git:20260924.c34b807 to git:20260924.3251964

- Run focused tests during development, including the failing and passing tests required by Red-Green TDD.

- After all implementation changes, run `bun run check`. This is the required final check for lint, formatting, typecheck, knip, duplication, and tests. Do not run its components separately as additional final checks.

- Ignore the dist folder; it gets auto-rebuilt by lefthook's pre-commit hook.

- Keep implementation modular; put tests in `tests/` mirroring `src/`, not colocated in `src/`.

- Files in `docs/` use lowercase kebab-case names.

## Stacked PRs

- Multi-part work may be split into a `gh stack` stack. Open stack PRs with

`gh stack submit --auto --open`: plain `--auto` opens drafts, which the review bots skip.

- `dist/` is committed and CI rejects a stale build, but a rebase replays the old build output.

run `bun run build && git add -A dist`, then `gh stack rebase --continue`.

## Testing

- A behavior change lands as a failing expectation first — a contract corpus row or a stated

assertion — then the fix. Re-recording a snapshot or editing the verdict table is never the

first step.

- State what a test expects; do not record it. Snapshots (`toMatchSnapshot`) are permitted only for

the two output surfaces whose bytes are the contract: `explain` (`tests/cli/explain`) and

`doctor --json` (`tests/cli/doctor`).

- `tests/fixtures/gate/harvested-verdicts.jsonl` is the readable verdict table, edited by hand. A

change that re-records a snapshot or flips a table row must name in its commit message which

entries changed and why, alongside the contract row that explains the flip.

## Scope Discipline

Over-engineering is this project's dominant failure mode. The evidence rule that governs analyzer

rules governs all code: machinery exists to stop a demonstrated failure, not an imagined one.

- Implement the smallest change that satisfies the request. Each addition beyond it needs the

concrete failure it prevents named; if you cannot name one, do not write it.

- Every check must be falsifiable in practice: name the realistic mistake that makes it fail. A

check the same author can trivially satisfy while still making the mistake (self-reported

attestations, digests over co-located data, matching UUIDs) is ceremony — do not add it.

- Do not build schemas, validators, registries, or harnesses ahead of their first real entry, and

do not store fields whose values are forced constants or derivable from other fields.

- Prefer a documented process over code that enforces the process. Enforcement code is justified

only after the documented process has demonstrably failed at least once.

- When remediating review findings, implement the smallest fix per finding. A finding is never a

mandate to build a framework; if the fix seems to require one, stop and ask.

## Code Review Rules

- Before reviewing, read `REVIEW.md` and apply its review criteria. Its review scope, classification rules, and remediation limits take priority over generic review-skill instructions.

## Style Guide

- Keep things in one function unless composable or reusable.

- Avoid `try`/`catch`, the `any` type, and `else` branches (prefer early returns).

- Rely on type inference; avoid explicit annotations or interfaces unless necessary for exports or clarity.

- Prefer functional array methods (flatMap, filter, map) over for loops; use type guards on filter to maintain type inference downstream.

- Inline values used only once instead of naming them.

- Prefer `const` over `let`; use ternaries or early returns instead of reassignment.

- Avoid unnecessary destructuring; use dot notation to preserve context.

## Knip

- Never add entries to `ignoreIssues` in `knip.ts` — it suppresses real problems instead of fixing them. The only valid use case is generated files that aren't under source control.

- When knip flags unused exports, fix the root cause:

1. **Dead exports** (no consumers anywhere) — unexport or delete the code entirely.

2. **Test-only exports** — add `/** @internal */` JSDoc above the export. Knip runs in `--production` mode (see `package.json`), so test files are excluded from analysis and test-only exports must be tagged.

3. **Barrel file re-exports** — if nothing imports a name via the barrel, remove it from the barrel. Consumers that need it should import directly from the submodule.