docs(P1): strategic docs — thesis rename + NORTH_STAR objectives + RACI restructure

AUTONOMY_THESIS.md (git mv from NO_HUMANS_THESIS.md): reframe from
'removing humans' to 'autonomy in operations, human at stage gates'.
Drop D-### citations + internal file paths; keep anti-claims, reworded.
Anti-claim #1 now: 'decisions are NOT made by an LLM — deterministic
scripts calculate a score; the platform functions without AI'.

NORTH_STAR.md:
- Vision: 'invisible' → 'visible' (operations become visible — recurring
  theme); polish for technical audience (security, remediation velocity,
  reliability, lead time).
- Objective #2: 'provable trust in AI decisions' → 'provable trust in
  automated decisions' (deterministic scripts calculate a score;
  platform functions without AI).
- Objective #3: four CTO-grade metrics (Lead Time PR→Prod, Infra Vuln
  Count trend, MTTR, Cloud Spend Reduction) → all flow into PowerBI.
- Objective #4: 'default substrate for agentic consumption' → integrate
  with externally owned PDLC/SDLC/Agentic/Citizen Developer platforms
  regardless of source; Nova provides skills + MCP endpoints; all prod
  intents go through the same controls + quality gates.
- Anti-goals: drop #1 (hyperscaler competitor), #4 (legacy untagged),
  #5 (sold to operators). Add: 'not an upstream development platform',
  'not a replacement for the PDLC'. Reword #3 (no 'removes humans').

docs/raci.md: 3 roles → 4 roles. Add Quality Engineering column. Rename
Release Management → SRE. Split release attestation into Quality
attestation (QA) + Production readiness (SRE). Platform no longer holds
A for attestation — reassigned to QE/SRE.

docs/scope.md: add integration framing (skills + MCP endpoints, all
sources go through same controls).

Render scripts: default deck name → nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.
ONBOARDING + terraform/onboarding: 'no-humans' → 'autonomous'.

---ci---
project: acdl
phase: 1
milestone: v1.21
status: execute
phase_role: execution
---/ci---

.ciagent/AUTONOMY_THESIS.md

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+# Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform: Autonomy Defensibility Brief
+
+> Strategic direction, leadership metrics & unified story
+> Last refined: v1.21 — reframe from "no-humans" to "autonomous operations"
+
+## The thesis
+
+Nova is the autonomous infrastructure layer that lets product teams
+ship without engaging an operator, and lets executives trust the
+platform not because it never fails but because every decision is
+captured, scored, and accountable.
+
+**Autonomy in operations; human at stage gates.** Normal operations —
+provisioning, healing, remediation — run without an operator in the
+loop. Human attestation remains required at stage gates: QA signs off
+for production, SRE greenlights based on operational readiness. The
+absence of an operator in the loop is never the absence of a record.
+
+## Grounded proof (measurable today)
+
+| Proof | Source | Status |
+|-------|--------|--------|
+| Capabilities verified, none broken (live-AWS caps honestly skipped, resources torn down to zero-cost steady state) | regression report | grounded |
+| Decision Ledger captures 100% of automated decisions with outcome backfill | decision ledger store | grounded |
+| Attestation coverage: 100% of prod/dr promotions attested by a human | attestation gates + outbox | grounded |
+| Confidence-gated policy engine (deterministic, not an LLM) — weighted inputs, band outcome | confidence signal | grounded |
+| Attestation matrix with separation-of-duties on prod | attestation matrix + separation-of-duties | grounded |
+| Pre-apply cost estimates (offline) | cost adapter | grounded |
+| Test suite passes | test results | grounded |
+
+## Deferred proof (measurable when blocking work lifts)
+
+| Proof | Blocking work | Unblock requirement |
+|-------|----------------|---------------------|
+| Touchless resolution rate across production estates | 0 consumers today | Pilot estate activation |
+| Live infrastructure health (ECS, ALB, RPS) | Live AWS torn down | Live AWS re-provisioning |
+| Onboarding funnel: requested → granted | Auto-grant not built | Auto-grant implementation |
+| Drift auto-reversal rate | No drift scheduler | Drift detection scheduler |
+| Predictive vs reactive ratio | No emitter | ML anomaly-forecasting service |
+| Tamper-evident ledger checkpoints (S3 Object Lock + JWS) | Audit ledger build-out | Audit ledger build-out |
+
+## Anti-claims (what Nova is NOT)
+
+1. **Nova's decisions are NOT made by an LLM.** They are made by a
+   confidence-gated policy engine: deterministic scripts calculate a
+   score, and a band outcome gates the action. The platform functions
+   without AI. The Decision Ledger captures this real decision path —
+   not a fabricated "AI agent." When an LLM planner is added, it will
+   emit richer `alternatives_considered` without schema breakage.
+2. **Nova does NOT remove humans from accountability.** Only from
+   normal operations. Every stage-gate promotion (qa/prod/dr) requires
+   a human attestation recorded with approver identity,
+   separation-of-duties check, and the evidence matrix.
+3. **Nova is NOT for legacy, untagged, or freeform infrastructure.** It
+   requires Terraform-managed, policy-aligned, fully-tagged inputs.
+4. **Nova does NOT fabricate metrics.** Every metric is grounded (cites
+   a source), derived (documented formula), or deferred (cites the
+   blocking work). No fabricated numbers in any deck slide or metrics
+   entry (the "no fabrication" hard constraint).
+
+## What "won" looks like
+
+By month 18, Nova is the layer enterprise leadership points to when
+they say *"we don't have an infrastructure ops team anymore, and the
+audit trail is stronger than it ever was"* — and it is the layer their
+AI engineering teams reach for first when an agent needs to deploy.

.ciagent/NORTH_STAR.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # NORTH_STAR — Nova
 
 > **Status:** Draft (pending interactive GRILL → final)
-> **Milestone:** v1.17 — Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story
+> **Milestone:** v1.21 — Nova Deck Refinement & Pipeline Hardening
 > **Owner:** Product Owner
 > **Purpose:** Durable strategic intent. Read by CIAgent in every future
 > `/ci-run` so the platform's direction survives across milestones. This
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 ## Vision
 
-> **Infrastructure operations become invisible. Every environment
+> **Infrastructure operations become visible. Every environment
 > provisioned, every incident healed, every risk remediated — by an
 > autonomous system whose trustworthiness is provable, not promised.
 > Human attestation remains required at stage gates — QA signs off for
@@ -22,9 +22,12 @@
 > operator is never in the loop of normal operations.**
 
 Nova is the autonomous infrastructure layer that lets product teams ship
-without engaging an operator, and lets executives trust the AI not because
+without engaging an operator, and lets executives trust the platform not
-it never fails but because every decision is captured, scored, and
+because it never fails but because every decision is captured, scored,
-accountable.
+and accountable. The recurring theme across the platform is that
+**infrastructure operations become visible** — security posture,
+remediation velocity, reliability, and lead time are surfaced as
+queryable signals rather than hidden in tribal knowledge.
 
 ---
 
@@ -38,46 +41,64 @@ human by design; operational escalations (AI confidence too low to
 proceed) are the failure mode we drive toward zero. Everything else
 collapses if autonomy isn't real.
 
-**2. Establish provable trust in AI decisions.**
+**2. Establish provable trust in automated decisions.**
-Build the audit substrate — Decision Ledger, confidence scoring, circuit
+Trust is established by deterministic scripts that calculate a score and
-breakers, blast-radius controls — that turns "autonomous" from a
+a band outcome that gates the action — the platform functions without AI.
-marketing claim into a defensible one. Trust is the moat. Features can be
+"AI decisions" are really automated decisions. The audit substrate —
-copied; an immutable, queryable decision history cannot.
+Decision Ledger, confidence scoring, circuit breakers, blast-radius
+controls — turns "autonomous" from a marketing claim into a defensible
+one. Trust is the moat. Features can be copied; an immutable, queryable
+decision history cannot.
 
 **3. Deliver compounding, quantifiable ROI for customers.**
-Each quarter on Nova must reduce cloud spend, free engineering hours, and
+Each quarter on Nova must show measurable improvement on four CTO-grade
-avoid downtime measurably. If the CFO can't point to a number that
+metrics, all of which flow into PowerBI views and are captured by the
-improves quarter-over-quarter, Nova fails its commercial test, regardless
+telemetry pipeline:
-of how clever the AI is.
 
-**4. Become the default substrate for agentic infrastructure consumption.**
+- **Lead Time** — from PR merge to production deployment (downward trend).
-AI agents are already becoming the largest consumers of cloud
+- **Infrastructure Vulnerability Count** — open findings on deployed
-infrastructure. Nova must be the platform through which those agents
+  resources (downward trend, demonstrating that proactive scanning +
-declare, deploy, and verify infrastructure — not a vendor scrambling into
+  remediation keeps up with the AI-era 0-day pace).
-that market two quarters late.
+- **MTTR** — for platform-detected and platform-remediated incidents.
+- **Cloud Spend Reduction** — on pilot estates vs. the pre-Nova
+  baseline.
+
+If leadership cannot point to a number that improves quarter-over-quarter
+on these four axes, Nova fails its commercial test, regardless of how
+clever the automation is.
+
+**4. Integrate with externally owned development platforms — regardless of source.**
+Nova integrates with externally owned PDLC, SDLC, Agentic, and Citizen
+Developer platforms with no regard for the source of the intent. Nova
+provides a set of skills and MCP endpoints that help the developer or AI
+agent make their application production-grade. Regardless of the source,
+all intents to deploy to production go through the same rigorous
+controls, quality gates, attestation, and evidence stream. Nova is the
+layer any of those platforms reach for first when an agent needs to
+deploy — not a vendor arriving late to that market.
 
 ---
 
-## Anti-Goals (5 — what Nova is fundamentally NOT)
+## Anti-Goals (4 — what Nova is fundamentally NOT)
 
-1. **Not a Terraform, Kubernetes, or hyperscaler competitor.** We
+1. **Not a general-purpose AI agent platform.** We are purpose-built for
-   orchestrate them. Replacing them is the most expensive possible
-   distraction from the value we create.
-2. **Not a general-purpose AI agent platform.** We are purpose-built for
    infrastructure operations. Breadth here produces shallow tools; depth
    here wins the category.
-3. **Not a system that removes humans from accountability.** Only from
+2. **Not a system that removes humans from accountability.** Only from
-   operations. Every AI decision lands in an immutable ledger. Every
+   normal operations. Every automated decision lands in an immutable
-   stage-gate promotion (qa/prod/dr) requires a human attestation recorded
+   ledger. Every stage-gate promotion (qa/prod/dr) requires a human
-   with approver identity, separation-of-duties check, and the 8-concern
+   attestation recorded with approver identity, separation-of-duties
-   evidence matrix. The absence of an operator is never the absence of a
+   check, and the evidence matrix. The absence of an operator in the
-   record.
+   loop is never the absence of a record.
-4. **Not for legacy, untagged, or freeform infrastructure.** Nova requires
+3. **Not an upstream development platform.** Nova does not own the
-   Terraform-managed, policy-aligned, fully-tagged inputs. We optimize for
+   product backlog, IDE workflows, code authorship, or application
-   the disciplined 95%, not the chaotic 5%.
+   business logic. The PDLC is upstream; Nova integrates with it through
-5. **Not sold to operators.** Nova is sold to leadership on outcomes —
+   a validated contract boundary — Nova never penetrates it.
-   cost, velocity, risk. Selling to operators inverts the incentive and
+4. **Not a replacement for the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC).**
-   breaks the autonomy thesis.
+   Nova governs infrastructure + delivery only. Product lifecycle
+   decisions (what to build, when to ship, for whom) remain with the
+   product team. Nova makes their intent production-grade; it does not
+   own the intent.
 
 ---
 

.ciagent/NO_HUMANS_THESIS.md

@@ -1,67 +0,0 @@
-# Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform: Thesis Defensibility Brief
-
-> v1.17 — Strategic Direction, Leadership Metrics & Unified Story (REQ-213)
-> Generated: 2026-08-04
-
-## The thesis
-
-Nova is the autonomous infrastructure layer that lets product teams
-ship without engaging an operator, and lets executives trust the AI
-not because it never fails but because every decision is captured,
-scored, and accountable.
-
-**Autonomy in operations; human at stage gates.** The operator is
-removed from the loop of normal operations. Human attestation remains
-required at stage gates — QA signs off for production, SRE greenlights
-based on operational readiness. The absence of an operator is never
-the absence of a record.
-
-## Grounded proof (measurable today)
-
-| Proof | Source | Status |
-|-------|--------|--------|
-| 18 capabilities verified, 4 honestly skipped (0 broken) | `REGRESSION_REPORT.json` | grounded |
-| Decision Ledger captures 100% of AI decisions with outcome backfill | `metrics/decision_ledger.db` | grounded (this milestone) |
-| Attestation Coverage: 100% of prod/dr promotions attested by a human | `hitl_gates.py` + outbox `approver_*` | grounded |
-| Confidence-gated policy engine (not an LLM) — 6 weighted inputs, band outcome | `confidence_signal.py` | grounded |
-| 8-concern attestation matrix with separation-of-duties on prod | `attestation_matrix.py` + `separation_of_duties.py` | grounded |
-| Pre-apply cost estimates (Infracost, offline) | `infracost_adapter.py` | grounded |
-| Test suite passes (~656 tests) | `metrics/test-results.xml` | grounded |
-
-## Deferred proof (measurable when blocking decisions lift)
-
-| Proof | Blocking Decision | Unblock Requirement |
-|-------|-------------------|---------------------|
-| Touchless Resolution Rate ≥99% across production estates | 0 consumers today | Pilot estate activation |
-| Live infrastructure health (ECS, ALB, RPS) | D-096 | Live AWS re-provisioning |
-| Onboarding funnel: requested → granted | D-113/D-114/D-119 | Auto-grant implementation |
-| Drift auto-reversal rate ≥95% | D-096 + no scheduler | Drift detection scheduler |
-| Predictive vs reactive ratio ≥3:1 | future emitter | ML anomaly-forecasting service |
-| Tamper-evident ledger checkpoints (S3 Object Lock + JWS) | D-083 | Audit ledger build-out |
-
-## Anti-claims (what Nova is NOT)
-
-1. **Nova's "AI" is NOT an LLM planner.** It is a confidence-gated
-   policy engine (confidence_signal + HITL gate). The Decision Ledger
-   captures this real decision path — not a fabricated "AI agent" that
-   doesn't exist yet (D-122). When an LLM planner is added, it will emit
-   richer `alternatives_considered` without schema breakage.
-2. **Nova does NOT remove humans from accountability.** Only from
-   operations. Every stage-gate promotion (qa/prod/dr) requires a human
-   attestation recorded with approver identity, separation-of-duties
-   check, and the 8-concern evidence matrix (NORTH_STAR Anti-Goal #3).
-3. **Nova is NOT for legacy, untagged, or freeform infrastructure.** It
-   requires Terraform-managed, policy-aligned, fully-tagged inputs
-   (NORTH_STAR Anti-Goal #4).
-4. **Nova does NOT fabricate metrics.** Every metric is grounded (cites
-   a source file), derived (documented formula), or deferred (cites a
-   blocking decision ID). No fabricated numbers in any deck slide or
-   METRICS.md entry (the "no fabrication" hard constraint).
-
-## What "won" looks like
-
-By month 18, Nova is the layer enterprise leadership points to when
-they say *"we don't have an infrastructure ops team anymore, and the
-audit trail is stronger than it ever was"* — and it is the default
-substrate their AI engineering teams reach for first when an agent needs
-to deploy.

docs/ONBOARDING.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-# Nova Onboarding — No-Humans Request Path (v1.16, REQ-182..184)
+# Nova Onboarding — Autonomous Request Path (v1.16, REQ-182..184)
 
-The v1.16 milestone implements the **request path** of the no-humans
+The v1.16 milestone implements the **request path** of the autonomous
 onboarding flow (D-113). A consumer can submit an onboarding request
 without contacting the platform team; the platform generates an
 environment binding + (in a future milestone) provisions the AWS resources.

docs/raci.md

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 # RACI — Who Owns What
 
-> D-139). This page is the citizen-developer-facing copy.
+> This page is the citizen-developer-facing copy.
 
-Nova's delivery lifecycle has three roles. This page clarifies who owns
+Nova's delivery lifecycle has four roles. This page clarifies who owns
 what — so the citizen developer knows what they bring, what the platform
-provides, and what is co-owned.
+provides, what quality engineering guards, and what is co-owned with SRE.
 
-## The Three Roles
+## The Four Roles
 
 ### Citizen Developer (CD)
 
@@ -14,40 +14,49 @@ 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
+development platform. **The source does not matter** — all are subject to
-to the same compliance standards (the submission-readiness gate, the
+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
+**Infrastructure** (cloud resource lifecycle, state, IAM), and
-platform-side quality checks: policy enforcement, confidence scoring,
+**Production deployments to cloud** (the apply path, the pipeline, the
-schema validation), and **Production deployments to cloud** (the apply
+release mechanics).
-path, the pipeline, the release mechanics).
 
-### Release Management (RM) — co-owned
+### Quality Engineering (QE)
 
-The release is **co-owned**. The platform performs the QA + SRE
+Quality Engineering is **Responsible** for the platform-side quality
-attestations agentically (it runs the confidence signal, the policy
+checks: policy enforcement, confidence scoring, schema validation, and
-checks, the separation-of-duties). The citizen developer **oversees and
+the functional/contract/non-functional evidence that feeds attestation.
-triggers** the actual release — the human attestation at the stage gate
+QE owns the **quality** of what the platform produces — the gate
-is your authorization. The platform runs the checks; you authorize the
+evidence, not the gate decision.
-promotion. This is the "autonomy in operations, human at stage gates"
+
-model.
+### SRE — co-owned with you
+
+Production readiness is **co-owned**. SRE owns operational readiness:
+the operational attestation (incident response, capacity, resilience,
+DR). 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 |
+| Work Category | Citizen Developer | Platform | Quality Engineering | SRE |
-|---|---|---|---|
+|---|---|---|---|---|
-| **Functional Requirements (FRs)** | **R/A** | C | I |
+| **Functional Requirements (FRs)** | **R/A** | C | I | I |
-| **User Acceptance Testing (UAT)** | **R/A** | C | I |
+| **User Acceptance Testing (UAT)** | **R/A** | C | I | I |
-| **Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)** | I | **R/A** | C | C |
-| **Infrastructure (cloud, state, IAM)** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **Infrastructure (cloud, state, IAM)** | I | **R/A** | I | C |
-| **QA (policy, confidence, schema checks)** | C | **R/A** | I |
+| **QA (policy, confidence, schema checks)** | C | R | **R/A** | I |
-| **Production deployment to cloud** | I | **R/A** | C |
+| **Production deployment to cloud** | I | **R/A** | C | C |
-| **Release attestation (QA + SRE sign-off)** | **A** | R | **R** |
+| **Quality attestation (QA sign-off)** | **A** | R | **R** | I |
+| **Production readiness (SRE sign-off)** | **A** | R | C | **R** |
 
 **Key:** **R** = Responsible (does the work) · **A** = Accountable (owns
 the outcome, sign-off) · **C** = Consulted · **I** = Informed.
@@ -63,11 +72,15 @@ the outcome, sign-off) · **C** = Consulted · **I** = Informed.
 - 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:**
+**Quality Engineering guards:**
-- Nova runs the attestations (QA confidence, SRE operational readiness).
+- The policy enforcement, confidence scoring, schema validation.
+- The quality attestation evidence that feeds the stage gates.
+
+**You co-own production readiness with SRE:**
+- Nova + SRE run the attestations (QA quality sign-off, SRE operational
+  readiness).
 - You authorize the promotion at the stage gate. No promotion happens
   without your recorded attestation.
 
@@ -78,7 +91,7 @@ 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
+standards are the same regardless of how the code was authored. This is
-is by design: the audit trail is the same, the policy envelope is the
+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

@@ -14,7 +14,12 @@ PDLC includes:
 - IDE workflows / developer experience
 
 Nova never penetrates the PDLC. Nova's domain is **infrastructure +
-delivery only**.
+delivery only**. Nova integrates with externally owned PDLC, SDLC,
+Agentic, and Citizen Developer platforms with no regard for the source
+of the intent: Nova provides a set of skills and MCP endpoints that help
+the developer or AI agent make their application production-grade, and
+all intents to deploy to production go through the same rigorous
+controls, quality gates, attestation, and evidence stream.
 
 ## What Nova Does
 

scripts/render_deck.sh

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #
 # Usage:
 #   bash scripts/render_deck.sh <deck-name>
-#   bash scripts/render_deck.sh nova-no-humans-platform
+#   bash scripts/render_deck.sh nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery
 #
 # Renders:
 #   docs/presentations/<deck-name>-marp.md → docs/presentations/<deck-name>.html (committed)

scripts/render_slides.sh

@@ -6,12 +6,12 @@
 #
 # Usage:
 #   bash scripts/render_slides.sh [deck-name]
-#   bash scripts/render_slides.sh nova-no-humans-platform
+#   bash scripts/render_slides.sh nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery
 #
-# If no deck name is given, defaults to nova-no-humans-platform.
+# If no deck name is given, defaults to nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.
 set -euo pipefail
 
-DECK="${1:-nova-no-humans-platform}"
+DECK="${1:-nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery}"
 cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
 
 MMD_DIR="docs/presentations/assets/mmd"

terraform/onboarding/README.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Offline-proven Terraform for the cross-account consumer deploy-role +
 `nova:owner` ABAC tag grant. This is the "role grant" half of the
-no-humans onboarding flow (D-113); the "request" half is P18 (Lambda
+autonomous onboarding flow (D-113); the "request" half is P18 (Lambda
 action) + P19 (env-file autogen).
 
 ## Scope (D-114)