Merge phase/06-deck-slides-atelier — v1.17.6 (v1.18 P6 deck slides + atelier complete)

REQ-226: Slide 19 'Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier' added → 21 total
slides (16 existing + 17 Scope + 18 RACI + 19 Atelier + 2 appendix). Arc
preview updated (v1.18). Talking points synced (slide 19). S&P theme
preserved (177 color refs in HTML). PPTX 22 slides (21 content + title).

REQ-227: README deck table updated — single unified deck, 21 slides, PPTX
committed + release-attached (D-141). Old two-deck table replaced.

REQ-228: HTML + PPTX re-rendered via scripts/render_deck.sh. PPTX committed
(binary, no LFS).

---ci---
project: acdl
phase: 6
milestone: v1.18
status: execute
requirements:
  covered: [REQ-226, REQ-227, REQ-228]
  partial: []
---/ci---

.ciagent/CHECKPOINT.json

@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 {
   "phase": 0,
-  "stage": "plan",
+  "stage": "complete",
   "milestone": "v1.18",
   "phase_role": "pre_execution",
   "attempts": 0,
-  "updated_at": "2026-08-06T00:25:00Z",
+  "updated_at": "2026-08-06T00:35:00Z",
   "milestone_complete": false,
-  "notes": "v1.18 PLAN complete. 8 phases, 6 waves, 15 requirements. Sequential execution."
+  "tag": "v1.17.0",
+  "release_id": 522,
+  "notes": "v1.18 P0 complete. 5 pre-execution stages done. Tag v1.17.0, release 522."
 }

.ciagent/PROJECT.md

@@ -58,6 +58,103 @@ traceable to a human attestation and an immutable evidence stream.
   boundary. The platform validates, enriches with operational standards,
   and reconciles the target state.
 
+## Scope: Nova is Downstream of PDLC
+
+> **Promoted from Core Tenet #2 + Anti-Goal #1 (v1.18, REQ-216).** This
+> is the unmissable scope statement — the PDLC is upstream, Nova is
+> downstream.
+
+The **Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC)** — product backlog, code
+authorship, IDE workflows, sprint planning, application business logic —
+is **upstream** of Nova. Nova never penetrates the PDLC. Nova's domain is
+**infrastructure + delivery only**: environment progression, cloud
+resource lifecycle, operational security/observability NFRs, policy
+enforcement, immutable audit lineage, and the two consumer surfaces
+(technical developer + agentic).
+
+Integration between the PDLC and Nova is **only** through the validated,
+published contract boundary (`schemas/contract.schema.json` +
+`schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json`). The citizen developer's AI
+coding agent, an upstream agentic SDLC platform, or any upstream
+development platform may all produce submissions — the source does not
+matter because all are subject to the same compliance standards (the
+submission-readiness gate, D-133). Nova validates, enriches with
+operational standards, and reconciles the target state. Nova never
+authors application code, manages product backlogs, or provides IDE
+workflows.
+
+```
+PDLC (upstream)                         Nova (downstream)
+─────────────────                       ─────────────────
+product backlog                         contract ingestion
+code authorship (AI agent / IDE / SDLC) → submission-readiness gate
+sprint planning                         → policy enforcement
+application business logic              → cloud resource lifecycle
+                                        → environment progression (dev→qa→prod→dr)
+                                        → immutable audit + attestation
+```
+
+## RACI Matrix
+
+> **Source of truth (v1.18, REQ-215, D-139).** Three roles clarify who
+> owns what across the Nova delivery lifecycle. The matrix is the
+> authoritative version; `docs/raci.md` is the citizen-developer-facing
+> copy.
+
+### Roles
+
+- **Citizen Developer (CD)** — the consumer (technical developer L3A or
+  non-technical L3B). Responsible for all **Functional Requirements (FRs)**
+  and **User Acceptance Testing (UAT)**. The FRs + UAT are produced via
+  the citizen developer's AI coding agent, an upstream agentic SDLC, or
+  an upstream development platform — **the source does not matter as all
+  are subject to the same compliance standards** (the submission-readiness
+  gate, D-133).
+- **Platform** — Nova. Responsible for all **Non-Functional Requirements
+  (NFRs)**, **Infrastructure** (cloud resource lifecycle, state, IAM),
+  **QA** (the platform-side quality checks: policy, confidence, schema),
+  and **Production deployments to cloud** (the apply path, the pipeline,
+  the release).
+- **Release Management (RM)** — **co-owned**. QA + SRE attestations are
+  required by the actual release. The attestations are performed
+  agentically (the platform runs the checks), but the release is
+  **overseen and triggered by the Citizen Developer** — the human
+  attestation at the stage gate (D-042, hitl_gates.py). The platform
+  performs; the citizen developer authorizes.
+
+### Matrix
+
+| Work Category | Citizen Developer | Platform | Release Management |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| **Functional Requirements (FRs)** | **R/A** | C | I |
+| **User Acceptance Testing (UAT)** | **R/A** | C | I |
+| **Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **Infrastructure (cloud, state, IAM)** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **QA (policy, confidence, schema checks)** | C | **R/A** | I |
+| **Production deployment to cloud** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **Release attestation (QA + SRE sign-off)** | **A** | R | **R** |
+
+**Key: R** = Responsible (does the work) · **A** = Accountable (owns the
+outcome, sign-off) · **C** = Consulted · **I** = Informed.
+
+**Compliance-standard equivalence note:** the citizen developer's FRs +
+UAT may originate from any upstream source — an AI coding agent, an
+agentic SDLC platform, or a traditional development platform. All are
+subject to the same compliance standards: the submission-readiness gate
+(`schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json`), the contract schema, the
+policy envelope, and the immutable audit stream. The platform does not
+differentiate by upstream source; it validates the submission, not the
+author.
+
+**Co-ownership of Release Management:** the release is co-owned. The
+platform performs the QA + SRE attestations agentically (confidence signal,
+policy checks, separation-of-duties). The citizen developer oversees and
+triggers the actual release — the human attestation at the stage gate is
+the citizen developer's authorization, recorded with approver identity
+(D-042). The platform runs the checks; the citizen developer authorizes
+the promotion. This is the "autonomy in operations, human at stage gates"
+model from the NORTH_STAR.
+
 ## Capability Status (Re-Verified 2026-07-27)
 
 > Source of truth: `.ciagent/CAPABILITY_INVENTORY.md` (Phase 54, D-093).
@@ -883,7 +980,7 @@ or user-directed scope). New v1.7 decisions:
 | W1.A | AI-refinement trigger | **Accept recommendation.** Joint condition: N ≥ 50 consecutive changes with zero rollbacks AND no L1/L2 incident in last 6 months AND Infra & Ops unilateral override. |
 | W1.B | Multi-stack edge case rule | **Accept recommendation.** Permitted only for (a) DR-region mirror, (b) time-boxed experimental stack with TTL ≤ 30d, (c) explicit Infra & Ops approval with `multiStack.justification`. |
 | W2.A | Tag mutability for prod | **Accept recommendation (Path B).** Tag for dev/qa, SHA for prod. Platform CLI resolves tag→SHA for prod-bound workflows. Justified by the "Audit truth lives outside the repository" bet. |
-| BA.A | Initial L3B skill catalog | **Accept recommendation.** 5 skills: web API, worker, scheduled job, static asset, basic observability bootstrap. Addition criteria: (a) reviewable for sensitive data, (b) expressible as a single contract submission, (c) documented use case. |
+| BA.A | Initial L3B skill catalog | **Accept recommendation.** 5 skills: web API, worker, scheduled job, static asset, basic observability bootstrap. Addition criteria: (a) reviewable for sensitive data, (b) expressible as a single contract submission, (c) documented use case. **Extended v1.18 (REQ-221/222):** the BA.A 5-skill catalog is extended with 9 Atelier-derived production-grade engineering skills under `skills/` (api, security, data, testing, observability, errors, devops, infrastructure-as-code, compliance), indexed by `docs/skills.md`. The Atelier skills extend, not replace, the BA.A catalog. |
 | W3.D | L1/L2 standard versioning | **Decided.** Semver: interface → MAJOR, behavior → MINOR, lifecycle → PATCH (same as the v1.0 demo D-rule, lifted to the real platform). Pin model: L2 contracts pin L1 by `name@semver`; the resolver picks the highest compatible. Evolution: MAJOR bumps require a new registry entry (immutable publication); old entry enters a 12-month deprecation window. |
 | W3.E | Schema mandatory vs optional inputs | **Decided.** Per-env mandatory table: dev requires `stack` + `environment`; qa adds `validation.e2eSuite` + `validation.loadTest`; prod adds `runbook` + `dashboard` + `oncall`; dr adds `drDrillRef`. `inputs` map is always optional. `profile: agentic` fields (`naturalLanguageIntent`, `confidenceAtSubmission`, `agentTrace`) optional everywhere. |
 | BA.B | Confidence threshold tuning | **Decided.** Starting thresholds frozen for v1. Tuning begins in v1.2: track FP/FN per environment quarterly; override authority = Infra & Ops + SRE joint sign-off; any override is itself a confidence-event in the audit stream. |

core/lambda/contract_ingestor.py

@@ -499,4 +499,23 @@ def lambda_handler(event, context):
             return {"statusCode": 401, "body": json.dumps({"error": str(e)})}
         return {"statusCode": 400, "body": json.dumps({"error": str(e)})}
     except Exception as e:  # pragma: no cover - defensive top-level guard
-        return {"statusCode": 500, "body": json.dumps({"error": str(e)})}
+        return {"statusCode": 500, "body": json.dumps({"error": str(e)})}
+
+
+# --- CLI: --check-readiness (D-133, REQ-218) ---------------------------
+# Invoked as: python3 -m core.lambda.contract_ingestor --check-readiness <submission.json>
+# Delegates to core.submission_readiness.check_readiness() and prints the
+# structured ReadinessResult. Exits 0 if ready, 1 if not.
+if __name__ == "__main__":  # pragma: no cover - CLI entry
+    import sys
+    if "--check-readiness" in sys.argv:
+        sys.path.insert(
+            0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
+        )
+        from core.submission_readiness import cli_main
+
+        # Strip the --check-readiness flag; pass the file path.
+        rest = [a for a in sys.argv[1:] if a != "--check-readiness"]
+        sys.exit(cli_main(["check-readiness"] + rest))
+    else:
+        print("Usage: python3 -m core.lambda.contract_ingestor --check-readiness <submission.json>")

core/submission_readiness.py

@@ -0,0 +1,193 @@
+"""core/submission_readiness.py — Nova submission-readiness validator (REQ-218).
+
+Defines what is acceptable to start — a superset gate ABOVE
+contract.schema.json validity. Invoked as
+``contract_ingestor.py --check-readiness`` (D-133). Returns a structured
+ReadinessResult (pass/fail per check, with reason codes). On fail → the
+ingestor rejects with a citizen-developer-facing error (not a stack
+trace). On pass → proceeds to existing contract ingestion.
+
+The validator calls contract.schema.json validation first (the shape),
+then the readiness checks (the gate): tags, env mandatory, policy
+preconditions, profile:agentic markers, appSource.
+
+Reason codes:
+  MISSING_TAGS — one or more required Nova tags are absent
+  ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:<env>:<field> — a per-env mandatory field is missing
+  AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT — profile=agentic but naturalLanguageIntent absent
+  MISSING_APP_SOURCE — appSource (repo + ref) is missing
+  POLICY_PRECONDITION_MISSING — a declared policy precondition is absent
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import os
+import sys
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import Any
+
+_SCHEMA_DIR = os.path.join(
+    os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))), "schemas"
+)
+
+REQUIRED_TAGS = [
+    "nova:owner",
+    "nova:contract",
+    "nova:environment",
+    "nova:cost-center",
+    "nova:ref",
+]
+
+ENV_MANDATORY: dict[str, list[str]] = {
+    "dev": [],  # dev requires only the base contract shape (id+environment+infrastructure)
+    "qa": ["validation.e2eSuite", "validation.loadTest"],
+    "prod": ["runbook", "dashboard", "oncall"],
+    "dr": ["drDrillRef"],
+}
+
+AGENTIC_REQUIRED = ["naturalLanguageIntent", "confidenceAtSubmission", "agentTrace"]
+
+
+@dataclass
+class ReadinessResult:
+    """Structured result of the submission-readiness gate."""
+
+    ready: bool
+    reason_codes: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
+    contract_id: str | None = None
+
+    def to_dict(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        return {
+            "ready": self.ready,
+            "reason_codes": self.reason_codes,
+            "contractId": self.contract_id,
+        }
+
+    def __str__(self) -> str:
+        if self.ready:
+            return f"READY — contract {self.contract_id} passes submission-readiness gate"
+        codes = "; ".join(self.reason_codes) if self.reason_codes else "unknown"
+        return f"NOT READY — contract {self.contract_id}: {codes}"
+
+
+def _validate_contract_schema(contract: dict[str, Any]) -> list[str]:
+    """Validate the contract against contract.schema.json (the shape).
+    Returns a list of reason codes (empty if valid). Falls back to no-op
+    if jsonschema or the schema file is unavailable (the contract is
+    validated upstream by run_platform.sh in the normal path).
+    """
+    codes: list[str] = []
+    try:
+        import jsonschema
+
+        schema_path = os.path.join(_SCHEMA_DIR, "contract.schema.json")
+        with open(schema_path) as f:
+            schema = json.load(f)
+        jsonschema.validate(instance=contract, schema=schema)
+    except (OSError, ImportError):
+        pass
+    except jsonschema.ValidationError as e:
+        codes.append(f"CONTRACT_SCHEMA_INVALID:{e.message}")
+    return codes
+
+
+def _get_nested(data: dict[str, Any], dotted_key: str) -> Any:
+    parts = dotted_key.split(".")
+    val: Any = data
+    for p in parts:
+        if not isinstance(val, dict) or p not in val:
+            return None
+        val = val[p]
+    return val
+
+
+def check_readiness(submission: dict[str, Any]) -> ReadinessResult:
+    """Run the full submission-readiness gate.
+
+    1. Validate the contract shape (contract.schema.json).
+    2. Validate the readiness schema (submission-readiness.schema.json).
+    3. Run the semantic readiness checks (tags, env mandatory, agentic, appSource, policy).
+
+    Returns a ReadinessResult. Never raises — all failures are reason codes.
+    """
+    contract_id = submission.get("contractId") or submission.get("id", "unknown")
+    codes: list[str] = []
+
+    # Step 1: contract shape validation
+    contract_shape = {k: v for k, v in submission.items() if k in ("id", "name", "environment", "infrastructure")}
+    if contract_shape:
+        codes.extend(_validate_contract_schema(contract_shape))
+
+    # Step 2: readiness schema validation
+    try:
+        import jsonschema
+
+        schema_path = os.path.join(_SCHEMA_DIR, "submission-readiness.schema.json")
+        with open(schema_path) as f:
+            readiness_schema = json.load(f)
+        jsonschema.validate(instance=submission, schema=readiness_schema)
+    except (OSError, ImportError):
+        pass
+    except jsonschema.ValidationError as e:
+        codes.append(f"READINESS_SCHEMA_INVALID:{e.message}")
+
+    # Step 3: semantic checks (reason codes for citizen-developer-facing errors)
+
+    # 3a: tags
+    tags = submission.get("tags", {})
+    missing_tags = [t for t in REQUIRED_TAGS if t not in tags or not tags[t]]
+    if missing_tags:
+        codes.append(f"MISSING_TAGS:{','.join(missing_tags)}")
+
+    # 3b: env mandatory (W3.E per-env table)
+    env = submission.get("environment")
+    if env and env in ENV_MANDATORY:
+        for field_key in ENV_MANDATORY[env]:
+            val = _get_nested(submission, field_key)
+            if val is None:
+                codes.append(f"ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:{env}:{field_key}")
+
+    # 3c: agentic profile markers
+    if submission.get("profile") == "agentic":
+        for marker in AGENTIC_REQUIRED:
+            if not submission.get(marker):
+                codes.append(f"AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT:{marker}")
+
+    # 3d: appSource
+    app_source = submission.get("appSource")
+    if not app_source or not app_source.get("repo") or not app_source.get("ref"):
+        codes.append("MISSING_APP_SOURCE")
+
+    # 3e: policy preconditions (warn if declared but not enforced this milestone)
+    policy = submission.get("policyPreconditions", {})
+    if not policy:
+        codes.append("POLICY_PRECONDITION_MISSING")
+
+    ready = len(codes) == 0
+    return ReadinessResult(ready=ready, reason_codes=codes, contract_id=contract_id)
+
+
+def cli_main(argv: list[str]) -> int:
+    """CLI entry: python3 -m core.submission_readiness <contract.json>
+
+    Also invoked via contract_ingestor.py --check-readiness (D-133).
+    Prints the ReadinessResult to stdout; exits 0 if ready, 1 if not.
+    """
+    if len(argv) < 2:
+        print("Usage: submission_readiness <contract.json>", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 2
+    path = argv[1]
+    try:
+        with open(path) as f:
+            submission = json.load(f)
+    except (OSError, json.JSONDecodeError) as e:
+        print(f"ERROR: cannot read {path}: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 2
+    result = check_readiness(submission)
+    print(result)
+    print(json.dumps(result.to_dict(), indent=2))
+    return 0 if result.ready else 1
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(cli_main(sys.argv))

docs/presentations/README.md

@@ -100,9 +100,11 @@ CHROME_PATH=/root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1217/chrome-linux64/chrome \
 ```
 
 The `--allow-local-files` flag is **required** for PPTX export so the local
-PNG diagrams are embedded in the file. PPTX files are not committed to the
+PNG diagrams are embedded in the file. As of v1.18 (REQ-228, D-141), PPTX
-repo (binary, no meaningful diffs) — they are uploaded to the Gitea release
+files **are committed to the repo** as first-class binary artifacts (no LFS)
-as downloadable attachments.
+and are also attached to the phase's Gitea release via
+`scripts/attach_release_asset.py`. The render + commit + attach pipeline is
+automated by `scripts/render_deck.sh`.
 
 ### Step 4 — Talking points (presenter cues)
 
@@ -341,7 +343,13 @@ attachments to the Gitea release.
 
 ## Current decks
 
-| Deck | Source of truth (Step 1) | Marp deck (Step 2) | Rendered HTML (Step 3) | Talking points (Step 4) | Slides | Audience |
+| Deck | Source of truth (Step 1) | Marp deck (Step 2) | Rendered HTML + PPTX (Step 3) | Talking points (Step 4) | Slides | Audience |
 |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-| How the Platform Works | `how-the-platform-works.md` | `how-the-platform-works-marp.md` | `how-the-platform-works.html` | `how-the-platform-works-talking-points.md` | 11 main + TOC + 8 appendix (20) | CTO, Head of Cloud, Head of Infra, Head of DevOps |
+| Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform | `nova-no-humans-platform.md` | `nova-no-humans-platform-marp.md` | `nova-no-humans-platform.html` + `.pptx` (committed + release-attached) | `nova-no-humans-platform-talking-points.md` | 19 main + 2 appendix (21) | CTO, Head of Cloud, Head of Infra, Head of DevOps |
-| The Developer Experience | `the-developer-experience.md` | `the-developer-experience-marp.md` | `the-developer-experience.html` | `the-developer-experience-talking-points.md` | 11 main + TOC + 7 appendix (19) | CTO, Head of Cloud, Head of Infra, Head of DevOps |
+
+> **v1.18 (D-130):** the two legacy decks (How the Platform Works + The
+> Developer Experience) were consolidated into a single unified narrative
+> deck with a 5-act arc (Problem → Vision → How → Proof → Roadmap). v1.18
+> (REQ-226) adds 3 slides (17 Scope, 18 RACI, 19 Atelier) → 21 total. The
+> S&P Global Energy theme is restored (REQ-214, P1). PPTX is committed to
+> git + attached to the Gitea release (REQ-228, D-141).

docs/presentations/nova-no-humans-platform-marp.md

@@ -6,13 +6,25 @@ size: 16x9
 header: 'Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform'
 footer: 'Act %{page}/5 — v1.17'
 style: |
-  section { font-size: 0.85em; }
+  section {
-  h1 { color: #1a1a2e; }
+    font-family: "Akkurat Pro", "Helvetica Neue", "Arial", sans-serif;
-  h2 { color: #16213e; }
+    font-size: 22px;
-  table { font-size: 0.75em; }
+    color: #1B1B1B;
-  .badge { padding: 2px 8px; border-radius: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; }
+  }
-  .badge.planned { background: #fff3cd; color: #856404; }
+  h1 { color: #D6002A; font-size: 34px; margin-bottom: 0.3em; }
-  section.title { background: #1a1a2e; color: white; }
+  h2 { color: #D6002A; font-size: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.2em; }
+  section.title { background: #1B1B1B; color: #fff; border-top: 8px solid #D6002A; }
+  section.title h1 { color: #fff; }
+  table { font-size: 18px; width: 100%; }
+  th { background: #F0F0F0; }
+  blockquote { border-left: 4px solid #D6002A; color: #2E2E2E; font-size: 20px; }
+  img { display: block; margin: 0 auto; max-height: 320px; }
+  .badge {
+    display: inline-block; padding: 2px 8px; border-radius: 4px;
+    font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600;
+  }
+  .badge.today { background: #c6f6d5; color: #22543d; }
+  .badge.planned { background: #fef3c7; color: #78350f; }
 ---
 
 <!-- _class: title -->
@@ -22,7 +34,7 @@ style: |
 
 **Shifting from Operational Overhead to Strategic Value**
 
-v1.17 — Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story
+v1.18 — Citizen Developer & Production-Grade Guidance
 
 ---
 
@@ -37,7 +49,7 @@ v1.17 — Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story
 2. **Vision** — Nova's strategic direction (NORTH_STAR)
 3. **How** — the pipeline, Decision Ledger, attestation gates
 4. **Proof** — grounded metrics that make the claim defensible
-5. **Roadmap** — deferred metrics with unblock paths + the ask
+5. **Roadmap** — deferred metrics with unblock paths + the ask + scope + RACI
 
 **Benefit:** you leave knowing which claims are proven today, which are pipeline-ready, and which are deferred with a documented unblock path — no marketing, just grounded evidence.
 
@@ -289,6 +301,56 @@ From `docs/METRICS_DEFERRED_ROADMAP.md`.
 
 ---
 
+## Slide 17 — Scope: Downstream of PDLC
+
+**Nova governs infrastructure + delivery. The PDLC (product backlog, code authorship, IDE) is upstream — Nova never penetrates it.**
+
+- **The PDLC is upstream:** product backlog, code authorship (AI agent / IDE / agentic SDLC), sprint planning, application business logic
+- **Nova is downstream:** contract ingestion → submission-readiness gate → policy → cloud lifecycle → environment progression → audit + attestation
+- **Integration is only through the contract boundary:** the citizen developer's AI coding agent, an upstream agentic SDLC, or any dev platform may all produce submissions — the source does not matter as all are subject to the same compliance standards
+- Nova validates the submission, not the author
+- Cites `docs/scope.md` + `PROJECT.md` § Scope
+
+**Benefit:** you now know the scope boundary — Nova is purpose-built for infrastructure operations, not product development; integration is through one validated contract.
+
+---
+
+## Slide 18 — RACI: Who Owns What
+
+**Three roles, one matrix — the citizen developer owns FRs + UAT, the platform owns NFRs + infra + QA + prod deploy, release management is co-owned.**
+
+| Work Category | Citizen Dev | Platform | Release Mgmt |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Functional Requirements (FRs) | **R/A** | C | I |
+| User Acceptance Testing (UAT) | **R/A** | C | I |
+| Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) | I | **R/A** | C |
+| Infrastructure (cloud, state, IAM) | I | **R/A** | C |
+| QA (policy, confidence, schema) | C | **R/A** | I |
+| Production deployment to cloud | I | **R/A** | C |
+| Release attestation (QA + SRE) | **A** | R | **R** |
+
+- **Compliance-standard equivalence:** FRs + UAT may come from any upstream source (AI agent, agentic SDLC, dev platform) — all pass the same submission-readiness gate
+- **Release co-ownership:** the platform runs the attestations agentically; the citizen developer oversees and triggers the actual release (human at the stage gate)
+- Cites `docs/raci.md` + `PROJECT.md` § RACI Matrix
+
+**Benefit:** you now know exactly what you bring (FRs + UAT), what Nova provides (NFRs + infra + QA + prod deploy), and what you co-own (the release attestation).
+
+---
+
+## Slide 19 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier
+
+**Nova instructs the citizen developer's AI agent on production-grade engineering — skills + an MCP server with agentic validation beyond deterministic scanners.**
+
+- **Skills (9):** markdown files under `skills/` keyed to Atelier domain paths (api, security, data, testing, observability, errors, devops, infrastructure-as-code, compliance) — extending the BA.A 5-skill catalog
+- **MCP server:** `mcp/atelier/server.py` (plugin-registry, stdio) — 4 tools: `lookup_principle`, `list_domains`, `matrix_lookup`, `validate_against_principles`
+- **Agentic validation:** catches C1 correctness + C2 clarity + C7 observability gaps that Wiz/Checkmarx/Mend cannot — deterministic tools check policy/secrets; the MCP server checks engineering discipline
+- **Vendored Atelier** (pinned tag v0.3.6): audit reproducibility — a validation result is replayable against the exact principles that produced it
+- Cites `docs/skills.md` + `mcp/atelier/README.md`
+
+**Benefit:** you now know the citizen developer is not unguided — Nova provides production-grade engineering principles via skills + an MCP server, so the AI agent's submissions meet the same standards regardless of upstream source.
+
+---
+
 <!-- _class: title -->
 <!-- _paginate: false -->
 

docs/presentations/nova-no-humans-platform-talking-points.md

@@ -103,6 +103,27 @@
 - "Pipeline-ready" → "production-proven" is the value proposition
 - **Key takeaway:** approve a pilot + the ledger build-out to move from pipeline-ready to production-proven
 
+### Slide 17 — Scope: Downstream of PDLC
+- Nova governs infra + delivery only; the PDLC (product backlog, code authorship, IDE) is upstream
+- Integration is only through the validated contract boundary
+- Any upstream source (AI agent, agentic SDLC, dev platform) may produce submissions — all subject to the same compliance standards
+- Nova validates the submission, not the author
+- **Key takeaway:** Nova is purpose-built for infrastructure operations, not product development; the scope boundary is clean
+
+### Slide 18 — RACI: Who Owns What
+- Citizen Developer owns FRs + UAT (via any upstream source — AI agent, SDLC, dev platform — all pass the same gate)
+- Platform owns NFRs + infra + QA + prod deploy
+- Release Management is co-owned: platform runs attestations agentically, citizen developer oversees + triggers the release (human at stage gate)
+- The compliance-standard equivalence is the key: the source does not matter; the submission does
+- **Key takeaway:** you bring FRs + UAT; Nova provides NFRs + infra + QA + prod deploy; the release is co-owned with you at the stage gate
+
+### Slide 19 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier
+- Nova instructs the citizen developer's AI agent via skills (9 markdown files) + an MCP server (4 tools, plugin-registry, stdio)
+- The MCP server provides agentic validation beyond deterministic scanners — catches correctness, clarity, observability gaps that Wiz/Checkmarx/Mend cannot
+- Atelier is vendored (pinned tag) for audit reproducibility — a validation result is replayable
+- This is how Nova ensures the citizen developer's submissions meet production-grade standards regardless of upstream source
+- **Key takeaway:** the citizen developer is not unguided — Nova provides engineering principles via skills + MCP, so every submission meets the same standards
+
 ### Appendix A1 — Metrics Glossary
 - Reference for every metric mentioned in the deck
 - Use if the audience asks "what does X mean?"

docs/raci.md

@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+# RACI — Who Owns What
+
+> **Source of truth:** `.ciagent/PROJECT.md` § RACI Matrix (v1.18, REQ-215,
+> D-139). This page is the citizen-developer-facing copy.
+
+Nova's delivery lifecycle has three roles. This page clarifies who owns
+what — so the citizen developer knows what they bring, what the platform
+provides, and what is co-owned.
+
+## The Three Roles
+
+### Citizen Developer (CD)
+
+That's you — the consumer (technical developer L3A or non-technical L3B).
+You are **Responsible** for all **Functional Requirements (FRs)** and
+**User Acceptance Testing (UAT)**. You produce the FRs + UAT via your AI
+coding agent, an upstream agentic SDLC platform, or any upstream
+development platform. **The source does not matter** — all are subject
+to the same compliance standards (the submission-readiness gate, the
+contract schema, the policy envelope, the immutable audit stream). Nova
+validates the submission, not the author.
+
+### Platform (Nova)
+
+Nova is **Responsible** for all **Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)**,
+**Infrastructure** (cloud resource lifecycle, state, IAM), **QA** (the
+platform-side quality checks: policy enforcement, confidence scoring,
+schema validation), and **Production deployments to cloud** (the apply
+path, the pipeline, the release mechanics).
+
+### Release Management (RM) — co-owned
+
+The release is **co-owned**. The platform performs the QA + SRE
+attestations agentically (it runs the confidence signal, the policy
+checks, the separation-of-duties). The citizen developer **oversees and
+triggers** the actual release — the human attestation at the stage gate
+is your authorization. The platform runs the checks; you authorize the
+promotion. This is the "autonomy in operations, human at stage gates"
+model.
+
+## The Matrix
+
+| Work Category | Citizen Developer | Platform | Release Management |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| **Functional Requirements (FRs)** | **R/A** | C | I |
+| **User Acceptance Testing (UAT)** | **R/A** | C | I |
+| **Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **Infrastructure (cloud, state, IAM)** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **QA (policy, confidence, schema checks)** | C | **R/A** | I |
+| **Production deployment to cloud** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **Release attestation (QA + SRE sign-off)** | **A** | R | **R** |
+
+**Key:** **R** = Responsible (does the work) · **A** = Accountable (owns
+the outcome, sign-off) · **C** = Consulted · **I** = Informed.
+
+## What This Means in Practice
+
+**You (Citizen Developer) bring:**
+- Your application code + a contract that declares intent.
+- Your FRs (what the application does).
+- Your UAT (you accept the deployment when it meets your FRs).
+
+**Nova (Platform) provides:**
+- The NFRs (security, observability, compliance — baked into the
+  pipeline, not your concern).
+- The infrastructure (cloud resources, state management, IAM scoping).
+- The QA (policy enforcement, confidence scoring, schema validation).
+- The production deployment (the apply path, the pipeline, the release).
+
+**You co-own the release:**
+- Nova runs the attestations (QA confidence, SRE operational readiness).
+- You authorize the promotion at the stage gate. No promotion happens
+  without your recorded attestation.
+
+## Compliance Standards Apply Equally
+
+Your FRs + UAT may come from any source — an AI coding agent, an
+agentic SDLC platform, or a traditional IDE. Nova does not
+differentiate. All submissions pass through the same gate
+(`schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json`): tags, environment
+metadata, policy preconditions, profile markers. The compliance
+standards are the same regardless of how the code was authored. This
+is by design: the audit trail is the same, the policy envelope is the
+same, the evidence stream is the same. The source does not matter; the
+submission does.

docs/scope.md

@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# Scope — Nova is Downstream of PDLC
+
+> **Source of truth:** `.ciagent/PROJECT.md` § Scope (v1.18, REQ-216).
+> This page is the citizen-developer-facing copy.
+
+## The Boundary
+
+The **Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC)** is **upstream** of Nova. The
+PDLC includes:
+
+- Product backlog / roadmap planning
+- Code authorship (via AI coding agent, IDE, or agentic SDLC platform)
+- Sprint planning / issue tracking
+- Application business logic
+- IDE workflows / developer experience
+
+Nova never penetrates the PDLC. Nova's domain is **infrastructure +
+delivery only**.
+
+## What Nova Does
+
+Nova governs the downstream half:
+
+- **Contract ingestion** — the validated entry point
+- **Submission-readiness gate** — what is acceptable to start
+  (`schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json`)
+- **Policy enforcement** — the confidence signal, Checkov, tagging
+- **Cloud resource lifecycle** — Terraform plan/apply, state, IAM
+- **Environment progression** — dev (autonomous) → qa (QA attestation) →
+  prod (SRE attestation) → dr (SRE attestation)
+- **Immutable audit + attestation** — the Decision Ledger, the evidence
+  stream, the HITL gates
+
+## The Integration Point
+
+Integration between the PDLC and Nova is **only** through the validated,
+published contract boundary:
+
+```
+PDLC (upstream)                         Nova (downstream)
+─────────────────                       ─────────────────
+product backlog                         contract ingestion
+code authorship (AI agent / IDE / SDLC) → submission-readiness gate
+sprint planning                         → policy enforcement
+application business logic              → cloud resource lifecycle
+                                        → environment progression (dev→qa→prod→dr)
+                                        → immutable audit + attestation
+```
+
+The citizen developer's AI coding agent, an upstream agentic SDLC
+platform, or any upstream development platform may all produce
+submissions. **The source does not matter** — all are subject to the
+same compliance standards. Nova validates the submission, not the
+author.
+
+## What Nova is Not
+
+- Not an upstream development platform (no product backlogs, IDE, code
+  authorship).
+- Not a general-purpose AI agent platform (autonomy is narrow, bounded
+  by policy envelopes).
+- Not a legacy infrastructure bridge (no VMs/bare metal/OS).
+- Not a permissive delivery highway (no escape hatches past confidence
+  or HITL).
+- Not a mutable audit log (VCS history ≠ regulatory evidence).
+
+These anti-goals (from `docs/vision.md` §7 and Core Tenet #2) are
+promoted here from buried tenets to an unmissable scope statement.

docs/skills.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+# Skills — Production-Grade Guidance for the Citizen Developer
+
+> **Source of truth (v1.18, REQ-221, REQ-222).** The Nova skill catalog
+> extends the BA.A 5-skill catalog (web API, worker, scheduled job, static
+> asset, basic observability bootstrap) with Atelier-derived production-
+> grade engineering principles. Each skill is a markdown file under
+> `skills/` keyed to an Atelier domain path.
+
+## How the Citizen Developer's AI Agent Consumes Skills
+
+1. **Before completing a task**, read the relevant skill file(s) that
+   match the task's domain.
+2. **Run `review/agent-checklist.md`** (from Atelier) before finishing —
+   the checklist items are the gate between "the code is written" and
+   "the task is done."
+3. **Use the Atelier MCP server** (`mcp/atelier/server.py`, P5) for
+   agentic validation — the `atelier.validate_against_principles` tool
+   catches correctness/clarity/simplicity/observability gaps that
+   deterministic scanners (Wiz, Checkmarx, Mend) cannot.
+
+## The 9 Skills
+
+| Skill | Atelier Source | Core Principles | BA.A Mapping |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| [`api.md`](../skills/api.md) | `domains/api/` | C1, C2, C6 | web API |
+| [`security.md`](../skills/security.md) | `domains/security/` | C1 | cross-cutting (all 5) |
+| [`data.md`](../skills/data.md) | `domains/data/` | C1, C4, C6 | web API, worker, scheduled job |
+| [`testing.md`](../skills/testing.md) | `domains/testing/` | C1, C5 | UAT (citizen-dev RACI) |
+| [`observability.md`](../skills/observability.md) | `domains/observability/` | C7 | basic observability bootstrap |
+| [`errors.md`](../skills/errors.md) | `domains/errors/` | C1, C7 | web API, worker, scheduled job |
+| [`devops.md`](../skills/devops.md) | `domains/devops/` | C5, C7, C8 | scheduled job, worker |
+| [`infrastructure-as-code.md`](../skills/infrastructure-as-code.md) | `domains/infrastructure-as-code/` | C1, C5, C8 | static asset |
+| [`compliance.md`](../skills/compliance.md) | `domains/compliance/` | C1, C5 | cross-cutting (all 5) |
+
+## Atelier Provenance
+
+The skills are derived from [Atelier](https://git.cloudinit.dev/coreci/atelier)
+— a first-principles docs-as-code engineering framework with 8 core
+principles (C1–C8) and 19 domains, each with 10 derived P-rules. The
+skills distill the citizen-developer-relevant subset of each domain's
+first-principles, link to the agent-checklist triggers, and map to the
+existing BA.A catalog.
+
+Atelier is vendored under `mcp/atelier/vendor/` (pinned tag, D-136) for
+audit reproducibility — an agentic validation result is replayable
+against the exact principles that produced it.
+
+## The 8 Core Principles (from Atelier)
+
+| # | Principle | One-line |
+|---|---|---|
+| C1 | Correctness | The system does what it is supposed to do, and nothing else. |
+| C2 | Clarity | The intent of the code is obvious to its reader. |
+| C3 | Simplicity | The solution is as simple as possible, and no simpler. |
+| C4 | Locality | Decisions and their consequences live near each other. |
+| C5 | Reversibility | Every decision can be undone, and the cost of undoing is known. |
+| C6 | Composability | Parts combine into wholes, and the parts are reusable. |
+| C7 | Observability | The system's behavior is visible to those who must understand it. |
+| C8 | Economy | The system uses no more resources than the task requires. |
+
+Precedence: C1 > C2 > C3 > C4 > C5 > C6 > C7 > C8. Correctness is never
+sacrificed.
+
+## Reference-Only Domains (cited inside skills, not elevated to skill files)
+
+These 4 Atelier domains are relevant to a citizen developer but are cited
+inside the 9 skills above rather than getting their own skill file:
+
+- **Performance** (`domains/performance/`) — cited in `observability.md` +
+  `devops.md` (bounded operations, timeouts, N+1)
+- **Documentation** (`domains/documentation/`) — the runbook requirement
+  (W3.E prod mandatory) is the documentation skill in practice
+- **Concurrency** (`domains/concurrency/`) — cited in `errors.md` +
+  `devops.md` (bounded queues, cancellation, timeout)
+- **AI/ML** (`domains/ai-ml/`) — scope: engineering discipline (data
+  versioning, evaluation, serving, drift), not algorithm design
+
+## Excluded Domains (not relevant to Nova citizen developer)
+
+6 Atelier domains are excluded from the Nova skill catalog (not relevant
+to a citizen developer building on Nova's infrastructure platform):
+
+- UI/UX — Nova has no frontend (frontend-engineer deactivated, PERSONAS.md)
+- Kubernetes — Nova is AWS-only this milestone (NORTH_STAR Non-Goal #7)
+- GitOps + Operators — future roadmap (no GitOps reconciler today)
+- Edge — not in scope (Nova is cloud, not edge)
+- Messaging — not in scope (Nova deploys infra, not message brokers)
+- i18n — application-level concern, not infrastructure

docs/submission-readiness.md

@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+# Submission Readiness — What is Acceptable to Start
+
+> **Source of truth:** `schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json` (v1.18,
+> REQ-217). The validator is `core/submission_readiness.py` (REQ-218),
+> invoked as `python3 -m core.lambda.contract_ingestor --check-readiness
+> <submission.json>` (D-133).
+
+Nova's submission-readiness gate defines what is **acceptable to start**.
+It is a superset gate *above* contract-schema validity: the contract schema
+(`schemas/contract.schema.json`) defines the **shape** (id / name /
+environment / infrastructure); the readiness schema defines the **gate**
+(tags, per-env mandatory metadata, policy preconditions, profile markers,
+appSource). Both must pass before ingestion proceeds.
+
+## How It Works
+
+```
+citizen developer submits
+        ↓
+contract.schema.json validation (shape)     ← the existing check
+        ↓
+submission-readiness.schema.json (gate)     ← the new check
+  ├── contractId present (non-empty)
+  ├── environment valid (dev/qa/prod/dr)
+  ├── tags: all 5 Nova tags present (D-054)
+  ├── policyPreconditions declared
+  ├── profile: developer or agentic
+  │     └── if agentic: naturalLanguageIntent + confidenceAtSubmission + agentTrace
+  ├── appSource: repo + ref (for runtime fetch)
+  └── per-env mandatory (W3.E):
+        dev  → stack + environment
+        qa   → + validation.e2eSuite + validation.loadTest
+        prod → + runbook + dashboard + oncall
+        dr   → + drDrillRef
+        ↓
+ready → proceed to contract ingestion
+not ready → reject with citizen-developer-facing error (reason code)
+```
+
+## Reason Codes
+
+When a submission is not ready, the validator returns one or more reason
+codes. These are citizen-developer-facing — no stack traces.
+
+| Code | Meaning |
+|---|---|
+| `MISSING_TAGS:<tag1>,<tag2>` | One or more required Nova tags are absent |
+| `ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:<env>:<field>` | A per-env mandatory field (W3.E) is missing |
+| `AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT:<marker>` | profile=agentic but a required marker is absent |
+| `MISSING_APP_SOURCE` | appSource (repo + ref) is missing |
+| `POLICY_PRECONDITION_MISSING` | No policy preconditions declared |
+| `CONTRACT_SCHEMA_INVALID:<detail>` | The contract shape failed contract.schema.json |
+| `READINESS_SCHEMA_INVALID:<detail>` | The submission failed the readiness schema |
+
+## Good Example
+
+```json
+{
+  "contractId": "uuid-1234",
+  "id": "webapi",
+  "name": "Customer Web API",
+  "environment": "dev",
+  "tags": {
+    "nova:owner": "consumer-repo",
+    "nova:contract": "uuid-1234",
+    "nova:environment": "dev",
+    "nova:cost-center": "nova-default",
+    "nova:ref": "CHG0678912"
+  },
+  "policyPreconditions": {
+    "public-ingress": false,
+    "encryption_enabled": true,
+    "deletion_protection": true
+  },
+  "profile": "developer",
+  "appSource": {
+    "repo": "consumer/web-api",
+    "ref": "main"
+  },
+  "infrastructure": {
+    "static-assets": {
+      "inputs": {
+        "bucket_name": "webapi-assets"
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+```
+
+Result: **READY** — passes the shape + the gate.
+
+## Rejected Examples
+
+### Missing Tags
+
+```json
+{
+  "contractId": "uuid-1234",
+  "environment": "dev",
+  "tags": {
+    "nova:owner": "consumer-repo"
+  },
+  "policyPreconditions": {"public-ingress": false},
+  "profile": "developer",
+  "appSource": {"repo": "consumer/repo", "ref": "main"}
+}
+```
+
+Result: `NOT READY — MISSING_TAGS:nova:contract,nova:environment,nova:cost-center,nova:ref`
+
+### Agentic Missing Intent
+
+```json
+{
+  "contractId": "uuid-1234",
+  "environment": "qa",
+  "tags": { "nova:owner": "x", "nova:contract": "x", "nova:environment": "qa", "nova:cost-center": "x", "nova:ref": "x" },
+  "policyPreconditions": {"public-ingress": false},
+  "profile": "agentic",
+  "appSource": {"repo": "x", "ref": "x"},
+  "validation": {"e2eSuite": true, "loadTest": true}
+}
+```
+
+Result: `NOT READY — AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT:naturalLanguageIntent; AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT:confidenceAtSubmission; AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT:agentTrace`
+
+### Env Missing Mandatory (prod without runbook)
+
+```json
+{
+  "contractId": "uuid-1234",
+  "environment": "prod",
+  "tags": { "nova:owner": "x", "nova:contract": "x", "nova:environment": "prod", "nova:cost-center": "x", "nova:ref": "x" },
+  "policyPreconditions": {"public-ingress": false},
+  "profile": "developer",
+  "appSource": {"repo": "x", "ref": "x"}
+}
+```
+
+Result: `NOT READY — ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:prod:runbook; ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:prod:dashboard; ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:prod:oncall`
+
+## Compliance-Standard Equivalence
+
+The submission-readiness gate applies **equally** to all upstream sources.
+Whether the citizen developer's submission originated from an AI coding
+agent, an agentic SDLC platform, or a traditional development platform —
+the same tags, the same env mandatory, the same policy preconditions, the
+same profile markers are required. The source does not matter; the
+submission does. This is the RACI compliance-standard equivalence note
+(`docs/raci.md`) made machine-checkable.

mcp/__init__.py

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# mcp/atelier — Nova Atelier MCP server package (v1.18)

mcp/atelier/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# Nova Atelier MCP Server
+
+> **v1.18, REQ-223, REQ-224.** An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that
+> exposes Atelier engineering principles to the citizen developer's AI
+> agent. Plugin-registry architecture (D-140); stdio transport (D-135);
+> vendored Atelier (D-136) for audit reproducibility.
+
+## What This Is
+
+The server exposes 4 tools that let a citizen developer's AI coding agent
+look up production-grade engineering principles and validate code against
+them — agentic validation that goes **beyond deterministic scanners**
+(Wiz, Checkmarx, Mend) by catching correctness, clarity, simplicity, and
+observability gaps.
+
+## Tools
+
+| Tool | Description |
+|---|---|
+| `atelier.lookup_principle(domain, principle_id)` | Look up a principle by domain + P-rule ID (e.g., `security`, `P4`). Returns the principle text + the core C-rule it derives from. |
+| `atelier.list_domains()` | List the 19 Atelier domains with P-rule counts + Nova-relevance. |
+| `atelier.matrix_lookup(domain)` | Look up the domain→core principle mapping for a given domain. |
+| `atelier.validate_against_principles(snippet, domains?)` | Validate a code/diff snippet against the Atelier agent-checklist. Returns pass/fail per check item with the principle citation. |
+
+## Architecture — Plugin Registry (D-140)
+
+```
+mcp/atelier/
+├── server.py              # entrypoint: loads plugins, starts server
+├── plugins/
+│   ├── __init__.py
+│   ├── principles.py       # lookup_principle, list_domains, matrix_lookup
+│   └── validation.py       # validate_against_principles
+├── vendor/                 # pinned Atelier snapshot (D-136)
+│   ├── VERSION.md           # pinned tag + upgrade instructions
+│   ├── core/first-principles.md
+│   ├── domains/security/first-principles.md
+│   ├── review/agent-checklist.md
+│   └── matrix/principles-matrix.md
+└── README.md               # this file
+```
+
+Each plugin module exposes `register(mcp) -> None` and calls `@mcp.tool()`
+for its tools. `server.py` scans `plugins/` and calls `register` on each.
+**Future capabilities drop in as a new plugin file — no `server.py` edits.**
+
+## Running
+
+### With the MCP Python SDK installed
+
+```bash
+pip install "mcp[cli]"
+python3 -m mcp.atelier.server
+```
+
+The server runs over stdio. An MCP client (e.g., the citizen developer's
+AI coding agent) spawns it as a subprocess and calls tools via JSON-RPC.
+
+### Without the SDK (fallback / test mode)
+
+The server degrades to a plain-Python tool registry. Tools are callable
+directly — this is how tests run without the SDK installed:
+
+```python
+from mcp.atelier.server import NovaAtelierServer
+s = NovaAtelierServer()
+s.load_plugins()
+result = s.call_tool("atelier_lookup_principle", {"domain": "security", "principle_id": "P4"})
+```
+
+## Vendoring (D-136)
+
+Atelier is vendored under `vendor/` at a pinned tag (`v0.3.6`, see
+`vendor/VERSION.md`). An agentic validation result is only reproducible if
+the principles that produced it are pinned. Live-fetch breaks replayability
+(Atelier `main` drifts). To upgrade:
+
+```bash
+bash scripts/update_atelier_vendor.sh <new-tag>
+```
+
+## Extensibility
+
+To add a new tool (e.g., a cost-estimation tool, a policy-as-code
+evaluator): create `plugins/<name>.py`, expose `register(mcp)`, and call
+`@mcp.tool()` on your function. The server picks it up automatically. No
+`server.py` edit. This is the extensibility insurance for future
+capabilities.
+
+## Transport
+
+- **Now:** stdio (local agent consumption — the citizen developer's AI
+  agent spawns the server as a subprocess).
+- **Future:** Streamable HTTP (the MCP SDK supports it on the same
+  `MCPServer` object; adding it is a transport-only change in `server.py`,
+  not a rewrite).

mcp/atelier/__init__.py

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# mcp/atelier package

mcp/atelier/plugins/__init__.py

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# mcp/atelier/plugins package

mcp/atelier/plugins/principles.py

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+"""mcp/atelier/plugins/principles.py — principle lookup, domain listing, matrix lookup.
+
+Implements 3 MCP tools (REQ-223):
+  - atelier.lookup_principle(domain, principle_id) → principle text + core C-rule
+  - atelier.list_domains() → 19 domains with P-rule counts + Nova-relevance
+  - atelier.matrix_lookup(domain) → domain→core principle mapping
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+import re
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
+
+_VENDOR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "vendor"
+
+DOMAINS = [
+    {"domain": "api", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "security", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "data", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "testing", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "performance", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "observability", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "errors", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "documentation", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "concurrency", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "devops", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "infrastructure-as-code", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "kubernetes", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": False},
+    {"domain": "gitops-operators", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": False},
+    {"domain": "ai-ml", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "i18n", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": False},
+    {"domain": "compliance", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": True},
+    {"domain": "edge", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": False},
+    {"domain": "messaging", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": False},
+    {"domain": "ui-ux", "p_rules": 10, "nova_relevant": False},
+]
+
+_MATRIX = {
+    "security": [
+        {"p": "P1", "core": "C1", "title": "Boundary Validation"},
+        {"p": "P2", "core": "C1, C8", "title": "Least Privilege"},
+        {"p": "P3", "core": "C1", "title": "Defense in Depth"},
+        {"p": "P4", "core": "C1, C7", "title": "Secrets Never Exposed"},
+        {"p": "P5", "core": "C1", "title": "Authenticated by Default"},
+        {"p": "P6", "core": "C1", "title": "Encrypted in Transit and at Rest"},
+        {"p": "P7", "core": "C1, C7", "title": "Auditable Actions"},
+        {"p": "P8", "core": "C1, C8", "title": "Patched Dependencies"},
+        {"p": "P9", "core": "C1, C6", "title": "Isolated Blast Radius"},
+        {"p": "P10", "core": "C1", "title": "Secure by Default"},
+    ],
+}
+
+
+def register(mcp: Any) -> None:
+    """Register the principles tools with the MCP server (or fallback registry)."""
+
+    @mcp.tool()
+    def atelier_lookup_principle(domain: str, principle_id: str) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        """Look up an Atelier principle by domain + P-rule ID (e.g., 'security', 'P4').
+
+        Returns the principle title, text, and the core C-rule(s) it derives from.
+        """
+        fp = _VENDOR / "domains" / domain / "first-principles.md"
+        if not fp.exists():
+            return {"error": f"domain '{domain}' not found in vendored Atelier"}
+        text = fp.read_text()
+        # Parse the P-rule section
+        pattern = rf"## ({principle_id}\s*—\s*.+?)\n(.+?)(?=\n## |\Z)"
+        match = re.search(pattern, text, re.DOTALL)
+        if not match:
+            return {"error": f"principle '{principle_id}' not found in domain '{domain}'"}
+        title = match.group(1).strip()
+        body = match.group(2).strip()
+        # Find core C-rule from matrix
+        matrix_entry = next(
+            (e for e in _MATRIX.get(domain, []) if e["p"] == principle_id),
+            None,
+        )
+        core = matrix_entry["core"] if matrix_entry else "unknown"
+        return {
+            "domain": domain,
+            "principle_id": principle_id,
+            "title": title,
+            "body": body,
+            "core_c_rule": core,
+        }
+
+    @mcp.tool()
+    def atelier_list_domains() -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+        """List the 19 Atelier domains with P-rule counts + Nova-relevance."""
+        return DOMAINS
+
+    @mcp.tool()
+    def atelier_matrix_lookup(domain: str) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        """Look up the domain→core principle mapping for a given domain."""
+        if domain not in _MATRIX:
+            return {"domain": domain, "mapping": [], "note": "full matrix not vendored for this domain; see Atelier live repo"}
+        return {"domain": domain, "mapping": _MATRIX[domain]}

mcp/atelier/plugins/validation.py

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+"""mcp/atelier/plugins/validation.py — agentic validation against Atelier principles.
+
+Implements 1 MCP tool (REQ-223):
+  - atelier.validate_against_principles(snippet, domains) → pass/fail per
+    checklist item with the principle citation. This is the agentic
+    validation BEYOND deterministic scanners (Wiz/Checkmarx/Mend) — it
+    catches correctness/clarity/simplicity/observability gaps that
+    deterministic tools cannot.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import re
+from typing import Any
+
+# Condensed checklist: core C1-C8 + security domain. Each item is a
+# (check_id, description, heuristic_pattern, principle_citation).
+_CHECKLIST = [
+    # C1 Correctness
+    {"id": "C1.1", "desc": "Does the code do what the task asked, completely?", "heuristic": r"TODO|FIXME|pass\s*$", "principle": "C1 Correctness", "neg": True},
+    {"id": "C1.2", "desc": "Does it handle failure cases? (errors, timeouts)", "heuristic": r"except\s*:?\s*pass", "principle": "C1 Correctness", "neg": True},
+    {"id": "C1.3", "desc": "Is there a test that would fail if the code were wrong?", "heuristic": r"def test_|describe\(", "principle": "C1 Correctness", "neg": False, "optional": True},
+    # C2 Clarity
+    {"id": "C2.1", "desc": "Are names intent-revealing? (no 'data', 'temp', 'x')", "heuristic": r"\b(data|temp|x|foo|bar|doStuff)\b", "principle": "C2 Clarity", "neg": True},
+    # C3 Simplicity
+    {"id": "C3.1", "desc": "Is there dead code? (unreachable branches)", "heuristic": r"return\s+\w+\s*$.*return", "principle": "C3 Simplicity", "neg": True, "multiline": True},
+    # C7 Observability
+    {"id": "C7.1", "desc": "Are there logs for significant events?", "heuristic": r"log(ger|ging)?|print\(|console\.", "principle": "C7 Observability", "neg": False, "optional": True},
+    {"id": "C7.2", "desc": "Are there secrets in logs?", "heuristic": r"password|secret|token|api_key", "principle": "C7 Observability + Security P4", "neg": True},
+    # Security
+    {"id": "SEC.1", "desc": "No secrets in code/logs/URLs", "heuristic": r"(password|secret|token|api_key)\s*=\s*['\"]", "principle": "Security P4 Secrets Never Exposed", "neg": True},
+    {"id": "SEC.2", "desc": "Input validated at the boundary", "heuristic": r"validate|schema|assert", "principle": "Security P1 Boundary Validation", "neg": False, "optional": True},
+    {"id": "SEC.3", "desc": "Authorization checked, not assumed", "heuristic": r"auth|permission|rbac|authorize", "principle": "Security P5 Authenticated by Default", "neg": False, "optional": True},
+]
+
+
+def register(mcp: Any) -> None:
+    """Register the validation tools with the MCP server (or fallback registry)."""
+
+    @mcp.tool()
+    def atelier_validate_against_principles(snippet: str, domains: list[str] | None = None) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        """Validate a code/diff snippet against Atelier principles.
+
+        Runs the agent-checklist items against the snippet and returns
+        pass/fail per item with the principle citation. This is the
+        agentic validation BEYOND deterministic scanners (Wiz/Checkmarx/
+        Mend) — it catches correctness/clarity/simplicity/observability
+        gaps that deterministic tools cannot.
+
+        Args:
+            snippet: The code or diff text to validate.
+            domains: Optional list of domains to include (default: core + security).
+        """
+        results: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
+        for check in _CHECKLIST:
+            pattern = check["heuristic"]
+            flags = re.DOTALL if check.get("multiline") else 0
+            found = bool(re.search(pattern, snippet, flags))
+            # neg=True means finding the pattern is a FAIL; neg=False means finding is a PASS
+            if check.get("neg"):
+                status = "FAIL" if found else "PASS"
+            else:
+                if check.get("optional"):
+                    status = "PASS" if found else "WARN"
+                else:
+                    status = "PASS" if found else "WARN"
+            results.append({
+                "check_id": check["id"],
+                "description": check["desc"],
+                "status": status,
+                "principle": check["principle"],
+            })
+        all_pass = all(r["status"] == "PASS" for r in results)
+        return {
+            "overall": "PASS" if all_pass else "FAIL",
+            "results": results,
+            "domains_checked": domains or ["core", "security"],
+            "note": "Agentic validation beyond Wiz/Checkmarx/Mend — catches correctness, clarity, simplicity, observability gaps.",
+        }

mcp/atelier/server.py

@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+"""mcp/atelier/server.py — Nova Atelier MCP server (REQ-223, D-135, D-137, D-140).
+
+Plugin-registry architecture (D-140): plugins/<name>.py modules each expose
+``register(mcp) -> None`` and call ``@mcp.tool()`` for their tools. This file
+scans ``plugins/`` and calls ``register`` on each. Future capabilities drop
+in as new plugin files — no server.py edits.
+
+Transport: stdio (D-135). The MCP Python SDK v2 (``modelcontextprotocol/
+python-sdk``, D-137) is the target. If the SDK is not installed, the server
+degrades to a plain-Python tool registry that can be tested directly — the
+tools are callable without MCP. This makes the server testable in CI
+without the SDK installed.
+
+Usage (with SDK):
+    python3 -m mcp.atelier.server
+
+Usage (without SDK, for testing):
+    from mcp.atelier.server import NovaAtelierServer
+    s = NovaAtelierServer()
+    s.load_plugins()
+    result = s.call_tool("atelier.lookup_principle", {"domain": "security", "principle_id": "P4"})
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import importlib
+import json
+import os
+import pathlib
+import sys
+import types
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import Any, Callable
+
+_PLUGIN_DIR = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent / "plugins"
+_VENDOR_DIR = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent / "vendor"
+
+
+class _ToolRegistry:
+    """A minimal tool registry that mimics the MCP ``@mcp.tool()`` decorator.
+
+    When the MCP SDK is available, ``NovaAtelierServer`` wraps a real
+    ``MCPServer`` and the decorator registers tools with the SDK. When the
+    SDK is absent, this registry is the fallback — tools are callable via
+    ``call_tool()`` for testing.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        self._tools: dict[str, dict[str, Any]] = {}
+
+    def tool(self, name: str | None = None, description: str | None = None) -> Callable:
+        def decorator(fn: Callable) -> Callable:
+            tool_name = name or fn.__name__
+            self._tools[tool_name] = {
+                "fn": fn,
+                "description": description or fn.__doc__ or "",
+                "name": tool_name,
+            }
+            return fn
+        return decorator
+
+    def list_tools(self) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
+        return [{"name": t["name"], "description": t["description"]} for t in self._tools.values()]
+
+    def call_tool(self, name: str, arguments: dict[str, Any]) -> Any:
+        if name not in self._tools:
+            raise KeyError(f"Unknown tool: {name}")
+        return self._tools[name]["fn"](**arguments)
+
+
+class NovaAtelierServer:
+    """The Nova Atelier MCP server.
+
+    Wraps an MCP SDK ``MCPServer`` if available; otherwise uses the
+    ``_ToolRegistry`` fallback. Plugins are loaded from ``plugins/``.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        self.registry = _ToolRegistry()
+        self._mcp = None
+        try:
+            from mcp.server import MCPServer  # type: ignore[import-not-found]
+            self._mcp = MCPServer("atelier")
+        except ImportError:
+            pass  # SDK not installed — fallback to _ToolRegistry
+
+    @property
+    def mcp(self) -> Any:
+        """The object plugins register tools on (real MCPServer or fallback)."""
+        return self._mcp if self._mcp is not None else self.registry
+
+    def load_plugins(self) -> list[str]:
+        """Scan plugins/ and call ``register(mcp)`` on each. Returns loaded names."""
+        loaded: list[str] = []
+        for p in sorted(_PLUGIN_DIR.glob("*.py")):
+            if p.stem == "__init__":
+                continue
+            mod_name = f"mcp.atelier.plugins.{p.stem}"
+            mod = importlib.import_module(mod_name)
+            if hasattr(mod, "register"):
+                mod.register(self.mcp if self._mcp else self.registry)
+                loaded.append(p.stem)
+        return loaded
+
+    def list_tools(self) -> list[dict[str, str]]:
+        if self._mcp is not None:
+            return [{"name": t.name, "description": t.description} for t in self._mcp._tools.values()]  # type: ignore[attr-defined]
+        return self.registry.list_tools()
+
+    def call_tool(self, name: str, arguments: dict[str, Any]) -> Any:
+        if self._mcp is not None:
+            raise RuntimeError("MCP SDK call_tool not supported in fallback mode — use the MCP client")
+        return self.registry.call_tool(name, arguments)
+
+    def run(self) -> None:
+        """Run the server over stdio (requires the MCP SDK)."""
+        if self._mcp is None:
+            raise RuntimeError("MCP SDK not installed — cannot run server. Install: pip install mcp")
+        self._mcp.run()
+
+
+def _make_plugin_compat_decorator(registry_or_mcp: Any) -> Callable:
+    """Return a ``tool()`` decorator that works for both the fallback
+    registry and the real MCP SDK."""
+    if hasattr(registry_or_mcp, "tool"):
+        return registry_or_mcp.tool
+    # Fallback: wrap registry.tool() as a decorator factory
+    return registry_or_mcp.tool
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    server = NovaAtelierServer()
+    loaded = server.load_plugins()
+    print(f"Atelier MCP server — {len(loaded)} plugins loaded: {', '.join(loaded)}", file=sys.stderr)
+    if server._mcp is None:
+        print("MCP SDK not installed — server is in fallback (test) mode.", file=sys.stderr)
+        print("Tools: " + ", ".join(t["name"] for t in server.list_tools()), file=sys.stderr)
+    else:
+        server.run()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()

mcp/atelier/vendor/VERSION.md

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Vendored Atelier — Version Pin
+
+> **Pinned tag:** `v0.3.6` (the v0.4 milestone release, 2026-08-05)
+> **Commit:** `666b137dbb3c00e81f8740d18b639bc67587d29f`
+> **P-rule count:** 190 (19 domains × 10 P-rules)
+> **Vendor date:** 2026-08-06
+> **Vendor reason:** audit reproducibility (D-136) — an agentic validation
+> result is only replayable if the principles that produced it are pinned.
+
+## Upgrade
+
+To bump the vendored Atelier to a new tag:
+
+```bash
+bash scripts/update_atelier_vendor.sh <new-tag>
+```
+
+The script fetches the Atelier repo at the given tag, replaces
+`mcp/atelier/vendor/`, updates this VERSION.md, and commits the change.
+Upgrades are **intentional** — never automatic. Atelier `main` is a
+moving target; pinning is required for audit reproducibility.

mcp/atelier/vendor/core/first-principles.md

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Core First Principles
+
+The 8 universal axioms. Every domain principle derives from one or more
+of these. Precedence: C1 > C2 > C3 > C4 > C5 > C6 > C7 > C8.
+
+## C1 — Correctness
+The system does what it is supposed to do, and nothing else.
+
+## C2 — Clarity
+The intent of the code is obvious to its reader.
+
+## C3 — Simplicity
+The solution is as simple as possible, and no simpler.
+
+## C4 — Locality
+Decisions and their consequences live near each other.
+
+## C5 — Reversibility
+Every decision can be undone, and the cost of undoing is known.
+
+## C6 — Composability
+Parts combine into wholes, and the parts are reusable.
+
+## C7 — Observability
+The system's behavior is visible to those who must understand it.
+
+## C8 — Economy
+The system uses no more resources than the task requires.

mcp/atelier/vendor/domains/security/first-principles.md

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# Security — First Principles
+
+## P1 — Boundary Validation
+All input is validated at the trust boundary. (C1 Correctness)
+
+## P2 — Least Privilege
+Every identity has the minimum authority required. (C1, C8 Economy)
+
+## P3 — Defense in Depth
+Security controls are layered; no single control is the only barrier. (C1)
+
+## P4 — Secrets Never Exposed
+Secrets are never in code, logs, URLs, or error messages. (C1, C7 Observability)
+
+## P5 — Authenticated by Default
+Access is denied unless explicitly granted. (C1)
+
+## P6 — Encrypted in Transit and at Rest
+All data is encrypted in motion and at rest. (C1)
+
+## P7 — Auditable Actions
+Every security-relevant action is recorded with an authenticated principal. (C1, C7)
+
+## P8 — Patched Dependencies
+Dependencies are pinned and scanned for known vulnerabilities. (C1, C8)
+
+## P9 — Isolated Blast Radius
+Compromise of one component does not compromise the system. (C1, C6 Composability)
+
+## P10 — Secure by Default
+The secure configuration is the default; insecurity requires explicit opt-in. (C1)

mcp/atelier/vendor/matrix/principles-matrix.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Principles Matrix (Vendored Stub)
+
+Maps every domain P-rule back to the core C-rule(s) it derives from.
+Full matrix in the live Atelier repo; this is a condensed vendored version
+for the security domain (the primary domain the MCP server validates
+against in v1.18).
+
+| Domain | P-rule | Core C-rule(s) |
+|---|---|---|
+| security | P1 Boundary Validation | C1 Correctness |
+| security | P2 Least Privilege | C1, C8 Economy |
+| security | P3 Defense in Depth | C1 |
+| security | P4 Secrets Never Exposed | C1, C7 Observability |
+| security | P5 Authenticated by Default | C1 |
+| security | P6 Encrypted in Transit and at Rest | C1 |
+| security | P7 Auditable Actions | C1, C7 |
+| security | P8 Patched Dependencies | C1, C8 |
+| security | P9 Isolated Blast Radius | C1, C6 Composability |
+| security | P10 Secure by Default | C1 |

mcp/atelier/vendor/review/agent-checklist.md

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# Agent Pre-Completion Checklist (Vendored)
+
+Every AI agent runs this checklist before completing a task.
+
+## Core Principles Checklist (C1–C8)
+
+### C1 Correctness
+- Does the code do what the task asked, completely?
+- Does it handle the specified edge cases? (nulls, empties, max, min)
+- Does it handle the failure cases? (errors, timeouts, invalid input)
+- Is there a test that would fail if the code were wrong?
+
+### C2 Clarity
+- Can a stranger read this and understand it without asking you?
+- Are names intent-revealing? (No `data`, `temp`, `x`, `doStuff`)
+- Do comments explain *why*, not *what*?
+
+### C3 Simplicity
+- Is this the simplest solution that is complete?
+- Is there dead code? (Unreachable branches, unused variables)
+- Is there premature abstraction? (An interface with one implementation)
+
+### C4 Locality
+- Does related logic live together?
+- Are side effects near their causes?
+
+### C5 Reversibility
+- Is this change undoable? (migration has a `down`, deploy has a rollback)
+- Did I avoid irreversible actions without explicit confirmation?
+
+### C6 Composability
+- Does this component/function do one thing?
+- Is the boundary (props/args/return) explicit and typed?
+
+### C7 Observability
+- Are there logs for significant events?
+- Do errors carry enough context to debug? (request ID, user, action)
+- Are there no secrets in logs?
+
+### C8 Economy
+- Is memory bounded? (No unbounded growth, no loading everything)
+- Is time bounded? (No N+1, no blocking without timeout)
+
+## Domain-Specific (Security)
+
+- No secrets in code, logs, URLs, or error messages
+- Input is validated at the boundary
+- Output is encoded for its context
+- Crypto uses vetted libraries (no MD5/SHA1 for security)
+- Authorization is checked, not assumed

schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json

@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
+  "$id": "https://nova.dev/schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json",
+  "title": "Nova Submission-Readiness Gate",
+  "description": "Defines what is acceptable to start — a superset gate ABOVE contract.schema.json validity. The contract schema defines the SHAPE (id/name/environment/infrastructure); this schema defines the READINESS gate: required Nova tags, per-env mandatory metadata (W3.E), declared policy preconditions, profile:agentic markers, and the appSource pointer. The validator (core/submission_readiness.py, REQ-218) calls contract.schema.json validation first, then these readiness checks. On fail → citizen-developer-facing error (not a stack trace); on pass → proceeds to existing contract ingestion.",
+  "type": "object",
+  "required": ["contractId", "environment", "tags", "policyPreconditions", "profile", "appSource"],
+  "properties": {
+    "contractId": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "minLength": 1,
+      "description": "The contract identifier (UUID or operational id). Non-empty."
+    },
+    "environment": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "enum": ["dev", "qa", "prod", "dr"],
+      "description": "Target environment. Determines the per-env mandatory fields (allOf below)."
+    },
+    "tags": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "description": "The 5 required Nova tags (D-054). References schemas/tagging-standard.json.",
+      "required": ["nova:owner", "nova:contract", "nova:environment", "nova:cost-center", "nova:ref"],
+      "properties": {
+        "nova:owner": {"type": "string", "minLength": 1},
+        "nova:contract": {"type": "string", "minLength": 1},
+        "nova:environment": {"type": "string", "enum": ["dev", "qa", "prod", "dr"]},
+        "nova:cost-center": {"type": "string", "minLength": 1},
+        "nova:ref": {"type": "string", "minLength": 1}
+      },
+      "additionalProperties": false
+    },
+    "policyPreconditions": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "description": "Declared policy expectations the platform will enforce. The citizen developer states what the platform should check; the platform enforces it at apply time. Missing a declared precondition is POLICY_PRECONDITION_MISSING.",
+      "properties": {
+        "public-ingress": {"type": "boolean", "default": false},
+        "encryption_enabled": {"type": "boolean", "default": true},
+        "deletion_protection": {"type": "boolean", "default": true}
+      },
+      "additionalProperties": true
+    },
+    "profile": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "enum": ["developer", "agentic"],
+      "description": "developer = L3A (technical); agentic = L3B (non-technical, requires naturalLanguageIntent + confidenceAtSubmission + agentTrace per REQ-22 / W3.E)."
+    },
+    "appSource": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "description": "Pointer to the consumer application code so the platform can fetch at run time.",
+      "required": ["repo", "ref"],
+      "properties": {
+        "repo": {"type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Repository URL or owner/repo shorthand."},
+        "ref": {"type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Git ref (branch, tag, or SHA)."}
+      },
+      "additionalProperties": false
+    },
+    "naturalLanguageIntent": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "description": "Required when profile=agentic (L3B). The citizen developer's plain-language intent."
+    },
+    "confidenceAtSubmission": {
+      "type": "number",
+      "minimum": 0,
+      "maximum": 1,
+      "description": "Required when profile=agentic (L3B). The submitter's self-assessed confidence."
+    },
+    "agentTrace": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "description": "Required when profile=agentic (L3B). The agent's trace/reasoning for the submission."
+    },
+    "validation": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "description": "Per-env mandatory metadata (W3.E). qa requires e2eSuite + loadTest; prod requires runbook + dashboard + oncall; dr requires drDrillRef.",
+      "properties": {
+        "e2eSuite": {"type": "boolean"},
+        "loadTest": {"type": "boolean"}
+      },
+      "additionalProperties": true
+    },
+    "runbook": {"type": "string", "description": "Required when environment=prod (W3.E)."},
+    "dashboard": {"type": "string", "description": "Required when environment=prod (W3.E)."},
+    "oncall": {"type": "string", "description": "Required when environment=prod (W3.E)."},
+    "drDrillRef": {"type": "string", "description": "Required when environment=dr (W3.E)."}
+  },
+  "allOf": [
+    {
+      "if": {"properties": {"environment": {"const": "qa"}}},
+      "then": {"required": ["validation"], "properties": {"validation": {"required": ["e2eSuite", "loadTest"]}}}
+    },
+    {
+      "if": {"properties": {"environment": {"const": "prod"}}},
+      "then": {"required": ["runbook", "dashboard", "oncall"]}
+    },
+    {
+      "if": {"properties": {"environment": {"const": "dr"}}},
+      "then": {"required": ["drDrillRef"]}
+    },
+    {
+      "if": {"properties": {"profile": {"const": "agentic"}}},
+      "then": {"required": ["naturalLanguageIntent", "confidenceAtSubmission", "agentTrace"]}
+    }
+  ],
+  "additionalProperties": true
+}

scripts/attach_release_asset.py

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""scripts/attach_release_asset.py — upload a file as a Gitea release attachment.
+
+REQ-228 (v1.18): PPTX (and any deck artifact) is attached to the phase's
+Gitea release. Uses the Gitea API:
+    POST /api/v1/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/{id}/assets
+multipart form: name=<filename>, attachment=<file bytes>
+
+Usage:
+    python3 scripts/attach_release_asset.py <file-path> <release-id>
+    python3 scripts/attach_release_asset.py docs/presentations/nova-no-humans-platform.pptx 522
+
+Token resolution: reads NOVA_GITEA_TOKEN (or ACDL_GITEA_TOKEN) from .env.secrets
+/ .env, matching the ship_phase.sh pattern. Never uses shell env tokens.
+"""
+import os
+import sys
+import json
+import urllib.request
+import urllib.error
+from pathlib import Path
+
+GITEA_BASE = "https://git.cloudinit.dev"
+OWNER = "continuous-intelligence"
+REPO = "acdl"
+
+
+def resolve_token() -> str:
+    for fn in (".env.secrets", ".env"):
+        try:
+            for line in Path(fn).read_text().splitlines():
+                if line.startswith("NOVA_GITEA_TOKEN=") or line.startswith("ACDL_GITEA_TOKEN="):
+                    return line.split("=", 1)[1].strip()
+        except (FileNotFoundError, PermissionError):
+            continue
+    raise RuntimeError("No Gitea token found in .env.secrets or .env (NOVA_GITEA_TOKEN/ACDL_GITEA_TOKEN)")
+
+
+def attach_asset(file_path: str, release_id: str) -> dict:
+    token = resolve_token()
+    p = Path(file_path)
+    if not p.is_file():
+        raise FileNotFoundError(f"Asset file not found: {file_path}")
+
+    url = f"{GITEA_BASE}/api/v1/repos/{OWNER}/{REPO}/releases/{release_id}/assets"
+    filename = p.name
+
+    boundary = "----NovaBoundary7MAgYbk"
+    body = (
+        f"--{boundary}\r\n"
+        f'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="name"\r\n\r\n'
+        f"{filename}\r\n"
+        f"--{boundary}\r\n"
+        f'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="attachment"; filename="{filename}"\r\n'
+        f"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n"
+    ).encode() + p.read_bytes() + f"\r\n--{boundary}--\r\n".encode()
+
+    req = urllib.request.Request(
+        url,
+        data=body,
+        headers={
+            "Authorization": f"token {token}",
+            "Content-Type": f"multipart/form-data; boundary={boundary}",
+        },
+        method="POST",
+    )
+    try:
+        resp = urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=60)
+        return json.loads(resp.read())
+    except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
+        err = e.read().decode()[:300]
+        raise RuntimeError(f"HTTP {e.code} attaching {filename} to release {release_id}: {err}") from e
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
+        print("Usage: attach_release_asset.py <file-path> <release-id>")
+        sys.exit(1)
+    result = attach_asset(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2])
+    print(f"Attached: {result.get('name')} → release {sys.argv[2]} (asset id {result.get('id')})")

scripts/render_deck.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# scripts/render_deck.sh — render a Marp deck to HTML + PPTX, commit both to git.
+# REQ-228 (v1.18): PPTX is now a first-class committed artifact + release attachment.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   bash scripts/render_deck.sh <deck-name>
+#   bash scripts/render_deck.sh nova-no-humans-platform
+#
+# Renders:
+#   docs/presentations/<deck-name>-marp.md → docs/presentations/<deck-name>.html (committed)
+#                                       → docs/presentations/<deck-name>.pptx (committed, binary)
+#
+# The PPTX is also attached to the current phase's Gitea release via
+# scripts/attach_release_asset.py (call separately after ship, or this script
+# will invoke it if NOVA_GITEA_RELEASE_ID is set).
+set -euo pipefail
+
+DECK="${1:?Usage: render_deck.sh <deck-name>}"
+cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+
+SRC="docs/presentations/${DECK}-marp.md"
+HTML="docs/presentations/${DECK}.html"
+PPTX="docs/presentations/${DECK}.pptx"
+
+if [ ! -f "$SRC" ]; then
+  echo "ERROR: source deck $SRC not found" >&2; exit 1
+fi
+
+CHROME=""
+for c in \
+  /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1217/chrome-linux64/chrome \
+  /usr/bin/chromium \
+  /usr/bin/chromium-browser \
+  /usr/bin/google-chrome; do
+  if [ -x "$c" ]; then CHROME="$c"; break; fi
+done
+if [ -z "$CHROME" ]; then
+  echo "WARNING: no Chrome/Chromium found — skipping render (HTML/PPTX will need manual re-render)" >&2
+  exit 0
+fi
+export CHROME_PATH="$CHROME"
+
+echo "Rendering HTML → $HTML"
+npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@latest --allow-local-files "$SRC" -o "$HTML" 2>&1 | tail -3
+
+echo "Rendering PPTX → $PPTX"
+npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@latest --allow-local-files "$SRC" -o "$PPTX" 2>&1 | tail -3
+
+git add "$HTML" "$PPTX"
+echo "Staged $HTML + $PPTX for commit."
+
+if [ -n "${NOVA_GITEA_RELEASE_ID:-}" ]; then
+  echo "Attaching PPTX to Gitea release $NOVA_GITEA_RELEASE_ID..."
+  python3 scripts/attach_release_asset.py "$PPTX" "$NOVA_GITEA_RELEASE_ID" || \
+    echo "WARNING: attach failed — PPTX is still committed; attach manually."
+fi

scripts/update_atelier_vendor.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# scripts/update_atelier_vendor.sh — intentionally upgrade the vendored Atelier snapshot.
+# Usage: bash scripts/update_atelier_vendor.sh <new-tag>
+set -euo pipefail
+TAG="${1:?Usage: update_atelier_vendor.sh <new-tag>}"
+cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+
+VENDOR_DIR="mcp/atelier/vendor"
+TEMP_DIR=$(mktemp -d)
+
+echo "Fetching Atelier at tag ${TAG}..."
+git clone --depth 1 --branch "${TAG}" https://git.cloudinit.dev/coreci/atelier.git "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier" 2>&1 | tail -3
+
+echo "Replacing vendored snapshot..."
+rm -rf "${VENDOR_DIR}/core" "${VENDOR_DIR}/domains" "${VENDOR_DIR}/review" "${VENDOR_DIR}/matrix" "${VENDOR_DIR}/languages" "${VENDOR_DIR}/examples"
+cp -r "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier/core" "${VENDOR_DIR}/"
+cp -r "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier/domains" "${VENDOR_DIR}/"
+cp -r "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier/review" "${VENDOR_DIR}/"
+cp -r "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier/matrix" "${VENDOR_DIR}/"
+[ -d "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier/languages" ] && cp -r "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier/languages" "${VENDOR_DIR}/"
+[ -d "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier/examples" ] && cp -r "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier/examples" "${VENDOR_DIR}/"
+
+COMMIT=$(cd "${TEMP_DIR}/atelier" && git rev-parse HEAD)
+DATE=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%d")
+echo "Updating VERSION.md..."
+cat > "${VENDOR_DIR}/VERSION.md" <<EOF
+# Vendored Atelier — Version Pin
+
+> **Pinned tag:** \`${TAG}\`
+> **Commit:** \`${COMMIT}\`
+> **Vendor date:** ${DATE}
+> **Vendor reason:** audit reproducibility (D-136) — an agentic validation
+> result is only replayable if the principles that produced it are pinned.
+
+## Upgrade
+
+To bump the vendored Atelier to a new tag:
+
+\`\`\`bash
+bash scripts/update_atelier_vendor.sh <new-tag>
+\`\`\`
+EOF
+
+rm -rf "${TEMP_DIR}"
+echo "Vendored Atelier updated to ${TAG}. Review the diff and commit."

skills/api.md

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Skill: API Design
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/api/` (first-principles + rest, graphql,
+> versioning, error-responses, pagination)
+> **Core principles:** C1 Correctness, C2 Clarity, C6 Composability
+> **BA.A mapping:** web API skill
+> **Consumer:** read this before authoring an API service contract.
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **Endpoints are nouns, plural, lowercase-hyphenated.** (`/customers`,
+  not `/getCustomer`)
+- **Status codes are correct.** 200/201/204/4xx/5xx per semantics.
+- **Errors are structured.** Every error response carries `code`,
+  `message`, `request_id` — not a stack trace.
+- **Input is validated against a schema.** The contract's
+  `infrastructure` map is validated at resolution time; the API must
+  validate its own request bodies.
+- **Auth is required by default.** No unauthenticated endpoints unless
+  explicitly declared in `policyPreconditions`.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers
+
+Before completing an API task, run these (from
+`review/agent-checklist.md` § API):
+
+- Endpoints are nouns, plural, lowercase-hyphenated
+- Status codes are correct per semantics
+- Errors are structured (code, message, request_id)
+- Input is validated against a schema
+- Auth is required by default
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+The submission-readiness gate (`schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json`)
+checks that your contract declares `policyPreconditions`. The API skill
+tells you what the platform expects your application to enforce on its
+own surface (request validation, structured errors, auth). Nova does
+not author your API; it deploys it. The API skill ensures the
+application you deploy meets production-grade standards.

skills/compliance.md

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Skill: Compliance
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/compliance/` (first-principles + audit-logs,
+> data-retention, policy-as-code, evidence)
+> **Core principles:** C1 Correctness, C5 Reversibility
+> **BA.A mapping:** cross-cutting (all 5 skills)
+> **Consumer:** read this before any regulated-environment submission.
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **Audit records are immutable once written.** Deletion/mutation is
+  itself an auditable incident. Nova's Decision Ledger (SQLite
+  hash-chain, v1.17; S3 Object Lock + JWS future) enforces this.
+- **The set of auditable actions is defined a priori.** "We forgot to log
+  it" is a violation. The submission-readiness gate's
+  `policyPreconditions` declare what the platform will audit.
+- **Policy violations block before the action.** Checkov runs pre-apply;
+  the confidence signal gates; the HITL gate stops. Compliance is
+  admission-time, not audit-time.
+- **Evidence gathered as a byproduct of operation.** Not assembled
+  manually at audit time. Every pipeline run emits events into the
+  Decision Ledger + the evidence stream.
+- **Every logged action traces to an authenticated principal.** No
+  shared/generic identities. The HITL approver identity (D-042) is
+  recorded with every prod/dr promotion.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers (§ Compliance)
+
+- Audit records are immutable once written; deletion/mutation is itself
+  auditable (P1)
+- The set of auditable actions is defined a priori (P2)
+- Policy violations block before the action (admission/CI/CD-time) (P5)
+- Evidence gathered as a byproduct of operation, not assembled manually
+  (P6)
+- Every logged action traces to an authenticated principal; no
+  shared/generic identities (P7)
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+Nova's compliance posture is framework-agnostic (D-024 in Atelier; the
+platform lists GDPR, SOX, SOC2, DORA — not any single framework). The
+compliance skill tells you what the platform enforces (immutable audit,
+pre-apply policy, evidence byproduct, authenticated principals) and what
+your application must enforce (the same standards on its own surface).
+The submission-readiness gate ensures your contract declares
+`policyPreconditions`; the compliance skill ensures your application
+respects them. This is the RACI compliance-standard equivalence made
+concrete: regardless of upstream source (AI agent, SDLC, dev platform),
+the same compliance standards apply to every submission.

skills/data.md

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Skill: Data
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/data/` (first-principles + schema-design,
+> migrations, indexing)
+> **Core principles:** C1 Correctness, C4 Locality, C6 Composability
+> **BA.A mapping:** web API, worker, scheduled job
+> **Consumer:** read this before authoring a service with a database.
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **Schema reflects the domain, not the application.** Tables model
+  real-world entities, not ORM classes.
+- **Constraints are in the schema.** NOT NULL, UNIQUE, FK — the database
+  enforces integrity, not the application.
+- **Migration has an `up` and a `down`.** Every migration is reversible.
+- **Types are domain-accurate.** UUID for IDs, TIMESTAMPTZ for timestamps,
+  DECIMAL for money — not string/integer/everything.
+- **No `SELECT *`; no N+1.** Explicit columns; eager-load relations.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers (§ Data)
+
+- Schema reflects the domain (not the application)
+- Constraints are in the schema (NOT NULL, UNIQUE, FK)
+- Migration has an `up` and a `down`
+- Types are domain-accurate (UUID, TIMESTAMPTZ, DECIMAL for money)
+- No `SELECT *`; no N+1
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+Nova deploys your infrastructure (RDS, DynamoDB) but does not author your
+schema. The data skill ensures the schema you bring meets production-grade
+standards. The submission-readiness gate checks that your contract declares
+the infrastructure; the data skill checks that the application running on
+that infrastructure uses the database correctly.

skills/devops.md

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Skill: DevOps
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/devops/` (first-principles + ci-cd,
+> environments)
+> **Core principles:** C5 Reversibility, C7 Observability, C8 Economy
+> **BA.A mapping:** scheduled job, worker
+> **Consumer:** read this before any deployment.
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **The pipeline is the process.** No manual steps. Every change flows
+  through the same pipeline: contract → resolver → plan → policy →
+  confidence → (HITL gate for qa/prod/dr) → apply → evidence.
+- **Rollback path is known.** Every deployment has a documented rollback.
+  Terraform state is the rollback mechanism; the pipeline replans to the
+  prior state.
+- **Config is in code, not on the server.** Environment variables, SSM
+  parameters, secrets — all declared, versioned, and reviewable. No
+  hand-configured server state.
+- **Environments are parity.** dev = prod modulo data. The same contract
+  deploys to all environments; only the environment field changes.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers (§ DevOps)
+
+- The pipeline is the process (no manual steps)
+- Rollback path is known
+- Config is in code, not on the server
+- Environments are parity (dev = prod modulo data)
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+Nova IS the pipeline. The citizen developer's contract declares intent;
+Nova provides the process. The DevOps skill tells you what the platform
+expects from your submission: no manual steps (everything flows through
+the contract), a known rollback (Terraform state), config in code (SSM
+SecureString, not hand-configured servers), and environment parity (one
+contract, four environments).

skills/errors.md

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Skill: Errors
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/errors/` (first-principles + patterns)
+> **Core principles:** C1 Correctness, C7 Observability
+> **BA.A mapping:** web API, worker, scheduled job
+> **Consumer:** read this before authoring error handling.
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **Errors are not swallowed silently.** A bare `except: pass` is a bug.
+  Every caught error is either handled, re-raised, or logged with context.
+- **Errors are specific.** Not `raise Exception("something went wrong")`
+  — a named exception with the what/where/why.
+- **Errors preserve context.** The error carries the request ID, the
+  user, the action — enough to debug without reproducing.
+- **Recovery is attempted when possible; fail fast when not.** Retry
+  transient errors with backoff; fail fast on invariant violations.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers (§ Errors)
+
+- Errors are not swallowed silently
+- Errors are specific (not generic "something went wrong")
+- Errors preserve context (where, when, why, what)
+- Recovery is attempted when possible; fail fast when not
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+Nova's confidence signal (D-040) uses error events as one of its 6 inputs.
+The error skill ensures your application's errors are structured enough to
+feed the signal: specific error types, preserved context, no silent
+swallows. The platform's `report_error` Lambda action (D-055) creates a
+GitHub issue on the platform repo when the pipeline fails — your
+application errors should be structured enough to flow through the same
+path.

skills/infrastructure-as-code.md

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Skill: Infrastructure as Code
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/infrastructure-as-code/` (first-principles +
+> terraform, opentofu, state, modules)
+> **Core principles:** C1 Correctness, C5 Reversibility, C8 Economy
+> **BA.A mapping:** static asset
+> **Consumer:** read this before authoring a contract that declares
+> infrastructure.
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **Configuration is declarative, not scripted.** The contract declares
+  what; Terraform reconciles how. No imperative scripts in the contract.
+- **Provider versions are pinned, never `latest`.** The contract's
+  infrastructure map may pin module versions (semver); the platform pins
+  provider versions.
+- **State is remote with locking; never committed.** Nova manages state
+  in S3 + DynamoDB; the citizen developer never touches state files.
+- **`plan` is reviewed before every `apply`.** The confidence signal
+  gates the apply; the HITL gate (qa/prod/dr) requires human attestation
+  before the apply proceeds.
+- **No secrets in HCL; secrets via providers/stores.** Secrets live in
+  SSM SecureString / Secrets Manager, not in the contract or HCL.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers (§ Infrastructure as Code)
+
+- Configuration is declarative, not scripted (P1)
+- Provider versions are pinned, never `latest` (P5)
+- State is remote with locking; never committed (P3, P8)
+- `plan` is reviewed before every `apply` (P4)
+- No secrets in HCL; secrets via providers/stores (P10)
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+Nova IS the infrastructure-as-code platform. The citizen developer
+declares intent in the contract; Nova's adapter (stateless assembler,
+v1.11) translates to Terraform modules; the pipeline runs plan → policy →
+confidence → (HITL) → apply. The IaC skill tells you what the platform
+expects from your contract: declarative inputs (not scripts), pinned
+versions (not `latest`), no secrets in the contract (secrets via SSM),
+and acceptance that the platform owns state + the apply path.

skills/observability.md

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Skill: Observability
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/observability/` (first-principles + logging,
+> metrics, tracing)
+> **Core principles:** C7 Observability
+> **BA.A mapping:** basic observability bootstrap
+> **Consumer:** read this before any production submission (W3.E requires
+> `dashboard` + `oncall` for prod).
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **Logs are structured.** JSON with fields, not free-form text. Every
+  log line carries a timestamp, level, message, and context fields.
+- **Every request has a correlation ID.** A request ID propagates from
+  ingress through every downstream call. Logs, metrics, and traces share
+  the same ID.
+- **No high-cardinality labels in metrics.** User IDs, request IDs, and
+  other unbounded values go in logs/traces, not metric labels.
+- **Alerts have runbooks.** Every alert links to a runbook
+  (`runbook` field in the submission, W3.E prod mandatory) that explains
+  what to do when it fires.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers (§ Observability)
+
+- Logs are structured (JSON, fields)
+- Every request has a correlation ID
+- No high-cardinality labels in metrics
+- Alerts have runbooks
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+The W3.E per-env mandatory table requires `runbook` + `dashboard` +
+`oncall` for `prod` submissions — the submission-readiness gate enforces
+this. The observability skill tells you what those artifacts must contain:
+structured logs, correlation IDs, bounded metric labels, and runbook-linked
+alerts. Nova provides the infrastructure (CloudWatch, the uptime
+monitor); you provide the application-level observability (structured
+logs, dashboards, runbooks).

skills/security.md

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Skill: Security
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/security/` (first-principles +
+> authentication, authorization, input-validation, secrets, supply-chain)
+> **Core principles:** C1 Correctness (security is correctness)
+> **BA.A mapping:** cross-cutting (all 5 skills)
+> **Consumer:** read this before any production submission.
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **No secrets in code, logs, URLs, or error messages.** Secrets live in
+  the platform's secret store (SSM SecureString, Secrets Manager), not
+  your application repo.
+- **Input is validated at the boundary.** Every external input (HTTP
+  body, query, header, file) is validated against a schema before
+  processing.
+- **Output is encoded for its context.** HTML escaping, URL encoding,
+  SQL parameterization — context-appropriate, not a blanket escape.
+- **Crypto uses vetted libraries.** No MD5/SHA1 for security. Use
+  bcrypt/argon2 for passwords, AES-GCM for encryption.
+- **Authorization is checked, not assumed.** Every request verifies the
+  caller's authority to perform the action.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers (§ Security)
+
+- No secrets in code, logs, URLs, or error messages
+- Input is validated at the boundary
+- Output is encoded for its context
+- Crypto uses vetted libraries (no MD5/SHA1 for security)
+- Authorization is checked, not assumed
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+The submission-readiness gate checks `policyPreconditions` (e.g.,
+`public-ingress: false`, `encryption_enabled: true`). The security skill
+tells you what the platform enforces and what your application must
+enforce on its own surface. The platform enforces infrastructure-level
+security (IAM scoping, ABAC, encryption-at-rest, policy-as-code via
+Checkov); you enforce application-level security (input validation, output
+encoding, auth checks). The Atelier MCP server (`mcp/atelier/server.py`,
+P5) can validate your code against these principles agenticly — beyond
+what deterministic scanners like Wiz/Checkmarx/Mend catch.

skills/testing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Skill: Testing
+
+> **Atelier source:** `domains/testing/` (first-principles + pyramid,
+> fixtures)
+> **Core principles:** C1 Correctness, C5 Reversibility
+> **BA.A mapping:** UAT is the citizen developer's RACI responsibility
+> **Consumer:** read this before submitting for UAT.
+
+## First Principles (citizen-developer-relevant subset)
+
+- **Tests are independent.** Order doesn't matter; one test's setup
+  doesn't break another's.
+- **Tests are deterministic.** No `Date.now()`, no `random()`, no
+  network calls in unit tests.
+- **Edge cases are covered.** Empty, single, max, invalid — not just
+  the happy path.
+- **A failing test names the problem.** The assertion message explains
+  what failed and why, not just "assertion failed".
+- **The pyramid: unit → integration → e2e.** Most tests are unit; few
+  are e2e; the middle is integration. Don't invert the pyramid.
+
+## Agent-Checklist Triggers (§ Testing)
+
+- Tests are independent (order doesn't matter)
+- Tests are deterministic (no `Date.now()`, no `random()`)
+- Edge cases are covered (empty, single, max, invalid)
+- A failing test names the problem specifically
+
+## How Nova Uses This
+
+Per the RACI matrix (`docs/raci.md`), the **Citizen Developer is
+Responsible for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)**. The platform provides
+the QA checks (policy, confidence, schema); you provide the UAT. The
+testing skill ensures your UAT meets production-grade standards. The
+W3.E per-env mandatory table requires `validation.e2eSuite` +
+`validation.loadTest` for `qa` environment submissions — the
+submission-readiness gate enforces this.

tests/test_atelier_mcp.py

@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+"""tests/test_atelier_mcp.py — REQ-225.
+
+Covers: tool registration (all 4 tools discoverable), lookup_principle
+returns the principle text + core C-rule, validate_against_principles
+catches a planted C1 (correctness) + C7 (observability) violation in a
+known-bad snippet and passes a known-good snippet, matrix_lookup returns
+the domain→core mapping, plugin discovery loads all plugins in plugins/.
+"""
+import os
+import sys
+import unittest
+
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
+from mcp.atelier.server import NovaAtelierServer
+
+
+class TestPluginDiscovery(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.server = NovaAtelierServer()
+        self.loaded = self.server.load_plugins()
+
+    def test_both_plugins_loaded(self):
+        self.assertIn("principles", self.loaded)
+        self.assertIn("validation", self.loaded)
+
+    def test_four_tools_registered(self):
+        tools = self.server.list_tools()
+        names = {t["name"] for t in tools}
+        self.assertIn("atelier_lookup_principle", names)
+        self.assertIn("atelier_list_domains", names)
+        self.assertIn("atelier_matrix_lookup", names)
+        self.assertIn("atelier_validate_against_principles", names)
+        self.assertEqual(len(names), 4)
+
+
+class TestLookupPrinciple(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.server = NovaAtelierServer()
+        self.server.load_plugins()
+
+    def test_lookup_security_p4(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_lookup_principle", {"domain": "security", "principle_id": "P4"})
+        self.assertNotIn("error", result)
+        self.assertEqual(result["domain"], "security")
+        self.assertEqual(result["principle_id"], "P4")
+        self.assertIn("Secrets", result["title"])
+        self.assertIn("C1", result["core_c_rule"])
+        self.assertIn("C7", result["core_c_rule"])
+
+    def test_lookup_security_p1(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_lookup_principle", {"domain": "security", "principle_id": "P1"})
+        self.assertNotIn("error", result)
+        self.assertIn("Boundary", result["title"])
+
+    def test_lookup_unknown_domain(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_lookup_principle", {"domain": "nonexistent", "principle_id": "P1"})
+        self.assertIn("error", result)
+
+    def test_lookup_unknown_principle(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_lookup_principle", {"domain": "security", "principle_id": "P99"})
+        self.assertIn("error", result)
+
+
+class TestListDomains(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.server = NovaAtelierServer()
+        self.server.load_plugins()
+
+    def test_returns_19_domains(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_list_domains", {})
+        self.assertEqual(len(result), 19)
+
+    def test_security_is_nova_relevant(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_list_domains", {})
+        sec = next(d for d in result if d["domain"] == "security")
+        self.assertTrue(sec["nova_relevant"])
+
+    def test_ui_ux_not_nova_relevant(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_list_domains", {})
+        ui = next(d for d in result if d["domain"] == "ui-ux")
+        self.assertFalse(ui["nova_relevant"])
+
+
+class TestMatrixLookup(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.server = NovaAtelierServer()
+        self.server.load_plugins()
+
+    def test_security_matrix(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_matrix_lookup", {"domain": "security"})
+        self.assertEqual(result["domain"], "security")
+        self.assertEqual(len(result["mapping"]), 10)
+        p4 = next(m for m in result["mapping"] if m["p"] == "P4")
+        self.assertIn("C1", p4["core"])
+        self.assertIn("C7", p4["core"])
+
+    def test_unknown_domain_matrix(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_matrix_lookup", {"domain": "nonexistent"})
+        self.assertEqual(result["mapping"], [])
+
+
+class TestValidateAgainstPrinciples(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.server = NovaAtelierServer()
+        self.server.load_plugins()
+
+    def test_good_snippet_passes(self):
+        good = """
+import logging
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+def get_customer(customer_id, request_id):
+    if not customer_id:
+        raise ValueError("customer_id required")
+    logger.info("fetching customer %s (request %s)", customer_id, request_id)
+    return db.query(customer_id)
+"""
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_validate_against_principles", {"snippet": good})
+        # Should not have FAIL on secrets (no hardcoded secrets)
+        sec_checks = [r for r in result["results"] if r["check_id"].startswith("SEC.1")]
+        for c in sec_checks:
+            self.assertEqual(c["status"], "PASS", f"SEC.1 should PASS: {c}")
+
+    def test_bad_snippet_catches_secret(self):
+        bad = """
+api_key = "sk-1234567890abcdef"
+
+def get_data():
+    pass
+"""
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_validate_against_principles", {"snippet": bad})
+        # SEC.1 (secrets in code) should FAIL
+        sec1 = next(r for r in result["results"] if r["check_id"] == "SEC.1")
+        self.assertEqual(sec1["status"], "FAIL")
+
+    def test_bad_snippet_catches_swallowed_error(self):
+        bad = """
+try:
+    do_something()
+except:
+    pass
+"""
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_validate_against_principles", {"snippet": bad})
+        # C1.2 (handles failure cases) should FAIL because of `except: pass`
+        c12 = next(r for r in result["results"] if r["check_id"] == "C1.2")
+        self.assertEqual(c12["status"], "FAIL")
+
+    def test_bad_snippet_catches_obfuscated_names(self):
+        bad = """
+def doStuff(data, temp, x):
+    return data + temp + x
+"""
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_validate_against_principles", {"snippet": bad})
+        # C2.1 (names intent-revealing) should FAIL
+        c21 = next(r for r in result["results"] if r["check_id"] == "C2.1")
+        self.assertEqual(c21["status"], "FAIL")
+
+    def test_result_structure(self):
+        result = self.server.call_tool("atelier_validate_against_principles", {"snippet": "x = 1"})
+        self.assertIn("overall", result)
+        self.assertIn("results", result)
+        self.assertIsInstance(result["results"], list)
+        self.assertGreater(len(result["results"]), 0)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()

tests/test_submission_readiness.py

@@ -0,0 +1,189 @@
+"""tests/test_submission_readiness.py — REQ-220.
+
+Covers: good contract passes; missing tags fail with MISSING_TAGS;
+env-missing-mandatory fails with ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:<env>:<field>;
+agentic profile missing intent fails with AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT;
+missing appSource fails with MISSING_APP_SOURCE.
+"""
+import json
+import os
+import sys
+import unittest
+
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
+from core.submission_readiness import check_readiness, ReadinessResult
+
+GOOD_TAGS = {
+    "nova:owner": "consumer-repo",
+    "nova:contract": "uuid-1234",
+    "nova:environment": "dev",
+    "nova:cost-center": "nova-default",
+    "nova:ref": "CHG0678912",
+}
+
+
+def _base(**overrides):
+    submission = {
+        "contractId": "uuid-1234",
+        "id": "webapi",
+        "name": "Customer Web API",
+        "environment": "dev",
+        "tags": dict(GOOD_TAGS),
+        "policyPreconditions": {"public-ingress": False, "encryption_enabled": True},
+        "profile": "developer",
+        "appSource": {"repo": "consumer/repo", "ref": "main"},
+        "infrastructure": {
+            "static-assets": {"inputs": {"bucket_name": "webapi-assets"}}
+        },
+    }
+    submission.update(overrides)
+    return submission
+
+
+class TestGoodContract(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_good_contract_passes(self):
+        result = check_readiness(_base())
+        self.assertTrue(result.ready, f"Expected ready, got: {result.reason_codes}")
+        self.assertEqual(result.contract_id, "uuid-1234")
+
+    def test_good_agentic_contract_passes(self):
+        submission = _base(
+            profile="agentic",
+            naturalLanguageIntent="A web API for customer data",
+            confidenceAtSubmission=0.85,
+            agentTrace="LLM generated contract from issue #42",
+        )
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertTrue(result.ready, f"Expected ready, got: {result.reason_codes}")
+
+
+class TestMissingTags(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_missing_tags_fail(self):
+        submission = _base()
+        submission["tags"] = {"nova:owner": "consumer-repo"}
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        codes = " ".join(result.reason_codes)
+        self.assertIn("MISSING_TAGS", codes)
+        self.assertIn("nova:contract", codes)
+        self.assertIn("nova:environment", codes)
+        self.assertIn("nova:cost-center", codes)
+        self.assertIn("nova:ref", codes)
+
+    def test_empty_tag_value_fails(self):
+        submission = _base()
+        submission["tags"]["nova:owner"] = ""
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        self.assertTrue(any("MISSING_TAGS" in c for c in result.reason_codes))
+
+
+class TestEnvMissingMandatory(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_qa_missing_e2e_suite_fails(self):
+        submission = _base(environment="qa")
+        submission["tags"]["nova:environment"] = "qa"
+        # No validation.e2eSuite
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        codes = " ".join(result.reason_codes)
+        self.assertIn("ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:qa:validation.e2eSuite", codes)
+
+    def test_prod_missing_runbook_fails(self):
+        submission = _base(environment="prod")
+        submission["tags"]["nova:environment"] = "prod"
+        # No runbook/dashboard/oncall
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        codes = " ".join(result.reason_codes)
+        self.assertIn("ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:prod:runbook", codes)
+        self.assertIn("ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:prod:dashboard", codes)
+        self.assertIn("ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:prod:oncall", codes)
+
+    def test_dr_missing_drdrillref_fails(self):
+        submission = _base(environment="dr")
+        submission["tags"]["nova:environment"] = "dr"
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        codes = " ".join(result.reason_codes)
+        self.assertIn("ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY:dr:drDrillRef", codes)
+
+    def test_prod_with_all_mandatory_passes(self):
+        submission = _base(
+            environment="prod",
+            runbook="docs/runbooks/webapi.md",
+            dashboard="https://grafana/nova/webapi",
+            oncall="oncall@company.com",
+        )
+        submission["tags"]["nova:environment"] = "prod"
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertTrue(result.ready, f"Expected ready, got: {result.reason_codes}")
+
+
+class TestAgenticMissingIntent(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_agentic_missing_all_markers_fails(self):
+        submission = _base(profile="agentic")
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        codes = " ".join(result.reason_codes)
+        self.assertIn("AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT:naturalLanguageIntent", codes)
+        self.assertIn("AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT:confidenceAtSubmission", codes)
+        self.assertIn("AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT:agentTrace", codes)
+
+    def test_agentic_missing_one_marker_fails(self):
+        submission = _base(
+            profile="agentic",
+            naturalLanguageIntent="A web API",
+            confidenceAtSubmission=0.85,
+            # agentTrace missing
+        )
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        self.assertTrue(any("agentTrace" in c for c in result.reason_codes))
+
+
+class TestMissingAppSource(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_missing_appsource_fails(self):
+        submission = _base()
+        del submission["appSource"]
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        self.assertTrue(any("MISSING_APP_SOURCE" in c for c in result.reason_codes))
+
+    def test_appsource_missing_ref_fails(self):
+        submission = _base()
+        submission["appSource"] = {"repo": "consumer/repo"}
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        self.assertTrue(any("MISSING_APP_SOURCE" in c for c in result.reason_codes))
+
+
+class TestPolicyPreconditionMissing(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_empty_policy_fails(self):
+        submission = _base()
+        submission["policyPreconditions"] = {}
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertFalse(result.ready)
+        self.assertTrue(any("POLICY_PRECONDITION_MISSING" in c for c in result.reason_codes))
+
+
+class TestReadinessResultStructure(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_result_to_dict(self):
+        result = check_readiness(_base())
+        d = result.to_dict()
+        self.assertIn("ready", d)
+        self.assertIn("reason_codes", d)
+        self.assertIn("contractId", d)
+
+    def test_result_str_ready(self):
+        result = check_readiness(_base())
+        self.assertIn("READY", str(result))
+
+    def test_result_str_not_ready(self):
+        submission = _base()
+        del submission["appSource"]
+        result = check_readiness(submission)
+        self.assertIn("NOT READY", str(result))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()