# Lifecycle-aware doc hygiene — spec

_Status: Locked design (wayfinder map [#31](https://forgejo.swansoncloud.com/jared/cc-os/issues/31)); assembled 2026-07-14 from decision tickets #32–#48. Extended 2026-07-15 by wayfinder map [#49](https://forgejo.swansoncloud.com/jared/cc-os/issues/49) (assessment-inventory persistence + rulebook refinements; tickets #51–#57, #59)._
_Last updated: 2026-07-15_

Extends os-doc-hygiene from stale/bloat monitoring to lifecycle management: a
rulebook assigns every managed file a **lifetime**, `:check`/`:clean` gain
delete and extract-then-delete behavior, and a new `:calibrate` skill learns
rules per project. Validated against calibration project #1 (cc-os) per the
criteria in [Calibration](#calibration-pass-1-cc-os).

ADR set: [ADR-0038](../../docs/adr/) (rulebook location; amended 2026-07-15 —
rules-file scope includes nominations memory + the extract-index keep rule),
ADR-0039 (deletion autonomy tiers; amended 2026-07-15 — map #49 tier
interactions), ADR-0040 (no ignore-surface propagation), ADR-0041
(determinism-promotion principle).

## 1. Lifetime taxonomy (#33)

Three lifetimes, plus one modifier:

- **keep** — indefinite; scanned and reported, never deleted.
- **temporary** — age-triggered deletion (see [Temporary tier](#4-temporary-tier-43-48)).
- **delete-once-served** — purpose-triggered deletion (see [Served signals](#5-delete-once-served-served-signal-split-43)).
- **extract** (modifier on deletion, not a fourth lifetime) — distill durable
  content before deleting. Extraction reuses existing knowledge routing (#36):
  repo-durable residue → ADR/CLAUDE.md/docs; cross-repo lessons → SecondBrain
  via `/os-vault:write`. No new destinations, no "retired specs" pile.

### Extract index (`extracted.md`) — map #49 [#57](https://forgejo.swansoncloud.com/jared/cc-os/issues/57)

When an extract-then-delete sends content to the **vault** (the case where the
insight physically leaves the repo), the deletion leaves a pointer behind in a
per-directory **`extracted.md`** — the index stays where a future reader is
already looking. Repo-durable residue (an ADR, a CLAUDE.md line) is already
discoverable in-repo and gets **no** index line. Entry format:

```markdown
- [[vault: tool/graphify-clustering-behavior]] — why HDBSCAN over-merges doc
  clusters; read before tuning any graphify clustering params.
  (extracted from `graphify-clustering-notes.md`, 2026-07-15)
```

- **The `:clean` extract op owns the entry.** The op runs: distill →
  `/os-vault:write` (returns the note name) → append the pointer line →
  delete the original — atomically, in `:clean`'s single reviewable commit,
  so there is no window where the doc is gone but undiscoverable.
  `os-vault:write` stays repo-agnostic.
- **Self-protection is one global rule**: `{ "glob": "**/extracted.md",
  "lifetime": "keep" }` in the global rulebook — the self-describing filename
  means zero per-project bookkeeping and the index can never become a
  deletion candidate anywhere. (A generic `index.md` name was rejected: it
  collides with existing index/README conventions, and a global
  `**/index.md → keep` is far too broad.)
- **Extract-worthy vs plain-keep — three tests, in order:**
  1. **Cited → KEEP.** Anything repo artifacts link to or derive from stays
     (deleting breaks the provenance chain).
  2. **Generalizes AND standalone → EXTRACT.** The insight would change
     behavior in a *different* repo (tool behavior, methodology — the vault
     routing test) and nothing in-repo links to it.
  3. **Unclear → consult.** The existing mandatory verdict; never guess an
     extract.
- The convention is spec-defined and universal — part of the extract op
  itself, **not** a `conventions.json` entry (that catalog holds
  completion-conventions a project opts into via served-signal graduation;
  the extract index is neither).

Distinct from all lifetimes: an **IGNORE surface** — paths the scanner never
walks at all (vs `keep` = walked and reported, never deleted). Seed members:
`graphify-out/**`, `.dochygiene/**`. The ignore surface is an explicit list,
never inferred from `.gitignore` (gitignored ≠ deletable AND gitignored ≠
keepable — #43).

## 2. Rulebook (#34, #38, #40, #44)

### Locations

- **Global:** `plugins/os-doc-hygiene/rulebook.json`, resolved relative to
  plugin scripts. Ships everywhere.
- **Per-project override:** repo-root `.dochygiene-rules.json`, committed
  (matches the `.dochygiene-ignore` precedent; deliberately NOT in gitignored
  `.cc-os/` — ADR-0038).

Both use envelope `{"schema_version": 1, "rules": [...]}`. The project file
may additionally carry a top-level `nominations` key (see [Nominations
memory](#nominations-memory--map-49-5256) below); the v1 loader ignores
unknown top-level keys, so the key is additive to `schema_version` 1.

### Glob dialect

gitignore-style via stdlib `glob.translate(recursive=True,
include_hidden=True)` (Python ≥ 3.13); patterns repo-root-relative, real `**`;
compiled once at load. Directory rules = patterns covering a subtree.

### Precedence (two-axis, source first)

project file-rule > project directory-rule > global file-rule > global
directory-rule; ties broken by longest pattern, then last-defined. File-level
rules override directory rules (#38). The merge is **add-only**: a project
neutralizes a global rule by shadowing it with `lifetime: "keep"` — there is
no rule-removal mechanism.

### Per-rule fields

```json
{
  "glob": "autoresearch/*/**",
  "lifetime": "keep|temporary|delete-once-served",
  "extract": true,
  "served_when": "free text — hint consumed by the LLM classifier, no trigger DSL",
  "served_when_path": "openspec/changes/archive/{id}/",
  "retain_recent": 3,
  "max_age_days": 3,
  "confirm": true,
  "confirmed_by": "human | <strong-model-id>",
  "confirmed_on": "2026-07-14",
  "source": "clutter-inventory #41",
  "note": "free-text rationale"
}
```

- `retain_recent` default 3; `max_age_days` default **3** (not
  null-means-forever) — #43 amendments to the #40 schema.
- `served_when_path` is the deterministic sibling of `served_when` (#43).
- `confirm: true` is an optional always-confirm escape hatch — **human-settable
  only**; a model-proposed rule may never set it, only ask a human to (#42/#43).
- **There is no `propagate_ignore` field.** It was reserved in #40 and dropped
  by #44: a lifecycle rule never writes into another tool's ignore/config
  surface (ADR-0040).
- Unmatched files get NO lifetime — they flow through existing signals
  unchanged and become `:calibrate` candidates (**unmatched = unmanaged**).

### Scanner consumption

New stdlib `rulebook.py` loader. A directory-rule match **prunes the walk**
(files beneath are never opened; one aggregate entry) — this also implements
the IGNORE surface for free. A file-rule match attaches a **lifecycle signal**
(rule ref + lifetime + served_when) consumed by the classifier as a new signal
class (#37).

### Validation

Skip-and-warn per invalid/unconfirmed rule — a rule missing `confirmed_by`
never acts (#39) but doesn't take scanning down. Hard-fail on unparseable JSON
or unknown `schema_version`.

`.dochygiene-ignore` remains a hand-authored, human-only escape hatch,
unmanaged by the rulebook (#44).

### Nominations memory (`nominations` key) — map #49 (#52/#56)

Every judge verdict with an actual answer (keep / temporary /
delete-once-served / ignore) persists as a plain rule in `rules` (#51 — keep
verdicts are ordinary `lifetime: keep` rules; matched = managed removes them
from the calibrate pool, and the glob covers future files for free). The
`nominations` key holds only the two residues that cannot be rules: "the
answer is no" (`rejected`) and "no answer yet" (`consults`). It **never
touches the file filter** — rules alone decide which files are governed.

```json
"nominations": {
  "consults": [
    {
      "glob": "docs/orchestration-audit/*.md",
      "question": "Are the dated audit tune-up reports a retained audit trail, or disposable once the tune-up lands?",
      "evidence": "4 files, one per audit run; docs/implementation-status.md references only the latest",
      "cluster_key": "docs/orchestration-audit::report-#",
      "asked_on": "2026-07-15"
    }
  ],
  "rejected": [
    {
      "glob": "docs/research/**",
      "lifetime": "temporary",
      "why": "findings docs other artifacts link to, not disposable output",
      "consider_instead": "an extract-to-vault rule for standalone findings docs",
      "rejected_by": "judge",
      "judged_on": "2026-07-15"
    }
  ]
}
```

- **Rejection entry:** `glob`, `lifetime`, `why`, optional `consider_instead`
  (the judge's amend pointer), `rejected_by: "judge" | "human"`, `judged_on`.
  Human declines at the §8 rule report also persist as rejections
  (`rejected_by: "human"`) — otherwise haiku can re-nominate what the human
  personally declined and the judge won't know.
- **Consult entry:** `glob`, `question`, `evidence`, `cluster_key`,
  `asked_on`. Deliberately **no lifetime** — the uncertainty about purpose is
  the point. Presence in `consults` = open; no status field. This fixes
  consult evaporation (verdicts previously died with the run's scratch dir;
  the same question was re-derived every run).
- **Consult exits:** (a) a human answer settles purpose → a normal rule is
  persisted and the consult entry deleted (the rule supersedes it); (b) "not
  rule-worthy" → rewritten into `rejected` with the human's why; (c) defer →
  stays, resurfaces next `:calibrate` run. Consults resurface in `:calibrate`
  **only** (`:check`/`:clean` unchanged — ADR-0039 boundary) and never
  filter anything.
- **What a rejection blocks — exact glob+lifetime repeats only.** A variant
  (different lifetime, narrower glob) flows to the judge normally, carrying
  the past rejection as context. Stale rejections leave by hand-deletion
  (removals stay HITL, with recorded reasoning).
- Exact-path singleton **keep** rules (#51) likewise leave only by
  hand-deletion — no automated revisit path: an automated revisit would be
  the one place a machine argues a keep back toward deletion, the exact
  failure mode the keep tier prevents.
- `rulebook.py` stays **nomination-unaware** — its contract is "which rule
  governs this path"; only `calibrate_helpers` reads the key. The calibrate
  reader warns on unrecognized nomination fields, mirroring the rules
  array's unknown-field discipline.
- Writes land via the same canonical writer as rules (next subsection); new
  rejections/consults appear in the §8 rule report but are not individually
  gated — they are memory, not deletion authority; hand-editing is the
  escape hatch.

### Canonical ordering — map #49 (#53)

**Writer-enforced, no hook.** Every code path that serializes
`.dochygiene-rules.json` writes it grouped by lifetime tier
(delete-once-served, temporary, keep), sorted by glob within each group;
`nominations` after `rules`, `consults` before `rejected` (the
pending-action queue reads first), each list glob-sorted. Idempotent; no
drift window between a command finishing and a hook firing; hand edits
re-canonicalize on the next write. (A post-command hook was considered and
rejected as more moving parts for the same result.)

## 3. Deletion semantics and autonomy tiers (#35, #43 — ADR-0039)

Delete = **true git deletion in a dedicated hygiene commit**; git history is
the archive. No `archive/` dirs or graveyard branches (relocated clutter still
distracts AI/search).

Rule-backed deletes are **auto** — a rule confirmed per #39 *is* the standing
consent; no per-run prompt. The auto/confirm line is drawn on **evidence
quality + recoverability**, not file type:

| Case | Behavior |
|---|---|
| IGNORE surface (`graphify-out/**`, `.dochygiene/**`) | never walked |
| lifetime `keep` | scanned + reported, never deleted |
| tracked + delete rule + clean worktree | **auto** |
| tracked + delete rule + DIRTY | **confirm** (an uncommitted diff dies with the file) |
| untracked + delete rule | **confirm** (no history to recover from) |
| no rule match | unmanaged; existing signals only, never deleted |

`clean` verifies tracked+clean **at runtime** (`git ls-files` + dirty check);
it never trusts the rule's word for it. No `recoverable_via` field, no
"regenerate" class.

## 4. Temporary tier (#43, #48)

**retain-recent-N + age, not age alone.** Defaults `retain_recent: 3`,
`max_age_days: 3` (both per-rule overridable). The newest 3 entries matching a
rule are always kept regardless of age (they show current trajectory); an
entry ranked 4th or older is deleted once it exceeds `max_age_days`. 90-day
windows were rejected as far too slow.

**Retention unit = the rule's match entry**: a file for file rules, a run
*directory* for directory rules ("3 most recent autoresearch runs", not "3
most recent files inside one run").

**Age = git commit time, falling back to filesystem mtime for untracked
files.** mtime-alone was rejected (clone/branch-switch resets every mtime,
putting the rulebook to sleep on fresh checkouts); the objection doesn't apply
to the fallback, since untracked files don't exist in a fresh clone. No
per-rule `age_source` field (#48).

**Untracked directory entries** use the directory inode's own mtime (one
stat), NOT a recursive max-mtime walk — the tier's failure mode is
self-healing (a spuriously bumped mtime merely delays deletion one round), so
the cheap signal suffices (#48).

## 5. delete-once-served: served-signal split (#43)

Two slots, split by evidence quality:

```json
{ "glob": "openspec/changes/*/", "lifetime": "delete-once-served",
  "served_when_path": "openspec/changes/archive/{id}/" }
```
Scanner **proves** the served condition → may delete silently under the tier
matrix.

```json
{ "glob": "docs/plans/*.md", "lifetime": "delete-once-served",
  "served_when": "the effort this plan describes has shipped" }
```
Classifier **judges** the condition → **always forced to confirm**, regardless
of tracked status. The LLM may propose; it may never silently destroy on a
hunch.

Example of the boundary: `autoresearch/*/` can be auto (a concluded run is
provable from the filesystem); `PRD.md` cannot (purpose-triggered — "did this
ship?" is a judgment; and it is NOT temporary, since age-keying would delete
the PRD of a feature not yet built — #45 Addendum 2).

## 6. Determinism promotion (#43 item 7, #47 — ADR-0041)

**Design principle: hygiene drives projects toward structurally-obvious
maintenance.** When a rule's served signal is subjective (classifier-judged),
the tool does not merely downgrade it to confirm — it names the subjectivity
and recommends a concrete structural convention that would graduate the rule
to `served_when_path` and make it silent. Confirm-fatigue is the incentive to
fix the convention.

### Completion-conventions catalog

`plugins/os-doc-hygiene/conventions.json` — global-only, machine-readable so
the deterministic pipeline can emit nudges without an LLM. No per-project
override: the catalog only recommends; adoption lands in the project's own
rulebook. Each entry: name, what it proves, the `served_when_path` /
frontmatter template a rule graduates to, and a one-line human pitch.

v1 contents — exactly two conventions:

- **archive-bucket** — "done" = the file moved into a sibling `archive/` dir
  (`docs/plans/x.md` → `docs/plans/archive/x.md`); graduates a rule to
  `served_when_path: <dir>/archive/{name}`. Precedent: openspec changes.
- **status-frontmatter** — "done" = a `status: shipped|done` frontmatter key;
  file stays put; scanner reads frontmatter.

Successor-artifact checks stay in the fog until a calibration pass demands one.

### Nudge surfacing (split by capability)

- **`:check`** names promotion candidates in every report (deterministic,
  recurring — the report gains a promotion-candidates section).
- **`:calibrate`** may go further and DRAFT the adoption — the graduated rule
  plus the file moves — for human approval. It proposes, never applies unasked.

## 7. Pipeline integration (#37)

Lifecycle categorization is a **new signal class** in the existing
scanner/classifier pipeline; `delete` and `extract-then-delete` are **new op
types** in the clean report schema. The only new skill is
**`os-doc-hygiene:calibrate`**.

## 8. The :calibrate protocol (#42, #39, #45)

The learn-new-rules loop, run per project:

1. **Cluster-and-sample** over unmatched files (unmatched = unmanaged = the
   candidate pool). Clustering exists precisely so rules are written over the
   cluster, not one member.
2. **Nomination (cheap model):** haiku nominates a bare glob + lifetime per
   cluster — constrained to produce *patterns*, never exact-instance globs.
3. **Nomination intake filter (deterministic —
   `NominationIntakeFilter` in `calibrate_helpers.py`):** a nomination whose
   glob+lifetime exactly equals a `rejected` entry (§2 Nominations memory)
   is dropped before the judge, logged in the run summary. Survivors are
   annotated with every *related* rejection — related = the two globs'
   match sets intersect on the current shortlist (deterministic, from the
   scan). Annotations plus all open consults enter the judge prompt as a
   "Nominations memory" input section.
4. **Judgment (strong model):** one batched Opus/Fable judge gathers its own
   evidence and authors final rule entries (#39: weak-model discoveries need
   strong-model confirmation). Verdicts: **confirm / reject / amend /
   consult** — consult is mandatory when an artifact's purpose is unclear
   (regenerable ≠ removable).
5. **Rule report to the human — before any rule is persisted.** Per proposed
   rule, the report shows:
   1. the **glob verbatim**, exactly as it would be persisted;
   2. every path it currently matches (or a capped sample + total count);
   3. **the boundary — near-miss paths it does NOT match** (this caught a
      real bug during #45: `autoresearch/classic-*/` silently missing
      `autoresearch/improve-260710-1057/`);
   4. lifetime + behavior tier (auto vs confirm);
   5. a plain-language why — what the artifact is and why it's clutter.
   The human reviews patterns and examples, not JSON schema.
6. **Persistence:** project rules land on judge confirmation;
   **global-rulebook writes are human-gated** (a cross-repo write into cc-os).
   Rule removals are HITL-only, with recorded reasoning. Every settled
   verdict persists as a plain rule — judge `keep` verdicts become ordinary
   `lifetime: keep` rules, including exact-path singletons (#51). Human
   declines persist as `rejected` entries (`rejected_by: "human"`); open
   `consult` verdicts persist to `nominations.consults`, deduped by glob at
   write time (§2 Nominations memory).
7. **Retest loop:** stop at <2 new rules OR <10% unmatched shrink; hard cap 3
   rounds.

Seed intake: the #41 clutter-inventory seed candidates enter at judge intake —
**full intake for every run after calibration pass #1** (see the one-off
carve-out below).

### Rule-quality tests the report enforces

- **The rule is the CLASS, never the PATH.** A glob may hardcode a name that
  *recurs by convention* (`PRD.md`, `HANDOFF-*.md`, `migration-report.md`); it
  may NOT hardcode an identifier *unique to one instance* (a run-id, hash, or
  bare timestamp). A rule matching one file today is fine; a rule that can
  only EVER match one file is a failed generalization — flag loudly, never
  silently persist.
  **Keep-tier relaxation (map #49 #51):** exact-path/instance globs ARE
  allowed for `lifetime: keep` entries only — this test exists to prevent
  bad DELETION rules, and a singleton keep (e.g.
  `docs/research/clutter-pattern-inventory.md`) merely protects. Instance
  globs stay forbidden for `temporary`/`delete-once-served`.
- **Glob-breadth tie-breaker: prefer the NARROWER glob.** Too-narrow fails
  safe (leaves clutter; the recurring pass catches it next round — self-
  healing). Too-broad fails dangerous (deletes a keeper — not self-healing).
  Readability beats cleverness when the cost is one missed round.
- **Enumerate siblings — never widen to the container.** When the near-miss
  boundary check reveals sibling artifacts a glob misses, the fix is to
  ENUMERATE the conventional prefixes as separate rule entries
  (`autoresearch/classic-*/` + `autoresearch/improve-*/`), never to widen to
  the container (`autoresearch/*/`, `autoresearch/**`). A container-claiming
  glob mortgages the directory's entire future: nothing keep-worthy can ever
  live there without a counter-rule (a future
  `autoresearch/methodology-notes.md` would be claimed by a deletion rule). A
  sibling flavor that can't be named yet fails safe — it gets its own entry
  next pass, the same self-healing property the narrower-glob tie-breaker
  relies on. Container globs are justified ONLY when the directory is wholly
  machine-owned (`plugins/*/.pytest_cache/`), where nothing keep-worthy can
  appear inside.

### Test coverage for the map-#49 additions (#59)

- `NominationIntakeFilter` and the canonical-writer extension get **unit
  tests only** (pure deterministic logic — invariant #6). Fixtures assert
  exact-repeat drops, match-set-intersection relatedness annotations, and
  round-trip ordering + unknown-field warnings.
- The judge's "Nominations memory" context and the consult resurfacing loop
  get **no scenario harness** — both are human-gated downstream, so no
  silent-failure path exists a harness would uniquely catch. Mitigation is
  one worked example each (judge.md input section; calibrate SKILL.md), with
  production IRL session audits as the next signal; IRL evidence of the
  judge ignoring rejection context is what triggers harness design (reading
  `~/Documents/SecondBrain/howto/running-autoresearch-skill-evals.md` first,
  per eval discipline).

## 9. Calibration pass #1: cc-os (#45)

Project: **cc-os** — proves the protocol *works* before testing whether it
*generalizes*; the self-referential risk is accepted and paid for by the
validation criteria carrying the weight.

- **Precision hard gate:** the pass FAILS if any rule persisted to the
  rulebook has a glob matching a protected path — regardless of behavior tier
  (a confirm gate is a safety property of the human sitting there, not of the
  protocol). Exploration-time consult verdicts on protected paths are FREE.
  Protected set (fixed before the pass, human-edited, never revised after):
  eval `scenarios/`/`scenarios-reserve/`/`fixture/`/judge-rubric.md;
  `openspec/specs/`; `docs/adr/**`; mirrored `.claude/`/`.codex/`/`.pi/` skill
  dirs; `CLAUDE.md`; plugin source.
- **Recall floor: 8 of the 10 cc-os rows of the #41 inventory**, with 4
  mandatory (missing any fails the pass): `autoresearch/<run-id>/`,
  `HANDOFF-*.md`, `docs/adr/migration-report.md`,
  `.dochygiene/report.{json,md}`. `graphify-out/` is **void, not a miss** (it
  is IGNORE surface per #43). The recall floor is a grading bar, not runtime
  behavior — err-toward-keeping comes from the hard gate + consult.
- **Seed hold-out (one-off for pass #1 ONLY):** the cc-os rows of #41 are the
  sealed answer key and are withheld from judge intake — otherwise the pass is
  an open-book exam. This deliberately deviates from #42; **every later run
  uses full seed intake.** Do not mistake the carve-out for a permanent
  property.
- Novel matches beyond the answer key are expected and human-spot-checked —
  a wrong novel match triggers rule adjustment + a retest round, not failure.
- A do-nothing pass cannot pass: the recall floor makes the pass falsifiable
  in the finding direction.

## Out of scope for this design

Shipping the recurring cross-project categorize-and-learn skill (charted as
fog on map #31). Ignore-surface propagation into other tools' config
(rejected — ADR-0040); if disposable files polluting the knowledge graph later
proves painful, the fix belongs to graphify or os-vault:onboard-project.
