atlas-ledger

Atlas Ledger v2.2

Give the Atlas series a memory.

Contents

1. Output Language
2. When To Run
3. Distillation (the core) — Steps 1–6
4. Atlas.md format
5. Clause maintenance
6. Integration with atlas-contract
7. Final Principle

Quick reference

caught drift (auto handoff from Final Audit / Post Review / Phase Check / user request)
 → Step 1  state facts, not motive
 → Step 2  draft WHEN / DON'T / INSTEAD
 → Step 3  four gates: Actionability → Replay → Generalization → Over-reach
 → Step 4  first occurrence = Observation [O#]; repeat or high-severity = Clause [L#]
 → Step 5  propose, ATLAS_STOP, write only after user confirms
 → Step 6  merge-first into Atlas.md; confirmed clauses ≤ 15

atlas-contract defends the goal within one conversation, but it starts from zero every time — it does not know where this project drifted before. atlas-ledger closes that gap: when a drift is caught, it distills the lesson into a permanent, project-local contract clause and (after the user confirms) writes it to Atlas.md. Next time atlas-contract builds a Goal Contract, it loads the relevant clauses, so the defense line thickens with each catch. That is the compounding effect.

It is a low-frequency, lightweight companion. It runs only after a drift is caught, and it stays small on purpose. Do not turn it into a second heavy governance skill — its only hard job is distillation quality.

Core idea

The job is not to keep a diary. A record of "what went wrong" is a memory; it changes nothing. The job is a translation:

turn this caught drift → into a clause that can enter a future contract and trigger a stop.

A diary says "I hid the feature." A ledger clause says "WHEN a backend requirement is blocked, DON'T hide the feature, INSTEAD stop and disclose." Only the second one catches it next time. The entire value of this skill is the quality of that translation — and since it is run by the same model that drifted, the mechanisms below exist to keep it honest rather than trusting it to be careful.