---
cycle: 345
role: beta
round: 1
---

# Beta Review — Cycle #345

**Verdict:** APPROVED

**Round:** 1
**Fixed this round:** n/a (first round, no prior findings)
**Branch CI state:** docs-only cycle; no CI gate applies
**origin/main SHA at review:** 347a5e65366ac021479fc92469742681d32d0d2e
**cycle/345 head SHA at review:** 36bba153588e4d985cec315b526ab0993ab16a3c
**Merge instruction:** `git merge --no-ff origin/cycle/345` into main with `Closes #345` in the merge commit message

---

## §2.0.0 Contract Integrity

| Check | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Status truth preserved | yes | Issue status table accurate; no shipped-as-draft conflation |
| Canonical sources/paths verified | yes | ROLES.md at repo root; CDD.md pointer path `/ROLES.md` resolves; epsilon/SKILL.md at canonical skill path |
| Scope/non-goals consistent | yes | No cdw/ directory; no code changes; cdw named as planned-not-shipped per AC6 |
| Constraint strata consistent | yes | No hard gates in exception examples; docs-only mode applied consistently |
| Exceptions field-specific/reasoned | n/a | No exception-backed fields in this diff |
| Path resolution base explicit | yes | ROLES.md at repo root; CDD.md link uses `/ROLES.md` (repo-root-relative) |
| Proof shape adequate | yes | Each AC has oracle + positive + negative + surface; self-coherence §ACs records oracle output |
| Cross-surface projections updated | yes | CDD.md pointer added; post-release/SKILL.md Step 5.6b re-attributed; epsilon/SKILL.md created |
| No witness theater / false closure | yes | All oracles are mechanically verifiable (wc -l, rg, head); self-coherence matches actual oracle output |
| PR body matches branch files | n/a | No PR; self-coherence.md is the branch artifact; it matches branch state |

All contract integrity rows pass. Proceeding to Phase 2.

---

## §2.0 Issue Contract

### AC Coverage

| # | AC | In diff? | Status | Notes |
|---|----|----------|--------|-------|
| AC1 | ROLES.md at repo root, §§1–8 | yes | met | `wc -l` = 319 ✓; 8 `## §` hits ✓; 5 table rows ✓; verbs exact ✓; §3 has 6 fields ✓; §5 ≤200 words (174) ✓; §8 has 8 glossary terms (≥6) ✓ |
| AC2 | CDD.md top-of-file pointer | yes | met | 6-line blockquote added lines 3–7; ROLES.md appears in `head -20` ✓; no cdd-origin claim ✓ |
| AC3 | epsilon/SKILL.md stub | yes | met | `wc -l` = 64 ✓; §1 cross-refs ROLES.md §1 and post-release Step 5.6b ✓; §2 names δ relationship ✓; no separate-actor claim ✓ |
| AC4 | post-release/SKILL.md Step 5.6b re-attribution | yes | met | Exactly one sentence changed; `ε` hit at Step 5.6b ✓; no other prose changes ✓ |
| AC5 | Self-application note in self-coherence.md | yes | met | §Known Debt names AC5 as γ close-out obligation with oracle; accurate |
| AC6 | §5 cdw placeholder ≤200 words | yes | met | "separate issue / future cycle" at lines 185 and 198 ✓; word count 174 ✓; no cdw/ directory ✓ |

### Named Doc Updates

| Doc / File | In diff? | Status | Notes |
|------------|----------|--------|-------|
| ROLES.md (new) | yes | present | 319 lines; §§1–8 complete |
| CDD.md pointer | yes | present | 6-line blockquote at top |
| epsilon/SKILL.md (new) | yes | present | 64-line stub |
| post-release/SKILL.md Step 5.6b | yes | present | single sentence re-attribution |

### CDD Artifact Contract

| Artifact | Required? | Present? | Notes |
|----------|-----------|----------|-------|
| self-coherence.md | yes | yes | 129 lines; review-ready status; CDD Trace through step 7 |
| beta-review.md | yes | yes (this file) | written by β in R1 |
| alpha-closeout.md | yes (post-merge) | not yet | α close-out re-dispatch after merge |
| beta-closeout.md | yes (post-merge) | not yet | β writes after merge |
| gamma-closeout.md | yes (γ) | not yet | γ writes at PRA |

### Active Skill Consistency

| Skill | Required by | Loaded? | Applied? | Notes |
|-------|-------------|---------|----------|-------|
| write/SKILL.md | issue Tier 3 | yes (α declared) | yes — front-load point, one governing question per section visible in ROLES.md structure | |
| skill/SKILL.md | issue Tier 3 | yes (α declared) | yes — epsilon/SKILL.md frontmatter has all required fields (name, description, artifact_class, parent, scope, governing_question) | |
| CDD.md (v3.15.0) | Tier 1 | yes | yes | |
| alpha/SKILL.md | Tier 1 | yes | yes | |

---

## §2.1 Diff and Context Inspection

**Files changed:** 7 (4 implementation + 3 cycle artifacts)

**ROLES.md (319 lines, new):**
- §1 table: 5 rows, verbs produce/reviews/coordinates/operates/iterates — exact match to issue
- §2: 3 paragraphs; orders 0–4 named with one-sentence examples; Bateson/von Foerster cited as "ambient prior art" with honest caveat "The analogy is not exact" — no overclaim
- §3: 6 fields, each with substantive prose definition; cdd and cdw appear as *illustrative* examples (labeled "In cdd..."), not normative rules — §§1–3 are protocol-agnostic at the normative level ✓
- §4: cdd reference instantiation; link to CDD.md uses relative path `src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/CDD.md` — resolves from repo root ✓
- §5: cdw placeholder; "separate issue / future cycle" appears twice; word count 174 ✓; no cdw/ directory created ✓
- §6: cdd and cdw first two entries in the c-d-X naming list ✓
- §7: role-name stability; verbs fixed; git identity convention stated correctly (`{role}@{project}.{protocol}.cnos`) — matches operator/SKILL.md form ✓
- §8: 8 glossary terms; all 6 required terms present (role, matter, frame, instantiation, scope-escalation, order-of-observation) + oracle + cycle ✓
- Self-application footnote in §1 ✓
- §§1–3 protocol-agnostic at normative level ✓ (cdd examples in §3 are illustrative, not normative)
- Placement: repo root per issue open question 1 recommendation; documented in self-coherence.md ✓

**CDD.md (6 lines added):**
- Blockquote at lines 3–7; names cdd as "reference instantiation"; pointer to `/ROLES.md`; explicitly disclaims cdd-origin claim ✓
- No other changes to CDD.md ✓

**epsilon/SKILL.md (64 lines, new):**
- Frontmatter: name, description, artifact_class, parent, scope, governing_question — 6 fields per skill/SKILL.md ✓
- §1: ε's scope is cdd-side protocol-iteration via cdd-iteration.md; MCA discipline stated with three dispositions (patch-landed / MCI / drop); cross-references `ROLES.md §1` row 5 and `cdd/post-release/SKILL.md` Step 5.6b ✓
- §2: ε's relationship to δ — often same actor; separation when volume warrants; no claim ε requires separate human/agent; explicit: "ε is a structural role in the scope-escalation ladder... not a headcount requirement" ✓

**post-release/SKILL.md (1 line changed):**
- Step 5.6b: "γ writes a first-class artifact" → "γ authors ... — ε's work product (`ROLES.md §1`; `cdd/epsilon/SKILL.md §1`) —" ✓
- Exactly one sentence changed; no other prose changes; confirmed via `git diff` ✓
- "γ authors" is preserved as the active verb — γ still does the writing; ε is credited as work-product owner, not primary author. This is accurate per the issue intent ✓

**Cycle artifacts (alpha-prompt.md, beta-prompt.md, self-coherence.md):**
- γ scaffold commits (gamma@cdd.cnos): alpha-prompt.md, beta-prompt.md — appropriate cycle scaffolding ✓
- α implementation commits (alpha@cdd.cnos): all 8 α commits correctly attributed ✓
- self-coherence.md: review-ready signal at round 1; base SHA 347a5e65 matches current origin/main; impl SHA b268a385 (implementation complete); HEAD 36bba153 (review-readiness signal commit) ✓

**Honest-claim check (3.13b):**
- "scope-escalation": new term introduced by this cycle; defined in ROLES.md §8; used in epsilon/SKILL.md and CDD.md pointer (both also new in this cycle). The term is internally consistent and the concept traces to the structural pattern evident in CDD.md §1.5 role table. No term drift. ✓
- Bateson/von Foerster citations: cited as "ambient prior art" with explicit caveat ("The analogy is not exact — the roles are operational, not theoretical"). No overclaim. ✓
- cdd verb canon in ROLES.md §1: all five verbs trace to CDD.md §1.5 and individual role SKILL.md files. ✓
- Step 5.6b language: "γ authors... — ε's work product" — γ remains the author; ε is credited as work-product owner. This is accurate: γ performs the writing action; the protocol-iteration substance belongs to the ε role. ✓

**2.1.4 Stale-path check:** No files moved or renamed. No stale paths introduced. ✓

**2.1.8 Authority-surface conflict:** No conflicts between ROLES.md and existing cdd skill files. CDD.md now points to ROLES.md rather than being the origin for role definitions. epsilon/SKILL.md §2 correctly defers to ROLES.md §1 for the structural definition. ✓

**2.1.12 Process overhead check:** ROLES.md answers the question "what exact failure does this prevent?" — onboarding cost and re-derivation risk for future c-d-X protocols. The artifact serves a real future use case (cdw bootstrap). epsilon/SKILL.md gives ε a canonical home preventing role shadow-work. Justified. ✓

---

## Architecture Check

| Check | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Reason to change preserved | n/a | Docs-only; no code modules touched |
| Policy above detail preserved | n/a | No code or runtime surfaces |
| Interfaces remain truthful | yes | epsilon/SKILL.md is a stub that correctly declares itself as a stub (≤100 lines per AC); does not overclaim ε's scope |
| Registry model remains unified | n/a | No registry changes |
| Source/artifact/installed boundary preserved | n/a | No code or build artifacts |
| Runtime surfaces remain distinct | n/a | No runtime surfaces |
| Degraded paths visible and testable | n/a | No code paths |

Architecture check: no violations. All applicable rows pass; remaining rows n/a for docs-only cycle.

---

## Findings

| # | Finding | Evidence | Severity | Type |
|---|---------|----------|----------|------|
| — | No findings | All ACs met; all oracle checks pass; no incoherence found | — | — |

---

## Notes

- **§5 role count vs. issue wording:** AC6 positive in the issue states "four mappings (α-prose, β-clarity, γ-cycle, δ-pipeline, ε-iteration)" — the parenthetical lists five items despite the word "four." ROLES.md §5 correctly includes all five (α/β/γ/δ/ε) which is the right implementation. The "four" in AC6 is a typo in the issue body; the implementation is correct and more complete. Not a finding.
- **Docs-only disconnect:** Per `release/SKILL.md` §2.5b, the merge commit on main is the disconnect signal for this docs-only cycle. No version bump, no tag, no `scripts/release.sh`. β confirms this cycle is docs-only and no release tooling will be invoked.
- **AC5 γ obligation confirmed:** self-coherence.md §Known Debt accurately records that AC5 (cdd-iteration.md `(ε)` attribution) is γ's close-out obligation if triage produces `cdd-*-gap` findings. β has confirmed the note exists and is accurate. β does not verify cdd-iteration.md — it does not exist yet at review time.
- **Pre-merge gate:**
  - Row 1 (identity): `beta@cdd.cnos` configured ✓
  - Row 2 (canonical-skill freshness): origin/main current (347a5e65); skills loaded at session start from current main ✓
  - Row 3 (merge test): collapsed per beta/SKILL.md — purely textual/docs cycle; no new runtime or schema contract surface shipped ✓
