/ca-chore

name: ca-chore
description: Sanctioned lane for non-behavioral work — docs-only edits, dependency bumps, reverts. Type-scaled gates; no TDD demanded of prose.
argument-hint: "<docs|deps|revert> <description or SHA>"

$ca-chore — non-behavioral change lane

The sanctioned path for work that has no behavioral surface to test-drive. Three types, each with the gates that fit it — and nothing it doesn't need. Everything still exits through `commit-gate` (classification `docs` / `chore` / `revert`) and lands via branch/PR.

Types

**docs** — README, comments, CHANGELOG, `.codearbiter/` prose, typo fixes.

• Gates: secrets scan over the diff; diff review (no behavioral code change smuggled in);

anti-slop copy pass on any user-facing doc in the change; `commit-gate`.

• **Anti-slop copy pass** — for any user-facing doc the change touches (repo-root community docs

and `docs/**`; not codeArbiter's own framework bodies), load [includes/anti-slop-design/INDEX.md](../../includes/anti-slop-design/INDEX.md), then `core.md` and the `medium-documents` leaf (§7.A.1), and run the §3.A em-dash ban and the §3.B copy self-audit over the authored prose before `commit-gate`. The `H-13` PostToolUse reminder surfaces §3.A separator dashes as you write, so the pass is a confirmation, not a discovery.

• No `tdd` — prose has no failing test to write.

**deps** — bump an existing dependency's version (manifest + lockfile together, never one without the other).

• Gates: dispatch `dependency-reviewer` (same vetting as `$ca-add-dep` — license, provenance,

supply chain, changelog of the bump); full test suite green after the bump; `commit-gate`.

• A bump that requires code changes to adopt is not a chore — route the code change through

`$ca-feature` or `$ca-fix`.

**revert** — back out a named commit.

• Gates: `git revert <SHA>` (never hand-edited backout); full suite green after the revert; the

commit message references the reverted SHA and the reason; `commit-gate`.

• No new regression test demanded — the revert restores already-tested behavior. If the revert is

fixing a defect the suite missed, open `$ca-fix` afterward to pin it.

Flow

1. Classify `$ARGUMENTS` into one of the three types. Anything with a behavioral code change beyond a mechanical revert is NOT a chore — redirect to `$ca-feature` or `$ca-fix` and stop. 2. Run the type's gates above. 3. Exit through `commit-gate` with the matching classification, then `finishing-a-development-branch` as usual.

Hard gate

MUST reject a change containing behavioral code (beyond the revert itself) — that is `$ca-feature` or `$ca-fix` territory. MUST keep manifest and lockfile changes in the same commit for `deps`. MUST run the full suite for `deps` and `revert`. MUST run the anti-slop copy pass on any user-facing doc a `docs` change authors or edits. Never skips `commit-gate`.

When NOT to use

• Any new or changed behavior → `$ca-feature` / `$ca-fix`.
• Adding a NEW dependency → `$ca-add-dep`.
• Restructuring code → `$ca-refactor`.