dont-rule-claim-schema Specification

Purpose

TBD - created by archiving change add-rule-claim-schema. Update Purpose after archive.

The system SHALL define a six-slot semantic schema for claims that describe the behavior of a dont rule. The six slots are: INVOCATION MODEL, TRIGGER CONDITION, PRECONDITION GUARD, EVALUATION MODEL, MODE/CONFIG, and BOUNDARY. TRIGGER CONDITION and MODE/CONFIG SHALL be mandatory — a rule claim that omits both is incomplete by definition. MODE/CONFIG is satisfied by either a [CONFIG] marker (covers enablement: on/off by default), a [MODE] marker (covers severity behavior across project modes), or both — either sub-marker alone meets the requirement. INVOCATION MODEL, PRECONDITION GUARD, EVALUATION MODEL, and BOUNDARY SHALL be optional, each carrying an explicit default that the rule-claim-structure rule applies when the slot is absent.

The rule-claim-structure rule SHALL validate mandatory slot marker presence only. It SHALL NOT evaluate the accuracy of slot content — a structurally complete claim with incorrect content passes the rule. Content accuracy is a human responsibility enforced through the claim evidence and doubt mechanisms.

Slot defaults when omitted:

INVOCATION MODEL: the rule runs as a background lint evaluated by dont prime
PRECONDITION GUARD: the rule evaluates all inputs without a silent-skip threshold
EVALUATION MODEL: the rule is stateless and demand-evaluated
BOUNDARY: no explicit sibling-rule boundary exists for this rule

Scenario: trigger slot absence is a schema violation

WHEN a claim is tagged as a rule claim and does not contain a TRIGGER CONDITION slot marker
THEN the rule-claim-structure rule flags it as a schema violation

Scenario: mode/config slot absence is a schema violation

WHEN a claim is tagged as a rule claim and contains neither a MODE slot marker nor a CONFIG slot marker
THEN the rule-claim-structure rule flags it as a schema violation

Scenario: optional slot omission applies known default

WHEN a rule claim omits the EVALUATION MODEL slot
THEN the claim is treated as asserting that the rule is stateless and demand-evaluated
AND the rule-claim-structure rule does not flag the omission as a violation

Scenario: optional slot omission is not a violation when default is correct

WHEN a rule claim for ungrounded omits the INVOCATION MODEL slot
THEN the claim inherits the background-lint default
AND no warning is emitted because the default is correct for ungrounded

Requirement: Rule claim tagging via term dependency

The system SHALL support tagging a claim as a rule claim by including the term:uuid of the rule-claim-type term in its depends_on entries. The rule-claim-type term SHOULD be defined with dont define before creating rule claims; the resulting term:uuid is the correct depends_on value. Using the bare string rule-claim-type or an unregistered CURIE as a depends_on entry will trigger the unresolved-terms rule and is not a valid tag. The rule-claim-structure rule SHALL only evaluate claims that carry this tag; untagged claims SHALL be ignored by the rule regardless of their content.

Scenario: tagged claim is evaluated by rule-claim-structure

WHEN a claim lists rule-claim-type in its depends_on
AND the rule-claim-structure rule is enabled
THEN the rule checks the claim’s text for mandatory slot markers

Scenario: untagged claim is not evaluated

WHEN a claim does not include rule-claim-type in its depends_on
THEN rule-claim-structure ignores the claim even if its text resembles a rule description

Requirement: Slot marker format and template

The system SHALL publish a canonical slot marker format for rule claim text. The format SHALL use bracketed uppercase slot symbols ([TRIGGER], [MODE], [CONFIG], [GUARD], [EVAL], [INVOCATION], [BOUNDARY]) as lexical markers that both human authors and the rule-claim-structure rule use to identify slot coverage. The canonical template SHALL be published in .dont/AGENTS.md (in the rule claim authoring section) and accessible via dont help --howto rule-claims.

Canonical template:

[INVOCATION] <rule-name> runs as: background lint | opt-in via `dont check --<flag>`
[CONFIG]     Enabled by default: yes | no
[MODE]       In permissive mode: warn | strict | same as strict | n/a
[TRIGGER]    Fires when: <condition>
[GUARD]      Silently skips: <inputs>   (omit line if no guard)
[EVAL]       Evaluation model: stateless demand | event-driven on <event>   (omit if stateless demand)
[BOUNDARY]   Does not handle: <edge cases>; defers to <other-rule>   (omit if no boundary)

Optional slots SHALL be documented as omit-when-default to reduce claim verbosity.

Scenario: template is discoverable via help

WHEN the caller runs dont help --howto rule-claims
THEN the output includes the canonical template and per-slot guidance on when optional slots become load-bearing

Scenario: template is in agent-facing docs

WHEN an agent reads .dont/AGENTS.md
THEN the rule claim authoring section includes the canonical template

Scenario: claim authored from template passes structural validation

WHEN an author creates a rule claim using the canonical template with both mandatory slots filled
AND the claim includes the rule-claim-type term:uuid in its depends_on
THEN rule-claim-structure does not flag the claim

dont