Sweep main before trusting worktree specs

Worktrees can be 100+ PRs behind origin/main. A spec or plan inside a long-lived worktree may describe a “research stub” that was already implemented + merged three days ago. Before claiming “not implemented” or “out of scope,” run git log origin/main -- <topic> to confirm the worktree’s view is current.

Why this exists

Worktrees in DPF persist for the lifetime of a feature branch. They can sit idle while:

• The operator travels and the weekly rate limits reset their schedule
• Other concurrent sessions land 30+ PRs to main for adjacent work
• The kernel evolves and the worktree’s local docs/founder-kernel/ copy goes stale

Trusting the worktree’s docs as the current state has produced:

• “Let me write this spec because the topic isn’t in the kernel” → it was, just merged to main two days ago in a parallel session
• “I’ll mark this as not implemented” → there was already a PR for it ahead of the worktree
• “The schema doesn’t have this column” → it did on main; the worktree was on a branch that pre-dated the migration

What to do

Before believing “X doesn’t exist” or “X isn’t implemented”:

1. git fetch origin main in the worktree
2. git log origin/main --oneline -- <relevant-path> for recent commits touching the area
3. git diff HEAD origin/main -- <relevant-path> to see what you’re missing
4. If you find work you didn’t know about, rebase the worktree onto origin/main (per worktree-base-origin-main) before continuing
5. For backlog state, query the LIVE DB via mcp__dpf__query_backlog — the worktree’s local docs are not the source of truth for backlog items

Anti-pattern

• “I read the spec at docs/superpowers/specs/... and it says this is a stub” — without checking when that file was last touched on main
• Naming a “new” epic for work that’s been an open backlog item for two weeks
• Designing a substrate the kernel already has a principle for, because the worktree’s docs/founder-kernel/ copy is from before the principle was added

Related principles

• worktree-per-session — each concurrent session in its own worktree
• worktree-base-origin-main — branch off origin/main, not local main
• consult-specs-first — but the specs you consult must be current
• verify-substrate-before-proposing-new — grep the LIVE codebase, not the worktree’s copy