---
id: expert-contributions.overview
title: Expert Contributions
summary: Coordinate benchmark-scoped expert work, attributable judgment, governed artifacts, and the decisions that move correctness forward.
kind: concept
product_area: expert_contributions
status: stable
updated: 2026-09-07
canonical: /docs/expert-contributions
---

# Expert Contributions

Expert Contributions is the benchmark-scoped workspace for requesting, conducting, and materializing specialist work. It coordinates the expert, objective, selected evidence, task sequence, checkpoints, attributable responses, and contributed artifacts needed to move a benchmark forward.

## Definition

The administrator workspace contains **Overview**, **Contributions**, **Contributed Artifacts**, and **Logs & Status**. **Request Contribution** opens the composer for a new contribution. The expert follows a contribution-specific experience that can contain form, chat, interview, and case-review tasks, along with checkpoints and completion states.

A Contribution is the unit of requested expert effort. It replaces broad workflow configuration with a bounded statement of what this benchmark needs from this expert now. The work can result in contributed policies, rubrics, cases, or coverage observations without flattening all expert activity into one generic approval record.

## Decision checkpoint

| Need | Contribution element | Result to inspect |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Resolve a specific benchmark question | Contribution statement and scoped objectives | The expert can explain the requested decision |
| Ground work in concrete behavior | Selected or designated cases | Case-level responses remain attributable |
| Supply supporting knowledge | Attachments and scoped statements | The expert sees the relevant source boundary |
| Choose the right interaction | Form, chat, interview, or case review task | Task output matches the kind of judgment needed |
| Confirm consequential learning | Checkpoint | Accepted, revised, or unresolved state is explicit |
| Reuse the result | Contributed Artifacts | Policies, rubrics, cases, and coverage observations retain provenance |

## Lifecycle and status

The durable Contribution statuses are `PREPARING_DIRECTION`, `AWAITING_DIRECTION_ALIGNMENT`, `MATERIALIZING_TASKS`, `READY`, `IN_PROGRESS`, `COMPLETED`, and `CANCELLED`. The interface presents these as planning direction, waiting for alignment, preparing tasks, ready, active, completed, or cancelled. The exact task sequence can vary by Contribution.

Realtime updates and durable transitions help the administrator and expert see current progress without inventing completion. A waiting state, checkpoint, or finalization step should be shown as such. Completing the expert experience does not imply that every proposed artifact has been accepted into its project-level owner.

## Contribution evidence

Logs & Status exposes operational and engagement records. Contributed Artifacts organizes materialized or contributed cases, policies, rubrics, and new coverage observations. Correctness Governance, Assets, or Coverage Management owns the resulting project or benchmark artifact after materialization.

This model improves return on expert effort. Agents prepare focused work from project context, indexed material, benchmark cases, and unresolved questions. The expert supplies the authority; the result can be reused across standards, coverage, evaluation, and improvement.

{% example-demo title="Resolve source authority" %}
A benchmark contains cases where an operational runbook conflicts with a newer policy page. The operator requests a Contribution from the policy owner, selects the conflicting cases, attaches both sources, and uses case review plus a checkpoint. The expert establishes which source controls, contributes a scoped policy and rubric, and records one coverage observation for an unrepresented exception.
{% /example-demo %}

## Related workflows

{% related-card-grid title="Related workflows" %}
- [Request an Expert Contribution](/docs/expert-contributions/request-contribution)
- [Complete an Expert Contribution](/docs/expert-contributions/complete-contribution)
- [Build policies and rubrics](/docs/operating-manual/build-policies-and-rubrics)
{% /related-card-grid %}

## Related reference pages

{% related-card-grid title="Related reference pages" %}
- [Contributed Artifacts](/docs/expert-contributions/contributed-artifacts)
- [Contribution lifecycle and status](/docs/expert-contributions/lifecycle-and-status)
- [Logs & Status](/docs/expert-contributions/logs-and-status)
- [Agent Setup](/docs/agent-setup)
- [Human Approval Boundaries](/docs/governance/human-approval-boundaries)
{% /related-card-grid %}

## Source confidence

Code-backed: the active benchmark workspace, Contribution dashboard, composer, administrator detail, and expert routes support the scope, task, status, and artifact model described here.