cycle-openlisted

# cycle-open A team is committing to a stretch of work. This creates the cycle and moves the intents into it. *(scale profile only - a `core` repo has a backlog and needs nothing else.)* What a cycle is, and what belongs in one: [cycles (by reference)](https://github.com/repository-standards/core/blob/main/docs/tree/docs-cycles.md). This is how one is opened. ## Steps 0. **Resolve the backlog path once, the way the guard does.** Check `docs/backlog.md` first, then `backlog.md` (the manifest's primary path, R15) - whichever exists is the pool for every step below. Do not assume `docs/backlog.md`; a repo that satisfies the manifest at its primary path has no other file to read. 1. **Which team, and is there already an open cycle for them?** Look under `docs/cycles/`. A team with one already open is the common case worth catching: ask whether this is a second parallel cycle (legitimate - a team can run two threads) or whether the open one should be closed first. Do not open a duplicate silently. 2. **Ask for the goal, and push back once if it is a list.** The goal is the outcome, not the items: "checkout stops losing carts", never "do PAY-2, PAY-3 and PAY-7". If the answer restates the items, ask what becomes true when they are done - a cycle whose goal is its own contents tells the timeline nothing and tells the team nothing either. 3. **Ask for the target date, and say what it is.** Agreed and movable, not a deadline; nothing enforces it an