chore: publish from main

.github/plugin/marketplace.json

@@ -1282,8 +1282,8 @@
     {
       "name": "signals-dashboard",
       "source": "plugins/signals-dashboard",
-      "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, and cost-aware repo or connected desk launch profiles.",
+      "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, cost-aware desk profiles, and fail-closed Local Delegation.",
-      "version": "0.2.0"
+      "version": "0.3.0"
     },
     {
       "name": "site-studio",

docs/README.plugins.md

@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ See [CONTRIBUTING.md](../CONTRIBUTING.md#adding-plugins) for guidelines on how t
 | [rust-mcp-development](../plugins/rust-mcp-development/README.md) | Build high-performance Model Context Protocol servers in Rust using the official rmcp SDK with async/await, procedural macros, and type-safe implementations. | 0 items | rust, mcp, model-context-protocol, server-development, sdk, tokio, async, macros, rmcp |
 | [salesforce-development](../plugins/salesforce-development/README.md) | Complete Salesforce agentic development environment covering Apex & Triggers, Flow automation, Lightning Web Components, Aura components, and Visualforce pages. | 0 items | salesforce, apex, triggers, lwc, aura, flow, visualforce, crm, salesforce-dx |
 | [security-best-practices](../plugins/security-best-practices/README.md) | Security frameworks, accessibility guidelines, performance optimization, and code quality best practices for building secure, maintainable, and high-performance applications. | 0 items | security, accessibility, performance, code-quality, owasp, a11y, optimization, best-practices |
-| [signals-dashboard](../plugins/signals-dashboard/README.md) | Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, and cost-aware repo or connected desk launch profiles. | 1 items | agent-signals, dashboard, multi-agent, coordination, canvas |
+| [signals-dashboard](../plugins/signals-dashboard/README.md) | Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, cost-aware desk profiles, and fail-closed Local Delegation. | 1 items | agent-signals, dashboard, multi-agent, coordination, canvas, local-delegation |
 | [site-studio](../plugins/site-studio/README.md) | Plan, draft, and track a personal website section by section — a shared canvas where you and your agent author content, watch progress, and review every change. | 1 items | agent-collaboration, content-authoring, personal-website, progress-tracking, section-planning, site-builder |
 | [skill-image-gen](../plugins/skill-image-gen/README.md) | Generate images using AI directly from your coding workflow. Supports OpenAI (gpt-image-2) and Google Gemini. BYO API key — the skill guides you through setup on first use. | 0 items | image-generation, openai, gemini, ai, art, sprites, textures, icons |
 | [software-engineering-team](../plugins/software-engineering-team/README.md) | 7 specialized agents covering the full software development lifecycle from UX design and architecture to security and DevOps. | 0 items | team, enterprise, security, devops, ux, architecture, product, ai-ethics |

extensions/signals-dashboard/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+# 🪨 Cairn — Signals Dashboard
+
+A live GitHub Copilot CLI **canvas extension** that shows the pulse of every
+desk in your Workshop. It reads the agent signals your desks emit and renders
+them as a compact, always-current dashboard in a side panel — so you can direct
+the work instead of polling each desk by hand.
+
+It replaces the old Blazor **WorkshopRoom** dashboard (`src/WorkshopRoom/`) with
+a native canvas that runs inside GHCP, with no separate web app to launch.
+
+## What it is
+
+Each desk in the Workshop leaves signals behind — small stones on the trail —
+by writing JSON files into its `.signals/` folder. Cairn scans those folders,
+picks the most recent signal per desk, and renders:
+
+- **Score bars** for the desk's self-assessment (intent, confidence, accuracy,
+  completeness).
+- **Patterns** the desk reported: what worked ✓, what was hard △, and skill
+  gaps ✗.
+- **Escalations** — desks that raised their hand, with what they're blocked on
+  and their recommendation, pinned to the top and pulsing red.
+
+## How to open it
+
+The dashboard is registered as the **🪨 Cairn** canvas (`signals-dashboard`).
+Ask Copilot to open it and pass your workshop root as `workshopDir`:
+
+> Open the 🪨 Cairn canvas with `workshopDir` set to the folder that contains
+> my `desks/` directory.
+
+`workshopDir` must be the **absolute path to the workshop root** — the folder
+that holds `desks/` (and optionally `classroom/`). If omitted, it falls back to
+the current working directory.
+
+## Features
+
+- **Signal scanning** — walks `desks/*/.signals/` and `classroom/*/.signals/`,
+  reading the newest `*.json` per desk (mirrors `SignalReader.cs`).
+- **Score bars** — color-coded intent / confidence / accuracy / completeness,
+  scored out of 5.
+- **Escalation alerts** — escalation signals sort to the very top, render with a
+  pulsing red border, and surface the blocker + recommendation.
+- **Active desks first** — sorted escalations → recent signals → desks with no
+  signal yet, then by recency.
+- **Stash / restore** — pause a workstream by stashing its desk. Stashed desks
+  drop off the active view and auto-expire after a **48-hour TTL**; restore any
+  time before then. Stash state lives in `.desk-stash.json` at the workshop
+  root.
+- **Auto-refresh** — the panel refreshes every 5 seconds using a background
+  fetch (no full page reload), so scores and escalations stay current smoothly.
+- **Summary bar** — desk count, how many are reporting vs. awaiting, an
+  escalation badge, and average scores across the room.
+- **Cost-aware desk launch** — **open** starts a repo-profile desk that keeps the
+  verified Workshop root available while suppressing ambient plugin MCPs.
+  **connected** preserves every configured MCP for work that needs external
+  systems. Agency remains the preferred wrapper when installed.
+- **Local Delegation** — orthogonal off/on control. When available and on, the
+  frontier desk may use the installed [`local-agent-delegation`](https://github.com/jennyf19/sealed-delegation)
+  skill for bounded, independently gated read/evidence work. Fail-closed: no
+  skill or no qualified route receipt means the toggle cannot take effect, and
+  no local-savings credit is awarded.
+
+## Agent actions
+
+The canvas also exposes actions Copilot can invoke directly:
+
+- `refresh` — force a rescan and return current signal data as JSON.
+- `stash` — stash a desk by `deskName`.
+- `restore` — restore a stashed desk by `deskName`.
+- `open_desk` — open a desk with optional `profile: "repo" | "connected"` and
+  optional `localDelegation: "off" | "on"`.
+
+## Desk launch profiles
+
+`repo` is the default. At launch, Cairn asks Copilot for the enabled
+plugin-scoped MCP inventory and disables those ambient servers for the topic
+desk. User-, workspace-, organization-, and built-in resources are left alone.
+If discovery fails, Copilot plugin MCP suppression fails open; Agency repo mode
+still omits Agency's own default MCPs.
+
+When Agency is installed, Cairn keeps the existing `agency copilot` launch and
+adds Agency's `--no-default-mcps` in repo mode. Outside Agency, the same profile
+is applied directly to Copilot CLI.
+
+Both profiles pass `--add-dir <workshop-root>` so a desk can intentionally read
+another desk's journal or artifact without receiving access outside the room.
+
+Set `WORKSHOP_DESK_PROFILE=connected` to retain the historical default for the
+main **open** button. The separate **connected** button is always available when
+repo mode is the default.
+
+## Local Delegation
+
+Local Delegation is **not** a third desk profile and does not replace the frontier
+model. It is a separate permission bit:
+
+```text
+repo / connected        = which MCPs and tools the frontier desk can see
+Local Delegation off/on = whether the frontier desk may invoke a bounded local worker
+```
+
+Availability is fail-closed. Cairn enables the lane only when:
+
+1. the `local-agent-delegation` skill is installed, and
+2. a qualified route is declared via `WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID` or a
+   receipt at `~/.copilot/local-agent-runs/qualified-route.json`
+   (`status: "qualified"`, safe `route_id`).
+
+Operator preference is stored **user-locally** under
+`~/.copilot/workshop-local-delegation/` (keyed by the canonical workshop path),
+never in the cloned workshop — a repo cannot ship `preference: on`.
+When the preference is on but availability fails, opens still launch as frontier
+desks and surface the reason — they never silently fall back with savings credit.
+
+When effective, Cairn sets `WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled` on the launched
+process, shows an open toast/badge (`Local Delegation effective · route …`), and
+may append one short ASCII line to `-i` (`Local Delegation env is enabled.`) when
+that combined prompt stays quote-free and under the length guard. Full policy
+still lives in the env flag plus the installed `local-agent-delegation` skill —
+never a long multi-sentence `-i` appendix (Windows Terminal reparse).
+The runtime, launcher, and gates remain owned by
+[Sealed Delegation](https://github.com/jennyf19/sealed-delegation).
+
+## Signal shape
+
+Cairn reads the agent-signals protocol used across the Workshop:
+
+```json
+{
+  "signal_type": "execution",
+  "agent_name": "desk-name",
+  "self_assessment": { "intent": 5, "confidence": 4, "accuracy": 4, "completeness": 3 },
+  "patterns": { "what_worked": "...", "what_was_hard": "...", "skill_gap": "..." },
+  "escalation": { "reason": "...", "blocked_on": "...", "recommendation": "..." }
+}
+```
+
+`escalation` is only present on `signal_type: "escalation"` signals.
+
+## Replaces the Blazor WorkshopRoom
+
+This canvas supersedes the standalone Blazor dashboard in `src/WorkshopRoom/`.
+The data is the truth and the UI is just a view — Cairn renders the same signal
+data natively inside GHCP, so there's no separate server to run.

extensions/signals-dashboard/extension.mjs

@@ -5,20 +5,33 @@
 
 import { createServer } from "node:http";
 import { statSync, accessSync, realpathSync, constants as fsConstants } from "node:fs";
-import { readdir, readFile, writeFile, stat } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { readdir, readFile, writeFile, stat, rename, unlink, mkdir } from "node:fs/promises";
-import { join, delimiter, isAbsolute, sep } from "node:path";
+import { join, delimiter, isAbsolute, sep, dirname } from "node:path";
 import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
 import { randomBytes } from "node:crypto";
 import { joinSession, createCanvas } from "@github/copilot-sdk/extension";
 import {
     buildDeskAgentArgv,
     isDeskProfile,
+    isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg,
     isSafeWindowsCmdShim,
     isWindowsAppExecutionAlias,
     normalizeDeskProfile,
     parsePluginMcpNames,
     quoteWindowsCmdArgument,
 } from "./launch-profile.mjs";
+import {
+    buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv,
+    deskOrientPrompt,
+    formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice,
+    localDelegationPreferencePath,
+    normalizeLocalDelegationPreference,
+    parseLocalDelegationState,
+    resolveLocalDelegationAvailability,
+    resolveLocalDelegationLaunch,
+    serializeLocalDelegationState,
+    windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix,
+} from "./local-delegation.mjs";
 
 const servers = new Map();
 const STASH_TTL_MS = 48 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
@@ -60,11 +73,10 @@ function isValidDeskName(name) {
 // path is then only ever passed as a spawn cwd, an argv element, or a
 // single-quoted literal inside the macOS Terminal command — never concatenated
 // raw onto a command line — so no character filtering of the path is required.
-function deskOrientPrompt(deskName) {
+//
-    return `You are sitting down at the ${deskName} desk in this workshop. ` +
+// Local Delegation is orthogonal to repo/connected: it never changes the tool
-        `Read journal.md in this folder first to pick up where the last session ` +
+// surface. When effective, only the orientation prompt and child env mark that
-        `left off, then continue the desk's work. Write your journal before you stop.`;
+// the frontier desk may use the installed local-agent-delegation skill.
-}
 
 // Spawn detached and resolve true only once the OS confirms the process
 // started ('spawn'), false on failure ('error', e.g. the binary is missing) so
@@ -354,7 +366,62 @@ function isInsideRoot(root, target) {
     } catch { return false; }
 }
 
-async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE) {
+function preferenceStatePath(workshopDir) {
+    return localDelegationPreferencePath(workshopDir, {
+        resolvePath: (p) => {
+            try { return realpathSync(p); } catch { return p; }
+        },
+    });
+}
+
+async function readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir) {
+    // Never read preference from the workshop repo — a clone can ship
+    // preference:on. Only user-local state (or explicit env) counts.
+    try {
+        const raw = JSON.parse(await readFile(preferenceStatePath(workshopDir), "utf8"));
+        return parseLocalDelegationState(raw).preference;
+    } catch {
+        return normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(
+            process.env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_PREFERENCE, "off");
+    }
+}
+
+async function writeLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir, preference) {
+    const state = serializeLocalDelegationState({ preference });
+    const target = preferenceStatePath(workshopDir);
+    await mkdir(dirname(target), { recursive: true });
+    // Atomic replace in the user-local dir (temp + rename).
+    const tmp = join(
+        dirname(target),
+        `.pref.${process.pid}.${randomBytes(4).toString("hex")}.tmp`);
+    const body = JSON.stringify(state, null, 2) + "\n";
+    try {
+        await writeFile(tmp, body, { encoding: "utf8", flag: "wx" });
+        try {
+            await rename(tmp, target);
+        } catch {
+            await unlink(target).catch(() => {});
+            await rename(tmp, target);
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        await unlink(tmp).catch(() => {});
+        throw err;
+    }
+    return state;
+}
+
+function currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference) {
+    const availability = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability();
+    return resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({ preference, availability });
+}
+
+async function launchDeskConsole(
+    deskPath,
+    deskName,
+    workshopDir,
+    profile = DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE,
+    localDelegation = { effective: false },
+) {
     // deskName must be a plain slug so it is safe on every command line and shell
     // below, and the resolved desk must still live inside the workshop root
     // (which defeats a symlinked desk that escapes the repo). deskPath itself is
@@ -367,24 +434,27 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
     if (!isInsideRoot(workshopDir, deskPath)) return false;
     const agent = await deskAgentArgv(deskName, workshopDir, profile);
     if (!agent) return false;
-    const run = [...agent, "-i", deskOrientPrompt(deskName)];
+    const effective = Boolean(localDelegation?.effective);
+    const run = [...agent, "-i", deskOrientPrompt(deskName, { localDelegationEffective: effective })];
+    const env = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(process.env, { localDelegationEffective: effective });
     if (process.platform === "win32") {
         const wt = resolveOnPath("wt", { directOnly: true, excludedRoot: workshopDir });
         const cmd = resolveSystem32Executable("cmd.exe");
-        const direct = /\.(exe|com)$/i.test(run[0]);
+        // wt.exe does not reliably forward Node's spawn env into a new tab when
-        if (direct && wt && await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, ...run])) return true;
+        // Windows Terminal is already running. Always start through cmd.exe and
-
+        // set/clear WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION in the command string itself.
-        // Older installs can expose .cmd/.bat shims. Only use cmd.exe when every
+        // Args are quoteWindowsCmdArgument'd, so only block expanders that still
-        // argument is free of cmd metacharacters; otherwise fail closed and let
+        // fire inside quotes (% and !) — allow parentheses in workshop paths.
-        // the UI copy the desk path rather than reparse an unsafe workshop path.
+        const cmdSafe = run.every((arg) => isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg(arg));
-        const cmdSafe = run.every((arg) => !/[&|<>^%!()\r\n]/.test(arg));
+        if (!cmdSafe || !cmd) return false;
-        if (cmdSafe && wt && cmd &&
+        const inner = windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(effective)
-            await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, cmd, "/k", ...run])) return true;
+            + run.map(quoteWindowsCmdArgument).join(" ");
-        // Fallback when wt.exe is absent: a fresh console window via `start`,
+        if (wt && await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, cmd, "/d", "/s", "/k", inner], { env })) {
-        // still through cmd /k only when the arguments are safe for reparsing.
+            return true;
-        return cmdSafe && cmd
+        }
-            ? await trySpawn(cmd, ["/c", "start", "", cmd, "/k", ...run], { cwd: deskPath })
+        // Fallback when wt.exe is absent: a fresh console window via `start`.
-            : false;
+        return await trySpawn(
+            cmd, ["/c", "start", "", cmd, "/d", "/s", "/k", inner], { cwd: deskPath, env });
     }
     if (process.platform === "darwin") {
         const osascript = "/usr/bin/osascript";
@@ -393,13 +463,18 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
         // to cd into the desk and exec the agent. Each argv element is POSIX
         // single-quoted so the shell can't reinterpret it, and osascript itself
         // is spawned via argv (no shell).
-        const line = "cd " + shSingleQuote(deskPath) + " && exec " +
+        // Local-delegation env is exported in-line so the Terminal session sees it
+        // without inheriting a polluted parent shell forever.
+        const envPrefix = effective
+            ? "export WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled; "
+            : "unset WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION; ";
+        const line = "cd " + shSingleQuote(deskPath) + " && " + envPrefix + "exec " +
             run.map(shSingleQuote).join(" ");
         const script = 'tell application "Terminal"\n' +
             "  activate\n" +
             "  do script " + osaStringLiteral(line) + "\n" +
             "end tell";
-        return await trySpawn(osascript, ["-e", script]);
+        return await trySpawn(osascript, ["-e", script], { env });
     }
     // Linux/other: best-effort across common terminal emulators. Each is spawned
     // via argv (no shell) with the agent command after the emulator's exec flag,
@@ -412,7 +487,7 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
     ];
     for (const [term, args] of linuxTerms) {
         const executable = resolveOnPath(term, { excludedRoot: workshopDir });
-        if (executable && await trySpawn(executable, args, { cwd: deskPath })) return true;
+        if (executable && await trySpawn(executable, args, { cwd: deskPath, env })) return true;
     }
     return false;
 }
@@ -728,7 +803,42 @@ function avgScore(signals) {
     return { confidence: avg("confidence"), accuracy: avg("accuracy"), completeness: avg("completeness"), intent: avg("intentScore") };
 }
 
-function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) {
+function renderLocalDelegationControl(localDelegation) {
+    const pref = localDelegation?.preference || "off";
+    const available = Boolean(localDelegation?.availability?.available);
+    const effective = Boolean(localDelegation?.effective);
+    const reason = localDelegation?.availability?.reason || "Local Delegation unavailable";
+    const routeId = localDelegation?.availability?.routeId || null;
+    const next = pref === "on" ? "off" : "on";
+    const label = effective ? "On" : (pref === "on" ? "On*" : "Off");
+    const color = effective ? "#86efac" : (pref === "on" ? "#fbbf24" : "#94a3b8");
+    const border = effective ? "#166534" : (pref === "on" ? "#854d0e" : "#334155");
+    const title = available
+        ? (effective
+            ? `Local Delegation effective${routeId ? ` · route ${routeId}` : ""}`
+            : "Local Delegation available but currently off")
+        : reason;
+    const note = effective && routeId
+        ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#86efac;max-width:240px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;" title="${esc(title)}">effective · ${esc(truncate(routeId, 28))}</span>`
+        : !available
+        ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#64748b;max-width:220px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;" title="${esc(reason)}">${esc(truncate(reason, 48))}</span>`
+        : (pref === "on" && !effective
+            ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#fbbf24;">requested, unavailable</span>`
+            : "");
+    return `
+    <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:6px;" title="${esc(title)}">
+        <span style="font-size:10px;color:#64748b;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.04em;">Local</span>
+        <button data-act="local-delegation" data-preference="${esc(next)}"
+            aria-label="Local Delegation ${esc(label)}${effective && routeId ? ` route ${esc(routeId)}` : ""}"
+            aria-pressed="${pref === "on" ? "true" : "false"}"
+            style="background:#020617;border:1px solid ${border};color:${color};padding:2px 8px;border-radius:999px;
+                   font-size:11px;cursor:pointer;font-weight:600;min-width:42px;"
+            title="${esc(title)}">${esc(label)}</button>
+        ${note}
+    </div>`;
+}
+
+function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals, localDelegation) {
     const escalations = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType === "escalation").length;
     const withSignals = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType !== "none").length;
     const awaiting = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType === "none").length;
@@ -763,13 +873,14 @@ function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) {
 
     return `
     <div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;padding:10px 14px;
-                background:#0f172a;border:1px solid #1e293b;border-radius:8px;margin-bottom:14px;">
+                background:#0f172a;border:1px solid #1e293b;border-radius:8px;margin-bottom:14px;gap:12px;flex-wrap:wrap;">
-        <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;">
+        <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;flex-wrap:wrap;">
             <span style="font-size:13px;color:#cbd5e1;"><b style="color:#f1f5f9;">${activeSignals.length}</b> desk${activeSignals.length !== 1 ? "s" : ""}</span>
             <span style="font-size:11px;color:#475569;">${withSignals} reporting · ${awaiting} awaiting</span>
             ${tokenBadge}
             ${calibrationBadge}
             ${escBadge}
+            ${renderLocalDelegationControl(localDelegation)}
         </div>
         ${avgBlock}
     </div>`;
@@ -945,8 +1056,9 @@ function renderStashedCard(entry) {
     </div>`;
 }
 
-function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
+function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken, localDelegation) {
     const activeSignals = sortSignals(signals.filter(s => !stashed.some(e => e.name === s.deskName)));
+    const localDelegationState = localDelegation || currentLocalDelegationLaunch("off");
 
     const cards = activeSignals.length > 0
         ? activeSignals.map(renderSignalCard).join("")
@@ -975,7 +1087,9 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
             </div>
            </div>`;
 
-    const summaryBar = activeSignals.length > 0 ? renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) : "";
+    // Always show the Local Delegation control so operators can see availability
+    // even before the first desk signal arrives.
+    const summaryBar = renderSummaryBar(activeSignals, localDelegationState);
 
     const stashedSection = stashed.length > 0 ? `
         <div style="margin-top:20px;padding-top:12px;border-top:1px solid #1a1a1a;">
@@ -1058,27 +1172,55 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
             const data = await res.json();
             if (data.ok) {
                 const path = data.deskPath || name;
+                const notice = data.localDelegationNotice || {};
+                const localTitle = notice.titleSuffix || '';
+                const localDetail = notice.detail || '';
                 if (data.launched) {
                     // A successful open shouldn't hijack the user's clipboard.
-                    showToast('opening ' + name + ' desk (' + selectedProfile + ')…', path);
+                    // Surface LD state in the toast — operators cannot rely on -i alone.
+                    showToast('opening ' + name + ' desk (' + selectedProfile + localTitle + ')…',
+                        localDetail || path);
                 } else {
                     // No terminal launched from here, so copy the path as the
                     // fallback handle, but only claim the copy when it actually
                     // succeeded. The path shows in the toast either way.
                     let copied = false;
                     try { await navigator.clipboard.writeText(path); copied = true; } catch {}
-                    showToast(copied ? (name + ' · path copied') : (name + ' · copy this path'), path);
+                    const copyTitle = copied ? (name + ' · path copied') : (name + ' · copy this path');
+                    showToast(copyTitle + localTitle, localDetail || path);
                 }
             } else {
                 showToast(name + ' · not found', '');
             }
         }
+        async function setLocalDelegation(preference) {
+            const res = await fetch('/api/local-delegation?preference=' +
+                encodeURIComponent(preference || 'off'), POST_OPTS);
+            const data = await res.json();
+            if (data.ok) {
+                const ld = data.localDelegation || {};
+                const routeId = ld.availability && ld.availability.routeId;
+                const label = ld.effective
+                    ? ('Local Delegation effective' + (routeId ? (' · route ' + routeId) : ''))
+                    : (ld.preference === 'on'
+                        ? 'Local Delegation requested (unavailable)'
+                        : 'Local Delegation off');
+                showToast(label, ld.availability?.reason || '');
+                refresh();
+            } else {
+                showToast('Local Delegation · not updated', data.error || '');
+            }
+        }
         document.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
             const btn = e.target.closest('button[data-act]');
             if (!btn) return;
+            const act = btn.getAttribute('data-act');
+            if (act === 'local-delegation') {
+                setLocalDelegation(btn.getAttribute('data-preference') || 'off');
+                return;
+            }
             const name = btn.getAttribute('data-desk');
             if (!name) return;
-            const act = btn.getAttribute('data-act');
             const profile = btn.getAttribute('data-profile');
             if (act === 'stash') stashDesk(name);
             else if (act === 'restore') restoreDesk(name);
@@ -1102,19 +1244,26 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
                             active.getAttribute('data-act'),
                             active.getAttribute('data-desk'),
                             active.getAttribute('data-profile') || '',
+                            active.getAttribute('data-preference') || '',
                         ]);
                     }
                     content.innerHTML = newContent.innerHTML;
                     if (focusKey) {
-                        const [act, desk, profile] = JSON.parse(focusKey);
+                        const [act, desk, profile, preference] = JSON.parse(focusKey);
-                        const escDesk = (window.CSS && CSS.escape) ? CSS.escape(desk) : desk;
+                        let target = null;
-                        const profileSelector = profile
+                        if (act === 'local-delegation') {
-                            ? '[data-profile="' + profile + '"]'
+                            target = content.querySelector('button[data-act="local-delegation"]');
-                            : ':not([data-profile])';
+                        } else {
-                        const target = content.querySelector(
+                            const escDesk = (window.CSS && CSS.escape) ? CSS.escape(desk) : desk;
-                            'button[data-act="' + act + '"][data-desk="' + escDesk + '"]' +
+                            const profileSelector = profile
-                            profileSelector);
+                                ? '[data-profile="' + profile + '"]'
+                                : ':not([data-profile])';
+                            target = content.querySelector(
+                                'button[data-act="' + act + '"][data-desk="' + escDesk + '"]' +
+                                profileSelector);
+                        }
                         if (target) target.focus();
+                        void preference;
                     }
                 }
             } catch {}
@@ -1180,6 +1329,20 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
             res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true }));
             return;
         }
+        if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname === "/api/local-delegation") {
+            const preferenceInput = url.searchParams.get("preference") || "off";
+            if (!["off", "on"].includes(String(preferenceInput).toLowerCase())) {
+                res.writeHead(400, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
+                res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: false, error: "Invalid local delegation preference" }));
+                return;
+            }
+            const preference = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preferenceInput, "off");
+            await writeLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir, preference);
+            const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
+            res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
+            res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true, localDelegation }));
+            return;
+        }
         if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname.startsWith("/api/open/")) {
             const deskName = decodeURIComponent(url.pathname.split("/api/open/")[1]);
             const profileInput = url.searchParams.get("profile") || DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE;
@@ -1194,14 +1357,25 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
                 return;
             }
             const profile = normalizeDeskProfile(profileInput);
+            const preference = await readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir);
+            const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
             for (const subdir of ["desks", "classroom"]) {
                 const deskPath = join(workshopDir, subdir, deskName);
                 try {
                     const s = await stat(deskPath);
                     if (s.isDirectory()) {
-                        const launched = await launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile);
+                        const launched = await launchDeskConsole(
+                            deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile, localDelegation);
                         res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
-                        res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true, deskName, deskPath, launched, profile }));
+                        res.end(JSON.stringify({
+                            ok: true,
+                            deskName,
+                            deskPath,
+                            launched,
+                            profile,
+                            localDelegation,
+                            localDelegationNotice: formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation),
+                        }));
                         return;
                     }
                 } catch {}
@@ -1213,8 +1387,10 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
 
         const signals = await scanSignals(workshopDir);
         const stashed = await readStash(workshopDir);
+        const preference = await readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir);
+        const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
         res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=utf-8");
-        res.end(renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken));
+        res.end(renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken, localDelegation));
         } catch (err) {
             // Top-level boundary: never leave a request hanging or let a
             // rejection become an unhandled crash — e.g. malformed %-encoding
@@ -1327,7 +1503,7 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                 },
                 {
                     name: "open_desk",
-                    description: "Open a desk as an in-place Copilot CLI session. Repo profile suppresses ambient plugin MCPs; connected keeps every configured tool. Returns the desk path, profile, and whether a terminal was launched.",
+                    description: "Open a desk as an in-place Copilot CLI session. Repo profile suppresses ambient plugin MCPs; connected keeps every configured tool. Local Delegation is orthogonal and fail-closed: when available and preferred on, the frontier desk may use sealed local-agent-delegation for bounded read/evidence work. Returns the desk path, profile, localDelegation state, and whether a terminal was launched.",
                     inputSchema: {
                         type: "object",
                         properties: {
@@ -1337,6 +1513,11 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                                 enum: ["repo", "connected"],
                                 description: `Tool profile. Defaults to ${DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE}.`,
                             },
+                            localDelegation: {
+                                type: "string",
+                                enum: ["off", "on"],
+                                description: "Optional Local Delegation preference for this launch. Defaults to the workshop Cairn toggle (.local-delegation.json).",
+                            },
                         },
                         required: ["deskName"],
                     },
@@ -1347,13 +1528,21 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                         const profileInput = ctx.input.profile || DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE;
                         if (!isDeskProfile(profileInput)) return { error: "Invalid desk profile" };
                         const profile = normalizeDeskProfile(profileInput);
+                        const preferenceInput = ctx.input.localDelegation
+                            ?? await readLocalDelegationPreference(entry.workshopDir);
+                        const preference = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preferenceInput, "off");
+                        const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
                         for (const subdir of ["desks", "classroom"]) {
                             const deskPath = join(entry.workshopDir, subdir, ctx.input.deskName);
                             try {
                                 const s = await stat(deskPath);
                                 if (s.isDirectory()) {
                                     const launched = await launchDeskConsole(
-                                        deskPath, ctx.input.deskName, entry.workshopDir, profile);
+                                        deskPath,
+                                        ctx.input.deskName,
+                                        entry.workshopDir,
+                                        profile,
+                                        localDelegation);
                                     return {
                                         ok: true,
                                         deskName: ctx.input.deskName,
@@ -1361,6 +1550,8 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                                         launched,
                                         workshopDir: entry.workshopDir,
                                         profile,
+                                        localDelegation,
+                                        localDelegationNotice: formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation),
                                     };
                                 }
                             } catch {}

extensions/signals-dashboard/launch-profile.mjs

@@ -25,6 +25,16 @@ export function isSafeWindowsCmdShim(value) {
     return typeof value === "string" && !/[%\r\n]/.test(value);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Args that will be wrapped with quoteWindowsCmdArgument. Inside double quotes,
+ * cmd still expands %VAR% and !VAR! (delayed expansion). Other metacharacters
+ * like & | < > ^ ( ) are literal when quoted, so paths such as
+ * C:\Work\Project (1) must be allowed.
+ */
+export function isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && !/[%!\r\n]/.test(value);
+}
+
 export function parsePluginMcpNames(text) {
     let parsed;
     try { parsed = JSON.parse(text); }

extensions/signals-dashboard/launch-profile.test.mjs

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { join } from "node:path";
 import {
     buildDeskAgentArgv,
     isDeskProfile,
+    isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg,
     isSafeWindowsCmdShim,
     isWindowsAppExecutionAlias,
     normalizeDeskProfile,
@@ -41,6 +42,10 @@ test("quotes trusted cmd shim arguments and rejects percent-bearing paths", () =
     assert.equal(quoteWindowsCmdArgument("--scope"), "\"--scope\"");
     assert.equal(isSafeWindowsCmdShim("C:\\Program Files\\Agency\\agency.cmd"), true);
     assert.equal(isSafeWindowsCmdShim("C:\\Users\\%USERNAME%\\agency.cmd"), false);
+    // Quoted args may contain parentheses (common workshop folders).
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Work\\Project (1)"), true);
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Users\\%USERNAME%\\w"), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Users\\!DELAY!\\w"), false);
 });
 
 test("executes a Windows cmd shim with safe quoting", {

extensions/signals-dashboard/local-delegation.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,401 @@
+import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
+import { accessSync, constants as fsConstants, existsSync, readFileSync, readdirSync, statSync } from "node:fs";
+import { homedir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+
+const PREFERENCES = new Set(["off", "on"]);
+const SAFE_ROUTE_ID = /^[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9._:-]{0,127}$/;
+
+/** @deprecated Repo-root state is rejected; kept only for docs/migration mentions. */
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_STATE_FILE = ".local-delegation.json";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV = "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME = "local-agent-delegation";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_USER_STATE_DIR = join(".copilot", "workshop-local-delegation");
+
+/**
+ * Stable user-local preference path for a workshop root.
+ * Permission state must NOT live in the cloned workshop (a repo can ship
+ * preference:on). Key by a hash of the canonical workshop path under ~/.copilot.
+ */
+export function localDelegationPreferencePath(workshopDir, {
+    home = homedir(),
+    resolvePath = (p) => p,
+} = {}) {
+    if (typeof workshopDir !== "string" || !workshopDir) {
+        throw new Error("workshopDir is required");
+    }
+    let canonical = workshopDir;
+    try { canonical = resolvePath(workshopDir); } catch { /* keep input */ }
+    // Normalize separators only. Do not lowercase: on case-sensitive filesystems
+    // /work/Foo and /work/foo are distinct workshops and must not share state.
+    const key = createHash("sha256")
+        .update(String(canonical).replaceAll("\\", "/"))
+        .digest("hex")
+        .slice(0, 32);
+    return join(home, LOCAL_DELEGATION_USER_STATE_DIR, `${key}.json`);
+}
+
+export function isLocalDelegationPreference(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && PREFERENCES.has(value.toLowerCase());
+}
+
+export function normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(value, fallback = "off") {
+    return isLocalDelegationPreference(value) ? value.toLowerCase() : fallback;
+}
+
+// Windows Terminal / cmd reparse cannot safely carry long multi-space -i strings.
+// Keep the orientation prompt short, ASCII, and quote-free. Local Delegation
+// policy lives in WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled + the installed skill — not
+// on the CLI.
+const MAX_ORIENT_PROMPT_CHARS = 280;
+// Allow apostrophes (desk's). Ban double quotes, backticks, dashes that WT/cmd
+// have split on, and classic cmd metacharacters.
+const UNSAFE_ORIENT_CHARS = /["`—–|&<>^%!()\r\n]/;
+
+export function isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(prompt) {
+    return typeof prompt === "string"
+        && prompt.length > 0
+        && prompt.length <= MAX_ORIENT_PROMPT_CHARS
+        && !UNSAFE_ORIENT_CHARS.test(prompt);
+}
+
+/** One short ASCII notice operators can see in the session start prompt. */
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE = " Local Delegation env is enabled.";
+
+export function deskOrientPrompt(deskName, { localDelegationEffective = false } = {}) {
+    // deskName is already constrained to a slug by the launcher; still keep the
+    // prompt free of punctuation that cmd/wt have historically mis-parsed.
+    let prompt = `You are sitting down at the ${deskName} desk in this workshop. ` +
+        `Read journal.md in this folder first to pick up where the last session ` +
+        `left off, then continue the desk's work. Write your journal before you stop.`;
+    // Only a single short ASCII line may ride on -i. Full policy stays in env + skill.
+    if (localDelegationEffective) {
+        const withNotice = prompt + LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE;
+        if (isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(withNotice)) prompt = withNotice;
+    }
+    return prompt;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Operator-visible summary for open toasts and badges.
+ * Never claims savings; only reports effective state + route id when known.
+ */
+export function formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation) {
+    if (!localDelegation || typeof localDelegation !== "object") {
+        return { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" };
+    }
+    const routeId = localDelegation.availability?.routeId || null;
+    if (localDelegation.effective) {
+        const routePart = routeId ? ` · route ${routeId}` : "";
+        return {
+            titleSuffix: " · Local Delegation effective",
+            detail: `Local Delegation effective${routePart}`,
+        };
+    }
+    if (localDelegation.requested) {
+        return {
+            titleSuffix: " · local unavailable",
+            detail: localDelegation.warning
+                || localDelegation.availability?.reason
+                || "Local Delegation requested but unavailable",
+        };
+    }
+    return { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" };
+}
+
+export function buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(baseEnv = {}, { localDelegationEffective = false } = {}) {
+    const env = { ...baseEnv };
+    // Windows env names are case-insensitive; spreading process.env yields a
+    // case-sensitive object, so clear every spelling before optionally setting.
+    const target = LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV.toLowerCase();
+    for (const key of Object.keys(env)) {
+        if (key.toLowerCase() === target) delete env[key];
+    }
+    if (localDelegationEffective) {
+        env[LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV] = "enabled";
+    }
+    return env;
+}
+
+/**
+ * cmd.exe prefix that forces WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION on or off inside a new
+ * Windows Terminal / console session. wt.exe does not reliably forward the
+ * caller's process env into a new tab when Terminal is already running.
+ */
+export function windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(localDelegationEffective = false) {
+    return localDelegationEffective
+        ? 'set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled"&& '
+        : 'set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION="&& ';
+}
+
+/**
+ * Savings credit is utilization accounting, not a price claim.
+ * Failed, unaccepted, redone, or escalated local work earns zero.
+ */
+export function localSavingsCredit({
+    attempted = false,
+    gateAccepted = false,
+    redone = false,
+    escalated = false,
+} = {}) {
+    if (!attempted || !gateAccepted || redone || escalated) {
+        return {
+            credit: 0,
+            utilization: attempted ? "handled_locally_unaccepted" : "not_attempted",
+            reason: !attempted
+                ? "not_attempted"
+                : escalated
+                    ? "escalated"
+                    : redone
+                        ? "redone"
+                        : "gate_not_accepted",
+        };
+    }
+    return {
+        credit: 0, // dollar savings are never claimed by Cairn
+        utilization: "handled_locally_accepted",
+        reason: "accepted_utilization_only",
+    };
+}
+
+function isReadableFile(path) {
+    try {
+        if (!statSync(path).isFile()) return false;
+        accessSync(path, fsConstants.R_OK);
+        return true;
+    } catch {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
+
+function skillMarkerPath(dir) {
+    return join(dir, "SKILL.md");
+}
+
+function looksLikeSkillDir(dir) {
+    return isReadableFile(skillMarkerPath(dir));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Discover the installed local-agent-delegation skill.
+ * Injectable probes keep unit tests filesystem-free.
+ */
+export function findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+    env = process.env,
+    home = homedir(),
+    exists = existsSync,
+    isSkillDir = looksLikeSkillDir,
+} = {}) {
+    const explicit = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR || "").trim();
+    if (explicit) {
+        return isSkillDir(explicit) ? explicit : null;
+    }
+
+    const candidates = [
+        join(home, ".copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+        join(home, ".agents", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+    ];
+
+    for (const candidate of candidates) {
+        if (isSkillDir(candidate)) return candidate;
+    }
+
+    // Marketplace: ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/<marketplace>/<plugin>/
+    // Direct:      ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/_direct/<plugin>/
+    // Skill dirs may live at skills/, .github/skills/, or com.github.copilot/skills/.
+    const pluginsRoot = join(home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins");
+    if (exists(pluginsRoot)) {
+        try {
+            for (const market of readdirSync(pluginsRoot, { withFileTypes: true })) {
+                if (!market.isDirectory()) continue;
+                const marketRoot = join(pluginsRoot, market.name);
+                let pluginEntries;
+                try {
+                    pluginEntries = readdirSync(marketRoot, { withFileTypes: true });
+                } catch {
+                    continue;
+                }
+                for (const plugin of pluginEntries) {
+                    if (!plugin.isDirectory()) continue;
+                    const pluginRoot = join(marketRoot, plugin.name);
+                    const nestedCandidates = [
+                        join(pluginRoot, "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, ".github", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, "com.github.copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, "com.github.awesome-copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                    ];
+                    for (const nested of nestedCandidates) {
+                        if (isSkillDir(nested)) return nested;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } catch {
+            // fail closed on scan errors
+        }
+    }
+
+    return null;
+}
+
+function readJsonFile(path, readFile = readFileSync) {
+    try {
+        return JSON.parse(readFile(path, "utf8"));
+    } catch {
+        return null;
+    }
+}
+
+function isRouteId(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && SAFE_ROUTE_ID.test(value);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Fail-closed availability. Enable only when skill + qualified route receipt
+ * (or explicit env route id) are present. Never invent availability.
+ */
+export function resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+    env = process.env,
+    home = homedir(),
+    now = Date.now(),
+    findSkill = findLocalDelegationSkillDir,
+    readFile = readFileSync,
+    exists = existsSync,
+} = {}) {
+    const forced = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_AVAILABLE || "").trim().toLowerCase();
+    if (forced === "0" || forced === "false" || forced === "unavailable") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Forced unavailable by WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_AVAILABLE",
+            skillDir: null,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const skillDir = findSkill({ env, home, exists });
+    if (!skillDir) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+            skillDir: null,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const envRoute = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID || "").trim();
+    if (envRoute) {
+        if (!isRouteId(envRoute)) {
+            return {
+                available: false,
+                reason: "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID is not a safe route id",
+                skillDir,
+                routeId: null,
+            };
+        }
+        return {
+            available: true,
+            reason: "Skill installed; route id provided by environment",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: envRoute,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const receiptPath = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_RECEIPT || "").trim()
+        || join(home, ".copilot", "local-agent-runs", "qualified-route.json");
+    if (!exists(receiptPath)) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "No qualified route receipt (set WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID or write ~/.copilot/local-agent-runs/qualified-route.json)",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const receipt = readJsonFile(receiptPath, readFile);
+    if (!receipt || typeof receipt !== "object") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Qualified route receipt is unreadable",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const status = String(receipt.status || "").toLowerCase();
+    if (status !== "qualified") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: `Route receipt status is '${receipt.status || "missing"}', not qualified`,
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: isRouteId(receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId) ? (receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId) : null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const routeId = receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId || null;
+    if (!isRouteId(routeId)) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Route receipt is missing a safe route_id",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    if (receipt.expires_at || receipt.expiresAt) {
+        const expires = Date.parse(receipt.expires_at || receipt.expiresAt);
+        if (!Number.isFinite(expires) || expires <= now) {
+            return {
+                available: false,
+                reason: "Qualified route receipt has expired",
+                skillDir,
+                routeId,
+            };
+        }
+    }
+
+    return {
+        available: true,
+        reason: "Skill installed; qualified route receipt present",
+        skillDir,
+        routeId,
+    };
+}
+
+export function resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({
+    preference = "off",
+    availability,
+} = {}) {
+    const pref = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preference, "off");
+    const available = Boolean(availability?.available);
+    if (pref === "on" && !available) {
+        return {
+            preference: pref,
+            requested: true,
+            effective: false,
+            availability,
+            warning: availability?.reason || "Local Delegation unavailable",
+        };
+    }
+    return {
+        preference: pref,
+        requested: pref === "on",
+        effective: pref === "on" && available,
+        availability,
+        warning: null,
+    };
+}
+
+export function parseLocalDelegationState(raw) {
+    if (!raw || typeof raw !== "object") {
+        return { preference: "off" };
+    }
+    return {
+        preference: normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(raw.preference, "off"),
+    };
+}
+
+export function serializeLocalDelegationState(state) {
+    return {
+        preference: normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(state?.preference, "off"),
+        updatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
+    };
+}

extensions/signals-dashboard/local-delegation.test.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,298 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { join, sep } from "node:path";
+import {
+    LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE,
+    buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv,
+    deskOrientPrompt,
+    findLocalDelegationSkillDir,
+    formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice,
+    isLocalDelegationPreference,
+    isSafeDeskOrientPrompt,
+    localDelegationPreferencePath,
+    localSavingsCredit,
+    normalizeLocalDelegationPreference,
+    parseLocalDelegationState,
+    resolveLocalDelegationAvailability,
+    resolveLocalDelegationLaunch,
+    serializeLocalDelegationState,
+    windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix,
+} from "./local-delegation.mjs";
+import {
+    buildDeskAgentArgv,
+    normalizeDeskProfile,
+    quoteWindowsCmdArgument,
+} from "./launch-profile.mjs";
+
+test("normalizes local-delegation preference independently of desk profile", () => {
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("on"), true);
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("OFF"), true);
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("maybe"), false);
+    assert.equal(normalizeLocalDelegationPreference("ON"), "on");
+    assert.equal(normalizeLocalDelegationPreference("nope"), "off");
+    // Profile axis remains orthogonal and untouched.
+    assert.equal(normalizeDeskProfile("connected"), "connected");
+    assert.equal(normalizeDeskProfile("repo"), "repo");
+});
+
+test("availability is fail-closed without skill or route receipt", () => {
+    const missingSkill = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        findSkill: () => null,
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(missingSkill.available, false);
+    assert.match(missingSkill.reason, /not installed/i);
+
+    const skillOnly = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        findSkill: () => "C:\\home\\.copilot\\skills\\local-agent-delegation",
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(skillOnly.available, false);
+    assert.match(skillOnly.reason, /No qualified route receipt/i);
+});
+
+test("availability accepts env route id or a qualified receipt", () => {
+    const home = join("home");
+    const skillDir = join("skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+    const viaEnv = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified" },
+        home,
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(viaEnv.available, true);
+    assert.equal(viaEnv.routeId, "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified");
+
+    // Match host path.join separators so Linux CI exercises the receipt branch.
+    const receiptPath = join(home, ".copilot", "local-agent-runs", "qualified-route.json");
+    const viaReceipt = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home,
+        now: Date.parse("2026-08-14T12:00:00Z"),
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: (p) => p === receiptPath,
+        readFile: () => JSON.stringify({
+            status: "qualified",
+            route_id: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+            expires_at: "2026-12-01T00:00:00Z",
+        }),
+    });
+    assert.equal(viaReceipt.available, true);
+    assert.equal(viaReceipt.routeId, "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified");
+
+    const expired = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home,
+        now: Date.parse("2027-01-01T00:00:00Z"),
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: (p) => p === receiptPath,
+        readFile: () => JSON.stringify({
+            status: "qualified",
+            route_id: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+            expires_at: "2026-12-01T00:00:00Z",
+        }),
+    });
+    assert.equal(expired.available, false);
+    assert.match(expired.reason, /expired/i);
+});
+
+test("requested on + unavailable stays ineffective with a warning", () => {
+    const launch = resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({
+        preference: "on",
+        availability: {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+        },
+    });
+    assert.equal(launch.requested, true);
+    assert.equal(launch.effective, false);
+    assert.match(launch.warning, /not installed/i);
+});
+
+test("launch env enables when effective; -i prompt stays short and quote-free", () => {
+    const base = {
+        PATH: "/usr/bin",
+        WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION: "enabled",
+        workshop_local_delegation: "enabled",
+    };
+    const offEnv = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(base, { localDelegationEffective: false });
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(offEnv, "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION"), false);
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(offEnv, "workshop_local_delegation"), false);
+    assert.equal(offEnv.PATH, "/usr/bin");
+
+    const onEnv = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(base, { localDelegationEffective: true });
+    assert.equal(onEnv.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION, "enabled");
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(onEnv, "workshop_local_delegation"), false);
+
+    const offPrompt = deskOrientPrompt("cost-desk", { localDelegationEffective: false });
+    const onPrompt = deskOrientPrompt("cost-desk", { localDelegationEffective: true });
+    assert.match(offPrompt, /cost-desk/);
+    assert.equal(offPrompt.includes("Local Delegation"), false);
+    // One short ASCII line only — never the long policy appendix.
+    assert.equal(onPrompt, offPrompt + LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE);
+    assert.match(onPrompt, /Local Delegation env is enabled\./);
+    assert.equal(onPrompt.includes("do not delegate"), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(onPrompt), true);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt('bad "quote"'), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt("em dash — bad"), false);
+
+    assert.match(windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(true), /enabled/);
+    assert.match(windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(false), /WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION="&&/);
+    const run = ["C:\\tools\\copilot.exe", "-i", onPrompt];
+    const cmdLine = windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(true) + run.map(quoteWindowsCmdArgument).join(" ");
+    assert.match(cmdLine, /^set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled"&& /);
+    assert.match(cmdLine, /copilot\.exe/);
+});
+
+test("open notice reports effective route without savings claims", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: true,
+        requested: true,
+        availability: { available: true, routeId: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified" },
+    }), {
+        titleSuffix: " · Local Delegation effective",
+        detail: "Local Delegation effective · route foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+    });
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: false,
+        requested: true,
+        warning: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+        availability: { available: false, reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed" },
+    }).detail, "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed");
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: false,
+        requested: false,
+    }), { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" });
+});
+
+test("repo/connected argv stays orthogonal to local-delegation preference", () => {
+    const repo = buildDeskAgentArgv({
+        deskName: "cost-desk",
+        workshopDir: "/workshop",
+        useAgency: false,
+        copilotCommand: "copilot",
+        profile: "repo",
+        pluginMcpNames: ["teams"],
+    });
+    const connected = buildDeskAgentArgv({
+        deskName: "cost-desk",
+        workshopDir: "/workshop",
+        useAgency: false,
+        copilotCommand: "copilot",
+        profile: "connected",
+        pluginMcpNames: ["teams"],
+    });
+    assert.deepEqual(repo, [
+        "copilot", "--name", "cost-desk",
+        "--disable-mcp-server", "teams",
+        "--add-dir", "/workshop",
+    ]);
+    assert.deepEqual(connected, [
+        "copilot", "--name", "cost-desk",
+        "--add-dir", "/workshop",
+    ]);
+    // Local delegation never injects into argv — only env/prompt.
+    assert.equal(repo.includes("local"), false);
+    assert.equal(connected.includes("local"), false);
+});
+
+test("failed or unaccepted local work earns zero savings credit", () => {
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: false }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: false }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true, redone: true }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true, escalated: true }).credit, 0);
+    const accepted = localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true });
+    assert.equal(accepted.credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(accepted.utilization, "handled_locally_accepted");
+});
+
+test("state parse/serialize defaults to off", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseLocalDelegationState(null), { preference: "off" });
+    assert.equal(parseLocalDelegationState({ preference: "ON" }).preference, "on");
+    const serialized = serializeLocalDelegationState({ preference: "on" });
+    assert.equal(serialized.preference, "on");
+    assert.equal(typeof serialized.updatedAt, "string");
+});
+
+test("preference path is user-local and keyed by workshop path, not the repo root", () => {
+    const home = join("user-home");
+    const a = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-a"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const b = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-b"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const again = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-a"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    assert.match(a, /workshop-local-delegation/);
+    assert.equal(a.startsWith(home), true);
+    assert.equal(a.includes(`${sep}repos${sep}`), false);
+    assert.notEqual(a, b);
+    assert.equal(a, again);
+    // Repo-shipped .local-delegation.json is never the preference path.
+    assert.equal(a.endsWith(".local-delegation.json"), false);
+
+    // Case-sensitive filesystems: Foo and foo must not share permission state.
+    const upper = localDelegationPreferencePath("/work/Foo", {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const lower = localDelegationPreferencePath("/work/foo", {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    assert.notEqual(upper, lower);
+});
+
+test("skill discovery respects explicit dir and common install roots", () => {
+    const found = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR: "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation" },
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        exists: () => false,
+        isSkillDir: (p) => p === "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation",
+    });
+    assert.equal(found, "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation");
+
+    const missingExplicit = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR: "D:\\missing" },
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        exists: () => false,
+        isSkillDir: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(missingExplicit, null);
+});
+
+test("skill discovery walks marketplace/plugin and _direct install layouts", async () => {
+    const { mkdtempSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync, rmSync } = await import("node:fs");
+    const { tmpdir } = await import("node:os");
+    const { join } = await import("node:path");
+    const home = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "ld-skill-"));
+    try {
+        const skillDir = join(
+            home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "awesome-copilot", "sealed-delegation",
+            ".github", "skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+        mkdirSync(skillDir, { recursive: true });
+        writeFileSync(join(skillDir, "SKILL.md"), "# local-agent-delegation\n");
+        const found = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({ home, env: {} });
+        assert.equal(found, skillDir);
+
+        rmSync(join(home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "awesome-copilot"), { recursive: true, force: true });
+        const direct = join(
+            home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "_direct", "sealed-delegation",
+            "skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+        mkdirSync(direct, { recursive: true });
+        writeFileSync(join(direct, "SKILL.md"), "# local-agent-delegation\n");
+        const foundDirect = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({ home, env: {} });
+        assert.equal(foundDirect, direct);
+    } finally {
+        rmSync(home, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+});

extensions/signals-dashboard/package.json

@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 {
   "name": "signals-dashboard",
-  "version": "0.2.0",
+  "version": "0.3.0",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "extension.mjs",
   "scripts": {
-    "test": "node --test launch-profile.test.mjs"
+    "test": "node --test launch-profile.test.mjs local-delegation.test.mjs"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@github/copilot-sdk": "latest"
   },
-  "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, and cost-aware repo or connected desk launch profiles.",
+  "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, cost-aware desk profiles, and fail-closed Local Delegation.",
   "keywords": [
     "agent-signals",
     "dashboard",

plugins/signals-dashboard/README.md

@@ -1,15 +1,27 @@
 # Signals Dashboard Plugin
 
-Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, and cost-aware repo or connected desk launch profiles.
+Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, cost-aware
+desk profiles (`repo` / `connected`), and fail-closed Local Delegation.
 
 ## Installation
 
-``bash
+```bash
 copilot plugin install signals-dashboard@awesome-copilot
-``
+```
+
+## Features
+
+- Live desk signals, score bars, patterns, and escalations
+- Cost-aware **open** (repo) and **connected** desk launch profiles
+- **Local Delegation** toggle: when available, the frontier desk may use the
+  installed `local-agent-delegation` skill for bounded read/evidence work
+- Fail-closed availability (skill + qualified route receipt); no silent savings credit
 
 ## Source
 
+Canonical implementation: [jennyf19/the-workshop](https://github.com/jennyf19/the-workshop).  
+Local worker runtime: [jennyf19/sealed-delegation](https://github.com/jennyf19/sealed-delegation).
+
 This plugin is part of [Awesome Copilot](https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot).
 
 ## License

plugins/signals-dashboard/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+# 🪨 Cairn — Signals Dashboard
+
+A live GitHub Copilot CLI **canvas extension** that shows the pulse of every
+desk in your Workshop. It reads the agent signals your desks emit and renders
+them as a compact, always-current dashboard in a side panel — so you can direct
+the work instead of polling each desk by hand.
+
+It replaces the old Blazor **WorkshopRoom** dashboard (`src/WorkshopRoom/`) with
+a native canvas that runs inside GHCP, with no separate web app to launch.
+
+## What it is
+
+Each desk in the Workshop leaves signals behind — small stones on the trail —
+by writing JSON files into its `.signals/` folder. Cairn scans those folders,
+picks the most recent signal per desk, and renders:
+
+- **Score bars** for the desk's self-assessment (intent, confidence, accuracy,
+  completeness).
+- **Patterns** the desk reported: what worked ✓, what was hard △, and skill
+  gaps ✗.
+- **Escalations** — desks that raised their hand, with what they're blocked on
+  and their recommendation, pinned to the top and pulsing red.
+
+## How to open it
+
+The dashboard is registered as the **🪨 Cairn** canvas (`signals-dashboard`).
+Ask Copilot to open it and pass your workshop root as `workshopDir`:
+
+> Open the 🪨 Cairn canvas with `workshopDir` set to the folder that contains
+> my `desks/` directory.
+
+`workshopDir` must be the **absolute path to the workshop root** — the folder
+that holds `desks/` (and optionally `classroom/`). If omitted, it falls back to
+the current working directory.
+
+## Features
+
+- **Signal scanning** — walks `desks/*/.signals/` and `classroom/*/.signals/`,
+  reading the newest `*.json` per desk (mirrors `SignalReader.cs`).
+- **Score bars** — color-coded intent / confidence / accuracy / completeness,
+  scored out of 5.
+- **Escalation alerts** — escalation signals sort to the very top, render with a
+  pulsing red border, and surface the blocker + recommendation.
+- **Active desks first** — sorted escalations → recent signals → desks with no
+  signal yet, then by recency.
+- **Stash / restore** — pause a workstream by stashing its desk. Stashed desks
+  drop off the active view and auto-expire after a **48-hour TTL**; restore any
+  time before then. Stash state lives in `.desk-stash.json` at the workshop
+  root.
+- **Auto-refresh** — the panel refreshes every 5 seconds using a background
+  fetch (no full page reload), so scores and escalations stay current smoothly.
+- **Summary bar** — desk count, how many are reporting vs. awaiting, an
+  escalation badge, and average scores across the room.
+- **Cost-aware desk launch** — **open** starts a repo-profile desk that keeps the
+  verified Workshop root available while suppressing ambient plugin MCPs.
+  **connected** preserves every configured MCP for work that needs external
+  systems. Agency remains the preferred wrapper when installed.
+- **Local Delegation** — orthogonal off/on control. When available and on, the
+  frontier desk may use the installed [`local-agent-delegation`](https://github.com/jennyf19/sealed-delegation)
+  skill for bounded, independently gated read/evidence work. Fail-closed: no
+  skill or no qualified route receipt means the toggle cannot take effect, and
+  no local-savings credit is awarded.
+
+## Agent actions
+
+The canvas also exposes actions Copilot can invoke directly:
+
+- `refresh` — force a rescan and return current signal data as JSON.
+- `stash` — stash a desk by `deskName`.
+- `restore` — restore a stashed desk by `deskName`.
+- `open_desk` — open a desk with optional `profile: "repo" | "connected"` and
+  optional `localDelegation: "off" | "on"`.
+
+## Desk launch profiles
+
+`repo` is the default. At launch, Cairn asks Copilot for the enabled
+plugin-scoped MCP inventory and disables those ambient servers for the topic
+desk. User-, workspace-, organization-, and built-in resources are left alone.
+If discovery fails, Copilot plugin MCP suppression fails open; Agency repo mode
+still omits Agency's own default MCPs.
+
+When Agency is installed, Cairn keeps the existing `agency copilot` launch and
+adds Agency's `--no-default-mcps` in repo mode. Outside Agency, the same profile
+is applied directly to Copilot CLI.
+
+Both profiles pass `--add-dir <workshop-root>` so a desk can intentionally read
+another desk's journal or artifact without receiving access outside the room.
+
+Set `WORKSHOP_DESK_PROFILE=connected` to retain the historical default for the
+main **open** button. The separate **connected** button is always available when
+repo mode is the default.
+
+## Local Delegation
+
+Local Delegation is **not** a third desk profile and does not replace the frontier
+model. It is a separate permission bit:
+
+```text
+repo / connected        = which MCPs and tools the frontier desk can see
+Local Delegation off/on = whether the frontier desk may invoke a bounded local worker
+```
+
+Availability is fail-closed. Cairn enables the lane only when:
+
+1. the `local-agent-delegation` skill is installed, and
+2. a qualified route is declared via `WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID` or a
+   receipt at `~/.copilot/local-agent-runs/qualified-route.json`
+   (`status: "qualified"`, safe `route_id`).
+
+Operator preference is stored **user-locally** under
+`~/.copilot/workshop-local-delegation/` (keyed by the canonical workshop path),
+never in the cloned workshop — a repo cannot ship `preference: on`.
+When the preference is on but availability fails, opens still launch as frontier
+desks and surface the reason — they never silently fall back with savings credit.
+
+When effective, Cairn sets `WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled` on the launched
+process, shows an open toast/badge (`Local Delegation effective · route …`), and
+may append one short ASCII line to `-i` (`Local Delegation env is enabled.`) when
+that combined prompt stays quote-free and under the length guard. Full policy
+still lives in the env flag plus the installed `local-agent-delegation` skill —
+never a long multi-sentence `-i` appendix (Windows Terminal reparse).
+The runtime, launcher, and gates remain owned by
+[Sealed Delegation](https://github.com/jennyf19/sealed-delegation).
+
+## Signal shape
+
+Cairn reads the agent-signals protocol used across the Workshop:
+
+```json
+{
+  "signal_type": "execution",
+  "agent_name": "desk-name",
+  "self_assessment": { "intent": 5, "confidence": 4, "accuracy": 4, "completeness": 3 },
+  "patterns": { "what_worked": "...", "what_was_hard": "...", "skill_gap": "..." },
+  "escalation": { "reason": "...", "blocked_on": "...", "recommendation": "..." }
+}
+```
+
+`escalation` is only present on `signal_type: "escalation"` signals.
+
+## Replaces the Blazor WorkshopRoom
+
+This canvas supersedes the standalone Blazor dashboard in `src/WorkshopRoom/`.
+The data is the truth and the UI is just a view — Cairn renders the same signal
+data natively inside GHCP, so there's no separate server to run.

plugins/signals-dashboard/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/extension.mjs

@@ -5,20 +5,33 @@
 
 import { createServer } from "node:http";
 import { statSync, accessSync, realpathSync, constants as fsConstants } from "node:fs";
-import { readdir, readFile, writeFile, stat } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { readdir, readFile, writeFile, stat, rename, unlink, mkdir } from "node:fs/promises";
-import { join, delimiter, isAbsolute, sep } from "node:path";
+import { join, delimiter, isAbsolute, sep, dirname } from "node:path";
 import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
 import { randomBytes } from "node:crypto";
 import { joinSession, createCanvas } from "@github/copilot-sdk/extension";
 import {
     buildDeskAgentArgv,
     isDeskProfile,
+    isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg,
     isSafeWindowsCmdShim,
     isWindowsAppExecutionAlias,
     normalizeDeskProfile,
     parsePluginMcpNames,
     quoteWindowsCmdArgument,
 } from "./launch-profile.mjs";
+import {
+    buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv,
+    deskOrientPrompt,
+    formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice,
+    localDelegationPreferencePath,
+    normalizeLocalDelegationPreference,
+    parseLocalDelegationState,
+    resolveLocalDelegationAvailability,
+    resolveLocalDelegationLaunch,
+    serializeLocalDelegationState,
+    windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix,
+} from "./local-delegation.mjs";
 
 const servers = new Map();
 const STASH_TTL_MS = 48 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
@@ -60,11 +73,10 @@ function isValidDeskName(name) {
 // path is then only ever passed as a spawn cwd, an argv element, or a
 // single-quoted literal inside the macOS Terminal command — never concatenated
 // raw onto a command line — so no character filtering of the path is required.
-function deskOrientPrompt(deskName) {
+//
-    return `You are sitting down at the ${deskName} desk in this workshop. ` +
+// Local Delegation is orthogonal to repo/connected: it never changes the tool
-        `Read journal.md in this folder first to pick up where the last session ` +
+// surface. When effective, only the orientation prompt and child env mark that
-        `left off, then continue the desk's work. Write your journal before you stop.`;
+// the frontier desk may use the installed local-agent-delegation skill.
-}
 
 // Spawn detached and resolve true only once the OS confirms the process
 // started ('spawn'), false on failure ('error', e.g. the binary is missing) so
@@ -354,7 +366,62 @@ function isInsideRoot(root, target) {
     } catch { return false; }
 }
 
-async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE) {
+function preferenceStatePath(workshopDir) {
+    return localDelegationPreferencePath(workshopDir, {
+        resolvePath: (p) => {
+            try { return realpathSync(p); } catch { return p; }
+        },
+    });
+}
+
+async function readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir) {
+    // Never read preference from the workshop repo — a clone can ship
+    // preference:on. Only user-local state (or explicit env) counts.
+    try {
+        const raw = JSON.parse(await readFile(preferenceStatePath(workshopDir), "utf8"));
+        return parseLocalDelegationState(raw).preference;
+    } catch {
+        return normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(
+            process.env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_PREFERENCE, "off");
+    }
+}
+
+async function writeLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir, preference) {
+    const state = serializeLocalDelegationState({ preference });
+    const target = preferenceStatePath(workshopDir);
+    await mkdir(dirname(target), { recursive: true });
+    // Atomic replace in the user-local dir (temp + rename).
+    const tmp = join(
+        dirname(target),
+        `.pref.${process.pid}.${randomBytes(4).toString("hex")}.tmp`);
+    const body = JSON.stringify(state, null, 2) + "\n";
+    try {
+        await writeFile(tmp, body, { encoding: "utf8", flag: "wx" });
+        try {
+            await rename(tmp, target);
+        } catch {
+            await unlink(target).catch(() => {});
+            await rename(tmp, target);
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        await unlink(tmp).catch(() => {});
+        throw err;
+    }
+    return state;
+}
+
+function currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference) {
+    const availability = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability();
+    return resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({ preference, availability });
+}
+
+async function launchDeskConsole(
+    deskPath,
+    deskName,
+    workshopDir,
+    profile = DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE,
+    localDelegation = { effective: false },
+) {
     // deskName must be a plain slug so it is safe on every command line and shell
     // below, and the resolved desk must still live inside the workshop root
     // (which defeats a symlinked desk that escapes the repo). deskPath itself is
@@ -367,24 +434,27 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
     if (!isInsideRoot(workshopDir, deskPath)) return false;
     const agent = await deskAgentArgv(deskName, workshopDir, profile);
     if (!agent) return false;
-    const run = [...agent, "-i", deskOrientPrompt(deskName)];
+    const effective = Boolean(localDelegation?.effective);
+    const run = [...agent, "-i", deskOrientPrompt(deskName, { localDelegationEffective: effective })];
+    const env = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(process.env, { localDelegationEffective: effective });
     if (process.platform === "win32") {
         const wt = resolveOnPath("wt", { directOnly: true, excludedRoot: workshopDir });
         const cmd = resolveSystem32Executable("cmd.exe");
-        const direct = /\.(exe|com)$/i.test(run[0]);
+        // wt.exe does not reliably forward Node's spawn env into a new tab when
-        if (direct && wt && await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, ...run])) return true;
+        // Windows Terminal is already running. Always start through cmd.exe and
-
+        // set/clear WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION in the command string itself.
-        // Older installs can expose .cmd/.bat shims. Only use cmd.exe when every
+        // Args are quoteWindowsCmdArgument'd, so only block expanders that still
-        // argument is free of cmd metacharacters; otherwise fail closed and let
+        // fire inside quotes (% and !) — allow parentheses in workshop paths.
-        // the UI copy the desk path rather than reparse an unsafe workshop path.
+        const cmdSafe = run.every((arg) => isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg(arg));
-        const cmdSafe = run.every((arg) => !/[&|<>^%!()\r\n]/.test(arg));
+        if (!cmdSafe || !cmd) return false;
-        if (cmdSafe && wt && cmd &&
+        const inner = windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(effective)
-            await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, cmd, "/k", ...run])) return true;
+            + run.map(quoteWindowsCmdArgument).join(" ");
-        // Fallback when wt.exe is absent: a fresh console window via `start`,
+        if (wt && await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, cmd, "/d", "/s", "/k", inner], { env })) {
-        // still through cmd /k only when the arguments are safe for reparsing.
+            return true;
-        return cmdSafe && cmd
+        }
-            ? await trySpawn(cmd, ["/c", "start", "", cmd, "/k", ...run], { cwd: deskPath })
+        // Fallback when wt.exe is absent: a fresh console window via `start`.
-            : false;
+        return await trySpawn(
+            cmd, ["/c", "start", "", cmd, "/d", "/s", "/k", inner], { cwd: deskPath, env });
     }
     if (process.platform === "darwin") {
         const osascript = "/usr/bin/osascript";
@@ -393,13 +463,18 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
         // to cd into the desk and exec the agent. Each argv element is POSIX
         // single-quoted so the shell can't reinterpret it, and osascript itself
         // is spawned via argv (no shell).
-        const line = "cd " + shSingleQuote(deskPath) + " && exec " +
+        // Local-delegation env is exported in-line so the Terminal session sees it
+        // without inheriting a polluted parent shell forever.
+        const envPrefix = effective
+            ? "export WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled; "
+            : "unset WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION; ";
+        const line = "cd " + shSingleQuote(deskPath) + " && " + envPrefix + "exec " +
             run.map(shSingleQuote).join(" ");
         const script = 'tell application "Terminal"\n' +
             "  activate\n" +
             "  do script " + osaStringLiteral(line) + "\n" +
             "end tell";
-        return await trySpawn(osascript, ["-e", script]);
+        return await trySpawn(osascript, ["-e", script], { env });
     }
     // Linux/other: best-effort across common terminal emulators. Each is spawned
     // via argv (no shell) with the agent command after the emulator's exec flag,
@@ -412,7 +487,7 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
     ];
     for (const [term, args] of linuxTerms) {
         const executable = resolveOnPath(term, { excludedRoot: workshopDir });
-        if (executable && await trySpawn(executable, args, { cwd: deskPath })) return true;
+        if (executable && await trySpawn(executable, args, { cwd: deskPath, env })) return true;
     }
     return false;
 }
@@ -728,7 +803,42 @@ function avgScore(signals) {
     return { confidence: avg("confidence"), accuracy: avg("accuracy"), completeness: avg("completeness"), intent: avg("intentScore") };
 }
 
-function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) {
+function renderLocalDelegationControl(localDelegation) {
+    const pref = localDelegation?.preference || "off";
+    const available = Boolean(localDelegation?.availability?.available);
+    const effective = Boolean(localDelegation?.effective);
+    const reason = localDelegation?.availability?.reason || "Local Delegation unavailable";
+    const routeId = localDelegation?.availability?.routeId || null;
+    const next = pref === "on" ? "off" : "on";
+    const label = effective ? "On" : (pref === "on" ? "On*" : "Off");
+    const color = effective ? "#86efac" : (pref === "on" ? "#fbbf24" : "#94a3b8");
+    const border = effective ? "#166534" : (pref === "on" ? "#854d0e" : "#334155");
+    const title = available
+        ? (effective
+            ? `Local Delegation effective${routeId ? ` · route ${routeId}` : ""}`
+            : "Local Delegation available but currently off")
+        : reason;
+    const note = effective && routeId
+        ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#86efac;max-width:240px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;" title="${esc(title)}">effective · ${esc(truncate(routeId, 28))}</span>`
+        : !available
+        ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#64748b;max-width:220px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;" title="${esc(reason)}">${esc(truncate(reason, 48))}</span>`
+        : (pref === "on" && !effective
+            ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#fbbf24;">requested, unavailable</span>`
+            : "");
+    return `
+    <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:6px;" title="${esc(title)}">
+        <span style="font-size:10px;color:#64748b;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.04em;">Local</span>
+        <button data-act="local-delegation" data-preference="${esc(next)}"
+            aria-label="Local Delegation ${esc(label)}${effective && routeId ? ` route ${esc(routeId)}` : ""}"
+            aria-pressed="${pref === "on" ? "true" : "false"}"
+            style="background:#020617;border:1px solid ${border};color:${color};padding:2px 8px;border-radius:999px;
+                   font-size:11px;cursor:pointer;font-weight:600;min-width:42px;"
+            title="${esc(title)}">${esc(label)}</button>
+        ${note}
+    </div>`;
+}
+
+function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals, localDelegation) {
     const escalations = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType === "escalation").length;
     const withSignals = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType !== "none").length;
     const awaiting = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType === "none").length;
@@ -763,13 +873,14 @@ function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) {
 
     return `
     <div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;padding:10px 14px;
-                background:#0f172a;border:1px solid #1e293b;border-radius:8px;margin-bottom:14px;">
+                background:#0f172a;border:1px solid #1e293b;border-radius:8px;margin-bottom:14px;gap:12px;flex-wrap:wrap;">
-        <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;">
+        <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;flex-wrap:wrap;">
             <span style="font-size:13px;color:#cbd5e1;"><b style="color:#f1f5f9;">${activeSignals.length}</b> desk${activeSignals.length !== 1 ? "s" : ""}</span>
             <span style="font-size:11px;color:#475569;">${withSignals} reporting · ${awaiting} awaiting</span>
             ${tokenBadge}
             ${calibrationBadge}
             ${escBadge}
+            ${renderLocalDelegationControl(localDelegation)}
         </div>
         ${avgBlock}
     </div>`;
@@ -945,8 +1056,9 @@ function renderStashedCard(entry) {
     </div>`;
 }
 
-function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
+function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken, localDelegation) {
     const activeSignals = sortSignals(signals.filter(s => !stashed.some(e => e.name === s.deskName)));
+    const localDelegationState = localDelegation || currentLocalDelegationLaunch("off");
 
     const cards = activeSignals.length > 0
         ? activeSignals.map(renderSignalCard).join("")
@@ -975,7 +1087,9 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
             </div>
            </div>`;
 
-    const summaryBar = activeSignals.length > 0 ? renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) : "";
+    // Always show the Local Delegation control so operators can see availability
+    // even before the first desk signal arrives.
+    const summaryBar = renderSummaryBar(activeSignals, localDelegationState);
 
     const stashedSection = stashed.length > 0 ? `
         <div style="margin-top:20px;padding-top:12px;border-top:1px solid #1a1a1a;">
@@ -1058,27 +1172,55 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
             const data = await res.json();
             if (data.ok) {
                 const path = data.deskPath || name;
+                const notice = data.localDelegationNotice || {};
+                const localTitle = notice.titleSuffix || '';
+                const localDetail = notice.detail || '';
                 if (data.launched) {
                     // A successful open shouldn't hijack the user's clipboard.
-                    showToast('opening ' + name + ' desk (' + selectedProfile + ')…', path);
+                    // Surface LD state in the toast — operators cannot rely on -i alone.
+                    showToast('opening ' + name + ' desk (' + selectedProfile + localTitle + ')…',
+                        localDetail || path);
                 } else {
                     // No terminal launched from here, so copy the path as the
                     // fallback handle, but only claim the copy when it actually
                     // succeeded. The path shows in the toast either way.
                     let copied = false;
                     try { await navigator.clipboard.writeText(path); copied = true; } catch {}
-                    showToast(copied ? (name + ' · path copied') : (name + ' · copy this path'), path);
+                    const copyTitle = copied ? (name + ' · path copied') : (name + ' · copy this path');
+                    showToast(copyTitle + localTitle, localDetail || path);
                 }
             } else {
                 showToast(name + ' · not found', '');
             }
         }
+        async function setLocalDelegation(preference) {
+            const res = await fetch('/api/local-delegation?preference=' +
+                encodeURIComponent(preference || 'off'), POST_OPTS);
+            const data = await res.json();
+            if (data.ok) {
+                const ld = data.localDelegation || {};
+                const routeId = ld.availability && ld.availability.routeId;
+                const label = ld.effective
+                    ? ('Local Delegation effective' + (routeId ? (' · route ' + routeId) : ''))
+                    : (ld.preference === 'on'
+                        ? 'Local Delegation requested (unavailable)'
+                        : 'Local Delegation off');
+                showToast(label, ld.availability?.reason || '');
+                refresh();
+            } else {
+                showToast('Local Delegation · not updated', data.error || '');
+            }
+        }
         document.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
             const btn = e.target.closest('button[data-act]');
             if (!btn) return;
+            const act = btn.getAttribute('data-act');
+            if (act === 'local-delegation') {
+                setLocalDelegation(btn.getAttribute('data-preference') || 'off');
+                return;
+            }
             const name = btn.getAttribute('data-desk');
             if (!name) return;
-            const act = btn.getAttribute('data-act');
             const profile = btn.getAttribute('data-profile');
             if (act === 'stash') stashDesk(name);
             else if (act === 'restore') restoreDesk(name);
@@ -1102,19 +1244,26 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
                             active.getAttribute('data-act'),
                             active.getAttribute('data-desk'),
                             active.getAttribute('data-profile') || '',
+                            active.getAttribute('data-preference') || '',
                         ]);
                     }
                     content.innerHTML = newContent.innerHTML;
                     if (focusKey) {
-                        const [act, desk, profile] = JSON.parse(focusKey);
+                        const [act, desk, profile, preference] = JSON.parse(focusKey);
-                        const escDesk = (window.CSS && CSS.escape) ? CSS.escape(desk) : desk;
+                        let target = null;
-                        const profileSelector = profile
+                        if (act === 'local-delegation') {
-                            ? '[data-profile="' + profile + '"]'
+                            target = content.querySelector('button[data-act="local-delegation"]');
-                            : ':not([data-profile])';
+                        } else {
-                        const target = content.querySelector(
+                            const escDesk = (window.CSS && CSS.escape) ? CSS.escape(desk) : desk;
-                            'button[data-act="' + act + '"][data-desk="' + escDesk + '"]' +
+                            const profileSelector = profile
-                            profileSelector);
+                                ? '[data-profile="' + profile + '"]'
+                                : ':not([data-profile])';
+                            target = content.querySelector(
+                                'button[data-act="' + act + '"][data-desk="' + escDesk + '"]' +
+                                profileSelector);
+                        }
                         if (target) target.focus();
+                        void preference;
                     }
                 }
             } catch {}
@@ -1180,6 +1329,20 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
             res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true }));
             return;
         }
+        if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname === "/api/local-delegation") {
+            const preferenceInput = url.searchParams.get("preference") || "off";
+            if (!["off", "on"].includes(String(preferenceInput).toLowerCase())) {
+                res.writeHead(400, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
+                res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: false, error: "Invalid local delegation preference" }));
+                return;
+            }
+            const preference = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preferenceInput, "off");
+            await writeLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir, preference);
+            const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
+            res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
+            res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true, localDelegation }));
+            return;
+        }
         if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname.startsWith("/api/open/")) {
             const deskName = decodeURIComponent(url.pathname.split("/api/open/")[1]);
             const profileInput = url.searchParams.get("profile") || DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE;
@@ -1194,14 +1357,25 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
                 return;
             }
             const profile = normalizeDeskProfile(profileInput);
+            const preference = await readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir);
+            const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
             for (const subdir of ["desks", "classroom"]) {
                 const deskPath = join(workshopDir, subdir, deskName);
                 try {
                     const s = await stat(deskPath);
                     if (s.isDirectory()) {
-                        const launched = await launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile);
+                        const launched = await launchDeskConsole(
+                            deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile, localDelegation);
                         res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
-                        res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true, deskName, deskPath, launched, profile }));
+                        res.end(JSON.stringify({
+                            ok: true,
+                            deskName,
+                            deskPath,
+                            launched,
+                            profile,
+                            localDelegation,
+                            localDelegationNotice: formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation),
+                        }));
                         return;
                     }
                 } catch {}
@@ -1213,8 +1387,10 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
 
         const signals = await scanSignals(workshopDir);
         const stashed = await readStash(workshopDir);
+        const preference = await readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir);
+        const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
         res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=utf-8");
-        res.end(renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken));
+        res.end(renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken, localDelegation));
         } catch (err) {
             // Top-level boundary: never leave a request hanging or let a
             // rejection become an unhandled crash — e.g. malformed %-encoding
@@ -1327,7 +1503,7 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                 },
                 {
                     name: "open_desk",
-                    description: "Open a desk as an in-place Copilot CLI session. Repo profile suppresses ambient plugin MCPs; connected keeps every configured tool. Returns the desk path, profile, and whether a terminal was launched.",
+                    description: "Open a desk as an in-place Copilot CLI session. Repo profile suppresses ambient plugin MCPs; connected keeps every configured tool. Local Delegation is orthogonal and fail-closed: when available and preferred on, the frontier desk may use sealed local-agent-delegation for bounded read/evidence work. Returns the desk path, profile, localDelegation state, and whether a terminal was launched.",
                     inputSchema: {
                         type: "object",
                         properties: {
@@ -1337,6 +1513,11 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                                 enum: ["repo", "connected"],
                                 description: `Tool profile. Defaults to ${DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE}.`,
                             },
+                            localDelegation: {
+                                type: "string",
+                                enum: ["off", "on"],
+                                description: "Optional Local Delegation preference for this launch. Defaults to the workshop Cairn toggle (.local-delegation.json).",
+                            },
                         },
                         required: ["deskName"],
                     },
@@ -1347,13 +1528,21 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                         const profileInput = ctx.input.profile || DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE;
                         if (!isDeskProfile(profileInput)) return { error: "Invalid desk profile" };
                         const profile = normalizeDeskProfile(profileInput);
+                        const preferenceInput = ctx.input.localDelegation
+                            ?? await readLocalDelegationPreference(entry.workshopDir);
+                        const preference = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preferenceInput, "off");
+                        const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
                         for (const subdir of ["desks", "classroom"]) {
                             const deskPath = join(entry.workshopDir, subdir, ctx.input.deskName);
                             try {
                                 const s = await stat(deskPath);
                                 if (s.isDirectory()) {
                                     const launched = await launchDeskConsole(
-                                        deskPath, ctx.input.deskName, entry.workshopDir, profile);
+                                        deskPath,
+                                        ctx.input.deskName,
+                                        entry.workshopDir,
+                                        profile,
+                                        localDelegation);
                                     return {
                                         ok: true,
                                         deskName: ctx.input.deskName,
@@ -1361,6 +1550,8 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                                         launched,
                                         workshopDir: entry.workshopDir,
                                         profile,
+                                        localDelegation,
+                                        localDelegationNotice: formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation),
                                     };
                                 }
                             } catch {}

plugins/signals-dashboard/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/launch-profile.mjs

@@ -25,6 +25,16 @@ export function isSafeWindowsCmdShim(value) {
     return typeof value === "string" && !/[%\r\n]/.test(value);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Args that will be wrapped with quoteWindowsCmdArgument. Inside double quotes,
+ * cmd still expands %VAR% and !VAR! (delayed expansion). Other metacharacters
+ * like & | < > ^ ( ) are literal when quoted, so paths such as
+ * C:\Work\Project (1) must be allowed.
+ */
+export function isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && !/[%!\r\n]/.test(value);
+}
+
 export function parsePluginMcpNames(text) {
     let parsed;
     try { parsed = JSON.parse(text); }

plugins/signals-dashboard/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/launch-profile.test.mjs

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { join } from "node:path";
 import {
     buildDeskAgentArgv,
     isDeskProfile,
+    isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg,
     isSafeWindowsCmdShim,
     isWindowsAppExecutionAlias,
     normalizeDeskProfile,
@@ -41,6 +42,10 @@ test("quotes trusted cmd shim arguments and rejects percent-bearing paths", () =
     assert.equal(quoteWindowsCmdArgument("--scope"), "\"--scope\"");
     assert.equal(isSafeWindowsCmdShim("C:\\Program Files\\Agency\\agency.cmd"), true);
     assert.equal(isSafeWindowsCmdShim("C:\\Users\\%USERNAME%\\agency.cmd"), false);
+    // Quoted args may contain parentheses (common workshop folders).
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Work\\Project (1)"), true);
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Users\\%USERNAME%\\w"), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Users\\!DELAY!\\w"), false);
 });
 
 test("executes a Windows cmd shim with safe quoting", {

plugins/signals-dashboard/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/local-delegation.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,401 @@
+import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
+import { accessSync, constants as fsConstants, existsSync, readFileSync, readdirSync, statSync } from "node:fs";
+import { homedir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+
+const PREFERENCES = new Set(["off", "on"]);
+const SAFE_ROUTE_ID = /^[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9._:-]{0,127}$/;
+
+/** @deprecated Repo-root state is rejected; kept only for docs/migration mentions. */
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_STATE_FILE = ".local-delegation.json";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV = "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME = "local-agent-delegation";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_USER_STATE_DIR = join(".copilot", "workshop-local-delegation");
+
+/**
+ * Stable user-local preference path for a workshop root.
+ * Permission state must NOT live in the cloned workshop (a repo can ship
+ * preference:on). Key by a hash of the canonical workshop path under ~/.copilot.
+ */
+export function localDelegationPreferencePath(workshopDir, {
+    home = homedir(),
+    resolvePath = (p) => p,
+} = {}) {
+    if (typeof workshopDir !== "string" || !workshopDir) {
+        throw new Error("workshopDir is required");
+    }
+    let canonical = workshopDir;
+    try { canonical = resolvePath(workshopDir); } catch { /* keep input */ }
+    // Normalize separators only. Do not lowercase: on case-sensitive filesystems
+    // /work/Foo and /work/foo are distinct workshops and must not share state.
+    const key = createHash("sha256")
+        .update(String(canonical).replaceAll("\\", "/"))
+        .digest("hex")
+        .slice(0, 32);
+    return join(home, LOCAL_DELEGATION_USER_STATE_DIR, `${key}.json`);
+}
+
+export function isLocalDelegationPreference(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && PREFERENCES.has(value.toLowerCase());
+}
+
+export function normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(value, fallback = "off") {
+    return isLocalDelegationPreference(value) ? value.toLowerCase() : fallback;
+}
+
+// Windows Terminal / cmd reparse cannot safely carry long multi-space -i strings.
+// Keep the orientation prompt short, ASCII, and quote-free. Local Delegation
+// policy lives in WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled + the installed skill — not
+// on the CLI.
+const MAX_ORIENT_PROMPT_CHARS = 280;
+// Allow apostrophes (desk's). Ban double quotes, backticks, dashes that WT/cmd
+// have split on, and classic cmd metacharacters.
+const UNSAFE_ORIENT_CHARS = /["`—–|&<>^%!()\r\n]/;
+
+export function isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(prompt) {
+    return typeof prompt === "string"
+        && prompt.length > 0
+        && prompt.length <= MAX_ORIENT_PROMPT_CHARS
+        && !UNSAFE_ORIENT_CHARS.test(prompt);
+}
+
+/** One short ASCII notice operators can see in the session start prompt. */
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE = " Local Delegation env is enabled.";
+
+export function deskOrientPrompt(deskName, { localDelegationEffective = false } = {}) {
+    // deskName is already constrained to a slug by the launcher; still keep the
+    // prompt free of punctuation that cmd/wt have historically mis-parsed.
+    let prompt = `You are sitting down at the ${deskName} desk in this workshop. ` +
+        `Read journal.md in this folder first to pick up where the last session ` +
+        `left off, then continue the desk's work. Write your journal before you stop.`;
+    // Only a single short ASCII line may ride on -i. Full policy stays in env + skill.
+    if (localDelegationEffective) {
+        const withNotice = prompt + LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE;
+        if (isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(withNotice)) prompt = withNotice;
+    }
+    return prompt;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Operator-visible summary for open toasts and badges.
+ * Never claims savings; only reports effective state + route id when known.
+ */
+export function formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation) {
+    if (!localDelegation || typeof localDelegation !== "object") {
+        return { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" };
+    }
+    const routeId = localDelegation.availability?.routeId || null;
+    if (localDelegation.effective) {
+        const routePart = routeId ? ` · route ${routeId}` : "";
+        return {
+            titleSuffix: " · Local Delegation effective",
+            detail: `Local Delegation effective${routePart}`,
+        };
+    }
+    if (localDelegation.requested) {
+        return {
+            titleSuffix: " · local unavailable",
+            detail: localDelegation.warning
+                || localDelegation.availability?.reason
+                || "Local Delegation requested but unavailable",
+        };
+    }
+    return { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" };
+}
+
+export function buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(baseEnv = {}, { localDelegationEffective = false } = {}) {
+    const env = { ...baseEnv };
+    // Windows env names are case-insensitive; spreading process.env yields a
+    // case-sensitive object, so clear every spelling before optionally setting.
+    const target = LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV.toLowerCase();
+    for (const key of Object.keys(env)) {
+        if (key.toLowerCase() === target) delete env[key];
+    }
+    if (localDelegationEffective) {
+        env[LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV] = "enabled";
+    }
+    return env;
+}
+
+/**
+ * cmd.exe prefix that forces WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION on or off inside a new
+ * Windows Terminal / console session. wt.exe does not reliably forward the
+ * caller's process env into a new tab when Terminal is already running.
+ */
+export function windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(localDelegationEffective = false) {
+    return localDelegationEffective
+        ? 'set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled"&& '
+        : 'set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION="&& ';
+}
+
+/**
+ * Savings credit is utilization accounting, not a price claim.
+ * Failed, unaccepted, redone, or escalated local work earns zero.
+ */
+export function localSavingsCredit({
+    attempted = false,
+    gateAccepted = false,
+    redone = false,
+    escalated = false,
+} = {}) {
+    if (!attempted || !gateAccepted || redone || escalated) {
+        return {
+            credit: 0,
+            utilization: attempted ? "handled_locally_unaccepted" : "not_attempted",
+            reason: !attempted
+                ? "not_attempted"
+                : escalated
+                    ? "escalated"
+                    : redone
+                        ? "redone"
+                        : "gate_not_accepted",
+        };
+    }
+    return {
+        credit: 0, // dollar savings are never claimed by Cairn
+        utilization: "handled_locally_accepted",
+        reason: "accepted_utilization_only",
+    };
+}
+
+function isReadableFile(path) {
+    try {
+        if (!statSync(path).isFile()) return false;
+        accessSync(path, fsConstants.R_OK);
+        return true;
+    } catch {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
+
+function skillMarkerPath(dir) {
+    return join(dir, "SKILL.md");
+}
+
+function looksLikeSkillDir(dir) {
+    return isReadableFile(skillMarkerPath(dir));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Discover the installed local-agent-delegation skill.
+ * Injectable probes keep unit tests filesystem-free.
+ */
+export function findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+    env = process.env,
+    home = homedir(),
+    exists = existsSync,
+    isSkillDir = looksLikeSkillDir,
+} = {}) {
+    const explicit = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR || "").trim();
+    if (explicit) {
+        return isSkillDir(explicit) ? explicit : null;
+    }
+
+    const candidates = [
+        join(home, ".copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+        join(home, ".agents", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+    ];
+
+    for (const candidate of candidates) {
+        if (isSkillDir(candidate)) return candidate;
+    }
+
+    // Marketplace: ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/<marketplace>/<plugin>/
+    // Direct:      ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/_direct/<plugin>/
+    // Skill dirs may live at skills/, .github/skills/, or com.github.copilot/skills/.
+    const pluginsRoot = join(home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins");
+    if (exists(pluginsRoot)) {
+        try {
+            for (const market of readdirSync(pluginsRoot, { withFileTypes: true })) {
+                if (!market.isDirectory()) continue;
+                const marketRoot = join(pluginsRoot, market.name);
+                let pluginEntries;
+                try {
+                    pluginEntries = readdirSync(marketRoot, { withFileTypes: true });
+                } catch {
+                    continue;
+                }
+                for (const plugin of pluginEntries) {
+                    if (!plugin.isDirectory()) continue;
+                    const pluginRoot = join(marketRoot, plugin.name);
+                    const nestedCandidates = [
+                        join(pluginRoot, "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, ".github", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, "com.github.copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, "com.github.awesome-copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                    ];
+                    for (const nested of nestedCandidates) {
+                        if (isSkillDir(nested)) return nested;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } catch {
+            // fail closed on scan errors
+        }
+    }
+
+    return null;
+}
+
+function readJsonFile(path, readFile = readFileSync) {
+    try {
+        return JSON.parse(readFile(path, "utf8"));
+    } catch {
+        return null;
+    }
+}
+
+function isRouteId(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && SAFE_ROUTE_ID.test(value);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Fail-closed availability. Enable only when skill + qualified route receipt
+ * (or explicit env route id) are present. Never invent availability.
+ */
+export function resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+    env = process.env,
+    home = homedir(),
+    now = Date.now(),
+    findSkill = findLocalDelegationSkillDir,
+    readFile = readFileSync,
+    exists = existsSync,
+} = {}) {
+    const forced = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_AVAILABLE || "").trim().toLowerCase();
+    if (forced === "0" || forced === "false" || forced === "unavailable") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Forced unavailable by WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_AVAILABLE",
+            skillDir: null,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const skillDir = findSkill({ env, home, exists });
+    if (!skillDir) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+            skillDir: null,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const envRoute = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID || "").trim();
+    if (envRoute) {
+        if (!isRouteId(envRoute)) {
+            return {
+                available: false,
+                reason: "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID is not a safe route id",
+                skillDir,
+                routeId: null,
+            };
+        }
+        return {
+            available: true,
+            reason: "Skill installed; route id provided by environment",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: envRoute,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const receiptPath = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_RECEIPT || "").trim()
+        || join(home, ".copilot", "local-agent-runs", "qualified-route.json");
+    if (!exists(receiptPath)) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "No qualified route receipt (set WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID or write ~/.copilot/local-agent-runs/qualified-route.json)",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const receipt = readJsonFile(receiptPath, readFile);
+    if (!receipt || typeof receipt !== "object") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Qualified route receipt is unreadable",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const status = String(receipt.status || "").toLowerCase();
+    if (status !== "qualified") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: `Route receipt status is '${receipt.status || "missing"}', not qualified`,
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: isRouteId(receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId) ? (receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId) : null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const routeId = receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId || null;
+    if (!isRouteId(routeId)) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Route receipt is missing a safe route_id",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    if (receipt.expires_at || receipt.expiresAt) {
+        const expires = Date.parse(receipt.expires_at || receipt.expiresAt);
+        if (!Number.isFinite(expires) || expires <= now) {
+            return {
+                available: false,
+                reason: "Qualified route receipt has expired",
+                skillDir,
+                routeId,
+            };
+        }
+    }
+
+    return {
+        available: true,
+        reason: "Skill installed; qualified route receipt present",
+        skillDir,
+        routeId,
+    };
+}
+
+export function resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({
+    preference = "off",
+    availability,
+} = {}) {
+    const pref = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preference, "off");
+    const available = Boolean(availability?.available);
+    if (pref === "on" && !available) {
+        return {
+            preference: pref,
+            requested: true,
+            effective: false,
+            availability,
+            warning: availability?.reason || "Local Delegation unavailable",
+        };
+    }
+    return {
+        preference: pref,
+        requested: pref === "on",
+        effective: pref === "on" && available,
+        availability,
+        warning: null,
+    };
+}
+
+export function parseLocalDelegationState(raw) {
+    if (!raw || typeof raw !== "object") {
+        return { preference: "off" };
+    }
+    return {
+        preference: normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(raw.preference, "off"),
+    };
+}
+
+export function serializeLocalDelegationState(state) {
+    return {
+        preference: normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(state?.preference, "off"),
+        updatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
+    };
+}

plugins/signals-dashboard/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/local-delegation.test.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,298 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { join, sep } from "node:path";
+import {
+    LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE,
+    buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv,
+    deskOrientPrompt,
+    findLocalDelegationSkillDir,
+    formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice,
+    isLocalDelegationPreference,
+    isSafeDeskOrientPrompt,
+    localDelegationPreferencePath,
+    localSavingsCredit,
+    normalizeLocalDelegationPreference,
+    parseLocalDelegationState,
+    resolveLocalDelegationAvailability,
+    resolveLocalDelegationLaunch,
+    serializeLocalDelegationState,
+    windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix,
+} from "./local-delegation.mjs";
+import {
+    buildDeskAgentArgv,
+    normalizeDeskProfile,
+    quoteWindowsCmdArgument,
+} from "./launch-profile.mjs";
+
+test("normalizes local-delegation preference independently of desk profile", () => {
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("on"), true);
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("OFF"), true);
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("maybe"), false);
+    assert.equal(normalizeLocalDelegationPreference("ON"), "on");
+    assert.equal(normalizeLocalDelegationPreference("nope"), "off");
+    // Profile axis remains orthogonal and untouched.
+    assert.equal(normalizeDeskProfile("connected"), "connected");
+    assert.equal(normalizeDeskProfile("repo"), "repo");
+});
+
+test("availability is fail-closed without skill or route receipt", () => {
+    const missingSkill = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        findSkill: () => null,
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(missingSkill.available, false);
+    assert.match(missingSkill.reason, /not installed/i);
+
+    const skillOnly = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        findSkill: () => "C:\\home\\.copilot\\skills\\local-agent-delegation",
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(skillOnly.available, false);
+    assert.match(skillOnly.reason, /No qualified route receipt/i);
+});
+
+test("availability accepts env route id or a qualified receipt", () => {
+    const home = join("home");
+    const skillDir = join("skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+    const viaEnv = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified" },
+        home,
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(viaEnv.available, true);
+    assert.equal(viaEnv.routeId, "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified");
+
+    // Match host path.join separators so Linux CI exercises the receipt branch.
+    const receiptPath = join(home, ".copilot", "local-agent-runs", "qualified-route.json");
+    const viaReceipt = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home,
+        now: Date.parse("2026-08-14T12:00:00Z"),
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: (p) => p === receiptPath,
+        readFile: () => JSON.stringify({
+            status: "qualified",
+            route_id: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+            expires_at: "2026-12-01T00:00:00Z",
+        }),
+    });
+    assert.equal(viaReceipt.available, true);
+    assert.equal(viaReceipt.routeId, "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified");
+
+    const expired = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home,
+        now: Date.parse("2027-01-01T00:00:00Z"),
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: (p) => p === receiptPath,
+        readFile: () => JSON.stringify({
+            status: "qualified",
+            route_id: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+            expires_at: "2026-12-01T00:00:00Z",
+        }),
+    });
+    assert.equal(expired.available, false);
+    assert.match(expired.reason, /expired/i);
+});
+
+test("requested on + unavailable stays ineffective with a warning", () => {
+    const launch = resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({
+        preference: "on",
+        availability: {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+        },
+    });
+    assert.equal(launch.requested, true);
+    assert.equal(launch.effective, false);
+    assert.match(launch.warning, /not installed/i);
+});
+
+test("launch env enables when effective; -i prompt stays short and quote-free", () => {
+    const base = {
+        PATH: "/usr/bin",
+        WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION: "enabled",
+        workshop_local_delegation: "enabled",
+    };
+    const offEnv = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(base, { localDelegationEffective: false });
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(offEnv, "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION"), false);
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(offEnv, "workshop_local_delegation"), false);
+    assert.equal(offEnv.PATH, "/usr/bin");
+
+    const onEnv = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(base, { localDelegationEffective: true });
+    assert.equal(onEnv.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION, "enabled");
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(onEnv, "workshop_local_delegation"), false);
+
+    const offPrompt = deskOrientPrompt("cost-desk", { localDelegationEffective: false });
+    const onPrompt = deskOrientPrompt("cost-desk", { localDelegationEffective: true });
+    assert.match(offPrompt, /cost-desk/);
+    assert.equal(offPrompt.includes("Local Delegation"), false);
+    // One short ASCII line only — never the long policy appendix.
+    assert.equal(onPrompt, offPrompt + LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE);
+    assert.match(onPrompt, /Local Delegation env is enabled\./);
+    assert.equal(onPrompt.includes("do not delegate"), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(onPrompt), true);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt('bad "quote"'), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt("em dash — bad"), false);
+
+    assert.match(windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(true), /enabled/);
+    assert.match(windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(false), /WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION="&&/);
+    const run = ["C:\\tools\\copilot.exe", "-i", onPrompt];
+    const cmdLine = windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(true) + run.map(quoteWindowsCmdArgument).join(" ");
+    assert.match(cmdLine, /^set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled"&& /);
+    assert.match(cmdLine, /copilot\.exe/);
+});
+
+test("open notice reports effective route without savings claims", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: true,
+        requested: true,
+        availability: { available: true, routeId: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified" },
+    }), {
+        titleSuffix: " · Local Delegation effective",
+        detail: "Local Delegation effective · route foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+    });
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: false,
+        requested: true,
+        warning: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+        availability: { available: false, reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed" },
+    }).detail, "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed");
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: false,
+        requested: false,
+    }), { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" });
+});
+
+test("repo/connected argv stays orthogonal to local-delegation preference", () => {
+    const repo = buildDeskAgentArgv({
+        deskName: "cost-desk",
+        workshopDir: "/workshop",
+        useAgency: false,
+        copilotCommand: "copilot",
+        profile: "repo",
+        pluginMcpNames: ["teams"],
+    });
+    const connected = buildDeskAgentArgv({
+        deskName: "cost-desk",
+        workshopDir: "/workshop",
+        useAgency: false,
+        copilotCommand: "copilot",
+        profile: "connected",
+        pluginMcpNames: ["teams"],
+    });
+    assert.deepEqual(repo, [
+        "copilot", "--name", "cost-desk",
+        "--disable-mcp-server", "teams",
+        "--add-dir", "/workshop",
+    ]);
+    assert.deepEqual(connected, [
+        "copilot", "--name", "cost-desk",
+        "--add-dir", "/workshop",
+    ]);
+    // Local delegation never injects into argv — only env/prompt.
+    assert.equal(repo.includes("local"), false);
+    assert.equal(connected.includes("local"), false);
+});
+
+test("failed or unaccepted local work earns zero savings credit", () => {
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: false }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: false }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true, redone: true }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true, escalated: true }).credit, 0);
+    const accepted = localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true });
+    assert.equal(accepted.credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(accepted.utilization, "handled_locally_accepted");
+});
+
+test("state parse/serialize defaults to off", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseLocalDelegationState(null), { preference: "off" });
+    assert.equal(parseLocalDelegationState({ preference: "ON" }).preference, "on");
+    const serialized = serializeLocalDelegationState({ preference: "on" });
+    assert.equal(serialized.preference, "on");
+    assert.equal(typeof serialized.updatedAt, "string");
+});
+
+test("preference path is user-local and keyed by workshop path, not the repo root", () => {
+    const home = join("user-home");
+    const a = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-a"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const b = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-b"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const again = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-a"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    assert.match(a, /workshop-local-delegation/);
+    assert.equal(a.startsWith(home), true);
+    assert.equal(a.includes(`${sep}repos${sep}`), false);
+    assert.notEqual(a, b);
+    assert.equal(a, again);
+    // Repo-shipped .local-delegation.json is never the preference path.
+    assert.equal(a.endsWith(".local-delegation.json"), false);
+
+    // Case-sensitive filesystems: Foo and foo must not share permission state.
+    const upper = localDelegationPreferencePath("/work/Foo", {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const lower = localDelegationPreferencePath("/work/foo", {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    assert.notEqual(upper, lower);
+});
+
+test("skill discovery respects explicit dir and common install roots", () => {
+    const found = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR: "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation" },
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        exists: () => false,
+        isSkillDir: (p) => p === "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation",
+    });
+    assert.equal(found, "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation");
+
+    const missingExplicit = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR: "D:\\missing" },
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        exists: () => false,
+        isSkillDir: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(missingExplicit, null);
+});
+
+test("skill discovery walks marketplace/plugin and _direct install layouts", async () => {
+    const { mkdtempSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync, rmSync } = await import("node:fs");
+    const { tmpdir } = await import("node:os");
+    const { join } = await import("node:path");
+    const home = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "ld-skill-"));
+    try {
+        const skillDir = join(
+            home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "awesome-copilot", "sealed-delegation",
+            ".github", "skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+        mkdirSync(skillDir, { recursive: true });
+        writeFileSync(join(skillDir, "SKILL.md"), "# local-agent-delegation\n");
+        const found = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({ home, env: {} });
+        assert.equal(found, skillDir);
+
+        rmSync(join(home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "awesome-copilot"), { recursive: true, force: true });
+        const direct = join(
+            home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "_direct", "sealed-delegation",
+            "skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+        mkdirSync(direct, { recursive: true });
+        writeFileSync(join(direct, "SKILL.md"), "# local-agent-delegation\n");
+        const foundDirect = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({ home, env: {} });
+        assert.equal(foundDirect, direct);
+    } finally {
+        rmSync(home, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+});

plugins/signals-dashboard/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/package.json

@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 {
   "name": "signals-dashboard",
-  "version": "0.2.0",
+  "version": "0.3.0",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "extension.mjs",
   "scripts": {
-    "test": "node --test launch-profile.test.mjs"
+    "test": "node --test launch-profile.test.mjs local-delegation.test.mjs"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@github/copilot-sdk": "latest"
   },
-  "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, and cost-aware repo or connected desk launch profiles.",
+  "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, cost-aware desk profiles, and fail-closed Local Delegation.",
   "keywords": [
     "agent-signals",
     "dashboard",

plugins/signals-dashboard/plugin.json

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://agent-plugins.org/schemas/1.0.0/plugin.schema.json",
   "name": "signals-dashboard",
-  "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, and cost-aware repo or connected desk launch profiles.",
+  "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, cost-aware desk profiles, and fail-closed Local Delegation.",
-  "version": "0.2.0",
+  "version": "0.3.0",
   "author": {
     "name": "jennyf19",
     "url": "https://github.com/jennyf19"
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
     "dashboard",
     "multi-agent",
     "coordination",
-    "canvas"
+    "canvas",
+    "local-delegation"
   ],
   "extensions": {
     "com.github.copilot": {

plugins/the-workshop/README.md

@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@ Each desk card has two launch choices:
 - **connected** — the full configured tool surface for work that needs external
   systems such as issue trackers, mail, or service APIs.
 
+The summary bar also has a **Local** toggle. It is orthogonal to repo/connected:
+when available and on, the frontier desk may use
+[Sealed Delegation](https://github.com/jennyf19/sealed-delegation)'s
+`local-agent-delegation` skill for bounded read/evidence work. Availability is
+fail-closed (installed skill + qualified route receipt). Local output is a
+proposal and never earns savings credit on its own.
+
 Set `WORKSHOP_DESK_PROFILE=connected` to make the main **open** button use the
 full tool surface; in that mode the separate **connected** button is omitted.
 

plugins/the-workshop/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+# 🪨 Cairn — Signals Dashboard
+
+A live GitHub Copilot CLI **canvas extension** that shows the pulse of every
+desk in your Workshop. It reads the agent signals your desks emit and renders
+them as a compact, always-current dashboard in a side panel — so you can direct
+the work instead of polling each desk by hand.
+
+It replaces the old Blazor **WorkshopRoom** dashboard (`src/WorkshopRoom/`) with
+a native canvas that runs inside GHCP, with no separate web app to launch.
+
+## What it is
+
+Each desk in the Workshop leaves signals behind — small stones on the trail —
+by writing JSON files into its `.signals/` folder. Cairn scans those folders,
+picks the most recent signal per desk, and renders:
+
+- **Score bars** for the desk's self-assessment (intent, confidence, accuracy,
+  completeness).
+- **Patterns** the desk reported: what worked ✓, what was hard △, and skill
+  gaps ✗.
+- **Escalations** — desks that raised their hand, with what they're blocked on
+  and their recommendation, pinned to the top and pulsing red.
+
+## How to open it
+
+The dashboard is registered as the **🪨 Cairn** canvas (`signals-dashboard`).
+Ask Copilot to open it and pass your workshop root as `workshopDir`:
+
+> Open the 🪨 Cairn canvas with `workshopDir` set to the folder that contains
+> my `desks/` directory.
+
+`workshopDir` must be the **absolute path to the workshop root** — the folder
+that holds `desks/` (and optionally `classroom/`). If omitted, it falls back to
+the current working directory.
+
+## Features
+
+- **Signal scanning** — walks `desks/*/.signals/` and `classroom/*/.signals/`,
+  reading the newest `*.json` per desk (mirrors `SignalReader.cs`).
+- **Score bars** — color-coded intent / confidence / accuracy / completeness,
+  scored out of 5.
+- **Escalation alerts** — escalation signals sort to the very top, render with a
+  pulsing red border, and surface the blocker + recommendation.
+- **Active desks first** — sorted escalations → recent signals → desks with no
+  signal yet, then by recency.
+- **Stash / restore** — pause a workstream by stashing its desk. Stashed desks
+  drop off the active view and auto-expire after a **48-hour TTL**; restore any
+  time before then. Stash state lives in `.desk-stash.json` at the workshop
+  root.
+- **Auto-refresh** — the panel refreshes every 5 seconds using a background
+  fetch (no full page reload), so scores and escalations stay current smoothly.
+- **Summary bar** — desk count, how many are reporting vs. awaiting, an
+  escalation badge, and average scores across the room.
+- **Cost-aware desk launch** — **open** starts a repo-profile desk that keeps the
+  verified Workshop root available while suppressing ambient plugin MCPs.
+  **connected** preserves every configured MCP for work that needs external
+  systems. Agency remains the preferred wrapper when installed.
+- **Local Delegation** — orthogonal off/on control. When available and on, the
+  frontier desk may use the installed [`local-agent-delegation`](https://github.com/jennyf19/sealed-delegation)
+  skill for bounded, independently gated read/evidence work. Fail-closed: no
+  skill or no qualified route receipt means the toggle cannot take effect, and
+  no local-savings credit is awarded.
+
+## Agent actions
+
+The canvas also exposes actions Copilot can invoke directly:
+
+- `refresh` — force a rescan and return current signal data as JSON.
+- `stash` — stash a desk by `deskName`.
+- `restore` — restore a stashed desk by `deskName`.
+- `open_desk` — open a desk with optional `profile: "repo" | "connected"` and
+  optional `localDelegation: "off" | "on"`.
+
+## Desk launch profiles
+
+`repo` is the default. At launch, Cairn asks Copilot for the enabled
+plugin-scoped MCP inventory and disables those ambient servers for the topic
+desk. User-, workspace-, organization-, and built-in resources are left alone.
+If discovery fails, Copilot plugin MCP suppression fails open; Agency repo mode
+still omits Agency's own default MCPs.
+
+When Agency is installed, Cairn keeps the existing `agency copilot` launch and
+adds Agency's `--no-default-mcps` in repo mode. Outside Agency, the same profile
+is applied directly to Copilot CLI.
+
+Both profiles pass `--add-dir <workshop-root>` so a desk can intentionally read
+another desk's journal or artifact without receiving access outside the room.
+
+Set `WORKSHOP_DESK_PROFILE=connected` to retain the historical default for the
+main **open** button. The separate **connected** button is always available when
+repo mode is the default.
+
+## Local Delegation
+
+Local Delegation is **not** a third desk profile and does not replace the frontier
+model. It is a separate permission bit:
+
+```text
+repo / connected        = which MCPs and tools the frontier desk can see
+Local Delegation off/on = whether the frontier desk may invoke a bounded local worker
+```
+
+Availability is fail-closed. Cairn enables the lane only when:
+
+1. the `local-agent-delegation` skill is installed, and
+2. a qualified route is declared via `WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID` or a
+   receipt at `~/.copilot/local-agent-runs/qualified-route.json`
+   (`status: "qualified"`, safe `route_id`).
+
+Operator preference is stored **user-locally** under
+`~/.copilot/workshop-local-delegation/` (keyed by the canonical workshop path),
+never in the cloned workshop — a repo cannot ship `preference: on`.
+When the preference is on but availability fails, opens still launch as frontier
+desks and surface the reason — they never silently fall back with savings credit.
+
+When effective, Cairn sets `WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled` on the launched
+process, shows an open toast/badge (`Local Delegation effective · route …`), and
+may append one short ASCII line to `-i` (`Local Delegation env is enabled.`) when
+that combined prompt stays quote-free and under the length guard. Full policy
+still lives in the env flag plus the installed `local-agent-delegation` skill —
+never a long multi-sentence `-i` appendix (Windows Terminal reparse).
+The runtime, launcher, and gates remain owned by
+[Sealed Delegation](https://github.com/jennyf19/sealed-delegation).
+
+## Signal shape
+
+Cairn reads the agent-signals protocol used across the Workshop:
+
+```json
+{
+  "signal_type": "execution",
+  "agent_name": "desk-name",
+  "self_assessment": { "intent": 5, "confidence": 4, "accuracy": 4, "completeness": 3 },
+  "patterns": { "what_worked": "...", "what_was_hard": "...", "skill_gap": "..." },
+  "escalation": { "reason": "...", "blocked_on": "...", "recommendation": "..." }
+}
+```
+
+`escalation` is only present on `signal_type: "escalation"` signals.
+
+## Replaces the Blazor WorkshopRoom
+
+This canvas supersedes the standalone Blazor dashboard in `src/WorkshopRoom/`.
+The data is the truth and the UI is just a view — Cairn renders the same signal
+data natively inside GHCP, so there's no separate server to run.

plugins/the-workshop/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/extension.mjs

@@ -5,20 +5,33 @@
 
 import { createServer } from "node:http";
 import { statSync, accessSync, realpathSync, constants as fsConstants } from "node:fs";
-import { readdir, readFile, writeFile, stat } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { readdir, readFile, writeFile, stat, rename, unlink, mkdir } from "node:fs/promises";
-import { join, delimiter, isAbsolute, sep } from "node:path";
+import { join, delimiter, isAbsolute, sep, dirname } from "node:path";
 import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
 import { randomBytes } from "node:crypto";
 import { joinSession, createCanvas } from "@github/copilot-sdk/extension";
 import {
     buildDeskAgentArgv,
     isDeskProfile,
+    isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg,
     isSafeWindowsCmdShim,
     isWindowsAppExecutionAlias,
     normalizeDeskProfile,
     parsePluginMcpNames,
     quoteWindowsCmdArgument,
 } from "./launch-profile.mjs";
+import {
+    buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv,
+    deskOrientPrompt,
+    formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice,
+    localDelegationPreferencePath,
+    normalizeLocalDelegationPreference,
+    parseLocalDelegationState,
+    resolveLocalDelegationAvailability,
+    resolveLocalDelegationLaunch,
+    serializeLocalDelegationState,
+    windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix,
+} from "./local-delegation.mjs";
 
 const servers = new Map();
 const STASH_TTL_MS = 48 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
@@ -60,11 +73,10 @@ function isValidDeskName(name) {
 // path is then only ever passed as a spawn cwd, an argv element, or a
 // single-quoted literal inside the macOS Terminal command — never concatenated
 // raw onto a command line — so no character filtering of the path is required.
-function deskOrientPrompt(deskName) {
+//
-    return `You are sitting down at the ${deskName} desk in this workshop. ` +
+// Local Delegation is orthogonal to repo/connected: it never changes the tool
-        `Read journal.md in this folder first to pick up where the last session ` +
+// surface. When effective, only the orientation prompt and child env mark that
-        `left off, then continue the desk's work. Write your journal before you stop.`;
+// the frontier desk may use the installed local-agent-delegation skill.
-}
 
 // Spawn detached and resolve true only once the OS confirms the process
 // started ('spawn'), false on failure ('error', e.g. the binary is missing) so
@@ -354,7 +366,62 @@ function isInsideRoot(root, target) {
     } catch { return false; }
 }
 
-async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE) {
+function preferenceStatePath(workshopDir) {
+    return localDelegationPreferencePath(workshopDir, {
+        resolvePath: (p) => {
+            try { return realpathSync(p); } catch { return p; }
+        },
+    });
+}
+
+async function readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir) {
+    // Never read preference from the workshop repo — a clone can ship
+    // preference:on. Only user-local state (or explicit env) counts.
+    try {
+        const raw = JSON.parse(await readFile(preferenceStatePath(workshopDir), "utf8"));
+        return parseLocalDelegationState(raw).preference;
+    } catch {
+        return normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(
+            process.env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_PREFERENCE, "off");
+    }
+}
+
+async function writeLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir, preference) {
+    const state = serializeLocalDelegationState({ preference });
+    const target = preferenceStatePath(workshopDir);
+    await mkdir(dirname(target), { recursive: true });
+    // Atomic replace in the user-local dir (temp + rename).
+    const tmp = join(
+        dirname(target),
+        `.pref.${process.pid}.${randomBytes(4).toString("hex")}.tmp`);
+    const body = JSON.stringify(state, null, 2) + "\n";
+    try {
+        await writeFile(tmp, body, { encoding: "utf8", flag: "wx" });
+        try {
+            await rename(tmp, target);
+        } catch {
+            await unlink(target).catch(() => {});
+            await rename(tmp, target);
+        }
+    } catch (err) {
+        await unlink(tmp).catch(() => {});
+        throw err;
+    }
+    return state;
+}
+
+function currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference) {
+    const availability = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability();
+    return resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({ preference, availability });
+}
+
+async function launchDeskConsole(
+    deskPath,
+    deskName,
+    workshopDir,
+    profile = DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE,
+    localDelegation = { effective: false },
+) {
     // deskName must be a plain slug so it is safe on every command line and shell
     // below, and the resolved desk must still live inside the workshop root
     // (which defeats a symlinked desk that escapes the repo). deskPath itself is
@@ -367,24 +434,27 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
     if (!isInsideRoot(workshopDir, deskPath)) return false;
     const agent = await deskAgentArgv(deskName, workshopDir, profile);
     if (!agent) return false;
-    const run = [...agent, "-i", deskOrientPrompt(deskName)];
+    const effective = Boolean(localDelegation?.effective);
+    const run = [...agent, "-i", deskOrientPrompt(deskName, { localDelegationEffective: effective })];
+    const env = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(process.env, { localDelegationEffective: effective });
     if (process.platform === "win32") {
         const wt = resolveOnPath("wt", { directOnly: true, excludedRoot: workshopDir });
         const cmd = resolveSystem32Executable("cmd.exe");
-        const direct = /\.(exe|com)$/i.test(run[0]);
+        // wt.exe does not reliably forward Node's spawn env into a new tab when
-        if (direct && wt && await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, ...run])) return true;
+        // Windows Terminal is already running. Always start through cmd.exe and
-
+        // set/clear WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION in the command string itself.
-        // Older installs can expose .cmd/.bat shims. Only use cmd.exe when every
+        // Args are quoteWindowsCmdArgument'd, so only block expanders that still
-        // argument is free of cmd metacharacters; otherwise fail closed and let
+        // fire inside quotes (% and !) — allow parentheses in workshop paths.
-        // the UI copy the desk path rather than reparse an unsafe workshop path.
+        const cmdSafe = run.every((arg) => isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg(arg));
-        const cmdSafe = run.every((arg) => !/[&|<>^%!()\r\n]/.test(arg));
+        if (!cmdSafe || !cmd) return false;
-        if (cmdSafe && wt && cmd &&
+        const inner = windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(effective)
-            await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, cmd, "/k", ...run])) return true;
+            + run.map(quoteWindowsCmdArgument).join(" ");
-        // Fallback when wt.exe is absent: a fresh console window via `start`,
+        if (wt && await trySpawn(wt, ["-d", deskPath, cmd, "/d", "/s", "/k", inner], { env })) {
-        // still through cmd /k only when the arguments are safe for reparsing.
+            return true;
-        return cmdSafe && cmd
+        }
-            ? await trySpawn(cmd, ["/c", "start", "", cmd, "/k", ...run], { cwd: deskPath })
+        // Fallback when wt.exe is absent: a fresh console window via `start`.
-            : false;
+        return await trySpawn(
+            cmd, ["/c", "start", "", cmd, "/d", "/s", "/k", inner], { cwd: deskPath, env });
     }
     if (process.platform === "darwin") {
         const osascript = "/usr/bin/osascript";
@@ -393,13 +463,18 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
         // to cd into the desk and exec the agent. Each argv element is POSIX
         // single-quoted so the shell can't reinterpret it, and osascript itself
         // is spawned via argv (no shell).
-        const line = "cd " + shSingleQuote(deskPath) + " && exec " +
+        // Local-delegation env is exported in-line so the Terminal session sees it
+        // without inheriting a polluted parent shell forever.
+        const envPrefix = effective
+            ? "export WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled; "
+            : "unset WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION; ";
+        const line = "cd " + shSingleQuote(deskPath) + " && " + envPrefix + "exec " +
             run.map(shSingleQuote).join(" ");
         const script = 'tell application "Terminal"\n' +
             "  activate\n" +
             "  do script " + osaStringLiteral(line) + "\n" +
             "end tell";
-        return await trySpawn(osascript, ["-e", script]);
+        return await trySpawn(osascript, ["-e", script], { env });
     }
     // Linux/other: best-effort across common terminal emulators. Each is spawned
     // via argv (no shell) with the agent command after the emulator's exec flag,
@@ -412,7 +487,7 @@ async function launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile = DEFA
     ];
     for (const [term, args] of linuxTerms) {
         const executable = resolveOnPath(term, { excludedRoot: workshopDir });
-        if (executable && await trySpawn(executable, args, { cwd: deskPath })) return true;
+        if (executable && await trySpawn(executable, args, { cwd: deskPath, env })) return true;
     }
     return false;
 }
@@ -728,7 +803,42 @@ function avgScore(signals) {
     return { confidence: avg("confidence"), accuracy: avg("accuracy"), completeness: avg("completeness"), intent: avg("intentScore") };
 }
 
-function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) {
+function renderLocalDelegationControl(localDelegation) {
+    const pref = localDelegation?.preference || "off";
+    const available = Boolean(localDelegation?.availability?.available);
+    const effective = Boolean(localDelegation?.effective);
+    const reason = localDelegation?.availability?.reason || "Local Delegation unavailable";
+    const routeId = localDelegation?.availability?.routeId || null;
+    const next = pref === "on" ? "off" : "on";
+    const label = effective ? "On" : (pref === "on" ? "On*" : "Off");
+    const color = effective ? "#86efac" : (pref === "on" ? "#fbbf24" : "#94a3b8");
+    const border = effective ? "#166534" : (pref === "on" ? "#854d0e" : "#334155");
+    const title = available
+        ? (effective
+            ? `Local Delegation effective${routeId ? ` · route ${routeId}` : ""}`
+            : "Local Delegation available but currently off")
+        : reason;
+    const note = effective && routeId
+        ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#86efac;max-width:240px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;" title="${esc(title)}">effective · ${esc(truncate(routeId, 28))}</span>`
+        : !available
+        ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#64748b;max-width:220px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap;" title="${esc(reason)}">${esc(truncate(reason, 48))}</span>`
+        : (pref === "on" && !effective
+            ? `<span style="font-size:10px;color:#fbbf24;">requested, unavailable</span>`
+            : "");
+    return `
+    <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:6px;" title="${esc(title)}">
+        <span style="font-size:10px;color:#64748b;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.04em;">Local</span>
+        <button data-act="local-delegation" data-preference="${esc(next)}"
+            aria-label="Local Delegation ${esc(label)}${effective && routeId ? ` route ${esc(routeId)}` : ""}"
+            aria-pressed="${pref === "on" ? "true" : "false"}"
+            style="background:#020617;border:1px solid ${border};color:${color};padding:2px 8px;border-radius:999px;
+                   font-size:11px;cursor:pointer;font-weight:600;min-width:42px;"
+            title="${esc(title)}">${esc(label)}</button>
+        ${note}
+    </div>`;
+}
+
+function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals, localDelegation) {
     const escalations = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType === "escalation").length;
     const withSignals = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType !== "none").length;
     const awaiting = activeSignals.filter(s => s.signalType === "none").length;
@@ -763,13 +873,14 @@ function renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) {
 
     return `
     <div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;padding:10px 14px;
-                background:#0f172a;border:1px solid #1e293b;border-radius:8px;margin-bottom:14px;">
+                background:#0f172a;border:1px solid #1e293b;border-radius:8px;margin-bottom:14px;gap:12px;flex-wrap:wrap;">
-        <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;">
+        <div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:12px;flex-wrap:wrap;">
             <span style="font-size:13px;color:#cbd5e1;"><b style="color:#f1f5f9;">${activeSignals.length}</b> desk${activeSignals.length !== 1 ? "s" : ""}</span>
             <span style="font-size:11px;color:#475569;">${withSignals} reporting · ${awaiting} awaiting</span>
             ${tokenBadge}
             ${calibrationBadge}
             ${escBadge}
+            ${renderLocalDelegationControl(localDelegation)}
         </div>
         ${avgBlock}
     </div>`;
@@ -945,8 +1056,9 @@ function renderStashedCard(entry) {
     </div>`;
 }
 
-function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
+function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken, localDelegation) {
     const activeSignals = sortSignals(signals.filter(s => !stashed.some(e => e.name === s.deskName)));
+    const localDelegationState = localDelegation || currentLocalDelegationLaunch("off");
 
     const cards = activeSignals.length > 0
         ? activeSignals.map(renderSignalCard).join("")
@@ -975,7 +1087,9 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
             </div>
            </div>`;
 
-    const summaryBar = activeSignals.length > 0 ? renderSummaryBar(activeSignals) : "";
+    // Always show the Local Delegation control so operators can see availability
+    // even before the first desk signal arrives.
+    const summaryBar = renderSummaryBar(activeSignals, localDelegationState);
 
     const stashedSection = stashed.length > 0 ? `
         <div style="margin-top:20px;padding-top:12px;border-top:1px solid #1a1a1a;">
@@ -1058,27 +1172,55 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
             const data = await res.json();
             if (data.ok) {
                 const path = data.deskPath || name;
+                const notice = data.localDelegationNotice || {};
+                const localTitle = notice.titleSuffix || '';
+                const localDetail = notice.detail || '';
                 if (data.launched) {
                     // A successful open shouldn't hijack the user's clipboard.
-                    showToast('opening ' + name + ' desk (' + selectedProfile + ')…', path);
+                    // Surface LD state in the toast — operators cannot rely on -i alone.
+                    showToast('opening ' + name + ' desk (' + selectedProfile + localTitle + ')…',
+                        localDetail || path);
                 } else {
                     // No terminal launched from here, so copy the path as the
                     // fallback handle, but only claim the copy when it actually
                     // succeeded. The path shows in the toast either way.
                     let copied = false;
                     try { await navigator.clipboard.writeText(path); copied = true; } catch {}
-                    showToast(copied ? (name + ' · path copied') : (name + ' · copy this path'), path);
+                    const copyTitle = copied ? (name + ' · path copied') : (name + ' · copy this path');
+                    showToast(copyTitle + localTitle, localDetail || path);
                 }
             } else {
                 showToast(name + ' · not found', '');
             }
         }
+        async function setLocalDelegation(preference) {
+            const res = await fetch('/api/local-delegation?preference=' +
+                encodeURIComponent(preference || 'off'), POST_OPTS);
+            const data = await res.json();
+            if (data.ok) {
+                const ld = data.localDelegation || {};
+                const routeId = ld.availability && ld.availability.routeId;
+                const label = ld.effective
+                    ? ('Local Delegation effective' + (routeId ? (' · route ' + routeId) : ''))
+                    : (ld.preference === 'on'
+                        ? 'Local Delegation requested (unavailable)'
+                        : 'Local Delegation off');
+                showToast(label, ld.availability?.reason || '');
+                refresh();
+            } else {
+                showToast('Local Delegation · not updated', data.error || '');
+            }
+        }
         document.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
             const btn = e.target.closest('button[data-act]');
             if (!btn) return;
+            const act = btn.getAttribute('data-act');
+            if (act === 'local-delegation') {
+                setLocalDelegation(btn.getAttribute('data-preference') || 'off');
+                return;
+            }
             const name = btn.getAttribute('data-desk');
             if (!name) return;
-            const act = btn.getAttribute('data-act');
             const profile = btn.getAttribute('data-profile');
             if (act === 'stash') stashDesk(name);
             else if (act === 'restore') restoreDesk(name);
@@ -1102,19 +1244,26 @@ function renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken) {
                             active.getAttribute('data-act'),
                             active.getAttribute('data-desk'),
                             active.getAttribute('data-profile') || '',
+                            active.getAttribute('data-preference') || '',
                         ]);
                     }
                     content.innerHTML = newContent.innerHTML;
                     if (focusKey) {
-                        const [act, desk, profile] = JSON.parse(focusKey);
+                        const [act, desk, profile, preference] = JSON.parse(focusKey);
-                        const escDesk = (window.CSS && CSS.escape) ? CSS.escape(desk) : desk;
+                        let target = null;
-                        const profileSelector = profile
+                        if (act === 'local-delegation') {
-                            ? '[data-profile="' + profile + '"]'
+                            target = content.querySelector('button[data-act="local-delegation"]');
-                            : ':not([data-profile])';
+                        } else {
-                        const target = content.querySelector(
+                            const escDesk = (window.CSS && CSS.escape) ? CSS.escape(desk) : desk;
-                            'button[data-act="' + act + '"][data-desk="' + escDesk + '"]' +
+                            const profileSelector = profile
-                            profileSelector);
+                                ? '[data-profile="' + profile + '"]'
+                                : ':not([data-profile])';
+                            target = content.querySelector(
+                                'button[data-act="' + act + '"][data-desk="' + escDesk + '"]' +
+                                profileSelector);
+                        }
                         if (target) target.focus();
+                        void preference;
                     }
                 }
             } catch {}
@@ -1180,6 +1329,20 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
             res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true }));
             return;
         }
+        if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname === "/api/local-delegation") {
+            const preferenceInput = url.searchParams.get("preference") || "off";
+            if (!["off", "on"].includes(String(preferenceInput).toLowerCase())) {
+                res.writeHead(400, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
+                res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: false, error: "Invalid local delegation preference" }));
+                return;
+            }
+            const preference = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preferenceInput, "off");
+            await writeLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir, preference);
+            const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
+            res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
+            res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true, localDelegation }));
+            return;
+        }
         if (req.method === "POST" && url.pathname.startsWith("/api/open/")) {
             const deskName = decodeURIComponent(url.pathname.split("/api/open/")[1]);
             const profileInput = url.searchParams.get("profile") || DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE;
@@ -1194,14 +1357,25 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
                 return;
             }
             const profile = normalizeDeskProfile(profileInput);
+            const preference = await readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir);
+            const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
             for (const subdir of ["desks", "classroom"]) {
                 const deskPath = join(workshopDir, subdir, deskName);
                 try {
                     const s = await stat(deskPath);
                     if (s.isDirectory()) {
-                        const launched = await launchDeskConsole(deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile);
+                        const launched = await launchDeskConsole(
+                            deskPath, deskName, workshopDir, profile, localDelegation);
                         res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
-                        res.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: true, deskName, deskPath, launched, profile }));
+                        res.end(JSON.stringify({
+                            ok: true,
+                            deskName,
+                            deskPath,
+                            launched,
+                            profile,
+                            localDelegation,
+                            localDelegationNotice: formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation),
+                        }));
                         return;
                     }
                 } catch {}
@@ -1213,8 +1387,10 @@ async function startServer(instanceId, workshopDir) {
 
         const signals = await scanSignals(workshopDir);
         const stashed = await readStash(workshopDir);
+        const preference = await readLocalDelegationPreference(workshopDir);
+        const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
         res.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=utf-8");
-        res.end(renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken));
+        res.end(renderDashboard(signals, stashed, capabilityToken, localDelegation));
         } catch (err) {
             // Top-level boundary: never leave a request hanging or let a
             // rejection become an unhandled crash — e.g. malformed %-encoding
@@ -1327,7 +1503,7 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                 },
                 {
                     name: "open_desk",
-                    description: "Open a desk as an in-place Copilot CLI session. Repo profile suppresses ambient plugin MCPs; connected keeps every configured tool. Returns the desk path, profile, and whether a terminal was launched.",
+                    description: "Open a desk as an in-place Copilot CLI session. Repo profile suppresses ambient plugin MCPs; connected keeps every configured tool. Local Delegation is orthogonal and fail-closed: when available and preferred on, the frontier desk may use sealed local-agent-delegation for bounded read/evidence work. Returns the desk path, profile, localDelegation state, and whether a terminal was launched.",
                     inputSchema: {
                         type: "object",
                         properties: {
@@ -1337,6 +1513,11 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                                 enum: ["repo", "connected"],
                                 description: `Tool profile. Defaults to ${DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE}.`,
                             },
+                            localDelegation: {
+                                type: "string",
+                                enum: ["off", "on"],
+                                description: "Optional Local Delegation preference for this launch. Defaults to the workshop Cairn toggle (.local-delegation.json).",
+                            },
                         },
                         required: ["deskName"],
                     },
@@ -1347,13 +1528,21 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                         const profileInput = ctx.input.profile || DEFAULT_DESK_PROFILE;
                         if (!isDeskProfile(profileInput)) return { error: "Invalid desk profile" };
                         const profile = normalizeDeskProfile(profileInput);
+                        const preferenceInput = ctx.input.localDelegation
+                            ?? await readLocalDelegationPreference(entry.workshopDir);
+                        const preference = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preferenceInput, "off");
+                        const localDelegation = currentLocalDelegationLaunch(preference);
                         for (const subdir of ["desks", "classroom"]) {
                             const deskPath = join(entry.workshopDir, subdir, ctx.input.deskName);
                             try {
                                 const s = await stat(deskPath);
                                 if (s.isDirectory()) {
                                     const launched = await launchDeskConsole(
-                                        deskPath, ctx.input.deskName, entry.workshopDir, profile);
+                                        deskPath,
+                                        ctx.input.deskName,
+                                        entry.workshopDir,
+                                        profile,
+                                        localDelegation);
                                     return {
                                         ok: true,
                                         deskName: ctx.input.deskName,
@@ -1361,6 +1550,8 @@ const session = await joinSession({
                                         launched,
                                         workshopDir: entry.workshopDir,
                                         profile,
+                                        localDelegation,
+                                        localDelegationNotice: formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation),
                                     };
                                 }
                             } catch {}

plugins/the-workshop/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/launch-profile.mjs

@@ -25,6 +25,16 @@ export function isSafeWindowsCmdShim(value) {
     return typeof value === "string" && !/[%\r\n]/.test(value);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Args that will be wrapped with quoteWindowsCmdArgument. Inside double quotes,
+ * cmd still expands %VAR% and !VAR! (delayed expansion). Other metacharacters
+ * like & | < > ^ ( ) are literal when quoted, so paths such as
+ * C:\Work\Project (1) must be allowed.
+ */
+export function isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && !/[%!\r\n]/.test(value);
+}
+
 export function parsePluginMcpNames(text) {
     let parsed;
     try { parsed = JSON.parse(text); }

plugins/the-workshop/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/launch-profile.test.mjs

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { join } from "node:path";
 import {
     buildDeskAgentArgv,
     isDeskProfile,
+    isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg,
     isSafeWindowsCmdShim,
     isWindowsAppExecutionAlias,
     normalizeDeskProfile,
@@ -41,6 +42,10 @@ test("quotes trusted cmd shim arguments and rejects percent-bearing paths", () =
     assert.equal(quoteWindowsCmdArgument("--scope"), "\"--scope\"");
     assert.equal(isSafeWindowsCmdShim("C:\\Program Files\\Agency\\agency.cmd"), true);
     assert.equal(isSafeWindowsCmdShim("C:\\Users\\%USERNAME%\\agency.cmd"), false);
+    // Quoted args may contain parentheses (common workshop folders).
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Work\\Project (1)"), true);
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Users\\%USERNAME%\\w"), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeQuotedWindowsCmdArg("C:\\Users\\!DELAY!\\w"), false);
 });
 
 test("executes a Windows cmd shim with safe quoting", {

plugins/the-workshop/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/local-delegation.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,401 @@
+import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
+import { accessSync, constants as fsConstants, existsSync, readFileSync, readdirSync, statSync } from "node:fs";
+import { homedir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+
+const PREFERENCES = new Set(["off", "on"]);
+const SAFE_ROUTE_ID = /^[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9._:-]{0,127}$/;
+
+/** @deprecated Repo-root state is rejected; kept only for docs/migration mentions. */
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_STATE_FILE = ".local-delegation.json";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV = "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME = "local-agent-delegation";
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_USER_STATE_DIR = join(".copilot", "workshop-local-delegation");
+
+/**
+ * Stable user-local preference path for a workshop root.
+ * Permission state must NOT live in the cloned workshop (a repo can ship
+ * preference:on). Key by a hash of the canonical workshop path under ~/.copilot.
+ */
+export function localDelegationPreferencePath(workshopDir, {
+    home = homedir(),
+    resolvePath = (p) => p,
+} = {}) {
+    if (typeof workshopDir !== "string" || !workshopDir) {
+        throw new Error("workshopDir is required");
+    }
+    let canonical = workshopDir;
+    try { canonical = resolvePath(workshopDir); } catch { /* keep input */ }
+    // Normalize separators only. Do not lowercase: on case-sensitive filesystems
+    // /work/Foo and /work/foo are distinct workshops and must not share state.
+    const key = createHash("sha256")
+        .update(String(canonical).replaceAll("\\", "/"))
+        .digest("hex")
+        .slice(0, 32);
+    return join(home, LOCAL_DELEGATION_USER_STATE_DIR, `${key}.json`);
+}
+
+export function isLocalDelegationPreference(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && PREFERENCES.has(value.toLowerCase());
+}
+
+export function normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(value, fallback = "off") {
+    return isLocalDelegationPreference(value) ? value.toLowerCase() : fallback;
+}
+
+// Windows Terminal / cmd reparse cannot safely carry long multi-space -i strings.
+// Keep the orientation prompt short, ASCII, and quote-free. Local Delegation
+// policy lives in WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled + the installed skill — not
+// on the CLI.
+const MAX_ORIENT_PROMPT_CHARS = 280;
+// Allow apostrophes (desk's). Ban double quotes, backticks, dashes that WT/cmd
+// have split on, and classic cmd metacharacters.
+const UNSAFE_ORIENT_CHARS = /["`—–|&<>^%!()\r\n]/;
+
+export function isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(prompt) {
+    return typeof prompt === "string"
+        && prompt.length > 0
+        && prompt.length <= MAX_ORIENT_PROMPT_CHARS
+        && !UNSAFE_ORIENT_CHARS.test(prompt);
+}
+
+/** One short ASCII notice operators can see in the session start prompt. */
+export const LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE = " Local Delegation env is enabled.";
+
+export function deskOrientPrompt(deskName, { localDelegationEffective = false } = {}) {
+    // deskName is already constrained to a slug by the launcher; still keep the
+    // prompt free of punctuation that cmd/wt have historically mis-parsed.
+    let prompt = `You are sitting down at the ${deskName} desk in this workshop. ` +
+        `Read journal.md in this folder first to pick up where the last session ` +
+        `left off, then continue the desk's work. Write your journal before you stop.`;
+    // Only a single short ASCII line may ride on -i. Full policy stays in env + skill.
+    if (localDelegationEffective) {
+        const withNotice = prompt + LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE;
+        if (isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(withNotice)) prompt = withNotice;
+    }
+    return prompt;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Operator-visible summary for open toasts and badges.
+ * Never claims savings; only reports effective state + route id when known.
+ */
+export function formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice(localDelegation) {
+    if (!localDelegation || typeof localDelegation !== "object") {
+        return { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" };
+    }
+    const routeId = localDelegation.availability?.routeId || null;
+    if (localDelegation.effective) {
+        const routePart = routeId ? ` · route ${routeId}` : "";
+        return {
+            titleSuffix: " · Local Delegation effective",
+            detail: `Local Delegation effective${routePart}`,
+        };
+    }
+    if (localDelegation.requested) {
+        return {
+            titleSuffix: " · local unavailable",
+            detail: localDelegation.warning
+                || localDelegation.availability?.reason
+                || "Local Delegation requested but unavailable",
+        };
+    }
+    return { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" };
+}
+
+export function buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(baseEnv = {}, { localDelegationEffective = false } = {}) {
+    const env = { ...baseEnv };
+    // Windows env names are case-insensitive; spreading process.env yields a
+    // case-sensitive object, so clear every spelling before optionally setting.
+    const target = LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV.toLowerCase();
+    for (const key of Object.keys(env)) {
+        if (key.toLowerCase() === target) delete env[key];
+    }
+    if (localDelegationEffective) {
+        env[LOCAL_DELEGATION_ENV] = "enabled";
+    }
+    return env;
+}
+
+/**
+ * cmd.exe prefix that forces WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION on or off inside a new
+ * Windows Terminal / console session. wt.exe does not reliably forward the
+ * caller's process env into a new tab when Terminal is already running.
+ */
+export function windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(localDelegationEffective = false) {
+    return localDelegationEffective
+        ? 'set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled"&& '
+        : 'set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION="&& ';
+}
+
+/**
+ * Savings credit is utilization accounting, not a price claim.
+ * Failed, unaccepted, redone, or escalated local work earns zero.
+ */
+export function localSavingsCredit({
+    attempted = false,
+    gateAccepted = false,
+    redone = false,
+    escalated = false,
+} = {}) {
+    if (!attempted || !gateAccepted || redone || escalated) {
+        return {
+            credit: 0,
+            utilization: attempted ? "handled_locally_unaccepted" : "not_attempted",
+            reason: !attempted
+                ? "not_attempted"
+                : escalated
+                    ? "escalated"
+                    : redone
+                        ? "redone"
+                        : "gate_not_accepted",
+        };
+    }
+    return {
+        credit: 0, // dollar savings are never claimed by Cairn
+        utilization: "handled_locally_accepted",
+        reason: "accepted_utilization_only",
+    };
+}
+
+function isReadableFile(path) {
+    try {
+        if (!statSync(path).isFile()) return false;
+        accessSync(path, fsConstants.R_OK);
+        return true;
+    } catch {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
+
+function skillMarkerPath(dir) {
+    return join(dir, "SKILL.md");
+}
+
+function looksLikeSkillDir(dir) {
+    return isReadableFile(skillMarkerPath(dir));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Discover the installed local-agent-delegation skill.
+ * Injectable probes keep unit tests filesystem-free.
+ */
+export function findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+    env = process.env,
+    home = homedir(),
+    exists = existsSync,
+    isSkillDir = looksLikeSkillDir,
+} = {}) {
+    const explicit = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR || "").trim();
+    if (explicit) {
+        return isSkillDir(explicit) ? explicit : null;
+    }
+
+    const candidates = [
+        join(home, ".copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+        join(home, ".agents", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+    ];
+
+    for (const candidate of candidates) {
+        if (isSkillDir(candidate)) return candidate;
+    }
+
+    // Marketplace: ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/<marketplace>/<plugin>/
+    // Direct:      ~/.copilot/installed-plugins/_direct/<plugin>/
+    // Skill dirs may live at skills/, .github/skills/, or com.github.copilot/skills/.
+    const pluginsRoot = join(home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins");
+    if (exists(pluginsRoot)) {
+        try {
+            for (const market of readdirSync(pluginsRoot, { withFileTypes: true })) {
+                if (!market.isDirectory()) continue;
+                const marketRoot = join(pluginsRoot, market.name);
+                let pluginEntries;
+                try {
+                    pluginEntries = readdirSync(marketRoot, { withFileTypes: true });
+                } catch {
+                    continue;
+                }
+                for (const plugin of pluginEntries) {
+                    if (!plugin.isDirectory()) continue;
+                    const pluginRoot = join(marketRoot, plugin.name);
+                    const nestedCandidates = [
+                        join(pluginRoot, "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, ".github", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, "com.github.copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                        join(pluginRoot, "com.github.awesome-copilot", "skills", LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_NAME),
+                    ];
+                    for (const nested of nestedCandidates) {
+                        if (isSkillDir(nested)) return nested;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } catch {
+            // fail closed on scan errors
+        }
+    }
+
+    return null;
+}
+
+function readJsonFile(path, readFile = readFileSync) {
+    try {
+        return JSON.parse(readFile(path, "utf8"));
+    } catch {
+        return null;
+    }
+}
+
+function isRouteId(value) {
+    return typeof value === "string" && SAFE_ROUTE_ID.test(value);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Fail-closed availability. Enable only when skill + qualified route receipt
+ * (or explicit env route id) are present. Never invent availability.
+ */
+export function resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+    env = process.env,
+    home = homedir(),
+    now = Date.now(),
+    findSkill = findLocalDelegationSkillDir,
+    readFile = readFileSync,
+    exists = existsSync,
+} = {}) {
+    const forced = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_AVAILABLE || "").trim().toLowerCase();
+    if (forced === "0" || forced === "false" || forced === "unavailable") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Forced unavailable by WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_AVAILABLE",
+            skillDir: null,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const skillDir = findSkill({ env, home, exists });
+    if (!skillDir) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+            skillDir: null,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const envRoute = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID || "").trim();
+    if (envRoute) {
+        if (!isRouteId(envRoute)) {
+            return {
+                available: false,
+                reason: "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID is not a safe route id",
+                skillDir,
+                routeId: null,
+            };
+        }
+        return {
+            available: true,
+            reason: "Skill installed; route id provided by environment",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: envRoute,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const receiptPath = (env.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_RECEIPT || "").trim()
+        || join(home, ".copilot", "local-agent-runs", "qualified-route.json");
+    if (!exists(receiptPath)) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "No qualified route receipt (set WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID or write ~/.copilot/local-agent-runs/qualified-route.json)",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const receipt = readJsonFile(receiptPath, readFile);
+    if (!receipt || typeof receipt !== "object") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Qualified route receipt is unreadable",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const status = String(receipt.status || "").toLowerCase();
+    if (status !== "qualified") {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: `Route receipt status is '${receipt.status || "missing"}', not qualified`,
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: isRouteId(receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId) ? (receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId) : null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    const routeId = receipt.route_id || receipt.routeId || null;
+    if (!isRouteId(routeId)) {
+        return {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "Route receipt is missing a safe route_id",
+            skillDir,
+            routeId: null,
+        };
+    }
+
+    if (receipt.expires_at || receipt.expiresAt) {
+        const expires = Date.parse(receipt.expires_at || receipt.expiresAt);
+        if (!Number.isFinite(expires) || expires <= now) {
+            return {
+                available: false,
+                reason: "Qualified route receipt has expired",
+                skillDir,
+                routeId,
+            };
+        }
+    }
+
+    return {
+        available: true,
+        reason: "Skill installed; qualified route receipt present",
+        skillDir,
+        routeId,
+    };
+}
+
+export function resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({
+    preference = "off",
+    availability,
+} = {}) {
+    const pref = normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(preference, "off");
+    const available = Boolean(availability?.available);
+    if (pref === "on" && !available) {
+        return {
+            preference: pref,
+            requested: true,
+            effective: false,
+            availability,
+            warning: availability?.reason || "Local Delegation unavailable",
+        };
+    }
+    return {
+        preference: pref,
+        requested: pref === "on",
+        effective: pref === "on" && available,
+        availability,
+        warning: null,
+    };
+}
+
+export function parseLocalDelegationState(raw) {
+    if (!raw || typeof raw !== "object") {
+        return { preference: "off" };
+    }
+    return {
+        preference: normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(raw.preference, "off"),
+    };
+}
+
+export function serializeLocalDelegationState(state) {
+    return {
+        preference: normalizeLocalDelegationPreference(state?.preference, "off"),
+        updatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
+    };
+}

plugins/the-workshop/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/local-delegation.test.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,298 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { join, sep } from "node:path";
+import {
+    LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE,
+    buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv,
+    deskOrientPrompt,
+    findLocalDelegationSkillDir,
+    formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice,
+    isLocalDelegationPreference,
+    isSafeDeskOrientPrompt,
+    localDelegationPreferencePath,
+    localSavingsCredit,
+    normalizeLocalDelegationPreference,
+    parseLocalDelegationState,
+    resolveLocalDelegationAvailability,
+    resolveLocalDelegationLaunch,
+    serializeLocalDelegationState,
+    windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix,
+} from "./local-delegation.mjs";
+import {
+    buildDeskAgentArgv,
+    normalizeDeskProfile,
+    quoteWindowsCmdArgument,
+} from "./launch-profile.mjs";
+
+test("normalizes local-delegation preference independently of desk profile", () => {
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("on"), true);
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("OFF"), true);
+    assert.equal(isLocalDelegationPreference("maybe"), false);
+    assert.equal(normalizeLocalDelegationPreference("ON"), "on");
+    assert.equal(normalizeLocalDelegationPreference("nope"), "off");
+    // Profile axis remains orthogonal and untouched.
+    assert.equal(normalizeDeskProfile("connected"), "connected");
+    assert.equal(normalizeDeskProfile("repo"), "repo");
+});
+
+test("availability is fail-closed without skill or route receipt", () => {
+    const missingSkill = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        findSkill: () => null,
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(missingSkill.available, false);
+    assert.match(missingSkill.reason, /not installed/i);
+
+    const skillOnly = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        findSkill: () => "C:\\home\\.copilot\\skills\\local-agent-delegation",
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(skillOnly.available, false);
+    assert.match(skillOnly.reason, /No qualified route receipt/i);
+});
+
+test("availability accepts env route id or a qualified receipt", () => {
+    const home = join("home");
+    const skillDir = join("skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+    const viaEnv = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_ROUTE_ID: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified" },
+        home,
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(viaEnv.available, true);
+    assert.equal(viaEnv.routeId, "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified");
+
+    // Match host path.join separators so Linux CI exercises the receipt branch.
+    const receiptPath = join(home, ".copilot", "local-agent-runs", "qualified-route.json");
+    const viaReceipt = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home,
+        now: Date.parse("2026-08-14T12:00:00Z"),
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: (p) => p === receiptPath,
+        readFile: () => JSON.stringify({
+            status: "qualified",
+            route_id: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+            expires_at: "2026-12-01T00:00:00Z",
+        }),
+    });
+    assert.equal(viaReceipt.available, true);
+    assert.equal(viaReceipt.routeId, "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified");
+
+    const expired = resolveLocalDelegationAvailability({
+        env: {},
+        home,
+        now: Date.parse("2027-01-01T00:00:00Z"),
+        findSkill: () => skillDir,
+        exists: (p) => p === receiptPath,
+        readFile: () => JSON.stringify({
+            status: "qualified",
+            route_id: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+            expires_at: "2026-12-01T00:00:00Z",
+        }),
+    });
+    assert.equal(expired.available, false);
+    assert.match(expired.reason, /expired/i);
+});
+
+test("requested on + unavailable stays ineffective with a warning", () => {
+    const launch = resolveLocalDelegationLaunch({
+        preference: "on",
+        availability: {
+            available: false,
+            reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+        },
+    });
+    assert.equal(launch.requested, true);
+    assert.equal(launch.effective, false);
+    assert.match(launch.warning, /not installed/i);
+});
+
+test("launch env enables when effective; -i prompt stays short and quote-free", () => {
+    const base = {
+        PATH: "/usr/bin",
+        WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION: "enabled",
+        workshop_local_delegation: "enabled",
+    };
+    const offEnv = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(base, { localDelegationEffective: false });
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(offEnv, "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION"), false);
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(offEnv, "workshop_local_delegation"), false);
+    assert.equal(offEnv.PATH, "/usr/bin");
+
+    const onEnv = buildLocalDelegationLaunchEnv(base, { localDelegationEffective: true });
+    assert.equal(onEnv.WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION, "enabled");
+    assert.equal(Object.hasOwn(onEnv, "workshop_local_delegation"), false);
+
+    const offPrompt = deskOrientPrompt("cost-desk", { localDelegationEffective: false });
+    const onPrompt = deskOrientPrompt("cost-desk", { localDelegationEffective: true });
+    assert.match(offPrompt, /cost-desk/);
+    assert.equal(offPrompt.includes("Local Delegation"), false);
+    // One short ASCII line only — never the long policy appendix.
+    assert.equal(onPrompt, offPrompt + LOCAL_DELEGATION_ORIENT_LINE);
+    assert.match(onPrompt, /Local Delegation env is enabled\./);
+    assert.equal(onPrompt.includes("do not delegate"), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt(onPrompt), true);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt('bad "quote"'), false);
+    assert.equal(isSafeDeskOrientPrompt("em dash — bad"), false);
+
+    assert.match(windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(true), /enabled/);
+    assert.match(windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(false), /WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION="&&/);
+    const run = ["C:\\tools\\copilot.exe", "-i", onPrompt];
+    const cmdLine = windowsLocalDelegationCmdPrefix(true) + run.map(quoteWindowsCmdArgument).join(" ");
+    assert.match(cmdLine, /^set "WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION=enabled"&& /);
+    assert.match(cmdLine, /copilot\.exe/);
+});
+
+test("open notice reports effective route without savings claims", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: true,
+        requested: true,
+        availability: { available: true, routeId: "foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified" },
+    }), {
+        titleSuffix: " · Local Delegation effective",
+        detail: "Local Delegation effective · route foundry-qwen25-7b-qualified",
+    });
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: false,
+        requested: true,
+        warning: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed",
+        availability: { available: false, reason: "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed" },
+    }).detail, "local-agent-delegation skill is not installed");
+    assert.deepEqual(formatLocalDelegationOpenNotice({
+        effective: false,
+        requested: false,
+    }), { titleSuffix: "", detail: "" });
+});
+
+test("repo/connected argv stays orthogonal to local-delegation preference", () => {
+    const repo = buildDeskAgentArgv({
+        deskName: "cost-desk",
+        workshopDir: "/workshop",
+        useAgency: false,
+        copilotCommand: "copilot",
+        profile: "repo",
+        pluginMcpNames: ["teams"],
+    });
+    const connected = buildDeskAgentArgv({
+        deskName: "cost-desk",
+        workshopDir: "/workshop",
+        useAgency: false,
+        copilotCommand: "copilot",
+        profile: "connected",
+        pluginMcpNames: ["teams"],
+    });
+    assert.deepEqual(repo, [
+        "copilot", "--name", "cost-desk",
+        "--disable-mcp-server", "teams",
+        "--add-dir", "/workshop",
+    ]);
+    assert.deepEqual(connected, [
+        "copilot", "--name", "cost-desk",
+        "--add-dir", "/workshop",
+    ]);
+    // Local delegation never injects into argv — only env/prompt.
+    assert.equal(repo.includes("local"), false);
+    assert.equal(connected.includes("local"), false);
+});
+
+test("failed or unaccepted local work earns zero savings credit", () => {
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: false }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: false }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true, redone: true }).credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true, escalated: true }).credit, 0);
+    const accepted = localSavingsCredit({ attempted: true, gateAccepted: true });
+    assert.equal(accepted.credit, 0);
+    assert.equal(accepted.utilization, "handled_locally_accepted");
+});
+
+test("state parse/serialize defaults to off", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseLocalDelegationState(null), { preference: "off" });
+    assert.equal(parseLocalDelegationState({ preference: "ON" }).preference, "on");
+    const serialized = serializeLocalDelegationState({ preference: "on" });
+    assert.equal(serialized.preference, "on");
+    assert.equal(typeof serialized.updatedAt, "string");
+});
+
+test("preference path is user-local and keyed by workshop path, not the repo root", () => {
+    const home = join("user-home");
+    const a = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-a"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const b = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-b"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const again = localDelegationPreferencePath(join("repos", "workshop-a"), {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    assert.match(a, /workshop-local-delegation/);
+    assert.equal(a.startsWith(home), true);
+    assert.equal(a.includes(`${sep}repos${sep}`), false);
+    assert.notEqual(a, b);
+    assert.equal(a, again);
+    // Repo-shipped .local-delegation.json is never the preference path.
+    assert.equal(a.endsWith(".local-delegation.json"), false);
+
+    // Case-sensitive filesystems: Foo and foo must not share permission state.
+    const upper = localDelegationPreferencePath("/work/Foo", {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    const lower = localDelegationPreferencePath("/work/foo", {
+        home,
+        resolvePath: (p) => p,
+    });
+    assert.notEqual(upper, lower);
+});
+
+test("skill discovery respects explicit dir and common install roots", () => {
+    const found = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR: "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation" },
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        exists: () => false,
+        isSkillDir: (p) => p === "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation",
+    });
+    assert.equal(found, "D:\\sealed\\.github\\skills\\local-agent-delegation");
+
+    const missingExplicit = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({
+        env: { WORKSHOP_LOCAL_DELEGATION_SKILL_DIR: "D:\\missing" },
+        home: "C:\\home",
+        exists: () => false,
+        isSkillDir: () => false,
+    });
+    assert.equal(missingExplicit, null);
+});
+
+test("skill discovery walks marketplace/plugin and _direct install layouts", async () => {
+    const { mkdtempSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync, rmSync } = await import("node:fs");
+    const { tmpdir } = await import("node:os");
+    const { join } = await import("node:path");
+    const home = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "ld-skill-"));
+    try {
+        const skillDir = join(
+            home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "awesome-copilot", "sealed-delegation",
+            ".github", "skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+        mkdirSync(skillDir, { recursive: true });
+        writeFileSync(join(skillDir, "SKILL.md"), "# local-agent-delegation\n");
+        const found = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({ home, env: {} });
+        assert.equal(found, skillDir);
+
+        rmSync(join(home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "awesome-copilot"), { recursive: true, force: true });
+        const direct = join(
+            home, ".copilot", "installed-plugins", "_direct", "sealed-delegation",
+            "skills", "local-agent-delegation");
+        mkdirSync(direct, { recursive: true });
+        writeFileSync(join(direct, "SKILL.md"), "# local-agent-delegation\n");
+        const foundDirect = findLocalDelegationSkillDir({ home, env: {} });
+        assert.equal(foundDirect, direct);
+    } finally {
+        rmSync(home, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+});

plugins/the-workshop/com.github.copilot/extensions/signals-dashboard/package.json

@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 {
   "name": "signals-dashboard",
-  "version": "0.2.0",
+  "version": "0.3.0",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "extension.mjs",
   "scripts": {
-    "test": "node --test launch-profile.test.mjs"
+    "test": "node --test launch-profile.test.mjs local-delegation.test.mjs"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@github/copilot-sdk": "latest"
   },
-  "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, and cost-aware repo or connected desk launch profiles.",
+  "description": "Real-time Workshop dashboard with agent signals, honesty calibration, cost-aware desk profiles, and fail-closed Local Delegation.",
   "keywords": [
     "agent-signals",
     "dashboard",