Scratchpad and unknowns

2 min readReferenceUpdated 2026-05-21

What you'll find here

Two contracts that preserve incompleteness instead of forcing agents to guess — craik.scratchpad_record for expiring working notes, and craik.unknown_record for explicit gaps.

Expire by default; promote explicitly.

Scratchpad records must expire. They become durable context only through an explicit review path.

Records

Contract

Stores

Fields

craik.scratchpad_record

working notes

Owner · note text · evidence links · status · creation time · expiry. Expired records are filtered from active runtime context.

craik.unknown_record

explicit gap

Question · owner · what is needed to resolve it · next action · evidence · resolution answer, timestamp, and receipt linkage when resolved.

craik.context_request

blocking ask

Requester · requested context · why it is needed · optional links to handoffs, recovery sessions, or unknowns · fulfiller, timestamp, and receipt linkage when fulfilled.

Visible incompleteness.

Unresolved unknowns and open context requests are surfaced in case-file stale risks and handoff context debt. Handoff creation blocks on them unless the caller records an explicit blocked-exit override rationale.

Capture commands

Command

Writes

Use when

craik knowledge scratchpad

scratchpad

An agent needs to preserve temporary working context without promoting it to durable memory.

craik knowledge unknown

unknown

The next agent or operator needs a clear unresolved question, resolution source, and next action.

craik knowledge context-request

context request

Work needs missing human, repo, web, tool, memory, or external context before it can continue safely.

craik knowledge resolve-unknown

unknown

An operator has the answer and needs to close the unknown with a durable resolution receipt.

craik knowledge fulfill-context-request

context request

The requested context has been supplied and the request can be fulfilled with receipt provenance.

What's next

ReferenceContext debtHow unknowns flow into the durable debt record.ReferenceExit disciplineThe exit checklist that surfaces unresolved unknowns.ReferenceSchema referenceThe scratchpad_record and unknown_record shapes.