Develop Agent-Native Content

Rule

Before changing Content, identify the user workflow, Feature, and atomic Capabilities the work touches. Implement through Content's shared primitives, then prove the affected workflow before claiming a Capability or Feature is complete.

The roadmap is direction, not a substitute for current code. Current code is evidence, not permission to invent a conflicting product contract.

Retrieve the right context

The repository source of truth lives in templates/content/docs/product/.

1. Read architecture.md.

2. Find the workflow in roadmap.md, or search the Feature records:

   rg -n "<workflow or Feature>" templates/content/docs/product/features
   

3. Read the Feature's required and enhancing Capability records by stable ID, including each record's workflow, contract, boundaries, acceptance stories, current evidence, proof plan, and open questions. The encyclopedia row is an index, not enough implementation context.

4. Inspect the current implementation, tests, feature flags, and provider state.

Load only the relevant records. Do not paste the encyclopedia into the context and hope the important sentence floats to the top.

If a required record is missing or still contains only the legacy generated shell, name the missing or incomplete ID. Do not manufacture edge behavior from its one-line summary. A narrow bug fix may still proceed when tests and existing behavior make the contract unambiguous; record the context gap in the handoff.

Classify the change

Lane	Meaning	Response
Contract repair	Existing behavior violates an accepted contract	Fix the smallest coherent path and prove the regression
Contract fulfillment	Work implements or hardens an incomplete Capability	Follow its dependencies and proof requirements
Local refinement	Reversible polish that does not change the promise	Implement without manufacturing a strategy meeting
Product decision candidate	Work changes identity, access, source truth, a shared primitive, or the user promise	Preserve the user problem and tradeoff for review before making it architecture

The catalog welcomes new ideas. It prevents accidental decisions; it does not require a permission slip for every useful bug fix.

Preserve the architecture

• Stable objects may have many Views, memberships, embeds, and source mappings.
• People, agents, automations, APIs, and UI use one typed Action surface.
• Access applies before search, traversal, Queries, aggregates, exports, or AI.
• Sources declare truth and write-back policy; unknown provider data survives.
• Meaningful change preserves actor, origin, history, recovery, and review.
• Content remains portable and does not demand custody of connected originals.
• Donor code and completed dependencies do not prove a whole contract.

Load the domain skill for the work, especially actions, security, sharing, storing-data, portability, real-time-collab, or real-time-sync.

Declare pull-request impact

During the advisory conformance pilot, add exactly one fenced YAML declaration to the pull-request body when a change directly affects Content or when a shared framework change has specific Content impact:

content_product_impact:
  lane: contract_repair
  features:
    - content.feature.example
  capabilities:
    - content.example.capability
  record_change: none
  proof:
    - pnpm --filter content test
  rationale: The change repairs the declared Capability without changing its contract.

Use stable IDs from templates/content/docs/product/. Valid lanes are contract_repair, contract_fulfillment, local_refinement, and product_decision_candidate. Set record_change to included when the PR changes a Feature or Capability record, or decision_pending when the product record must wait for an explicit product decision.

The lane meanings are the same as the classification table above. A contract repair does not require roadmap churn when the accepted record remains true. Repairs, fulfillment, and local refinement must name at least one real Feature or Capability. A product-decision candidate may omit IDs only with decision_pending, or while the same PR includes the proposed new record; do not invent an ID to make the declaration look complete.

Run the focused declaration and workflow-policy tests with:

pnpm test:content-product-impact

To repair a warning, copy the block above into the PR body, replace the example IDs with exact catalog IDs, align record_change with any changed product records, and name the focused proof you actually ran.

The check is intentionally advisory while its deterministic rules calibrate. It never edits the roadmap, assigns or tags a reviewer, and never turns an LLM opinion into a merge gate. Shared framework changes with no direct Content evidence should remain quiet.

Prove and record the result

Use the affected Capability's proof requirements and the Feature's example workflow. Read references/verification.md for the cross-surface matrix.

A Capability becomes verified only when its complete atomic contract passes. A Feature becomes available only when every required Capability is verified and its complete example workflow passes end to end. Useful machinery remains substrate until then.

Update atomic records when work changes a contract, dependency, state, non-goal, proof boundary, or accepted Feature workflow. Regenerate projections and run:

pnpm guard:content-product-docs --write
pnpm guard:content-product-docs

Handoff

Product context: <Feature and Capability IDs>
Workflow: <what now works>
Proof: <tests and real-interface evidence>
Remaining gaps: <failures or missing evidence>
Product decisions: <none or accepted/candidate decision>
Record updates: <files changed or still needed>