Section 4
Read paths, records, and authority
REPO_ROOT is the active checkout. WORKING_ROOT is the selected project or domain workspace. INSTRUCTION_ROOT is the runtime-declared shared instruction surface. EXECUTION_ROOT and other tokens resolve from the anchors defined in SPEC and the project. In-tree projects may read shared instructions outside their working root; those reads confer no permission to edit the shared surface. External v2 working repositories use a physically disjoint instruction root under their registration contract. SPEC §§0.2–0.3
Normalize ScopePath and every write target to real absolute paths and verify containment in the authorized working root. Include generated files, evidence, caches with consequential effects, and helper outputs in the assessment. A symlink or .. must not escape the boundary. Root instruction and governance maintenance is separately authorized work, not an ordinary project's side effect and not a revival of retired Root product execution. Durable instructions use anchors or relative paths; machine-absolute paths belong only in run evidence where they record actual execution. SPEC §0.2 · CONTRACT K-WRITE-2 · DIRECTIVE §2.6
Use each record for the kind of truth it owns:
| Record | Use | Do not infer |
|---|---|---|
| Human ruling and decision register | Exact accepted choice, subject, conditions, and publication/adoption requirements. | A tracking row or agent transcription is itself a fresh ruling. |
| PRD and accepted decomposition | Purpose, scope, objectives, allocation, identity, and accepted boundaries. | Every aspirational PRD sentence is an activated implementation tranche. |
ScopeOfWork.md or valid active legacy kit |
The deliverable's production target and evaluation relationships. | Current code overrides an unsatisfied requirement. |
_STATUS.md |
Canonical lifecycle/history; earlier Remaining conventions only where still adopted or pinned. | An absent list proves completion or blocks authorized graph work. |
Dependencies.csv, _DEPENDENCIES.md |
Local dependency declarations, identities, provenance, and satisfaction. | A central graph image is a substitute source of dependency truth. |
| Local work graph | Selected route, executable contributions, prerequisites, results, and recovery. | It creates scope, overrides holds, or accepts a phase. |
| Run evidence and snapshots | What was supplied, done, observed, checked, and accepted at an identified boundary. | Historical success establishes current success without checking intervening changes. |
MEMORY.md |
A terse Runs index to work and central sources under the adopted revision; preserved earlier entries retain their history. | A memory entry supplies a ruling or becomes a second execution queue. |
| Plans, summaries, maps | Context, navigation, and historical explanation. | They supersede current authority or select work contrary to the adopted loop. |
The source-of-truth rules are in CONTRACT, SPEC, and the concordance method. A useful index leads back to those records. It is acceptable to use search, a graph projection, or a generated status report to locate them; it is not acceptable to silently promote the projection into authority.
Read status statements at their actual scope. A source may be ratified Root governance, a prospective interface authorized for implementation, a project adoption record, a candidate implementation, or frozen historical evidence. The shared runtime-contract header carries a prospective/adoption qualification; establish each consumer's actual adoption from its owning records and later scoped acts. The current decomposition standard identifies its v3 grouped-checkpoint amendment as prospective and names the earlier ratified edition. A visible latest file is therefore not sufficient evidence that an active project has adopted its procedure, and an older header does not cancel a later accepted adoption. Runtime contract · Decomposition standard
Use the four project views proportionately. The tree locates the work and its identity; the production graph shows required relationships; the source/decision network exposes warrants and supersession; the attention view gathers what matters for the present question. Follow a reference when its meaning affects the next operation. There is no standing requirement to construct all four views or scan the entire repository. Git ancestry locates revisions; it does not prove production dependence. Root entry
When sources disagree, identify the actual contradiction, their status and revisions, the work affected, and the decision needed. Continue independently authorized work whose basis is sound. Do not resolve a live authority conflict by choosing whichever text is easiest to implement, newest by timestamp, or closest to the current directory. CONTRACT K-CONFLICT-1 · Concordance method