Cycle-close audit for the self-description cycle. Architect: drift_found (mild), core holds -- the gate is pure string shape in core imported by every seam (C28), the engine never evaluates description text (C17/inv 10), determinism pins untouched (C1); the store boundary is gated by construction with the raw write private; Op::Doc is a closed typed construct (C25). Regression: aura-bench green (exit 0) after one cycle-caused infra fix and one ratified re-pin. Infra fix: the bench campaign seeds (BP_SMA_A/B) predate C29 and were refused by the store gate (exit 2, infrastructure-first rule) -- both thread the authored sma_signal meaning line. Ratify: cli_fixed_cost's run_line_fnv moved because bench_sma_a.json now carries its doc -- the blueprint's content id shifts exactly as the spec anticipates for fixtures gaining docs; campaign result fingerprints are unchanged (descriptions stay out of execution, C29). Baselines re-pinned via aura-bench pin (throughput baselines re-pinned in the same sweep, all deltas within tolerance at pin time). Drift disposition: - [high] C29 guarantee overclaim vs emit/binding-column vocabularies -> contract now carries an explicit Scope paragraph naming the residue, tracked as #321 (also covers the [medium] non-roster schema walk gap). - [low] Delay's meaning line cited the stale C5 for the delay register; corrected to C9. refs #316, refs #321
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C29 — Self-description: every surface explains itself
Guarantee. Every closed-vocabulary entry the binary exposes carries a
one-line meaning, enforced at the seam where the entry enters the system;
everything entering the content-addressed store describes itself; a refusal
for a missing description names the entry, the field, and the rule. One
shared deterministic gate — doc_gate in aura-core, importable by every
seam per C28; it fails on an empty/whitespace doc
and on a doc that normalizes to the entry's own name
(DocGateFault::{Empty, RestatesName}) — guards three seams:
- Compile/unit seam (engine-shipped).
NodeSchema.docis a required field, so the compiler enumerates every construction site; metrics and tap slots are schema carriers (MetricSchema/TapSchema, id + doc); blocks (BlockSchema.doc, the pre-existing model) and tap folds (the registry roster, C27) already carried theirs. The coverage walk (aura-cli/tests/self_description.rs) asserts the gate over all five vocabularies — the engine satisfies its own law. - Load seam (extension).
load_cratewalks every charter-checked type id and gates the resolved schema's doc; a fault refuses the load naming type and rule (ProjectError::UndescribedVocabularyEntry). Field presence is compile-enforced for any crate built against the new core; the load gate catches the shape violations the compiler cannot see across the cdylib boundary — the empty-string alibi and the name restatement. - Register seam (data plane). The registry's public
put_blueprintparses the canonical bytes and requires a gate-passing doc on the root composite and on every named nested composite — the gate guards the store boundary itself, so the register verb, every register-then-run sugar path, and any future caller are gated by construction. The op-script vocabulary carries thedocop as the builder.doc(...)'s twin (C25: a closed, typed metadata construct). Process/campaign documents take an additive-optional top-leveldescription, gated only when present (DocFault::BadDescription).
Scope at this record's writing (#321). The gate walks five
vocabularies — process/campaign blocks, metrics, tap slots, tap folds, and
the closed node roster — plus the document description and the three
seams above. Recorded residue, tracked as #321 and not silently claimed:
emit_vocabulary() and binding_column_vocabulary() remain bare name
arrays, and builder schemas outside the closed node roster (e.g. the
internal tap recording sink) carry compile-required but shape-unwalked
docs. Closing #321 widens the walk and removes this paragraph.
Id treatment. Description fields that serialize participate in the
content id and are blanked for the identity id, exactly as Composite.doc
(strip_debug_symbols); NodeSchema is not serialized
(C24), so node docs move no id. Documents have no
identity projection — their pair is: absent description is byte-identical
to the field-less form (existing content ids stable), present participates.
Forbids. The engine evaluating description text — the gate is deterministic string shape, never content judgement (no freetext logic hole; C17 / domain invariant 10 untouched). A description influencing execution, identity ids, or determinism (C1). Retroactive invalidation of already-registered artifacts — the gate guards the write path only (the raw in-crate write survives as the store-mechanics and back-compat witness: pre-C29 doc-less entries stay readable). Machine-invented meaning lines — an authored text is corrected against the source, never weakened to an empty string or a name restatement.
Why. The audience is headless LLM agents and scripts (#319 ruling), for whom the binary is the only always-present teacher. Field evidence 2026-07-22 (#314): an agent holding only the release binary had to recover execution semantics and document schemas by CAS forensics — the removed failure class is exactly that forensic recovery.
Rendering of the carried texts on the help/introspection surfaces is #315; the generated agent bootstrap card is #267; a fold introspection surface is blocked on #310.