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closing-stale-packets

Brings an abandoned or half-filled change packet to an honest terminal state by completing it, closing it with a recorded rationale, or deleting it. Use when ng status flags a scaffold or invalid packet, a long session left a draft behind, or work was abandoned mid-packet. Do not use for an actively in-progress packet, or to bypass validation on a packet you intend to ship.

skills/closing-stale-packets/SKILL.md

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Nov 6, 2026
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# Closing Stale Packets

## Overview

A change packet that is started and then abandoned is a quiet integrity problem. It looks like work in progress, but no one owns it, its claims were never proven, and a reader cannot tell whether the change shipped, was dropped, or is still pending. `ng status` now surfaces these: a `scaffold` packet is an untouched draft still carrying the placeholder marker; an `invalid` packet fails validation for another reason. This skill turns that signal into a decision. Every stale packet must reach one honest terminal state: completed (filled and validating), closed (deliberately abandoned with a recorded reason), or deleted (never a real change). The forbidden state is the one most packets drift into: half-done and silent, where a green-looking directory hides an unproven claim. Closing a packet with a written rationale is a first-class successful outcome, not a failure to ship.

## Decision contract

- **Claim checked:** every stale packet reached one honest terminal state -- completed and validating, closed with a recorded reason and decider, or deleted as a genuinely empty scaffold -- none left half-done and silent.
- **Artifact observed:** `ng status .`/`validate` output and the packet against its originating issue/PR/anchor -> a `NUCLEAR-GRADE-CLOSED:` rationale line and an `ng status .` where every packet is `ok` or `closed`.
- **Decision affected:** block -- bring the stale packet to a terminal state so `ng status` reports ok/closed, not scaffold/invalid.
- **Failure class:** silent-stale-packet (a half-done packet hiding an unproven claim, or a faked pass by deleting the marker).
- **Next action:** complete, close-with-reason, or delete; escalate to the owner before deleting any packet whose change is not confirmed dead.