# CARBON local command guide

The current public plugin surface is local and private. Commands run inside
the coding-agent project unless a command explicitly names another local
artifact or approved external integration.

CARBON is the first AI Agentic
Verification Harness: a local, evidence-qualified workflow around the coding
agent's own software work.

The internal runtime keeps its established `framework prepare` contract; the
public harness category is additive and does not rename that lower-level CLI.

## Core workflows

| Command | Use it for |
|---|---|
| `/carbon` or `$carbon` | Broad, risk-ranked verification with durable evidence. |
| `$carbon-test` | Test one named feature, flow, API, component, or behavior. |
| `$carbon-more` | Continue the next highest-value deferred checks. |
| `$carbon-auto` | Run a bounded local test-fix-retest loop. |
| `$carbon-browser` | Inspect or exercise a reachable page with an approved local controller. |
| `$carbon-generate` | Generate prioritized planned tests from code, pages, requirements, or recordings. |
| `$carbon-tests` | Create, import, convert, repair, bake, and manage durable local test intent. |
| `$carbon-confidence` | Route confidence work to planning, evaluation, review, release, or incident workflows. |
| `$carbon-human` | Ask, retain, and record only the human context that can materially change confidence, risk, readiness, test selection, or release interpretation. |
| `$carbon-feedback` | Create a scoped private feedback loop for a URL, image, document, API, code surface, or other artifact; capture local feedback or explicitly invite a reviewer through a separately deployed private service. |
| `$carbon-settings` | Open protected local settings for test context, credentials, browser control, and report detail. |
| `$carbon-help` | Analyze the project and recommend the smallest useful next workflow. |

## Focused quality commands

CARBON includes focused commands for functionality, UI, UX, usability,
accessibility, performance, privacy, security, reliability, compatibility,
content, data, API, networking, and localization. Each publishes an
evidence-qualified local report for the measured scope.

## Human decision context

`$carbon-human` is an optional near-final workflow step, not an approval gate.
It inspects local source, prior CARBON plans, test results, findings, and
evidence; asks no more questions than the current decision needs; and retains
unanswered questions until a person responds. It is for weak or missing
oracles—business outcome, demo versus production, risk appetite, real workflow
fit, domain assumptions, credible experience, failure ownership, and blind
spots that automated evaluators cannot see.

Answer a question with `$carbon-human answer HUM-XXXXXXXX: <answer>`. CARBON
persists the answer under `.carbon/human/decision-context.json` and uses it in
future confidence, readiness, risk, persona, and test-selection work. If no
answer is available yet, confidence still reports the technical evidence, with
an explicit human-context qualifier rather than a false pass or an artificial
block.

When CARBON Human starts, it also opens a protected local workspace beside
chat and publishes a branded durable report snapshot. Select a fast option,
write a free-form answer, attach a comment to any question, or add a project
note. Every save is project-local and refreshes the report; nothing is inferred
from silence.

## Private feedback loop

`$carbon-feedback <what to review>` creates a project-local feedback request,
opens a protected side-view workspace, and publishes a durable report. The
request may reference a URL, image, document, API, code surface, or other
artifact. The developer can give a quick rating, identify a feedback category,
write a response, and add context notes without leaving the coding agent.

For a named external reviewer, deploy `feedback-service/` to your own private
environment and explicitly configure and confirm its endpoint and one-time
service key. CARBON never sends feedback to a public CARBON or provider cloud.
Its rich email invitation links the reviewer to the private web workspace;
modern email clients do not reliably permit safe embedded forms.

## Command preview and live checklist

Every command first shows a `CARBON will:` plan in chat before it inspects a
project or invokes a tool. It then requests a protected project-local live
checklist in the coding-agent side view. This page is a progress artifact, not
execution proof: planned, observed, blocked, skipped, and incomplete steps
remain distinct.

## Safety and evidence

- CARBON never treats a generated test as executed evidence.
- Destructive checks require isolation and explicit authority.
- The user's normal Chrome session is used only when explicitly allowed.
- Credentials stay in protected local storage and are never returned to chat.
- Missing capabilities remain blocked or unmeasured; CARBON does not silently
  switch execution backends.
