When no one claims

What happens to a Task no one claims?

It climbs a ladder. Each rung fires so long after the Task posted: a raise of the posted fee, then wider offers. Until someone claims it, the job waits on: 'claim'. That is a waiting state, not an error, and the owner console alarms while no member can reach it.

A Pool that writes no fill gets this one:

• A fee is raised, never lowered. Each raise is a share of the fee the Task posted at, and every act it buys is paid at the fee as it stands.
• The brand funds raises, out of its own share of the job. The default cap is the lower of 50% and what the job's margin leaves, so a brand-funded raise never loses money. check fails fill_underwater on a cap that could.
• A buyer-paid role is capped by the buyer. When a role's pay comes from the buyer, the buyer's policy.max_rush caps the raises, and check fails rush_uncapped without it.
• A rung never widens past eligibility. A widen opens the next tier down that is still eligible. A rung that could offer a reserved act to someone without its credential fails fill_bypasses_reserved.
• Passes can move it early. Once at least jump.min members have read the sheet since the last rung, and more than half of them passed for one reason, that reason's rung fires now: fee the next raise, scope or area the next widen. A quorum passing on timing moves the due date a day instead, and other never moves it. What a member sees captures one.
• fill: false turns it off. The job waits for a claim, and the owner console alarms.

The legal example writes no ladder, so its Pool climbs the default one. Under a simulated market seeded tight, the ladder climbs before anyone claims:

npx services.dev dev --members 12 --market tight --no-try

  market              tight · 12 simulated signers in attorneys, each act labeled simulated · the fill ladder climbs before a review is claimed

At two hours the brand raises the fee 10%. At four the ladder widens to the next tier down, and a member there claims it at the raised fee and attests:

→ POST /matters {"service":"contract-review","contract":"lease.pdf","client":{"name":"Ada Lovelace","email":"signs@example.test"},"client_region":"US-CA","max_usd":99,"test_clock":"tc_7Hq3","key":"fill"}

← job_7Hq2 · waiting · on claim · $99.00 held · advise · tsk_7Hq2

→ POST /test_clocks/tc_7Hq3/advance {"to":"2h"}
← 2026-10-25T16:02:11.000Z
→ POST /test_clocks/tc_7Hq3/advance {"to":"2h"}
← 2026-10-25T18:02:11.000Z

# the record: task.posted → task.raised → task.widened → task.claimed → attested
  14:02 · task.posted · tsk_7Hq2 · $50.00 · dispatch cascade
  16:02 · task.raised · tsk_7Hq2 · $55.00 · raise 10% 2h · funded by the brand
  18:02 · task.widened · tsk_7Hq2 · opened reviewer · widen 4h
  18:02 · task.claimed · tsk_7Hq2 · mbr_7Hq4 · simulated
  18:02 · step.committed · advise · person · bar admission · US-CA · mbr_7Hq4 · simulated
  ladder  raise 10% 2h: raised to $55.00 · widen 4h: opened reviewer · posted $50.00, now $55.00

The buyer pays the price they were quoted. The member is paid the raised fee, and the raise comes out of the brand's share:

→ POST /matters/job_7Hq2/accept

← job_7Hq2 · accepted · flags.pdf · memo.pdf · $99.00 final
  ledger  +$99.00 · attorney's fee $55.00, sold by the attorney (rail member) · brand $44.00 · AI $1.26 · you $42.74