---
cycle: 345
role: alpha
merge_commit: 9513362a89b1e11821ea90bdb61091557efcd3ac
---

# Alpha Close-Out — Cycle #345

## Cycle Summary

**Issue:** #345 — Document the generic α/β/γ/δ/ε role-scope ladder as a cnos-level pattern
**Mode:** docs-only (design-and-build)
**Branch:** `cycle/345`
**Merge commit:** `9513362a89b1e11821ea90bdb61091557efcd3ac` (main)
**β verdict:** APPROVED R1 — 0 findings
**α commits:** 8 (`afe31e17`–`36bba153`)
**ACs:** AC1–AC4 + AC6 met by α; AC5 deferred to γ close-out (see §Known Debt in self-coherence.md)

## α-Side Findings

No findings. Cycle converged in a single β round with no RC.

## Friction Log

None. Design pre-converged in the issue body; no separate design doc was required. No
plan was required — four independent files with no sequencing ambiguity. docs-only cycle
meant no schema, harness, or CI surfaces to audit.

## Observations and Patterns

1. **Oracle-in-artifact pattern effective for docs-only.** Recording oracle outputs (`wc -l`,
   `rg` hit counts, word counts) alongside AC evidence in `self-coherence.md` made β's
   mechanical verification fast and reproducible. β noted this in `beta-closeout.md`
   observation 1. Consistent across prior docs-only cycles.

2. **Issue AC wording slip.** AC6 positive in the issue body reads "§5 sketches the 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
   role mappings. Zero friction; the implementation was correct as written. β named this
   in `beta-review.md` §Notes and `beta-closeout.md` observation 2 as a textual slip, not
   a finding.

3. **"scope-escalation" as newly coined term.** `ROLES.md §8` introduces "scope-escalation"
   — a term not previously present in the cdd skill corpus. Defined in §8; used only in
   artifacts that are themselves new this cycle (`epsilon/SKILL.md`, `CDD.md` pointer
   block). No drift detected within the cycle. β noted its novelty in `beta-closeout.md`
   observation 3.

4. **Single-round docs-only convergence.** 14-row pre-review gate passed on first signal;
   β approved R1. Consistent with the pattern of docs-only cycles where design is
   pre-converged in the issue body.

## Engineering Level Reading

**New artifacts:**
- `ROLES.md` — 319 lines, repo root; generic role-scope ladder pattern, §§1–8
- `src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/epsilon/SKILL.md` — 64 lines; ε cdd-side stub

**Modified artifacts:**
- `src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/CDD.md` — +6 lines (blockquote pointer at top)
- `src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/post-release/SKILL.md` — +1 line at Step 5.6b
  (cdd-iteration.md re-attributed as ε's work product)

**Cycle artifacts (in `.cdd/unreleased/345/`):**
`alpha-prompt.md`, `beta-prompt.md`, `self-coherence.md`, `beta-review.md`,
`beta-closeout.md`, `alpha-closeout.md` (this file)

**No code changes. No schema, harness, or CI surfaces touched.**

**AC5 γ obligation (carried from self-coherence.md §Known Debt):** if triage produces
≥1 `cdd-*-gap` finding, the cycle's `cdd-iteration.md` must open with `(ε)` attribution
(oracle: `rg '^ε' .cdd/releases/.../cdd-iteration.md` → ≥1 hit).
