Framing the Lesson
Problem
The project needed a concrete teaching target before code existed.
Why
Agentic systems become hard to reason about when the lesson starts with a full framework. Stage 1 narrows the problem to one loop, three tool shapes, one workspace boundary, and one verifiable answer.
Implementation
The first commits created the stage documentation and specified the task:
list_directory(path)
get_file_metadata(path)
finish(result, evidence)
The docs also defined the trust boundary: the model proposes actions, while the host owns authorization, execution, observations, budgets, and completion checks.
How it works
The stage specification makes unsupported claims visible. A tool call is only a request. A fact exists only after the host validates the call, executes it, and records an observation.
Test
No executable tests existed yet. The testable requirements were introduced as acceptance criteria in STAGE.md and docs/stages/01-hello-agent.md.
Observed failure or limitation
At this point, the repository taught the goal but had no runnable implementation.
Next step
Create the package and command-line entry point so the stage can be exercised.