documents/PROPOSAL.md

DEVIDENCE — Engineering checks from the existing open standard

Status: Ready-to-review proposal; NOT adopted, merged, published, or deployed.

Source repository: https://gitea.anomalistdesign.com/dsearch/documents

Verified visible main-branch head at preparation: c90de83c0b5a89a590b204112367fbf194bb9fe1 (2026-10-10 UTC). Current online view examined 2026-11-11. Verify the repository HEAD and existing working tree again before applying this proposal.

Repository files proposed

• conformance/devidence-engineering-checks-v0.1.md — optional candidate external conformance profile, not a Base Layer amendment.
• agents/DEVIDENCE_AGENT_RULES.md — non-normative common instructions applicable to any software agent, not just Codex.
• agents/CODEX_GLOBAL_AGENTS_SNIPPET.md — optional local Codex integration sample; no normative standards force.

Existing source authorities (unchanged)

• terms_of_reference.md: shared DSEARCH/DEVIDENCE terms including acquisition, observation, assertion, derivation, provenance, currentness, profiles, bindings, and adapters. c90de83c0b/terms_of_reference.md
• devidence.md: provenance ceiling, preservation versus rebuildable projections, analytic disagreement, repeated derivations, and empirical accretion. c90de83c0b/devidence.md
• conformance/README.md: profiles have only the explicitly adopted/versioned authority, do not self-adopt, and cannot silently alter the Base Layer. c90de83c0b/conformance/README.md
• conformance/devidence-acquisition-representation-v0.2.md: adopted optional profile for acquisition, integrity, materialization, adequacy, and failure semantics. c90de83c0b/conformance/devidence-acquisition-representation-v0.2.md
• conformance/devidence-primary-source-analysis-interpretive-derivation-v0.1.md: candidate optional profile; remains non-normative until adoption. c90de83c0b/conformance/devidence-primary-source-analysis-interpretive-derivation-v0.1.md
• research-notes/verification-asymmetry-and-evidence-volume.md: explicitly non-normative; cautions against converting evidence volume and structural conformance to truth or authority. c90de83c0b/research-notes/verification-asymmetry-and-evidence-volume.md

What this proposal intentionally does not do

• No Base Layer semantic change or new universal CHECK type.
• No canonical checks.jsonl, graph database, CLI command, repository location, or required service.
• No implicit adoption of an unapproved profile or DEVIDENCE submission by a Codex-generated file.
• No change to PC's existing acceptance authority or production permissions.
• No claim that the established DEVIDENCE ingestion code has been inspected or implements the proposed behaviors.
• No change to the contents or claimed authority of the existing adopted or candidate standards.

Review and use

1. Verify the current source commit, applicable governance, project-specific interfaces, and any competing proposal before merge.
2. Review the candidate against current DEVIDENCE Base Layer terms and existing v0.2 acquisition requirements.
3. Exercise conformance vectors on at least two independently structured implementations or real engineering cases, where feasible.
4. If adopted, update conformance/README.md and record the approval through the repository's actual governance. Merely merging these candidate documents must not mark the profile adopted.
5. Agents may meanwhile use agents/DEVIDENCE_AGENT_RULES.md as explicitly authorized local operating guidance, with the status clearly distinguished from an adopted standard.

This work package is a proposed addition only. No remote repository modifications were made.