What it means
The policy has an enforcement list: things that are supposed to run Majordomus (a pre-commit hook running doctor, a pre-push hook running finish --check). For each entry, doctor proves four things: the executable exists, it is executable, the hook or CI file named in wired_by exists and is executable, and that file actually invokes the command — without discarding its exit code. A declaration that fails any of these is reported as not wired. This is the single most important check in the tool.
How it works
lib/doctor.sh resolves the enforcement's path (on PATH, repository-relative, absolute, or as the path written on the hook line itself), resolves the hook directory through core.hooksPath or .git/hooks/, reads the hook file, greps for majordomus <first-arg>, and then greps the same line for || true or || exit 0. wired_by: ci:<file> checks a CI file the same way; wired_by: manual is reported as unverified, never as wired. doctor runs this against the repository it is installed in — including this project's own hooks in CI.
How to see it
printf '#!/bin/sh\nmajordomus doctor || true\n' > .git/hooks/pre-commit && chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit
majordomus doctor
# FAIL wiring doctor-on-commit — .git/hooks/pre-commit invokes it but swallows the exit code (|| true)What it does not cover
It proves reachability, not execution history: a wired hook can still be bypassed by someone who edits .git/hooks or clones elsewhere. Those are documented limits of any local hook, stated in the security notes, not silent failures.
Why it exists
Seventeen independent cases were found in the source environment of a check documented as blocking, present on disk, executable, and invoked by nothing — including a well-engineered commit guard whose registration was silently dropped when unrelated tooling rewrote a settings file, while its tests and documentation stayed in place. Declared-but-not-wired is the default end state of enforcement, not an edge case; a check that fails on it is the product.