Validate the change

Input: SPEC.md's acceptance checks + the finished checklist. Output: VALIDATION.md with verdict PASS or FAIL. You run checks and record outcomes. You do not fix anything — a failure routes back to re-planning with evidence, which is cheaper than a hidden patch that invalidates the checklist's audit trail.

Procedure

1. Re-read REQUEST.md, SPEC.md, CHECKLIST.md in full. Yes, again — this is the phase that catches forgotten requirements, and it can only catch what it re-reads.

2. Run EVERY acceptance check in SPEC.md, in item order, even ones a checklist step already ran — steps prove local progress; this phase proves the assembled whole. Paste each real output.

3. Run the regression ring: the full gate (pytest tests/ -q -n 4) must end 0 failed. A failure you caused is a FAIL verdict; a pre-existing failure you can prove pre-dates the change (git stash → rerun → git stash pop) is recorded as such and does not block, but goes to PARKED.md.

4. Behavior-preservation spot-check: if the change touched a reader or validator of the append-only record, re-run verify_root on one known-good committed root and one defect-era root — prior verdicts must be unchanged except where SPEC.md says otherwise.

5. Frozen-surface diff — paste it, empty or explained:

    git diff --stat <tranche-base>..HEAD -- \
      src/deepreason/capabilities/state.py src/deepreason/harness.py \
      src/deepreason/invariants.py src/deepreason/run_manifest.py \
      src/deepreason/qualification.py
   

   Empty output is the expected result and is pasted as proof. Non-empty output is a FAIL unless REQUEST.md quotes the operator approving that exact surface — convention guards these files at design time, but this paste is the one MECHANICAL tripwire on the path, so it is not optional.

6. Packaging-surface check. If the change touched pyproject.toml, CLI entry points, the MCP server surface, or the wheel layout: run python scripts/wheel_smoke.py (plus python -u scripts/wheel_operational_smoke.py when the operational provider-facing surface moved) and paste the last lines. The smokes pin expected sets and hashes; a surface change whose commit did not update those pins is a FAIL. If the surface did not move, write "packaging surface untouched — smoke not owed": the skip must be a recorded decision, not an omission.

7. Map validation — the documentation half of the gate:

    python tools/docs_verify.py          # must report 0 failed
    python tools/docs_verify.py --audit  # must report 0 findings
    python tools/docs_verify.py --links  # must report 0 dangling
    python tools/docs_verify.py --coverage  # 0 findings on swept seams
    python tools/docs_verify.py --stale  # read; judge each entry
   

   A failing check is a FAIL verdict exactly like a failing test: it means a document now asserts something untrue about the tree, and shipping it is shipping a lie the next reader will act on. --stale is advisory, but every entry it lists must be either updated or explicitly dismissed in VALIDATION.md with the reason — silence about a stale document is how the map dies. Confirm too that behaviour the change ADDED is covered by at least one new map check. A change with no new check has documented nothing falsifiable. And if the change added a typed-record OBSERVABLE (a field, record type, or finding), confirm a sweep probe for it exists or is specced as its own follow-up commit — "sweep byte-identical" is trivially true for data the sweep never reads, so an observable with no probe and no written justification is a FAIL.

8. Requirement sweep: for every R in REQUEST.md, one line — which acceptance output demonstrates it, or why it is legitimately deferred (operator's words required). An R with neither is a FAIL: the work is incomplete no matter how green the gate is.

9. Assumption audit: list SPEC.md's assumptions A1..An in VALIDATION.md so the delivery surfaces them to the operator.

VALIDATION.md template

# Validation for: <request headline>
## Acceptance checks
S1: <command> -> <pasted output> : PASS|FAIL
...
## Full gate
<last line pasted, e.g. "3107 passed, 7 skipped"> : PASS|FAIL
## Record-behavior preservation
<root>: <unchanged | changed as specified> (or "n/a")
## Map
docs_verify: <N documents, M checks, 0 failed> : PASS|FAIL
docs_verify --audit: <N findings> : PASS|FAIL
docs_verify --links: <N dangling> : PASS|FAIL
docs_verify --coverage: <N findings, M seams without a Sweep header> : PASS|FAIL
docs_verify --stale: <each entry, updated or dismissed with reason>
new checks added by this change: <ids/files, or "none - see why">
record observables added vs sweep probes: <none | observable -> probe/justification>
wheel smoke: <pasted tail | "packaging surface untouched — smoke not owed">
## Requirement sweep
R1: demonstrated by S1 output | deferred (operator: "<quote>")
...
## Assumptions carried
A1: <one line>
## Verdict: PASS | FAIL
FAIL detail: <which check, real output, suspected step>

Exit criteria

• VALIDATION.md committed and pushed, every acceptance check run with pasted output, every R swept.
• No file other than VALIDATION.md (and PARKED.md) modified. A map document that needs updating is a FAIL routed back to dr-execute-step, not something validation fixes in passing — validation that edits the thing it validates proves nothing.
• Return to the orchestrator: PASS -> dr-deliver-change; FAIL -> dr-plan-steps with the FAIL detail.