When It Says No

Vyasa refuses more often than most tools — on purpose. Every refusal names its fix. Learn to read them once; they never surprise you again.

The refusals you'll meet first

It says	It means	You do
session start requires: intent, flow, …	sitting details missing	supply the named flags (or --interactive for prompts)
Unknown skill/mode/stage	not in this workflow's vocabulary	pick from the listed valid values
Target not found / terminal / superseded	nothing workable there	create a node, or follow the successor hint
Dependency not approved	an upstream item isn't finished	advance it first — order is real
Unapplied content — approve/reject first	a proposal waits for judgment	review diff, then accept or discard; never orphan
Session still active — end it first	the room is occupied	end that sitting (stale locks auto-clear)
No payload_paths declared	judging unapplied work	apply first, then gate
Validation failed: …	mechanical contract broken	fix named errors (paths, headers, checks), re-run
Gate(s) failed: …	a checkpoint didn't pass	read which, fix or accept the verdict
Active violations — end anyway?	open breaches on record	resolve each with a reason, then end
Worker session still active	you'd orphan a live assistant	close it, or --force deliberately

The mindset

A refusal is the product doing its job in front of you instead of letting damage through quietly. Thank it, read it, fix the named thing. If a message ever doesn't name its fix, that's a bug — report it.