doctrine-spine

name	doctrine-spine
description	Use when defining or auditing the mandatory operating sequence for the research engine: evidence discipline, research design, collection, verification, reasoning, tradecraft, calibration, decision support, report shape, productization, and export.
metadata	{"portable":true,"compatible_with":["claude-code","codex"]}

Doctrine Spine

Use When

• Use at project start, engine audits, skill routing reviews, and major workflow redesigns.
• Use when deciding which skills must run and in what order.
• Use when the engine risks becoming a loose library rather than an operating system.

Do Not Use When

• A small task already has a prescribed single-skill workflow.
• The user asks for a narrow source check or code edit.

Doctrine Intake Guidance

• Project type, audience, output family, cohorts, evidence risk, and decision stakes.
• Existing project context and registry state.

Doctrine Method Detail

1. Start with evidence discipline and source evaluation.
2. Define research design, cohorts, scope, and outputs.
3. Run collection waves and preserve sources.
4. Verify sources, claims, quotes, and gaps.
5. Build evidence-claim graph.
6. Run critical reasoning and analytic tradecraft.
7. Add calibration where forecasts or risk calls exist.
8. Add decision support where the output recommends action.
9. Select report shape and executive communication style.
10. Productize reusable knowledge only after verification.
11. Export with validation and release evidence.

Quality Standards

• Mandatory order is explicit.
• No synthesis occurs before verification.
• No recommendation occurs before reasoning and tradecraft checks.
• No monetization claim outruns the evidence base.

Legacy Doctrine Pitfalls

• Jumping from source collection to polished report.
• Running report design before knowing the decision and evidence maturity.
• Treating source verification as optional.
• Productizing unverified claims.

Doctrine Deliverable Detail

• Mandatory skill route.
• Wave-to-gate crosswalk.
• Release readiness checklist.

Evidence Produced

Category	Artifact	Format	Example
Operability	Doctrine route	Markdown checklist	Skill order and gate order
Release evidence	Wave-to-gate crosswalk	Markdown table	Wave, output, validation gate

References

• Load references/research-operating-sequence.md for the canonical sequence and crosswalk.

Companion Skills

Capability Contract

Routing and audit are read-only by default. Changing routers, skills, project state, publication, or release requires explicit authority.

Degraded Mode

If project state or a mandatory gate is unavailable, return the verified prefix of the route and mark later gates blocked; never infer readiness.

Decision Rules

Choice	Action	Failure/risk avoided
Evidence is unverified	Hold synthesis	Unsupported claim
Output recommends action	Add reasoning and decision support	Advice without logic
Reusable product is proposed	Verify before productization	Scaling error

Doctrine Correction Examples

• Skipping verification; hold synthesis.
• Drafting before the decision is known; return to intake.
• Monetising unverified claims; block productization.
• Treating optional craft as a mandatory gate; justify route.
• Claiming release with missing evidence; mark blocked.

Doctrine Scenario

A verified descriptive brief may skip forecasting, but cannot skip evidence discipline or source verification.

Companion Skills

• research-orchestration runs the wave model.
• source-verification enforces verification before synthesis.
• analytical-report-shapes selects the final artifact.

Inputs

Input	Source/provider	If absent
Project type, audience, decision, risk, output family	Brief and registry	Stop and request missing decision context
Gate status and active catalogue	Project evidence and filesystem	Return only the verified route prefix

Workflow

1. Establish evidence discipline, project design, audience, decision, and output.
2. Sequence collection, verification, reasoning, and applicable downstream gates.
3. Stop when a mandatory upstream gate fails or its evidence is unavailable.
4. Recover by repairing the failed gate and resuming from its checkpoint.
5. Release only when every included gate has an observable pass condition.

Outputs

Artefact	Consumer	Acceptance condition
Mandatory route and gate crosswalk	Orchestrator and release reviewer	Every stage has an owner, predecessor, evidence output, stop condition, and acceptance gate

Anti-Patterns

• Skipping verification. Fix: hold synthesis until claims pass.
• Drafting before the decision. Fix: return to intake.
• Productising unverified claims. Fix: block reuse.
• Making every skill mandatory. Fix: justify the minimum route.
• Claiming release without evidence. Fix: mark the route blocked.

Worked Example

A verified descriptive brief may omit forecasting, but still passes evidence discipline, verification, reasoning, output-shape, and release gates.