docs(W4): apply fred's six contract decisions from PR #1350 comment 23693

A - docs/README.md:149-190 rewritten. It prescribed a competing front-matter schema
    (title/type/audience/status/source_of_truth) adopted by 4 of 128 live documents. Two
    documented conventions in one repo is the defect this pass removes, so the README now
    documents the contract and the 4 files convert in the same commit: `type` dropped
    (kind replaces it), `title`/`audience`/`source_of_truth` kept.
B - source-of-truth leaves the kind enum, which is now 6 values, and returns as an orthogonal
    boolean. kind was carrying two independent facts. docs/requirements/native-kanban-sot.md
    is stamped `kind: spec` + `source_of_truth: true`, which is what it always was.
C - status gains `completed`. Applied to the two executed plans, on artifact evidence rather
    than on their own say-so: --purpose push|merge ships in ci-queue-wait.sh, and every section
    the README plan specifies exists in docs/README.md today.
D - kind follows content, never filename. docs/native-kanban-sot/TASKS.md is `kind: spec`
    because its body says "a build plan, not a task tracker". The name stays wrong; that is a
    rename and it is out of scope here.
E - the contract covers .md only, written into the README as a decision with vision's
    YAML.parse measurement as the reason, so the omission does not read as an oversight.
F - channel-protocol.md guide -> spec. Applied, with a correction the reviewer should see: the
    ruling cites "7 normative MUSTs" and there are ZERO uppercase RFC2119 terms in that file.
    Control: the identical grep returns 25 lines in docs/requirements/native-kanban-sot.md. The
    citation half of the finding does hold and is larger than stated. Consequence recorded in
    the worklist: the file's own banner now contradicts its header.

Verified: 128 live .md under docs/ (127 baseline + this PR's worklist), 107 stamped, 0 invalid
kinds, 17 operator-held + 3 supersede-stamp deferrals + 1 generated = 21 unstamped. 107+21=128.
Control: the verifier reports valid=False when a kind is corrupted to `nonsense`, so the
0-invalid result is a real result. prettier --check clean across docs/.

docs/ADMIN-GUIDE/security/sso-providers.md

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 kind: guide
 status: active
 title: SSO Providers
-type: runbook
 audience: admin
 source_of_truth: false
 ---

docs/DEVELOPER-GUIDE/architecture/channel-protocol.md

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-kind: guide
+kind: spec
 status: active
 ---
 

docs/DEVELOPER-GUIDE/testing/lease-broker-operations.md

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 kind: guide
 status: active
 title: Lease-broker operations
-type: runbook
 audience: developer
 source_of_truth: false
 ---

docs/README.md

@@ -146,21 +146,51 @@ Every canonical page should:
 7. Include an owner or maintenance responsibility for operationally sensitive content.
 8. Link to the relevant book index and related canonical pages.
 
-Recommended front matter for canonical pages:
+Required front matter for every canonical page:
 
 ```yaml
 ---
-title: Human-readable page title
+kind: tracking | projection | spec | guide | record | superseded
-type: guide
+status: active # or: completed | superseded-by: <path>
-audience: developer
+source_of_truth: false # optional, defaults false
-status: current
+audience: developer # optional: user | admin | developer | all
-source_of_truth: false
+title: Human-readable page title # optional
 ---
 ```
 
-Allowed `type` values include `guide`, `concept`, `reference`, `decision`, `rfc`, and `runbook`. Allowed `audience` values are `user`, `admin`, `developer`, and `all`. Allowed `status` values are `current`, `draft`, `deprecated`, and `historical`.
+`kind` says what the document **is**. One value, required, and it follows the document's content,
+never its filename: a file named `TASKS.md` whose body says "this is a build plan, not a task
+tracker" is a `spec`.
 
-Indexes may omit front matter when their purpose is self-evident. A page with normative authority must explicitly identify the authority it owns and the boundaries of that authority.
+| kind       | rule                                                             |
+| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| tracking   | Live state, single-writer. Never a spec                          |
+| projection | Generated. Never hand-edited. MUST have a drift test             |
+| spec       | How to build one goal or workstream                              |
+| guide      | Explains use. Decides nothing                                    |
+| record     | What happened. Never authoritative, never updated after the fact |
+| superseded | Kept for history, and NAMES its replacement                      |
+
+`source_of_truth` is a separate boolean because authority is **orthogonal to kind**. A document can
+be a `spec` and still be the thing everything else answers to;
+`docs/requirements/native-kanban-sot.md` is exactly that. Folding authority into `kind` forced one
+field to carry two independent facts, which is why an earlier draft of this contract could not
+classify that file at all.
+
+`status` has three values. `active` means in force. `completed` means the work the document
+describes landed and the document is now finished rather than stale; executed implementation plans
+take this. `superseded-by: <path>` replaces `status` entirely and names the replacement.
+
+**This contract covers `.md` files only.** It is not an omission: a YAML document cannot carry YAML
+front matter. The repository's own `[email protected]` throws `Source contains multiple documents` on a
+front-mattered `.yaml`, and `parseNorthStar` (`packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts:242`) is a live
+consumer that would break. `.yaml` sources declare their own kind inside the document or not at all.
+
+A `parent` field is planned and is deliberately not yet required; it lands once the docs flatten
+settles the paths it would point at.
+
+Indexes may omit front matter when their purpose is self-evident. A page with normative authority
+must explicitly identify the authority it owns and the boundaries of that authority.
 
 ## Obsidian and link conventions
 

docs/USER-GUIDE/getting-started/quickstart.md

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 kind: guide
 status: active
 title: Mosaic Stack Quickstart
-type: guide
 audience: user
 source_of_truth: false
 ---

docs/USER-GUIDE/product/web-dashboard.md

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 kind: guide
 status: active
 title: Mosaic web dashboard
-type: guide
 audience: user
 source_of_truth: false
 ---

docs/native-kanban-sot/TASKS.md

@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+---
+kind: spec
+status: active
+---
+
 # Native Kanban/SOT P0–P3 — Dependency-Ordered Build Slices
 
 **Status:** CANON INDEPENDENTLY APPROVED; PUBLICATION IN PROGRESS

docs/plans/2026-08-10-ci-queue-purpose-implementation.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 kind: spec
-status: active
+status: completed
 ---
 
 # CI Queue Guard Purpose Semantics Implementation Plan

docs/plans/2026-08-10-docs-structure-readme.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 kind: spec
-status: active
+status: completed
 ---
 
 # Documentation Structure README Implementation Plan

docs/plans/2026-08-20_w4-document-contract-worklist.md

@@ -19,15 +19,16 @@ files. The flatten plan says 130; the arithmetic does not close (318 total = 134
 
 ## Applied
 
-| bucket                            | count | note                                      |
+| bucket                      | count | note                                   |
-| --------------------------------- | ----- | ----------------------------------------- |
+| --------------------------- | ----- | -------------------------------------- |
-| stamped `kind` + `status: active` | 103   | this pass                                 |
+| stamped `kind` + `status`   | 107   | this pass                              |
-| held, operator judgement          | 19    | section "Needs a decision" below          |
+| held, operator judgement    | 17    | section "Needs a decision" below       |
-| held, cites the moving path       | 3     | the three `SUPERSEDED` TASKS.md stamps    |
+| held, cites the moving path | 3     | the three `SUPERSEDED` TASKS.md stamps |
-| held, generated file              | 1     | `docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.md`, see below     |
+| held, generated file        | 1     | `docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.md`, see below  |
-| already stamped in W1             | 1     | `docs/fleet/FLEET-DOCTRINE.md`, untouched |
 
-Kinds applied: 54 `guide`, 34 `record`, 9 `spec`, 6 `tracking`.
+128 live `.md` under `docs/`, which is the 127 baseline plus this document. 107 + 17 + 3 + 1 = 128.
+
+Kinds: 53 `guide`, 34 `record`, 13 `spec`, 7 `tracking`. Status: 105 `active`, 2 `completed`.
 
 `parent` is **not** applied. It points at `docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.yaml`, which the flatten moves
 to `docs/NORTH_STAR.yaml`. Stamping it now means re-pointing 127 files by hand later. It lands
@@ -269,3 +270,57 @@ that inverts on reading would be worse than leaving it stamped and named.
 
 vision's C2 (no consumer), C4 (holding `parent` blocks nothing) and C5 (a front-mattered `.yaml`
 throws in `YAML.parse`) all reverified. C1's arithmetic closes at the stated ref.
+
+## fred's six decisions, applied
+
+Ruled on PR #1350 as comment 23693. Each is applied here; each is his call, not mine, and any of
+them is one line to reverse.
+
+| #   | decision                                                                                                        | applied as                                                                                                       |
+| --- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| A   | New contract wins; `docs/README.md` is rewritten in this PR and the 4 old-schema files convert in the same pass | `docs/README.md:149-190` rewritten; `type:` dropped from the 4 files, `title`/`audience`/`source_of_truth` kept  |
+| B   | `source-of-truth` leaves the `kind` enum and returns as an orthogonal boolean                                   | enum is now 6 values; `docs/requirements/native-kanban-sot.md` stamped `kind: spec` + `source_of_truth: true`    |
+| C   | `status` gains a third value, `completed`                                                                       | the two executed plans take it (evidence below)                                                                  |
+| D   | Kind follows content, never filename                                                                            | `docs/native-kanban-sot/TASKS.md` stamped `kind: spec`, because its body says "a build plan, not a task tracker" |
+| E   | The contract covers `.md` only, stated as a decision rather than left as a gap                                  | written into `docs/README.md` with vision's `YAML.parse` measurement as the reason                               |
+| F   | `channel-protocol.md` becomes `spec`                                                                            | applied, with one correction and one consequence below                                                           |
+
+### C: evidence the two plans are complete
+
+Neither plan self-declares completion, so this is measured from the artifacts rather than taken
+from the documents:
+
+- `2026-08-10-ci-queue-purpose-implementation.md` — the shipped guard carries the flag the plan
+  specifies: `ci-queue-wait.sh --purpose push|merge`, exercised in this session at rc=0.
+- `2026-08-10-docs-structure-readme.md` — every section the plan specifies exists in
+  `docs/README.md` today, including the Obsidian conventions and the source-of-truth precedence
+  block. This PR is editing the artifact that plan produced.
+
+### F: the MUST count does not hold, and the fix changes shape
+
+Applied as ruled. But the ruling's stated grounds are half wrong, and the half that survives points
+somewhere else, so this is the one to look at again.
+
+**Zero** uppercase RFC2119 terms in `channel-protocol.md`, not seven. Control: the identical grep
+returns 25 lines in `docs/requirements/native-kanban-sot.md`. The seven lowercase "must"
+occurrences all _disclaim_ authority: "must not be used as instructions", "must not be treated as
+current behavior", "must remain planned work".
+
+**The citation half holds and is bigger than stated** (table in the section above).
+
+**The consequence of applying F:** the file is now stamped `spec` while its own banner says "it is
+not a runtime registry, an API contract, a requirements document." Header and body now contradict
+each other, which is the defect this pass exists to remove. Either the banner is edited in this PR,
+or the three documents calling it canonical are the ones that are wrong. That is a content call and
+it is left to the reviewer rather than folded into a stamping pass.
+
+## Q1 — the one question this pass cannot answer for itself
+
+`docs/README.md` now **prescribes** the document contract, and it is the only live document under
+`docs/` with no `kind`. It is still on the operator-held list, so it is left unstamped.
+
+By decision B it is arguably `kind: spec` with `source_of_truth: true` for the subject "document
+contract". The reason this is not applied unilaterally: it decides which document outranks the
+other when `docs/README.md` and `docs/plans/2026-08-20_stack-docs-flatten-and-alignment.md` disagree
+about the contract, and they already differ (the plan's enum has 7 values, the README's now has 6).
+That is an authority question, not a classification one.

docs/requirements/native-kanban-sot.md

@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+---
+kind: spec
+status: active
+source_of_truth: true
+---
+
 # Native Kanban and Canonical Task SOT — Canonical Requirements
 
 **Status:** RATIFIED and independently approved for canonical publication under issue [#751](https://git.mosaicstack.dev/mosaicstack/stack/issues/751)