Archon Framework Changelog

All notable changes to the Archon framework (the portable governance kit — the set of files and mechanisms produced by scripts/export-archon-core.mjs) are documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

What counts as an Archon change? Any modification to files shipped by the export pipeline (soul, domain lenses, commands, agents, rules, skills, templates, portable helpers, docs under docs/archon/). Changes to host-project application code do not belong here.

Versioning Scheme

Archon uses a single MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH version recorded in .archon/VERSION and echoed into every standalone export package:

• MAJOR — breaking changes to the governance contract, file layout, or wake protocol that require adopters to migrate manually.
• MINOR — new mechanisms, new ADRs, new skills, or new domain lenses added in a backward-compatible way.
• PATCH — documentation fixes, template clarifications, bug fixes in portable helpers, or visual asset updates.

Unreleased

Added

• (Planned) archon init / archon doctor / archon export CLI (ROI-2) for one-command adoption without needing to clone the framework's source repo.

Audited

• Template cleanliness: docs/archon/templates/{manifest,decisions,debt,drift,memos}.template.md confirmed free of host-project-specific content. All concept examples are either HTML-comment placeholders or intentionally generic teaching vocabulary (e.g., Booking, Launch Prep, Capability Package in user-journeys).

Changed

Fixed

[0.2.0] — 2026-06-08

Memory-layer upgrade derived from a comparative study of Claude Code's project-level memory + ADR practices (see ADR-31 / ADR-32 and the Negative ADR-N6 / ADR-N7).

Added

• Shipped state templates (ADR-31): all five seedable ledgers now have real, sha256-verified templates in the core-templates module and export_manifest.required_files — manifest.template.md, decisions.template.md, and (completing the thesis after the install-agent-cursor sandbox showed LLM agents under-seed hand-built ledgers) drift.template.md, debt.template.md, memos.template.md. install.md Step 7 seeds manifest / debt / drift / memos / decisions by copying the canonical templates verbatim instead of constructing them from prose, so a fresh install passes archon-check.py deterministically — the drift **drift: 0** sentinel, the memos ## Archive Index section, and the debt <!-- no-active-debt --> marker no longer depend on prose adherence.
• Onboarding codebase self-scan (ADR-31): install.md Step 7b — the install agent runs a read-only scan (package manifests, directory layout, README terms) and pre-fills the manifest's Tech Stack, Directory Structure, Concept Glossary candidates, and Source Modularity Map seeds.
• Path-scoped manifest slices (ADR-32): optional .archon/manifest/slices/<slug>.md fragments scoped to a subtree via a scope: glob, indexed in the root manifest ## Manifest Slices section and loaded on demand during pre-scan. New conditional manifest_slices contract block + assert_manifest_slices in archon-check.py (skipped when the directory is absent, so single-scope projects are unaffected).

Changed

• soul.md §Knowledge Hygiene gains a Path-scoped slices pre-emptive rule; core soul cap raised 310→315 (ADR-32 rationale recorded in file_budgets).
• archon-demand.md pre-scan gains a Manifest slice scan step and the modularity_probe becomes slice-aware (no pinned substring disturbed).
• .archon/VERSION 0.1.0 → 0.2.0.

0.1.0 — 2026-05-04

First tagged release of the Archon framework. The mechanism set reflects roughly three months of iteration inside the host project (ADR-01 through ADR-26).

Added

• Soul model — cognitive core with identity axioms, ownership contract, cognitive loop, autonomy principles, evolution axis, and guardrail system (soul.md + route-scoped soul/delivery.md · soul/review.md).
• Three-tier directory layout — .archon/ (core + project state) + platform directory (.cursor/ / .claude/) + docs/archon/ (reference docs).
• Cognitive state files — manifest / drift / debt / memos / decisions six-piece set with hot-summary regeneration from immutable records (ADR-22 records-folder).
• Delivery lifecycle — Decision Gate (Verdict) · Validation Gate · Close-Out with mechanical outputs verified by Claim Verifier (ADR-27).
• Blink Dispatch — thin-slice triage gate for close-out sub-agent dispatch (ADR-17).
• Constraint pyramid — L0–L5 enforcement levels with Lint-Rule Bridge for promoting skills to linter rules (ADR-20).
• Preservation Axis — load-bearing rule registry with anchor + body-shape test
  • portable contract (ADR-28).
• Source Modularity Probe — mechanical architectural-debt probe at Decision Gate (ADR-29).
• Run-State v2 — ephemeral per-delivery state under .archon/runs/<run_id>/ with JSON schema (ADR-14 extended).
• Domain Lenses — pre-Verdict lens index with five lenses shipped: dev, design, platform, ecosystem, capability.
• Portable helpers — archon-check.py (governance contract), archon-check.sh (bash port), archon-run-state.mjs, archon-records.mjs, archon-claim-verifier.mjs.
• Two-platform export — scripts/export-archon-core.mjs produces Cursor and Claude Code ready kits.
• Complete documentation set — 18 markdown files under docs/archon/ covering architecture, setup, decisions (10 public ADRs), user journeys (16), concepts, and adoption quickstart.
• Comic illustrations — 26 generated comic explainer images across README, architecture, setup, user-journeys, decisions, and adoption quickstart.

Governance

• Apache-2.0 License.
• NOTICE file describing third-party attributions.
• Portable governance contract (.archon/contracts/governance-contract.yaml) verified by both Node and Python runtimes.

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