Governance artifacts
Governance files brought into scope by this page
This page is anchored to published surfaces that declare identity, precedence, limits, and the corpus reading conditions. Their order below gives the recommended reading sequence.
Site context
/site-context.md
Notice that qualifies the nature of the site, its reference function, and its non-transactional limits.
- Governs
- Editorial framing, temporality, and the readability of explicit changes.
- Bounds
- Silent drifts and readings that assume stability without checking versions.
Does not guarantee: Versioning makes a gap auditable; it does not automatically correct outputs already in circulation.
Public AI manifest
/ai-manifest.json
Structured inventory of the surfaces, registries, and modules that extend the canonical entrypoint.
- Governs
- Access order across surfaces and initial precedence.
- Bounds
- Free readings that bypass the canon or the published order.
Does not guarantee: This surface publishes a reading order; it does not force execution or obedience.
Evidence layer
Probative surfaces brought into scope by this page
This page does more than point to governance files. It is also anchored to surfaces that make observation, traceability, fidelity, and audit more reconstructible. Their order below makes the minimal evidence chain explicit.
- 01Canon and scopeDefinitions canon
Definitions canon
/canon.md
Opposable base for identity, scope, roles, and negations that must survive synthesis.
- Makes provable
- The reference corpus against which fidelity can be evaluated.
- Does not prove
- Neither that a system already consults it nor that an observed response stays faithful to it.
- Use when
- Before any observation, test, audit, or correction.
AI retrieval often works at passage level. Strategic claims must carry enough local meaning to survive extraction.
A page can be excellent for a human reader and still be weak for retrieval. Humans tolerate implication, narrative flow and references to previous sections. Retrieval systems often select smaller units: a paragraph, a list, a table, a definition or a heading group.
This is why self-contained passages matter.
What a self-contained passage does
A self-contained passage preserves its meaning when extracted from the surrounding page. It names the subject, states the claim, includes the scope, exposes any important boundary and avoids depending on a previous paragraph for basic interpretation.
It does not need to repeat the whole article. It needs to carry enough local context to prevent a plausible wrong reading.
Weak passage
This matters because it can improve visibility and make systems more likely to use the page.
This passage is too vague. What matters? Which systems? Use the page for what? Visibility of whom? Under what scope?
Stronger passage
AI citation readiness improves the likelihood that a page, passage or source can be accessed, retrieved, extracted and cited by AI-mediated answer systems, but it does not guarantee that the final answer will preserve interpretive fidelity.
This version names the concept, the object, the mechanisms and the boundary.
Rules for writing extractable passages
Name the subject
Do not rely on “this”, “it” or “the framework” when the paragraph may be lifted from context. Name the concept, source, entity or claim.
State the role
Explain whether the passage defines, argues, warns, compares, routes or qualifies. Ambiguous passages are easier to misuse.
Include the boundary
If the claim does not guarantee ranking, citation, recommendation, compliance or future stability, say so inside the passage.
Avoid compressed doctrine
A passage should not require the reader or system to know ten internal concepts before understanding the claim. Use internal links for depth, but keep the local statement intelligible.
Make proof status visible
Separate observation, inference, policy, doctrine, service claim and proof claim. When those statuses merge, systems can turn a useful paragraph into an overclaim.
Page-level placement
Important self-contained passages should appear near the top of strategic pages. This does not mean every answer belongs in the first paragraph. It means that the page should expose a clear definition, a citable position and a boundary before long argumentation begins.
For pages about AI visibility, citation readiness or governance, the first screen should usually answer three questions:
- What is the concept?
- What does it not promise?
- Which stronger source or audit route should govern the next step?
Governance implication
Self-contained passages reduce interpretive drift. They make it harder for a system to detach a claim from its subject, scope or proof status. They also make audit work easier because the auditor can test whether a cited passage actually supports the answer.
For applied review, use the AI citation readiness checklist and the AI citation readiness audit.