/ca-dev

name: ca-dev
description: Maintainer override — suspend orchestration to edit codeArbiter itself. Env-gated (CODEARBITER_DEV=1), entry/exit logged to overrides.log.
argument-hint: "[note]"

$ca-dev — maintainer override

Suspends orchestration for working ON codeArbiter — skill, agent, command, and hook bodies, `ORCHESTRATOR.md`, settings. Not for project work; for that, use the normal commands or `$ca-override`.

Flow

1. **Env gate** — check the `CODEARBITER_DEV` environment variable. Not set to `1` → refuse in one line ("dev mode requires CODEARBITER_DEV=1") and remain in orchestration. This keeps the mode a deliberate maintainer posture, not a casual bypass. 2. **Log entry** — detect identity from `git config user.email`; append to `<project-root>/.codearbiter/overrides.log` (append-only, `>>`):

   [ISO-8601 timestamp] | BY: <email> | DEV: enter | NOTE: <note or —>

3. **Marker** — drop `<project-root>/.codearbiter/.markers/dev-active` (gitignored UI flag). 4. **Mode** — plain, direct coding assistant: no routing, no skills, no gates, no `[CONFIRM-NN]` surfacing, no redirect. Persists until `$ca-arbiter` or a new session.

Note (#271): if another session starts in this repo while this marker is live, SessionStart no longer unconditionally clears it out from under you — it is session-scoped now, so a concurrently-running dev session's marker survives a different session's startup. See `$ca-arbiter` for the exit-path detail.

Hard gate

MUST refuse without `CODEARBITER_DEV=1`. MUST write the `DEV: enter` log line before suspending orchestration. Even in dev mode, `overrides.log` is never rewritten — the append-only rule has no dev exception.

When NOT to use

• Bypassing a single gate on project work → `$ca-override "reason"`.
• Asking a question → `$ca-btw`.