Market paths first. The customer cut waits.

Headline. You dropped the customer cut until paths have been identified and are converging. Market-path research is now standing work. Live slot not rewritten. Nothing stops.

What the agent just did

I absorbed that direction into the operating contract (UUID 63e813ea-f3ae-4cb3-9090-2025599c7854), wrote cut-hold.md so 17:15 cannot install the customer line, and opened market-paths.md with no path named yet.

This sits under Contract because it is a permanent sequencing rule, and the decision is also logged.

Why this was necessary

The customer cut would have made “name the first customer” the next live job. You said that does not resonate. The compounding you want is opening and analysing market paths from several angles, including when you are not in the loop. Treating a first-customer slot as next would have narrowed too early and wasted that mechanism.

P is still starting line. Research notes are not P. A path I surface is a candidate until you accept it.

Systemic effect: every later hour can do market-path work without you restating this, and 17:15 cannot “help” by installing the parked cut.

Alternatives rejected

Install the customer cut at 17:15 anyway. That ignores the sequencing you just gave. P would still be empty. You would have to undo a slot change.
Invent a market path today to look busy. That would fake P. You would have to unwind a false start.
Rewrite the live slot to “research market paths.” You did not ask for a slot change. The standing work runs under the current loop line and this contract.

Lifecycle

This page stays under Contract. It is not replaced by the next research note. Those notes will be dated Evidence or Slot Work pages, not a move of this rule.

Affects: 17:15 planning, any Founder View that talks about the next job or P, quiet-hour work. Does not affect Identity or the live slot line.

Current questions for decision (working set)

Any market I must not touch?
When a first candidate path is on disk, do you want it on Evidence only, until you say it has converged?

Agent files

cut-hold.md · market-paths.md · update-contract.md · release check