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Layer 4
Four documents. Binary gates. No exceptions.
The four-document protocol a Station must complete before commissioning any Post. Posts that hallucinate were built without it. Posts that drift were deployed before it was complete. The Groundwork is not setup -- it is the operating contract.
Three questions. Four governing documents — scope, contracts, testing, prompting — populated with your inputs, ready to edit and commit to your repo.
The living contract of what is in-scope and explicitly out-of-scope. Scope creep is not an AI flaw -- it is a missing scope.md.
The frozen interface document. Any schema, behavior, or output format the Post must not change is recorded here.
The golden vector protocol. Deterministic input/output pairs that define what correct looks like. Gates are binary.
The prompt discipline standard. Stack, context, task, constraints, output format, acceptance criteria. Every time.
Every document has a corresponding gate. Pass or blocked. There is no partial pass.
scope.md
Scope Gate
Blocks anything not registered in scope.
contracts.md
Contract Gate
Blocks output that violates the frozen interface.
testing.md
Testing Gate
Blocks any layer that fails golden vectors.
prompting.md
Prompt Gate
Blocks any prompt missing required components.
Provisional Commissioning
The full Groundwork is the standard. But a team on Day 1 will not write four documents for a scraping agent. Waypost accounts for this. It is called a Provisional Commission.
scope.md and a Directive. That is enough to launch.
Without testing.md and contracts.md, the Post operates in Pressure State permanently. Every run generates Debt.
Once the Post proves its value, build the remaining documents. Full Groundwork → Standard State → earned autonomy.
The principle: You have permission to move fast. You do not have permission to pretend the Debt does not exist.