A `type: adr` document outside `docs/adr/` escapes both gates: the corpus carve-out is content-based, the `adr-smadr` job is directory-scoped

[zircote]

Summary

The ADR carve-out added in #208 removes documents from the mif-validate corpus on a content predicate, but the job that is supposed to gate them instead is scoped to a directory. The two do not cover the same set, so a type: adr document that lands outside docs/adr/ is validated by nothing.

Where

scripts/lib/corpus.mjs — listL3Docs() filters on isAdrDoc(), which tests frontmatter content across every entry in L3_DIRS:

export const L3_DIRS = ["docs/adr", "docs/architecture", "docs/runbooks", "docs/reference", "docs/explanation"];
...
return files.filter((f) => !isAdrDoc(f));

The file's own comment states the intended contract:

a type: adr document anywhere in the gated trees is owned by the structured-madr Action (the adr-smadr CI job)

.github/workflows/ci.yml — the adr-smadr job does not honour that contract; both new steps are pinned to one directory and one non-recursive pattern:

  mode: smadr
  path: docs/adr
  pattern: '*.md'

Escape path

Add docs/architecture/0006-some-decision.md with type: adr in its frontmatter:

1. listL3Docs() drops it, so it is absent from listGatedDocs() and never reaches mif-validate (nor engine-parity.mjs or provenance-corpus-check.mjs).
2. adr-smadr only walks docs/adr, so it never sees the file either.

Result: a document that claims MIF L3 conformance is gated by nothing, and CI is green. This is the same silent-coverage-drift class the corpus module was created to close (#32/#34) — the module's header comment is explicit that hand-synced lists disagreeing silently is the failure it exists to prevent.

A second, narrower variant of the same mismatch: listL3Docs() globs ${dir}/**/*.md (recursive), while the adr-smadr steps pass pattern: '*.md'. Whether a nested docs/adr/sub/0007.md is also uncovered depends on the structured-madr Action's globstar semantics, which was not resolved here — worth confirming rather than assuming either way.

Why this is not just theoretical

Nothing in the tree prevents it. tests/corpus.test.mjs pins the opposite direction (a non-adr doc under docs/adr stays gated) but asserts nothing about a type: adr doc under the other four L3 trees, and no gate rejects one.

Options (a design call, not a mechanical fix)

Three plausible resolutions, each with a different consequence:

1. Narrow the carve-out to docs/adr/ — directory-based filter. Simplest and symmetric with the CI job, but loses the content-based property Make the five docs/adr ADRs conform to the adr genre and route them to the structured-madr gate #208 deliberately chose, and a type: adr doc under docs/adr becomes the only recognised shape.
2. Fail closed in listL3Docs() — throw when a carved-out type: adr document is found outside docs/adr/. Keeps the content-based carve-out, makes the module's comment true, and matches the fail-closed discipline already in the file (missing tree, empty result). Costs an explicit error on an arrangement that may be legitimate.
3. Drive the adr-smadr step from listAdrDocs() — emit the carved-out list and hand it to the Action, so the gate is by construction the exact complement of the corpus. Most faithful to the stated contract; requires the Action to accept an explicit file list rather than a path + pattern.

Acceptance criteria

• Ubiquitous: a type: adr document under any L3_DIRS tree SHALL be validated by exactly one gate, with no arrangement that leaves it validated by none.
• Ubiquitous: scripts/lib/corpus.mjs's stated contract for the carve-out SHALL match what .github/workflows/ci.yml actually gates.
• Event-driven: WHEN a type: adr document is added outside docs/adr/, a PR-gated check SHALL fail or the document SHALL be validated — never silently pass ungated.
• Ubiquitous: the resolution SHALL be covered by a test that fails on the current tree and passes after.

Found during code review of #208; not a regression from that PR's stated goal, and not blocking it.

[zircote]

Board status set to Todo.

[zircote]

Fix in progress on fix/209-adr-carveout-gate-alignment: corpus.mjs fails closed on a type: adr doc outside the adr-smadr gate's coverage (option 2, extended to nested docs/adr/ paths — the Action's '*.md' glob is non-recursive). Status → In Progress.

[zircote]

PR #210 opened. Status → In Review.

[zircote]

Merged via #210; Status → Done.