision. Go on starts the next round in the same place, with the operator’s notes added to the question (Deciding a conclusion).