Record the first consumer qualification: Cerberus on 0.3.0

README.md

@@ -101,13 +101,21 @@ The evidence model is being revised. [`docs/design/evidence-v3.md`](docs/design/
 its definition, permitted authority, execution provenance, target state, proof
 artifacts and verifier identity all refer to the same thing.
 
-**The model is implemented and activatable.** Before activation, records on disk
-are `evidence/2`; beside each one the CLI writes an evidence/3 shadow, and
-`compare` and `qualify` report how the v3 reading differs without changing the
-v2 verdict. After `verify.py activate` writes `.verification/authority.json`,
+**The model is implemented and activatable.** A project adopts it with
+`evidence = "verification.ladder.evidence/3"` in its committed policy. Until a
+checkout activates, records on disk are `evidence/2`; beside each one the CLI
+writes an evidence/3 shadow, and `compare` and `qualify` report how the v3
+reading differs, while `compose` refuses to report completion under the older
+contract. After `verify.py activate` writes `.verification/authority.json`,
 new `run`, `attest`, and `import-ci` records are `evidence/3`, and `compose`
 applies the v3 admissibility rules as the authoritative predicate. Existing
 `evidence/2` records remain readable for migration diagnostics, but cannot
 satisfy activated v3 requirements.
 
+**It has qualified against a real consumer.** Cerberus adopted evidence/3 on
+0.3.0 and reached `READY FOR HUMAN GATE TRUE` from its own local gate, a real
+GitHub Actions run and attested judgment. Six targeted mutations were each
+refused for the reason that names them. The record is in
+[`docs/qualification/cerberus-0.3.0.md`](docs/qualification/cerberus-0.3.0.md).
+
 MIT licensed; see `LICENSE`.

docs/qualification/cerberus-0.3.0.md

@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+# Consumer qualification: Cerberus on 0.3.0 (`evidence-v3.2`)
+
+The first run of the Ladder end to end outside its own repository, against a
+real consumer rather than more self-tests. Recorded on 2026-09-23.
+
+| | |
+|---|---|
+| Ladder installed | runtime `c86bf47` (0.3.0, `evidence-v3.2`), via `scripts/install-ladder.sh` from `main` at `6ea587e` |
+| Consumer | [Deep-Sixed/Cerberus](https://github.com/Deep-Sixed/Cerberus) at `3956a48`, branch `claude/verification-ladder-adoption` |
+| Consumer change | [Deep-Sixed/Cerberus#20](https://github.com/Deep-Sixed/Cerberus/pull/20): `verification.toml` and `.verification/` in `.gitignore`, and nothing else |
+| CI evidence | push run [35847808939](https://github.com/Deep-Sixed/Cerberus/actions/runs/35847808939), job `validate` |
+| Result | `READY FOR HUMAN GATE TRUE` under authoritative evidence/3; six targeted mutations each refused for the reason that names them |
+
+Nothing in the Ladder was changed to make this pass. The consumer supplied its
+own policy, and the verifier ran as installed.
+
+## 1. Install
+
+The documented path, into a clean `HOME`:
+
+```sh
+git clone https://github.com/Deep-Sixed/verification-ladder /tmp/ladder-bootstrap
+sh /tmp/ladder-bootstrap/scripts/install-ladder.sh
+~/.local/share/verification-ladder/check-install.sh
+```
+
+The checker reported `INSTALL CONFORMS`: the clone was detached at the pin with a
+replacement-free tracked tree, the skill symlink resolved into the pinned clone,
+and the invariant was present verbatim and checksum-verified (`282f2117…`). The
+installed `verify.py` reports `evidence-v3.2` / `0.3.0`.
+
+With no policy, the installed verifier refuses Cerberus: `BLOCKED`, exit 2,
+"no verification policy found". Silence is not consent.
+
+## 2. The consumer's policy
+
+Cerberus requires every step of its `validate` job as a gate:
+
+- `suite` (`scripts/ci.sh`), which also runs locally;
+- `build`, `frontend-syntax`, `compose-config`, `container-build`,
+  `container-smoke` and `secret-scan`, which are established by CI only.
+
+It adopts `verification.ladder.evidence/3` in the committed policy. It accepts CI
+evidence only from `Deep-Sixed/Cerberus` → `.github/workflows/ci.yml` → job
+`validate`, and only from push runs. Its six judgment rungs match this
+repository's.
+
+Unnamed `run:` steps are reported by the Actions API as `Run <command>`, and
+that is the string each `[ci_steps]` entry names. All seven matched the real run
+without adjustment.
+
+## 3. Pre-activation evidence and qualification
+
+All against state `3956a48 + sha256:d455437d…`:
+
+| step | result |
+|---|---|
+| `baseline` | governs all 7 gates |
+| `run` | `suite` PASS, 319 passed on managed Python 3.14.5, `drift: false`; evidence/2 record plus evidence/3 shadow, marked pre-activation |
+| `import-ci` | all 7 gates PASS, each bound to its exact step; the provenance chain checked at import |
+| `attest` ×6 | task, diff, self-review, requirements, architecture, fresh-review |
+| `compose` | **refused**: the policy adopts evidence/3 and the checkout is not activated, so completion cannot be reported under evidence/2 |
+
+`qualify` over the three records:
+
+```
+  QUALIFIED       outcome / kind / kind requirement / definition / authority
+  QUALIFIED       projection binding / target projection
+  OUT OF SCOPE    artifact chain   (no gate with evidence_mode = "execution+attestation")
+  QUALIFIED       admissibility (aggregate) / verifier contract / governance
+  QUALIFIED       ci provenance                1 agree
+  QUALIFIED       ci step                      7 agree
+  QUALIFIED 12  DISAGREEMENT 0  NOT COMPARABLE 0  UNCOVERED 0  OUT OF SCOPE 1
+  M3 QUALIFIED             TRUE
+```
+
+`activate` → `AUTHORITY SWITCH TRUE`. The declaration records the 12 qualified
+predicates and `artifact chain` as out of scope, which composition enforces if
+Cerberus later adds a behavioural gate.
+
+## 4. Authoritative evidence/3
+
+`run`, `import-ci` for the same push run, and the six `attest` rungs were
+re-run. All three records are `evidence/3`, `evidence-v3.2`, authoritative, and
+PASS.
+
+```
+VERIFICATION STATE: 3956a48c83a9 + sha256:d455437d…  [evidence/3]
+  * build, compose-config, container-build, container-smoke,
+    frontend-syntax, secret-scan        PASS  execution  ci
+  * suite                               PASS  execution  ci, local
+    six judgment rungs                  PASS  attestation
+  BLOCKED REQUIRED GATES   0
+  STALE EVIDENCE           0
+  STATE MATCH              TRUE
+  EVIDENCE ADMISSIBLE      TRUE
+  DEFINITION CHANGE        NONE
+  CLEAN CLIMB              TRUE
+  READY FOR HUMAN GATE     TRUE
+```
+
+## 5. Refusals
+
+Each mutation changed one dimension, used copies of the records, and was undone
+before the next:
+
+| # | mutation | outcome |
+|---|---|---|
+| M1 | a tracked source file edited | `STALE EVIDENCE 3`, `STATE MATCH FALSE`, not ready |
+| M2 | the CI record names another repository | "run belongs to 'someone-else/Cerberus', the repository under verification is 'Deep-Sixed/Cerberus'" |
+| M3 | the CI job ran another commit | "job ran 000000000000, the run names 3956a48c83a9" |
+| M4 | a record stamped with the pre-hardening contract | "records were produced under different verifier contracts (evidence-v3.1, evidence-v3.2)" |
+| M5 | `main`'s green push run imported for this head | "run is for a0b39996bda0, expected 3956a48c83a9", and **no record written** |
+| M6 | `.verification/authority.json` deleted | "this checkout carries no activation record … completion cannot be reported under verification.ladder.evidence/2" |
+
+With the untouched evidence restored, `compose` read `READY FOR HUMAN GATE TRUE`
+again, and Cerberus had no tracked changes.
+
+## Observations
+
+None of these is a defect that let bad evidence through. Each is recorded rather
+than fixed here, so that qualifying a consumer doesn't turn into tailoring the
+verifier until that consumer passes.
+
+- **`compose` finds the baseline beside the first record it is given.** With the
+  first record outside `.verification/`, it reports `GOVERNING BASELINE MISSING`
+  even though the baseline exists beside the others. This fails closed, but the
+  message sends the reader looking for a baseline that is present.
+- **The consumer's local gate needs the consumer's toolchain.** `scripts/ci.sh`
+  needs uv 0.11.29 and a uv-managed Python 3.14.5. The verifier runs whatever
+  `PATH` provides, and the record's `output_tail` carries the toolchain line
+  `scripts/ci.sh` prints. The Ladder itself needs only `git` and Python 3.11+.
+- **The pinned checkout carries an older pair of scripts.** Since #7,
+  `scripts/` inside `~/src/verification-ladder` is the pin's own pair, which
+  expects an older pin. Run there, the checker reports `INSTALL DOES NOT CONFORM`
+  rather than passing. `INSTALL.md` says to run the bootstrap copies.
+- **This session's git access could not push the `v0.3.0` tag** (HTTP 403, the
+  same restriction that refuses branch deletion). The installer pins by commit,
+  so qualification did not depend on the tag. Tagging `6ea587e` is left to the
+  maintainer.
+
+## Not covered
+
+- **Behavioural gates.** Cerberus declares none, so the artifact chain was out
+  of scope rather than exercised on real artifacts. It is covered by this
+  repository's own suite and by `tests/test_m4_activation.py`.
+- **Gate timeouts and bounded execution**, which are deferred in the design
+  (§G3–§G4).