The Needs-you queue is the only inbox that matters
Most things the loop handles on its own. The ones it can't show up in one place, with one rule: every item has a decision attached.
An autonomous dev team only works if the humans on the other side know exactly when to look. Too many notifications and they tune everything out. Too few and the loop sits idle waiting on a decision nobody knows is needed.
Amedeus has one inbox for this: the Needs-you queue.
What gets in
An item lands in Needs-you when the loop has tried its hardest and can't proceed without a human call. Concretely:
- A task burned its iteration budget and the Architect can't split it.
- A Reviewer flagged a blocker that the Developer contests and the Architect's tie-break requires context the loop doesn't have (a business decision, a brand choice, a deploy approval).
- An external dependency is down and the retry budget is exhausted.
- A secret or credential is missing.
That's it. Nothing else escalates. No "FYI". No "in case you want to look".
What every item carries
Every Needs-you card has the same four fields, and they're all required:
- Why you. One sentence on what the loop tried and why it stopped.
- What to decide. The exact question, phrased as a choice.
- Options. Usually two or three, each with a one-line consequence.
- Default if ignored. What happens in 24h if no one picks. (Often: the task is parked and the next one starts.)
The default-if-ignored is the important one. It means the queue can never block the whole project — only the specific branch it's about.
What it isn't
It isn't a chat. It isn't a comment thread. It isn't a place to negotiate. You pick an option, the loop resumes, the decision goes into the Wiki as a precedent. Next time the same question comes up, the loop answers it itself.
If you find yourself writing a paragraph in a Needs-you card, the card shouldn't exist. Open Chat instead.