Status: planned / experimental. Not implemented in v1. The trusted Impasse path is read-only: the reviewer observes and argues, it does not change the artifact. Delegate mode is a separate, opt-in capability to let a backend propose an edit — kept deliberately outside the review path and off by default.
A reviewer that edits the artifact is no longer independent of the remediation it proposes. Impasse preserves the original, read-only review; any remediation is a distinct run with its own trust boundary.
- Off by default. Enabled per-run or via config; never implicit.
- Isolated workspace. Requires a git repository with a clean worktree and index; the work happens in a temporary worktree on a throwaway branch created from the current commit — never the operator's checkout.
- Returns a patch, plus any validation/test results. It never commits to the operator's branch, merges, pushes, or stashes.
- Controls: path allowlist/denylist; symlink-escape checks; no writes outside the temporary worktree; no network mutation, deployment, or secret rotation; caps on changed files/bytes; tests run with recorded commands + exit codes; the diff is inspected before acceptance; the patch is retained on failure.
The old "checkpoint with git add -A && git commit" recipe is explicitly rejected — it can
commit secrets and unrelated work. Isolation via a temporary worktree replaces it.