docs(init): validate specification — v1.17 Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story

---ci---
project: acdl
phase: 0
milestone: v1.17
status: specify
---/ci---

.ciagent/CHECKPOINT.json

@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 {
-  "phase": 21,
-  "stage": "complete",
-  "milestone": "v1.16",
-  "phase_role": "final",
+  "phase": 0,
+  "stage": "specify",
+  "milestone": "v1.17",
+  "phase_role": "pre_execution",
   "attempts": 0,
-  "updated_at": "2026-07-30T16:05:00Z",
-  "milestone_complete": true,
-  "tag": "v1.15.26",
-  "release_id": 370,
-  "requirements": ["REQ-165", "REQ-166", "REQ-167", "REQ-168", "REQ-169", "REQ-170", "REQ-171", "REQ-172", "REQ-173", "REQ-174", "REQ-175", "REQ-176", "REQ-177", "REQ-178", "REQ-179", "REQ-180", "REQ-181", "REQ-182", "REQ-183", "REQ-184"],
-  "regression": {"Verified": 18, "Decayed": 0, "Broken": 0, "Skipped": 4}
+  "updated_at": "2026-08-04T19:30:00Z",
+  "milestone_complete": false,
+  "tag": null,
+  "requirements": ["REQ-185"],
+  "notes": "v1.17 Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story. Three pillars. NORTH_STAR.md drafted (pending interactive GRILL)."
 }

.ciagent/NORTH_STAR.md

@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+# NORTH_STAR — Nova
+
+> **Status:** Draft (pending interactive GRILL → final)
+> **Milestone:** v1.17 — Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story
+> **Owner:** Product Owner
+> **Purpose:** Durable strategic intent. Read by CIAgent in every future
+> `/ci-run` so the platform's direction survives across milestones. This
+> is NOT a status document (that's PROJECT.md) and NOT an engineering
+> architecture (that's the telemetry reference in RESEARCH.md/
+> ARCHITECTURE.md). It is the PO's committed direction: what we're
+> building toward, what we refuse to build, and how we'll know we won.
+
+---
+
+## Vision
+
+> **Infrastructure operations become invisible. Every environment
+> provisioned, every incident healed, every risk remediated — by an
+> autonomous system whose trustworthiness is provable, not promised.
+> Human attestation remains required at stage gates — QA signs off for
+> production, SRE greenlights based on operational readiness — but the
+> operator is never in the loop of normal operations.**
+
+Nova is the autonomous infrastructure layer that lets product teams ship
+without engaging an operator, and lets executives trust the AI not because
+it never fails but because every decision is captured, scored, and
+accountable.
+
+---
+
+## Strategic Objectives (4)
+
+**1. Demonstrate production-grade zero-touch operations.**
+Nova must run real customer estates with no human in the loop of normal
+operations — autonomy as the default, not the demo. Stage-gate
+attestation (QA for production, SRE for operational readiness) remains
+human by design; operational escalations (AI confidence too low to
+proceed) are the failure mode we drive toward zero. Everything else
+collapses if autonomy isn't real.
+
+**2. Establish provable trust in AI decisions.**
+Build the audit substrate — Decision Ledger, confidence scoring, circuit
+breakers, blast-radius controls — that turns "autonomous" from a
+marketing claim into a defensible one. Trust is the moat. Features can be
+copied; an immutable, queryable decision history cannot.
+
+**3. Deliver compounding, quantifiable ROI for customers.**
+Each quarter on Nova must reduce cloud spend, free engineering hours, and
+avoid downtime measurably. If the CFO can't point to a number that
+improves quarter-over-quarter, Nova fails its commercial test, regardless
+of how clever the AI is.
+
+**4. Become the default substrate for agentic infrastructure consumption.**
+AI agents are already becoming the largest consumers of cloud
+infrastructure. Nova must be the platform through which those agents
+declare, deploy, and verify infrastructure — not a vendor scrambling into
+that market two quarters late.
+
+---
+
+## Anti-Goals (5 — what Nova is fundamentally NOT)
+
+1. **Not a Terraform, Kubernetes, or hyperscaler competitor.** We
+   orchestrate them. Replacing them is the most expensive possible
+   distraction from the value we create.
+2. **Not a general-purpose AI agent platform.** We are purpose-built for
+   infrastructure operations. Breadth here produces shallow tools; depth
+   here wins the category.
+3. **Not a system that removes humans from accountability.** Only from
+   operations. Every AI decision lands in an immutable ledger. Every
+   stage-gate promotion (qa/prod/dr) requires a human attestation recorded
+   with approver identity, separation-of-duties check, and the 8-concern
+   evidence matrix. The absence of an operator is never the absence of a
+   record.
+4. **Not for legacy, untagged, or freeform infrastructure.** Nova requires
+   Terraform-managed, policy-aligned, fully-tagged inputs. We optimize for
+   the disciplined 95%, not the chaotic 5%.
+5. **Not sold to operators.** Nova is sold to leadership on outcomes —
+   cost, velocity, risk. Selling to operators inverts the incentive and
+   breaks the autonomy thesis.
+
+---
+
+## Non-Goals (v1.17 milestone scope — deferred work, not permanent boundaries)
+
+> Anti-Goals are what Nova *fundamentally is not*. Non-Goals are what we
+> *will not do this milestone* — deferred work, not permanent boundaries.
+> Each Non-Goal cites the controlling decision ID.
+
+1. **Live AWS re-provisioning** (deferred — D-096). Metrics that require
+   live infrastructure ship as placeholder PowerBI views with documented
+   schemas.
+2. **Onboarding auto-grant** (deferred — D-113/D-114/D-119). Only the
+   request-path metric is grounded; the requested→granted funnel is a
+   placeholder.
+3. **ML anomaly-forecasting / predictive remediation** (no emitter today).
+   The Predictive-vs-Reactive metric ships as a placeholder.
+4. **Drift detection scheduled job** (deferred — D-096 + no scheduler).
+   Drift metrics ship as placeholders.
+5. **Live cost CUR reconciliation** (deferred — D-096). Pre-apply Infracost
+   estimates are grounded; actual-spend reconciliation is a placeholder.
+6. **S3 Object Lock / JWS tamper-evident ledger** (deferred — D-083). The
+   Decision Ledger uses a local SQLite hash-chain this milestone; the
+   Object-Lock/JWS build-out is a future milestone.
+7. **Multi-cloud support** (Azure/GCP/K8s). Nova is AWS-only this milestone.
+
+---
+
+## 12–18 Month Targets
+
+Targets are committed, not aspirational. Each is a number a board member
+can repeat back to us. The grounding column records whether the metric is
+measurable this milestone, and if not, what blocks it.
+
+| Domain | Target | Grounding (v1.17) | Note |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| **Touchless Resolution Rate** | ≥ 99% across production estates | grounded (after P1) | runs completing without *operational* HITL block ÷ total runs (attestation gates excluded — they're designed controls, not escalations) |
+| **Human Escalation Frequency** | < 0.1% of platform actions | grounded (after P1) | *operational* HITL blocks only (confidence-driven); attestation sign-offs excluded |
+| **MTTR (p95)** | < 60 seconds | grounded (platform-run MTTR) | apply.failed → successful retry; infra-incident MTTR deferred (no incident detection) |
+| **Predictive vs. Reactive Ratio** | ≥ 3 : 1 (prevention dominates reaction) | deferred | requires ML forecasting service (future emitter) |
+| **AI Decision Accuracy** | ≥ 99.5% (no rollback, no follow-up incident within 5 min of action) | grounded (after decision ledger) | decisions not followed by apply.failed/incident within 5min |
+| **Drift Auto-Reversal Rate** | ≥ 95% within one detection cycle | deferred | requires drift detection (D-096 + scheduler) |
+| **Cloud Spend Reduction** | ≥ 25% on pilot estates vs. 12-month pre-Nova baseline | partial | pre-apply estimate grounded (Infracost); actual-spend deferred (D-096 CUR) |
+| **L1 / L2 Ops Hours Avoided** | ≥ 70% of pre-Nova FTE allocation | derived | formula over run count × manual baseline |
+| **Platform ROI** | ≥ 250% measured annually | derived | formula (labor savings + cloud savings + avoided downtime) ÷ platform op cost |
+| **Decision Ledger Coverage** | 100% of AI actions with backfilled outcome | grounded (this milestone builds it) | outbox_writer.py → SQLite hash-chain |
+| **Attestation Coverage** | 100% of prod/dr promotions attested by a human | grounded | hitl_gates.py + outbox approver_* attributes; separation-of-duties on prod |
+| **AI-Agent Intent Share** | ≥ 40% of total intent volume originated by non-human consumers | future | no AI-agent consumers today; no emitter; placeholder view |
+
+> Committed targets whose measurement is deferred remain committed — the
+> target is the destination; the metric is the odometer, and some
+> odometers aren't built yet. Each deferred metric ships as a placeholder
+> PowerBI view + a definition-of-success doc recording the dependency.
+
+---
+
+## Success Criteria (v1.17 — what constitutes success for THIS milestone)
+
+> Distinct from the 12–18mo targets: those are the destination. These are
+> the milestone's exit criteria.
+
+v1.17 is a success if:
+
+1. **Decision Ledger emits `ai.decision.made` for 100% of platform runs**
+   with outcome backfill, AND **`attestation.recorded` for 100% of
+   qa/prod/dr promotions** with approver identity + 8-concern matrix
+   result (grounded in `outbox_writer.py` → SQLite hash-chain; honors
+   D-083).
+2. **`docs/METRICS.md` catalogs every executive KPI** with a `grounded` /
+   `derived` / `deferred` status, a source file or decision ID, and a
+   per-KPI definition-of-success doc in `docs/metrics/`.
+3. **The PowerBI export produces all fact/dimension views** + 8 empty
+   placeholder views for deferred metrics (with documented schemas ready
+   to fill when their blocking decisions lift).
+4. **The unified narrative deck ships** with the x3 arc
+   (Problem→Vision→How→Proof→Roadmap) at deck + slide level, per-slide
+   benefit callouts, and fluid transitions; both old decks retired.
+5. **`NORTH_STAR.md` is wired into CIAgent context-loading** so every
+   future `/ci-run` reads it.
+6. **CAP-023 (metrics collector) + CAP-024 (deck structure) pass** in the
+   regression gate.
+
+---
+
+## What "won" looks like
+
+By month 18, Nova is the layer enterprise leadership points to when they
+say *"we don't have an infrastructure ops team anymore, and the audit
+trail is stronger than it ever was"* — and it is the default substrate
+their AI engineering teams reach for first when an agent needs to deploy.
+
+---
+
+## Relationship to v1.17 engineering
+
+- **Pillar A (this file):** strategic direction — durable, PO-authored.
+- **Pillar B (engineering):** the telemetry reference architecture
+  (adapted from the PO's technical-direction input) lives in
+  RESEARCH.md/ARCHITECTURE.md. It is the *how*; this file is the *why*.
+- **Pillar C (story):** the unified narrative deck proves Pillars A+B to
+  leadership. The deck's Proof section cites grounded metrics; its
+  Roadmap section cites deferred targets honestly.

.ciagent/PROJECT.md

@@ -1072,4 +1072,65 @@ conversation; D-117..D-119 resolved at CLARIFY.
 | D-116 | Drift fixes = P1 of v1.16 (not a hotfix to main). | User chose "P1 of v1.16." The state-bucket drift (`adapter.py:117`) and Kyverno label contradiction are correctness regressions but latent in plan-only mode (no live apply in the default path), so they are not an active outage. Fixing them as P1 keeps the milestone self-contained. | P1 fixes both; no hotfix to main. |
 | D-117 | v1.14 NFR categories are NOT re-proposed. | v1.14 already swept over-broad excepts (REQ-141), hardcoded account-ID (REQ-142), IAM `Resource:"*"` scoping (REQ-143), contractId/env validation (REQ-144), `.gitignore` catch-all (REQ-146), `--kube-version` removal (REQ-147), orphan cleanup (REQ-148), `set -euo pipefail` parity (REQ-150). v1.16 finds NEW residual signals (the v1.15 rebrand left a fresh debt layer) and does not duplicate completed work. | Wave 1–5 target only fresh debt. |
 | D-118 | Regression gate (D-091) gates Wave 2 completion and P21. | "Simplify without regressions" is only credible if the regression gate runs after the simplification wave. The gate runs after P9 (Wave 2 done) and at P21 (milestone complete); any non-Verified capability halts W3. Mid-milestone checkpoint after P14 (offline). | P9 + P21 run the gate; P14 checkpoint. |
-| D-119 | `onboard_consumer` action stores a CMDB row pending grant (not auto-provisions). | The request-path-only scope (D-113) means the Lambda accepts an onboarding request and writes a `pending` row to `nova-contracts` (or a new `nova-onboarding` partition key); the platform automation that grants the ABAC role is the P20 Terraform (offline-proven). No AWS resources are created by the Lambda action itself. | P18 writes the pending row; P20 proves the grant Terraform offline. |
+| D-119 | `onboard_consumer` action stores a CMDB row pending grant (not auto-provisions). | The request-path-only scope (D-113) means the Lambda accepts an onboarding request and writes a `pending` row to `nova-contracts` (or a new `nova-onboarding` partition key); the platform automation that grants the ABAC role is the P20 Terraform (offline-proven). No AWS resources are created by the Lambda action itself. | P18 writes the pending row; P20 proves the grant Terraform offline. |
+
+## Objective for Milestone v1.17 (active — Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story)
+
+**Milestone type:** Feature (P1–P3 feat; P4 docs; P5 docs+test; P6 test;
+P7 review+audit+ship). Tags on the v1.16.x line: `v1.16.0` (P0) →
+`v1.16.1..v1.16.7` (P1–P7) → `v1.16.8` (P8 final = milestone release).
+
+**Three pillars:**
+
+- **Pillar A — Strategic Direction.** A durable, PO-authored
+  `.ciagent/NORTH_STAR.md` encodes the platform's vision, 4 strategic
+  objectives, 5 anti-goals, v1.17 non-goals, 12–18mo targets (with a
+  grounding column), and success criteria. CIAgent reads it in every
+  future `/ci-run` so the direction survives across milestones. The
+  attestation clarification is reflected: human attestation required at
+  stage gates (QA for production, SRE for operational readiness); autonomy
+  in operations, not in accountability.
+
+- **Pillar B — Leadership Metrics + PowerBI.** Instrument Nova to
+  collect, aggregate, and surface leadership-grade metrics that prove the
+  "no-humans" autonomous-infrastructure value proposition. Nova-native
+  minimal tech (CloudEvents 1.0 envelope, JSONL event log, SQLite cold
+  store, hash-chained Decision Ledger via `outbox_writer.py` extension)
+  + Infracost for pre-apply cost estimates. Hybrid model: existing
+  file-based signals (REGRESSION_REPORT.json, pcr.json, signal.json,
+  junit XML) are sources the collector reads and projects into events;
+  new emitters emit CloudEvents directly. PowerBI export = CSV/JSON
+  views (fact + dimension tables + 8 empty placeholder views for
+  deferred metrics). **Hard constraint: DO NOT make anything up.** Every
+  metric is `grounded` (cites source file + schema), `derived`
+  (documented formula), or `deferred` (cites decision ID — D-096/D-083/
+  D-113/D-114/D-119). The 8 deferred metrics: drift detection, GreenOps/
+  carbon, predictive/reactive, live CUR reconciliation, multi-cloud,
+  red-team MTTR, self-healing velocity, SLA/downtime.
+
+- **Pillar C — Unified Narrative Deck.** Merge the two existing decks
+  (`how-the-platform-works` + `the-developer-experience`) into one unified
+  narrative deck "Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform" with a
+  single arc: Problem → Vision/Direction (NORTH_STAR) → How it works →
+  Proof (metrics) → Roadmap/Ask. The "tell them x3" structure applies at
+  deck level AND per slide (each slide opens with what it covers,
+  delivers, closes with an explicit "benefit of this stage" callout).
+  Fluid transitions between slides. Both old decks retired.
+
+**Key decisions resolved in the planning conversation (D-120+):**
+
+| ID | Decision | Rationale | Outcome |
+|----|----------|-----------|---------|
+| D-120 | Tech stack = Nova-native + Infracost, drift deferred. | The PO's technical-direction document specifies Kafka/Prometheus/ClickHouse/QLDB/OTel — none exist in Nova today. Adopt the PRINCIPLES (events as source of truth, CloudEvents envelope, decision ledger, definition-of-success docs, dashboards-as-projections) but implement with Nova-native minimal tech (JSONL + SQLite + hash-chained ledger). No Kafka/Prometheus/ClickHouse/QLDB. Infracost adopted (runs offline on plan JSON). Drift detection deferred (D-096 + no scheduler). | P1–P3 use Nova-native tech; Infracost in P1; drift deferred. |
+| D-121 | Decision Ledger = extend outbox_writer.py → SQLite append-only hash chain. | The direction's #1 priority is the Decision Ledger. Nova already has a hash-chained outbox (outbox_writer.py). Extend it to a SQLite append-only table with hash chain; add ai.decision.made + attestation.recorded events. Honors D-083 (no S3 Object Lock/JWS). | P1 extends outbox_writer; ledger is SQLite hash-chain. |
+| D-122 | AI Planner framing = map Nova's real decision points. | The direction assumes an "AI Planner/Reasoner" (planner-v3.2). Nova's actual decision path is confidence_signal + HITL gate. Model ai.decision.made from confidence_signal (decision_id=run_id, chosen_action=band, confidence=score, alternatives=perInput, human_override=HITL block). LLM planner marked future/aspirational. | P1 emits honest decision events; no fabricated LLM. |
+| D-123 | Deferred metrics = all 8 (drift, GreenOps, predictive/reactive, live CUR, multi-cloud, red-team MTTR, self-healing, SLA/downtime). | These require live AWS (D-096) or new external systems. Ship as empty PowerBI placeholder views with documented schemas. | P3 ships 8 placeholder views; METRICS.md marks them deferred. |
+| D-124 | NORTH_STAR = strategy; tech direction = engineering input. | The PO's technical-direction document is engineering architecture, not strategy. NORTH_STAR.md captures strategic vision/objectives/anti-goals (PO-authored). The tech direction becomes the telemetry reference architecture section in RESEARCH.md/ARCHITECTURE.md, cited by NORTH_STAR's engineering objectives. | P0 writes NORTH_STAR; RESEARCH writes the telemetry reference. |
+| D-125 | Events vs files = hybrid. | Existing file-based signals (REGRESSION_REPORT.json, pcr.json, signal.json, junit) stay as files; the collector reads them and emits normalized CloudEvents into JSONL + SQLite. New emitters emit CloudEvents directly. | P2 collector reads files + events. |
+| D-126 | Hot/cold split = cold-only SQLite (hot path deferred). | Nova has no live ops dashboard (no live AWS, D-096). The SQLite store is cold-only (batch/historical). The hot path is documented as deferred. | P2 SQLite is cold-only. |
+| D-127 | Definition-of-success = per-KPI docs. | The direction's §11 requires a definition-of-success doc for every executive KPI. Adopt this standard; docs live in `docs/metrics/`. | P4 writes per-KPI docs. |
+| D-128 | Storage location = metrics/ at repo root. | metrics/runs/ (per-run manifests), metrics/nova_metrics.db (SQLite), metrics/events.jsonl (event log), metrics/powerbi/ (export). | P1–P3 use metrics/ at repo root. |
+| D-129 | PowerBI delivery = CSV/JSON files, folder connector. | Nova is offline-first; no live connector to a running service. PowerBI ingests via the folder connector. | P3 emits CSV/JSON to metrics/powerbi/. |
+| D-130 | Deck arc = Problem → Vision → How → Proof → Roadmap. | The unified narrative deck's 5-act structure. x3 arc at deck + slide level. Per-slide benefit callouts. Fluid transitions. Both old decks retired. | P5 builds the unified deck; old decks deleted. |
+| D-131 | MTTR scope = platform-run MTTR. | The <60s MTTR target refers to platform-run failures (apply.failed → successful retry), not infra-incident MTTR (no incident detection system). Infra-incident MTTR deferred. | P4 grounds platform-run MTTR. |
+| D-132 | Attestation instrumentation = emit attestation.recorded events. | The attestation system (hitl_gates.py + attestation_matrix.py + separation_of_duties.py) already exists. Instrument it: emit attestation.recorded events into the Decision Ledger + PowerBI. Attestation Coverage = 100% target grounded from outbox approver_* attributes. | P1 emits attestation events; P4 grounds Attestation Coverage. |

.ciagent/REQUIREMENTS.md

@@ -956,3 +956,154 @@ simplification and the first self-service onboarding request path.
   scoping (REQ-143), contractId/env validation (REQ-144), `.gitignore`
   catch-all (REQ-146), `--kube-version` removal (REQ-147), orphan
   cleanup (REQ-148), `set -euo pipefail` parity (REQ-150).
+
+## v1.17 — Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story
+
+**Milestone type:** Feature (P1–P3 feat; P4 docs; P5 docs+test; P6 test;
+P7 review+audit+ship). Progressive patches; the final phase's patch IS
+the milestone release. Tags run on the v1.16.x line: `v1.16.0` (P0) →
+`v1.16.1..v1.16.7` (P1–P7) → `v1.16.8` (P8 final = milestone release).
+
+**Objective:** Three pillars. (A) Encode the PO's strategic direction in
+a durable `NORTH_STAR.md` read by CIAgent in every future `/ci-run`.
+(B) Instrument Nova to collect, aggregate, and surface leadership-grade
+metrics that prove the "no-humans" autonomous-infrastructure value
+proposition — grounded in signals Nova actually emits, derived via
+documented formulas, or explicitly deferred with a decision ID — flowing
+into PowerBI-ready views. (C) Merge the two existing decks into one
+unified narrative deck with the "tell them x3" arc at deck + slide level,
+per-slide benefit callouts, and fluid transitions.
+
+**Hard constraint:** DO NOT make anything up. Every metric carries a
+`grounded` / `derived` / `deferred` status with a source file or
+decision ID. Deferred metrics ship as empty PowerBI placeholder views
+with documented schemas.
+
+### Requirements
+
+**Pillar A — Strategic Direction**
+
+- **REQ-185** — `.ciagent/NORTH_STAR.md` is PO-authored with Vision,
+  Strategic Objectives (4), Anti-Goals (5), Non-Goals (v1.17 scope),
+  12–18mo Targets (with grounding column), and Success Criteria. The
+  attestation clarification is reflected: human attestation required at
+  stage gates (QA for production, SRE for operational readiness);
+  autonomy in operations, not in accountability. (Phase P0)
+- **REQ-186** — CIAgent reads `NORTH_STAR.md` in context-loading for all
+  future milestones; the file is referenced from PROJECT.md and
+  ARCHITECTURE.md so the strategic direction survives across milestones.
+  (Phase P4)
+
+**Pillar B — Leadership Metrics + PowerBI**
+
+- **REQ-187** — Event emitters: a CloudEvents 1.0 envelope is adopted;
+  a per-run manifest writer emits structured events (run_id, contractId,
+  env, stages×durations, exit, confidence, HITL block count) to
+  `metrics/runs/`; existing ephemeral `$WORK/*.json` (pcr, signal,
+  event, outbox, stack) are persisted as durable artifacts; pytest
+  `addopts` gains `--junitxml`+`--json-report`; Infracost runs as a
+  plan post-processor emitting `cost.estimated{delta_usd}` (offline).
+  (Phase P1)
+- **REQ-188** — Decision Ledger: `outbox_writer.py` is extended to emit
+  to a SQLite append-only table with hash chain; `ai.decision.made`
+  events are modeled from Nova's real decision points (decision_id=run_id,
+  chosen_action=band outcome, confidence=score, alternatives=perInput
+  breakdown, human_override=HITL block) with outcome backfill from
+  apply.completed; `attestation.recorded` events capture qa/prod/dr
+  sign-offs (approver, env, concerns, result). Honors D-083 (no S3 Object
+  Lock/JWS). (Phase P1)
+- **REQ-189** — Metrics collector: `core/metrics/collector.py` +
+  `schemas/metrics_*.schema.json` read all grounded signals
+  (REGRESSION_REPORT.json, per-run manifests, junit XML, pcr.json,
+  signal.json, COST.md, decision ledger) → normalized SQLite cold store
+  at `metrics/nova_metrics.db`; idempotent re-runs. (Phase P2)
+- **REQ-190** — PowerBI export: `core/metrics/powerbi_export.py` emits
+  CSV/JSON views to `metrics/powerbi/` (fact_run, fact_capability,
+  fact_policy_check, fact_confidence, fact_test, fact_decision,
+  fact_cost_estimate, dim_capability, dim_milestone + 8 empty
+  placeholder views for deferred metrics with documented schemas) +
+  `docs/METRICS_VIEWS.md` schema doc. (Phase P3)
+- **REQ-191** — Zero-touch efficiency metrics: Autonomous Resolution
+  Rate (runs without operational HITL block ÷ total; attestation gates
+  excluded), Human Escalation Frequency (operational HITL blocks only),
+  AI Decision Accuracy (decisions not followed by apply.failed/incident
+  within 5min), MTTD/MTTR (platform-run: apply.failed → successful
+  retry), Attestation Coverage (prod/dr promotions attested ÷ total
+  prod/dr promotions). (Phase P4)
+- **REQ-192** — Velocity metrics: Provisioning Lead Time
+  (apply.completed.time − intent.received.time), Deployment Frequency
+  (count(apply.completed) per day). Self-Healing Velocity deferred (no
+  auto-remediator). (Phase P4)
+- **REQ-193** — Financial & cost-ROI metrics: FTE Hours Saved (derived:
+  run count × manual baseline), Cost Savings via Infracost estimates
+  (grounded), Cost Efficiency Ratio (derived), Platform ROI (derived
+  formula). Live CUR reconciliation deferred (D-096). (Phase P4)
+- **REQ-194** — Reliability, security & compliance metrics: Zero-Trust
+  Policy Compliance Rate (from pcr.json), Attestation Coverage (from
+  hitl_gates.py). Uptime, Patch Remediation, SLA/downtime deferred
+  (D-096). (Phase P4)
+- **REQ-195** — Metrics catalog doc: `docs/METRICS.md` catalogs every
+  executive KPI with `grounded`/`derived`/`deferred` status, source
+  file or decision ID, and a per-KPI definition-of-success doc in
+  `docs/metrics/<kpi>.md`. (Phase P4)
+
+**Pillar C — Unified Narrative Deck**
+
+- **REQ-196** — The two existing decks (`how-the-platform-works` +
+  `the-developer-experience`) are merged into one unified narrative deck
+  "Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform" with a single arc:
+  Problem → Vision/Direction (NORTH_STAR) → How it works → Proof
+  (metrics) → Roadmap/Ask. The x3 structure ("tell them what you're
+  going to tell them → tell them → tell them what you told them") applies
+  at deck level (opening = arc; body = tell them; closing = recap + ask).
+  Both old decks are retired (all derived artifacts deleted). (Phase P5)
+- **REQ-197** — Each slide has the x3 structure (opens with what it
+  covers, delivers, closes with an explicit "benefit of this stage"
+  callout) + fluid transitions between slides (no disjointed jumps).
+  The 4-step deck process (source `.md` → Marp → HTML → talking-points)
+  is re-run for the unified deck. (Phase P5)
+
+**Cross-cutting**
+
+- **REQ-198** — Regression capability: CAP-023 (metrics collector runs,
+  emits expected schema) + CAP-024 (deck structure: slide count, x3
+  present, per-slide benefit present) added to `core/regression_verify.py`.
+  (Phase P6)
+
+### v1.17 Traceability
+
+| Requirement | Phase | Status |
+|-------------|-------|--------|
+| REQ-185 | P0 | in_progress |
+| REQ-186 | P4 | pending |
+| REQ-187 | P1 | pending |
+| REQ-188 | P1 | pending |
+| REQ-189 | P2 | pending |
+| REQ-190 | P3 | pending |
+| REQ-191 | P4 | pending |
+| REQ-192 | P4 | pending |
+| REQ-193 | P4 | pending |
+| REQ-194 | P4 | pending |
+| REQ-195 | P4 | pending |
+| REQ-196 | P5 | pending |
+| REQ-197 | P5 | pending |
+| REQ-198 | P6 | pending |
+
+### Out of Scope (v1.17)
+
+- Live AWS re-provisioning (D-096) — metrics requiring live
+  infrastructure ship as placeholder views.
+- Onboarding auto-grant (D-113/D-114/D-119) — only the request-path
+  metric is grounded.
+- ML anomaly-forecasting / predictive remediation — no emitter today;
+  Predictive-vs-Reactive metric ships as a placeholder.
+- Drift detection scheduled job (D-096 + no scheduler) — drift metrics
+  ship as placeholders.
+- Live cost CUR reconciliation (D-096) — Infracost pre-apply estimates
+  are grounded; actuals are not.
+- S3 Object Lock / JWS tamper-evident ledger (D-083) — Decision Ledger
+  uses a local SQLite hash-chain this milestone.
+- Multi-cloud support (Azure/GCP/K8s) — Nova is AWS-only this milestone.
+- A third deck — the two existing decks merge into one; no new
+  standalone metrics deck.
+- A Nova web UI — dashboards are PowerBI, not a Nova-built frontend.

.ciagent/config.json

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
   ],
   "active_project": "acdl",
   "active_projects": ["acdl"],
-  "active_milestone": "v1.16",
+  "active_milestone": "v1.17",
   "autonomy": {
     "level": "full",
     "escalation_hooks": ["deploy", "delete_data", "merge_to_main"],