---
source_hash: f5189a659bf3b166344f5991bf7cb6d16185d5ca30bc08b1df1233c49c33274a
post: /posts/workflows/lay-your-own-roads
shape: doctrinal
---

# Context Pack: Lay your own roads

Agent reference for the rewritten portable-context essay. Only the quoted excerpts are verbatim. The city is an analogy for responsibility, not a literal architecture specification.

## Verbatim excerpts

> Copy the folder to move its context.

> The receiving tool still needs to read the format and have the tools and permissions required for the job.

> ICM doesn't claim to solve real-time coordination or high concurrency.

## Three responsibilities

The model supplies capability to interpret and generate. The harness exposes tools and executes actions around it. Portable context and handoffs connect work between these setups. The city illustration labels the layers MODELS, HARNESSES, ROADS and CITY GRID; the last depicts their connection, not an extra model capability.

ICM keeps the portable part in numbered stage folders and plain Markdown. Copy files to move context, edit instructions in a text editor and give a teammate the folder plus a clear entry point. The receiving environment still needs compatible tools, permissions and execution support. Exporting files does not transfer every runtime feature.

Visible inputs and outputs let different models work on independent stages, review one another or compare answers. Someone or something still starts stages, respects dependencies and checks results. Small human-reviewed workflows may not need a framework. Real-time messaging, high concurrency and fifty agents talking at once need more coordination machinery.

## Starter contract

[The roads starter](/downloads/roads-starter.md) is present at `apps/web/public/downloads/roads-starter.md`. It contains `CLAUDE.md` for identity/rules, `CONTEXT.md` for the stage map, `stages/01_research/`, `02_draft/`, `03_final/`, and `_config/` for shared material. Each stage has `CONTEXT.md`, `references/` and `output/`.

The stage contract names Inputs, Process and Outputs. The starter's normal execution is sequential and human-reviewed: run one stage, inspect/edit/rerun/accept its output, then pass it to the next. It does not supply automatic concurrent orchestration merely because independent work could be arranged in parallel elsewhere.

## Practical check

Choose one repeated workflow. Preserve its context, name each accepted input and output, and try one stage in another tool. Inspect what transfers and what still needs an adapter. Add coordination when the actual work needs it.

The essay retains `PortableContextFidget`, `SharedBoardFidget` and both city/roads diagrams. Its related posts cover ICM, stage folders and choosing a harness.