Adopt a repository that already has its own rules

setup: authored-governance
given:
  - 'a hand-written CLAUDE.md people follow, committed'
  - 'Majordomus installed, the policy projecting CLAUDE.md in region mode'
  - 'the two enforcements wired as git hooks'
steps:
  - id: refuse-overwrite
    run: ['init']
    note: 'a second init never overwrites a layer that is there'
    expect:
      exit: 15
      stdout_contains: ['already exists']
  - id: render-the-region
    run: ['update']
    note: 'the generated region is appended inside the authored file and stamped; the authored text is untouched'
    expect:
      exit: 0
      stdout_contains: ['^create CLAUDE.md$']
      files_contain:
        - path: CLAUDE.md
          pattern: 'Hand-written governance'
        - path: CLAUDE.md
          pattern: '^<!-- majordomus:begin [0-9a-f]{12} [0-9a-f]{16} -->$'
  - id: prove-it-holds
    run: ['doctor']
    note: 'the projection matches its stamp and the declared enforcement is invoked by the hooks'
    expect:
      exit: 0
      stdout_contains: ['^OK   projection', 'doctor: 0 failure']
then:
  - 'the authored text is byte for byte what it was'
  - 'the region carries the policy hash and its own content hash'
  - 'doctor is green because the hooks exist and call the tool'

The scenario

Executed against the real tool, in a repository prepared by authored-governance, every time this site is generated. What follows is not a description of what should happen; it is what happened.

What the tool did

Evidence of the run this page was generated from: pass, 3 step(s). Output is normalised: the repository's path, timestamps, ids and durations are placeholders; nothing else is edited.

Tested by test/cases/94_use_cases.sh, which runs every scenario and refuses a step whose recorded output is not what it produced.

1. 1$ majordomus init exit 15

   a second init never overwrites a layer that is there

   majordomus: .ai/ already exists in <repo> (use --extend to add what is missing; nothing is overwritten)

   • exit 15
   • stdout_contains /already exists/
2. 2$ majordomus update exit 0

   the generated region is appended inside the authored file and stamped; the authored text is untouched

   create AGENTS.md
   create CLAUDE.md
   generated 2 target(s) from policy 78989aebeb24; each carries its own stamp

   • exit 0
   • stdout_contains /^create CLAUDE.md$/
   • file_contains /Hand-written governance/ CLAUDE.md
   • file_contains /^<!-- majordomus:begin [0-9a-f]{12} [0-9a-f]{16} -->$/ CLAUDE.md
3. 3$ majordomus doctor exit 0

   the projection matches its stamp and the declared enforcement is invoked by the hooks

   OK   knowledge   graph — buildable here: 98 node(s), 56 edge(s), compiled into a temporary file and removed; no stored index to go stale
   OK   knowledge   records — 0 record(s) valid against knowledge/v1; every reference resolves  [reproduce: majordomus knowledge check]
   OK   knowledge   candidates — 0 await review, cap 40
   OK   layout      .ai/manifest.yaml — schema ai-repository/v1
   OK   layout      .ai/repo/scope.yaml — version 1; 14 in pathspec(s); every key is one the schema declares
   OK   layout      .ai/local/ — ignored, and nothing under it is tracked
   OK   layout      .ai/ — every section the manifest names exists; the layer is readable without the tool
   OK   layout      .ai/repo/prompts — present
   OK   layout      .ai/local/state/handovers — present, 0 record(s)
   OK   layout      .ai/local/state/checkpoints — present, 0 record(s)
   OK   records     ledger.jsonl — every line is a well-formed event
   OK   policy      39 key(s) — every policy value the code reads is declared, with no reader-side default
   OK   bootstrap   2 projection(s) — each points at .ai/README.md, carries no rule of its own and names only rules in force
   OK   catalogue   0 use case(s), 0 application(s) — every command, doctrine, claim, responsibility, category, setup and cross-reference resolves, both directions
   OK   context     .ai/ — 20 context document(s) carry the contract; ids unique, references resolve, no final document superseded, no cycle  [reproduce: majordomus context validate]
   OK   policy      .ai/repo/policy.yaml — parsed, version 1
   OK   profiles    4 files — parsed; default 'implementation' exists
   INFO adr         .ai/repo/adrs/ — no decisions; nothing to validate
   OK   records     decisions.md — every entry is attributable
   INFO project     .ai/repo/project — no canonical project model here; nothing to validate
   OK   command     surface — 30 public command(s), reconciled against the dispatch table  [reproduce: majordomus doctor]
   OK   doctrine    50 of 61 rule(s) carry a validator — validator, dispatch, propagation, test and CI resolve for every one of the 50; the remaining 11 declare no validator and this check does not examine them
   OK   wiring      doctor-on-commit — wired via .githooks/pre-commit
   OK   wiring      finish-on-push — wired via .githooks/pre-push
   OK   command     coverage — every public command is exercised and refuted  [reproduce: bash test/run.sh 31_command_coverage]
   OK   resolver    handovers — no record for this worktree and branch (absence, not a stale match)  [reproduce: majordomus handover --resolve]
   OK   lifecycle   activity — 0 episode(s) opened here; too few to judge whether the writers stopped
   OK   knowledge   wiring — the close path and the compaction adapter call the deriver
   OK   knowledge   deriver — no episode has closed here; nothing to judge
   INFO project     .ai/repo/project — no canonical project model here; nothing to validate
   OK   projection  AGENTS.md — content matches its stamp
   OK   projection  CLAUDE.md — content matches its stamp (region)
   OK   budget      AGENTS.md — 42 lines, budget 150
   OK   links       AGENTS.md — all references resolve
   OK   counts      AGENTS.md — no hardcoded counts
   OK   context     builder — 21 lines, budget 300  [reproduce: majordomus context]
   OK   capture     share/schemas/majordomus/capture/capture.v1 — 2 file(s) describe majordomus.capture/v1 at the path the identifier derives: the record as JSON Schema, the document as protobuf
   OK   capture     .ai/local/prompts — ignored and untracked
   OK   capture     .ai/local/prompts — no records yet; the archive is empty
   OK   capture     .ai/local/prompts — every prompt is present as all three: the record, the Markdown and the YAML
   OK   prompts     .ai/local/prompts — the archive and every record in it are readable by their owner only
   OK   prompts     .ai/local/prompts — no records yet; the archive is empty
   OK   prompt      4 asset(s) — front matter valid, every token known
   OK   records     open-questions.md — every entry parses
   OK   retention   ledger — 1 lines, cap 5000
   OK   retention   handovers — 0 files, cap 200
   OK   retention   checkpoints — 0 files, cap 500
   OK   retention   sessions — 0 records, cap 500
   INFO project     .ai/repo/project — no canonical project model here; nothing to validate
   OK   rules       .ai/repo/rules/vendor/majordomus — every file matches the manifest (1 (1.0.0-alpha.8))
   OK   rules       61 rule(s) — resolve in one deterministic order; vendored baseline plus project rules, no override — 51 carry a validator, 10 are normative text this tool does not check
   OK   rules       blocking — all 44 blocking rule(s) carry a validator
   OK   schema      rules — 61 rule(s) resolve in one order: the vendored baseline in manifest order, then the project's, as a dependency graph
   OK   schema      share/kinds.yaml — 37 kind(s); every one that carries metadata declares a schema
   OK   schema      share/schemas — 54 schema(s), each valid JSON and each applied — by a kind, through an allow-list the tool reads, by a validator that names it, or as a generated document's contract (15)
   OK   records     0 record(s) — every changed_files names work, not generated or local state
   OK   session     .ai/local/session-contexts — ignored and untracked
   OK   session     .ai/local/session-contexts — no working contexts yet; the store is empty
   INFO skill       .ai/repo/skills/ — no skills; nothing to validate
   OK   skill       reachable — no personal command or skill shares a name with a projected skill  [reproduce: majordomus run editors.status]
   INFO use-case    30 advisory gap(s) — not covered by an active use case, and the policy does not require it: command:init command:update command:doctor command:watch command:start command:context command:checkpoint command:handover command:check command:finish command:history command:decision command:question command:prompt command:evidence command:skills command:capture command:search command:doctrine command:plan command:version command:session command:knowledge command:adr command:usecase command:rules command:migrate command:recover command:bench command:archive  [reproduce: majordomus usecase coverage]
   OK   use-case    0 of 30 target(s) covered — every public command the policy requires is named and run by an active use case (policy use_cases.coverage)
   INFO env         - — bash <version>, git <version>, jq <version>, shellcheck present
   WARN clone       unpushed — commits on no remote: main(2) — work on one disk is invisible to every other session and cannot be integrated  [reproduce: git push -u origin <branch>]
   OK   clone       uncommitted — no linked worktree, so no uncommitted work can sit in one
   INFO clone       trunk — no remote-tracking branch, so this checkout's distance from the remote trunk cannot be measured
   INFO clone       release — no remote-tracking branch, so whether the trunk's landed work is released cannot be measured
   ·    reasoning   <decided by the advisors and the executable of the recording machine>
   ·    layout      - — <judged when the recording machine has built the executable>
   ·    budget      doctor — <timed against the policy budget>
   doctor: 0 failure(s)

   • exit 0
   • stdout_contains /^OK projection/
   • stdout_contains /doctor: 0 failure/

Why the tool knows this

The chain from this page to the code: the use case names commands, rules and claims; each rule is dispatched from the registry and each claim names the test that proves it; the scenario above executed the commands. Nothing in this chain is prose about intent.

• majordomus initCreate the .ai/ layer in this repository, and refuse to overwrite an existing one.
• majordomus updateRegenerate every provider instruction file from the one policy, deterministically.
• majordomus doctorIt checks governance only: is Majordomus itself healthy, and is every enforcement it declares actually wired here?

The rules that make it hold

• ✕blocking Projection integrityEvery generated instruction file exists, matches the stamp it carries, and is never silently overwritten after a hand edit.
• ✕blocking Enforcement wiringEvery enforcement the policy declares is invoked by the hook it names, from a file the dispatcher will actually execute, without swallowing the exit code.
• ✕blocking Policy integrityThe policy and every profile parse, declare version 1, and carry no key the schema does not define.

Guarantees exercised

• ○guaranteed Every generated instruction file carries its own stamp, and a hand edit is detected
• ○guaranteed A projection can own only the region between its markers, leaving the rest of the file untouched
• ○guaranteed Wiring is found in a hook or in any subhook of the directory that hook dispatches to
• ○guaranteed A hand-edited instruction file is never silently overwritten

Related use cases

Computed from what they share: claims, rules, commands, category, applications. Nobody maintains this list.

• Keep every provider bootstrap thin, generated and within budgetRegenerate AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md and the other provider files from one policy and prove they are stamped, point at the layer, stay under the line budget and resolve every reference.
• Extend what the executable serves by adding a file, never by rebuilding itAdd a rule, a prompt or a knowledge node to .ai/ and have it appear as an MCP resource, an HTTP route and a reference entry, with the same binary.
• Find out what has drifted since anyone last lookedAsk what has moved, rather than whether anything is wrong.
• Trust the policy and the profiles only after they are validatedProve that the canonical policy parses with every key it needs declared, that every profile parses and the default exists, and that what the policy declares as enforced is what actually runs.
• Say what your work is for, once, and have every surface say itRecord an operational failure mode as one file and have the command line, the API, MCP and the website answer it without registering it anywhere.

The moments this answers

• → spent the first hour in an unfamiliar repository working out what was normal here What is conventional in a codebase is knowledge held by its regulars, so every arrival — human or machine — pays for it again.
• → reviewed a well-written contribution that broke a convention it had no way to discover Assistants let anybody produce plausible contributions at volume; the conventions that make one correct are still only in the maintainers.