Validation, Standards, And Evidence

Purpose

This page is the bounded operator entrypoint for validation, standards, contract references, and proof surfaces in Ledger.

Use it when you need to answer questions such as:

• what should be run before review or closeout
• which standards or lifecycle rules govern the work
• which contract or spec surface is actually in force
• where proof of prior validation or closure lives

It does not replace the underlying canon, metadata, or evidence. It points to the highest-signal surfaces that already own those truths.

Validation And Proof Map

flowchart TD
    A["Validation / proof question"] --> B["Validation entrypoints"]
    A --> C["Standards and lifecycle rules"]
    A --> D["Contracts and specs"]
    A --> E["Evidence and proof"]

    B --> B1["README"]
    B --> B2["Makefile"]
    B --> B3["orbitra.contract.yml"]
    B --> B4["CI workflows"]

    C --> C1["Governance index"]
    C --> C2["Standards registry"]
    C --> C3["Definition of done"]
    C --> C4["Evidence checklist"]

    D --> D1["ORB registry"]
    D --> D2["Project contract"]
    D --> D3["Review contract"]
    D --> D4["Execution contract"]

    E --> E1["Sprint indexes"]
    E --> E2["Phase 1 project spine proof"]
    E --> E3["Local-dev proof"]
    E --> E4["Primitive rollups"]

Validation Entry Points

Surface	Start here	Why it matters
repo validation summary	README.md	fastest repo-level validation anchors and contract-check commands
make targets	Makefile	stable local entrypoints such as contract-check, contract-check-all, meta-check, docs-build, docs-navigation-check, docs-boundary-check, and docs-startup-check
contract file	orbitra.contract.yml	declared repo contract and active gate layout
contract validator	tools/contract_validate.py	local contract validation path for the repo contract
CI entrypoint	.github/workflows/ci.yml	repo-level CI trigger surface
reusable gate runner	.github/workflows/orbitra-ci.yml	actual contract-gate execution model used by CI

Use these when:

• you need to know what to run locally before review
• you need to understand why CI is checking a given contract gate
• you need the shortest path into validation behavior without reading the whole repo

Standards And Lifecycle Anchors

Surface	Start here	Why it matters
governance index	governance/GOVERNANCE-INDEX.md	layered map of active governance standards
standards registry	meta/standards-registry.yaml	machine-readable standards lookup surface
definition of done	governance/lifecycle/DEFINITION-OF-DONE.md	closure baseline across governed work
evidence checklist	governance/EVIDENCE-CHECKLIST-STANDARD.md	minimum expectations for evidence quality and completeness
review model	docs/operating-system/models/REVIEW_AND_ACCEPTANCE_MODEL.md	review and acceptance doctrine behind closeout
review playbook	docs/operating-system/playbooks/REVIEW_AND_CLOSEOUT_PLAYBOOK.md	practical closeout path for governed work

Use these when:

• validation is not just technical but lifecycle-sensitive
• you need to know what “good enough to close” actually means
• you need repo standards instead of implementation intuition

Contracts And Spec References

Surface	Start here	Why it matters
ORB registry	specs/ORB-REGISTRY.md	top-level contract and governance-spec index
project and work graph contract	specs/ORB-PROJ-001.md	project container, work graph, and workspace baseline
review and closure contract	specs/ORB-REVIEW-001.md	review packet, approval outcome, and closure baseline
delegated execution contract	specs/ORB-EXEC-001.md	delegated execution, run trace, and artifact linkage baseline
route metadata	meta/task-routing.yaml	route-aware output, review, and closeout obligations

Use these when:

• a task depends on a declared contract rather than prose doctrine alone
• you need the versioned baseline behind project, review, or execution behavior
• you need to distinguish route obligations from repo conventions

Evidence And Proof Surfaces

Surface	Start here	Why it matters
sprint evidence index	evidence/SPRINT-1/INDEX.md	curated proof entrypoint for a governed sprint wave
bootstrap evidence index	evidence/SPRINT-1/PHASE-0-BOOTSTRAP/INDEX.md	structured bootstrap proof bundle
end-to-end Phase 1 proof	evidence/phase-1-project-spine/P1-011/phase-1-spine-end-to-end-validation.md	representative governed validation artifact for the project spine
local-dev proof set	evidence/LOCAL-DEV/v0.2/axiom-pack.md	example local-dev smoke evidence surface
primitives rollup	evidence/PRIMITIVES/v0.2/umbrella-rollup.md	aggregated proof across primitive implementation waves

Use these when:

• you need proof that something was validated, not just that it should be
• you need a concrete example of governed evidence shape
• you need to inspect prior validation outcomes before asserting new closure truth

Evidence is proof, not canon. It supports closeout and auditability, but it should not be treated as the current rule by itself.

Working Rule

Use the surfaces by question type:

• validation entrypoints answer what should run
• standards and lifecycle anchors answer what “good” and “done” mean
• specs and route metadata answer which contract is in force
• evidence answers what was actually proven

If those answers conflict, prefer:

1. canon and route metadata for current obligations
2. specs for versioned contract baselines
3. evidence only as proof of what happened