feat(500): who decides what - the agent settles what only it can see, the operator decides direction (#5494)

The operator's line (2026-10-09), reconciling their 2026-09-21 ruling
(#4218, "you are the judge") with "not that Claude should make all
decisions": judging covers the work and its records - facts, findings,
measurements, whether work is done - and direction stays theirs:
priorities, what the thing should be, trade-offs only they can price,
anything they live with, and every act hard to undo or facing outward.

- reply_shapes: a one-line form in the core (every turn), the full text
  in the asks slice (where a question gets handed back). Slice budget
  1400 -> 1600 for it.
- reporting-back "You are the judge": "the operator reads the decision -
  they do not make it" replaced; the line is drawn by who can see the
  evidence, not by how hard the call is.
- plugin version minted.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

tests/test_reply_shapes.py

@@ -78,6 +78,17 @@ def test_the_core_carries_the_length_discipline():
     assert "what can go" in text
 
 
+def test_who_decides_what_rides_every_reply_and_every_ask():
+    """The operator's line (milestone 500 step 2): the agent settles what
+    only it can see, the operator decides direction. A one-liner every turn,
+    in full where a question is about to be handed back."""
+    core = reply_shapes.core().text.lower()
+    asks = reply_shapes.SHAPES["asks"].text.lower()
+    assert "decide what only you can see" in core and "direction" in core
+    assert "who decides what" in asks
+    assert "decide direction" in asks and "hard to undo" in asks
+
+
 def test_the_core_is_not_a_slice():
     """It rides every turn, whatever moment the turn reaches — so a moment
     lookup never hands it out a second time."""