Vault

Archive a Change

Merge delta specs into main specs and move the change to archive. The final step in the Techneering workflow.

Core Principle

NO ARCHIVE WITHOUT CONFIRMATION.
Every artifact checked. Every delta applied. Every conflict reported.

Steps

Step 1: Select the Change

Same selection logic as tn:forge — auto-detect or ask user.

Always announce: "Archiving change: <name>"

Step 2: Pre-Archive Checks

Artifact completion: Check all artifacts exist (proposal, specs, design, tasks).

Task completion: Read techneering/changes/<name>/tasks.md, count - [ ] (incomplete) vs - [x] (complete).

• If incomplete tasks: warn user, confirm before proceeding

Step 3: Delta Spec Merge

If delta specs exist at techneering/changes/<name>/specs/:

3a. Read Delta Specs

For each delta spec file, parse the delta blocks:

• ## ADDED Requirements
• ## MODIFIED Requirements
• ## REMOVED Requirements
• ## RENAMED Requirements

3b. Apply Deltas to Main Specs

Execute operations in this strict order: RENAMED → REMOVED → MODIFIED → ADDED

• ADDED: Append requirement blocks to the end of the corresponding chapter in the main spec
• MODIFIED: Replace the matching requirement block in the main spec (match by ### Requirement: <name>)
• REMOVED: Delete the matching requirement block from the main spec
• RENAMED: Rename the requirement block header in the main spec (FROM → TO)

3c. Handle Edge Cases

• MODIFIED/REMOVED target not found in main spec → Skip, log warning
• ADDED target chapter doesn't exist → Create chapter, then append
• Conflict (same requirement targeted by multiple deltas) → Stop merge, report to user

3d. Post-Merge Verification

• Confirm main spec structure is intact
• No orphaned references
• No duplicate requirement names

If no delta specs exist, skip merge step.

Step 4: Perform Archive

mkdir -p techneering/archive
mv techneering/changes/<name> techneering/archive/YYYY-MM-DD-<name>

If target archive already exists, report error and suggest renaming.

Step 5: Display Summary

## Archive Complete

**Change:** <change-name>
**Archived to:** techneering/archive/YYYY-MM-DD-<name>/
**Specs:** Synced to main specs (or "No delta specs" or "Sync skipped")

All artifacts complete. All tasks complete.

Red Flags

Thought	Reality
"Can archive even if not finished"	Incomplete tasks must be warned and confirmed
"Delta merge errors don't matter"	Merge conflicts corrupt the main spec — must stop
"Archive is just moving files"	Archive = delta merge + verification + move, all required
"Skip verification to speed up"	Unverified main spec may be structurally broken

Quick Reference

Dimension	Key point
Core operation	delta spec merge → move into archive/
Merge order	RENAMED → REMOVED → MODIFIED → ADDED
Pre-checks	artifact completeness + task completion
Exception handling	target missing → skip + warn / conflict → stop + report
Path placeholder	Always use techneering/changes/<name>/

Next Step

When done:

• Normal case → done, Techneering workflow complete
• Merge conflict found during archive → pause, report to user for manual handling
• User requests stop → end the current flow

Guardrails

• Always confirm with user if incomplete artifacts or tasks exist
• Preserve .tn.yaml when moving to archive
• Don't block archive on warnings — inform and confirm
• Show clear summary of what happened
• If delta spec merge encounters conflicts, stop and ask user
• Unified path placeholder: always use techneering/changes/<name>/