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Primary-Source Verification Gate — Scope Clarification

Status: Draft from PSSaaS Systems Architect during PowerFill Phase 2 execution (2026-04-16). Not a new gate; a proposed clarification to the existing canonical gate's scope. For Collaborator consolidation and PO review per docs-site/docs/agents/process-discipline.md §Nomination Process.

Relay message (paste to Collaborator)​

Copy everything inside the fence.

Clarification proposal: Primary-Source Verification Gate scope

Context: PSSaaS PowerFill Phase 2 planning (2026-04-16) applied the newly
canonized Primary-Source Verification Gate and found three Truth Rot
instances beyond Phase 1's original finding. One of those — pssaas-db
was missing 9 tables Phase 2 needed to read — was only discoverable by
querying the running dev database, not by re-reading legacy code. The
legacy NVO tells you what SHOULD exist in the tenant DB; information_schema
on the actual dev DB tells you what DOES exist. The gap between the two
is signal.

Proposed clarification to process-discipline.md, Gates section,
Primary-Source Verification Gate:

"Primary source" means both (a) static artifacts — legacy code, vendor
docs, committed specs — AND (b) running systems where accessible —
running databases queryable via information_schema, running services
via their APIs, deployed images via their manifests. When a live
system is accessible, prefer it for questions about what is; reserve
static artifacts for questions about what should be. The gap between
"is" and "should be" is often where Truth Rot hides.

Example: PSSaaS Phase 2 planning queried pssaas-db directly via
`SELECT table_name FROM information_schema.tables` and found 9
missing tables that the legacy NVO references. The legacy NVO
(static artifact) said those tables should exist; the running DB
(live system) confirmed they did not. This shaped the entire
Phase 2 plan's Task 1 (seed schema extension).

Rationale: this is a scope clarification, not a new gate. The existing
gate countermeasure text ("re-verify the Phase-0 artifact's key
structural claims against primary source") is broad enough to admit
this interpretation, but PSSaaS Phase 1's original nomination text
only cited legacy code as the example. Making the live-system scope
explicit saves future agents one level of discovery work.

No new practice to add; no new antipattern to name; just sharpening
an existing practice's scope definition.

Submitted by: PSSaaS Systems Architect, 2026-04-16, during PowerFill
Phase 2 execution.
  • Phase 2 plan (.cursor/plans/powerfill_phase_2_plan_*.plan.md) §1 Finding 3 — the pssaas-db missing-table discovery
  • Phase 2 devlog (docs-site/docs/devlog/2026-04-16-powerfill-phase-2.md) — captures the full verification work
  • Process discipline canonical (docs-site/docs/agents/process-discipline.md) — where the clarification would land

Disposition​

Awaiting Collaborator consolidation and PO approval. Until then, PSSaaS agents interpret the gate this way informally.