docs(ship): Gitea releases created for v1.21.0..v1.21.6 + PPTX attached

All 7 Gitea releases created (ids 621-627) after fixing the token variable name mismatch (config: ACDL_GITEA_TOKEN vs env: NOVA_GITEA_TOKEN). Tags pushed to origin. PPTX attached to milestone release v1.21.6 (asset id 98). Release URLs: https://git.cloudinit.dev/continuous-intelligence/acdl/releases ---ci--- project: acdl phase: 6 milestone: v1.22 status: complete phase_role: final ---/ci---
docs(milestone): merge v1.22 — Nova Deck Layout Fix to main
2026-08-11 22:59:33 +00:00 · 2026-08-11 20:11:51 +00:00 · 2026-08-11 20:11:46 +00:00 · 2026-08-11 20:11:43 +00:00 · 2026-08-11 19:56:42 +00:00 · 2026-08-11 19:56:31 +00:00
36 changed files with 2670 additions and 1325 deletions
@@ -1,11 +1,28 @@
 {
-  "phase": 0,
-  "stage": "plan",
-  "milestone": "v1.21",
-  "phase_role": "pre_execution",
+  "phase": 6,
+  "stage": "complete",
+  "milestone": "v1.22",
+  "phase_role": "final",
  "attempts": 0,
-  "updated_at": "2026-08-11T00:01:00Z",
-  "milestone_complete": false,
-  "requirements": ["REQ-245","REQ-246","REQ-247","REQ-248","REQ-249","REQ-250","REQ-251","REQ-252","REQ-253"],
-  "notes": "v1.21 P0 plan stage complete. PLAN.md v1.21 section written. 5 execution phases (P1 strategic-docs, P2 slides, P3 marp+talking-points+README, P4 pipeline-hardening, P5 render+verify) + P6 final-review-ship. Wave 1 (P1/P2/P4 parallelizable), Wave 2 (P3), Wave 3 (P5), Wave 4 (P6). CLARIFY+RESEARCH minimal at full autonomy — domain known, requirements confirmed with user. Proceeding to P0 ship then execution."
+  "updated_at": "2026-08-11T15:30:00Z",
+  "milestone_complete": true,
+  "tag": "v1.21.6",
+  "requirements": ["REQ-254","REQ-255","REQ-256","REQ-257","REQ-258","REQ-259","REQ-260","REQ-261","REQ-262"],
+  "release": {
+    "forge": "gitea",
+    "releases_created": true,
+    "release_ids": {
+      "v1.21.0": 621,
+      "v1.21.1": 622,
+      "v1.21.2": 623,
+      "v1.21.3": 624,
+      "v1.21.4": 625,
+      "v1.21.5": 626,
+      "v1.21.6": 627
+    },
+    "milestone_release_id": 627,
+    "pptx_asset_id": 98,
+    "pptx_download_url": "https://git.cloudinit.dev/attachments/fe691962-4f4e-4321-ab5d-c2bb8c3fd6ad"
+  },
+  "notes": "v1.22 milestone complete. Tag v1.21.6 (milestone release). Merged to main + pushed to origin. All 7 Gitea releases created (ids 621-627). PPTX attached to milestone release (asset id 98). All milestone branches deleted. 9 requirements complete (REQ-254..262). 32 slide tests pass (23 original + 9 new). 94 key-file tests pass. Pipeline check exit 0. Next milestone starts fresh."
 }
@@ -1,34 +1,128 @@
 ---
 project: acdl
-milestone: v1.18
-generated_at: 2026-08-06
+milestone: v1.22
+generated_at: 2026-08-11
 generator: lead-developer
 verification_toolchain:
-  typecheck: "python3 -m py_compile core/submission_readiness.py mcp/atelier/server.py && python3 -m jsonschema schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json"
-  test: "pytest tests/test_submission_readiness.py tests/test_atelier_mcp.py   # REQ-220 + REQ-225"
-  build: "bash scripts/render_deck.sh docs/presentations/nova-no-humans-platform-marp.md   # HTML + PPTX (D-142)"
+  typecheck: "python3 -m py_compile tests/test_slides_pipeline.py"
+  test: "pytest tests/test_slides_pipeline.py   # REQ-254..262"
+  build: "bash scripts/render_slides.sh nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery   # HTML + PPTX"
  note: |
-    v1.18 adds the Citizen Developer & Production-Grade Guidance surface:
-    submission-readiness gate, Atelier-derived skills, the Atelier MCP server
-    (plugin-registry, stdio), and PPTX-as-first-class-artifact deck automation.
-    Three active personas: lead-developer (coordination + decks + RACI/scope
-    docs), backend-engineer (MCP server + submission-readiness validator +
-    render/attach scripts), data-engineer (submission-readiness schema if it
-    touches contract storage / DynamoDB shape). frontend-engineer stays
-    deactivated (v1.18 has no frontend; decks are markdown = lead-developer
-    territory). The MCP plugin-registry is a backend pattern, so a separate
-    mcp-engineer persona is NOT added — it folds into backend-engineer.
+    v1.22 is the Nova Deck Layout Fix — a docs-only NFR milestone. Two
+    active personas: lead-developer (theme CSS + deck markdown + talking
+    points + README + .ciagent metadata), backend-engineer (render scripts
+    + tests). frontend-engineer stays deactivated (decks are markdown =
+    lead-developer territory, per v1.17/v1.18 precedent). No data-engineer
+    (no schema/DB changes). No new personas (the work is CSS + bash +
+    markdown + pytest, all within the two active personas' range).
 ---

-# ACDL — Persona Roster (v1.18 Citizen Developer & Production-Grade Guidance)
+# ACDL — Persona Roster (v1.22 Nova Deck Layout Fix)

-> v1.18 roster. Three active personas + one deactivated. The MCP server
-> plugin-registry (D-140) is a backend pattern, not a new persona — it
-> folds into backend-engineer. v1.17 precedent (frontend-engineer
-> deactivated, decks are markdown = lead-developer territory) is upheld.
+> v1.22 roster. Two active personas + one deactivated. This is a docs-
+> only NFR milestone: the work is theme CSS, render scripts, mermaid
+> diagrams, deck markdown, and tests. frontend-engineer stays
+> deactivated (decks are markdown = lead-developer territory, per
+> v1.17/v1.18 precedent). No data-engineer (no schema/DB changes).

 ## Active personas

+### lead-developer
+- **Domain:** coordination + deck content
+- **Active:** true
+- **Phase-specific:** false
+- **Frameworks:** [] (no framework — owns process + narrative + CSS + markdown)
+- **Constraints:** ["pragmatic", "battle-tested defaults", "no fabrication (NORTH_STAR honesty model)", "do not change the 4-beat arc", "do not re-introduce badges/version/internal citations"]
+- **Territory:**
+  - `docs/presentations/assets/nova-sp-theme.css` (REQ-254,255,256 — theme CSS)
+  - `docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md` (REQ-261 — deck content)
+  - `docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md` (REQ-261 — source of truth)
+  - `docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-talking-points.md` (REQ-261)
+  - `docs/presentations/README.md` (REQ-261 — slide-count convention)
+  - `docs/presentations/assets/mmd/*.mmd` (REQ-259,260 — mermaid re-layout)
+  - `.ciagent/**` (PROJECT, ROADMAP, REQUIREMENTS, RESEARCH, PLAN, GRILL, PERSONAS, REVIEW, CHECKPOINT)
+- **Reason:** Owns the theme CSS (the root cause), the deck markdown
+  (trim/split overflowing slides), the mermaid re-layout, the talking
+  points, the README, and all CIAgent metadata. Is the only persona
+  that touches `.ciagent/**` and the deck markdown/CSS.
+- **Phase-specific flag:** none (active for all of P0–P6).
+
+### backend-engineer
+- **Domain:** render scripts + tests
+- **Active:** true
+- **Phase-specific:** false
+- **Frameworks:** ["bash", "pytest", "marp-cli", "mermaid-cli"]
+- **Constraints:** ["pin CLI versions (no @latest)", "2x scale + transparent bg for mermaid", "tests must catch layout regressions", "no raw curl with shell-env tokens"]
+- **Territory:**
+  - `scripts/render_slides.sh` (REQ-257,258 — pin versions, 2x scale)
+  - `scripts/render_deck.sh` (REQ-257 — DELETE)
+  - `tests/test_slides_pipeline.py` (REQ-262 — layout/aspect-ratio/theme-structural tests)
+  - `.github/workflows/slides.yml` (if references to render_deck.sh need removal)
+- **Reason:** Owns the render pipeline (bash scripts) and the test
+  suite. The layout/aspect-ratio/theme-structural tests (REQ-262) are
+  the gap that let this regression through — backend-engineer owns
+  closing that gap. Pinning CLI versions and adding 2x scale are
+  backend/scripting tasks.
+- **Phase-specific flag:** none (active for P2, P5; light touch on P0/P6).
+
+## Deactivated personas
+
+### frontend-engineer
+- **Active:** false
+- **Domain:** frontend
+- **Frameworks:** ["react", "next.js"] (inert — no territory)
+- **Constraints:** ["component-first", "server-components", "minimal-client-js"] (inert)
+- **Territory:** [] (no territory in v1.22)
+- **Reason:** v1.22 has no frontend; decks are markdown (lead-developer
+  territory); deactivated per PERSONAS.md v1.17/v1.18 precedent. The
+  theme CSS is a Marp stylesheet, not a React/Next.js component system
+  — it stays lead-developer territory. No reactivation trigger.
+
+### data-engineer
+- **Active:** false
+- **Domain:** data
+- **Frameworks:** [] (inert)
+- **Constraints:** [] (inert)
+- **Territory:** [] (no territory in v1.22)
+- **Reason:** v1.22 has no schema/DB/ORM changes. The milestone is
+  docs + scripts + tests only. No reactivation trigger.
+
+## Roster decisions
+
+### D-148 (0.95): Theme CSS is lead-developer territory, not frontend-engineer
+The `nova-sp-theme.css` is a Marp stylesheet (CSS for a markdown-to-
+slide renderer), not a React/Next.js component system. The v1.17/v1.18
+precedent (decks are markdown = lead-developer territory) extends to
+the deck's CSS theme. frontend-engineer's frameworks (react, next.js)
+are irrelevant to Marp CSS. **Decision:** theme CSS stays lead-developer
+territory. Confidence 0.95 — the only counter-argument is that CSS is
+"frontend," but Marp CSS is a static stylesheet, not a component system.
+
+### D-149 (0.9): No new personas for v1.22
+The work is CSS + bash + markdown + mermaid + pytest. All of this is
+within the two active personas' range (lead-developer: CSS + markdown +
+mermaid; backend-engineer: bash + pytest). Creating a separate "css-
+engineer" or "slides-engineer" persona would fragment ownership of the
+theme CSS + deck markdown (both lead-developer) and the render scripts
+ tests (both backend-engineer). **Decision:** no new personas.
+Confidence 0.9.
+
+### Territory-overlap resolution (co-ownership)
+
+| Path | Primary | Co-owner | Why |
+|------|---------|----------|-----|
+| `docs/presentations/assets/mmd/*.mmd` | lead-developer (mermaid re-layout) | backend-engineer (re-render via render_slides.sh) | The .mmd content is lead-developer (diagram narrative); the PNG re-render is backend-engineer (script invocation). |
+| `tests/test_slides_pipeline.py` | backend-engineer (test code) | lead-developer (assertions reflect deck structure) | The test code is backend; the assertions (slide count, theme rules, aspect ratios) reflect lead-developer's deck/theme decisions. |
+
+---
+
+## Historical rosters
+
+<details>
+<summary>v1.18 roster (Citizen Developer & Production-Grade Guidance) — superseded by v1.22</summary>
+
+### Active personas (v1.18)
+
 ### lead-developer
 - **Domain:** coordination
 - **Active:** true
@@ -97,7 +191,7 @@ verification_toolchain:
  is backend; the schema it validates against is data).
 - **Phase-specific flag:** none (active for P3 schema + ingestor wiring).

-## Deactivated personas
+### Deactivated personas (v1.18)

 ### frontend-engineer
 - **Active:** false
@@ -111,7 +205,7 @@ verification_toolchain:
  frontend / dashboard"). The MCP server exposes tools to an AI agent,
  not a web UI. No reactivation trigger in this milestone.

-## Roster decisions
+### Roster decisions (v1.18)

 ### D-143 (0.90): Fold mcp-engineer into backend-engineer
 The MCP plugin-registry (D-140: `plugins/<name>.py register(mcp)`) is a
@@ -127,10 +221,12 @@ that MCP is a distinct protocol skill, but the SDK v2 API surface
 range (it's the same Pydantic/FastAPI-style pattern the persona already
 knows).

-### Territory-overlap resolution (co-ownership)
+### Territory-overlap resolution (v1.18)

 | Path | Primary | Co-owner | Why |
 |------|---------|----------|-----|
 | `docs/submission-readiness.md` | lead-developer (narrative + examples) | backend-engineer (reason-code catalog, REQ-218 codes) | The doc is citizen-developer-facing copy (lead) but the reason-code catalog (MISSING_TAGS, ENV_MISSING_MANDATORY, AGENTIC_MISSING_INTENT, MISSING_APP_SOURCE, POLICY_PRECONDITION_MISSING) is backend (it mirrors the validator's return codes). |
 | `core/lambda/contract_ingestor.py` | backend-engineer (dispatch wiring) | data-engineer (the schema it validates against) | D-133 places the `--check-readiness` subcommand on the ingestor (backend dispatch), but the readiness schema it loads is data-engineer territory. |
-| `schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json` | data-engineer (schema artifact) | backend-engineer (the validator must match it) | The schema is data-engineer's; the validator (REQ-218) is backend-engineer's and must stay in sync with it. |
+| `schemas/submission-readiness.schema.json` | data-engineer (schema artifact) | backend-engineer (the validator must match it) | The schema is data-engineer's; the validator (REQ-218) is backend-engineer's and must stay in sync with it. |
+
+</details>
@@ -1098,5 +1098,360 @@ NOT exercised here.
 8. **No new frontend (frontend-engineer deactivated).** v1.18 has no
   frontend; decks are markdown (lead-developer territory); the MCP
   server exposes tools to an AI agent, not a web UI. The
-   frontend-engineer persona stays deactivated (PERSONAS.md v1.18
-   roster). No reactivation trigger in this milestone.
+    frontend-engineer persona stays deactivated (PERSONAS.md v1.18
+    roster). No reactivation trigger in this milestone.
+
+---
+
+# Nova — Phase Plan v1.22 (Nova Deck Layout Fix)
+
+> **Milestone:** v1.22 — Nova Deck Layout Fix
+> **Branch:** `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix` → merge to `main` at P6.
+>   Phase branches: `phase/00-pre-execution`, `phase/01-theme-css`,
+>   `phase/02-render-scripts`, `phase/03-mermaid-relayout`,
+>   `phase/04-deck-content`, `phase/05-render-and-test`,
+>   `phase/06-final-review-ship`.
+> **Tag line:** `v1.21.x` patch line — `v1.21.0` (P0) →
+> `v1.21.1..v1.21.5` (P1–P5) → `v1.21.6` (P6 final = milestone release).
+>   v1.22 is an NFR milestone (all phases are fix/docs/test) →
+>   progressive patches.
+> **Phase count:** 7 (P0 pre-execution + 5 execution + 1 final).
+> **Source of truth for requirements:** `.ciagent/REQUIREMENTS.md` §v1.22
+>   (REQ-254..262, 9 requirements).
+> **Source of truth for research:** `.ciagent/RESEARCH.md` §v1.22 (8
+>   findings, 5 assumptions, 5 CLARIFY decisions).
+> **Source of truth for personas:** `.ciagent/PERSONAS.md` v1.22 roster
+>   (2 active: lead-developer + backend-engineer; 2 deactivated:
+>   frontend + data).
+
+## Wave Ordering
+
+| Wave | Phases | Rationale |
+|------|--------|-----------|
+| Wave 1 | P1, P2 (**parallel**) | P1 (theme CSS: padding, overflow, image, title chrome) + P2 (render scripts: delete render_deck.sh, pin versions, 2x scale). Zero file overlap: P1 touches `docs/presentations/assets/nova-sp-theme.css`; P2 touches `scripts/render_slides.sh` + deletes `scripts/render_deck.sh`. P1 establishes the padding/overflow/image budget that P4's content trimming relies on; P2 fixes the render pipeline that P3's PNG re-render depends on. |
+| Wave 2 | P3, P4 (**parallel**) | P3 (mermaid re-layout: telemetry LR, platform-pipeline 2-row wrap) + P4 (deck content: trim/split 8 overflowing slides, remove header). P3 depends on P2 (2x scale flag); P4 depends on P1 (padding budget). Zero file overlap: P3 touches `docs/presentations/assets/mmd/*.mmd` + PNGs; P4 touches `docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md` + source `.md` + talking-points + README. |
+| Wave 3 | P5 | Re-render HTML + PPTX + add tests. Depends on all above (P1 theme, P2 scripts, P3 diagrams, P4 content). Re-renders via the fixed `render_slides.sh`; adds the layout/aspect-ratio/theme-structural tests (the gap that let this through). |
+| Wave 4 | P6 | Final review + audit + milestone ship. Merge to main, tag `v1.21.6`, create release, attach PPTX. |
+
+## Phase P0 — pre-execution (DONE)
+
+SPECIFY → CLARIFY → RESEARCH → PLAN. Validated v1.22 requirements
+(REQ-254..262). Established `active_milestone: "v1.22"`. Root-cause
+investigation persisted to RESEARCH.md (8 findings). Persona roster
+updated (2 active, 2 deactivated). 5 CLARIFY decisions auto-resolved.
+
+## Phase P1 — theme-css (fix) — lead-developer
+
+**Requirements:** REQ-254, REQ-255, REQ-256
+**Branch:** `phase/01-theme-css`
+**Territory:** `docs/presentations/assets/nova-sp-theme.css`
+
+### Tasks
+
+1. **REQ-254 — section padding + overflow:**
+   - Add `section { padding: 48px 56px 40px; }` (top reserves header
+     space; bottom reserves footer).
+   - Add `section { overflow: auto; }` as an authoring-time signal
+     (dense content scrolls instead of silently clipping). Document
+     that the real fix is content trimming (P4), not runtime scroll.
+2. **REQ-255 — aspect-ratio-aware image rules:**
+   - Replace `img { display: block; margin: 0 auto; max-height: 320px }`
+     with `img { display: block; margin: 0 auto; max-width: 100%;
+     max-height: 380px; object-fit: contain; }`.
+   - Add `.wide` class: `img.wide { max-height: 280px; }` (for ultra-wide
+     diagrams).
+   - Add `.tall` class: `img.tall { max-height: 480px; }` (for tall
+     diagrams that need more vertical room).
+3. **REQ-256 — title chrome + spacing tightening:**
+   - Add `section.title header, section.title footer { display: none; }`.
+   - Add `section h2 + p { margin-top: 0.2em; }`.
+   - Add `section p { margin: 0.4em 0; }`.
+   - Add `ol` styling: `ol { margin-top: 0.3em; }` (match `ul`).
+   - Add `table.dense td, table.dense th { padding: 4px 8px; }` (for
+     tables with ≥8 rows).
+   - Add `@media print { section { overflow: hidden; } }` (PPTX export
+     fidelity — no scrollbars in exported slides).
+
+### Verify (inline)
+- `python3 -c "from pathlib import Path; css = Path('docs/presentations/assets/nova-sp-theme.css').read_text(); assert 'padding:' in css and 'section.title header' in css and 'object-fit' in css and 'table.dense' in css; print('theme CSS OK')"`
+- `pytest tests/test_slides_pipeline.py -k "theme" -q` (existing theme
+  color tests still pass).
+
+### Ship
+- Tag `v1.21.1`, merge `phase/01-theme-css` → `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix`.
+
+## Phase P2 — render-scripts (fix) — backend-engineer
+
+**Requirements:** REQ-257, REQ-258
+**Branch:** `phase/02-render-scripts`
+**Territory:** `scripts/render_slides.sh`, `scripts/render_deck.sh` (DELETE)
+
+### Tasks
+
+1. **REQ-257 — delete render_deck.sh + pin CLI versions:**
+   - `git rm scripts/render_deck.sh` (the README already documents
+     `render_slides.sh` as canonical; `render_deck.sh` omits `--theme`
+     and produces unthemed output).
+   - Pin marp-cli and mermaid-cli versions in `render_slides.sh`:
+     replace `@marp-team/marp-cli@latest` with a pinned version (e.g.
+     `@marp-team/marp-cli@4.0.0` — determine the working version by
+     testing during execution) and `@mermaid-js/mermaid-cli@latest`
+     with a pinned version (e.g. `@mermaid-js/mermaid-cli@10.9.1`).
+   - Remove any references to `render_deck.sh` from
+     `.github/workflows/slides.yml`, `docs/presentations/README.md`,
+     and `tests/test_slides_pipeline.py` (if any test references it).
+2. **REQ-258 — 2x scale + transparent bg for mermaid:**
+   - In `render_slides.sh` lines 51-55, add `-s 2 -b transparent` to
+     the mermaid-cli invocation (matches README line 193 spec).
+
+### Verify (inline)
+- `test ! -f scripts/render_deck.sh && echo "render_deck.sh deleted OK"`
+- `grep -q "marp-cli@" scripts/render_slides.sh && grep -q "mermaid-cli@" scripts/render_slides.sh && echo "versions pinned OK"`
+- `grep -q -- "-s 2" scripts/render_slides.sh && grep -q -- "-b transparent" scripts/render_slides.sh && echo "2x + transparent OK"`
+- `pytest tests/test_slides_pipeline.py -k "render" -q` (existing
+  render-script tests still pass; update if they reference
+  `render_deck.sh`).
+
+### Ship
+- Tag `v1.21.2`, merge `phase/02-render-scripts` → `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix`.
+
+## Phase P3 — mermaid-relayout (fix) — lead-developer
+
+**Requirements:** REQ-259, REQ-260
+**Branch:** `phase/03-mermaid-relayout`
+**Territory:** `docs/presentations/assets/mmd/telemetry-live-ops.mmd`,
+  `docs/presentations/assets/mmd/platform-pipeline.mmd`, PNG re-render
+  (via `render_slides.sh` — backend-engineer co-owns the script
+  invocation).
+
+### Tasks
+
+1. **REQ-259 — telemetry-live-ops.mmd TB → LR:**
+   - Rewrite `docs/presentations/assets/mmd/telemetry-live-ops.mmd` from
+     `flowchart TB` to `flowchart LR` with subgraph row-wrapping (per
+     README line 168). Target aspect ratio ∈ [1.2, 2.5].
+   - Re-render PNG: `bash scripts/render_slides.sh nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery`
+     (now with 2x scale + transparent bg from P2).
+   - Update the Marp deck's `![w:900]` directive on slide 9 to match
+     the new dimensions (or replace with `![h:320]` if the diagram
+     remains taller than wide after re-layout — but LR should produce
+     a wide diagram).
+2. **REQ-260 — platform-pipeline.mmd 2-row wrap:**
+   - Rewrite `docs/presentations/assets/mmd/platform-pipeline.mmd` to
+     wrap the 10-node LR chain into 2 rows via mermaid subgraphs (or
+     split into two stages: static-scan row + runtime-scan row). Target
+     aspect ratio ∈ [1.2, 2.5].
+   - Re-render PNG (same command as above).
+
+### Verify (inline)
+- `python3 -c "from PIL import Image; import os; d='docs/presentations/assets/png'; [print(f, Image.open(os.path.join(d,f)).size) for f in os.listdir(d) if f.endswith('.png')]"` (check aspect ratios — or use a stdlib-only check if PIL unavailable).
+- Verify both re-rendered PNGs have aspect ratio ∈ [1.2, 2.5].
+
+### Ship
+- Tag `v1.21.3`, merge `phase/03-mermaid-relayout` → `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix`.
+
+## Phase P4 — deck-content (fix) — lead-developer
+
+**Requirements:** REQ-261
+**Branch:** `phase/04-deck-content`
+**Territory:** `docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md`,
+  `docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md`,
+  `docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-talking-points.md`,
+  `docs/presentations/README.md`.
+
+### Tasks
+
+1. **Split slide 3** (Objectives + Anti-Goals) into:
+   - Slide 3a — Strategic Objectives (4 objectives + nested sub-list).
+   - Slide 3b — Anti-Goals (4 anti-goals + benefit).
+   Main slide count 18 → 19.
+2. **Split slide 8** (Attestation Matrix) into:
+   - Slide 8a — Attestation: QA (3 qa rows + separation-of-duties note).
+   - Slide 8b — Attestation: Prod/DR (7 prod/dr rows + benefit).
+   Main slide count 19 → 20.
+3. **Trim slide 5** (RACI): apply `table.dense` class (from P1) to
+   reduce cell padding; keep 8 rows.
+4. **Trim slide 6** (Pipeline): reduce to 3 bullets (the 4th is covered
+   by the diagram, now legible after P3).
+5. **Trim slide 9** (Telemetry): reduce to 3 bullets; image now legible
+   after P3.
+6. **Trim slide 12** (Deferred): reduce to 6 rows (merge the 3 "Live
+   AWS re-provisioning" blockers into one row).
+7. **Trim slide 15** (Quarter-by-Quarter): drop the "Grounding" column
+   (redundant with strategic objectives); 4 columns fit better.
+8. **Trim Appendix A1** (Glossary): apply `table.dense` class (16px
+   font); keep 13 rows.
+9. **Remove `header:` from frontmatter** (keep `footer:` + `paginate:
+   true` only). The full 51-char deck title in BOTH header and footer
+   is redundant chrome; the footer alone suffices.
+10. **Update talking-points.md** to match the new 20 main + 1 appendix
+    slide structure.
+11. **Update README.md** "18 main + 1 appendix" convention (line 130)
+    → "20 main + 1 appendix".
+12. **Update `test_marp_deck_slide_count`** in
+    `tests/test_slides_pipeline.py` to assert 20 main + 1 appendix
+    (this test is co-owned with backend-engineer per PERSONAS.md, but
+    the assertion value reflects lead-developer's deck structure
+    decision — lead-developer makes the edit here).
+
+### Verify (inline)
+- `pytest tests/test_slides_pipeline.py -k "slide_count" -q` (updated
+  test passes with 20 main + 1 appendix).
+- `grep -c "## Slide " docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md` → 20.
+- `grep -c "## Appendix " docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md` → 1.
+- `grep -q "^header:" docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md && echo "FAIL: header still present" || echo "header removed OK"`.
+
+### Ship
+- Tag `v1.21.4`, merge `phase/04-deck-content` → `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix`.
+
+## Phase P5 — render-and-test (test) — backend-engineer
+
+**Requirements:** REQ-262
+**Branch:** `phase/05-render-and-test`
+**Territory:** `tests/test_slides_pipeline.py` (test code — backend),
+  re-render invocation (backend). Assertions reflect lead-developer's
+  deck/theme decisions (co-owned).
+
+### Tasks
+
+1. **Re-render HTML + PPTX:**
+   - `bash scripts/render_slides.sh nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery` →
+     re-renders all mermaid PNGs (2x transparent) + HTML + PPTX.
+   - Verify slide count (20 main + 1 appendix = 21 `<section>` elements
+     in the HTML + 1 title = 22 total — or however Marp counts the title
+     slide; verify against the marp deck).
+   - Verify media embedding (PPTX has embedded PNGs).
+2. **Add tests to `tests/test_slides_pipeline.py`:**
+   - `test_theme_css_has_section_padding` — assert `section` rule in
+     `nova-sp-theme.css` contains `padding`.
+   - `test_theme_css_suppresses_title_chrome` — assert
+     `section.title header` and `section.title footer` have
+     `display: none`.
+   - `test_png_aspect_ratios_sane` — for every PNG in `assets/png/`,
+     assert aspect ratio ∈ [1.2, 2.5] (catches the 13.52× and 0.63×
+     outliers). Use `struct`/`imghdr` or a minimal PNG header parser
+     (no PIL dependency if possible).
+   - `test_render_slides_has_2x_scale` — assert `render_slides.sh`
+     contains `-s 2` and `-b transparent`.
+   - `test_render_deck_removed` — assert `scripts/render_deck.sh` does
+     not exist.
+   - `test_html_embeds_theme` — assert committed HTML contains
+     `--sp-red` and `padding` in the inline `<style>`.
+   - `test_html_slide_count_matches_marp` — parse HTML `<section>` count
+     == marp deck slide count.
+3. **Run full test suite:**
+   - `pytest tests/test_slides_pipeline.py -q` (all slide tests pass).
+   - `pytest -q` (full suite — was 686 pass + 1 pre-existing attestation
+     env failure; should now be 686 + new tests pass, same 1 failure).
+   - `bash scripts/run_platform.sh --check-only` → exit 0.
+
+### Verify (inline)
+- `pytest tests/test_slides_pipeline.py -q` (all pass, including new
+  layout/aspect-ratio/theme-structural tests).
+- `pytest -q 2>&1 | tail -5` (full suite — confirm no new failures).
+
+### Ship
+- Tag `v1.21.5`, merge `phase/05-render-and-test` → `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix`.
+
+## Phase P6 — final-review-ship (final) — lead-developer
+
+**Requirements:** all (REQ-254..262) — milestone release
+**Branch:** `phase/06-final-review-ship`
+
+### Tasks
+
+1. **Multi-persona review** (`ciagent-review` equivalent):
+   - Review all changes in the milestone branch across P1-P5.
+   - Auto-apply P0 fixes; flag P1+ for post-hoc review.
+   - If P1+ issues found: fix them in this final phase.
+2. **Audit** (`ciagent-audit` equivalent):
+   - Reconstruction test: verify git log matches `.ciagent/` files.
+   - Check `.ciagent/` file discipline and branch hygiene.
+   - Check commit discipline (all commits have `---ci---` blocks).
+   - If audit finds critical issues: fix them in this final phase.
+3. **Milestone ship** (`ciagent-ship` equivalent):
+   - Merge `phase/06-final-review-ship` → `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix`.
+   - Merge `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix` → `main`.
+   - Tag `v1.21.6` (final phase patch = milestone release).
+   - Create release with full milestone summary (all phases, all
+     requirements).
+   - Build and upload PPTX as release asset.
+   - Delete all milestone branches (local + remote).
+4. **Complete the milestone:**
+   - Update `REQUIREMENTS.md` — mark REQ-254..262 as complete.
+   - Update `ROADMAP.md` — mark v1.22 as complete.
+   - Commit: `docs(milestone): complete v1.22 — Nova Deck Layout Fix`.
+
+### Ship
+- Tag `v1.21.6` (milestone release). Merge to `main`. Clear checkpoint.
+
+## Plan-Level Risks + Notes (v1.22)
+
+1. **Slide count change** (18 → 20 main): `test_marp_deck_slide_count`
+   + README convention must be updated in P4. The split is necessary
+   because slides 3 and 8 are the densest (~780px each) and cannot be
+   trimmed without losing leadership-relevant content.
+2. **Marp version pinning**: the exact pinned versions will be
+   determined during P2 execution by testing which version produces
+   stable output in this environment. If the pinned version has a
+   different boilerplate-CSS signature, the HTML diff will be large but
+   layout-stable.
+3. **`overflow: auto` on `section`**: Marp slides are SVG
+   `foreignObject` — `overflow: auto` may not produce scrollbars in all
+   renderers (PPTX especially). The safer approach is content trimming
+   (P4) + padding (P1), treating overflow as an authoring-time signal,
+   not a runtime scroll. The `@media print { section { overflow: hidden; } }`
+   rule in P1 ensures PPTX export doesn't show scrollbars.
+4. **No new frontend** (frontend-engineer deactivated). v1.22 has no
+   frontend; decks are markdown + Marp CSS (lead-developer territory,
+   per D-148). The frontend-engineer persona stays deactivated.
+5. **No data-engineer** (no schema/DB changes). v1.22 is docs + scripts
+   + tests only.
+6. **Wave 1 + Wave 2 parallelism**: P1+P2 and P3+P4 are documented as
+   parallelizable (zero file overlap). In this sequential run they
+   execute in order; in a parallelization-enabled run they could execute
+   concurrently up to `max_concurrent_agents: 5`.
+7. **PPTX remains first-class**: committed to git + attached to the
+   phase's Gitea release. No change to this convention.
+
+## GRILL verdicts (v1.22) — binding
+
+> Adversarial review of the v1.22 plan. 8 axes reviewed. Overall
+> verdict: **PROCEED-WITH-REVISIONS** (confidence 0.85). The plan is
+> sound for a low-risk docs-only milestone; 3 revisions required.
+
+### Axis verdicts
+
+| Axis | Verdict | Rationale |
+|------|---------|-----------|
+| Feasibility | PASS | All phases use available tools (bash, edit, marp-cli, mermaid-cli, pytest). No hidden dependencies. |
+| Scope | PASS | 7 phases / 9 requirements justified by the 4-layer root cause (theme CSS + scripts + diagrams + content + tests). Could be fewer phases only if scope were narrower (but CLARIFY resolved: comprehensive). |
+| Cost | PASS | Proportionate: the problem affects every slide; the fix touches the theme (1 file), 2 scripts, 2 diagrams, 1 deck, 1 test file. 7 phases is the natural decomposition. |
+| Risk | REVISE | (1) `overflow: auto` on SVG `foreignObject` may not produce scrollbars in PPTX export — the `@media print { section { overflow: hidden; } }` rule mitigates this; document it explicitly. (2) Marp version pinning — if the pinned version breaks, fall back to `@latest` and log an assumption. (3) Slide count change (18→20) breaks `test_marp_deck_slide_count` — P4 updates the test; confirmed in plan. |
+| Wave ordering | PASS | P1+P2 and P3+P4 parallelism claims are valid (zero file overlap verified). |
+| Test strategy | **REVISE** | The `test_png_aspect_ratios_sane` test as planned checks ALL PNGs in `assets/png/` against [1.2, 2.5]. **15 of 19 PNGs are OUT OF BOUNDS** — most are legacy/unused diagrams (developer-experience-*, platform-works-*) not referenced in the current `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md` deck. Only 2 PNGs are referenced in the current deck (platform-pipeline.png, telemetry-live-ops.png). **Revision: scope the test to only PNGs referenced in the current marp deck** (parse `![...](assets/png/X.png)` references from the marp deck and check only those). The [1.2, 2.5] bounds are correct for 16:9 slides. |
+| Alternatives | **REVISE** | The plan manually adds `section { padding: 48px 56px 40px; }` instead of `@import`-ing Marp's default theme. The manual approach is correct (the default theme's padding alone is insufficient — it doesn't reserve header/footer space, and the default theme's other rules would conflict with the S&P palette). However, the plan should document WHY `@import` is rejected (default theme applies `padding: 56px 64px` but also applies conflicting base styles; the manual approach gives precise control over the padding budget). **Revision: add a note to P1 explaining the `@import` rejection.** |
+| Completeness | PASS | All 8 RESEARCH findings are addressed: F1→REQ-254, F2→REQ-254, F3→REQ-259/260, F4→REQ-256/261, F5→REQ-257, F6→REQ-258, F7→not a cause (no action), F8→REQ-262. |
+
+### Revisions applied (binding)
+
+1. **P5 `test_png_aspect_ratios_sane`** — scope to only PNGs referenced in
+   the current marp deck (parse `![...](assets/png/X.png)` from
+   `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md`). Legacy/unused PNGs are not
+   checked. This prevents the test from failing on 15 legacy diagrams
+   that are not part of the current deck.
+2. **P1 `@import` rejection note** — add a comment in the theme CSS and
+   a note in the plan explaining why `@import "default"` is rejected:
+   the default theme's `padding: 56px 64px` does not reserve
+   header/footer space, and its other base styles (font, color, list
+   spacing) would conflict with the S&P palette. The manual padding
+   gives precise control over the padding budget (48px top for header,
+   40px bottom for footer, 56px sides).
+3. **P2 marp version pinning fallback** — if the pinned marp-cli version
+   produces broken output during P2 execution, fall back to `@latest`
+   and log an assumption (A5) that version pinning is deferred. Do not
+   block the pipeline on version pinning.
+
+**Overall: PROCEED-WITH-REVISIONS.** The 3 revisions are incorporated
+into the phase tasks above (P1, P2, P5). No blocking issues. The plan
+is feasible, scoped, and complete for a low-risk docs-only milestone.
@@ -1419,3 +1419,116 @@ wrong commit standard, wrong repo.
 | D-145 | Trigger = manual-only (`--release` / `RELEASE_CONFIRMED=1`). | The 2nd release is a deliberate human action, not a CI side-effect. The gate guarantees it can never fire from Gitea Actions, GitHub Actions, or accidental invocation. | Script exits 2 without `--release`. |
 | D-146 | Domain grouping = 13 fixed-order domains by path prefix; messages map positionally over CHANGED domains only. | Avoids the kitchen-sink commit; gives `~/nova` a reviewable, conventional history tailored to platform consumers. Positional-over-changed mapping lets the human supply exactly the messages needed, in domain order, without padding for unchanged domains. | `--list-domains` prints order; `--dry-run` previews; count-mismatch errors clearly. |
 | D-147 | coreci / Atelier review gate = deferred this milestone. | The vendored Atelier (`mcp/atelier/vendor`) could review the synced tree before commit and block on P0, but that's an additive hardening step, not part of establishing the pipeline. Deferred to a future milestone. | Sync ships consumer contents as-is; no review gate. |
+
+### CLARIFY auto-resolved parameters (full autonomy)
+
+The following ambiguities were identified and auto-resolved at full
+autonomy (no human escalation needed — confidence > 0.6 threshold):
+
+1. **Fix scope** — comprehensive (theme CSS + render scripts + mermaid
+   re-layout + deck content + tests) vs. minimal. **Resolved: comprehensive.**
+   The root cause spans all four layers; a theme-only fix would leave
+   the extreme-aspect-ratio diagrams and the stale `render_deck.sh`
+   unfixed. Confidence: 0.95.
+
+2. **Pipeline depth** — full pipeline (SPECIFY→CLARIFY→RESEARCH→PLAN→
+   GRILL→EXECUTE→VERIFY→SHIP) vs. lighter path. **Resolved: full pipeline.**
+   This is a new milestone (v1.22); the full pipeline ensures the plan
+   is grilled and the audit trail is complete. Confidence: 0.9.
+
+3. **Mermaid diagram fixes** — re-layout to LR + re-render vs. CSS-only
+   fix. **Resolved: re-layout to LR + re-render at 2x transparent.**
+   The `telemetry-live-ops.mmd` uses `flowchart TB` (produced a 1024×1628
+   PNG — aspect 0.63); the README (line 168) explicitly says to use
+   horizontal layouts for wide diagrams. CSS-only cannot fix the aspect
+   ratio. Confidence: 0.95.
+
+4. **`render_deck.sh` disposition** — fix (add `--theme`) vs. delete.
+   **Resolved: delete.** The README already documents `render_slides.sh`
+   as canonical; `render_deck.sh` is unreferenced by the build-commands
+   section and is a footgun (produces unthemed output). Confidence: 0.9.
+
+5. **Slide count change** — keep 18 main + 1 appendix vs. split
+   overflowing slides. **Resolved: split slides 3 and 8** (18 → 20 main
+   + 1 appendix). The `test_marp_deck_slide_count` test + README
+   convention are updated to match. Confidence: 0.85.
+
+No human escalation. All decisions logged with confidence scores above
+the 0.6 threshold.
+
+## Objective for Milestone v1.22 (active — Nova Deck Layout Fix)
+
+v1.22 fixes the systemic layout/formatting problems in the Nova
+presentation deck that made every slide look "out of whack" after the
+v1.21 P5 re-render. A full investigation determined the root cause is
+**not a P5 regression** — the `nova-sp-theme.css` has had zero `section`
+padding since it was authored (it declares `/* @theme nova-sp */` as a
+comment, not the `@theme` directive, and does not `@import` Marp's
+default theme, so Marp's default `section { padding: 56px 64px }` never
+applies). Combined with `overflow:hidden` (silent clip), a blunt
+`img { max-height: 320px }` rule, header+footer chrome on every slide,
+and two new P5 diagrams with extreme aspect ratios (13.52× and 0.63×),
+8 of 19 slides overflow and the rest look jammed against the edges.
+
+This milestone is a **comprehensive fix** across four layers: (1) the
+theme CSS (padding, overflow handling, aspect-ratio-aware image rules,
+title-slide chrome suppression, paragraph/list/table spacing); (2) the
+render scripts (delete the stale unthemed `render_deck.sh`, pin
+marp-cli/mermaid-cli versions, add 2x scale + transparent bg to
+mermaid); (3) the two problematic mermaid diagrams (re-layout to LR +
+2-row wrap); (4) the deck content (trim/split the 8 overflowing slides,
+remove the redundant `header:` from frontmatter). It also adds the
+**layout/aspect-ratio/theme-structural tests** that were missing — the
+gap that let this regression through undetected.
+
+**Milestone type:** NFR (all phases are fix/docs/test — no feat/breaking).
+Tags run on the **v1.21.x** patch line (previous minor per
+branch-strategy): `v1.21.0` (P0) → `v1.21.1..v1.21.5` (P1–P5) →
+`v1.21.6` (P6 final = milestone release).
+
+**Phase count:** 7 (P0 pre-execution + 5 execution + 1 final).
+
+**Wave ordering:**
+- Wave 1 (P1 + P2, parallel): theme CSS + render scripts — no
+  interdependency. P1 establishes the padding/overflow/image budget that
+  P4's content trimming relies on; P2 fixes the render pipeline that P3's
+  PNG re-render depends on.
+- Wave 2 (P3 + P4, parallel): mermaid re-layout + deck content. P3
+  depends on P2 (2x scale flag); P4 depends on P1 (padding budget).
+- Wave 3 (P5): re-render HTML + PPTX + add tests. Depends on all above.
+- Wave 4 (P6): final review + audit + milestone ship.
+
+**Hard constraints:**
+- DO NOT change the deck narrative or the 4-beat arc (Problem → Solution
+  → Proof → Roadmap + Ask) — only fix layout/formatting.
+- DO NOT re-introduce badges, version strings, or internal citations
+  (D-###/REQ-###/.py paths) that v1.21 removed.
+- The slide count may change from 18 main + 1 appendix to 20 main + 1
+  appendix (splitting slides 3 and 8 to relieve overflow). The
+  `test_marp_deck_slide_count` test + README "18 main + 1 appendix"
+  convention must be updated to match.
+- PPTX remains a first-class committed artifact + release attachment.
+- No code changes outside `docs/presentations/`, `scripts/render*.sh`,
+  and `tests/test_slides_pipeline.py`.
+
+### Requirements
+
+New requirements REQ-254..REQ-262 — see `REQUIREMENTS.md` §v1.22. Summary:
+
+- **REQ-254:** Theme CSS — add `section` padding + overflow handling.
+- **REQ-255:** Theme CSS — aspect-ratio-aware image rules (replace blunt
+  `max-height:320px`).
+- **REQ-256:** Theme CSS — title-slide chrome suppression + paragraph/
+  list/table spacing tightening.
+- **REQ-257:** Render scripts — delete `render_deck.sh` (or fix `--theme`);
+  pin marp-cli/mermaid-cli versions.
+- **REQ-258:** `render_slides.sh` — add `-s 2 -b transparent` to mermaid-cli
+  (README spec).
+- **REQ-259:** Re-layout `telemetry-live-ops.mmd` from `flowchart TB` →
+  `flowchart LR`; re-render PNG at 2x transparent.
+- **REQ-260:** Re-layout `platform-pipeline.mmd` to 2-row subgraph wrap;
+  re-render PNG at 2x transparent.
+- **REQ-261:** Trim/split 8 overflowing slides (3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 15,
+  A1) + remove redundant `header:` from frontmatter.
+- **REQ-262:** Re-render HTML + PPTX + add layout/aspect-ratio/theme-
+  structural tests.
@@ -1707,12 +1707,200 @@ release; attach the PPTX.

 | REQ | Phase | Status |
 |-----|-------|--------|
-| REQ-245 | P2 | pending |
-| REQ-246 | P1 | pending |
-| REQ-247 | P1 | pending |
-| REQ-248 | P2 | pending |
-| REQ-249 | P2 | pending |
-| REQ-250 | P4 | pending |
-| REQ-251 | P3 | pending |
-| REQ-252 | P2 | pending |
-| REQ-253 | P5 | pending |
+| REQ-245 | P2 | complete |
+| REQ-246 | P1 | complete |
+| REQ-247 | P1 | complete |
+| REQ-248 | P2 | complete |
+| REQ-249 | P2 | complete |
+| REQ-250 | P4 | complete |
+| REQ-251 | P3 | complete |
+| REQ-252 | P2 | complete |
+| REQ-253 | P5 | complete |
+
+## v1.22 — Nova Deck Layout Fix
+
+> Fixes the systemic layout/formatting problems in the Nova presentation
+> deck that made every slide look "out of whack" after the v1.21 P5
+> re-render. Root cause (per investigation): `nova-sp-theme.css` has zero
+> `section` padding (it declares `/* @theme nova-sp */` as a comment, not
+> the `@theme` directive, and does not `@import` Marp's default theme, so
+> Marp's default `section { padding: 56px 64px }` never applies). Combined
+> with `overflow:hidden` (silent clip), a blunt `img { max-height: 320px }`
+> rule, header+footer chrome on every slide, and two new P5 diagrams with
+> extreme aspect ratios (13.52× and 0.63×), 8 of 19 slides overflow and
+> the rest look jammed against the edges. This is NOT a P5 regression —
+> the theme CSS is byte-identical between P3 and P5; P5's denser content
+> made the pre-existing theme flaws visible.
+>
+> Comprehensive fix across four layers: theme CSS, render scripts, mermaid
+> diagrams, deck content. Adds the layout/aspect-ratio/theme-structural
+> tests that were missing (the gap that let this through).
+>
+> Tags run on the v1.21.x line (milestone v1.22 → tags v1.21.0, v1.21.1, …).
+
+### REQ-254 — Theme CSS: section padding + overflow handling
+
+`docs/presentations/assets/nova-sp-theme.css` adds a `section` padding
+rule so content is not jammed against the slide edges. The padding
+reserves space for the header (top) and footer (bottom) chrome: e.g.
+`section { padding: 48px 56px 40px; }`. The theme also adds explicit
+overflow handling on `section` so dense content is not silently clipped
+by the marpit base `overflow:hidden` — either `overflow: auto` as an
+authoring-time signal, or a documented shrink-to-fit rule. The fix does
+NOT re-introduce Marp's default theme via `@import` (the theme remains
+standalone); it explicitly sets the padding the default would have
+provided.
+
+### REQ-255 — Theme CSS: aspect-ratio-aware image rules
+
+The blunt `img { max-height: 320px }` rule is replaced with an
+aspect-ratio-aware rule that does not break the Marp `w:`/`h:` directives:
+`img { max-width: 100%; max-height: 380px; object-fit: contain; }`. A
+`.wide` / `.tall` class convention is added for diagrams (wide diagrams:
+`max-height: 280px`; tall diagrams: `max-height: 480px`) so authors can
+opt into the right bound per diagram instead of fighting a single blunt
+rule. The `w:900` directive on a tall image (slide 9) no longer gets
+silently overridden by `max-height`.
+
+### REQ-256 — Theme CSS: title-slide chrome + spacing tightening
+
+- `section.title header, section.title footer { display: none; }` — the
+  title slide and appendix slide no longer render header/footer chrome
+  that collides with content (the `<!-- _class: title -->` +
+  `<!-- _paginate: false -->` directives only suppress the page number,
+  not the chrome).
+- `section h2 + p { margin-top: 0.2em; }` — tightens the spacing between
+  the `## Slide N — Title` heading and the bold lead paragraph that
+  follows it on every content slide (reclaims ~22px per slide).
+- `section p { margin: 0.4em 0; }` — reduces default `<p>` margins
+  (~1em top/bottom) that waste vertical space on dense slides.
+- `ol` styling added (matches `ul`/`li`).
+- Table cell padding reduced to `4px 8px` for tables with ≥8 rows (via
+  a `table.dense` class or a `:nth-child` heuristic) so 10-13 row tables
+  (slides 8, 12, A1) fit.
+- `@media print` overrides added for PPTX export fidelity.
+
+### REQ-257 — Render scripts: delete render_deck.sh + pin CLI versions
+
+`scripts/render_deck.sh` is **deleted** (it omits `--theme`, relying on
+the frontmatter `theme: nova-sp` which Marp cannot resolve as a custom
+theme without `--theme-set` — it falls back to the default theme,
+producing unthemed output). The README already documents
+`render_slides.sh` as the canonical script. Both `render_slides.sh` and
+the deleted `render_deck.sh` references are removed from any docs/tests.
+`render_slides.sh` pins marp-cli and mermaid-cli to specific versions
+(replace `@latest` with pinned versions) to prevent uncontrolled
+boilerplate-CSS drift like the P3→P5 HTML diff.
+
+### REQ-258 — render_slides.sh: 2x scale + transparent bg for mermaid
+
+The mermaid-cli invocation in `scripts/render_slides.sh` (lines 51-55)
+adds `-s 2 -b transparent` to match the README spec (line 193). This
+produces crisp 2x PNGs with transparent backgrounds instead of the
+current 1x renders (e.g. `platform-pipeline.png` is only 1568px wide
+instead of the 3136px a 2x render would produce).
+
+### REQ-259 — Re-layout telemetry-live-ops.mmd to LR
+
+`docs/presentations/assets/mmd/telemetry-live-ops.mmd` is rewritten from
+`flowchart TB` (top-bottom, produced a 1024×1628 PNG — aspect 0.63, tall)
+to `flowchart LR` (left-right) with subgraph row-wrapping per the README
+convention (line 168). The re-rendered PNG (at 2x transparent, per
+REQ-258) has an aspect ratio in [1.2, 2.5] suitable for a 16:9 slide.
+The Marp deck's `![w:900]` directive on slide 9 is updated to match the
+new dimensions (or replaced with `![h:320]` if the diagram remains
+taller than wide after re-layout).
+
+### REQ-260 — Re-layout platform-pipeline.mmd to 2-row wrap
+
+`docs/presentations/assets/mmd/platform-pipeline.mmd` is rewritten to
+wrap the 10-node LR chain into 2 rows via mermaid subgraphs (or split
+into two stages: static-scan row + runtime-scan row). The current
+1568×116 PNG (aspect 13.52, ultra-wide/short) renders as a 1000×74px
+thin strip at `![w:1000]` — node text is illegible. The re-rendered
+PNG (at 2x transparent) has an aspect ratio in [1.2, 2.5] suitable for
+a 16:9 slide.
+
+### REQ-261 — Trim/split 8 overflowing slides + remove redundant header
+
+The 8 slides identified as overflowing 720px are trimmed or split:
+- **Slide 3** (Objectives + Anti-Goals): split into Slide 3a (4
+  objectives) + Slide 3b (4 anti-goals). Main slide count 18 → 19.
+- **Slide 5** (RACI): apply `table.dense` class (from REQ-256) to
+  reduce cell padding; keep 8 rows.
+- **Slide 6** (Pipeline): reduce to 3 bullets (the 4th is covered by
+  the diagram, now legible after REQ-260).
+- **Slide 8** (Attestation Matrix): split into Slide 8a (qa concerns,
+  3 rows) + Slide 8b (prod/dr concerns, 7 rows). Main slide count
+  19 → 20.
+- **Slide 9** (Telemetry): reduce to 3 bullets; image now legible
+  after REQ-259.
+- **Slide 12** (Deferred): reduce to 6 rows (merge the 3 "Live AWS
+  re-provisioning" blockers into one row).
+- **Slide 15** (Quarter-by-Quarter): drop the "Grounding" column
+  (redundant with the strategic objectives); 4 columns fit better.
+- **Appendix A1** (Glossary): apply `table.dense` class (16px font);
+  keep 13 rows.
+
+The Marp frontmatter `header:` line is removed (keep `footer:` +
+`paginate: true` only). The full 51-char deck title in BOTH header and
+footer on every slide is redundant chrome that eats vertical space;
+the footer alone suffices. The title slide and appendix already use
+`<!-- _class: title -->` which (after REQ-256) suppresses chrome.
+
+The talking-points file is re-distilled to match the new slide
+structure (20 main + 1 appendix). The README "18 main + 1 appendix"
+convention (line 130) and `test_marp_deck_slide_count` are updated to
+assert 20 main + 1 appendix.
+
+### REQ-262 — Re-render HTML + PPTX + add layout/aspect-ratio tests
+
+- Run `bash scripts/render_slides.sh nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery` →
+  re-render all mermaid PNGs (2x transparent) + HTML + PPTX. Verify
+  slide count (20 main + 1 appendix = 21) and media embedding.
+- Add tests to `tests/test_slides_pipeline.py`:
+  - `test_theme_css_has_section_padding` — assert `section` rule
+    contains `padding`.
+  - `test_theme_css_suppresses_title_chrome` — assert
+    `section.title header` / `section.title footer` `display: none`.
+  - `test_png_aspect_ratios_sane` — for every PNG in `assets/png/`,
+    assert aspect ratio ∈ [1.2, 2.5] (catches the 13.52× and 0.63×
+    outliers).
+  - `test_render_slides_has_2x_scale` — assert `render_slides.sh`
+    contains `-s 2` and `-b transparent`.
+  - `test_render_deck_removed` — assert `render_deck.sh` does not
+    exist.
+  - `test_html_embeds_theme` — assert committed HTML contains
+    `--sp-red` and `padding` in the inline `<style>`.
+  - `test_html_slide_count_matches_marp` — parse HTML `<section>`
+    count == marp deck slide count.
+- Run full `pytest` suite (was 686 pass + 1 pre-existing attestation
+  env failure). `run_platform.sh --check-only` exits 0.
+- Milestone ship: tag the final phase on the v1.21.x line; create a
+  release; attach the PPTX.
+
+### Out of Scope (v1.22)
+
+- **Deck narrative changes** — the 4-beat arc (Problem → Solution →
+  Proof → Roadmap + Ask) and slide content are unchanged except for
+  the trim/split needed to relieve overflow.
+- **Re-introduction of badges, version strings, or internal citations**
+  — v1.21 removed these; v1.22 does not re-add them.
+- **Live pilot estate activation** — still deferred.
+- **ML anomaly-forecasting service** — still deferred.
+- **Multi-cloud (Azure/GCP) implementation** — still deferred.
+- **Tamper-evident ledger (S3 Object Lock + JWS)** — still deferred.
+
+### v1.22 Traceability
+
+| REQ | Phase | Status |
+|-----|-------|--------|
+| REQ-254 | P1 | complete |
+| REQ-255 | P1 | complete |
+| REQ-256 | P1 | complete |
+| REQ-257 | P2 | complete |
+| REQ-258 | P2 | complete |
+| REQ-259 | P3 | complete |
+| REQ-260 | P3 | complete |
+| REQ-261 | P4 | complete |
+| REQ-262 | P5 | complete |
@@ -2346,3 +2346,225 @@ committed directly).
  backend pattern (decorators, type hints, stdio, urllib). The SDK v2
  API surface is small and FastAPI/Pydantic-style (already in
  backend-engineer's range). D-143 logged in PERSONAS.md records this.
+
+---
+
+# v1.22 Research — Nova Deck Layout Fix (2026-08-11)
+
+> Investigation into the systemic layout/formatting problems in the Nova
+> presentation deck reported as "completely out of whack" after the
+> v1.21 P5 re-render. This research IS the investigation — the findings
+> below are the empirical root-cause analysis that drives the v1.22
+> requirements (REQ-254..262).
+
+## Background — why v1.22 exists
+
+The v1.21 milestone shipped a refined deck (renamed to "Autonomous Cloud
+Delivery Platform", 4-beat arc, 18 main + 1 appendix slides). The P5
+phase re-rendered the HTML + PPTX and added two new mermaid diagrams
+(`platform-pipeline.png`, `telemetry-live-ops.png`). After P5, the user
+reported that the layout is "completely out of whack" and that "they all
+have layout issues." This research identifies the root cause and the fix
+scope.
+
+## FINDING 1 — Theme CSS has ZERO section padding (CONFIDENCE: VERY HIGH)
+
+`docs/presentations/assets/nova-sp-theme.css` line 1 is
+`/* @theme nova-sp */` — a **comment**, not the `@theme` directive that
+Marp uses to register a theme name. The theme does **not `@import`**
+Marp's default theme. Marp's built-in default theme applies
+`section { padding: 56px 64px; }`. Because this custom theme neither
+imports the default nor sets its own `padding`, the rendered `<section>`
+has **zero padding**.
+
+**Verification:** grep for `padding:56px` / `padding:64px` /
+`padding:96px` in the rendered HTML returns **zero matches**. The only
+`section` rules in the rendered HTML are:
+- `section{width:1280px;height:720px;box-sizing:border-box;overflow:hidden;position:relative;...}`
+  (marpit base — no padding)
+- `section{font-family:...;font-size:22px;color:var(--sp-black);background:var(--sp-white)}`
+  (theme — no padding)
+
+**Effect:** Content is jammed against the slide edges (left/top/right/
+bottom all 0px), header/footer chrome overlaps content, and there is no
+breathing room. This alone makes every slide look "out of whack."
+
+## FINDING 2 — overflow:hidden silently clips dense content (CONFIDENCE: VERY HIGH)
+
+The marpit base rule sets `overflow:hidden` on `section`. The theme adds
+no `overflow` override, no scaling, no shrink-to-fit. Any slide whose
+content exceeds 720px is **clipped with no visual indication**. Combined
+with zero padding, content-dense slides (tables, image+bullets) lose
+their bottom rows / benefit paragraphs.
+
+**Per-slide overflow risk table** (available content height ≈ 720px −
+header(~35px) − footer(~35px) − padding(0px) = ~650px):
+
+| # | Slide | Est. height | Fits? | Issue |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 3 | Objectives + Anti-Goals | ~780px | NO | Densest text slide; nested list |
+| 5 | RACI (8-row × 5-col) | ~700px | NO | Cell text wraps to 2 lines |
+| 6 | Pipeline (image + 4 bullets) | ~750px | NO | Image + bullets overflow |
+| 8 | Attestation (10-row × 4-col) | ~780px | NO | Description column wraps |
+| 9 | Telemetry (image + 4 bullets) | ~720px | NO | Image + bullets overflow |
+| 12 | Deferred (8-row table) | ~720px | NO | Blocking-work column wraps |
+| 15 | Quarter-by-Quarter (5-col) | ~720px | NO | Wide table, long text |
+| A1 | Glossary (13-row × 3-col) | ~700px | NO | On title-class (dark bg) |
+| 1,4,10,11,13,16,17,18 | various | ~620px | TIGHT | Cramped with 0 padding |
+| 2,7,14 | various | ~520px | YES | Manageable density |
+
+**8 of 19 slides overflow; 8 more are cramped.**
+
+## FINDING 3 — Image aspect-ratio catastrophe on slides 6 & 9 (CONFIDENCE: HIGH)
+
+The two new P5 PNGs have extreme, opposite aspect ratios:
+
+- `platform-pipeline.png` = **1568×116** (aspect 13.52, ultra-wide/short).
+  The deck uses `![w:1000]`. At width=1000px, height = 1000/13.52 =
+  **74px**. The `max-height:320px` rule never engages. The image renders
+  as a 1000×74 thin strip — text in nodes is nearly unreadable, and the
+  10-node LR flowchart is squashed.
+
+- `telemetry-live-ops.png` = **1024×1628** (aspect 0.63, tall). The deck
+  uses `![w:900]`. At width=900px the natural height would be **1428px**
+  — but `max-height:320px` clamps it, so the image actually renders at
+  **~201×320**. The `w:900` directive is **completely overridden** by
+  `max-height:320px`. The image is tiny and the explicit width is
+  ignored. The `.mmd` uses `flowchart TB` (top-bottom) — exactly the
+  failure mode the README (line 168) warns against.
+
+## FINDING 4 — Header+footer chrome on every slide (CONFIDENCE: HIGH)
+
+The frontmatter sets both `header:` and `footer:` to the full 51-char
+deck title "Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform" on **every**
+slide (including the title slide, which has `data-header`/`data-footer`
+attributes present but `_paginate: false` only suppresses the page
+number, not the header/footer). The theme gives header a `border-bottom`
+and footer a `border-top`, each consuming ~30-40px of vertical chrome.
+With zero section padding, the header text sits at the very top edge and
+the footer at the very bottom edge, visually colliding with slide
+content. This reduces the effective content area from 720px to roughly
+640-650px on every slide.
+
+## FINDING 5 — render_deck.sh produces unthemed output (CONFIDENCE: MEDIUM-HIGH)
+
+`scripts/render_deck.sh` (line 44) runs marp-cli **without `--theme`**,
+relying on the frontmatter `theme: nova-sp`. But `nova-sp` is **not a
+built-in Marp theme** — it's a custom CSS file. Marp resolves `theme:`
+frontmatter against its built-in theme registry (default, gaia, uncover)
+and registered custom themes via `--theme-set`. Without `--theme <file>`
+or `--theme-set`, Marp cannot resolve `nova-sp` and **falls back to the
+default theme** (or errors). The committed HTML was rendered by
+`render_slides.sh` (which correctly passes `--theme`), so the committed
+artifact is fine — but `render_deck.sh` is a stale, dangerous script
+that would produce an unthemed/default-themed deck if anyone ran it.
+The README (line 201) documents `render_slides.sh` as canonical;
+`render_deck.sh` is not mentioned in the build-commands section.
+
+## FINDING 6 — render_slides.sh missing 2x scale + transparent bg (CONFIDENCE: HIGH)
+
+`render_slides.sh` mermaid invocation (lines 51-55) does **NOT** pass
+`-s 2` (2x scale) or `-b transparent`, despite the README (line 193)
+documenting both as required. This is why `platform-pipeline.png` is
+only 1568px wide (1x) instead of 3136px (2x) — the rendered PNGs are
+lower resolution than the README specifies, contributing to illegibility
+when scaled.
+
+## FINDING 7 — P5 marp-cli version bump (CONFIDENCE: LOW — not the cause)
+
+The P3→P5 HTML diff is 831 changed lines, but the **theme CSS portion
+is byte-identical** (verified: `font-size:22px`, `max-height:320px`,
+`marpit-root-font-size:22px`, `--sp-red:#D6002A` all match; `sp-red`
+appears exactly once in both). The large diff is:
+- (a) marp-cli boilerplate (bespoke-marp presenter/overview/transition
+  CSS) changed due to a marp-cli version bump (neither script pins a
+  version — both use `@latest`), and
+- (b) content changes: title "No-Humans Infrastructure Platform" →
+  "Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform", footer "Act %{page}/5 — v1.20"
+  → deck title, slide count 20 → 19.
+
+The version bump did **not** alter the slide layout engine or the theme
+rules. **This is not the regression source.** The layout problems are
+inherent to the theme CSS (zero padding, no overflow handling, blunt
+image rule) which has been unchanged. P5 made the content denser (new
+diagrams with extreme aspect ratios, longer deck-title header/footer)
+which made the pre-existing theme flaws more visible.
+
+## FINDING 8 — Test coverage gaps (CONFIDENCE: VERY HIGH)
+
+`tests/test_slides_pipeline.py` (268 lines) checks **static file
+properties only**:
+- Theme CSS file exists and contains `#D6002A` / `#1B1B1B`
+- Frontmatter references `nova-sp`, not `default`
+- `render_slides.sh` exists, is executable, invokes mermaid-cli + marp-cli
+- Every `.mmd` has a `.png`
+- No maturity badges, no version in footer, slide count = 18+1
+- No D-###/REQ-###/internal `.py` paths in slides
+
+**What is NOT tested (the gaps that let layout regressions through):**
+1. NO rendered-dimension / overflow test — no test renders the HTML and
+   checks that each slide's content height ≤ 720px.
+2. NO theme-CSS structural test — no test asserts `section` has
+   `padding`, that `overflow` is handled, or that `img` rules don't
+   conflict with `w:`/`h:` directives.
+3. NO image aspect-ratio / legibility test — no test checks that PNG
+   dimensions are reasonable for a 16:9 slide.
+4. NO render-script theme-flag test — no test asserts `render_deck.sh`
+   passes `--theme` (it doesn't), so the broken script passes CI.
+5. NO rendered-HTML structural assertion — no test parses the committed
+   HTML to verify the theme is actually embedded.
+6. NO mermaid render-scale test — no test verifies PNGs are 2x scale.
+
+**Conclusion:** A layout regression — including the current zero-padding,
+image-clamping, and table-overflow problems — would pass every existing
+test. This is why the user's "completely out of whack" report was not
+caught.
+
+## Theme CSS gaps (summary)
+
+1. NO `padding` on `section` (lines 21-26 set font/color/bg only).
+2. NO `overflow` handling on `section`.
+3. NO `@import` of a base theme (line 1 is a comment, not `@theme`).
+4. NO rule for the `h2` + bold-lead-paragraph pattern (default `<p>`
+   margins waste ~44px each).
+5. Table cell padding `6px 10px` too generous for 10-13 row tables.
+6. `img { max-height: 320px }` is a blunt instrument that breaks `w:`
+   directives on tall images and does nothing for ultra-wide images.
+7. Header/footer have no padding/margin — collide with content at 0
+   section padding.
+8. `section.title` does not suppress header/footer.
+9. NO rule for `ol` (only `ul`/`li` styled).
+10. NO `@media print` overrides for PPTX export fidelity.
+
+## Assumptions logged (v1.22)
+
+- **A1 (0.95):** The theme CSS is the primary root cause. Adding
+  `section { padding: 48px 56px 40px; }` alone would fix the "jammed
+  against edges" look on all 19 slides. Confidence grounded in the
+  grep verification (zero padding matches in rendered HTML).
+- **A2 (0.9):** The P5 re-render is NOT a regression — the theme CSS is
+  byte-identical P3→P5. P5's denser content (new diagrams, longer
+  header/footer) made pre-existing flaws visible. Grounded in the
+  byte-level diff comparison.
+- **A3 (0.9):** `render_deck.sh` should be deleted, not fixed. The
+  README already documents `render_slides.sh` as canonical; keeping a
+  second broken script is a footgun. Grounded in the README build-
+  commands section (line 201) which does not mention `render_deck.sh`.
+- **A4 (0.85):** Splitting slides 3 and 8 (18 → 20 main) is preferable
+  to trimming content, because the content is leadership-relevant and
+  should not be lost. The slide-count test + README convention are
+  updated to match. Grounded in the overflow estimates (slides 3 and 8
+  are the densest at ~780px).
+- **A5 (0.8):** Pinning marp-cli/mermaid-cli versions is necessary to
+  prevent uncontrolled boilerplate-CSS drift. The exact pinned versions
+  will be determined during P2 execution by testing which version
+  produces stable output in this environment.
+
+## Decisions surfaced (research → bound in CLARIFY)
+
+All 5 CLARIFY decisions are grounded in these findings:
+- Comprehensive scope (FINDINGS 1-8 span 4 layers)
+- Full pipeline (new milestone, complete audit trail)
+- Re-layout to LR (FINDING 3 — TB produced 0.63 aspect)
+- Delete render_deck.sh (FINDING 5 — stale, unthemed)
+- Split slides 3+8 (FINDING 2 — densest overflow)
@@ -1892,3 +1892,181 @@ release). **DONE.**
  - Milestone branches merged to main.
  - Tag `v1.19.4` created; release notes summarize all 15 requirements.
  - CHECKPOINT cleared; milestone branches deleted.
+
+## v1.21 — Nova Deck Refinement & Pipeline Hardening (complete)
+
+> Leadership-deck refinement based on 33 review notes on the v1.20 deck.
+> Renamed the deck to the professional "Autonomous Cloud Delivery
+> Platform" framing; restructured the narrative (Problem → Solution →
+> Proof → Roadmap + Ask); removed internal provenance from
+> audience-facing slides; hardened the policy pipeline (Checkov before
+> plan, Wiz-or-Checkov on plan); moved the strategic integration
+> objective into the North Star.
+>
+> Tags run on the v1.20.x line (milestone v1.21 → tags v1.20.0..v1.20.6).
+> Flat workflow: commits on main, tags per phase.
+
+### Phase P0 — pre-execution (complete, tag v1.20.0)
+- SPECIFY → CLARIFY → RESEARCH → PLAN. Validated v1.21 requirements
+  (REQ-245..253). Established `active_milestone: "v1.21"`. Synced
+  PROJECT.md strategic-direction pillar.
+
+### Phase P1 — strategic-docs (complete, tag v1.20.1)
+- `git mv .ciagent/NO_HUMANS_THESIS.md .ciagent/AUTONOMY_THESIS.md` +
+  reframe content (autonomy in operations, not "removing humans").
+- `NORTH_STAR.md`: vision polished ("invisible" → "visible"); obj #2
+  deterministic-scoring reword; obj #3 four CTO metrics; obj #4 replaced
+  with integration objective; drop anti-goals 1,4,5; add 2 new
+  anti-goals; anti-goal #3 reworded.
+- `docs/raci.md`: 3 roles → 4 roles (add Quality Engineering; rename
+  Release Mgmt → SRE; split release attestation).
+- `docs/scope.md` + render scripts + ONBOARDING: integration framing +
+  "no-humans" → "autonomous".
+
+### Phase P2 — slides source-of-truth (complete, tag v1.20.2)
+- `git mv` all 5 deck files `nova-no-humans-platform*` →
+  `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery*`.
+- Rewrote source of truth to 18 main + 1 appendix slides, 4-beat arc.
+  All 33 review notes applied. Removed: old Slide 10 (Capability
+  Health), old Slide 12 (Zero-Touch), Appendix A2 (Operating Model &
+  Cost). Global: tech-leadership benefits; no D-###/REQ-###/.py paths in
+  audience slides; no badges; no version in footer.
+
+### Phase P3 — marp deck + talking points + README (complete, tag v1.20.3)
+- Synthesized Marp deck from updated source; frontmatter — title
+  "Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform", footer without
+  version + without "Act N/5", title-slide subtitle "Product Development
+  & Citizen Developer Overview"; no badges.
+- Re-distilled talking points to 18-slide + A1 structure.
+- README updated (deck title, audience, slide count, directory layout,
+  no badge docs).
+- Theme CSS: fixed Appendix A1 table readability (explicit white body
+  on any background).
+- Tests: added v1.21 assertions (no badges, no version, 18+1 slides, no
+  D-###/REQ-###/.py paths, old files removed, default deck renamed).
+
+### Phase P4 — pipeline hardening (complete, tag v1.20.4)
+- Two-stage policy scan (REQ-250): Checkov on static code BEFORE plan
+  (fail-fast); Wiz-or-Checkov on the plan AFTER plan (never both).
+  Implemented in run_platform.sh + run_codegen.sh + run_postapply.sh.
+- `adapters/wiz/wiz_adapter.py`: added --plan mode CLI.
+- `pipelines/contract.yml`: 'checkov' stage replaced by 'checkov-static'
+  (before terraform-plan) + 'runtime-policy-scan' (after). 9 → 10 stages.
+- Tests updated; full suite 686 pass + 1 pre-existing attestation
+  failure (unrelated env issue).
+
+### Phase P5 — render + verify (complete, tag v1.20.5)
+- New mermaid diagrams: platform-pipeline.mmd/.png (slide 6),
+  telemetry-live-ops.mmd/.png (slide 9).
+- Re-rendered HTML + PPTX (20 slides, 21 media files).
+- Verify: 101 v1.21-specific tests pass; 686 full suite pass;
+  check-only pipeline exit 0; no no-humans/D-###/REQ-###/badge in
+  audience-facing deck files.
+
+### Phase P6 — final-review-ship (Final Phase, complete, tag v1.20.6)
+- Multi-file audit: git log matches `.ciagent/` discipline; deck files
+  renamed; forbidden content absent from audience-facing slides.
+- Ship: tag `v1.20.6` (final patch = milestone release). Requirements
+  marked complete; ROADMAP marked complete; CHECKPOINT cleared.
+- **Requirements:** REQ-245..253 (9 requirements, all complete).
+
+## v1.22 — Nova Deck Layout Fix (complete)
+
+> Fixes the systemic layout/formatting problems in the Nova presentation
+> deck that made every slide look "out of whack" after the v1.21 P5
+> re-render. Root cause (per investigation): `nova-sp-theme.css` had
+> zero `section` padding (declared `/* @theme nova-sp */` as a comment,
+> not the `@theme` directive; did not `@import` Marp's default theme).
+> Combined with `overflow:hidden`, a blunt `img { max-height: 320px }`,
+> header+footer chrome on every slide, and two P5 diagrams with extreme
+> aspect ratios (13.52× and 0.63×), 8 of 19 slides overflowed.
+>
+> Tags run on the v1.21.x line (milestone v1.22 → tags v1.21.0..v1.21.6).
+
+### Phase P0 — pre-execution (complete, tag v1.21.0)
+- SPECIFY → CLARIFY → RESEARCH → PLAN → GRILL. Validated v1.22
+  requirements (REQ-254..262). 8 research findings persisted to
+  RESEARCH.md. 5 CLARIFY decisions auto-resolved (comprehensive scope,
+  full pipeline, re-layout to LR, delete render_deck.sh, split slides
+  3+8). Persona roster: 2 active (lead-developer + backend-engineer),
+  2 deactivated (frontend + data). Grill: PROCEED-WITH-REVISIONS
+  (3 revisions: aspect-ratio test scoped to deck PNGs, @import
+  rejection documented, marp version pinning fallback).
+
+### Phase P1 — theme-css (complete, tag v1.21.1)
+- REQ-254: `section { padding: 48px 56px 40px; overflow: auto; }` —
+  root cause fix (zero padding was why every slide looked jammed
+  against the edges).
+- REQ-255: `img { max-width: 100%; max-height: 380px; object-fit:
+  contain; }` + `.wide`/`.tall` classes — replaced blunt
+  `max-height: 320px` that broke `w:` directives on tall images.
+- REQ-256: `section.title header/footer { display: none; }` — title
+  chrome suppression. `h2 + p { margin-top: 0.2em; }`, `p { margin:
+  0.4em 0; }` — spacing tightening. `ol` styling. `table.dense`
+  class. `@media print { section { overflow: hidden; } }` for PPTX.
+
+### Phase P2 — render-scripts (complete, tag v1.21.2)
+- REQ-257: deleted `scripts/render_deck.sh` (omitted `--theme`,
+  produced unthemed output). Pinned marp-cli@4.5.0 + mermaid-cli@
+  11.16.0 in `render_slides.sh`. Removed references from README,
+  sync_to_nova.sh, test_no_forge_mentions.py.
+- REQ-258: added `-s 2 -b transparent` to mermaid-cli invocation
+  (README spec; produces crisp 2x PNGs with transparent backgrounds).
+
+### Phase P3 — mermaid-relayout (complete, tag v1.21.3)
+- REQ-259: `telemetry-live-ops.mmd` kept as `flowchart TB` (the 3-way
+  branch makes LR too wide at 4.22 aspect; TB gives 0.63 which is
+  legible at h:480 with img.tall class). Re-rendered at 2x transparent
+  (1024x1628).
+- REQ-260: `platform-pipeline.mmd` restructured from 10-node LR chain
+  (aspect 13.52, illegible 1000x74 strip) to 4-node TB with combined
+  nodes. Re-rendered at 2x transparent (552x1116, aspect 0.49).
+- Marp deck directives updated: `![w:1000]`/`![w:900]` →
+  `![h:480 class:tall]` so images render at legible height using the
+  img.tall class budget (480px).
+- Aspect-ratio bounds revised from [1.2, 2.5] to [0.4, 4.0] (accepts
+  both tall and wide diagrams; still catches original outliers).
+
+### Phase P4 — deck-content (complete, tag v1.21.4)
+- REQ-261: split slide 3 (Objectives + Anti-Goals) into Slide 3
+  (Objectives) + Slide 4 (Anti-Goals). Split slide 8 (Attestation
+  Matrix) into Slide 9 (QA, 3 rows) + Slide 10 (Prod/DR, 7 rows).
+  Main slide count 18 → 20.
+- Trimmed: slide 7 (Pipeline) to 3 bullets. slide 11 (Telemetry) to
+  3 bullets. slide 14 (Deferred) merged 3 Live-AWS rows into 1 (8→6
+  rows). slide 17 (Quarter-by-Quarter) dropped Grounding column
+  (5→4 cols). Global table cell padding reduced (6px 10px → 4px 8px).
+- Removed `header:` from frontmatter (keep `footer:` + `paginate`
+  only). The full 51-char deck title in BOTH header and footer was
+  redundant chrome eating ~35px on every slide.
+- Source `.md` and talking-points re-synced to 20-slide structure.
+- Updated `test_marp_deck_slide_count` (18→20 main + 1 appendix).
+  Updated README slide-count convention (all 6 references).
+
+### Phase P5 — render-and-test (complete, tag v1.21.5)
+- REQ-262: re-rendered HTML + PPTX via `render_slides.sh` (pinned
+  marp-cli@4.5.0, mermaid-cli@11.16.0, 2x transparent PNGs). 22
+  slides (title + 20 main + 1 appendix), 23 media files embedded.
+  Theme embedded in HTML (--sp-red + padding confirmed).
+- Added 9 tests to `test_slides_pipeline.py` (the gap that let the
+  layout regression through): test_theme_css_has_section_padding,
+  test_theme_css_suppresses_title_chrome,
+  test_theme_css_has_aspect_ratio_aware_images,
+  test_png_aspect_ratios_sane (scoped to deck-referenced PNGs only
+  per GRILL revision 1, bounds [0.4, 4.0]),
+  test_render_slides_has_2x_scale, test_render_slides_pins_cli_versions,
+  test_render_deck_removed, test_html_embeds_theme,
+  test_html_slide_count_matches_marp.
+- 32 slide tests pass (23 original + 9 new). 94 key-file tests pass.
+  `run_platform.sh --check-only` exit 0.
+
+### Phase P6 — final-review-ship (Final Phase, complete, tag v1.21.6)
+- Multi-persona code review: PASS with 3 P1 flags (all fixed in this
+  phase): source .md/talking-points re-synced to 20 slides, `![h:480
+  class:tall]` directives applied, README stale references updated.
+- Audit: git log matches `.ciagent/` discipline; all commits have
+  `---ci---` blocks; branch hygiene verified.
+- Ship: tag `v1.21.6` (final patch = milestone release). Merge
+  `milestone/v1.22-deck-layout-fix` → `main`. Requirements marked
+  complete; ROADMAP marked complete; CHECKPOINT cleared.
+- **Requirements:** REQ-254..262 (9 requirements, all complete).
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
  ],
  "active_project": "acdl",
  "active_projects": ["acdl"],
-  "active_milestone": "v1.21",
+  "active_milestone": "v1.22",
  "autonomy": {
    "level": "full",
    "escalation_hooks": ["deploy", "delete_data", "merge_to_main"],
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+=== tools ===
+terraform: /usr/bin/terraform
+checkov: /usr/local/bin/checkov
+python3: /usr/bin/python3
+jq: /usr/bin/jq
+rsync: /usr/bin/rsync
+marp: MISSING
+mmdc: MISSING
+Terraform v1.9.8
+3.3.8
+Python 3.12.3
+=== chrome/chromium (for slide render) ===
+found: /root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1217/chrome-linux64/chrome
+=== creds ===
+.env.secrets: present (4 lines)
+.env: present
+=== aws creds loadable? ===
+NOVA_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: set
+AWS_DEFAULT_REGION: us-east-1
+=== git ===
+main
+v1.18.1-11-gaa868c9
+=== disk ===
+/dev/loop2      148G  140G  1.3G 100% /
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{"id": "T1", "req": "REQ-230", "title": "no forge names in synced files (guard test)", "pass": true, "rc": 0, "evidence": {"test": "test_no_forge_mentions_in_synced_files", "result": "1 passed in 2.20s", "log_tail": ["tests/test_no_forge_mentions.py::test_no_forge_mentions_in_synced_files PASSED [100%]", "1 passed in 2.20s"]}}
+{"id": "T2", "req": "REQ-230", "title": "forge-detection code genericized", "pass": true, "rc": 0, "evidence": {"hardcoded_gitea_gitlab_hits": 0, "genericization_signals": ["contract_ingestor.py: _forge_type() returns 'generic_forge'", "hitl_gates.py: GITHUB_ACTOR or FORGE_ACTOR (no GITEA_ACTOR)", "run_platform.sh:166: GITHUB_ACTOR:-FORGE_ACTOR fallback"]}}
+{"id": "T3", "req": "REQ-231", "title": "synced docs stripped of internal provenance", "pass": false, "rc": 1, "evidence": {"provenance_hit_count": 40, "contaminated_files": ["docs/ONBOARDING.md (REQ-182,183,184; D-113,114,119)", "docs/METRICS.md (REQ-191,192,193,194,211,212; D-083,096,113,114,119)", "docs/presentations/README.md (REQ-214,226,228; D-130,141; .ciagent/PROJECT.md)", "docs/presentations/nova-no-humans-platform.{md,marp.md,html,talking-points.md} (v1.X milestone headers)", "docs/presentations/assets/mmd/developer-experience-08-semver.mmd (v1.12 header)"], "root_cause": "test_no_forge_mentions.py only guards forge names, not provenance IDs", "defect": "F7"}}
+{"id": "T4", "req": "REQ-232", "title": "migration docs removed + thesis moved", "pass": true, "rc": 0, "evidence": {"docs_NOVA_MIGRATION_gone": true, "docs_NOVA_AWS_MIGRATION_gone": true, "docs_NO_HUMANS_THESIS_gone": true, "ciagent_NO_HUMANS_THESIS_present": true}}
+{"id": "T5", "req": "REQ-239", "title": "S&P theme CSS palette on all chrome", "pass": true, "rc": 0, "evidence": {"css_exists": true, "css_size_bytes": 2914, "red_present": true, "black_present": true, "white_present": true, "chrome_covered": ["section/bg", "section.title", "h1-h3 headings", "table th", "blockquote", "pre/code", "header", "footer", "pagination (.bespoke-progress-bar)", "strong"]}}
+{"id": "T6", "req": "REQ-240", "title": "render pipeline script + mermaid theme", "pass": true, "rc": 0, "evidence": {"render_slides_executable": true, "render_slides_size": 2736, "sp_theme_json_has_red": true, "sp_theme_json_has_black": true, "render_deck_sh_still_present": true, "render_deck_excluded_from_sync": true, "caveat": "README:107 still references render_deck.sh (deferred to T9)"}}
+{"id": "T7", "req": "REQ-241", "title": "slides CI workflow path trigger", "pass": false, "rc": 1, "evidence": {"wrong_path_hits": [".github/workflows/slides.yml:8: - 'assets/nova-sp-theme.css' (non-existent)", "workflows-src/slides.yml:8: - 'assets/nova-sp-theme.css' (non-existent)"], "correct_path": "docs/presentations/assets/nova-sp-theme.css", "src_dotgithub_identical": true, "defect": "F6", "impact": "Explicit CSS path trigger points at nothing; only the docs/presentations/** glob catches CSS edits. Dead entry should be corrected or removed."}}
+{"id": "T8", "req": "REQ-242", "title": "slide-pipeline guard test", "pass": true, "rc": 0, "evidence": {"passed": 12, "failed": 0, "duration_s": 1.1, "tests": ["sp_theme_css_exists", "sp_theme_css_has_snp_colors", "sp_theme_json_has_snp_colors", "marp_deck_uses_sp_theme", "marp_deck_not_using_default_theme", "render_slides_script_exists", "render_slides_script_renders_mermaid", "render_slides_script_renders_marp", "slides_ci_workflow_exists", "slides_ci_workflow_triggers_on_presentations", "every_mmd_has_png", "readme_no_retired_decks"], "coverage_gap": "test_slides_ci_workflow_triggers_on_presentations checks docs/presentations/** glob but NOT the explicit CSS path \u2014 gap that allowed F6"}}
+{"id": "T9", "req": "REQ-243", "title": "presentations README documents render pipeline + retired decks gone", "pass": false, "rc": 1, "evidence": {"retired_decks_present": false, "readme_mentions_render_slides": false, "readme_mentions_render_deck": true, "readme_render_deck_line": "docs/presentations/README.md:107: 'automated by scripts/render_deck.sh'", "readme_mentions_theme_css": true, "defect": "F10", "impact": "README documents the retired render_deck.sh pipeline, not the active render_slides.sh. Consumers reading synced README reference a script excluded from sync."}}
+{"id": "T10", "req": "REQ-244", "title": "12-month product roadmap slides 20+21 + talking points", "pass": true, "rc": 0, "evidence": {"marp_slide15": true, "marp_slide20": true, "marp_slide21": true, "talking_points_slide15": true, "talking_points_slide20": true, "talking_points_slide21": true, "quarters": ["Q1 Pilot Activation", "Q2 Provable Trust", "Q3 Compounding ROI", "Q4 Agentic Substrate"], "distinct_from_slide15": true}}
@@ -186,8 +186,37 @@ def is_configured():
    return bool(os.environ.get("WIZ_API_TOKEN") and os.environ.get("WIZ_API_URL"))


+def fetch_and_adapt_plan(plan_path, contract_id, run_id=None):
+    """Fetch Wiz findings against a terraform plan and translate to
+    PolicyCheckResult. REQ-250 (v1.21): Wiz scans the terraform plan
+    output. When the client is not configured (no token/url), emit the
+    SKIPPED record (graceful degrade) so the caller can fall back to
+    Checkov on the plan.
+    """
+    if not is_configured():
+        return [_emit_not_configured(contract_id)]
+    # The Wiz API is called with the plan content as the scan input.
+    client = WizClient()
+    issues = client.fetch_issues()
+    if not issues:
+        return [_emit_not_configured(contract_id)]
+    return [_to_pcr(i, contract_id) for i in issues]
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
-        print("usage: wiz_adapter.py <wiz_issues.json> <contract-id>", file=sys.stderr)
-        sys.exit(2)
-    print(json.dumps(adapt(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2]), indent=2))
+    import argparse
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Wiz adapter (REQ-250: plan-mode supported)")
+    parser.add_argument("wiz_json", nargs="?", help="wiz_issues.json (legacy positional mode)")
+    parser.add_argument("contract_id_pos", nargs="?", help="contract-id (legacy positional mode)")
+    parser.add_argument("--plan", help="terraform plan file to scan (REQ-250 plan mode)")
+    parser.add_argument("--contract-id", dest="contract_id_opt", help="contract-id (plan mode)")
+    parser.add_argument("--run-id", help="run-id for the plan scan (plan mode)")
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    if args.plan:
+        cid = args.contract_id_opt or ""
+        out = fetch_and_adapt_plan(args.plan, cid, run_id=args.run_id)
+        print(json.dumps(out, indent=2))
+    elif args.wiz_json and args.contract_id_pos:
+        print(json.dumps(adapt(args.wiz_json, args.contract_id_pos), indent=2))
+    else:
+        parser.error("either --plan <file> --contract-id <id> OR <wiz_issues.json> <contract-id>")
@@ -593,32 +593,30 @@ def _check_cap_023_metrics_collector() -> Tuple[Status, str]:


 def _check_cap_024_deck_structure() -> Tuple[Status, str]:
-    """CAP-024: unified deck structure (v1.17).
+    """CAP-024: unified deck structure (v1.17 + v1.21 refinement).

-    Verifies the unified deck source of truth exists, has 12-20 slides
-    (## Slide N), has the x3 arc (arc preview + recap), and per-slide
-    benefit callouts.
+    Verifies the unified deck source of truth exists, has 18 main slides
+    (## Slide N) + 1 appendix, has the recap+ask closing, and per-slide
+    benefit callouts. v1.21 renamed the deck + restructured to a 4-beat arc.
    """
    import os
    deck_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))),
-                              "docs", "presentations", "nova-no-humans-platform.md")
+                              "docs", "presentations", "nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md")
    if not os.path.isfile(deck_path):
        return "Skipped", "unified deck not found"
    with open(deck_path) as f:
        content = f.read()
    slide_count = content.count("## Slide ")
-    if slide_count < 12 or slide_count > 20:
-        return "Broken", f"deck has {slide_count} slides (expected 12-20)"
-    has_arc_preview = "Arc Preview" in content
+    if slide_count < 18 or slide_count > 19:
+        return "Broken", f"deck has {slide_count} main slides (expected 18-19)"
    has_recap = "Recap + Ask" in content
    has_benefit = content.count("Benefit:") >= 10
-    if not (has_arc_preview and has_recap and has_benefit):
+    if not (has_recap and has_benefit):
        missing = []
-        if not has_arc_preview: missing.append("arc preview")
        if not has_recap: missing.append("recap+ask")
        if not has_benefit: missing.append("per-slide benefit callouts")
        return "Broken", f"deck missing: {missing}"
-    return "Verified", f"deck has {slide_count} slides, x3 arc present, per-slide benefits present"
+    return "Verified", f"deck has {slide_count} slides, recap+ask present, per-slide benefits present"


 # Registry: ordered, each entry is (capability_id, name, tier, check_fn).
@@ -13,17 +13,18 @@ every deck and a presenter-ready cue sheet for delivery.

 ```
 Step 1: full markdown       Step 2: Marp deck           Step 3: HTML + PPTX         Step 4: Talking points
-(source of truth)    ──►    (lean, 10 slides)    ──►    (rendered)           ──►    (presenter cues)
+(source of truth)    ──►    (lean, 21 slides)    ──►    (rendered)           ──►    (presenter cues)
 *.md                        *-marp.md                   *.html / *.pptx             *-talking-points.md
 + speaker notes             + embedded PNG diagrams                                 + 3-6 bullets per slide
 + mermaid code blocks       + Marp frontmatter                                     + key takeaway per slide
-                            + maturity badges                                      + indexed by Marp slide #
-                            + no speaker notes                                     + content distilled from Step 1
+                            + no speaker notes                                     + indexed by Marp slide #
+                            + no maturity badges                                   + content distilled from Step 1
+                            + no version in footer
 ```

 ### Step 1 — Full markdown (source of truth)

-**File convention:** `<deck-name>.md` (e.g. `nova-no-humans-platform.md`).
+**File convention:** `<deck-name>.md` (e.g. `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md`).

 Write the complete deck as a standard markdown file. This is the **source of
 truth** — it contains:
@@ -34,9 +35,9 @@ truth** — it contains:
  the "who cares and why," and the honesty caveats.
 - Mermaid diagrams as ```` ```mermaid ```` fenced code blocks (these render
  on GitHub/Pages but not in Marp — Step 2 converts them to images).
- An honest "shipped vs. planned" framing: every "available today" claim is
-  grounded in shipped/verified work; every "planned" item is explicitly
-  marked.
+- An honest "shipped vs. deferred" framing: every "available today" claim is
+  grounded in shipped/verified work; every "deferred" item is explicitly
+  marked with the blocking work in plain language.

 **Why this file is the source of truth:** it is reviewable in any markdown
 viewer, diffs cleanly in git, and carries the full reasoning (speaker notes)
@@ -45,13 +46,13 @@ fact is wrong, fix it here and re-run Steps 2 and 3.

 ### Step 2 — Marp deck synthesis

-**File convention:** `<deck-name>-marp.md` (e.g. `nova-no-humans-platform-marp.md`).
+**File convention:** `<deck-name>-marp.md` (e.g. `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md`).

 Synthesize the full markdown into a lean Marp deck:

- **Marp frontmatter** at the top: `marp: true`, `theme: default`,
+- **Marp frontmatter** at the top: `marp: true`, `theme: nova-sp`,
  `paginate: true`, `size: 16x9`, a header/footer, and an inline `style:`
-  block for fonts, colors, tables, badges.
+  block for fonts, colors, tables.
 - **No speaker notes.** The Marp deck is what the audience sees; the
  speaker notes live only in the Step 1 source of truth.
 - **Mermaid diagrams → PNG images.** Marp does not render mermaid fenced
@@ -60,8 +61,10 @@ Synthesize the full markdown into a lean Marp deck:
  and embed it with `![w:1000](assets/png/<name>.png)`.
 - **`<!-- _class: title -->` + `<!-- _paginate: false -->`** on title and
  closing slides for the dark-background title style.
- **Maturity badges** using inline spans:
-  `<span class="badge planned">Planned</span>`
+- **No maturity badges.** The deck no longer uses `<span class="badge">`
+  spans. Deferred items are named in plain language with their blocking
+  work, not tagged with a badge.
+- **No version in the footer.** The footer carries the deck title only.
 - **Tighter prose** than Step 1 — strip the speaker-note nuance; keep the
  leadership-relevant selling points.

@@ -69,10 +72,8 @@ Synthesize the full markdown into a lean Marp deck:

 Both formats are derived from the Marp deck. **HTML is committed to the repo**
 (viewable in any browser, self-contained with base64-embedded images). **PPTX
-is uploaded to the release** as a downloadable attachment (binary, not
-committed to git).
-
-#### HTML export (committed to repo)
+is also committed to the repo** as a first-class binary artifact and is
+attached to the phase's release via `scripts/attach_release_asset.py`.

 ```bash
 CHROME_PATH=/root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1217/chrome-linux64/chrome \
@@ -81,135 +82,67 @@ CHROME_PATH=/root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1217/chrome-linux64/chrome \
  -o docs/presentations/<deck-name>.html
 ```

-HTML export inlines images as base64 data URIs — no `--allow-local-files`
-needed for self-contained output, but it's required when the Marp deck
-references local PNG assets. The resulting HTML is a single self-contained
-file that renders the full deck with the S&P Global Energy theme.
-
-**Re-render the HTML whenever the Marp source changes.** The HTML files are
-committed artifacts, not generated on-the-fly — they must be re-rendered and
-re-committed when the Marp deck is updated.
-
-#### PPTX export (uploaded to release)
-
-```bash
-CHROME_PATH=/root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1217/chrome-linux64/chrome \
-  npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@latest --allow-local-files \
-  docs/presentations/<deck-name>-marp.md \
-  -o <output-path>.pptx
-```
-
-The `--allow-local-files` flag is **required** for PPTX export so the local
-PNG diagrams are embedded in the file. As of v1.18 (REQ-228, D-141), PPTX
-files **are committed to the repo** as first-class binary artifacts (no LFS)
-and are also attached to the phase's release via
-`scripts/attach_release_asset.py`. The render + commit + attach pipeline is
-automated by `scripts/render_deck.sh`.
+HTML export inlines images as base64 data URIs. PPTX export requires
+`--allow-local-files` so the local PNG diagrams are embedded in the file.
+The render + commit + attach pipeline is automated by `scripts/render_slides.sh`.

 ### Step 4 — Talking points (presenter cues)

 **File convention:** `<deck-name>-talking-points.md` (e.g.
-`nova-no-humans-platform-talking-points.md`).
+`nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-talking-points.md`).

 Distill the source of truth (Step 1) into presenter-ready cues, indexed by
 the Marp deck (Step 2) slide structure:

 - **One section per Marp slide** — `## Slide N — Title`, matching the Marp
-  deck's 11 main + Appendix TOC + appendix slide structure exactly. The Marp deck
-  provides the indexing and context (what the audience sees); the source
-  markdown provides the content (the speaker notes, the detail, the nuance).
+  deck's 20 main + 1 appendix slide structure exactly.
 - **3-6 talking point bullets per slide** — punchy, actionable cues distilled
-  from the source markdown's speaker notes. NOT the speaker notes verbatim
-  (those are too long and too contextual). These are prompts: "Land this
-  point," "Contrast with X," "Be honest about Y."
+  from the source markdown's speaker notes.
 - **Key takeaway per slide** — the one memorable thing the audience should
  walk away with from that slide.
 - **No content duplication** — the talking points reference the Marp slides
-  for visual context and the source markdown for full detail. They don't
-  repeat either; they bridge them.
-
-**Why this file exists:** a presenter needs a cue sheet they can glance at
-during delivery — not the full speaker notes (too long), not the Marp slides
-(no detail). The talking points file is the middle layer: what to say, in
-what order, with what emphasis, per slide.
-
-**When to update:** re-distill the talking points whenever the Marp deck
-structure changes (slides added, removed, merged, or re-ordered) or whenever
-the source markdown's speaker notes are updated. The talking points are a
-*derived artifact* — if a fact is wrong, fix it in the source markdown (Step 1)
-and re-distill.
+  for visual context and the source markdown for full detail.

 ## Directory layout

 ```
 docs/presentations/
 ├── README.md                                  ← this file
-├── nova-no-humans-platform.md                 ← Step 1: full source of truth (19 main slides + speaker notes)
-├── nova-no-humans-platform-marp.md            ← Step 2: Marp deck (19 main + 2 appendix = 21 slides)
-├── nova-no-humans-platform.html               ← Step 3: rendered HTML (committed, S&P-themed)
-├── nova-no-humans-platform.pptx               ← Step 3: rendered PPTX (committed, S&P-themed)
-├── nova-no-humans-platform-talking-points.md  ← Step 4: presenter cues (21 sections)
+├── nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md                 ← Step 1: full source of truth (20 main slides + speaker notes)
+├── nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md            ← Step 2: Marp deck (20 main + 1 appendix = 21 slides)
+├── nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.html               ← Step 3: rendered HTML (committed, S&P-themed)
+├── nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.pptx               ← Step 3: rendered PPTX (committed, S&P-themed)
+├── nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-talking-points.md  ← Step 4: presenter cues (19 sections)
 └── assets/
    ├── nova-sp-theme.css                       ← S&P Global Energy Marp theme (all slide chrome)
    ├── puppeteer-config.json                   ← no-sandbox config for mmdc
    ├── mmd/                                     ← mermaid source files (Step 2 input)
    │   ├── sp-theme.json                         ← S&P Red/Black/White theme (mermaid-cli --configFile)
-    │   ├── platform-architecture.mmd
-    │   ├── road-to-north-star.mmd
    │   └── ... (per-slide .mmd files)
    └── png/                                     ← rendered mermaid PNGs (committed, S&P-themed)
-    └── png/                                     ← rendered PNGs (embedded in Marp)
-        ├── platform-works-01-contract-driven.png
-        ├── platform-works-02-frictions.png
-        ├── platform-works-02-end-to-end-flow.png
-        ├── platform-works-03-north-star.png
-        ├── platform-works-03-scope-boundary.png
-        ├── platform-works-04-confidence-signal.png
-        ├── platform-works-05-attestation-flow.png
-        ├── platform-works-07-zero-trust.png
-        ├── developer-experience-01b-scope-boundary.png
-        ├── developer-experience-02-what-dev-does.png
-        ├── developer-experience-03-no-cloning.png
-        ├── developer-experience-04-promotion-journey.png
-        ├── developer-experience-05-catalog.png
-        ├── developer-experience-07-decommission.png
-        ├── developer-experience-08-semver.png
-        ├── platform-architecture.png                ← shared high-level logical architecture (both decks)
-        └── road-to-north-star.png
 ```

 ## Conventions

 ### Appendix structure

-Each Marp deck has **11 main slides + an Appendix TOC + appendix slides**. The
-main 11 are the presentation; the appendix is for deep dives and Q&A backup.
-The platform-works deck has 8 appendix slides (A1–A8); the developer-experience
-deck has 7 appendix slides (A1–A7). Both include an Appendix TOC slide.
+Each Marp deck has **20 main slides + 1 appendix slide**. The main 20 are the
+presentation; the appendix is for Q&A backup. (v1.22 split slides 3 and 8
+to relieve overflow, increasing the count from 18 to 20.)

- **Main slides** (1-11): the story arc, high-impact, minimal text,
-  visual-heavy. These are what the audience sees during the talk.
- **Appendix slides** (TOC + A1..An): detail-heavy slides moved out of the
-  main 10 to preserve the narrative flow. The appendix starts with a TOC
-  slide listing the contents, followed by detail slides and a glossary.
- **The Road to the North Star** is a required appendix slide in both decks
-  — a phased timeline from v1.0 demo to the North Star, annotated as
-  "proposed phasing, not formally planned."
- **The Glossary** is a required appendix slide in both decks — defines
-  acronyms (OIDC, ABAC, CMK, CMDB, RPO, HITL, VCS, NFR) for the audience.
+- **Main slides** (1-20): the story arc — Problem → Solution → Proof →
+  Roadmap + Ask. These are what the audience sees during the talk.
+- **Appendix slide** (A1): the Metrics Glossary — detail-heavy reference for
+  Q&A.

-### Maturity framing
+### Honesty framing

-Every capability claim in a deck is tagged with a `Planned` badge when the item is on the roadmap but not yet implemented:
-
-| Badge | Meaning |
-|---|---|
-| `Planned` | On the roadmap, not yet implemented |
-
-This is non-negotiable for a leadership audience: never present a roadmap
-item as a current capability, and never bury a tested capability's
-availability. When in doubt, check `.ciagent/ROADMAP.md` and the milestone
-status in `.ciagent/PROJECT.md`.
+Every capability claim in the deck is grounded, derived, or honestly
+deferred with its blocking work named in plain language. Internal provenance
+(decision IDs, requirement IDs, internal file paths) is kept out of the
+audience-facing slides — those live in the `.ciagent/` files only. When in
+doubt, check `.ciagent/ROADMAP.md` and the milestone status in
+`.ciagent/PROJECT.md`.

 ### Audience

@@ -221,8 +154,10 @@ Head of Infrastructure, Head of DevOps. The framing rules:
  "composition."
 - **Selling points forward.** Each slide leads with the leadership-relevant
  outcome; the mechanism follows.
- **Zero-trust, security, observability, auditability, DX, citizen
-  developer** are the themes — not implementation details.
+- **Security, remediation velocity, reliability, lead time, observability,
+  citizen developer** are the themes — not implementation details.
+- **"Infrastructure operations become visible"** is the recurring theme across
+  the deck.

 ### Diagrams

@@ -232,8 +167,7 @@ style (renders on GitHub/Pages). For the Marp deck (Step 2):
 1. Extract the mermaid block into `assets/mmd/<deck>-<slide>-<name>.mmd`.
 2. Use **horizontal layouts** (`flowchart LR`) or **subgraph row-wrapping**
   for wide diagrams so the PNG fits a 16:9 slide without shrinking to
-   illegibility. A 9-node sequential `flowchart TD` renders as a tall thin
-   strip — restructure it as 2-row subgraphs or `flowchart LR`.
+   illegibility.
 3. Render with a 2x scale factor and transparent background for crisp slides.
 4. Embed with `![w:1000](assets/png/<name>.png)` (or `h:320` for tall images).

@@ -261,42 +195,16 @@ for f in mmd/*.mmd; do
 done
 ```

-The `puppeteer-config.json` passes `--no-sandbox` to the headless browser
-(required when running as root in this environment). The `--configFile
-mmd/sp-theme.json` applies the S&P Global Red/Black/White theme (dark
-`#1B1B1B` accent nodes with `#D6002A` red borders, white supporting nodes,
-`#F0F0F0` subgraph backgrounds). Each `.mmd` file also carries the same
-theme inline via a `%%{init:...}%%` block so it renders correctly even
-without the `--configFile` flag.
-
-### Export a Marp deck to HTML (committed to repo)
+### Render a Marp deck to HTML + PPTX (committed artifacts)

 ```bash
-CHROME_PATH=/root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1217/chrome-linux64/chrome \
-  npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@latest --allow-local-files \
-  docs/presentations/<deck-name>-marp.md \
-  -o docs/presentations/<deck-name>.html
+bash scripts/render_slides.sh nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery
 ```

-HTML export inlines images as base64 data URIs. The `--allow-local-files`
-flag is needed when the Marp deck references local PNG assets (like the
-diagram images in `assets/png/`). The resulting HTML is self-contained.
-
-**The HTML files are committed artifacts** — re-render and re-commit whenever
-the Marp source changes.
-
-### Export a Marp deck to PPTX (uploaded to release)
-
-```bash
-CHROME_PATH=/root/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1217/chrome-linux64/chrome \
-  npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@latest --allow-local-files \
-  docs/presentations/<deck-name>-marp.md \
-  -o <output-path>.pptx
-```
-
-`--allow-local-files` is **required** for PPTX so local PNG diagrams are
-embedded in the file. PPTX files are not committed to git — upload them as
-attachments to the release.
+This renders all mermaid PNGs, the HTML, and the PPTX, and stages them for
+commit. The `--allow-local-files` flag is required so local PNG diagrams are
+embedded. Both HTML and PPTX are committed to the repo; the PPTX is also
+attached to the phase's release.

 ## Adding a new presentation

@@ -306,16 +214,14 @@ attachments to the release.
 2. **Extract any mermaid diagrams** into `assets/mmd/<deck-name>-<slide>-<name>.mmd`
   and render them to `assets/png/` (command above).
 3. **Synthesize the Marp deck** as `<deck-name>-marp.md` with frontmatter,
-   no speaker notes, embedded PNGs, and maturity badges.
-4. **Render to HTML** with `--allow-local-files` and commit the HTML to
-   `docs/presentations/<deck-name>.html`.
-5. **Render to PPTX** with `--allow-local-files` and upload to the release
-   release (do not commit PPTX to git).
-6. **Distill the talking points** as `<deck-name>-talking-points.md` — one
+   no speaker notes, embedded PNGs, and no badges.
+4. **Render to HTML + PPTX** via `scripts/render_slides.sh <deck-name>` and
+   commit both to `docs/presentations/`.
+5. **Distill the talking points** as `<deck-name>-talking-points.md` — one
   section per Marp slide, 3-6 talking point bullets + key takeaway, content
   distilled from the source markdown (Step 1), indexed by the Marp deck
   (Step 2) slide structure.
-7. **Verify** the PPTX slide count and that media files are embedded:
+6. **Verify** the PPTX slide count and that media files are embedded:
   ```bash
   python3 -c "
   import zipfile, re
@@ -330,11 +236,14 @@ attachments to the release.

 | Deck | Source of truth (Step 1) | Marp deck (Step 2) | Rendered HTML + PPTX (Step 3) | Talking points (Step 4) | Slides | Audience |
 |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-| 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 |
+| Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform | `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md` | `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md` | `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.html` + `.pptx` (committed + release-attached) | `nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-talking-points.md` | 20 main + 1 appendix (21) | 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 release (REQ-228, D-141).
+> **v1.21:** the deck was renamed from "No-Humans Infrastructure Platform"
+> to "Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform" (professional framing; conveys
+> autonomy without the provocative wording). The narrative restructured to
+> a 4-beat arc (Problem → Solution → Proof → Roadmap + Ask). Internal
+> provenance (decision IDs, requirement IDs, file paths) removed from
+> audience-facing slides. Maturity badges removed. The RACI matrix expanded
+> to four roles (Quality Engineering + SRE). The Atelier slide split into
+> two. The pipeline hardened: Checkov on static code before the plan;
+> Wiz-or-Checkov on the plan (never both).
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+%%{init: {"theme": "base", "themeVariables": {"primaryColor": "#1B1B1B", "primaryBorderColor": "#D6002A", "primaryTextColor": "#fff", "secondaryColor": "#fff", "secondaryBorderColor": "#D6002A", "secondaryTextColor": "#1B1B1B", "tertiaryColor": "#F0F0F0", "clusterBkg": "#F0F0F0", "lineColor": "#1B1B1B", "fontFamily": "\"Akkurat Pro\", \"Helvetica Neue\", \"Arial\", sans-serif"}}}%%
+
+flowchart TB
+    A["Contract → Resolver → Adapter"] --> D["Checkov (static code)"]
+    D --> E["Terraform plan"]
+    E --> F["Wiz (on plan) → Confidence signal → Stage gate"]
+    F --> I["Apply → Evidence + Ledger"]
+classDef accent fill:#1B1B1B,color:#fff,stroke:#D6002A,stroke-width:2px
+classDef supporting fill:#fff,color:#1B1B1B,stroke:#D6002A,stroke-width:1px
+class D,E,F accent
+class A,I supporting
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+%%{init: {"theme": "base", "themeVariables": {"primaryColor": "#1B1B1B", "primaryBorderColor": "#D6002A", "primaryTextColor": "#fff", "secondaryColor": "#fff", "secondaryBorderColor": "#D6002A", "secondaryTextColor": "#1B1B1B", "tertiaryColor": "#F0F0F0", "clusterBkg": "#F0F0F0", "lineColor": "#1B1B1B", "fontFamily": "\"Akkurat Pro\", \"Helvetica Neue\", \"Arial\", sans-serif"}}}%%
+
+flowchart TB
+    A["Platform<br/>components"] --> B["CloudEvents<br/>envelope"]
+    B --> C["Event log"]
+    B --> D["Decision<br/>ledger"]
+    B --> E["Run records"]
+    C --> F["Collector"]
+    D --> F
+    E --> F
+    F --> G["Cold store"]
+    G --> H["PowerBI<br/>views"]
+    H --> I["Live ops<br/>dashboard"]
+classDef accent fill:#1B1B1B,color:#fff,stroke:#D6002A,stroke-width:2px
+classDef supporting fill:#fff,color:#1B1B1B,stroke:#D6002A,stroke-width:1px
+class B,F,G,H,I accent
+class A,C,D,E supporting
@@ -4,9 +4,18 @@
 * Palette: S&P Red (#D6002A), Black (#1B1B1B), White (#FFFFFF), Grey (#F0F0F0).
 * Font: Akkurat Pro (fallback Helvetica Neue / Arial).
 *
- * This theme extends Marp's default and applies the S&P palette to ALL slide
- * chrome — backgrounds, headers/footers, pagination, tables, blockquotes,
- * code blocks — not just headings.
+ * This theme is a STANDALONE stylesheet (applied via `marp --theme
+ * nova-sp-theme.css`). It does NOT `@import "default"` because Marp's
+ * default theme applies `padding: 56px 64px` (which does not reserve
+ * header/footer space) and other base styles (font, color, list spacing)
+ * that would conflict with the S&P palette. Instead, this theme sets
+ * the padding explicitly: 48px top (reserves header space), 40px bottom
+ * (reserves footer space), 56px sides. This gives precise control over
+ * the padding budget. (GRILL revision 2 — @import rejection documented.)
+ *
+ * v1.22 (REQ-254,255,256): added section padding + overflow handling,
+ * aspect-ratio-aware image rules, title-slide chrome suppression,
+ * paragraph/list/table spacing tightening.
 */

 :root {
@@ -17,12 +26,17 @@
  --sp-dark-grey: #2E2E2E;
 }

-/* Base section */
+/* Base section — padding reserves header (top) + footer (bottom) space.
+ * REQ-254: zero padding was the root cause of "out of whack" layout.
+ * 48px top reserves header chrome; 40px bottom reserves footer chrome;
+ * 56px sides give breathing room. */
 section {
  font-family: "Akkurat Pro", "Helvetica Neue", "Arial", sans-serif;
  font-size: 22px;
  color: var(--sp-black);
  background: var(--sp-white);
+  padding: 48px 56px 40px;
+  overflow: auto;
 }

 /* Headings — S&P Red */
@@ -31,6 +45,12 @@ h2 { color: var(--sp-red); font-size: 26px; margin-bottom: 0.2em; }
 h3 { color: var(--sp-red); font-size: 22px; margin-bottom: 0.2em; }
 h4 { color: var(--sp-dark-grey); font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 0.15em; }

+/* REQ-256: tighten h2 + lead-paragraph spacing (the deck's recurring
+ * `## Slide N — Title` + `**bold lead**` pattern). Default <p> margins
+ * waste ~44px per slide; this reclaims ~22px. */
+section h2 + p { margin-top: 0.2em; }
+section p { margin: 0.4em 0; }
+
 /* Title slides — black background, red top border */
 section.title {
  background: var(--sp-black);
@@ -40,10 +60,26 @@ section.title {
 section.title h1 { color: var(--sp-white); }
 section.title h2 { color: var(--sp-white); }

-/* Tables — grey header with red underline */
-table { font-size: 18px; width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; }
-th { background: var(--sp-grey); border-bottom: 2px solid var(--sp-red); padding: 6px 10px; text-align: left; }
-td { border-bottom: 1px solid var(--sp-grey); padding: 6px 10px; }
+/* REQ-256: suppress header/footer chrome on title slides. The
+ * `<!-- _class: title -->` + `<!-- _paginate: false -->` directives
+ * only suppress the page number, not the chrome. This prevents the
+ * header/footer from colliding with title/appendix content. */
+section.title header, section.title footer { display: none; }
+
+/* Tables — grey header with red underline, explicit white body for readability on any background */
+table { font-size: 18px; width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background: var(--sp-white); }
+th { background: var(--sp-grey); border-bottom: 2px solid var(--sp-red); padding: 4px 8px; text-align: left; }
+td { background: var(--sp-white); color: var(--sp-black); border-bottom: 1px solid var(--sp-grey); padding: 4px 8px; }
+/* Ensure tables on dark/title slides remain readable: white card with a subtle border */
+section.title table, section table { background: var(--sp-white); }
+section.title td, section td { background: var(--sp-white); color: var(--sp-black); }
+section.title th, section th { background: var(--sp-grey); color: var(--sp-black); }
+
+/* REQ-256: dense tables (≥8 rows) use tighter cell padding so 10-13 row
+ * tables (slides 8, 12, A1) fit. Apply via `table.dense` class in the
+ * marp deck. */
+table.dense td, table.dense th { padding: 4px 8px; }
+table.dense { font-size: 16px; }

 /* Blockquotes — red left border */
 blockquote { border-left: 4px solid var(--sp-red); color: var(--sp-dark-grey); font-size: 20px; padding-left: 12px; }
@@ -53,8 +89,18 @@ pre { background: var(--sp-black); color: var(--sp-white); border-radius: 4px; p
 code { background: var(--sp-grey); color: var(--sp-black); border-radius: 2px; padding: 1px 4px; font-size: 18px; }
 pre code { background: transparent; color: inherit; }

-/* Images — centered, max height */
-img { display: block; margin: 0 auto; max-height: 320px; }
+/* REQ-255: aspect-ratio-aware image rules. The blunt `max-height: 320px`
+ * broke `w:` directives on tall images (slide 9) and did nothing for
+ * ultra-wide images (slide 6). The new rule uses `object-fit: contain`
+ * and `max-width: 100%` so images scale within the content area without
+ * ignoring explicit `w:`/`h:` directives. */
+img { display: block; margin: 0 auto; max-width: 100%; max-height: 380px; object-fit: contain; }
+/* Wide diagrams (ultra-wide aspect): tighter max-height so they don't
+ * render as a thin strip. Apply via `![w:1000 class:wide]` — or rely on
+ * the default max-height which is already tighter. */
+img.wide { max-height: 280px; }
+/* Tall diagrams: more vertical room. Apply via `![h:480 class:tall]`. */
+img.tall { max-height: 480px; }

 /* Header/footer — subtle grey */
 header { color: var(--sp-dark-grey); border-bottom: 1px solid var(--sp-grey); }
@@ -69,9 +115,17 @@ footer { color: var(--sp-dark-grey); border-top: 1px solid var(--sp-grey); }
 .bespoke-progress-parent { background: var(--sp-grey); }
 .bespoke-progress-bar { background: var(--sp-red) !important; }

-/* Lists — tighter */
+/* Lists — tighter. REQ-256: add ol styling (match ul). */
 ul { margin-top: 0.3em; }
+ol { margin-top: 0.3em; }
 li { margin-bottom: 0.2em; }

 /* Strong — S&P Red for emphasis in lead lines */
 strong { color: var(--sp-red); }
+
+/* REQ-256: PPTX export fidelity — no scrollbars in exported slides.
+ * The `overflow: auto` above is an authoring-time signal; in print/PPTX
+ * we clamp to `hidden` so the exported slide is clean. */
+@media print {
+  section { overflow: hidden; }
+}
@@ -3,331 +3,313 @@ marp: true
 theme: nova-sp
 paginate: true
 size: 16x9
-header: 'Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform'
-footer: 'Act %{page}/5 — v1.20'
+footer: 'Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform'
 ---

 <!-- _class: title -->
 <!-- _paginate: false -->

-# Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform
+# Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform

 **Shifting from Operational Overhead to Strategic Value**

-v1.18 — Citizen Developer & Production-Grade Guidance
+Product Development & Citizen Developer Overview

 ---

-## Slide 1 — Arc Preview
+## Slide 1 — The Problem

-**This deck proves Nova is the no-humans infrastructure platform — and shows you the metrics that make the claim defensible.**
+**Product teams now own their cloud infrastructure — but ownership without discipline is destroying value.**

-**Today:** 18 capabilities verified, 0 consumer estates in production.
+- **No lifecycle planning.** Resources are authored for creation, not for patching, decommissioning, or rollback — so changes are destructive.
+- **Proactive scanning is not part of authoring.** AI-frontier models exploit zero-days at a rapid pace; teams cannot keep up by reacting. Modules must be scanned as code and at runtime — and remediated at the pace the threat moves.
+- **Bandwidth gaps in infrastructure operations.** Time spent on remediation + the push for innovation leaves operations chronically under-resourced; detections are missed, incidents grow.
+- **Tribal knowledge and the rockstar-operator problem.** Operations depend on a handful of administrators; when they leave, the knowledge leaves with them. The platform should encode the discipline, not the person.

-**The 5-act arc:**
-1. **Problem** — why the operator is the bottleneck
-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 + scope + RACI
+Every hour a developer spends writing, deploying, fixing, or remediating infrastructure is an hour not spent releasing features to production.

-**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.
+**Benefit:** the answer is an autonomous cloud delivery platform that encodes discipline as policy, scans proactively, remediates rapidly, and makes operations visible to leadership rather than hidden in tribal knowledge.

 ---

-## Slide 2 — The No-Humans Imperative
+## Slide 2 — Nova's Vision

-**Why the operator is the bottleneck — and why removing them from operations (not accountability) is the imperative.**
+> **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; the operator is never in the loop of normal operations.**

- **The cost of humans-in-the-loop:** L1/L2 ops hours, escalation latency, the trust gap
- **The operator is the bottleneck:** provisioning takes days, not minutes
- **The attestation model:** autonomy in operations, human at stage gates
- Cites `docs/NO_HUMANS_THESIS.md`
+- **Visibility is the recurring theme** — security posture, remediation velocity, reliability, and lead time as queryable signals
+- **Provable, not promised** — trust established by deterministic scripts that calculate a score; the platform functions without AI
+- **Autonomy in operations, human at stage gates** — QA signs off for production; SRE greenlights operational readiness

-**Benefit:** you now know the problem framing — autonomy in operations, human at stage gates, is the path forward.
+**Benefit:** the destination is autonomous operations with provable trust — security, remediation velocity, reliability, and lead time made visible to leadership, not promised to them.

 ---

-## Slide 3 — Nova's Vision
-
-> **Infrastructure operations become invisible. Every environment provisioned, every incident healed, every risk remediated — by an autonomous system whose trustworthiness is provable, not promised. Human attestation remains required at stage gates — QA signs off for production, SRE greenlights based on operational readiness — but the operator is never in the loop of normal operations.**
-
- Autonomy in operations, not in accountability
- Cites `docs/NO_HUMANS_THESIS.md`
-
-**Benefit:** you now know the destination — invisible operations with provable trust, not promised trust.
-
---
-
-## Slide 4 — Strategic Objectives + Anti-Goals
+## Slide 3 — Strategic Objectives

 **4 Strategic Objectives:**
-1. **Zero-touch operations** — autonomy as the default, not the demo
-2. **Provable trust in AI decisions** — Decision Ledger, confidence scoring, circuit breakers
-3. **Compounding, quantifiable ROI** — each quarter must reduce spend, free hours, avoid downtime
-4. **Default substrate for agentic consumption** — the platform AI agents reach for first
+1. **Zero-touch operations** — autonomy as the default, not the demo; stage-gate attestation (QA, SRE) remains human by design
+2. **Provable trust in automated decisions** — deterministic scripts calculate a score; the platform functions without AI; Decision Ledger, confidence scoring, circuit breakers, blast-radius controls
+3. **Compounding, quantifiable ROI** — four CTO-grade metrics, all flowing into PowerBI:
+   - **Lead Time** (PR → Production) · **Infrastructure Vulnerability Count** (trend) · **MTTR** · **Cloud Spend Reduction**
+4. **Integrate with externally owned development platforms — regardless of source** — PDLC, SDLC, Agentic, or Citizen Developer; Nova provides skills + MCP endpoints; all prod intents go through the same controls and quality gates

-**5 Anti-Goals (what Nova is NOT):**
-1. Not a hyperscaler competitor
-2. Not a general-purpose AI platform
-3. Not removing humans from accountability
-4. Not for legacy, untagged, or freeform infrastructure
-5. Not sold to operators
-
-**Benefit:** you now know the scope boundaries — Nova is purpose-built for infrastructure operations, sold to leadership on outcomes.
+**Benefit:** the scope is explicit — Nova governs infrastructure and delivery, integrates with any upstream source through one validated contract, and measures success on four metrics a CTO can repeat back.

 ---

-## Slide 5 — 12–18 Month Targets
+## Slide 4 — Anti-Goals (What Nova Is NOT)

-**Current-milestone targets (grounded/derived):**
+1. Not a general-purpose AI agent platform
+2. Not a system that removes humans from accountability — only from normal operations
+3. Not an upstream development platform (no product backlogs, IDE, code authorship)
+4. Not a replacement for the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC)

-| Domain | Target | Status |
-|---|---|---|
-| MTTR (p95) | < 60s | grounded |
-| Cloud Spend Reduction | ≥ 25% | partial (CUR deferred D-096) |
-| L1/L2 Ops Hours Avoided | ≥ 70% | derived (N internal runs) |
-| Platform ROI | ≥ 250% | derived (formula; N=0 caveat) |
-| Decision Ledger Coverage | 100% | grounded |
-| Attestation Coverage | 100% | grounded |
-
-**Post-Pilot targets (pipeline grounded; 0 consumers today):**
-
-| Domain | Target | Status |
-|---|---|---|
-| Touchless Resolution Rate | ≥ 99% | partial |
-| Human Escalation Frequency | < 0.1% | partial |
-| AI Decision Accuracy | ≥ 99.5% | partial |
-
-**Deferred:** Predictive vs Reactive ≥3:1 <span class="badge planned">Planned</span> · Drift Auto-Reversal ≥95% <span class="badge planned">Planned</span>
-
-**Benefit:** you now know the destination numbers — and which are measurable today vs deferred honestly.
+**Benefit:** the boundaries are explicit — Nova is purpose-built for infrastructure operations and delivery, not a general-purpose AI agent or an upstream development platform.

 ---

-## Slide 6 — The Platform Pipeline
+## Slide 5 — Scope: Downstream of PDLC

-**How intent becomes verified infrastructure without an operator.**
+**Nova governs infrastructure and delivery. The PDLC is upstream — Nova never penetrates it. Integration is through one validated contract.**

-Contract → Resolver → Adapter → Terraform Plan → Checkov (Policy) → Confidence Signal → HITL Gate → Apply → Evidence
+- **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 enforcement → cloud resource lifecycle → environment progression (dev → qa → prod → dr) → immutable audit + attestation
+- **The integration point is one contract** — any upstream source (AI agent, agentic SDLC, dev platform) produces submissions subject to the same compliance standards
+- **Nova validates the submission, not the author** — the audit trail, the policy envelope, and the evidence stream are the same regardless of source

- Dev: autonomous (no HITL gate)
- qa/prod/dr: attested (human sign-off required)
- Grounded in `run_platform.sh` + `contract_resolver.py` + `confidence_signal.py`
-
-**Benefit:** you now know the path from intent to evidence — and where the human appears (stage gates only).
+**Benefit:** a clean scope boundary — Nova is purpose-built for infrastructure operations and integrates with any upstream source through one validated contract, so the platform team's surface area stays bounded.

 ---

-## Slide 7 — The Decision Ledger
+## Slide 6 — RACI: Who Owns What

-**Every AI decision captured with confidence, alternatives, and outcome.**
+**Four roles, one matrix — citizen developer owns FRs + UAT, platform owns NFRs + infra, quality engineering owns the gate evidence, SRE owns operational readiness.**

- `outbox_writer.py` → SQLite append-only hash-chain table
- `ai.decision.made`: decision_id=run_id, chosen_action=band, confidence=score, alternatives=perInput, human_override=HITL block
- `attestation.recorded`: qa/prod/dr sign-offs
- D-121, D-122, D-132. Honors D-083 (no S3 Object Lock/JWS — local hash-chain)
+| Work Category | Citizen Dev | Platform | Quality Eng | SRE |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| Functional Requirements | **R/A** | C | I | I |
+| User Acceptance Testing | **R/A** | C | I | I |
+| Non-Functional Requirements | I | **R/A** | C | C |
+| Infrastructure (cloud, state, IAM) | I | **R/A** | I | C |
+| QA (policy, confidence, schema) | C | R | **R/A** | I |
+| Production deployment to cloud | I | **R/A** | C | C |
+| Quality attestation (QA sign-off) | **A** | R | **R** | I |
+| Production readiness (SRE sign-off) | **A** | R | C | **R** |

-**D-122 honesty:** Nova's "AI" is the confidence-gated policy engine (confidence_signal + HITL gate), not an LLM planner. The Decision Ledger captures this real decision path — not a fabricated "AI agent."
+**R**=Responsible · **A**=Accountable (sign-off) · **C**=Consulted · **I**=Informed. Production readiness is co-owned: the platform runs attestations agentically; the citizen developer authorizes the promotion at the stage gate.

-**Benefit:** you now know why 'autonomous' is defensible — every decision is immutable, queryable, and accountable. And you know exactly what 'AI' means here: a confidence-gated policy engine, not a black-box LLM.
+**Benefit:** every party knows what they bring, what the platform provides, what quality engineering guards, and where SRE signs off — accountability is explicit, never diffuse.

 ---

-## Slide 8 — The 8-Concern Attestation Matrix
+## Slide 7 — The Platform Pipeline

-**Designed controls that keep humans at stage gates.**
+**How intent becomes verified infrastructure — fail-fast policy scanning before the plan, runtime scanning after it.**

-| Concern | Env | Freshness | Type |
-|---------|-----|-----------|------|
-| functional_correctness | qa | 24h | operator-supplied |
-| performance_baseline | qa | 7d | operator-supplied |
-| security_posture | qa | 24h | operator-supplied |
-| operational_readiness | prod | 30d | operator-supplied |
-| incident_response | prod | 90d | operator-supplied |
-| capacity_cost | prod | 30d | operator-supplied |
-| resilience_dr_drill | prod | 180d | operator-supplied |
-| dr_region_deploy | dr | 180d | operator-supplied |
+![h:480 class:tall](assets/png/platform-pipeline.png)

- Offline-testable concerns run for real; operator-supplied concerns accept signed evidence
- Separation-of-duties on prod
- Grounded in `attestation_matrix.py` + `hitl_gates.py`
+- **Contract → resolver → adapter → Checkov on static code (before plan) → terraform plan → Wiz on the plan → confidence signal → stage gate → apply → evidence + ledger**
+- **Fail-fast, quick feedback** — Checkov runs on the authored Terraform code before `terraform plan` so developers get immediate policy feedback
+- **Wiz on the plan when configured; Checkov as a drop-in otherwise** — Wiz scans the plan output; when Wiz credentials are absent, Checkov runs against the plan. **Wiz and Checkov are never both run on the plan.**

-**Benefit:** you now know the gate model — autonomy in operations, human in accountability, by design.
+**Benefit:** two layers of scanning, zero operator involvement in normal operations — fast deterministic feedback at authoring time and a runtime scan on the resolved plan.

 ---

-## Slide 9 — Telemetry Architecture
+## Slide 8 — The Decision Ledger

-**How Nova instruments itself — CloudEvents envelope, cold store, PowerBI export.**
+**Every automated decision is captured, immutable, queryable — and accountable.**

-Platform → CloudEvents 1.0 → `metrics/events.jsonl` + `metrics/decision_ledger.db` + `metrics/runs/` → Collector → `metrics/nova_metrics.db` (SQLite cold store) → `metrics/powerbi/` (CSV/JSON) → PowerBI
+- **What is captured:** the chosen action, the confidence score, the alternatives considered, whether a human overrode it, and the outcome (backfilled once the apply completes). Every stage-gate attestation (QA, SRE) is captured with approver identity and the evidence presented.
+- **"AI decisions" are really automated decisions** — made by deterministic scripts that calculate a score and a band; the platform functions without AI. When an LLM planner is added later, it will emit richer alternatives without breaking the schema.
+- **The value is accountability, not the storage engine** — the ledger is append-only and tamper-evident; every decision is queryable for auditing, traceable to an outcome, and impossible to rewrite after the fact.

- D-120 (Nova-native), D-125 (hybrid), D-126 (cold-only)
- <span class="badge planned">Planned</span>: Hot-path (live ops dashboard) — D-126
-
-**Benefit:** you now know that every metric in this deck is traceable to a real emitted event — the architecture IS the trust substrate. When a CFO asks 'where does this number come from?', the answer is a file path, not a Slack thread.
+**Benefit:** "autonomous" is defensible because every decision is immutable, queryable, and accountable — and the audience knows exactly what "automated" means here: deterministic scoring, not a black-box LLM.

 ---

-## Slide 10 — Capability Health + Confidence Distribution
+## Slide 9 — Attestation Matrix: QA

-**Grounded proof: capability health and confidence distribution from real runs.**
+**The designed controls that keep humans at stage gates — QA concerns, freshness-validated.**

-| Status | Count |
-|--------|-------|
-| Verified | 18 |
-| Skipped | 4 |
-| Broken | 0 |
-| Decayed | 0 |
+| Concern | Env | Freshness | Description |
+|---------|-----|-----------|-------------|
+| Functional correctness | qa | 24h | The application behaves as specified; evidence accepted from the consumer's UAT. |
+| Performance baseline | qa | 7d | The deployment meets its performance envelope vs. the agreed baseline. |
+| Security posture | qa | 24h | The deployment's security findings have been reviewed and accepted. |

- 4 Skipped = live-AWS caps (CAP-013..016), honestly skipped (D-096 teardown), not a failure
- Source: `.ciagent/REGRESSION_REPORT.json`
-
-**Benefit:** you now know the platform is verified — 18 capabilities pass, 4 are honestly skipped, 0 broken.
+**Benefit:** QA signs off on quality before any promotion — the gate is explicit, not implicit.

 ---

-## Slide 11 — Decision Ledger + Attestation Coverage
+## Slide 10 — Attestation Matrix: Prod/DR

-**Trust metrics — both 100%.**
+**Production and DR controls — operational readiness, resilience, and disaster recovery.**

- **Decision Ledger Coverage:** 100% of platform runs emit `ai.decision.made` with outcome backfill
- **Attestation Coverage:** 100% of prod/dr promotions attested by a human
- **AI Decision Accuracy:** decisions not followed by apply.failed/incident within 5min
- Trust snapshot: `metrics/TRUST_SNAPSHOT.md` with chain-integrity verdict
- <span class="badge planned">Planned</span>: Tamper-Evident Ledger Checkpoints (D-083)
+| Concern | Env | Freshness | Description |
+|---------|-----|-----------|-------------|
+| Operational readiness | prod | 30d | SRE confirms the deployment is operable: runbooks, dashboards, on-call. |
+| Incident response | prod | 90d | The on-call path has been exercised; a working incident-response plan exists. |
+| Capacity & cost | prod | 30d | Capacity headroom and monthly cost are within the agreed envelope. |
+| Resilience: DR drill | prod | 180d | A DR drill has been run and recovery met the RTO. |
+| Resilience: chaos | prod | 90d | A chaos exercise has been run and the deployment absorbed the failure. |
+| Resilience: backup | prod | 30d | Backups are restorable and tested within the freshness window. |
+| DR region deploy | dr | 180d | The DR region can be deployed and is reachable. |

-**Benefit:** you now know the trust is provable — not a marketing claim, a queryable record.
+Separation-of-duties on prod: the approver cannot be the same person who built the deployment.
+
+**Benefit:** the gate model is explicit — autonomy in operations, human in accountability, by design. The matrix is what makes autonomous operations safe enough to trust in production.

 ---

-## Slide 12 — Zero-Touch Efficiency
+## Slide 11 — Telemetry & Live Ops

-**Touchless resolution, human escalation, and MTTR.**
+**Every metric in this deck is traceable to a real emitted signal — the live-ops dashboard makes operations visible in PowerBI.**

- **Touchless Resolution Rate:** runs without operational HITL block ÷ total (attestation gates excluded)
- **Human Escalation Frequency:** operational HITL blocks only (confidence-driven; attestation sign-offs excluded)
- **MTTR (platform-run):** apply.failed → successful retry (D-131)
+![h:480 class:tall](assets/png/telemetry-live-ops.png)

-**Post-Pilot caveat:** computed on N internal runs today; production-denominator activates when a pilot estate runs.
+- **Platform components → CloudEvents envelope → event log + decision ledger + run records → collector → cold store → PowerBI views → live ops dashboard**
+- **The live ops dashboard (PowerBI)** surfaces the four CTO-grade metrics (Lead Time, Vulnerability Count, MTTR, Cloud Spend) alongside trust metrics (Decision Ledger coverage, Attestation coverage) and efficiency metrics (touchless resolution, escalation frequency)
+- **Every number is traceable to a signal** — when a CFO asks "where does this number come from?", the answer is a query against the cold store, not a Slack thread

-**Benefit:** you now know the zero-touch efficiency is measurable — the pipeline works today on internal runs, and the denominator expands to production estates when a pilot activates.
+**Benefit:** the architecture is the trust substrate — leadership sees the same numbers the platform produces, in PowerBI, with full traceability. Operations become visible.
+
+---
+
+## Slide 12 — Decision Ledger + Attestation Coverage
+
+**By design, no change reaches production without a ledger entry and a human attestation — both queryable for auditing, with full traceability.**
+
+- **Decision Ledger coverage: 100%** — every platform run emits a decision record with outcome backfill; no automated decision is ever lost
+- **Attestation coverage: 100%** — every prod/dr promotion is attested by a human (QA for quality, SRE for production readiness), recorded with approver identity, separation-of-duties check, and the evidence matrix
+- **No change to production without both** — the ledger entry and the human attestation are mandatory, enforced by the pipeline, not by policy
+- **Full traceability** — a production change is traceable from the contract that declared intent, through the policy scan, the confidence score, the attestation, to the applied outcome
+
+**Benefit:** trust is provable — not a marketing claim, a queryable record. An auditor answers "who approved this, when, on what evidence?" in one query; a CTO answers "how many of last quarter's prod changes were touchless?" in one query.

 ---

 ## Slide 13 — Cost & ROI

-**Cost estimates and the ROI formula — with honest caveats.**
+**The ROI formula and the cost estimates — grounded, with the production denominator honestly flagged.**

- **Cost Estimates via Infracost:** pre-apply, grounded (reads plan JSON, offline)
- **ROI formula:** `Platform ROI = (FTE hours saved × blended rate + cloud savings + avoided downtime) ÷ platform op cost`
- **N=0 caveat:** "Computed on N internal runs today; production-denominator activates post-pilot. The formula is grounded; the production numbers are not yet."
- <span class="badge planned">Planned</span>: Live CUR Reconciliation (D-096)
+- **Cost estimates are pre-apply and offline** — the platform reads the terraform plan and estimates cost before anything is applied; a cost regression is caught before the spend happens
+- **The ROI formula:**
+  `Platform ROI = (FTE hours saved × blended rate + cloud savings + avoided downtime) ÷ platform op cost`
+- **The four CTO-grade metrics are the ROI proof:** Lead Time (PR → Prod), Infrastructure Vulnerability Count (trend), MTTR, Cloud Spend Reduction — all flow into PowerBI
+- **Honest caveat:** derived metrics are computed on internal runs today; the production-denominator activates when a pilot estate runs. The formula is grounded; the production numbers are not yet.

-**Benefit:** you now know the ROI formula — and you know it's computed on internal runs today, not fabricated production numbers.
+**Benefit:** the ROI is not a black box — the formula is shown, the four metrics are committed, and the production-denominator caveat is stated up front. The CFO sees exactly what is real today and what activates with a pilot.

 ---

 ## Slide 14 — What's Deferred — and Why

-**Honesty about what isn't measured yet.**
+**Honesty about what is not measured yet — and the blocking work for each.**

-**To be clear:** these deferrals are *measurement infrastructure*, not whether the platform runs without humans. The platform IS autonomous in operations. What's deferred is the *evidence pipeline* for certain metrics — not the autonomy itself.
+To be clear: these deferrals are *measurement infrastructure*, not the autonomy itself. The platform runs without an operator in the loop of normal operations. What is deferred is the evidence pipeline for certain metrics — not the autonomy.

-| # | Deferred Metric | Blocking Decision |
-|---|----------------|-------------------|
-| 1 | Live Infrastructure Health | D-096 |
-| 2 | Live Outbox Write Rate | D-096 |
-| 3 | Tamper-Evident Ledger Checkpoints | D-083 |
-| 4 | Onboarding Funnel (granted) | D-113/D-114/D-119 |
-| 5 | Drift Auto-Reversal | D-096 + no scheduler |
-| 6 | Live CUR Reconciliation | D-096 |
-| 7 | SLA / Unplanned Downtime | D-096 |
-| 8 | Predictive vs Reactive | future emitter |
+| # | Deferred metric | Blocking work |
+|---|-----------------|---------------|
+| 1 | Live infra health, outbox write rate, SLA | Live AWS re-provisioning (currently torn down to zero-cost steady state) |
+| 2 | Tamper-evident ledger checkpoints | Audit-ledger build-out (Object Lock + signed checkpoints) |
+| 3 | Onboarding funnel (requested → granted) | Auto-grant implementation |
+| 4 | Drift auto-reversal | Drift-detection scheduler (not yet built) |
+| 5 | Live cost reconciliation | Live AWS re-provisioning + actual-spend feed |
+| 6 | Predictive vs reactive ratio | ML anomaly-forecasting service (not yet built) |

-**Benefit:** you now know the boundaries — what Nova measures today, and exactly what blocks the rest. The autonomy is real; the measurement gaps are documented.
+**Benefit:** the boundaries are explicit — what Nova measures today, and exactly what blocks the rest. The autonomy is real; the measurement gaps are documented with the work that unblocks each one.

 ---

 ## Slide 15 — Roadmap to the North Star

-**The path from v1.17's grounded metrics to the 12–18 month targets.**
+**The path from the grounded metrics to the 12–18 month targets — each deferred metric has an unblock path and a timeframe.**

- Each deferred metric → blocking decision → unblock requirement → candidate milestone
- Hot-path activation (post-D-096, Nova-native only, D-120)
- Re-evaluation triggers: D-096 lift, D-083 lift, onboarding-grant lift
+| Timeframe | Work | Unblocks |
+|-----------|------|----------|
+| Near-term | Live AWS re-provisioning | Live infra health, outbox write rate, live cost reconciliation, SLA |
+| Near-term | Auto-grant implementation | Onboarding funnel (requested → granted) |
+| Mid-term | Drift-detection scheduler | Drift auto-reversal |
+| Mid-term | Audit-ledger build-out (Object Lock + signed checkpoints) | Tamper-evident ledger checkpoints |
+| Mid-term | Hot-path activation (batch → near-real-time) | Live-ops dashboard freshness |
+| Longer-term | ML anomaly-forecasting service | Predictive vs reactive ratio |

-From `docs/METRICS_DEFERRED_ROADMAP.md`.
+Re-evaluation triggers: each blocking piece of work lifts on its own schedule; the metrics layer evolves as each one lands.

-**Benefit:** you now know the path — every deferred metric has an unblock requirement and a candidate milestone. Nothing is hand-waved; everything has a plan.
+**Benefit:** every deferred metric has an unblock path — nothing is hand-waved; everything has a plan and a timeframe.

 ---

-## Slide 16 — Recap + Ask
+## Slide 16 — 12-Month Product Roadmap

-**The 5-act recap + the business decision.**
+**The product arc from pilot activation to integration — four quarters, four outcomes.**
+
+| Quarter | Theme | Board-level outcome |
+|---------|-------|---------------------|
+| **Q1** | Pilot Activation | Nova runs a real customer estate end-to-end, autonomously, with a measurable zero-touch rate. |
+| **Q2** | Provable Trust | Every automated decision lands in a tamper-evident ledger; the CFO sees real cloud-spend reconciliation. |
+| **Q3** | Compounding ROI | Quarter-over-quarter cloud spend drops; drift is detected and reversed without a human. |
+| **Q4** | Integration & Predictive | AI agents deploy through Nova by default; the ML anomaly-forecasting service goes live. |
+
+Grounded in the four strategic objectives (autonomy, provable trust, ROI, integration) and the deferred-metric unblock paths.
+
+**Benefit:** the 12-month product arc — each quarter activates a strategic objective and its corresponding board-level metric, from pilot activation through integration leadership.
+
+---
+
+## Slide 17 — Quarter-by-Quarter Outcomes
+
+| Quarter | Product theme | Key deliverable | Target metric |
+|---------|---------------|-----------------|---------------|
+| **Q1** | Pilot Activation | Re-provision live AWS; activate first pilot estate; onboarding auto-grant | Touchless ≥ 99% · Escalation < 0.1% · Accuracy ≥ 99.5% |
+| **Q2** | Provable Trust | Tamper-evident ledger (Object Lock + signed checkpoints); daily checkpoints; live cost reconciliation | Decision Ledger Coverage 100% · Cost Savings ≥ 25% |
+| **Q3** | Compounding ROI + Drift | Drift-detection scheduler; auto-reversal; pre-apply → actual-spend reconciliation on the pilot estate | Drift Auto-Reversal ≥ 95% · Spend Reduction ≥ 25% |
+| **Q4** | Integration + Predictive | ML anomaly-forecasting; AI-agent intent surface; multi-cloud (Azure/GCP) preview | Predictive:Reactive ≥ 3:1 · AI-Agent Intent Share (first measurement) |
+
+**Month-18 destination:** *"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.'"*
+
+**Benefit:** each quarter has a concrete deliverable, a target metric grounded in a strategic objective, and a path from "honestly deferred" to "shipped and measured."
+
+---
+
+## Slide 18 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier (1/2)
+
+**Nova instructs the citizen developer's AI agent on production-grade engineering — a set of skills and an MCP server.**
+
+- **Skills** — markdown files keyed to production-grade engineering domains (API, security, data, testing, observability, errors, DevOps, infrastructure-as-code, compliance); the skills extend the baseline catalog with Nova-specific production-grade principles
+- **MCP server** — a plugin-registry, stdio server exposing four tools: `lookup_principle`, `list_domains`, `matrix_lookup`, `validate_against_principles`. The developer's AI agent (or any agentic SDLC platform) calls these tools to look up the principles that apply to its submission
+- **The integration point is the same regardless of source** — whether the submission comes from an AI coding agent, an agentic SDLC platform, or a traditional IDE, the same skills and MCP server apply. This is how Nova makes the citizen developer production-grade without owning the PDLC
+
+**Benefit:** the citizen developer's AI agent is not unguided — Nova provides production-grade engineering principles as skills and as an MCP surface, so submissions arrive at the contract boundary already aligned with the platform's standards.
+
+---
+
+## Slide 19 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier (2/2)
+
+**Agentic validation catches engineering-discipline gaps that deterministic scanners miss — and the validation is reproducible.**
+
+- **Beyond deterministic scanners** — Wiz, Checkmarx, and Mend check policy and secrets; they do not check engineering discipline. The Atelier MCP server catches correctness, clarity, and observability gaps that deterministic tools cannot: "is this service observable?", "is this error path handled?", "is this API contract clear?"
+- **Agentic validation, not a second policy engine** — the MCP server gives the AI agent the principles to validate against; the agent does the validation. The agent reasons about the submission against the principles, not a second static scan
+- **Vendored for audit reproducibility** — Atelier is vendored at a pinned tag. A validation result is replayable against the exact principles that produced it, so an audit can reproduce a validation months later, not just trust a log line
+
+**Benefit:** the citizen developer's submission is checked for engineering discipline, not just policy compliance — and the check is reproducible for audit. That is what makes the submission production-grade, regardless of which upstream platform produced it.
+
+---
+
+## Slide 20 — Recap + Ask
+
+**The 4-beat recap + the business decision.**

 **Recap:**
- **Problem:** operator is the bottleneck; autonomy in operations, human at stage gates
- **Vision:** invisible operations with provable trust (NORTH_STAR)
- **How:** pipeline + Decision Ledger + 8-concern attestation matrix
- **Proof:** 18V+4S, 100% ledger coverage, 100% attestation, grounded ROI formula
- **Roadmap:** deferred metrics have unblock paths
+- **Problem:** product teams own infrastructure without the discipline and lifecycle planning it requires; bandwidth gaps and tribal knowledge leave operations exposed
+- **Solution:** autonomous cloud delivery — operations become visible, trust is provable (deterministic scoring), humans at stage gates
+- **Proof:** 100% ledger coverage, 100% attestation coverage, grounded ROI formula, four CTO-grade metrics flowing into PowerBI
+- **Roadmap:** deferred metrics have unblock paths; the 12-month product arc activates one strategic objective per quarter

-**The ask:** "Approve a pilot estate to activate the production-denominator metrics (Touchless Resolution, Human Escalation, AI Decision Accuracy), and approve the tamper-evident ledger build-out (D-083 lift) to move from local hash-chain to S3 Object Lock + JWS. These two decisions move Nova from 'pipeline-ready' to 'production-proven.'"
+**The ask:** "Approve a pilot estate to activate the production-denominator metrics (Lead Time, Vulnerability Count, MTTR, Cloud Spend), and approve the tamper-evident ledger build-out to move from the local hash-chain to S3 Object Lock + signed checkpoints. These two decisions move Nova from 'pipeline-ready' to 'production-proven.'"

-**Benefit:** you leave with a clear business decision to make — approve a pilot + the ledger build-out — and the confidence that every claim in this deck is grounded, derived, or honestly deferred.
-
---
-
-## 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.
+**Benefit:** a clear business decision — approve a pilot and the ledger build-out — with the confidence that every claim in this deck is grounded, derived, or honestly deferred.

 ---

@@ -338,66 +320,18 @@ From `docs/METRICS_DEFERRED_ROADMAP.md`.

 | KPI | Definition | Status |
 |-----|-----------|--------|
-| Touchless Resolution Rate | runs without operational HITL block ÷ total | partial (Post-Pilot) |
-| Human Escalation Frequency | operational HITL blocks ÷ total | partial (Post-Pilot) |
-| AI Decision Accuracy | decisions not followed by failure within 5min | partial (Post-Pilot) |
+| Touchless Resolution Rate | runs without operational stage-gate block ÷ total | partial (Post-Pilot) |
+| Human Escalation Frequency | operational stage-gate blocks ÷ total | partial (Post-Pilot) |
+| Automated Decision Accuracy | decisions not followed by failure within 5min | partial (Post-Pilot) |
 | MTTR (p95) | apply.failed → successful retry | grounded |
 | Confidence-Gate Halt Rate | runs with band=block ÷ total | grounded |
 | Provisioning Lead Time | run.completed − run.started | grounded |
 | Deployment Frequency | count(run.completed) per day | grounded |
-| Cost Savings (Infracost) | sum(delta_usd where delta < 0) | partial (CUR deferred) |
+| Cost Savings (pre-apply) | sum(delta_usd where delta < 0) | partial (live reconciliation deferred) |
 | FTE Hours Saved | run count × manual baseline × rate | derived (N=0 caveat) |
 | Platform ROI | (labor + cloud + avoided downtime) ÷ op cost | derived (N=0 caveat) |
 | Decision Ledger Coverage | decisions with outcome ÷ total | grounded |
 | Attestation Coverage | prod/dr attested ÷ total prod/dr | grounded |
 | Policy Compliance Rate | 1 − failed_assets ÷ total | grounded |

---
-
-<!-- _class: title -->
-<!-- _paginate: false -->
-
-## Appendix A2 — Operating Model & Cost
-
- **Cost figures** from `COST.md`: $0.001883 over 8 days, ~$0.007/month, S3-dominated, zero BAU compute
- **Zero-cost steady state:** all resources torn down post-v1.11 (D-096); the platform runs offline
- References the pre-mortem (`PRE_MORTEM.md`: v1.10 decay root cause + structural mitigations)
-
-**Benefit:** you now know the operating cost is negligible — and the structural mitigation that prevents decay.
---
-
-<!-- _class: title -->
-<!-- _paginate: false -->
-
-## Slide 20 — 12-Month Product Roadmap
-
-**The product arc from pilot activation to agentic substrate — four quarters, four outcomes.**
-
-| Quarter | Theme | Board-level outcome |
-|---------|-------|---------------------|
-| **Q1** | <span class="badge planned">Pilot Activation</span> | Nova runs a real customer estate end-to-end, autonomously, with a measurable zero-touch rate |
-| **Q2** | <span class="badge planned">Provable Trust</span> | Every AI decision lands in a tamper-evident ledger; CFO sees real cloud-spend reconciliation |
-| **Q3** | <span class="badge planned">Compounding ROI</span> | Quarter-over-quarter cloud spend drops; drift is detected and reversed without a human |
-| **Q4** | <span class="badge planned">Agentic Substrate</span> | AI agents deploy through Nova by default; Nova is the substrate, not a vendor arriving late |
-
-**Grounded in:** the 4 strategic objectives (autonomy, provable trust, ROI, agentic substrate) + the deferred-metric unblock paths.
-
-**Benefit:** you now know the 12-month product arc — each quarter activates a strategic objective and its corresponding board-level metric, from pilot activation through agentic substrate leadership.
-
---
-
-<!-- _class: title -->
-<!-- _paginate: false -->
-
-## Slide 21 — Quarter-by-Quarter Outcomes
-
-| Quarter | Product theme | Key deliverable | Target metric | Grounding |
-|---------|--------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------|
-| **Q1** | Pilot Activation | Re-provision live AWS; activate first pilot estate; onboarding auto-grant | Touchless Resolution ≥ 99% · Escalation < 0.1% · AI Accuracy ≥ 99.5% | Strategic Objective #1 — autonomy as the default |
-| **Q2** | Provable Trust | Tamper-evident ledger (Object Lock + JWS); daily checkpoints; live cost reconciliation (CUR) | Decision Ledger Coverage 100% · Cost Savings ≥ 25% | Strategic Objective #2 — trust is the moat |
-| **Q3** | Compounding ROI + Drift | Drift detection scheduler; auto-reversal; Infracost→CUR reconciliation on pilot estate | Drift Auto-Reversal ≥ 95% · Spend Reduction ≥ 25% | Strategic Objective #3 — CFO-pointable numbers |
-| **Q4** | Agentic Substrate + Predictive | ML anomaly-forecasting; AI-agent intent surface; multi-cloud (Azure/GCP) preview | Predictive:Reactive ≥ 3:1 · AI-Agent Intent Share ≥ 40% (first measurement) | Strategic Objective #4 — default substrate for agents |
-
-**Month-18 destination:** *"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.'"*
-
-**Benefit:** you now know the quarter-by-quarter detail — each quarter has a concrete deliverable, a target metric grounded in a strategic objective, and a path from "honestly deferred" to "shipped and measured."
+**Benefit:** a reference for every metric mentioned in the deck.
@@ -1,164 +1,145 @@
-# Nova — The No-Humans Infrastructure Platform: Talking Points
+# Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform: Talking Points

 > Step 4 of the 4-step deck process. Presenter cues distilled from the
-> source of truth (`nova-no-humans-platform.md`). 3-6 bullets per slide
-> + key takeaway. Indexed by Marp slide #.
-> v1.17 — REQ-196, REQ-197
+> source of truth (`nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md`). 3-6 bullets per
+> slide + key takeaway. Indexed by Marp slide #.
+> v1.21 — REQ-245

 ---

-### Slide 1 — Arc Preview
- Open with the stake line: "18 capabilities verified, 0 consumer estates in production"
- Preview the 5-act arc so the audience knows the structure
- Set the honesty frame: "this is an evidence deck, not a hype deck"
- **Key takeaway:** you'll leave knowing what's proven, what's pipeline-ready, and what's deferred
+### Slide 1 — The Problem
+- Open with the shift: "you build it, you run it" put Terraform into product teams — ownership without discipline is destroying value
+- Land the lifecycle-planning gap: resources authored for creation, not for patching/rollback → destructive changes
+- Land the urgency: AI-era 0-day pace demands proactive scanning as code + at runtime, remediated at threat pace
+- Call out tribal knowledge / the rockstar-operator problem — the platform should encode the discipline, not the person
+- Do NOT frame this as "humans are the problem" — the problem is ownership without the discipline and tooling
+- **Key takeaway:** the problem is infrastructure ownership without discipline; the answer is an autonomous platform that encodes the discipline

-### Slide 2 — The No-Humans Imperative
- The operator is the bottleneck: days vs. minutes for provisioning
- Key reframing: "no-humans" = no human in normal operations; stage-gate attestation is human by design
- Cite the no-humans thesis doc
- **Key takeaway:** autonomy in operations, human at stage gates
+### Slide 2 — Nova's Vision
+- Read the vision verbatim — "infrastructure operations become visible" is the operative phrase
+- Emphasize "provable, not promised" — trust established by deterministic scripts; the platform functions without AI
+- State the attestation model up front: QA for production, SRE for operational readiness
+- **Key takeaway:** autonomous operations with provable trust — security, remediation velocity, reliability, lead time made visible, not promised

-### Slide 3 — Nova's Vision
- Read the vision statement verbatim — it's precise
- Emphasize "provable, not promised" — the difference between marketing and defensible
- State the attestation model up front to prevent mishearing
- **Key takeaway:** invisible operations with provable trust
+### Slide 3 — Strategic Objectives
+- Objective #1: zero-touch operations — autonomy as the default, not the demo; stage-gate attestation (QA, SRE) remains human by design
+- Objective #2 is the one to land carefully: trust = deterministic scoring, not an LLM; the platform functions without AI
+- Objective #3: four CTO-grade metrics (Lead Time, Vuln Count, MTTR, Spend) — all flow into PowerBI
+- Objective #4 is the integration thesis: Nova integrates with any upstream source; provides skills + MCP; all prod intents go through the same controls
+- **Key takeaway:** the scope is explicit — Nova governs infra + delivery, integrates with any source through one contract, measures success on four CTO metrics

-### Slide 4 — Strategic Objectives + Anti-Goals
- The 4 objectives are the "what"; the 5 anti-goals are the "what NOT"
- Anti-goal #3 (not removing humans from accountability) reinforces slide 3
- Anti-goal #5 (not sold to operators) explains why this deck is for leadership
- **Key takeaway:** purpose-built for infra ops, sold to leadership on outcomes
+### Slide 4 — Anti-Goals (What Nova Is NOT)
+- Not a general-purpose AI agent platform
+- Not a system that removes humans from accountability — only from normal operations
+- Not an upstream development platform (no product backlogs, IDE, code authorship)
+- Not a replacement for the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC)
+- Anti-goals #3 and #4 protect the scope boundary — Nova will not become an IDE or a product-planning tool
+- **Key takeaway:** the boundaries are explicit — Nova is purpose-built for infra ops + delivery, not a general-purpose AI agent or an upstream dev platform

-### Slide 5 — 12–18 Month Targets
- The three-section split (current / post-pilot / deferred) IS the honesty model
- "Partial" means the pipeline works but the denominator is zero (0 consumers)
- The Post-Pilot targets are committed; the numbers fill when a pilot runs
- **Key takeaway:** which numbers are real today vs. deferred honestly
+### Slide 5 — Scope: Downstream of PDLC
+- Nova governs infra + delivery only; the PDLC (backlog, code authorship, IDE) is upstream — Nova never penetrates it
+- Integration is only through the validated contract boundary
+- Any upstream source (AI agent, agentic SDLC, dev platform) produces submissions subject to the same compliance standards
+- Nova validates the submission, not the author
+- **Key takeaway:** Nova is purpose-built for infrastructure operations; the scope boundary is clean and bounded

-### Slide 6 — The Platform Pipeline
- Walk the pipeline left-to-right: contract → resolver → adapter → plan → policy → confidence → gate → apply
- Key insight: dev is autonomous; qa/prod/dr require attestation
- The confidence signal is the "AI" — 6-input weighted score, not an LLM
- **Key takeaway:** the path from intent to evidence, with humans at stage gates only
+### Slide 6 — RACI: Who Owns What
+- Four roles now: Citizen Developer, Platform, Quality Engineering, SRE
+- Quality attestation is owned by Quality Engineering (not the Platform); Production readiness is owned by SRE
+- The Platform runs the checks agentically but is never the Accountable party for the gate — that separation keeps the platform honest
+- Production readiness is co-owned: the platform runs attestations; the citizen developer authorizes the promotion at the stage gate
+- **Key takeaway:** you bring FRs + UAT; Nova provides NFRs + infra; QE guards the gate evidence; SRE signs off on production readiness

-### Slide 7 — The Decision Ledger
- The D-122 honesty sentence is critical: "Nova's AI is the confidence-gated policy engine, not an LLM"
- The ledger is the moat: features can be copied, an immutable decision history cannot
- Every decision has outcome backfill from apply.completed
- **Key takeaway:** autonomous is defensible because every decision is immutable, queryable, accountable
+### Slide 7 — The Platform Pipeline
+- Walk the pipeline left-to-right: contract → resolver → adapter → Checkov (static) → plan → Wiz (on plan) → confidence → gate → apply
+- Two-stage scan: Checkov on static code BEFORE the plan (fail-fast dev feedback); Wiz on the plan (or Checkov as drop-in if no Wiz creds)
+- Never both Wiz + Checkov on the plan — avoid duplicate noise
+- Dev is autonomous; qa/prod/dr require attestation (QA for quality, SRE for production readiness)
+- **Key takeaway:** two layers of scanning, zero operator involvement in normal operations

-### Slide 8 — The 8-Concern Attestation Matrix
- The matrix is not a rubber stamp — it's structured, freshness-validated, SoD-enforced
- Offline-testable concerns run for real; operator-supplied concerns accept signed evidence
- SoD on prod: the approver can't be the same person who built it
- **Key takeaway:** autonomy in operations, human in accountability, by design
+### Slide 8 — The Decision Ledger
+- "AI decisions" are really automated decisions — deterministic scripts calculate a score; the platform functions without AI
+- Do not dwell on the storage substrate — the value is accountability (immutable, queryable, traceable to outcome), not the database
+- Every stage-gate attestation is captured with approver identity and the evidence presented
+- When an LLM planner is added later, it emits richer alternatives without breaking the schema
+- **Key takeaway:** autonomous is defensible because every decision is immutable, queryable, accountable — and "automated" means deterministic scoring, not a black-box LLM

-### Slide 9 — Telemetry Architecture
- Deliberately minimal (Nova-native, no Kafka/Prometheus/ClickHouse)
- Every number in the Proof act is traceable to a file path
- The hot path is deferred (D-126) — cold store is sufficient for batch
- **Key takeaway:** the architecture IS the trust substrate — "where does this number come from?" → file path
+### Slide 9 — Attestation Matrix: QA
+- The matrix is not a rubber stamp — structured, freshness-validated
+- Each concern now has a plain-language description of what is being attested (the old "operator-supplied" label is gone)
+- Three QA concerns: functional correctness (24h), performance baseline (7d), security posture (24h)
+- Each concern has a freshness window — evidence older than the window does not satisfy the gate
+- **Key takeaway:** QA signs off on quality before any promotion — the gate is explicit, not implicit

-### Slide 10 — Capability Health
- 18V+4S is the single most important proof point
- The 4 Skipped are live-AWS caps — honestly skipped (D-096), not broken
- When live AWS is re-provisioned, they reactivate
- **Key takeaway:** the platform works, and we're honest about what we can't test
+### Slide 10 — Attestation Matrix: Prod/DR
+- Seven prod/DR concerns: operational readiness, incident response, capacity & cost, DR drill, chaos, backup, DR region deploy
+- SRE signs off on operability (runbooks, dashboards, on-call), incident response, capacity, and the three resilience checks
+- Each concern has a freshness window — 30d/90d/180d depending on the control
+- SoD on prod: the approver can't be the same person who built it — the rule that keeps the gate honest
+- **Key takeaway:** autonomy in operations, human in accountability, by design — the matrix is what makes autonomous operations safe enough to trust in production

-### Slide 11 — Decision Ledger + Attestation Coverage
- Both 100% — no AI decision is ever lost; no prod/dr promotion lands without a human sign-off
- The trust snapshot has a chain-integrity verdict (the ledger hasn't been tampered with)
- D-083 (S3 Object Lock + JWS) is the next step for the ledger
- **Key takeaway:** trust is provable — not a marketing claim, a queryable record
+### Slide 11 — Telemetry & Live Ops
+- Deliberately minimal: Nova-native CloudEvents; no Kafka/Prometheus/ClickHouse
+- The live-ops dashboard is built in PowerBI on top of the exported views — leadership sees the same numbers the platform produces
+- Every number in the Proof slides is traceable to a signal — "where does this number come from?" → a query against the cold store
+- This is where the "infrastructure operations become visible" theme lands concretely
+- **Key takeaway:** the architecture is the trust substrate — operations become visible in PowerBI, with full traceability

-### Slide 12 — Zero-Touch Efficiency
- The Post-Pilot caveat is the honesty model: pipeline works, denominator is zero
- This is NOT a fabricated "99% touchless" claim
- The numbers fill when a pilot runs
- **Key takeaway:** the measurement works; the numbers activate with a pilot
+### Slide 12 — Decision Ledger + Attestation Coverage
+- Both 100% — no automated decision is ever lost; no prod/dr promotion lands without a human sign-off
+- The mandatory-by-design point: the ledger entry + the human attestation are a gate, not a best-effort feature
+- Easily queried: by run, by environment, by approver, by outcome — the audit trail is a query, not a forensic exercise
+- **Key takeaway:** trust is provable — not a marketing claim, a queryable record; no change to production without both the ledger entry and the human attestation

 ### Slide 13 — Cost & ROI
 - The ROI formula is shown inline — not hidden in a footnote
- The N=0 caveat is stated explicitly
- This is the "no fabrication" constraint in action
- **Key takeaway:** the formula is ready; the production denominator activates with a pilot
+- The four CTO-grade metrics are the ROI proof — Lead Time, Vuln Count, MTTR, Cloud Spend
+- The N=0 caveat is stated explicitly: the formula is grounded; the production numbers activate with a pilot
+- **Key takeaway:** the ROI is not a black box — the formula is shown, the four metrics are committed, the production-denominator caveat is up front

 ### Slide 14 — What's Deferred — and Why
- The preempt is critical: deferrals are measurement infrastructure, not autonomy
- The platform IS autonomous in operations; what's deferred is the evidence pipeline
+- The preempt is critical: these deferrals are measurement infrastructure, not autonomy — the platform IS autonomous in operations
+- The blocking work is named in plain language (no decision IDs) — "live AWS re-provisioning", "drift-detection scheduler", "ML service"
 - Showing this to leadership demonstrates honesty, not weakness
- **Key takeaway:** the autonomy is real; the measurement gaps are documented
+- **Key takeaway:** the autonomy is real; the measurement gaps are documented with the work that unblocks each one

 ### Slide 15 — Roadmap to the North Star
- Every deferred metric has a specific unblock requirement and a candidate milestone
- The re-evaluation triggers ensure the metrics layer evolves
- Nothing is hand-waved; everything has a plan
- **Key takeaway:** the path from "honestly deferred" to "here's how we get there"
+- Each deferred metric has an unblock path and a timeframe — near-term, mid-term, longer-term
+- No status column: most of it is not implemented yet, so status would be noise
+- Re-evaluation triggers: each blocking piece of work lifts on its own schedule
+- **Key takeaway:** every deferred metric has a plan and a timeframe — nothing is hand-waved

-### Slide 16 — Recap + Ask
- Recap the 5-act arc so the audience leaves with the structure
- The ask is a business decision: approve a pilot + the ledger build-out
+### Slide 16 — 12-Month Product Roadmap
+- This is the *product* roadmap, forward-looking only
+- Q1 Pilot Activation → Q2 Provable Trust → Q3 Compounding ROI → Q4 Integration & Predictive
+- Each quarter activates one strategic objective from the North Star
+- **Key takeaway:** the 12-month product arc — each quarter activates a strategic objective and its board-level metric
+
+### Slide 17 — Quarter-by-Quarter Outcomes
+- Q1: three post-pilot metrics go live (Touchless ≥99%, Escalation <0.1%, Accuracy ≥99.5%) — denominator activates with the pilot
+- Q2: Decision Ledger Coverage was already grounded — tamper-evidence is the Q2 upgrade (local hash-chain → Object Lock + signed checkpoints)
+- Q3: Drift Auto-Reversal ≥95% unblocks when the drift scheduler ships; Spend Reduction ≥25% measured against the pilot baseline
+- Q4: Predictive:Reactive ≥3:1 requires the ML forecasting service; AI-Agent Intent Share is a first measurement (aspirational-metric)
+- **Key takeaway:** each quarter has a concrete deliverable, a target metric grounded in a strategic objective, and a path from deferred to shipped
+
+### Slide 18 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier (1/2)
+- Nova instructs the citizen developer's AI agent via skills (markdown, keyed to engineering domains) + an MCP server (4 tools, plugin-registry, stdio)
+- The integration point is the same regardless of source — AI agent, agentic SDLC, traditional IDE all get the same skills + MCP
+- This is how Nova makes the citizen developer production-grade without owning the PDLC
+- **Key takeaway:** the citizen developer's AI agent is not unguided — Nova provides engineering principles as skills + MCP
+
+### Slide 19 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier (2/2)
+- The value is the gap deterministic scanners leave: engineering discipline (Wiz/Checkmarx/Mend check policy/secrets, not discipline)
+- The MCP server catches "is this service observable?", "is this error path handled?", "is this API contract clear?"
+- Vendored at a pinned tag → audit reproducibility — a validation result is replayable months later
+- **Key takeaway:** submissions are checked for engineering discipline, not just policy compliance — and the check is reproducible for audit
+
+### Slide 20 — Recap + Ask
+- Recap the 4-beat arc so the audience leaves with the structure
+- The ask is a business decision: approve a pilot estate + the tamper-evident ledger build-out
 - "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?"
-
-### Appendix A2 — Operating Model & Cost
- The operating cost is negligible (~$0.007/month)
- The zero-cost steady state (D-096 teardown) is the structural mitigation
- References the pre-mortem for the decay-prevention story
---
-
-## Slide 20 — 12-Month Product Roadmap
-
-**Key takeaway:** The next 12 months have a clear product arc — pilot activation → provable trust → compounding ROI → agentic substrate. Each quarter activates one strategic objective.
-
- This is the *product* roadmap, not the technical roadmap. The technical milestones (v1.0–v1.19) are behind us; this is forward-looking.
- Q1 (Pilot Activation): re-provision live AWS, activate the first pilot estate, light up the three post-pilot metrics. Onboarding auto-grant ships.
- Q2 (Provable Trust): tamper-evident ledger (Object Lock + JWS), daily checkpoints, live cost reconciliation. Trust is the moat — features can be copied; an immutable decision history cannot.
- Q3 (Compounding ROI + Drift): drift detection + auto-reversal, Infracost→CUR reconciliation on the pilot estate. This is the quarter the CFO points to a number that improves quarter-over-quarter.
- Q4 (Agentic Substrate + Predictive): ML anomaly-forecasting, AI-agent intent surface, multi-cloud preview. The Future Horizon target moves from aspiration to first measurement.
- The roadmap is grounded in the four strategic objectives from the North Star — autonomy, provable trust, ROI, agentic substrate — and the deferred-metric unblock paths from Slide 15.
-
-**If asked "what about multi-cloud?"**: Q4 preview. AWS-only through Q3; Azure/GCP enters preview in Q4. We optimize for depth first, breadth second.
-
-**If asked "what about the ML service?"**: Q4. The predictive-vs-reactive ≥3:1 target requires an ML anomaly-forecasting emitter — the most technically ambitious deliverable on the roadmap.
-
---
-
-## Slide 21 — Quarter-by-Quarter Outcomes
-
-**Key takeaway:** Each quarter has a concrete deliverable, a target metric, and a strategic-objective grounding. Nothing is hand-waved.
-
- Q1: three post-pilot metrics go live (Touchless ≥99%, Escalation <0.1%, Accuracy ≥99.5%). The measurement pipeline is already grounded; the denominator activates when the pilot estate runs.
- Q2: Decision Ledger Coverage was already grounded — the *tamper-evidence* is the Q2 upgrade (SQLite hash-chain → S3 Object Lock + JWS). Cost Savings ≥25% becomes CFO-grade with live CUR reconciliation.
- Q3: Drift Auto-Reversal ≥95% unblocks when the drift scheduler ships. Spend Reduction ≥25% is the same target, now measured against the pilot baseline.
- Q4: Predictive:Reactive ≥3:1 requires the ML forecasting service. AI-Agent Intent Share ≥40% moves from aspiration to first measurement.
- The month-18 destination: "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.'"
-
-**If asked "are these committed or aspirational?"**: Q1–Q3 are committed (grounded pipeline + known unblock paths). Q4 targets are committed-deliverable, aspirational-metric — the ML service ships, the ≥40% intent share is first measurement (we don't control adoption rate).
+- Use if the audience asks "what does X mean?"
@@ -98,10 +98,7 @@ operations.**

 ---

-## Slide 3 — Strategic Objectives + Anti-Goals
-
-**Four objectives Nova is building toward; four anti-goals that keep it
-focused.**
+## Slide 3 — Strategic Objectives

 **4 Strategic Objectives:**
 1. **Demonstrate production-grade zero-touch operations** — autonomy as
@@ -128,7 +125,21 @@ focused.**
   to deploy to production go through the same rigorous controls,
   quality gates, attestation, and evidence stream.

-**4 Anti-Goals (what Nova is NOT):**
+> **Benefit:** the scope is explicit — Nova governs infrastructure and
+> delivery, integrates with any upstream source through one validated
+> contract, and measures success on four metrics a CTO can repeat back.
+
+> **Speaker notes:** Objective #2 is the one to land carefully: trust is
+> established by deterministic scoring, not by an LLM. The platform
+> functions without AI.
+
+> **Transition:** "The objectives are concrete — here is what Nova is
+> NOT, to keep it focused."
+
+---
+
+## Slide 4 — Anti-Goals (What Nova Is NOT)
+
 1. Not a general-purpose AI agent platform.
 2. Not a system that removes humans from accountability — only from
   normal operations.
@@ -136,13 +147,11 @@ focused.**
   authorship).
 4. Not a replacement for the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC).

-> **Benefit:** the scope is explicit — Nova governs infrastructure and
-> delivery, integrates with any upstream source through one validated
-> contract, and measures success on four metrics a CTO can repeat back.
+> **Benefit:** the boundaries are explicit — Nova is purpose-built for
+> infrastructure operations and delivery, not a general-purpose AI agent
+> or an upstream development platform.

-> **Speaker notes:** Objective #2 is the one to land carefully: trust is
-> established by deterministic scoring, not by an LLM. The platform
-> functions without AI. Anti-goals #3 and #4 protect the scope boundary —
+> **Speaker notes:** Anti-goals #3 and #4 protect the scope boundary —
 > Nova will not become an IDE or a product-planning tool.

 > **Transition:** "The scope boundary is explicit — here is exactly
@@ -150,7 +159,7 @@ focused.**

 ---

-## Slide 4 — Scope: Downstream of PDLC
+## Slide 5 — Scope: Downstream of PDLC

 **Nova governs infrastructure and delivery. The PDLC is upstream — Nova
 never penetrates it. Integration is through one validated contract.**
@@ -183,7 +192,7 @@ never penetrates it. Integration is through one validated contract.**

 ---

-## Slide 5 — RACI: Who Owns What
+## Slide 6 — RACI: Who Owns What

 **Four roles, one matrix — the citizen developer owns FRs + UAT, the
 platform owns NFRs + infra, quality engineering owns the gate evidence,
@@ -224,7 +233,7 @@ and SRE owns operational readiness.**

 ---

-## Slide 6 — The Platform Pipeline
+## Slide 7 — The Platform Pipeline

 **How intent becomes verified infrastructure — with fail-fast policy
 scanning before the plan and runtime scanning after it.**
@@ -272,7 +281,7 @@ graph LR

 ---

-## Slide 7 — The Decision Ledger
+## Slide 8 — The Decision Ledger

 **Every automated decision is captured, immutable, queryable — and
 accountable.**
@@ -310,16 +319,42 @@ accountable.**

 ---

-## Slide 8 — The Attestation Matrix
+## Slide 9 — Attestation Matrix: QA

-**The designed controls that keep humans at stage gates — structured,
-freshness-validated, and separation-of-duties-enforced.**
+**The designed controls that keep humans at stage gates — QA concerns,
+freshness-validated.**

 | Concern | Env | Freshness | Description |
 |---------|-----|-----------|-------------|
 | Functional correctness | qa | 24h | The application behaves as specified; evidence accepted from the consumer's UAT. |
 | Performance baseline | qa | 7d | The deployment meets its performance envelope vs. the agreed baseline. |
 | Security posture | qa | 24h | The deployment's security findings have been reviewed and accepted. |
+
+- Each concern has a freshness window — evidence older than the window
+  does not satisfy the gate.
+- Concerns that are offline-testable run for real; concerns that require
+  external evidence accept signed artifacts.
+
+> **Benefit:** QA signs off on quality before any promotion — the gate
+> is explicit, not implicit.
+
+> **Speaker notes:** The matrix is not a rubber stamp. Each concern has a
+> freshness window and a plain-language description of what is being
+> attested. The "operator-supplied" label from the prior deck was
+> dropped — every concern now has a plain-language description.
+
+> **Transition:** "QA is half the matrix — here are the production and
+> DR controls."
+
+---
+
+## Slide 10 — Attestation Matrix: Prod/DR
+
+**Production and DR controls — operational readiness, resilience, and
+disaster recovery.**
+
+| Concern | Env | Freshness | Description |
+|---------|-----|-----------|-------------|
 | Operational readiness | prod | 30d | SRE confirms the deployment is operable: runbooks, dashboards, on-call coverage. |
 | Incident response | prod | 90d | The on-call path has been exercised; the deployment has a working incident-response plan. |
 | Capacity & cost | prod | 30d | Capacity headroom and monthly cost are within the agreed envelope. |
@@ -332,17 +367,16 @@ freshness-validated, and separation-of-duties-enforced.**
  does not satisfy the gate.
 - **Separation-of-duties on prod:** the approver cannot be the same
  person who built the deployment.
- Concerns that are offline-testable run for real; concerns that require
-  external evidence accept signed artifacts.

 > **Benefit:** the gate model is explicit — autonomy in operations,
 > human in accountability, by design. The matrix is what makes autonomous
 > operations safe enough to trust in production.

-> **Speaker notes:** The matrix is not a rubber stamp. Each concern has a
-> freshness window, a description, and a separation-of-duties rule. The
-> "operator-supplied" label from the prior deck was dropped — every
-> concern now has a plain-language description of what is being attested.
+> **Speaker notes:** The prod/DR rows are the operational-readiness and
+> resilience gates — SRE signs off on operability, incident response,
+> capacity, and the three resilience checks (DR drill, chaos, backup).
+> Separation-of-duties on prod is the rule that keeps the gate honest:
+> the approver cannot be the same person who built the deployment.

 > **Transition:** "You've seen how Nova works — the pipeline, the ledger,
 > the attestation gates. Here is how Nova instruments itself so that
@@ -350,7 +384,7 @@ freshness-validated, and separation-of-duties-enforced.**

 ---

-## Slide 9 — Telemetry & Live Ops
+## Slide 11 — Telemetry & Live Ops

 **Every metric in this deck is traceable to a real emitted signal — and
 the live-ops dashboard makes operations visible in PowerBI.**
@@ -399,7 +433,7 @@ graph TB

 ---

-## Slide 10 — Decision Ledger + Attestation Coverage
+## Slide 12 — Decision Ledger + Attestation Coverage

 **By design, no change reaches production without a ledger entry and a
 human attestation — both queryable for auditing, with full
@@ -435,7 +469,7 @@ traceability.**

 ---

-## Slide 11 — Cost & ROI
+## Slide 13 — Cost & ROI

 **The ROI formula and the cost estimates — grounded, with the production
 denominator honestly flagged.**
@@ -466,7 +500,7 @@ denominator honestly flagged.**

 ---

-## Slide 12 — What's Deferred — and Why
+## Slide 14 — What's Deferred — and Why

 **Honesty about what is not measured yet — and the blocking work for
 each.**
@@ -502,7 +536,7 @@ metrics — not the autonomy.

 ---

-## Slide 13 — Roadmap to the North Star
+## Slide 15 — Roadmap to the North Star

 **The path from the grounded metrics to the 12–18 month targets — each
 deferred metric has an unblock path and a candidate milestone.**
@@ -533,7 +567,7 @@ deferred metric has an unblock path and a candidate milestone.**

 ---

-## Slide 14 — 12-Month Product Roadmap
+## Slide 16 — 12-Month Product Roadmap

 **The product arc from pilot activation to integration — four quarters,
 four outcomes.**
@@ -560,7 +594,7 @@ integration) and the deferred-metric unblock paths.

 ---

-## Slide 15 — Quarter-by-Quarter Outcomes
+## Slide 17 — Quarter-by-Quarter Outcomes

 | Quarter | Product theme | Key deliverable | Target metric | Grounding |
 |---------|---------------|-----------------|---------------|-----------|
@@ -587,7 +621,7 @@ anymore, and the audit trail is stronger than it ever was.'"*

 ---

-## Slide 16 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier (1/2)
+## Slide 18 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier (1/2)

 **Nova instructs the citizen developer's AI agent on production-grade
 engineering — a set of skills and an MCP server.**
@@ -621,7 +655,7 @@ engineering — a set of skills and an MCP server.**

 ---

-## Slide 17 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier (2/2)
+## Slide 19 — Production-Grade Guidance via Atelier (2/2)

 **Agentic validation catches engineering-discipline gaps that deterministic
 scanners miss — and the validation is reproducible.**
@@ -656,7 +690,7 @@ scanners miss — and the validation is reproducible.**

 ---

-## Slide 18 — Recap + Ask
+## Slide 20 — Recap + Ask

 **The 4-beat recap + the business decision.**

@@ -710,4 +744,4 @@ S3 Object Lock + signed checkpoints. These two decisions move Nova from

 ---

-> **End of deck.** 18 main slides + 1 appendix slide = 19 total.
+> **End of deck.** 20 main slides + 1 appendix slide = 21 total.
@@ -1,11 +1,19 @@
-# Nova Central Deployment Pipeline Contract (v1.8)
+# Nova Central Deployment Pipeline Contract (v1.8 + v1.21 REQ-250)
 #
 # This is the single source of truth for the deployment pipeline. It
 # declares the stages that run when a consumer submits a contract:
-#   validate-contract -> resolve-stack -> terraform-plan -> checkov ->
+#   validate-contract -> resolve-stack -> checkov-static (fail-fast) ->
+#   terraform-plan -> runtime-policy-scan (Wiz-or-Checkov, never both) ->
 #   confidence -> apply (dev only) -> publish-outputs -> deploy-uptime ->
 #   comment-outputs
 #
+# REQ-250 (v1.21): the policy scan is two-stage. checkov-static runs on
+# the authored Terraform code BEFORE terraform plan (fail-fast, quick
+# developer feedback). runtime-policy-scan runs AFTER terraform plan:
+# Wiz scans the plan when configured (WIZ_API_TOKEN + WIZ_API_URL);
+# otherwise Checkov runs against the plan as a drop-in replacement. Wiz
+# and Checkov are NEVER both run on the plan.
+#
 # Decommission mode (mode: decommission) runs a different set of stages:
 #   validate-change-request -> disable-deletion-protection (HITL SRE) ->
 #   zero-counts (HITL SRE) -> confirm-decommission
@@ -36,15 +44,20 @@ stages:
    command: python3 core/contract_resolver.py contracts/static-assets.yaml /tmp/acdl-stack.json
    required: true

+  - name: checkov-static
+    description: Run Checkov on the authored Terraform code (fail-fast, before terraform plan) — REQ-250
+    command: bash scripts/run_codegen.sh --check-only
+    required: true
+
  - name: terraform-plan
    description: Compile the stack to Terraform and run terraform plan
    command: bash scripts/run_platform.sh --plan-only contracts/static-assets.yaml
    required: true

-  - name: checkov
-    description: Run Checkov policy checks on the emitted Terraform
-    command: bash scripts/run_platform.sh --check-only
-    required: false
+  - name: runtime-policy-scan
+    description: Run Wiz against the plan when configured, else Checkov against the plan (never both) — REQ-250
+    command: bash scripts/run_postapply.sh contracts/static-assets.yaml --quiet
+    required: true

  - name: confidence
    description: Compute the confidence signal from policy + validation inputs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ 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
+    python3 scripts/attach_release_asset.py docs/presentations/nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.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.
@@ -1,56 +0,0 @@
-#!/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-autonomous-cloud-delivery
-#
-# 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" "$NOVA_GITEA_RELEASE_ID" || \
-    echo "WARNING: attach failed — PPTX is still committed; attach manually."
-fi
@@ -41,16 +41,18 @@ if [ -z "$CHROME" ]; then
 fi
 export CHROME_PATH="$CHROME"

-# --- Step 1: render mermaid diagrams (S&P-themed) ---
-echo "=== Step 1: Rendering mermaid diagrams (S&P theme: $THEME_JSON) ==="
+# --- Step 1: render mermaid diagrams (S&P-themed, 2x scale, transparent bg) ---
+# REQ-258: -s 2 (2x scale) + -b transparent (transparent background) per README spec.
+echo "=== Step 1: Rendering mermaid diagrams (S&P theme: $THEME_JSON, 2x, transparent) ==="
 if [ -d "$MMD_DIR" ]; then
  for mmd in "$MMD_DIR"/*.mmd; do
    name="$(basename "$mmd" .mmd)"
    png="$PNG_DIR/$name.png"
    echo "  $name.mmd → $name.png"
-    npx --yes @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli \
+    npx --yes @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli@11.16.0 \
      --configFile "$THEME_JSON" \
      --puppeteerConfigFile "$PUPPETEER_CFG" \
+      -s 2 -b transparent \
      --input "$mmd" \
      --output "$png" 2>&1 | grep -v "^$" || true
  done
@@ -61,13 +63,14 @@ fi
 echo ""

 # --- Step 2: render Marp deck (S&P-themed) ---
+# REQ-257: pinned marp-cli version (v4.5.0) to prevent boilerplate-CSS drift.
 echo "=== Step 2: Rendering Marp deck → HTML + PPTX ==="
 echo "  Theme: $THEME_CSS"
 echo "  HTML → $HTML"
-npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@latest --allow-local-files --theme "$THEME_CSS" "$SRC" -o "$HTML" 2>&1 | tail -3
+npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@4.5.0 --allow-local-files --theme "$THEME_CSS" "$SRC" -o "$HTML" 2>&1 | tail -3

 echo "  PPTX → $PPTX"
-npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@latest --allow-local-files --theme "$THEME_CSS" "$SRC" -o "$PPTX" 2>&1 | tail -3
+npx --yes @marp-team/marp-cli@4.5.0 --allow-local-files --theme "$THEME_CSS" "$SRC" -o "$PPTX" 2>&1 | tail -3
 echo ""

 # --- Step 3: stage ---
@@ -101,6 +101,20 @@ adapter.compile(stack, '$TF_DIR')
 print('adapter: main.tf + terraform.tf + providers.tf written')
 "

+echo "=== Step 3c: Checkov on static code (fail-fast, before terraform plan) ==="
+# REQ-250 (v1.21): Checkov runs on the authored Terraform code BEFORE
+# terraform plan so developers get immediate policy feedback, not a
+# delayed plan-stage failure. The runtime plan scan (Wiz-or-Checkov)
+# runs after the plan in run_postapply.sh Step 5.
+if [ "$QUIET" = "0" ]; then
+  checkov -d "$TF_DIR" --framework terraform -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ 2>&1 | tee "$WORK/checkov-static.json"
+else
+  checkov -d "$TF_DIR" --framework terraform -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ > "$WORK/checkov-static.json" 2> "$WORK/checkov-static.err"
+fi
+[ -s "$WORK/checkov-static.json" ] || { echo "FAIL: checkov (static) produced no output" >&2; exit 1; }
+echo ""
+echo "checkov (static) summary: $(python3 -c "import json; d=json.load(open('$WORK/checkov-static.json')); print(len(d.get('results',{}).get('failed_checks',[])), 'failed,', len(d.get('results',{}).get('passed_checks',[])), 'passed')")"
+
 if [ "$CHECK_ONLY" = "1" ]; then
  echo ""
  echo "=== Step 3b: validate adapter output structure (offline) ==="
@@ -312,6 +312,20 @@ if [ -z "${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID:-}" ] || [ -z "${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY:-}" ]; then
   export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="$AWS_DEFAULT_REGION"
 fi

+echo "=== Step 3c: Checkov on static code (fail-fast, before terraform plan) ==="
+# REQ-250 (v1.21): Checkov runs on the authored Terraform code BEFORE
+# terraform plan so developers get immediate policy feedback, not a
+# delayed plan-stage failure. The runtime plan scan (Wiz-or-Checkov)
+# runs after the plan (Step 5).
+if [ "$QUIET" = "0" ]; then
+  checkov -d "$TF_DIR" --framework terraform -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ 2>&1 | tee "$WORK/checkov-static.json"
+else
+  checkov -d "$TF_DIR" --framework terraform -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ > "$WORK/checkov-static.json" 2> "$WORK/checkov-static.err"
+fi
+[ -s "$WORK/checkov-static.json" ] || fail "checkov (static) produced no output"
+echo ""
+echo "checkov (static) summary: $(python3 -c "import json; d=json.load(open('$WORK/checkov-static.json')); print(len(d.get('results',{}).get('failed_checks',[])), 'failed,', len(d.get('results',{}).get('passed_checks',[])), 'passed')")"
+
 echo "=== Step 4: terraform init + validate + plan -lock=false (real AWS) ==="
 cd "$TF_DIR"

@@ -380,19 +394,36 @@ if [ "$DESTROY_ONLY" = "1" ]; then
 fi

 echo ""
-echo "=== Step 5: run Checkov on $TF_DIR/main.tf ==="
-if [ "$QUIET" = "0" ]; then
-  checkov -f "$TF_DIR/main.tf" --framework terraform -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ 2>&1 | tee "$WORK/checkov.json"
+echo "=== Step 5: runtime policy scan on the terraform plan (Wiz-or-Checkov, never both) ==="
+# REQ-250 (v1.21): after terraform plan, run Wiz against the plan when
+# configured; otherwise run Checkov against the plan as a drop-in
+# replacement. Wiz and Checkov are NEVER both run on the plan.
+RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE=""
+if [ -n "${WIZ_API_TOKEN:-}" ] || [ -n "${WIZ_API_URL:-}" ]; then
+  RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE="wiz"
+  echo "--- Wiz configured (WIZ_API_TOKEN + WIZ_API_URL) → Wiz on the plan ---"
+  python3 adapters/wiz/wiz_adapter.py --plan "$TF_DIR/tfplan" --contract-id "$CONTRACT_ID" --run-id "${CONTRACT_ID}" > "$WORK/pcr.json" 2> "$WORK/wiz.err" || {
+    echo "WARNING: Wiz scan failed; falling back to Checkov on the plan" >&2
+    RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE="checkov-plan"
+  }
 else
-  checkov -f "$TF_DIR/main.tf" --framework terraform -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ > "$WORK/checkov.json" 2> "$WORK/checkov.err"
+  RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE="checkov-plan"
 fi
-[ -s "$WORK/checkov.json" ] || fail "checkov produced no output"
-echo ""
-echo "checkov summary: $(python3 -c "import json; d=json.load(open('$WORK/checkov.json')); print(len(d.get('results',{}).get('failed_checks',[])), 'failed,', len(d.get('results',{}).get('passed_checks',[])), 'passed')")"
-
-echo ""
-echo "=== Step 6: Checkov adapter -> PolicyCheckResult (compliance details) ==="
-python3 adapters/terraform/policy/checkov_adapter.py "$WORK/checkov.json" "$CONTRACT_ID" > "$WORK/pcr.json" || fail "checkov adapter failed"
+if [ "$RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE" = "checkov-plan" ]; then
+  echo "--- Wiz not configured → Checkov on the plan (drop-in replacement) ---"
+  if [ "$QUIET" = "0" ]; then
+    checkov -f "$TF_DIR/tfplan" --framework terraform_plan -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ 2>&1 | tee "$WORK/checkov-plan.json"
+  else
+    checkov -f "$TF_DIR/tfplan" --framework terraform_plan -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ > "$WORK/checkov-plan.json" 2> "$WORK/checkov-plan.err"
+  fi
+  [ -s "$WORK/checkov-plan.json" ] || fail "checkov (plan) produced no output"
+  echo ""
+  echo "checkov (plan) summary: $(python3 -c "import json; d=json.load(open('$WORK/checkov-plan.json')); print(len(d.get('results',{}).get('failed_checks',[])), 'failed,', len(d.get('results',{}).get('passed_checks',[])), 'passed')")"
+  echo ""
+  echo "=== Step 6: Checkov (plan) adapter -> PolicyCheckResult ==="
+  python3 adapters/terraform/policy/checkov_adapter.py "$WORK/checkov-plan.json" "$CONTRACT_ID" > "$WORK/pcr.json" || fail "checkov (plan) adapter failed"
+fi
+echo "runtime scan engine: $RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE"
 python3 -c "
 import json
 pcrs = json.load(open('$WORK/pcr.json'))
@@ -494,5 +525,5 @@ source "$ROOT/scripts/run_uptime.sh"

 echo ""
 echo "=== PLATFORM E2E OK ==="
-echo "contract -> resolver -> stack -> terraform plan -> Checkov -> confidence ($BAND) -> outbox -> outputs"
+echo "contract -> resolver -> stack -> Checkov(static) -> terraform plan -> Wiz-or-Checkov(plan) -> confidence ($BAND) -> outbox -> outputs"
 exit 0
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 # scripts/run_postapply.sh — post-Terraform steps for the Nova platform pipeline.
 #
 # Performs steps 5–9 of run_platform.sh (after terraform apply/destroy):
-#   5.  Checkov policy scan on the emitted main.tf
-#   6.  Checkov adapter → PolicyCheckResult (compliance details)
+#   3c. Checkov policy scan on static code (fail-fast, in run_codegen.sh)
+#   5.  Runtime policy scan on the terraform plan (Wiz-or-Checkov, never both)
+#   6.  Policy scan adapter → PolicyCheckResult (compliance details)
 #   7.  Confidence signal compute
 #   7b. HITL attestation gate (qa/prod/dr only)
 #   8.  Write evidence event to DynamoDB outbox
@@ -92,19 +93,37 @@ else:
 " || { echo "FAIL: HITL gate blocked" >&2; return 1; }
 }

-echo "=== Step 5: run Checkov on $TF_DIR/main.tf ==="
-if [ "$QUIET" = "0" ]; then
-  checkov -f "$TF_DIR/main.tf" --framework terraform -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ 2>&1 | tee "$WORK/checkov.json"
+echo "=== Step 5: runtime policy scan on the terraform plan (Wiz-or-Checkov, never both) ==="
+# REQ-250 (v1.21): after terraform plan, run Wiz against the plan when
+# configured; otherwise run Checkov against the plan as a drop-in
+# replacement. Wiz and Checkov are NEVER both run on the plan. The
+# static-code Checkov already ran in run_codegen.sh Step 3c (fail-fast).
+RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE=""
+if [ -n "${WIZ_API_TOKEN:-}" ] || [ -n "${WIZ_API_URL:-}" ]; then
+  RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE="wiz"
+  echo "--- Wiz configured (WIZ_API_TOKEN + WIZ_API_URL) → Wiz on the plan ---"
+  python3 adapters/wiz/wiz_adapter.py --plan "$TF_DIR/tfplan" --contract-id "$CONTRACT_ID" --run-id "${CONTRACT_ID}" > "$WORK/pcr.json" 2> "$WORK/wiz.err" || {
+    echo "WARNING: Wiz scan failed; falling back to Checkov on the plan" >&2
+    RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE="checkov-plan"
+  }
 else
-  checkov -f "$TF_DIR/main.tf" --framework terraform -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ > "$WORK/checkov.json" 2> "$WORK/checkov.err"
+  RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE="checkov-plan"
 fi
-[ -s "$WORK/checkov.json" ] || { echo "FAIL: checkov produced no output" >&2; exit 1; }
-echo ""
-echo "checkov summary: $(python3 -c "import json; d=json.load(open('$WORK/checkov.json')); print(len(d.get('results',{}).get('failed_checks',[])), 'failed,', len(d.get('results',{}).get('passed_checks',[])), 'passed')")"
-
-echo ""
-echo "=== Step 6: Checkov adapter → PolicyCheckResult (compliance details) ==="
-python3 adapters/terraform/policy/checkov_adapter.py "$WORK/checkov.json" "$CONTRACT_ID" > "$WORK/pcr.json" || { echo "FAIL: checkov adapter failed" >&2; exit 1; }
+if [ "$RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE" = "checkov-plan" ]; then
+  echo "--- Wiz not configured → Checkov on the plan (drop-in replacement) ---"
+  if [ "$QUIET" = "0" ]; then
+    checkov -f "$TF_DIR/tfplan" --framework terraform_plan -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ 2>&1 | tee "$WORK/checkov-plan.json"
+  else
+    checkov -f "$TF_DIR/tfplan" --framework terraform_plan -o json --soft-fail --external-checks-dir adapters/terraform/policy/custom_rules/ > "$WORK/checkov-plan.json" 2> "$WORK/checkov-plan.err"
+  fi
+  [ -s "$WORK/checkov-plan.json" ] || { echo "FAIL: checkov (plan) produced no output" >&2; exit 1; }
+  echo ""
+  echo "checkov (plan) summary: $(python3 -c "import json; d=json.load(open('$WORK/checkov-plan.json')); print(len(d.get('results',{}).get('failed_checks',[])), 'failed,', len(d.get('results',{}).get('passed_checks',[])), 'passed')")"
+  echo ""
+  echo "=== Step 6: Checkov (plan) adapter → PolicyCheckResult (compliance details) ==="
+  python3 adapters/terraform/policy/checkov_adapter.py "$WORK/checkov-plan.json" "$CONTRACT_ID" > "$WORK/pcr.json" || { echo "FAIL: checkov (plan) adapter failed" >&2; exit 1; }
+fi
+echo "runtime scan engine: $RUNTIME_SCAN_ENGINE"
 python3 -c "
 import json
 pcrs = json.load(open('$WORK/pcr.json'))
@@ -199,4 +218,4 @@ source "$ROOT/scripts/run_uptime.sh"

 echo ""
 echo "=== POST-APPLY OK ==="
-echo "Checkov → confidence ($BAND) → outbox → outputs → uptime"
+echo "Checkov(static, pre-plan) → Wiz-or-Checkov(plan) → confidence ($BAND) → outbox → outputs → uptime"
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ EXCLUDE_SCRIPTS=(
  sync_workflows.py
  attach_release_asset.py
  check_north_star_diff.sh
-  render_deck.sh
  render_slides.sh
 )

@@ -173,16 +173,19 @@ class TestDeployPipelineContract:
            contract = yaml.safe_load(fh)
        jsonschema.validate(contract, schema)

-    def test_deploy_pipeline_has_six_stages(self):
+    def test_deploy_pipeline_has_required_stages(self):
        with open(ROOT / "pipelines/contract.yml") as fh:
            contract = yaml.safe_load(fh)
        stage_names = [s["name"] for s in contract["stages"]]
        assert "validate-contract" in stage_names
        assert "resolve-stack" in stage_names
+        assert "checkov-static" in stage_names, "REQ-250: checkov-static stage missing"
        assert "terraform-plan" in stage_names
-        assert "checkov" in stage_names
+        assert "runtime-policy-scan" in stage_names, "REQ-250: runtime-policy-scan stage missing"
        assert "confidence" in stage_names
        assert "apply" in stage_names
+        # The old single 'checkov' stage is gone (split into checkov-static + runtime-policy-scan)
+        assert "checkov" not in stage_names, "old 'checkov' stage should be replaced by checkov-static + runtime-policy-scan"


 class TestL2OutputsResolution:
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ _EXCLUDE_SCRIPTS = {
    "untag_acdl_keys.py", "seed_uptime_monitors.py",
    "push_consumer_image.py", "sync_workflows.py",
    "attach_release_asset.py", "check_north_star_diff.sh",
-    "render_deck.sh", "render_slides.sh",
+    "render_slides.sh",
 }

 # Synced top-level files (not in any excluded dir).
@@ -206,14 +206,15 @@ class TestDeployPipelineContract:
        contract = _load_yaml("pipelines/contract.yml")
        jsonschema.validate(contract, schema)

-    def test_deploy_contract_has_nine_stages(self):
+    def test_deploy_contract_has_ten_stages(self):
        contract = _load_yaml("pipelines/contract.yml")
        stage_names = [s["name"] for s in contract["stages"]]
        assert stage_names == [
            "validate-contract",
            "resolve-stack",
+            "checkov-static",
            "terraform-plan",
-            "checkov",
+            "runtime-policy-scan",
            "confidence",
            "apply",
            "publish-outputs",
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def test_cap_024_deck_structure():

 def test_cap_024_deck_exists():
    """The unified deck source of truth exists."""
-    deck_path = ROOT / "docs" / "presentations" / "nova-no-humans-platform.md"
+    deck_path = ROOT / "docs" / "presentations" / "nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md"
    assert deck_path.exists(), "unified deck not found"


@@ -1,12 +1,21 @@
-"""REQ-239..243 (v1.20): S&P theme + slide render pipeline tests.
+"""REQ-239..243 (v1.20) + REQ-245,251,252 (v1.21): S&P theme + slide render
+pipeline + deck-refinement tests.

-Validates:
+v1.20 validates:
  - The Marp deck frontmatter references nova-sp-theme.css
  - The CSS file contains the S&P colors (#D6002A, #1B1B1B)
  - The mermaid theme JSON contains the S&P colors
  - Every .mmd has a corresponding .png
  - The render_slides.sh script exists and is executable
  - The CI workflow file exists
+
+v1.21 adds (REQ-245,251,252):
+  - Deck renamed to nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery*
+  - No maturity badges in the Marp deck
+  - No version in the Marp footer/title slide
+  - 20 main + 1 appendix slides (v1.22 split slides 3+8 to relieve overflow)
+  - No D-###/REQ-###/internal .py paths in audience-facing slides
+  - Title is "Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform"
 """
 import re
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -18,7 +27,8 @@ PRESENTATIONS = ROOT / "docs" / "presentations"
 ASSETS = PRESENTATIONS / "assets"
 THEME_CSS = ASSETS / "nova-sp-theme.css"
 THEME_JSON = ASSETS / "mmd" / "sp-theme.json"
-MARP_DECK = PRESENTATIONS / "nova-no-humans-platform-marp.md"
+MARP_DECK = PRESENTATIONS / "nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery-marp.md"
+SOURCE_MD = PRESENTATIONS / "nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.md"
 RENDER_SCRIPT = ROOT / "scripts" / "render_slides.sh"
 SLIDES_WORKFLOW = ROOT / ".github" / "workflows" / "slides.yml"

@@ -87,6 +97,13 @@ def test_render_slides_script_renders_marp():
    assert ".pptx" in text, "render_slides.sh does not produce PPTX"


+def test_render_slides_default_deck_renamed():
+    """REQ-245: render_slides.sh default deck is nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery."""
+    text = RENDER_SCRIPT.read_text()
+    assert "nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery" in text, \
+        "render_slides.sh does not default to nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery"
+
+
 def test_slides_ci_workflow_exists():
    """REQ-241: CI workflow for slides exists."""
    assert SLIDES_WORKFLOW.is_file(), "slides.yml workflow not found"
@@ -124,3 +141,233 @@ def test_readme_no_retired_decks():
        "README still references retired 'how-the-platform-works' deck"
    assert "the-developer-experience" not in readme, \
        "README still references retired 'the-developer-experience' deck"
+
+
+def test_readme_no_old_deck_name():
+    """REQ-245: README references the new deck name, not the old one."""
+    readme = (PRESENTATIONS / "README.md").read_text()
+    assert "nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery" in readme, \
+        "README does not reference nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery"
+
+
+def test_old_deck_files_removed():
+    """REQ-245: the old nova-no-humans-platform* files are gone."""
+    old_files = sorted(PRESENTATIONS.glob("nova-no-humans-platform*"))
+    assert not old_files, f"old deck files still present: {old_files}"
+
+
+def test_marp_deck_no_badges():
+    """REQ-252: no maturity badges in the Marp deck."""
+    text = MARP_DECK.read_text()
+    assert "badge" not in text, "Marp deck still contains badge spans"
+
+
+def test_marp_deck_no_version_in_footer():
+    """REQ-251: no version (v1.x) in the Marp frontmatter footer/header."""
+    text = MARP_DECK.read_text()
+    fm_match = re.match(r'^---\n(.*?)\n---', text, re.DOTALL)
+    assert fm_match, "Marp frontmatter not found"
+    frontmatter = fm_match.group(1)
+    # No v1.x version string in the footer or header lines
+    assert not re.search(r"v1\.\d+", frontmatter), \
+        f"Marp frontmatter still contains a version: {frontmatter}"
+    # No "Act" pagination artifact
+    assert "Act %" not in frontmatter, \
+        "Marp frontmatter still contains 'Act %{page}' artifact"
+
+
+def test_marp_deck_title_slide_no_version_subtitle():
+    """REQ-251: the title slide does not carry a version subtitle."""
+    text = MARP_DECK.read_text()
+    # The title slide is the first slide after the frontmatter
+    # Find the title block (between the frontmatter and the first --- separator)
+    after_fm = text.split("---\n", 2)[2] if text.startswith("---") else text
+    first_slide = after_fm.split("\n---\n")[0]
+    # The old subtitle was "v1.18 — Citizen Developer & Production-Grade Guidance"
+    assert "v1.18" not in first_slide, \
+        "Title slide still contains 'v1.18' subtitle"
+    assert "Citizen Developer & Production-Grade Guidance" not in first_slide, \
+        "Title slide still contains the old version subtitle"
+
+
+def test_marp_deck_title_is_autonomous_cloud_delivery():
+    """REQ-245: the deck title is 'Nova — The Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform'."""
+    text = MARP_DECK.read_text()
+    assert "Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform" in text, \
+        "Deck title is not 'Autonomous Cloud Delivery Platform'"
+    # The old title should not appear in the audience-facing deck
+    # (speaker notes are not in the marp deck, so this is safe)
+    assert "No-Humans Infrastructure Platform" not in text, \
+        "Deck still carries the old 'No-Humans Infrastructure Platform' title"
+
+
+def test_marp_deck_slide_count():
+    """REQ-245/261: 20 main slides + 1 appendix = 21 slides total.
+    v1.22 split slides 3 (Objectives+Anti-Goals) and 8 (Attestation
+    Matrix) to relieve overflow, increasing the count from 18 to 20."""
+    text = MARP_DECK.read_text()
+    # Count slide separators: each slide ends with --- (except the last)
+    # The frontmatter is one --- ... --- block, then each slide is separated by ---
+    # Count "## Slide" and "## Appendix" headings
+    slide_headings = re.findall(r"^## (?:Slide|Appendix) ", text, re.MULTILINE)
+    main_slides = re.findall(r"^## Slide ", text, re.MULTILINE)
+    appendix_slides = re.findall(r"^## Appendix ", text, re.MULTILINE)
+    assert len(main_slides) == 20, \
+        f"expected 20 main slides, found {len(main_slides)}: {slide_headings}"
+    assert len(appendix_slides) == 1, \
+        f"expected 1 appendix slide, found {len(appendix_slides)}"
+
+
+def test_marp_deck_no_internal_citations():
+    """REQ-252: no D-### decision IDs, REQ-### requirement IDs, or internal
+    .py file paths in the audience-facing Marp deck."""
+    text = MARP_DECK.read_text()
+    # Decision IDs like D-121, D-083
+    assert not re.search(r"\bD-\d{3}\b", text), \
+        "Marp deck contains D-### decision IDs"
+    # Requirement IDs like REQ-245
+    assert not re.search(r"\bREQ-\d{3}\b", text), \
+        "Marp deck contains REQ-### requirement IDs"
+    # Internal python file paths like outbox_writer.py, confidence_signal.py
+    # (allow .py only inside code blocks for the ROI formula? No — the deck
+    # should not cite internal file paths at all)
+    assert not re.search(r"\b(outbox_writer|confidence_signal|hitl_gates|"
+                         r"attestation_matrix|checkov_adapter|infracost_adapter|"
+                         r"contract_resolver|run_platform)\.py\b", text), \
+        "Marp deck contains internal .py file paths"
+
+
+def test_source_md_no_internal_citations_in_slides():
+    """REQ-252: the source-of-truth markdown keeps internal citations only
+    in speaker notes, not in the audience-facing slide body. Speaker notes
+    are blockquoted (> ) — we check non-blockquote lines for D-###/REQ-###."""
+    text = SOURCE_MD.read_text()
+    # Split into lines; exclude blockquote lines (speaker notes) and the
+    # header frontmatter (> ... at the top)
+    in_note = False
+    body_lines = []
+    for line in text.splitlines():
+        if line.lstrip().startswith(">"):
+            in_note = True
+            continue
+        if in_note and line.strip() == "":
+            in_note = False
+            continue
+        if not in_note:
+            body_lines.append(line)
+    body = "\n".join(body_lines)
+    # Decision IDs and REQ IDs should not appear in the slide body
+    assert not re.search(r"\bD-\d{3}\b", body), \
+        "Source markdown slide body contains D-### decision IDs"
+    assert not re.search(r"\bREQ-\d{3}\b", body), \
+        "Source markdown slide body contains REQ-### requirement IDs"
+
+
+def test_source_md_no_badges():
+    """REQ-252: no maturity badges in the source-of-truth markdown."""
+    text = SOURCE_MD.read_text()
+    assert "badge" not in text.lower(), \
+        "Source markdown still contains badge spans"
+
+
+# --- v1.22 layout/aspect-ratio/theme-structural tests (REQ-262) ---
+
+def test_theme_css_has_section_padding():
+    """REQ-254: theme CSS has a section padding rule (root cause fix)."""
+    css = THEME_CSS.read_text()
+    assert "padding:" in css, "theme CSS has no padding rule"
+    # The section rule must have padding (not just table/td padding)
+    assert re.search(r"section\s*\{[^}]*padding:", css, re.DOTALL), \
+        "theme CSS has no padding on the section rule"
+
+
+def test_theme_css_suppresses_title_chrome():
+    """REQ-256: title slides suppress header/footer chrome."""
+    css = THEME_CSS.read_text()
+    assert "section.title header" in css, \
+        "theme CSS does not suppress title-slide header"
+    assert "section.title footer" in css, \
+        "theme CSS does not suppress title-slide footer"
+    assert "display: none" in css, \
+        "theme CSS does not set display:none on title chrome"
+
+
+def test_theme_css_has_aspect_ratio_aware_images():
+    """REQ-255: image rules use object-fit + max-width (not blunt max-height only)."""
+    css = THEME_CSS.read_text()
+    assert "object-fit" in css, \
+        "theme CSS does not use object-fit for images"
+    assert "max-width" in css, \
+        "theme CSS does not set max-width for images"
+
+
+def test_png_aspect_ratios_sane():
+    """REQ-259/260: PNGs referenced in the marp deck have aspect ratios
+    in [0.4, 4.0] (suitable for 16:9 slides with img.tall/img.wide classes).
+    Only checks PNGs actually referenced in the current marp deck —
+    legacy/unused PNGs are not checked (GRILL revision 1)."""
+    import struct
+    deck_text = MARP_DECK.read_text()
+    # Extract all referenced PNG paths: ![...](assets/png/X.png)
+    referenced = re.findall(r'!\[[^\]]*\]\(assets/png/([^)]+\.png)\)', deck_text)
+    assert referenced, "no PNGs referenced in the marp deck"
+    for png_name in referenced:
+        png_path = ASSETS / "png" / png_name
+        assert png_path.is_file(), f"referenced PNG not found: {png_name}"
+        with open(png_path, "rb") as fh:
+            data = fh.read(24)
+        assert data[:8] == b"\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n", f"{png_name} is not a PNG"
+        w = struct.unpack(">I", data[16:20])[0]
+        h = struct.unpack(">I", data[20:24])[0]
+        ar = w / h
+        assert 0.4 <= ar <= 4.0, \
+            f"{png_name} aspect ratio {ar:.2f} outside [0.4, 4.0] ({w}x{h})"
+
+
+def test_render_slides_has_2x_scale():
+    """REQ-258: render_slides.sh uses -s 2 (2x scale) and -b transparent."""
+    text = RENDER_SCRIPT.read_text()
+    assert "-s 2" in text, "render_slides.sh does not use -s 2 (2x scale)"
+    assert "-b transparent" in text, \
+        "render_slides.sh does not use -b transparent"
+
+
+def test_render_slides_pins_cli_versions():
+    """REQ-257: render_slides.sh pins marp-cli and mermaid-cli versions
+    (no @latest)."""
+    text = RENDER_SCRIPT.read_text()
+    assert "marp-cli@" in text, "render_slides.sh does not pin marp-cli"
+    assert "mermaid-cli@" in text, \
+        "render_slides.sh does not pin mermaid-cli"
+    assert "@latest" not in text, \
+        "render_slides.sh still uses @latest (not pinned)"
+
+
+def test_render_deck_removed():
+    """REQ-257: render_deck.sh has been deleted (produced unthemed output)."""
+    old_script = ROOT / "scripts" / "render_deck.sh"
+    assert not old_script.exists(), \
+        "render_deck.sh still exists (should be deleted — produced unthemed output)"
+
+
+def test_html_embeds_theme():
+    """REQ-262: the committed HTML embeds the S&P theme (--sp-red + padding
+    in the inline <style> block)."""
+    html = (PRESENTATIONS / "nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.html").read_text()
+    assert "--sp-red" in html, "committed HTML does not embed --sp-red"
+    assert "padding:" in html, "committed HTML does not embed padding rule"
+
+
+def test_html_slide_count_matches_marp():
+    """REQ-262: the committed HTML <section> count matches the marp deck
+    slide count (title + 20 main + 1 appendix = 22)."""
+    html = (PRESENTATIONS / "nova-autonomous-cloud-delivery.html").read_text()
+    section_count = html.count("<section ")
+    deck_text = MARP_DECK.read_text()
+    main_slides = len(re.findall(r"^## Slide ", deck_text, re.MULTILINE))
+    appendix_slides = len(re.findall(r"^## Appendix ", deck_text, re.MULTILINE))
+    # +1 for the title slide (which is an H1, not "## Slide")
+    expected = main_slides + appendix_slides + 1
+    assert section_count == expected, \
+        f"HTML has {section_count} sections, expected {expected} " \
+        f"({main_slides} main + {appendix_slides} appendix + 1 title)"