statecraft.
Catalog/spec-spine

123-a-startup-verdict-names-its-reader

A startup verdict names its reader

Lifecycle approvedImplementation completeVerification unknownQualification unknown

Three session starts on 2026-09-23 reported "spec registry: INVALID; codebase index: STALE" on a corpus that was valid and fresh. The reader was the repository's own `target/release/spec-spine`, built from an earlier revision and left in place while the checkout fast-forwarded past the frontmatter grammar it knows, so an incompatible reader's refusal was printed as a finding about the corpus. The hooks that turn `check` into a message now name the executable they selected, and when that executable is the in-tree build and is older than the source it is built from, they say the verdict is an earlier revision's reading and keep what it said. They still read only: nothing builds, regenerates or installs.

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Relationships

Claimed units

  • establishes
    {
  "kind": "file",
  "path": "crates/spec-spine-core/tests/reader_identity.rs"
}
  • extends
    {
  "nature": "additive",
  "spec": "093-the-harness-this-repository-runs",
  "unit": {
    "kind": "file",
    "path": ".claude/settings.json"
  }
}
  • extends
    {
  "nature": "additive",
  "spec": "093-the-harness-this-repository-runs",
  "unit": {
    "kind": "file",
    "path": "crates/spec-spine-core/tests/harness_hooks.rs"
  }
}
  • extends
    {
  "nature": "additive",
  "spec": "094-one-gate-and-the-boundaries-it-holds",
  "unit": {
    "kind": "directory",
    "path": ".githooks/"
  }
}

Source headings

  1. 123: A startup verdict names its reader
  2. 1. Purpose
  3. 1.1 What happened, measured
  4. 1.2 Why the hook could not tell
  5. 2. Territory
  6. 3. Behavior
  7. 3.1 The reader is named
  8. 3.2 A reader older than its source is not believed
  9. 3.3 The original diagnostic is kept
  10. 3.4 The commit boundary names its reader
  11. 3.5 Read-only
  12. 3.6 Evidence
  13. 3.7 What this amends in spec 093
  14. 4. Out of scope
  15. 5. Resolved decisions
  16. Verification

Frozen anchors

No frozen anchors declared.