[Jammy2211]

What changed

projects.yaml had a closed active | dormant | planned vocabulary, a
parser and no writer. retired is the fourth value, and retire is the
one verb that writes this file.

• PROJECT_STATUSES gains retired; _finish_row's message lists all
  four.
• retire_project(root, key, why, today) — flips the row's status: to
  retired and rewrites (or appends) its note: as
  "retired <today>: <why>". Two lines edited in place; every other byte of
  the file is preserved; the result is re-parsed before it is kept and the
  original bytes are restored if it does not read back clean.
• It refuses: an unknown key, an already-retired row, a --why that is
  empty or holds a double quote (the file quotes with no escapes), a
  projects.yaml that does not already parse clean, and — the real guard —
  any project still holding a phase outside
  accepted | rerun | dropped | planned, naming each <phase> — <state>.
  planned phases are unasked questions and may stay.
• The row, its phases and its rulings all stay. The row is the only
  record of where a project's data lives, and rulings/ is append-only.
• cmd_retire + a retire subparser (project, required --why,
  --root, --today).
• Docs: REFERENCE.md gains the retirement paragraph under projects.yaml
  and a verb-reference entry; AGENTS.md lists the verb; the projects.yaml
  header comment carries the fourth value.
• dashboard.md / dashboard.html regenerated against the Brain's paired
  change: every dormant row now carries a 📋 retire chip whose payload is
  this command (7 chips, none on the planned row).

Tests

tests/test_cortex.py: 79 → 84 test functions, 122 passed. The flip
and the appended note with every byte outside the two edited lines
identical; an existing note: rewritten in place; the live-phase refusal
naming each phase and leaving the file untouched; unknown key, repeat and
bad --why; check clean afterwards; a CLI round-trip.

Scratch-verified on a throwaway copy of the live tree: retire concr flips
the status, writes the note, leaves check clean, and diff is exactly
two lines; retire euclid refuses naming its live ready phase.

Merge order

Pairs with PyAutoLabs/PyAutoBrain#359. The refresh check here renders
the dashboard against PyAutoBrain main and is red until that PR merges —
merge the Brain PR first, then re-run this check.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01JYs4cX2wT5vsZScjLNLZif