Refuse a directory of the layer that documents nothing

setup: undocumented-directory
given:
  - 'a repository with Majordomus installed, a new section that carries its contract, and one directory below it that carries none'
steps:
  - id: validate
    run: ['context', 'validate']
    note: 'the directory with no document is named, and the one that has its contract is not'
    expect:
      exit: 10
      stdout_contains: ['missing-contract', 'zones/deep']
      stdout_not_contains: ['zones — missing-contract']
  - id: resolve
    run: ['context', 'resolve', '.ai/repo/zones']
    note: 'nothing resolves against a tree that does not validate, not even the part that is correct'
    expect:
      exit: 10
      stdout_contains: ['does not validate']
  - id: doctor
    run: ['doctor']
    note: 'the same finding through the rule majordomus.context-integrity, which the pre-commit hook runs'
    expect:
      exit: 10
      stdout_contains: ['missing-contract']
then:
  - 'a directory of the layer with no context document is a named failure, not a silence'
  - 'the same tree, and what each directory owes, is readable through majordomus_directories and GET /api/v1/directories without running the gate'
  - 'the finding names the directory, so the fix is one file in one place'
  - 'the tree refuses to resolve until it is fixed, so nobody reads a half-documented layer'
  - 'the same tree, and what each directory owes, is readable through majordomus_directories and GET /api/v1/directories without running the gate'

The scenario

Executed against the real tool, in a repository prepared by undocumented-directory, 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 context validate exit 10

   the directory with no document is named, and the one that has its contract is not

   FAIL context     .ai/repo/zones/deep — missing-contract: carries no context document; a directory inside the tree says what it is for, or its governing contract exempts it (children.require_contract: false)  [reproduce: printf '%s\n' '---' 'schema: context/v1' > .ai/repo/zones/deep/README.md]
   context validate: 1 problem(s) in 21 document(s)

   • exit 10
   • stdout_contains /missing-contract/
   • stdout_contains /zones/deep/
   • stdout_not_contains /zones — missing-contract/
2. 2$ majordomus context resolve .ai/repo/zones exit 10

   nothing resolves against a tree that does not validate, not even the part that is correct

   FAIL context     .ai/repo/zones/deep — missing-contract: carries no context document; a directory inside the tree says what it is for, or its governing contract exempts it (children.require_contract: false)  [reproduce: printf '%s\n' '---' 'schema: context/v1' > .ai/repo/zones/deep/README.md]
   majordomus: context: the tree does not validate (1 problem(s) above); nothing is resolved partially

   • exit 10
   • stdout_contains /does not validate/
3. 3$ majordomus doctor exit 10

   the same finding through the rule majordomus.context-integrity, which the pre-commit hook runs

   OK   knowledge   graph — buildable here: 101 node(s), 58 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   3 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
   FAIL context     .ai/repo/zones/deep — missing-contract: carries no context document; a directory inside the tree says what it is for, or its governing contract exempts it (children.require_contract: false)  [reproduce: printf '%s\n' '---' 'schema: context/v1' > .ai/repo/zones/deep/README.md]
   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
   FAIL wiring      doctor-on-commit — hook .git/hooks/pre-commit does not exist  [reproduce: ls -l .git/hooks/pre-commit]
   FAIL wiring      finish-on-push — hook .git/hooks/pre-push does not exist  [reproduce: ls -l .git/hooks/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
   OK   projection  GEMINI.md — content matches its stamp
   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.9))
   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(3) — 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: 3 failure(s)

   • exit 10
   • stdout_contains /missing-contract/

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 contextWhat the next worker needs to know now, in authority order and within a budget.
• majordomus doctorIt checks governance only: is Majordomus itself healthy, and is every enforcement it declares actually wired here?

Over MCP the same layer is reached through majordomus_directories (the MCP surface).

The rules that make it hold

• ✕blocking Context integrityEvery directory of the AI layer carries a context document, each one carries the contract, they compose into one deterministic chain for every path, and a tree that does not validate resolves nothing.

Guarantees exercised

• ○guaranteed The context that applies to a path is composed from the layer's scoped documents, root to target, in one deterministic order with provenance, and a tree that does not validate resolves nothing
• ○guaranteed Every directory of the layer carries a context document, the exemption is declared by the contract that governs the subtree, and a descendant may narrow that requirement but never weaken it

Related use cases

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

• Trace a change to the context documents it affectsList the scoped context documents, resolve which apply to a path and why, and find out which documents a change set touches before it lands.
• 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.
• Read only the context that fits the budget, and know what was droppedAssemble the context a worker needs now in authority order, cut it to a line budget, and see every dropped section named with its reason.
• Decide what belongs in the AI context, as dataRead the repository’s declared scope policy, see which paths are in and out of the index, and let doctor and the knowledge index apply it rather than a hardcoded list.
• Work on a branch in the one worktree it belongs toStart a branch without choosing a path, find every checkout of the repository from any of them, and bring a stray one home with its uncommitted work intact.

The moments this answers

• → found the rule for that directory in a README no session ever loaded A local rule is either in the always-loaded file, where every session pays for it, or beside the code, where nothing relates it to the path being edited.
• → found the same thing explained three times, slightly differently Every hand-maintained copy of a fact drifts on its own schedule, and a reader cannot tell which copy is the current one.
• → 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.