feat(fleet): add machine-readable NORTH_STAR.yaml + Markdown projection

Add docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.yaml as the single machine-readable source of
truth for fleet planning, plus a pure, deterministic generator in
fleet.ts that projects it to docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.md. The Markdown is a
projection (regenerate, do not hand-edit).

Self-contained Mosaic: the substrate names the native Postgres storage
service (@mosaicstack/db drizzle; PGlite-embedded by default, full
Postgres by config) as the backlog of record. No Hermes runtime
dependency.

- NORTH_STAR.yaml: mission, substrate, NS-1..NS-8 standing objectives,
  AC-NS-1..AC-NS-5 success criteria, workstreams A..F, seeded goal
  backlog (A1,A2,A3a,A3b,A4,B1,B2,B3a,B3b,G1) with depends_on DAG,
  vetoable assumptions, advisory spend block.
- parseNorthStar/renderNorthStarMarkdown/generateNorthStarMarkdown:
  pure parse + projection (no network/CLI/clock); writer is the only IO.
  Tables column-padded to stay prettier-clean and round-trip stable.
- fleet-north-star.spec.ts: YAML validates + reuses ids, NS-*/AC-NS-*
  present, depends_on DAG coherent, projection deterministic and matches
  the committed .md, no network/CLI.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.md

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+# Mosaic Fleet — NORTH STAR
+
+> **Generated file — do not edit by hand.**
+> Projected deterministically from [`NORTH_STAR.yaml`](./NORTH_STAR.yaml) by the pure
+> generator in `packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts` (`renderNorthStarMarkdown`).
+> Edit the YAML, then regenerate. Self-contained Mosaic — no Hermes dependency.
+
+## Mission
+
+A self-driving Mosaic delivery fleet that 24/7 unattended converts a machine-readable goal set into merged, CI-green, budget-bounded change — looping plan→backlog→assign→execute→verify→merge→reassess — on Mosaic's OWN native backlog/dispatch engine.
+
+## Substrate
+
+The Mosaic Backlog is the backlog of record + dispatch engine, built on Mosaic's native Postgres storage service (@mosaicstack/db drizzle; PGlite-embedded by default, full Postgres by config). NOT Hermes.
+
+## Standing objectives
+
+- **NS-1** — Single machine-readable source (this file) drives planning; prose docs are projections.
+- **NS-2** — Every backlog item is an independently-shippable unit with stable id, priority, depends_on DAG, represented as a Mosaic Backlog card; spend tracked as advisory projection.
+- **NS-3** — The supervisor guarantees movement: no idle agent while ready dependency-satisfied work exists; no empty backlog without a replan request; assignment via Mosaic native dispatch/claim.
+- **NS-4** — Exactly one merge-gate approver; nothing reaches main except via pr-merge.sh after pr-ci-wait.sh success; Gitea branch protection is the backstop.
+- **NS-5** — Every unit bounded by wall-clock TTL on its claim; token caps enforced only where a real meter exists, else advisory.
+- **NS-6** — Context cleared between tasks for ephemeral runners (reset_between_tasks); persona+mission re-injected per task.
+- **NS-7** — Meta-loop (session-review + enhancer) continuously proposes small fleet-improvement PRs.
+- **NS-8** — Single operator-flippable PAUSE kill-switch (fleet/run/PAUSED) honored before every dispatch and every merge.
+
+## Success criteria
+
+- **AC-NS-1** — The supervisor keeps a two-agent floor (1 orchestrator + >=1 enhancer) healthy across reboot.
+- **AC-NS-2** — A goal added to this YAML is decomposed to cards and either merged or escalated, with no human in the loop.
+- **AC-NS-3** — No PR merges with failure/error/no-status/timeout CI, and none bypass pr-merge.sh.
+- **AC-NS-4** — TTL is enforced on claims; token caps remain advisory until a real meter exists.
+- **AC-NS-5** — Flipping fleet/run/PAUSED halts dispatch and merges within one tick.
+
+## Workstreams
+
+| id  | title                                                            |
+| --- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| A   | Substrate — Mosaic Backlog on native Postgres storage service    |
+| B   | Supervisor — movement guarantee, two-agent floor, dispatch/claim |
+| C   | Planner — goal decomposition into independently-shippable cards  |
+| D   | Merge-gate — single approver, pr-merge.sh after CI wait          |
+| E   | Meta-loop — session-review + enhancer improvement PRs            |
+| F   | Safety-rails — TTL claims, advisory spend, PAUSE kill-switch     |
+
+## Goals (backlog projection)
+
+| id  | title                                                                  | phase | priority    | depends_on |
+| --- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | ----------- | ---------- |
+| A1  | Machine-readable NORTH_STAR.yaml + Markdown projection                 | 1     | must-have   | —          |
+| A2  | Mosaic Backlog schema + storage-service card store (drizzle/PGlite)    | 1     | must-have   | A1         |
+| A3a | Card lifecycle — create/claim/release with stable ids + depends_on DAG | 1     | must-have   | A2         |
+| A3b | TTL-bounded claim enforcement (wall-clock) on cards                    | 1     | must-have   | A3a        |
+| A4  | Advisory spend projection per card (degrades to TTL, no real meter)    | 1     | should-have | A3a        |
+| B1  | Supervisor tick — readiness scan, two-agent-floor health check         | 2     | must-have   | A3a        |
+| B2  | Native dispatch/claim — assign ready dependency-satisfied work         | 2     | must-have   | A3b, B1    |
+| B3a | Planner decompose — goal added to YAML → cards                         | 2     | must-have   | A2, B1     |
+| B3b | Replan request on empty backlog; escalate on no-decompose              | 2     | should-have | B3a        |
+| G1  | PAUSE kill-switch + merge-gate honored before dispatch and merge       | 2     | must-have   | B2         |
+
+## Assumptions (vetoable)
+
+- **ASM-1** (vetoable) — The Mosaic Backlog on the native Postgres storage service is the backlog of record.
+- **ASM-2** (vetoable) — Claude gate roles have no native busy status, so readiness = pane-idle + heartbeat.
+- **ASM-3** (vetoable) — Two-agent floor = 1 orchestrator + >=1 enhancer.
+
+## Spend
+
+- **advisory:** true
+- No per-task token meter yet; budgets degrade to TTL. Spend is tracked only as an advisory projection alongside each card.

docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+# Mosaic Fleet — NORTH_STAR (machine-readable source of truth)
+#
+# This file is the single machine-readable source of truth for fleet planning.
+# Prose docs (including NORTH_STAR.md) are deterministic PROJECTIONS of this file.
+# Regenerate the Markdown projection with the pure generator in
+# packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts (renderNorthStarMarkdown). Edit the YAML,
+# never the .md.
+#
+# Self-contained Mosaic. NO Hermes runtime dependency. The backlog of record is
+# the Mosaic Backlog on Mosaic's OWN native Postgres storage service.
+
+version: 1
+
+mission: >-
+  A self-driving Mosaic delivery fleet that 24/7 unattended converts a
+  machine-readable goal set into merged, CI-green, budget-bounded change —
+  looping plan→backlog→assign→execute→verify→merge→reassess — on Mosaic's OWN
+  native backlog/dispatch engine.
+
+substrate:
+  note: >-
+    The Mosaic Backlog is the backlog of record + dispatch engine, built on
+    Mosaic's native Postgres storage service (@mosaicstack/db drizzle;
+    PGlite-embedded by default, full Postgres by config). NOT Hermes.
+
+standing_objectives:
+  - id: NS-1
+    text: >-
+      Single machine-readable source (this file) drives planning; prose docs are
+      projections.
+  - id: NS-2
+    text: >-
+      Every backlog item is an independently-shippable unit with stable id,
+      priority, depends_on DAG, represented as a Mosaic Backlog card; spend
+      tracked as advisory projection.
+  - id: NS-3
+    text: >-
+      The supervisor guarantees movement: no idle agent while ready
+      dependency-satisfied work exists; no empty backlog without a replan
+      request; assignment via Mosaic native dispatch/claim.
+  - id: NS-4
+    text: >-
+      Exactly one merge-gate approver; nothing reaches main except via
+      pr-merge.sh after pr-ci-wait.sh success; Gitea branch protection is the
+      backstop.
+  - id: NS-5
+    text: >-
+      Every unit bounded by wall-clock TTL on its claim; token caps enforced
+      only where a real meter exists, else advisory.
+  - id: NS-6
+    text: >-
+      Context cleared between tasks for ephemeral runners
+      (reset_between_tasks); persona+mission re-injected per task.
+  - id: NS-7
+    text: >-
+      Meta-loop (session-review + enhancer) continuously proposes small
+      fleet-improvement PRs.
+  - id: NS-8
+    text: >-
+      Single operator-flippable PAUSE kill-switch (fleet/run/PAUSED) honored
+      before every dispatch and every merge.
+
+success_criteria:
+  - id: AC-NS-1
+    text: >-
+      The supervisor keeps a two-agent floor (1 orchestrator + >=1 enhancer)
+      healthy across reboot.
+  - id: AC-NS-2
+    text: >-
+      A goal added to this YAML is decomposed to cards and either merged or
+      escalated, with no human in the loop.
+  - id: AC-NS-3
+    text: >-
+      No PR merges with failure/error/no-status/timeout CI, and none bypass
+      pr-merge.sh.
+  - id: AC-NS-4
+    text: >-
+      TTL is enforced on claims; token caps remain advisory until a real meter
+      exists.
+  - id: AC-NS-5
+    text: >-
+      Flipping fleet/run/PAUSED halts dispatch and merges within one tick.
+
+workstreams:
+  - id: A
+    title: Substrate — Mosaic Backlog on native Postgres storage service
+  - id: B
+    title: Supervisor — movement guarantee, two-agent floor, dispatch/claim
+  - id: C
+    title: Planner — goal decomposition into independently-shippable cards
+  - id: D
+    title: Merge-gate — single approver, pr-merge.sh after CI wait
+  - id: E
+    title: Meta-loop — session-review + enhancer improvement PRs
+  - id: F
+    title: Safety-rails — TTL claims, advisory spend, PAUSE kill-switch
+
+goals:
+  - id: A1
+    title: Machine-readable NORTH_STAR.yaml + Markdown projection
+    phase: 1
+    priority: must-have
+    depends_on: []
+  - id: A2
+    title: Mosaic Backlog schema + storage-service card store (drizzle/PGlite)
+    phase: 1
+    priority: must-have
+    depends_on: [A1]
+  - id: A3a
+    title: Card lifecycle — create/claim/release with stable ids + depends_on DAG
+    phase: 1
+    priority: must-have
+    depends_on: [A2]
+  - id: A3b
+    title: TTL-bounded claim enforcement (wall-clock) on cards
+    phase: 1
+    priority: must-have
+    depends_on: [A3a]
+  - id: A4
+    title: Advisory spend projection per card (degrades to TTL, no real meter)
+    phase: 1
+    priority: should-have
+    depends_on: [A3a]
+  - id: B1
+    title: Supervisor tick — readiness scan, two-agent-floor health check
+    phase: 2
+    priority: must-have
+    depends_on: [A3a]
+  - id: B2
+    title: Native dispatch/claim — assign ready dependency-satisfied work
+    phase: 2
+    priority: must-have
+    depends_on: [A3b, B1]
+  - id: B3a
+    title: Planner decompose — goal added to YAML → cards
+    phase: 2
+    priority: must-have
+    depends_on: [A2, B1]
+  - id: B3b
+    title: Replan request on empty backlog; escalate on no-decompose
+    phase: 2
+    priority: should-have
+    depends_on: [B3a]
+  - id: G1
+    title: PAUSE kill-switch + merge-gate honored before dispatch and merge
+    phase: 2
+    priority: must-have
+    depends_on: [B2]
+
+assumptions:
+  - id: ASM-1
+    vetoable: true
+    text: >-
+      The Mosaic Backlog on the native Postgres storage service is the backlog
+      of record.
+  - id: ASM-2
+    vetoable: true
+    text: >-
+      Claude gate roles have no native busy status, so readiness = pane-idle +
+      heartbeat.
+  - id: ASM-3
+    vetoable: true
+    text: 'Two-agent floor = 1 orchestrator + >=1 enhancer.'
+
+spend:
+  advisory: true
+  note: >-
+    No per-task token meter yet; budgets degrade to TTL. Spend is tracked only
+    as an advisory projection alongside each card.

packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet-north-star.spec.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,199 @@
+import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { dirname, join, resolve } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import {
+  parseNorthStar,
+  renderNorthStarMarkdown,
+  resolveNorthStarPaths,
+  type NorthStar,
+} from './fleet.js';
+
+// Repo root resolved from this spec file: packages/mosaic/src/commands → up 4.
+const repoRoot = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..', '..', '..', '..');
+const yamlPath = join(repoRoot, 'docs', 'fleet', 'NORTH_STAR.yaml');
+
+async function loadYamlText(): Promise<string> {
+  return readFile(yamlPath, 'utf8');
+}
+
+async function loadParsed(): Promise<NorthStar> {
+  return parseNorthStar(await loadYamlText());
+}
+
+describe('NORTH_STAR.yaml', () => {
+  it('parses to a typed object with the required top-level keys', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    expect(ns.version).toBeTypeOf('number');
+    expect(ns.mission).toContain('self-driving Mosaic delivery fleet');
+    expect(ns.substrate.note).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(ns.standing_objectives.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(ns.success_criteria.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(ns.workstreams.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(ns.goals.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(ns.assumptions.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(ns.spend.advisory).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('names the native Postgres storage layer and declares no Hermes runtime dependency', async () => {
+    const rawText = await loadYamlText();
+    const lower = rawText.toLowerCase();
+    expect(rawText).toContain('@mosaicstack/db');
+    expect(lower).toContain('postgres');
+    expect(lower).toContain('pglite');
+    // The doctrine explicitly disowns Hermes ("NOT Hermes"); the only mentions
+    // are negations. Assert there is no Hermes RUNTIME dependency: no hermes
+    // CLI/kanban invocation and no ~/.hermes storage reference.
+    expect(lower).not.toContain('hermes kanban');
+    expect(lower).not.toContain('~/.hermes');
+    expect(lower).not.toContain('hermes mcp');
+  });
+
+  it('declares all NS-1..NS-8 standing objectives', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    const ids = ns.standing_objectives.map((o) => o.id);
+    for (let n = 1; n <= 8; n += 1) {
+      expect(ids).toContain(`NS-${n}`);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('declares all AC-NS-1..AC-NS-5 success criteria', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    const ids = ns.success_criteria.map((c) => c.id);
+    for (let n = 1; n <= 5; n += 1) {
+      expect(ids).toContain(`AC-NS-${n}`);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('seeds the expected backlog goal ids', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    const ids = ns.goals.map((g) => g.id);
+    expect(ids).toEqual(
+      expect.arrayContaining(['A1', 'A2', 'A3a', 'A3b', 'A4', 'B1', 'B2', 'B3a', 'B3b', 'G1']),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('has a coherent depends_on DAG (every dependency references a known goal)', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    const ids = new Set(ns.goals.map((g) => g.id));
+    for (const goal of ns.goals) {
+      for (const dep of goal.depends_on) {
+        expect(ids.has(dep)).toBe(true);
+      }
+      // No goal may depend on itself.
+      expect(goal.depends_on).not.toContain(goal.id);
+    }
+    // A1 is the root: no dependencies.
+    const a1 = ns.goals.find((g) => g.id === 'A1');
+    expect(a1?.depends_on).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('marks spend as advisory with a degrade-to-TTL note', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    expect(ns.spend.advisory).toBe(true);
+    expect(ns.spend.note.toLowerCase()).toContain('ttl');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('renderNorthStarMarkdown', () => {
+  it('is a pure deterministic projection (round-trip stable)', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    const first = renderNorthStarMarkdown(ns);
+    const second = renderNorthStarMarkdown(ns);
+    expect(first).toBe(second);
+    // Re-parsing the same YAML and re-rendering yields identical bytes.
+    const reparsed = parseNorthStar(await loadYamlText());
+    expect(renderNorthStarMarkdown(reparsed)).toBe(first);
+  });
+
+  it('matches the committed NORTH_STAR.md projection (regenerate if this fails)', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    const rendered = `${renderNorthStarMarkdown(ns)}\n`;
+    const committed = await readFile(join(repoRoot, 'docs', 'fleet', 'NORTH_STAR.md'), 'utf8');
+    expect(rendered).toBe(committed);
+  });
+
+  it('projects mission, objectives, criteria, goals, assumptions, and spend', async () => {
+    const ns = await loadParsed();
+    const md = renderNorthStarMarkdown(ns);
+    expect(md).toContain('# Mosaic Fleet — NORTH STAR');
+    expect(md).toContain('## Mission');
+    expect(md).toContain('## Standing objectives');
+    expect(md).toContain('**NS-1**');
+    expect(md).toContain('**AC-NS-5**');
+    expect(md).toContain('## Goals (backlog projection)');
+    // Tables are column-padded (prettier-style); match the row id, not exact spacing.
+    expect(md).toMatch(/\| A1\s+\|/);
+    expect(md).toContain('## Assumptions (vetoable)');
+    expect(md).toContain('**advisory:** true');
+    // The banner disowns Hermes; the projection carries no Hermes runtime hook.
+    expect(md.toLowerCase()).not.toContain('hermes kanban');
+    expect(md.toLowerCase()).not.toContain('~/.hermes');
+  });
+
+  it('does no network or CLI work (pure functions; only the writer touches IO)', () => {
+    // parseNorthStar + renderNorthStarMarkdown take strings and return strings.
+    // Guard against accidental IO by asserting fetch/spawn are never invoked.
+    const fetchSpy = vi.spyOn(globalThis, 'fetch' as never).mockImplementation((() => {
+      throw new Error('network access is forbidden in the NORTH_STAR generator');
+    }) as never);
+    try {
+      const yaml = [
+        'version: 1',
+        'mission: m',
+        'substrate:',
+        '  note: n',
+        'standing_objectives:',
+        '  - { id: NS-1, text: t }',
+        'success_criteria:',
+        '  - { id: AC-NS-1, text: t }',
+        'workstreams:',
+        '  - { id: A, title: t }',
+        'goals:',
+        '  - { id: A1, title: t, phase: 1, priority: must-have, depends_on: [] }',
+        'assumptions:',
+        '  - { id: ASM-1, vetoable: true, text: t }',
+        'spend:',
+        '  advisory: true',
+        '  note: TTL',
+        '',
+      ].join('\n');
+      const ns = parseNorthStar(yaml);
+      const md = renderNorthStarMarkdown(ns);
+      expect(md).toContain('# Mosaic Fleet — NORTH STAR');
+      expect(fetchSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    } finally {
+      fetchSpy.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+});
+
+describe('parseNorthStar validation', () => {
+  it('throws on a missing required key', () => {
+    expect(() => parseNorthStar('version: 1\n')).toThrow();
+  });
+
+  it('throws when spend.advisory is not a boolean', () => {
+    const yaml = [
+      'version: 1',
+      'mission: m',
+      'substrate: { note: n }',
+      'standing_objectives: [{ id: NS-1, text: t }]',
+      'success_criteria: [{ id: AC-NS-1, text: t }]',
+      'workstreams: [{ id: A, title: t }]',
+      'goals: [{ id: A1, title: t, phase: 1, priority: must-have, depends_on: [] }]',
+      'assumptions: [{ id: ASM-1, vetoable: true, text: t }]',
+      'spend: { advisory: maybe, note: TTL }',
+      '',
+    ].join('\n');
+    expect(() => parseNorthStar(yaml)).toThrow(/spend\.advisory/);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('resolveNorthStarPaths', () => {
+  it('resolves YAML + Markdown under docs/fleet from a given repo root', () => {
+    const paths = resolveNorthStarPaths('/repo');
+    expect(paths.yamlPath).toBe('/repo/docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.yaml');
+    expect(paths.markdownPath).toBe('/repo/docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.md');
+  });
+});

packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts

@@ -197,6 +197,292 @@ export function getRosterAgent(roster: FleetRoster, name: string): FleetAgent {
   return agent;
 }
 
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// NORTH_STAR — machine-readable fleet planning source + Markdown projection
+//
+// docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.yaml is the single source of truth. The Markdown file
+// (docs/fleet/NORTH_STAR.md) is a deterministic, pure projection of the YAML —
+// no network, no CLI, no clock. Edit the YAML, regenerate the .md.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export interface NorthStarIdText {
+  id: string;
+  text: string;
+}
+
+export interface NorthStarWorkstream {
+  id: string;
+  title: string;
+}
+
+export interface NorthStarGoal {
+  id: string;
+  title: string;
+  phase: number;
+  priority: string;
+  depends_on: string[];
+}
+
+export interface NorthStarAssumption {
+  id: string;
+  vetoable: boolean;
+  text: string;
+}
+
+export interface NorthStarSpend {
+  advisory: boolean;
+  note: string;
+}
+
+export interface NorthStar {
+  version: number;
+  mission: string;
+  substrate: { note: string };
+  standing_objectives: NorthStarIdText[];
+  success_criteria: NorthStarIdText[];
+  workstreams: NorthStarWorkstream[];
+  goals: NorthStarGoal[];
+  assumptions: NorthStarAssumption[];
+  spend: NorthStarSpend;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Parse + validate the NORTH_STAR YAML text into a typed NorthStar object.
+ * Pure: no IO, no network. Throws a descriptive error when a required key is
+ * missing or malformed so the generator/tests fail loudly rather than emit a
+ * partial projection.
+ */
+export function parseNorthStar(rawText: string): NorthStar {
+  const parsed = YAML.parse(rawText) as Record<string, unknown> | null;
+  if (!parsed || typeof parsed !== 'object') {
+    throw new Error('NORTH_STAR.yaml did not parse to a mapping.');
+  }
+
+  const requireString = (value: unknown, key: string): string => {
+    if (typeof value !== 'string' || value.trim() === '') {
+      throw new Error(`NORTH_STAR.yaml: "${key}" must be a non-empty string.`);
+    }
+    return value.trim();
+  };
+
+  const requireArray = (value: unknown, key: string): unknown[] => {
+    if (!Array.isArray(value) || value.length === 0) {
+      throw new Error(`NORTH_STAR.yaml: "${key}" must be a non-empty array.`);
+    }
+    return value;
+  };
+
+  const idText = (value: unknown, key: string, index: number): NorthStarIdText => {
+    const row = value as Record<string, unknown>;
+    return {
+      id: requireString(row?.id, `${key}[${index}].id`),
+      text: requireString(row?.text, `${key}[${index}].text`),
+    };
+  };
+
+  const version = parsed.version;
+  if (typeof version !== 'number') {
+    throw new Error('NORTH_STAR.yaml: "version" must be a number.');
+  }
+
+  const substrate = parsed.substrate as Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
+
+  const spendRaw = parsed.spend as Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
+  if (!spendRaw || typeof spendRaw.advisory !== 'boolean') {
+    throw new Error('NORTH_STAR.yaml: "spend.advisory" must be a boolean.');
+  }
+
+  return {
+    version,
+    mission: requireString(parsed.mission, 'mission'),
+    substrate: { note: requireString(substrate?.note, 'substrate.note') },
+    standing_objectives: requireArray(parsed.standing_objectives, 'standing_objectives').map(
+      (row, i) => idText(row, 'standing_objectives', i),
+    ),
+    success_criteria: requireArray(parsed.success_criteria, 'success_criteria').map((row, i) =>
+      idText(row, 'success_criteria', i),
+    ),
+    workstreams: requireArray(parsed.workstreams, 'workstreams').map((row, i) => {
+      const ws = row as Record<string, unknown>;
+      return {
+        id: requireString(ws?.id, `workstreams[${i}].id`),
+        title: requireString(ws?.title, `workstreams[${i}].title`),
+      };
+    }),
+    goals: requireArray(parsed.goals, 'goals').map((row, i) => {
+      const goal = row as Record<string, unknown>;
+      const dependsRaw = goal?.depends_on ?? [];
+      if (!Array.isArray(dependsRaw)) {
+        throw new Error(`NORTH_STAR.yaml: goals[${i}].depends_on must be an array.`);
+      }
+      const phase = goal?.phase;
+      if (typeof phase !== 'number') {
+        throw new Error(`NORTH_STAR.yaml: goals[${i}].phase must be a number.`);
+      }
+      return {
+        id: requireString(goal?.id, `goals[${i}].id`),
+        title: requireString(goal?.title, `goals[${i}].title`),
+        phase,
+        priority: requireString(goal?.priority, `goals[${i}].priority`),
+        depends_on: dependsRaw.map((dep, j) => requireString(dep, `goals[${i}].depends_on[${j}]`)),
+      };
+    }),
+    assumptions: requireArray(parsed.assumptions, 'assumptions').map((row, i) => {
+      const asm = row as Record<string, unknown>;
+      if (typeof asm?.vetoable !== 'boolean') {
+        throw new Error(`NORTH_STAR.yaml: assumptions[${i}].vetoable must be a boolean.`);
+      }
+      return {
+        id: requireString(asm?.id, `assumptions[${i}].id`),
+        vetoable: asm.vetoable,
+        text: requireString(asm?.text, `assumptions[${i}].text`),
+      };
+    }),
+    spend: {
+      advisory: spendRaw.advisory,
+      note: requireString(spendRaw?.note, 'spend.note'),
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Render a GitHub-Flavored-Markdown table with prettier-compatible column
+ * alignment: each column is padded to the widest cell (minimum 3 for the
+ * `---` divider) so the generated bytes survive `prettier --check` unchanged.
+ * Pure; the row strings use the same single-code-unit dash/arrow glyphs that
+ * prettier's string-width counts as width 1.
+ */
+function renderMarkdownTable(headers: string[], rows: string[][]): string[] {
+  const widths = headers.map((header, col) =>
+    Math.max(3, header.length, ...rows.map((row) => row[col]?.length ?? 0)),
+  );
+  const pad = (cell: string, col: number): string => cell.padEnd(widths[col] ?? 0, ' ');
+  const formatRow = (cells: string[]): string =>
+    `| ${cells.map((cell, col) => pad(cell, col)).join(' | ')} |`;
+  const divider = `| ${widths.map((w) => '-'.repeat(w)).join(' | ')} |`;
+  return [formatRow(headers), divider, ...rows.map(formatRow)];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Deterministically project a parsed NorthStar into the Markdown doctrine doc.
+ * Pure function of its input — same input always yields byte-identical output,
+ * so the round-trip (YAML → render → write) is stable across runs. No clock, no
+ * network, no CLI. Layout follows the repo's existing doctrine-doc convention
+ * (heading, blockquote banner, then sections + tables, e.g. north-star.md /
+ * mission-control/BOARD.md).
+ */
+export function renderNorthStarMarkdown(ns: NorthStar): string {
+  const lines: string[] = [];
+
+  lines.push('# Mosaic Fleet — NORTH STAR');
+  lines.push('');
+  lines.push('> **Generated file — do not edit by hand.**');
+  lines.push(
+    '> Projected deterministically from [`NORTH_STAR.yaml`](./NORTH_STAR.yaml) by the pure',
+  );
+  lines.push('> generator in `packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts` (`renderNorthStarMarkdown`).');
+  lines.push('> Edit the YAML, then regenerate. Self-contained Mosaic — no Hermes dependency.');
+  lines.push('');
+
+  lines.push('## Mission');
+  lines.push('');
+  lines.push(ns.mission);
+  lines.push('');
+
+  lines.push('## Substrate');
+  lines.push('');
+  lines.push(ns.substrate.note);
+  lines.push('');
+
+  lines.push('## Standing objectives');
+  lines.push('');
+  for (const obj of ns.standing_objectives) {
+    lines.push(`- **${obj.id}** — ${obj.text}`);
+  }
+  lines.push('');
+
+  lines.push('## Success criteria');
+  lines.push('');
+  for (const ac of ns.success_criteria) {
+    lines.push(`- **${ac.id}** — ${ac.text}`);
+  }
+  lines.push('');
+
+  lines.push('## Workstreams');
+  lines.push('');
+  lines.push(
+    ...renderMarkdownTable(
+      ['id', 'title'],
+      ns.workstreams.map((ws) => [ws.id, ws.title]),
+    ),
+  );
+  lines.push('');
+
+  lines.push('## Goals (backlog projection)');
+  lines.push('');
+  lines.push(
+    ...renderMarkdownTable(
+      ['id', 'title', 'phase', 'priority', 'depends_on'],
+      ns.goals.map((goal) => [
+        goal.id,
+        goal.title,
+        String(goal.phase),
+        goal.priority,
+        goal.depends_on.length > 0 ? goal.depends_on.join(', ') : '—',
+      ]),
+    ),
+  );
+  lines.push('');
+
+  lines.push('## Assumptions (vetoable)');
+  lines.push('');
+  for (const asm of ns.assumptions) {
+    const veto = asm.vetoable ? 'vetoable' : 'fixed';
+    lines.push(`- **${asm.id}** (${veto}) — ${asm.text}`);
+  }
+  lines.push('');
+
+  lines.push('## Spend');
+  lines.push('');
+  lines.push(`- **advisory:** ${ns.spend.advisory ? 'true' : 'false'}`);
+  lines.push(`- ${ns.spend.note}`);
+
+  // No trailing blank line: the writer appends a single newline, yielding the
+  // one-newline EOF prettier expects (round-trip stays format:check-clean).
+  return lines.join('\n');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Resolve the repo's docs/fleet directory from this compiled module's location.
+ * fleet.ts lives at packages/mosaic/src/commands; docs/fleet sits at the repo
+ * root. Exposed so the generator + tests share one path resolution.
+ */
+export function resolveNorthStarPaths(repoRoot?: string): {
+  yamlPath: string;
+  markdownPath: string;
+} {
+  const root = repoRoot ?? resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..', '..', '..', '..');
+  const dir = join(root, 'docs', 'fleet');
+  return {
+    yamlPath: join(dir, 'NORTH_STAR.yaml'),
+    markdownPath: join(dir, 'NORTH_STAR.md'),
+  };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Read NORTH_STAR.yaml, project it to Markdown, and write NORTH_STAR.md.
+ * The only IO in the NORTH_STAR pipeline; the parse + render steps it composes
+ * are pure. Returns the rendered Markdown so callers/tests can assert on it.
+ */
+export async function generateNorthStarMarkdown(repoRoot?: string): Promise<string> {
+  const { yamlPath, markdownPath } = resolveNorthStarPaths(repoRoot);
+  const rawText = await readFile(yamlPath, 'utf8');
+  const ns = parseNorthStar(rawText);
+  const markdown = renderNorthStarMarkdown(ns);
+  await writeFile(markdownPath, `${markdown}\n`, 'utf8');
+  return markdown;
+}
+
 export function generateAgentEnv(roster: FleetRoster, agent: FleetAgent): string {
   const workingDirectory = agent.workingDirectory ?? roster.defaults.workingDirectory;
   return [