v0.8.0-alpha.2 — Truth and Evidence Governance

v0.8.0-alpha.2 — Truth and Evidence Governance

This alpha does not add another memory system or client adapter. It makes the existing Project Cognition + Goal Governor prototype say exactly which state is authoritative, how research findings may enter that state, and what evidence must exist before broader product claims or integrations.

E1 infrastructure: READY

Live E1: NOT RUN

Outcome value / multi-client portability: NOT PROVEN

Protocol-defined E1 infrastructure

• A machine-readable manifest freezes the protocol-defined cases, deterministic fixture hashes, DSH 0.1.0-rc.7, expected terminals, allowed paths, equal budgets, invalidity rules and resume/replay semantics.
• npm run eval:e1:preflight materializes each frozen fixture twice in isolated temporary directories, validates the frozen inputs and runs only local fixture verifiers. It performs zero network calls and zero model calls.
• npm run eval:e1:score -- --run <external-bundle-dir> checks raw host sidecars, call/result uniqueness and order, exact verifier arguments, worktree evidence, external interactive-gate provenance, stage-one seal binding and live/offline replay checkpoints, then writes score.json as PASS, FAIL or INVALID. Assistant prose is not evidence. A conforming package is reported as PASS_UNDER_TRUSTED_HOST: the scorer trusts the experiment operator and model-inaccessible bundle root, and does not claim external attestation against a malicious host fabricating an entire self-consistent bundle.
• npm run eval:e1:live -- ... --ack-live-cost is reserved for the next stage. It fails closed unless the exact DSH version, clean committed inputs, external run lock, isolated paths, pinned installed candidate and explicit cost acknowledgement all match; an architecture gate still requires direct interactive TTY input. That establishes the input channel and command linkage, not cryptographic human identity.
• The historical locked Phase A runtime is unchanged. No DSH installation, live model session or paid call was performed for this release.

One canonical project truth

• .project-cognition/state.json is the sole canonical source for project purpose, architecture boundaries, value claims, invariants, decisions and proof order.
• PROJECT_COGNITION.md is a deterministic generated projection and must not be edited independently.
• The session-log-backed research-state mechanism is now named the Research Session Ledger. It remains useful for replayable provisional claims and hypotheses, but it is not owner-ratified project truth.
• A finding reaches canonical state only through an explicit draft revision, authority/proof/evidence review, owner review, CLI seal/install and regenerated projection.

The full procedure is documented in Project Cognition Governance.

Claims are now independently testable

• V3A — Project Cognition longitudinal value: does persisted, freshness-aware project cognition improve multi-stage maintenance compared with reconstructing context?
• V3B — Goal Governor incremental value: with equal Research handoff content, does host governance reduce false completion, scope drift and correction cost?

The E2 B-versus-C comparison can test V3B. It cannot by itself establish V3A. A-versus-C may be reported only as a whole-stack effect.

Experiment C+ remains causal-invalid for the historical superiority claim. A future valid experiment may create a new claim under a new experiment identity; it cannot rehabilitate or rewrite C+.

Proof order

The governed sequence is now:

Gate 0 → E1 → non-inferential pilot → E2 → second-adapter conformance → E3

The frozen Goal Governor Evaluation Protocol is the sole source for E1's trajectories, run definitions, estimands, thresholds and invalidity rules. The pilot validates measurement readiness but produces no confirmatory outcome claim. A second adapter is deferred until E2 passes; E3 is deferred until that adapter first proves governed capabilities and live conformance.

Doctor is not freshness

project-cognition doctor . verifies schema/hash integrity, deterministic Markdown projection, Goal Contracts and Verifier Registry. It does not recalculate repository evidence or prove that evidence remains fresh. Freshness claims require explicit observed fingerprints via project-cognition cognition freshness.

Compatibility and evidence boundary

• Node.js requirement is consistently documented as >=22.12.0.
• DSH 0.1.0-rc.7 remains the only implemented adapter.
• Repository mechanical tests and DSH preset discovery remain evidence for implementation behavior, not for long-term maintenance value, live-model terminal reliability or cross-client compatibility.

Verification

npm run check
npm pack --dry-run