Preparing the checkpoint for a cold read surfaced three stale sections, each a copy of
text owned elsewhere, each of which would have misled the incoming orchestrator: a
delivery-gate list still omitting the merge-gate step (D-26's own defect, still on the
board after MISSION.md was fixed); a capability rule superseded by D-13/D-15; and
DECISION-1 still marked CONTESTED hours after it was ruled.
None were wrong when written. All three drifted because they were copies — D-14 three
times in one artifact. The failure is not that someone forgot to update three lines; it
is that three lines existed to forget.
The rotation seam is what surfaced it. A familiar section is skimmed for the line you
came for; preparing state to be read cold by a stranger is a different act from
maintaining it, and catches a class ordinary use cannot.
RM-34: a handoff must VALIDATE the checkpoint, not merely write it. RM-02 registers the
general form with a must-fail on divergence. Interim: audit the board against its
sources at every rotation seam.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <[email protected]>
