# α Close-out — cycle/408

**Issue:** [cnos#408](https://github.com/usurobor/cnos/issues/408) — Sub 3 of #403 (§Selection + §Lifecycle migration to CDS, B-lite thin extract).
**Dispatch shape:** γ+α+β collapsed on δ (skill/docs-class cycle; CDS §Field 6 actor-collapse rule).
**Verdict on review:** APPROVED at R1 (no findings; configuration-floor capped at A- per `release/SKILL.md §3.8`).

## Cycle summary

α produced canonical CDS surfaces for **§Selection function** (10 named rules + 5 observation-surface inputs) and **§Development lifecycle** (0–13 step table + S0–S12 state machine + `cycle/{N}` branch rule + γ-owned branch pre-flight + tier-1a/1b/1c/2/3 skill loading structure) by extracting the canonical rule text from pre-#402 CDD.md (commit `8f06a606^`) §3 + §4 — the pre-CCNF-spine resident text — and rehoming it in `cnos.cds/skills/cds/CDS.md` immediately after §"Six-field instantiation contract" and before §"Empirical anchor". The operational realization remained in cnos.cdd role/runtime skills as the v0.1 overlay; each new CDS section ends with a "Operational realization" sub-section that cites the cdd surfaces.

The B-lite scope ruling was the load-bearing constraint: canonical rules moved (positive); operational mechanics stayed in cdd v0.1 overlay (negative-failure-1 — "pure pointer" — avoided); no deep role rewrites attempted (negative-failure-2 — "pure v1 rewrite" — avoided).

## Friction log

**Pattern: source-pin discovery via git history.** The post-#402 CDD.md (159 lines) carries the §Selection / §Lifecycle surfaces only as bullet-name markers in §"Software-specific realization — pending cds extraction"; the actual canonical rule text is quarantined out and lives only in the pre-#402 history. α resolved by reading the pre-#402 text via `git show 8f06a606^:src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/CDD.md` (commit `8f06a606` is the α-402 CCNF spine rewrite; `^` is its parent which carried the pre-spine 1344-line CDD.md). The source-pin convention (cite the parent commit, not main) is the cleanest way to recover canonical rule text from rewrite cycles. Pattern observation: when a content migration cycle dispatches against a "pending extraction" marker, the migrating agent must pin the pre-rewrite source-of-truth commit explicitly; γ-scaffold should name the pin (this cycle's scaffold did, line 67–68). No skill gap; the discipline is correctly captured by `gamma/SKILL.md §2.2a` peer-enumeration-at-scaffold-time which generalises to "name the pre-extraction source pin when migrating quarantined content."

**Pattern: thin-overlay line-cap iteration.** The optional `selection/SKILL.md` + `lifecycle/SKILL.md` thin overlays started at ~55 + 66 lines and were trimmed twice to fit the AC9 ≤ 40-line cap (final: 39 + 40 lines). Two iterations is reasonable iterative authoring; the AC9 cap is intentionally tight to prevent these overlay files from drifting into deep-rewrite territory. Pattern observation: thin-overlay files have a natural "minimal coherent statement" floor (frontmatter + canonical-home pointer + v0.1-overlay pointer + transition note ≈ 35–40 lines); the AC9 cap discriminates at that boundary. No action; the discipline is correct.

**Pattern: structural-sibling pattern emulation.** α read `cnos.cdr/skills/cdr/CDR.md` for sub-section pattern guidance (CDR has §"Six-field instantiation contract" with parallel field-by-field decomposition; CDS now has the same shape with §Selection + §Lifecycle added). Emulation produced clean structural symmetry: CDS.md and CDR.md are visibly siblings. Pattern observation: when authoring sibling protocol overlays, the first-shipped sibling (here CDR) becomes the structural template the second-shipped sibling (CDS) emulates without restating discipline-specific content. The sibling-template pattern is implicit in the (a) decision but is worth naming explicitly. No action this cycle; consider noting in a post-#403 cycle if other c-d-X protocols (cdw, cda) join the family.

## Observations (factual; no recommendation)

- The new §Development lifecycle is the largest single section in CDS.md (~257 lines vs §"Six-field instantiation contract" at ~470 lines from Sub 2; vs the new §Selection function at ~184 lines). The S0–S12 state machine table is the densest sub-surface (13 rows × 6 columns = 78 cells of substantive content). Future readers using CDS.md as a teaching surface may find §Lifecycle harder to scan than §Selection; this is structural (state machines are inherently dense) and not a deficiency of the migration.

- The "Operational realization" pointer pattern is now used in 2 places in CDS.md (one per new section). If Subs 4–5 ship similarly-structured top-level sections (§Coordination surfaces, §Artifact contract, §Review CLP, etc.), the "Operational realization" pointer becomes a recurring shape worth naming explicitly in §0 Purpose or in a "Reading guide" section. Not in this cycle's scope; observation for the Subs 4–5 dispatcher.

- The §Roles cross-cut content (extraction-map row 2 names it explicitly) was deferred per the B-lite scope. The §Lifecycle "Operational realization" pointer routes the role-side mechanics to the cdd v0.1 overlay; a Sub 6 marker-sweep against CDD.md will reconcile the §Roles citation re-pointing.

## Engineering-level reading

Per the L5/L6/L7 framework (extraction-map §8 / `docs/gamma/ENGINEERING-LEVELS.md`):

- **L5 (cycle-level cohesion):** This cycle produced one coherent deliverable (the §Selection + §Lifecycle canonical home in CDS) under one pinned contract (B-lite, per δ's dispatch). No cycle-internal scope drift; no contract amendment required.
- **L6 (wave-level cohesion):** This cycle is Sub 3 of the cnos#403 wave; Subs 1 + 2 are merged; Subs 4–5 dispatch downstream. The wave is on its planned shape (per extraction-map §0.3 sub naming); no wave-shape drift.
- **L7 (essay-level / doctrine cohesion):** The B-lite scope ruling and the (a) decision-applied-thrice pattern are correctly applied; no doctrine drift surfaced during execution.

## Next-action handoff

To γ-closeout: triage the (empty) finding set; declare the cycle's closure when β-closeout + this α-closeout + gamma-closeout are filed; the cnos#403 wave continues to Subs 4–5 dispatch.

No `cds-*-gap` / `cdd-*-gap` surfaced this cycle; `protocol_gap_count: 0`; courtesy `cdd-iteration.md` stub follows per the cycle/401 cadence rule.
