# α close-out — cycle/414

**Cycle:** cnos#414 — Add design essay `DECREASING-INCOHERENCE.md` to `docs/gamma/essays/` (companion to `CCNF-AND-TYPED-TRUST.md`).
**Role:** α (collapsed onto δ; γ+α+β-collapsed-on-δ per `ROLES.md §4`-precedent for skill/docs-class cycles).
**Branch:** cycle/414 from `fb39b2fb` (origin/main; the cycle/413 Sigma-activation merge).

## What α produced

Two file deliverables:

| File | Lines | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| `docs/gamma/essays/DECREASING-INCOHERENCE.md` | 610 (new) | Design essay (DRAFT v0.1.0) — verbatim from dispatch brief; companion to `CCNF-AND-TYPED-TRUST.md`; defines the coherence-driven steering layer above typed trust |
| `docs/gamma/essays/README.md` | 2 added (edit) | Document Map row + Reading Order item 5; surfaces the new essay |
| **Total** | **612** | |

α self-coherence: AC1–AC9 all PASS (per `self-coherence.md`).

## Implementation contract compliance

δ pinned 7 axes at dispatch. α executed per the pinned values; no axis was improvised:

- **Language:** Markdown (as pinned)
- **CLI integration target:** None (as pinned; docs-only cycle)
- **Package scoping:** exact 2-file delta — `docs/gamma/essays/DECREASING-INCOHERENCE.md` (new) + `docs/gamma/essays/README.md` (edit) (as pinned)
- **Existing-binary disposition:** N/A (as pinned)
- **Runtime dependencies:** None (as pinned)
- **JSON/wire contract:** N/A (as pinned)
- **Backward compat:** All four existing essays preserved unchanged in `docs/gamma/essays/` (as pinned; verified `git diff origin/main -- {STATELESS-AGENCY,EXECUTABLE-SKILLS,COHERENCE-MUST-BE-FREE,CCNF-AND-TYPED-TRUST}.md` returns 0 lines)

α did not write `gamma-clarification.md` because no implementation-contract axis was unpinned at dispatch and no rescope was required mid-flight. The dispatch contract was complete and correct as received.

## What α encountered (substantive)

- **Source was pre-cleaned.** The dispatch brief explicitly noted "the source above ALREADY HAS the Unicode characters cleaned up" — and α confirmed via `grep -E "Î[±²³´µ]|â¡|matterâ|Î±â"` post-Write that 0 mojibake hits exist. The substitution table from the dispatch brief was internalized as a defensive checklist rather than executed character-by-character. AC4 passes by source quality, not by substitution machinery.

- **Verbatim discipline held throughout.** α did not editorialize, rephrase, "improve," compress, expand, or in any way modify the prose from the dispatch brief. The only Markdown hygiene choice was a final trailing newline (conventional; no AC impact). All 21 section headers are byte-equal to the dispatch source; the CCNF kernel block, the FOUNDATIONS-cited stack, the YAML illustrative shape, the failure-to-mechanism table, and the operating slogan are all byte-equal.

- **README placement is mechanically constrained.** D2 must add the Document Map row AFTER `CCNF-AND-TYPED-TRUST.md` and the Reading Order item at position 5 (after item 4). α used `Edit` with a multi-line `old_string` to anchor both changes in a single edit, avoiding stale-context regressions. Both changes verified by `grep "DECREASING-INCOHERENCE" docs/gamma/essays/README.md` returning the expected 2 hits.

- **All 13 cnos-internal `related:` paths resolve.** Spot-checked via `ls`: 13/13 exist on origin/main. The 2 external `usurobor/tsc:*` paths are documented as cross-repo references per the convention used by `CCNF-AND-TYPED-TRUST.md` (which uses `cnos#366` issue refs).

## What α did NOT do

- α did not modify any other essay (`STATELESS-AGENCY.md`, `EXECUTABLE-SKILLS.md`, `COHERENCE-MUST-BE-FREE.md`, `CCNF-AND-TYPED-TRUST.md`) — hard rule from issue body (AC7); verified by `git diff` returning 0 lines for those files.
- α did not modify any code or schema (`src/`, `schemas/`) — hard rule (AC8); verified by `git diff origin/main -- src/ schemas/` returning 0 lines.
- α did not editorialize, rephrase, or "improve" the prose — hard rule (verbatim content); confirmed by structural spot-check against the dispatch brief's source.
- α did not add an `issue_proposal.v1` CUE schema — explicit non-goal (the essay describes it; implementation is #405 Sub 6).
- α did not begin migration-plan Wave 1+ work — explicit non-goal (this cycle ships only Wave 0 — land the essay).
- α did not file `gamma-clarification.md` — no mid-flight rescope or unpinned-axis discovery occurred.

## Hand-off to β

α's self-coherence verdict is PASS — review-ready. β reviews via R1 (per `beta/SKILL.md` Rule 7 implementation-contract check + AC1–AC9 mechanical re-run + substantive correctness spot-check). Essay is at `docs/gamma/essays/DECREASING-INCOHERENCE.md`; README updates surface it.

Filed by α@cnos (γ+α+β-collapsed-on-δ) on 2026-05-22.
