Validating Repository Governance Rules
Methodology for rules-checker, which validates repository-wide consistency across all
governance layers, agent/Skill duplication, and software-engineering documentation.
Reference Modules
- core-validation-and-agent-duplication.md
and skills-duplication-and-report-formats.md —
Core Repository Validation (naming, linking, emoji, No-Last-Updated), Agent-to-Agent
Duplication, Agent-Skill Duplication, Skill-to-Skill Consolidation, Skills Coverage Gaps, and
the finding report formats.
- word-budget-and-rules-governance-core.md
and rules-governance-licensing-and-dependency-policy.md —
governance word-budget delegation, contradictions/inaccuracies/inconsistencies, traceability,
layer coherence, licensing compliance, dependency-bump policy compliance, Gherkin
Gherkin journey coherence.
- software-docs-validation-8-1-to-8-4.md
and software-docs-validation-8-5-to-8-8.md —
the eight
docs/explanation/software-engineering/ sub-checks (principle alignment,
cross-references, naming, structure, templates, diagrams, README index, version docs).
- preflight-consumption.md and
execution-sequence-and-report-structure.md —
consuming the deterministic
rhino-cli repo-governance audit preflight JSON, the execution
step sequence, and the final two-section report structure.
Core Principles
Lifecycle ownership: in rules-quality-gate, exact delegated-gate-ids are omitted from the
domain scan. Missing/stale evidence is pending, never a local rerun or AI imitation. Retained
layer-coherence and traceability checks remain domain findings. Standalone behaviour is unchanged.
Progressive writing: every finding is written immediately, never buffered — Step 8
(~265 files) is the step most likely to be interrupted by compaction. Conservative
consolidation: when uncertain whether Skills should merge, recommend KEEP SEPARATE.
Related
Conventions: all conventions in repo-governance/conventions/, all practices in
repo-governance/development/, AI Agents Convention.
Agents: rules-checker (implements this methodology),
rules-maker.
1---2name: rules-validating-governance3description: Complete validation methodology for repository-wide governance consistency — file naming/linking/emoji, agent-Skill and Skill-to-Skill duplication/consolidation, governance word budgets, rules-governance contradictions/traceability/licensing/dependency-bump-policy, and software-engineering documentation quality. Used by rules-checker.4---56# Validating Repository Governance Rules78Methodology for `rules-checker`, which validates repository-wide consistency across all9governance layers, agent/Skill duplication, and software-engineering documentation.1011## Reference Modules12131. [core-validation-and-agent-duplication.md](reference/core-validation-and-agent-duplication.md)14 and [skills-duplication-and-report-formats.md](reference/skills-duplication-and-report-formats.md) —15 Core Repository Validation (naming, linking, emoji, No-Last-Updated), Agent-to-Agent16 Duplication, Agent-Skill Duplication, Skill-to-Skill Consolidation, Skills Coverage Gaps, and17 the finding report formats.182. [word-budget-and-rules-governance-core.md](reference/word-budget-and-rules-governance-core.md)19 and [rules-governance-licensing-and-dependency-policy.md](reference/rules-governance-licensing-and-dependency-policy.md) —20 governance word-budget delegation, contradictions/inaccuracies/inconsistencies, traceability,21 layer coherence, licensing compliance, dependency-bump policy compliance, Gherkin22 Gherkin journey coherence.233. [software-docs-validation-8-1-to-8-4.md](reference/software-docs-validation-8-1-to-8-4.md)24 and [software-docs-validation-8-5-to-8-8.md](reference/software-docs-validation-8-5-to-8-8.md) —25 the eight `docs/explanation/software-engineering/` sub-checks (principle alignment,26 cross-references, naming, structure, templates, diagrams, README index, version docs).274. [preflight-consumption.md](reference/preflight-consumption.md) and28 [execution-sequence-and-report-structure.md](reference/execution-sequence-and-report-structure.md) —29 consuming the deterministic `rhino-cli repo-governance audit` preflight JSON, the execution30 step sequence, and the final two-section report structure.3132## Core Principles3334**Lifecycle ownership**: in `rules-quality-gate`, exact `delegated-gate-ids` are omitted from the35domain scan. Missing/stale evidence is `pending`, never a local rerun or AI imitation. Retained36layer-coherence and traceability checks remain domain findings. Standalone behaviour is unchanged.37**Progressive writing**: every finding is written immediately, never buffered — Step 838(~265 files) is the step most likely to be interrupted by compaction. **Conservative39consolidation**: when uncertain whether Skills should merge, recommend KEEP SEPARATE.4041## Related4243**Conventions**: all conventions in `repo-governance/conventions/`, all practices in44`repo-governance/development/`, [AI Agents Convention](../../../repo-governance/development/agents/ai-agents.md).4546**Agents**: `rules-checker` (implements this methodology),47`rules-maker`.
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