Bake-off in planning

Run ce-bakeoff when the condition in Phase 1.6 holds: a Standard or Deep Durable plan with a consequential HOW that research left open, whose alternatives need development, and whose reversal would be costly. An explicit user request meets the condition on any Durable plan. Preserve the existing output/depth reclassification rules. A settled product direction does not settle unspecified technical choices, but a HOW the user, the requirements, or an established codebase pattern has specifically settled cannot be reopened to run a competition. If no eligible decision remains, state why and continue normal planning. Alternatives that are already concrete enough to compare need judgment, not development; keep that comparison in planning or use ce-pov. An explicit budget or time limit the competition cannot fit, or the user saying to pick one, also rules it out.

After research and before fixing that decision or dependent units, resolve model preferences using the activation-resolution rules in references/reasoning-elevation.md. Pass the resolved preference, including explicit restrictions, to ce-bakeoff with the requirements, question, full research evidence, settled decisions, project constraints, budget, and approach-sketch fidelity. An explicit candidate model mix takes precedence. Bake-off dispatches its own fresh candidates and handles its own fallback; do not run the plan-authoring adapter for each baker. With no preference, allow Bake-off's default model-family exploration.

Bake-off runs everything from exploration through selection. Carry its complete return into the technical-decision rationale and dependent units without changing stable identifiers or inventing user approval. Preserve incomplete/unresolved status: if it prevents a defensible plan, use planning's existing blocker contract; otherwise disclose the missing comparison and continue on the available evidence. A return that waits only on a user preference becomes an open decision in the plan; with no synchronous user, continue on the disclosed default rather than stopping the run.

The existing final interpret-and-author elevation still runs at its normal point. Give that author the complete Bake-off result and sources. It incorporates the selected approach and reports material contradictory evidence instead of silently rerunning the competition. Normal confidence, review, and handoff rules remain authoritative.