Coherence audit

Coherence Audit

The brain (Edition) and the Mall must agree. Coherence drift is silent — Edition can recommend a store the Mall has pruned, or the Mall can list a store with a tag the brain contradicts.

When to Use

• Periodic full audit (recommended monthly, fired by /audit-coherence)
• Before any Mall prune that touches a referenced entry
• Before tagging an Edition release (preflight check)
• When a heir reports "the brain told me to use X but the Mall doesn't have it"

The Three Coherence Checks

#	Violation	Detection
1	Broken reference — Edition cites a store that's no longer in the Mall	Grep Alex_ACT_Edition/.github/ for store URLs and names; intersect with current STORES.md
2	Tag mismatch — Edition tags a store "primary" but Mall doesn't list it as First-Party	Cross-check the brain's "primary" or "recommended" tags against Mall's category headings
3	Deprecated snippet — Mall install snippet uses a command the brain says is deprecated	Cross-grep MCP install snippets in Mall against any deprecated: flag in brain instructions

Procedure

1. Run node scripts/coherence-check.cjs (mechanical sweep — covers Check 1, partial Check 2)
2. For each finding, classify:
   • Hard violation — broken reference, must fix before any release
   • Soft violation — tag drift, fix in next routine sweep
   • False positive — string match without semantic meaning (e.g., a URL in a code example)
3. Run an ACT pass on the verdict — coherence fixes touch both repos
4. For each hard violation, decide which side fixes:
   • Edition references a pruned store → fix Edition (remove or replace reference)
   • Mall pruned a store Edition still legitimately needs → re-add to Mall (run store-evaluation)
   • Tag mismatch → align the side that's wrong (usually Edition, since Mall is the catalog of record)
5. Open coordinated PRs (Edition + Mall) when both sides need changes
6. Record in decisions/curation-log.md

Hard Rules

1. Mall is the catalog of record — when names or URLs disagree, the Mall wins (it's the marketplace; Edition consumes it).
2. Edition is the doctrine of record — when capability claims disagree (deprecated, primary, recommended), the Edition's brain wins.
3. Coherence-check is a release gate — Edition releases must pass coherence-check; if a violation exists, either fix it or document the exception in the release notes.
4. No silent suppressions — every "false positive" finding gets a one-line note in the audit report explaining why.

Decision Matrix

Edition says	Mall says	Verdict
Cites store X	Has X in catalog	OK
Cites store X	No X	Hard violation — fix Edition or re-add to Mall
Tags X "primary"	Lists X in First-Party	OK
Tags X "primary"	Lists X in Community	Soft violation — align tags
Says command Y deprecated	Mall snippet uses Y	Soft violation — refresh Mall snippet
Recommends X for use case Z	No X	Hard violation

Output Template

# Coherence Audit — YYYY-MM-DD

## Scope

- Edition: <commit SHA>
- Mall: <commit SHA>

## Mechanical Findings

| Finding | Type | Side to fix | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|

## Semantic Findings

| Finding | Type | Side to fix | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|

## Coordinated PRs

- Edition: <PR link or "none">
- Mall: <PR link or "none">

## False Positives

| Finding | Why it's not a violation |
|---|---|

## ACT Pass Trail

<markers>

Anti-Patterns

Anti-pattern	Correction
Fixing Edition only when Mall is the catalog of record	Catalog-of-record rule decides which side moves
Suppressing findings without rationale	Every dismissed finding gets a one-line note
Running coherence-check on stale Mall data	Always run after a Mall pull, not before
Treating string-match as definitive	Some matches are illustrative URLs in examples; classify as false positive

Related

• mall-curation, staleness-discipline
• skill-review — Edition-side gate that prevents new violations at PR time
• /audit-coherence prompt
• scripts/coherence-check.cjs mechanical sweep