# β review — Cycle 418

**Cycle:** [cnos#418](https://github.com/usurobor/cnos/issues/418) — Sub 4 of [cnos#404](https://github.com/usurobor/cnos/issues/404)
**Branch:** `cycle/418` from `origin/main @ 0bbd312b`
**Diff:** α-418 (2 new files; 10 modified) + γ-418 scaffold (1 new file)
**Mode:** γ+α+β collapsed on δ; docs-only / package migration.
**Date:** 2026-05-22.

## Round 1 — APPROVE

### CLP — Coherence Loss Predicate

**Terms.** Five candidate gaps reviewed:

1. **Mid-flight surface authoring** — does `mid-flight/SKILL.md` carry the empirical mechanism (cnos#391) verbatim without redesign?
2. **Artifact-channel surface authoring** — does `artifact-channel/SKILL.md` extract the wire-format invariants from cnos.cds §"Artifact contract" while keeping the per-artifact contract canonical at cds?
3. **Cross-reference repair** — do consumer cdd skills (alpha, beta, gamma) cite the new canonical paths? Does dispatch/SKILL.md drop the "pending Sub 4" / "forthcoming" qualifiers? Does cross-repo §2.10 cite mid-flight as canonical for issue-edit cache-bust?
4. **Backward compat** — is the rescue mechanism's behavior unchanged? Are artifact-file names (self-coherence.md, alpha-closeout.md, beta-review.md, beta-closeout.md, gamma-closeout.md, gamma-scaffold.md, cdd-iteration.md, gamma-clarification.md, gamma-coordination.md) preserved verbatim?
5. **Out-of-scope changes** — are cnos.cdr, schemas/handoff, schemas/ccnf-o, src/go, commands/cdd-verify/, release.sh all untouched?

**Pointer.** β reads:
- `src/packages/cnos.handoff/skills/handoff/mid-flight/SKILL.md` (new; 348 lines)
- `src/packages/cnos.handoff/skills/handoff/artifact-channel/SKILL.md` (new; 361 lines)
- `src/packages/cnos.handoff/skills/handoff/HANDOFF.md` (modified; two-row landed)
- `src/packages/cnos.handoff/docs/extraction-map.md` (modified; §4 + §5 + §8 marked migrated)
- `src/packages/cnos.handoff/skills/handoff/cross-repo/SKILL.md §2.10` (modified; new edge case entry)
- `src/packages/cnos.handoff/skills/handoff/dispatch/SKILL.md` (modified; "pending Sub 4" qualifiers dropped)
- `src/packages/cnos.handoff/skills/handoff/SKILL.md` (modified; loader v0.1 caveat update)
- `src/packages/cnos.handoff/README.md` (modified; mid-flight + artifact-channel rows updated to Landed)
- `src/packages/cnos.cds/skills/cds/CDS.md` (modified; two pointer paragraphs added)
- `src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/{alpha,beta,gamma}/SKILL.md` (modified; canonical cites added)
- `.cdd/unreleased/418/self-coherence.md` (α witness; all 11 ACs PASS)

**Exit.** All 11 ACs PASS per α's AC matrix. Implementation-contract Rule 7 self-check: every pinned axis conforms.

### Findings (per round)

#### F1 — mid-flight/SKILL.md preserves rescue mechanism verbatim

Severity: none (verification finding).

The mid-flight skill carries the file path (`.cdd/unreleased/{N}/gamma-clarification.md`), authoring role (γ only), reader role (in-flight α/β polling), cache-bust function (cycle-branch SHA transition as canonical signal), and resumption protocol (acknowledge / re-scope / stop / continue-under-protest) preserved from the cnos#391 empirical anchor. The §"Issue-edit cache-bust" section names the GitHub issue mtime as unreliable (MCP-cache invisible) and the cycle-branch SHA as the canonical signal — matching the cnos.cds §"Mid-flight clarification" wire-format claim. The §"Spec-staleness propagation" section absorbs the wire-format invariant from cdd/gamma §2.5 while leaving the consumer-specific file list at cdd-gamma. No redesign.

#### F2 — artifact-channel/SKILL.md extracts wire-format invariants cleanly

Severity: none (verification finding).

The artifact-channel skill names four wire-format invariants: (1) channel directory pattern `.cdd/unreleased/{N}/`; (2) per-role write ownership pattern (α writes α-class files; β writes β-class files; γ writes γ-class files; sibling roles read but do not modify); (3) sequential α→β→γ rule with γ-scaffold cycle-start exception; (4) frozen-snapshot rule on merge + release-time directory move to `.cdd/releases/{X.Y.Z}/{N}/`. The per-artifact contract (which filenames, what content sections, what verification gates) is correctly delegated to `cnos.cds/skills/cds/CDS.md §"Artifact contract"` per the per-row ruling. No redesign of the channel-shape or the per-role ownership pattern.

#### F3 — Cross-references repaired correctly

Severity: none.

- cdd/alpha/SKILL.md line 116: issue-edit cache-bust mention now carries explicit cites to mid-flight + artifact-channel canonical homes.
- cdd/beta/SKILL.md line 68: same cite pattern.
- cdd/gamma/SKILL.md §"Issue-edit cache-bust procedure": cite added (canonical at mid-flight/SKILL.md).
- cdd/gamma/SKILL.md §"Spec-staleness propagation": cite added (canonical at mid-flight/SKILL.md §2.6); consumer-specific file list retained.
- cross-repo/SKILL.md §2.10: new edge-case entry "Issue-edit cache-bust on post-filing refinement" cites mid-flight/SKILL.md.
- dispatch/SKILL.md: all five "pending Sub 4 / forthcoming" qualifiers dropped (scope non-goals, §2.4, §3.3, §"Related documents", §"Non-goals", empirical-anchors row); cite Sub 4 / cnos#418 as landed.
- CDS.md §"Mid-flight clarification" + §"Artifact contract": each gets a pointer paragraph (≤ 12 lines each) acknowledging the wire-format canonical home.

#### F4 — Backward compat preserved

Severity: none.

AC11 verification: all artifact-file names appear verbatim in both new skills (47 hits in mid-flight; 34 hits in artifact-channel). Rescue mechanism behavior unchanged — γ-authored write to `.cdd/unreleased/{N}/gamma-clarification.md`, commit + push *before* other-surface change, cycle-branch SHA transition as wake-up signal. Channel-shape unchanged — same path pattern, same per-role ownership, same release-time move discipline.

#### F5 — No out-of-scope changes

Severity: none.

- cnos.cdr/: 0 diff lines (AC6 PASS).
- schemas/handoff/: absent (AC10 PASS).
- schemas/ccnf-o/: absent (AC10 PASS).
- src/go/, commands/cdd-verify/, scripts/release.sh: 0 diff lines (AC10 PASS).
- CDD.md kernel: 0 diff lines (AC9 PASS — no kernel edit needed; the indirect cite chain via CDS.md pointer list is complete).

### Verdict

**APPROVE (R1).**

- All 11 ACs from cnos#418 are verified PASS per α's self-coherence matrix.
- Implementation-contract Rule 7 conformance: every pinned axis verified against the diff (Markdown only; package scoping respected; cdr untouched; no schemas/runtime/cdd-verify).
- No behavioral redesign — rescue mechanism + artifact-file names preserved verbatim from the cnos#391 anchor and the cnos.cds §"Artifact contract" wire-format invariants.
- No protocol violations — sequential α→β→γ pattern followed (γ-scaffold first, α-implementation second, β-review third); per-role write ownership respected throughout.
- Sub 4 of cnos#404 is structurally complete: two new sub-skills at canonical handoff paths; HANDOFF.md surfaces both as Landed; extraction-map.md §4 + §5 + §8 rows marked migrated; cross-references in cdd consumers + handoff/cross-repo + handoff/dispatch + handoff/SKILL.md loader + cds/CDS.md pointer paragraphs all repaired.

β APPROVE-s for merge.
