diff --git a/docs/plans/CONDUCTOR.md b/docs/plans/CONDUCTOR.md
index 4f047924..0d5deff5 100644
--- a/docs/plans/CONDUCTOR.md
+++ b/docs/plans/CONDUCTOR.md
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 
 How the stack orchestrates headless pi workers to do work on itself.
 
+## Role contracts
+
+Role authority is declared in role contracts, one file per role, under
+`roles/` (e.g. `roles/conductor-policy.json`). The repository root holds
+only first-class, bootstrap-required configuration; role contracts are
+tracked, versioned files whose changes arrive as reviewed commits.
+
 ## Roles
 
 | Role | Runs where | Powers | Never has |
diff --git a/conductor-policy.json b/roles/conductor-policy.json
similarity index 100%
rename from conductor-policy.json
rename to roles/conductor-policy.json
diff --git a/scripts/conductor-apply.sh b/scripts/conductor-apply.sh
index 3492dd92..0b305473 100755
--- a/scripts/conductor-apply.sh
+++ b/scripts/conductor-apply.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #
 # Usage: scripts/conductor-apply.sh <runId> [--dry-run]
 #
-# Policy (conductor-policy.json in the target repo, strictly validated):
+# Policy (roles/conductor-policy.json in the target repo, strictly validated):
 #   autoApply.enabled       master switch
 #   autoApply.allowedPaths  glob allowlist ('dir/**' = everything under dir)
 #   autoApply.suites        suite scripts that must pass AFTER applying
@@ -27,19 +27,19 @@ cd "$TARGET_ROOT"
 
 fail() { echo "conductor-apply: $*" >&2; exit "${2:-1}"; }
 [ -d .git ] || fail "target is not a git repository: $TARGET_ROOT" 4
-[ -f conductor-policy.json ] || fail "no conductor-policy.json in target" 2
+[ -f roles/conductor-policy.json ] || fail "no roles/conductor-policy.json in target" 2
 
 # ---- policy (strict) ----
 POLICY_JSON="$(node -e '
 const fs = require("fs");
-const p = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("conductor-policy.json", "utf8"));
+const p = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("roles/conductor-policy.json", "utf8"));
 if (p.policyVersion !== 1) process.exit(3);
 if (!p.autoApply || typeof p.autoApply.enabled !== "boolean" || !Array.isArray(p.autoApply.allowedPaths) || !Array.isArray(p.autoApply.suites)) process.exit(3);
 for (const g of p.autoApply.allowedPaths) {
   if (typeof g !== "string" || !/^[A-Za-z0-9_.*/-]+$/.test(g) || g.startsWith("/") || g.includes("..")) process.exit(3);
 }
 console.log(JSON.stringify(p.autoApply));
-')" || fail "invalid conductor-policy.json" 2
+')" || fail "invalid roles/conductor-policy.json" 2
 
 ENABLED="$(node -e 'console.log(JSON.parse(process.argv[1]).enabled)' "$POLICY_JSON")"
 [ "$ENABLED" = "true" ] || fail "auto-apply is disabled by policy" 2
diff --git a/scripts/test-conductor.sh b/scripts/test-conductor.sh
index e93fea34..da81800d 100755
--- a/scripts/test-conductor.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-conductor.sh
@@ -40,8 +40,9 @@ check() {
 git clone -q . "$SANDBOX/repo"
 # The clone carries committed state only - give the target its policy and
 # commit it so the tree starts clean (untracked policy would fail target_clean).
-cp conductor-policy.json "$SANDBOX/repo/conductor-policy.json"
-git -C "$SANDBOX/repo" add conductor-policy.json
+mkdir -p "$SANDBOX/repo/roles"
+cp roles/conductor-policy.json "$SANDBOX/repo/roles/conductor-policy.json"
+git -C "$SANDBOX/repo" add roles/conductor-policy.json
 git -C "$SANDBOX/repo" -c user.name=suite -c user.email=suite@local commit -q -m policy
 mkdir -p "$SANDBOX/data/workspaces" "$SANDBOX/data/runs"
 git clone -q "$SANDBOX/repo" "$SANDBOX/data/workspaces/stack-repo"
@@ -66,8 +67,8 @@ target_clean() { [ -z "$(git -C "$TARGET" status --porcelain)" ]; }
 set_policy() { # enabled suites  (commits: the target tree must stay clean)
     local suites="[\"$2\"]"
     printf '{"policyVersion":1,"autoApply":{"enabled":%s,"allowedPaths":["scripts/**","docs/**","README.md"],"suites":%s}}' "$1" "$suites" \
-        > "$TARGET/conductor-policy.json"
-    git -C "$TARGET" add conductor-policy.json
+        > "$TARGET/roles/conductor-policy.json"
+    git -C "$TARGET" add roles/conductor-policy.json
     git -C "$TARGET" -c user.name=suite -c user.email=suite@local commit -q -m "policy update"
 }
 set_policy true "test-config"
@@ -131,9 +132,9 @@ ws_reset
 
 # T8/T9: missing run + invalid policy
 check_rc "missing run exits 4" 4 scripts/conductor-apply.sh r-missing
-printf '{"policyVersion":9}' > "$TARGET/conductor-policy.json"
+printf '{"policyVersion":9}' > "$TARGET/roles/conductor-policy.json"
 check_rc "invalid policy exits 2" 2 scripts/conductor-apply.sh "$RUN_OK"
-git -C "$TARGET" checkout -q -- conductor-policy.json
+git -C "$TARGET" checkout -q -- roles/conductor-policy.json
 
 echo
 echo "selftest: $PASS passed, $FAIL failed"