ADR 0290 and 0291: the knowledge base holds each record's structure and clauses, and an issue lives whole in the tracker (research 045)

00-META/checks/README.md

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ indistinguishable from one that cannot.
 | `live-citation` | a governing document citing a **superseded** record names its replacement in the same paragraph | `01-to-be/README.md` citing ADR 0022 as live guidance |
 | `supersession` | if A says it was superseded by B, B says it supersedes A | ADR 0012 never declared that it superseded 0011 |
 | `partial-supersession` | a record's `supersedes-in-part:` names records that exist, each carrying a dated *Superseded in part* note naming it under its heading; and every such note is named back by its superseder's field | 11 of 21 partial supersessions had no note on the record they change, and 6 more were said only in prose ([research 045](../../01-RESEARCH/045-a-knowledge-base-the-mesh-writes/00-overview.md)) |
+| `clauses` | an accepted record dated from 2026-10-11 writes its `## Decision` section as numbered clauses with a bold lead ([ADR 0290](../../02-DECISIONS/0290-the-knowledge-base-holds-each-records-structure-and-clauses-and-hq-keeps-its-reasoning.md) rule 3) | 226 of 263 decision records wrote their decision as prose, so the knowledge base must draft their clauses |
 | `numbering` | the number in the filename is the number in the heading | — |
 | `topics` | every record names a topic of the reading order in `02-DECISIONS/README.md` | — |
 | *(index.py)* | the reading order is written, every record's topic is one of it, and the README stores no list of records ([ADR 0248](../../02-DECISIONS/0248-the-decision-index-is-generated-when-it-is-read-and-never-stored.md)) | a stored list made every two open decisions conflict ([issue 297](../../04-ISSUES/297-two-open-decisions-always-conflict/00-report.md)); it failed on the README of `main` before the list was removed |

00-META/checks/records.py

@@ -332,6 +332,32 @@ def check_partial_supersession(failures, records):
                 )
 
 
+CLAUSES_FROM = "2026-10-11"
+DECISION_SECTION = re.compile(r"^## Decision[^\n]*\n(.*?)(?=^## |\Z)", re.M | re.S)
+CLAUSE = re.compile(r"^\d+\. \*\*", re.M)
+
+
+def check_clauses(failures, records):
+    """A record dated from 2026-10-11 writes its decision as numbered clauses (ADR 0290 rule 3).
+
+    The knowledge base reads a decision's clauses from the merged text, so a clause's wording is the reviewed
+    one. 226 of 263 records written before then are prose, and their clauses had to be drafted and confirmed
+    instead; a new record is not added to them.
+    """
+    for number, record in records.items():
+        front = record["front"]
+        if front.get("status") != "accepted" or str(front.get("date", "")) < CLAUSES_FROM:
+            continue
+        section = DECISION_SECTION.search(record["text"])
+        if not section or not CLAUSE.search(section.group(1)):
+            failures.add(
+                "clauses",
+                rel(record["path"]),
+                "dated from 2026-10-11, and its `## Decision` section has no numbered clause "
+                "('1. **…**'); write the decision as numbered clauses with a bold lead",
+            )
+
+
 def check_topics(failures, records):
     """Every record names a topic of the reading order.
 
@@ -475,6 +501,7 @@ def main():
     check_live_citations(failures, records)
     check_supersession_symmetry(failures, records)
     check_partial_supersession(failures, records)
+    check_clauses(failures, records)
     check_numbering(failures, records)
     check_topics(failures, records)
     check_status_against_code(failures)

00-META/glossary.md

@@ -566,7 +566,8 @@ asking, never the act. **Decided by** ADR 0152, 0175, 0234, 0259, 0272.
 ## The record — how this repository works
 
 Not a domain of the mesh but of the way it is built, listed because its words meet the mesh's.
-**Recorded in** this repository and the issue tracker. **Decided by** ADR 0019, 0080, 0244, 0275, 0284.
+**Recorded in** this repository, the issue tracker and the knowledge base. **Decided by** ADR 0019, 0080, 0244, 0275,
+0284, 0290, 0291.
 
 - **research effort**, **graduation**, **hand-off**, **playbook** — an investigation in `01-RESEARCH/`;
   its closing into a decision and a design; a design given to a code repository; a documented workflow
@@ -574,10 +575,18 @@ Not a domain of the mesh but of the way it is built, listed because its words me
 - **decision record** — one numbered file in `02-DECISIONS/`, never rewritten: **superseded** by a later
   record, or corrected by a marked **progressive insight**. Always qualified in this repository: bare
   *record* has other meanings (see [Homonyms](#homonyms)).
+- **clause** — one numbered statement a decision record makes, with its own status (`in force`, `changed`,
+  `superseded`): a later record may change one clause and leave the rest
+  ([ADR 0290](../02-DECISIONS/0290-the-knowledge-base-holds-each-records-structure-and-clauses-and-hq-keeps-its-reasoning.md)). Not a *rule*, which is a line of
+  `00-META/how-we-build.md`.
+- **knowledge base** — the role that holds the structure of the decision records and research efforts (number,
+  status, topic, typed links) and each decision's clauses, and answers what holds: the seat `knowledge-base`, held by
+  the module `mesh-knowledge` ([55 — The knowledge base](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/55-the-knowledge-base.md)). This
+  repository keeps the reasoning. Not **the record**, the literal reader of this repository.
 - **design** — a document in `03-DESIGN/`: **as-is** (what runs) or **to-be** (what is being built).
-- **issue** — a question about the mesh that someone must answer, numbered and tracked by the issue tracker;
-  one at the level of design or governance also has a report in `04-ISSUES/` under the same number
-  ([ADR 0275](../02-DECISIONS/0275-the-mesh-numbers-and-tracks-its-issues-in-a-module-of-its-own-and-hq-keeps-only-the-narrative-of-a-design-or-governance-issue.md)).
+- **issue** — a question about the mesh that someone must answer, numbered and tracked by the issue tracker, which
+  holds it whole: its report, diagnosis and resolution included ([ADR 0291](../02-DECISIONS/0291-an-issue-lives-whole-in-the-issue-tracker.md));
+  the folders in `04-ISSUES/` are imported there and removed.
   An **incident** is a past event that taught a rule.
 - **issue tracker** — the role that holds the mesh's issues and hands out their numbers: the seat `issue-tracker`,
   held by the module `mesh-issues` ([53 — The issue tracker](../03-DESIGN/01-to-be/53-the-issue-tracker.md)).
@@ -633,7 +642,7 @@ renaming one sense, the old sense moves to a *Not:* line and becomes mechanical.
 | | the OCI registry | **artifact store** | Change and delivery |
 | | a node's own copy of its last declaration | **last declaration** | Placement |
 | record | a numbered decision | **decision record** | The record |
-| | the knowledge base agents search first | **the record** (the `records` module) | Operator and conversation |
+| | the literal reader of this repository, searched first for a symptom | **the record** (the `records` module) | Operator and conversation |
 | | the upgrade policy that sends nowhere | `record` | Module |
 | check | a pull request's two statuses | **merge check**, **merge gate**, **repository check** | Change and delivery |
 | | a delivery group's verdict | **composed check** | Change and delivery |