Rationalize default configuration file paths and update documentation

.gitignore

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# --> Python
 .DS_Store
 .venv/
 __pycache__/
@@ -9,3 +10,63 @@ dist/
 build/
 *.egg-info/
 
+# ---> Codex
+.codex
+AGENTS.md
+
+# ---> Go
+# If you prefer the allow list template instead of the deny list, see community template:
+# https://github.com/github/gitignore/blob/main/community/Golang/Go.AllowList.gitignore
+#
+# Binaries for programs and plugins
+*.exe
+*.exe~
+*.dll
+*.so
+*.dylib
+
+# Test binary, built with `go test -c`
+*.test
+
+# Output of the go coverage tool, specifically when used with LiteIDE
+*.out
+
+# Dependency directories (remove the comment below to include it)
+# vendor/
+
+# Go workspace file
+go.work
+go.work.sum
+
+# env file
+.env
+
+# Compiled binaries and test configuration
+narratio
+local-test
+pipeline.yml
+bin/
+
+# Local run artifacts
+.audita-runs/
+report.json
+corrected.json
+normalized.json
+
+# Coverage artifacts
+coverage.out
+coverage.txt
+
+# ---> VisualStudioCode
+.vscode/*
+!.vscode/settings.json
+!.vscode/tasks.json
+!.vscode/launch.json
+!.vscode/extensions.json
+!.vscode/*.code-snippets
+
+# Local History for Visual Studio Code
+.history/
+
+# Built Visual Studio Code Extensions
+*.vsix

.woodpecker/release.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+when:
+  - event: tag
+
+steps:
+  - name: build-release-assets
+    image: golang:1.25
+    commands:
+      - |
+        set -eu
+
+        version="$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
+        dist="dist"
+        pkg="gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/cmd/audita"
+
+        rm -rf "$dist"
+        mkdir -p "$dist"
+
+        build_binary() {
+          goos="$1"
+          goarch="$2"
+          suffix="$3"
+          output="$dist/audita-$version-$goos-$goarch$suffix"
+
+          CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS="$goos" GOARCH="$goarch" \
+            go build -trimpath -ldflags "-s -w -X gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/buildinfo.Version=$version" \
+            -o "$output" "$pkg"
+        }
+
+        build_binary linux amd64 ""
+        build_binary linux arm64 ""
+        build_binary darwin amd64 ""
+        build_binary darwin arm64 ""
+        build_binary windows amd64 ".exe"
+        build_binary windows arm64 ".exe"
+
+  - name: publish-release
+    image: woodpeckerci/plugin-release
+    depends_on:
+      - build-release-assets
+    settings:
+      api_key:
+        from_secret: GITEA_RELEASE_TOKEN
+      files:
+        - dist/audita-*
+      checksum: sha256
+      checksum-file: SHA256SUMS
+      checksum-flatten: true
+      file-exists: skip
+      overwrite: false
+      prerelease: false

README.md

@@ -1,148 +1,303 @@
 # Audita
 
-Audita is a framework-first transcript correction application. The public `audita` package provides:
+Audita is a transcript polishing CLI.
 
-- deterministic transcript normalization
-- token-batched module orchestration
-- concrete `glossary`, `homophones`, `spoken_word`, and `grammar` modules built on reusable proposal / validator contracts
-- structured run reporting and work-dir diagnostics
+`audita process` validates transcript/glossary input, normalizes and chunks transcript segments, runs the default correction pipeline, and emits corrected transcript output plus machine-readable diagnostics and reports.
 
-The previous working implementation has been preserved as `audita_prototype` inside this repository. Its full regression suite lives under `tests/audita_prototype`.
+## What Audita Does
 
-## Development
+Default module sequence:
+- `glossary`
+- `homophones`
+- `glossary`
+- `spoken_word`
+- `grammar`
 
-This project is set up for `uv`.
+Pipeline behavior includes:
+- glossary-backed domain/acoustic corrections
+- conservative homophone and mistranscription corrections
+- conservative spoken-word dysfluency cleanup with semantic guardrails
+- grammar/punctuation/capitalization/formatting cleanup
+- validator-chain enforcement before application
+- run reports and diagnostics artifacts with secret redaction
+
+## Build and Install
+
+Build a local binary:
 
 ```sh
-uv sync --extra dev
-uv run pytest
+go build -o ./bin/audita ./cmd/audita
 ```
 
-## Usage
-
-Process a transcript with the current framework implementation:
+Install into your Go bin directory:
 
 ```sh
-uv run audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml --output corrected.json
+go install ./cmd/audita
 ```
 
-The framework currently runs this default module sequence:
-
-1. `glossary`
-2. `homophones`
-3. `glossary`
-4. `spoken_word`
-5. `grammar`
-
-Resolved run instance names are auto-numbered for repeats, so the default report pipeline is:
-
-1. `glossary_1`
-2. `homophones`
-3. `glossary_2`
-4. `spoken_word`
-5. `grammar`
-
-The default module sequence is fully implemented today:
-
-- `glossary` proposes glossary-supported acoustic corrections
-- `homophones` proposes conservative homophone and mistranscription corrections
-- `spoken_word` proposes conservative dysfluency cleanup
-- `grammar` proposes punctuation, capitalization, and spacing cleanup only
-
-To run a custom module sequence, pass `--modules`:
+CLI help:
 
 ```sh
-uv run audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml --modules grammar --output corrected.json
+audita --help
+audita process --help
+audita config --help
 ```
 
-To also write a structured JSON report:
+## Test
+
+Run all tests:
 
 ```sh
-uv run audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml --output corrected.json --report-json report.json
+go test ./...
 ```
 
-From a checked-out repository, you can also use the root launcher:
+## Basic Usage
+
+Required inputs:
+- transcript JSON path (positional argument)
+- `--glossary <glossary.yaml>`
+
+Recommended run:
 
 ```sh
-./audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml --output corrected.json
+audita process transcript.json \
+  --glossary glossary.yaml \
+  --output corrected.json \
+  --report-json report.json
 ```
 
-For a system-wide command, install the source tree under `/usr/local/src/audita`, sync dependencies there, and symlink the root launcher into your `PATH`:
+Select an explicit output schema (default is `bare-segments`):
 
 ```sh
-cd /usr/local/src/audita
-uv sync --extra dev
-ln -s /usr/local/src/audita/audita /usr/local/bin/audita
-audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml --output corrected.json
+audita process transcript.json \
+  --glossary glossary.yaml \
+  --output-schema audita-v1 \
+  --output corrected.json \
+  --report-json report.json
 ```
 
-Without `--output`, Audita writes the corrected transcript JSON to stdout and progress logs to stderr.
-`--report-json` writes a separate machine-readable run report and never mixes report data into stdout.
-
-Useful configuration can be supplied by CLI flag or environment variable. CLI flags take precedence over environment variables. Default OpenRouter runs require LLM API credentials, because the `glossary`, `homophones`, `spoken_word`, and `grammar` modules make real LLM calls. Self-hosted or other non-default OpenAI-compatible endpoints may not require credentials. `AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY` and `--llm-api-key` are the preferred provider-neutral credential surfaces, while `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` remains supported as a backward-compatible fallback.
-
-| Environment variable | CLI flag | Default | Purpose |
-| --- | --- | --- | --- |
-| `AUDITA_MODULES` | `--modules` | `glossary,homophones,glossary,spoken_word,grammar` | Comma-separated logical module keys to run; CLI overrides the environment value |
-| `AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY` | `--llm-api-key` | unset | Preferred provider-neutral LLM API credential; required for the default OpenRouter endpoint and optional for non-default endpoints; CLI overrides both environment-key variants |
-| `AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_API_KEY` | `--validation-llm-api-key` | unset | Validation-phase LLM API credential; defaults to the primary LLM API key and is optional for non-default validation endpoints |
-| `AUDITA_MODEL` | `--model` | `openrouter/google/gemma-4-31b-it` | LLM model name sent to the configured OpenAI-compatible endpoint |
-| `AUDITA_VALIDATION_MODEL` | `--validation-model` | unset | Validation-phase LLM model; defaults to `AUDITA_MODEL` |
-| `AUDITA_BASE_URL` | `--base-url` | `https://openrouter.ai/api/v1` | OpenAI-compatible API base URL |
-| `AUDITA_VALIDATION_BASE_URL` | `--validation-base-url` | unset | Validation-phase OpenAI-compatible API base URL; defaults to `AUDITA_BASE_URL` |
-| `AUDITA_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS` | `--llm-timeout-seconds` | `600` | Per-request timeout in seconds for LLM calls to the configured OpenAI-compatible endpoint |
-| `AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS` | `--validation-llm-timeout-seconds` | unset | Validation-phase per-request timeout in seconds; defaults to `AUDITA_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS` |
-| `AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_PROMPT_TOKENS` | `--validation-max-prompt-tokens` | `2048` | Maximum estimated tokens per validation-phase LLM prompt batch |
-| `AUDITA_TARGET_SECTIONS` | `--target-sections` | unset | Exact number of contiguous proposal-stage transcript sections; errors if min/max token bounds cannot be satisfied |
-| `AUDITA_MAX_RETRIES` | `--max-retries` | `3` | Maximum Instructor retries for structured responses |
-| `AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_RETRIES` | `--validation-max-retries` | unset | Validation-phase structured-output retries; defaults to `AUDITA_MAX_RETRIES` |
-| `AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_CONCURRENCY` | `--validation-llm-concurrency` | unset | Validation-phase LLM concurrency; defaults to `AUDITA_LLM_CONCURRENCY` |
-| `AUDITA_MAX_SECTION_TOKENS` | `--max-section-tokens` | `8192` | Maximum estimated tokens per proposal-stage transcript section |
-| `AUDITA_MIN_SECTION_TOKENS` | `--min-section-tokens` | `2048` | Minimum estimated tokens per proposal-stage transcript section when balancing for concurrency |
-| `AUDITA_GLOSSARY_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD` | `--glossary-confidence-threshold` | `0.8` | Minimum confidence required for glossary proposals to survive validation |
-| `AUDITA_GRAMMAR_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD` | `--grammar-confidence-threshold` | `0.8` | Minimum confidence required for grammar proposals to survive validation |
-| `AUDITA_HOMOPHONES_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD` | `--homophones-confidence-threshold` | `0.8` | Minimum confidence required for homophone proposals to survive validation |
-| `AUDITA_SPOKEN_WORD_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD` | `--spoken-word-confidence-threshold` | `0.8` | Minimum confidence required for spoken-word proposals to survive validation |
-| `AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_GAP` | `--normalize-max-segment-gap` | `4.0` | Same-speaker gaps eligible for deterministic merging |
-| `AUDITA_NORMALIZE_ELLIPSIS_GAP` | `--normalize-ellipsis-gap` | `3.5` | Same-speaker gaps above this value are joined with ` ... ` |
-| `AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_DURATION` | `--normalize-max-segment-duration` | `60.0` | Maximum merged segment duration |
-| `AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_TOKENS` | `--normalize-max-segment-tokens` | `2048` | Maximum merged segment prompt payload size |
-| `AUDITA_WORK_DIR` | `--work-dir` | `/tmp/audita` | Per-run scratch diagnostics directory |
-| `AUDITA_WORK_DIR_RETENTION` | `--work-dir-retention` | `auto` | Whether to retain the per-run work directory: `auto`, `always`, or `never` |
-
-Set `AUDITA_MODULES=grammar` to run only the grammar module by default, or override it per command with `--modules`.
-
-Validation-phase LLM settings inherit from the primary `AUDITA_*` LLM settings by default. Set any of the `AUDITA_VALIDATION_*` values only when you want LLM-backed validators to use a different model, endpoint, credential, timeout, retry budget, or concurrency level.
-
-OpenRouter remains the default out of the box:
+Recommended config-based run:
 
 ```sh
-export AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY=your-openrouter-key
-audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml --output corrected.json
+audita process transcript.json \
+  --glossary glossary.yaml \
+  --config audita.yml \
+  --output corrected.json \
+  --report-json report.json
 ```
 
-You can point Audita at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint by changing `AUDITA_BASE_URL` and, if needed, `AUDITA_MODEL`. For example, a local vLLM server:
+Explicit module override:
 
 ```sh
-export AUDITA_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8000/v1
-export AUDITA_MODEL=meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct
-audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml --output corrected.json
+audita process transcript.json \
+  --glossary glossary.yaml \
+  --modules glossary,homophones,grammar \
+  --output corrected.json \
+  --report-json report.json
 ```
 
-If your self-hosted endpoint requires authentication, you can still set `AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY`; Audita simply no longer requires it for non-default endpoints.
-
-Or the actual OpenAI API:
+Optional transcript background context:
 
 ```sh
-export AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY=your-openai-key
-export AUDITA_BASE_URL=https://api.openai.com/v1
-export AUDITA_MODEL=gpt-4.1-mini
-audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml --output corrected.json
+audita process transcript.json \
+  --glossary glossary.yaml \
+  --transcript-description "Brief context that may help resolve ambiguous terms." \
+  --output corrected.json
 ```
 
-`AUDITA_WORK_DIR` stores per-run diagnostics while processing. Under the default `AUDITA_WORK_DIR_RETENTION=auto`, clean successful runs are removed, while failed runs and successful runs with final skipped corrections are preserved. Use `always` to keep every run directory and `never` to remove successful run directories even when skips remain.
-Failed runs always preserve the run directory and include an authoritative `report.json` alongside normalization and prompt/response diagnostics.
+The transcript description is background context only and does not override transcript content.
 
-## Prototype Archive
+Write transcript JSON to stdout (no `--output`):
 
-The archived prototype remains importable as `audita_prototype` and is still covered by its original regression suite. This is intentional: the new `audita` package is a framework-oriented rewrite, not a thin wrapper around the old code.
+```sh
+audita process transcript.json --glossary glossary.yaml
+```
+
+Control diagnostics location/retention:
+
+```sh
+audita process transcript.json \
+  --glossary glossary.yaml \
+  --work-dir /tmp/audita \
+  --work-dir-retention auto \
+  --output corrected.json \
+  --report-json report.json
+```
+
+## Stdout/Stderr Contract
+
+- With `--output`, stdout is expected to be empty on success.
+- Without `--output`, stdout contains transcript JSON only on success.
+- `--report-json` writes a file and is never printed to stdout.
+- stderr is human-readable diagnostics/errors.
+
+For subprocess orchestration guidance, see [`docs/subprocess-operations.md`](docs/subprocess-operations.md).
+
+## Configuration
+
+Precedence:
+1. defaults
+2. config file (`--config`, `AUDITA_CONFIG`, or default search paths when present: `/usr/local/etc/audita/config.yml`, then `/etc/audita/config.yml`)
+3. environment (`AUDITA_*`)
+4. CLI flags
+
+Config commands:
+
+```sh
+audita config validate --config audita.yml
+audita config print-effective --config audita.yml
+```
+
+For full config-file schema and examples, see [`docs/configuration.md`](docs/configuration.md).
+For output-schema details, see [`docs/output-schemas.md`](docs/output-schemas.md).
+For built-in validator keys and chain definitions, see [`docs/validators.md`](docs/validators.md).
+For embedded prompt assets and prompt metadata behavior, see [`docs/prompts.md`](docs/prompts.md).
+For CLI/process compatibility guarantees, see [`docs/public-contract.md`](docs/public-contract.md).
+
+### Modules
+
+- `AUDITA_MODULES` (CSV)
+- CLI: `--modules`
+
+### Transcript Description
+
+CLI:
+- `--transcript-description`
+
+Behavior:
+- optional background context for proposal and LLM-validator prompts;
+- trimmed and length-limited by CLI validation;
+- does not override transcript content;
+- no `AUDITA_*` environment variable is currently defined for this setting.
+
+### Primary LLM
+
+Environment:
+- `AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY` (or `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` fallback)
+- `AUDITA_MODEL`
+- `AUDITA_BASE_URL`
+- `AUDITA_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS`
+- `AUDITA_MAX_RETRIES`
+
+CLI:
+- `--llm-api-key`
+- `--model`
+- `--base-url`
+- `--llm-timeout-seconds`
+- `--max-retries`
+
+### Validation LLM
+
+Environment:
+- `AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_API_KEY`
+- `AUDITA_VALIDATION_MODEL`
+- `AUDITA_VALIDATION_BASE_URL`
+- `AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS`
+- `AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_RETRIES`
+- `AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_CONCURRENCY`
+- `AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_PROMPT_TOKENS`
+
+CLI:
+- `--validation-llm-api-key`
+- `--validation-model`
+- `--validation-base-url`
+- `--validation-llm-timeout-seconds`
+- `--validation-max-retries`
+- `--validation-llm-concurrency`
+- `--validation-max-prompt-tokens`
+
+### LLM Concurrency
+
+Environment:
+- `AUDITA_TOTAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY`
+- `AUDITA_PROPOSAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY`
+- `AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_CONCURRENCY`
+- `AUDITA_LLM_CONCURRENCY` (legacy alias for `AUDITA_TOTAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY`)
+
+CLI:
+- `--total-llm-concurrency`
+- `--proposal-llm-concurrency`
+- `--validation-llm-concurrency`
+- `--llm-concurrency` (legacy alias for `--total-llm-concurrency`)
+
+Behavior:
+- all proposal and validation LLM calls are bounded by total LLM concurrency
+- proposal LLM calls are additionally bounded by proposal LLM concurrency
+- when validation concurrency is unset, it inherits total LLM concurrency
+- when explicitly set, proposal and validation concurrency must each be `<= total-llm-concurrency`
+- canonical total settings win when both canonical and legacy alias settings are provided at the same precedence layer
+
+### Confidence Thresholds
+
+Environment:
+- `AUDITA_GLOSSARY_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD`
+- `AUDITA_HOMOPHONES_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD`
+- `AUDITA_SPOKEN_WORD_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD`
+- `AUDITA_GRAMMAR_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD`
+
+CLI:
+- `--glossary-confidence-threshold`
+- `--homophones-confidence-threshold`
+- `--spoken-word-confidence-threshold`
+- `--grammar-confidence-threshold`
+
+### Normalization and Chunking
+
+Environment:
+- `AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_GAP`
+- `AUDITA_NORMALIZE_ELLIPSIS_GAP`
+- `AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_DURATION`
+- `AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_TOKENS`
+- `AUDITA_MAX_SECTION_TOKENS`
+- `AUDITA_MIN_SECTION_TOKENS`
+- `AUDITA_TARGET_SECTIONS`
+
+CLI:
+- `--normalize-max-segment-gap`
+- `--normalize-ellipsis-gap`
+- `--normalize-max-segment-duration`
+- `--normalize-max-segment-tokens`
+- `--max-section-tokens`
+- `--min-section-tokens`
+- `--target-sections`
+
+### Work Directory
+
+Environment:
+- `AUDITA_WORK_DIR`
+- `AUDITA_WORK_DIR_RETENTION` (`auto`, `always`, `never`)
+
+CLI:
+- `--work-dir`
+- `--work-dir-retention`
+
+Retention behavior:
+- `always`: keep all run directories
+- `never`: keep successful run directories
+- `auto`: keep failed runs and successful runs with skipped/rejected corrections
+
+## Reports and Diagnostics
+
+Per-run diagnostics include:
+- source transcript artifacts
+- normalized transcript artifact
+- normalization summary
+- chunking summary
+- utilization diagnostics summary
+- correction ledger
+- invocation metadata
+- redacted effective config
+- module/validator prompt-response diagnostics
+- `report.json`
+- `error.log` on failure
+
+Optional external report output:
+- `--report-json <path>`
+
+## Documentation
+
+- Architecture: [`docs/architecture.md`](docs/architecture.md)
+- Diagnostics: [`docs/diagnostics.md`](docs/diagnostics.md)
+- Structured LLM adapter: [`docs/structured-llm.md`](docs/structured-llm.md)
+- Subprocess operations: [`docs/subprocess-operations.md`](docs/subprocess-operations.md)
+- Release checklist: [`docs/release-checklist.md`](docs/release-checklist.md)

audita

@@ -1,147 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-import json
-import os
-from datetime import datetime
-import shutil
-import subprocess
-import sys
-from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Optional
-from uuid import uuid4
-
-
-DEFAULT_WORK_DIR = "/tmp/audita"
-_SECRET_FLAGS = {"--llm-api-key", "--validation-llm-api-key"}
-
-
-def _redact_argv(argv: list[str]) -> list[str]:
-    redacted: list[str] = []
-    index = 0
-    while index < len(argv):
-        arg = argv[index]
-        matched_flag = next((flag for flag in _SECRET_FLAGS if arg == flag or arg.startswith(flag + "=")), None)
-        if matched_flag is None:
-            redacted.append(arg)
-            index += 1
-            continue
-        if arg == matched_flag:
-            redacted.append(arg)
-            if index + 1 < len(argv):
-                redacted.append("[REDACTED]")
-                index += 2
-            else:
-                index += 1
-            continue
-        redacted.append(f"{matched_flag}=[REDACTED]")
-        index += 1
-    return redacted
-
-
-def _resolve_work_root(argv: list[str]) -> Path:
-    for index, arg in enumerate(argv):
-        if arg == "--work-dir" and index + 1 < len(argv):
-            return Path(argv[index + 1])
-        if arg.startswith("--work-dir="):
-            return Path(arg.split("=", 1)[1])
-    return Path(os.environ.get("AUDITA_WORK_DIR") or DEFAULT_WORK_DIR)
-
-
-def _create_run_dir(root: Path) -> Path:
-    root.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    timestamp = datetime.utcnow().strftime("%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ")
-    run_dir = root / f"run-{timestamp}-{uuid4().hex[:8]}"
-    run_dir.mkdir(parents=False, exist_ok=False)
-    return run_dir
-
-
-def _capture_run_dirs(root: Path) -> set[str]:
-    if not root.exists():
-        return set()
-    return {path.name for path in root.iterdir() if path.is_dir() and path.name.startswith("run-")}
-
-
-def _find_new_run_dir(root: Path, before: set[str]) -> Optional[Path]:
-    if not root.exists():
-        return None
-    candidates = [
-        path for path in root.iterdir() if path.is_dir() and path.name.startswith("run-") and path.name not in before
-    ]
-    if not candidates:
-        return None
-    return max(candidates, key=lambda path: path.name)
-
-
-def _write_launcher_error_log(
-    path: Path,
-    *,
-    message: str,
-    exit_code: int,
-    argv: list[str],
-    command: Optional[list[str]],
-) -> None:
-    payload = {
-        "timestamp": datetime.utcnow().isoformat() + "Z",
-        "message": message,
-        "exit_code": exit_code,
-        "argv": argv,
-        "cwd": os.getcwd(),
-        "command": command,
-    }
-    path.write_text(
-        "Audita Launcher Diagnostics\n" + json.dumps(payload, ensure_ascii=False, indent=2) + "\n",
-        encoding="utf-8",
-    )
-
-
-def _emit_console_line(message: str) -> None:
-    for stream in (sys.stderr, sys.stdout):
-        if stream is None:
-            continue
-        try:
-            stream.write(f"{message}\n")
-            stream.flush()
-            return
-        except (OSError, ValueError):
-            continue
-
-
-def main() -> int:
-    argv = list(sys.argv[1:])
-    work_root = _resolve_work_root(argv)
-    redacted_argv = _redact_argv(argv)
-    uv = shutil.which("uv")
-    if uv is None:
-        run_dir = _create_run_dir(work_root)
-        error_log = run_dir / "error.log"
-        message = "uv is required to run this launcher. Install uv and run `uv sync` in the Audita project."
-        _write_launcher_error_log(error_log, message=message, exit_code=1, argv=redacted_argv, command=None)
-        _emit_console_line(f"audita: error: {message}")
-        _emit_console_line("audita: exit code: 1")
-        _emit_console_line(f"audita: run directory: {run_dir}")
-        _emit_console_line(f"audita: error log: {error_log}")
-        return 1
-
-    project_root = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
-    command = [uv, "run", "--project", str(project_root), "python", "-m", "audita", *sys.argv[1:]]
-    before = _capture_run_dirs(work_root)
-    result = subprocess.run(command, cwd=project_root, check=False)
-    if result.returncode == 0:
-        return 0
-    if _find_new_run_dir(work_root, before) is None:
-        run_dir = _create_run_dir(work_root)
-        error_log = run_dir / "error.log"
-        _write_launcher_error_log(
-            error_log,
-            message=f"Audita subprocess exited with status {result.returncode}.",
-            exit_code=result.returncode,
-            argv=redacted_argv,
-            command=_redact_argv(command),
-        )
-        _emit_console_line(f"audita: subprocess exited with status {result.returncode}")
-        _emit_console_line(f"audita: run directory: {run_dir}")
-        _emit_console_line(f"audita: error log: {error_log}")
-    return result.returncode
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    raise SystemExit(main())

cmd/audita/main.go

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"os"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/cli"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	os.Exit(cli.Run(os.Args[1:], os.Stdout, os.Stderr))
+}

cmd/audita/main_integration_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,709 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
+	"runtime"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/cli"
+)
+
+func TestHelperProcess(t *testing.T) {
+	if os.Getenv("GO_WANT_HELPER_PROCESS") != "1" {
+		return
+	}
+
+	sep := -1
+	for i, arg := range os.Args {
+		if arg == "--" {
+			sep = i
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if sep == -1 {
+		os.Exit(2)
+	}
+
+	cli.ConfigureSubprocessTestHooksFromEnv()
+	code := cli.Run(os.Args[sep+1:], os.Stdout, os.Stderr)
+	os.Exit(code)
+}
+
+func TestProcessHelpSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(t, "process", "--help")
+	if result.exitCode != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exit 0, got %d stderr=%q", result.exitCode, result.stderr)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stdout, "Usage:") || !strings.Contains(result.stdout, "--glossary") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected help stdout: %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if result.stderr != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stderr, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessSuccessWithOutputSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	outputPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "corrected.json")
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--output",
+		outputPath,
+	)
+
+	if result.exitCode != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exit 0, got %d stderr=%q", result.exitCode, result.stderr)
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout when --output is set, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if result.stderr != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stderr on success, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+
+	inputBytes := readFile(t, fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"))
+	outputBytes := readFile(t, outputPath)
+	assertJSONSemanticallyEqual(t, inputBytes, outputBytes)
+}
+
+func TestProcessSuccessWithoutOutputSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+	)
+
+	if result.exitCode != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exit 0, got %d stderr=%q", result.exitCode, result.stderr)
+	}
+	if result.stderr != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stderr on success, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+
+	inputBytes := readFile(t, fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"))
+	assertJSONSemanticallyEqual(t, inputBytes, []byte(result.stdout))
+}
+
+func TestProcessSuccessWithAuditaV1OutputSchemaSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--output-schema",
+		"audita-v1",
+	)
+	if result.exitCode != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exit 0, got %d stderr=%q", result.exitCode, result.stderr)
+	}
+	if result.stderr != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stderr on success, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+	var out struct {
+		Schema string `json:"schema"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(result.stdout), &out); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected valid audita-v1 JSON output: %v", err)
+	}
+	if out.Schema != "audita-v1" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected audita-v1 schema, got %q", out.Schema)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureMissingTranscriptSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(t, "process", "--glossary", fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"))
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "expected exactly 1 transcript JSON path argument") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected actionable missing transcript error, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureMalformedJSONSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("malformed_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "is not valid JSON") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected malformed JSON error, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureMissingTranscriptFileSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "missing-transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "transcript_read") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected transcript_read failure, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureMissingGlossaryFileSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "missing-glossary.yaml"),
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "glossary_read") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected glossary_read failure, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureTranscriptSchemaSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		schemaFixturePath("transcript_empty_speaker.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "transcript_schema") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected transcript_schema failure, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureMalformedGlossaryYAMLSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		schemaFixturePath("glossary_malformed.yaml"),
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "glossary_schema") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected glossary_schema failure, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureUnreadableTranscriptSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		t.Skip("portable unreadable-file permissions are not reliable on windows")
+	}
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	transcriptPath := filepath.Join(dir, "transcript.json")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(transcriptPath, []byte(`[]`), 0o000); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write unreadable transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = os.Chmod(transcriptPath, 0o644) })
+	if _, err := os.ReadFile(transcriptPath); err == nil {
+		t.Skip("unable to make transcript unreadable on this platform/user")
+	}
+
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		transcriptPath,
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "transcript_read") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected transcript_read failure, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureUnwritableOutputSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	outputDir := t.TempDir()
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--output",
+		outputDir,
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "failed to write output file") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected write failure message, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureUnwritableReportJSONSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	reportDir := t.TempDir()
+	outputPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "out.json")
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--output",
+		outputPath,
+		"--report-json",
+		reportDir,
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "failed to write report JSON file") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected report write failure message, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessSuccessReportJSONSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	reportPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "report.json")
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--report-json",
+		reportPath,
+	)
+	if result.exitCode != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exit 0, got %d stderr=%q", result.exitCode, result.stderr)
+	}
+	if result.stderr != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stderr on success, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+	if !json.Valid([]byte(result.stdout)) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected transcript JSON only on stdout, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	report := readFile(t, reportPath)
+	if !json.Valid(report) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected valid report JSON, got %q", string(report))
+	}
+	// Ensure report JSON is not printed to stdout.
+	if strings.Contains(result.stdout, `"default_pipeline"`) {
+		t.Fatalf("report JSON leaked to stdout: %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessSuccessLargeTranscriptSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	transcriptPath := writeLargeTranscriptFixture(t, 320)
+	result := runCLISubprocess(
+		t,
+		"process",
+		transcriptPath,
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+	)
+	if result.exitCode != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exit 0, got %d stderr=%q", result.exitCode, result.stderr)
+	}
+	if result.stderr != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stderr on success, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+	if !json.Valid([]byte(result.stdout)) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected valid transcript JSON on stdout")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureMalformedStructuredLLMResponseViaSubprocessHook(t *testing.T) {
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	reportPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "report.json")
+	result := runCLISubprocessWithEnv(t,
+		map[string]string{"AUDITA_SUBPROCESS_TEST_LLM_MODE": "malformed_structured"},
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--modules",
+		"grammar",
+		"--report-json",
+		reportPath,
+		"--work-dir",
+		workDir,
+		"--work-dir-retention",
+		"always",
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "runner_execution") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected runner_execution failure, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "diagnostics:") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected diagnostics path in stderr, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+	report := readFile(t, reportPath)
+	if !json.Valid(report) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected valid failure report JSON")
+	}
+	runDir := onlyRunDir(t, workDir)
+	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(runDir, "error.log")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected error.log, got: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureBackendLLMViaSubprocessHook(t *testing.T) {
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	result := runCLISubprocessWithEnv(t,
+		map[string]string{"AUDITA_SUBPROCESS_TEST_LLM_MODE": "backend_error"},
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--modules",
+		"grammar",
+		"--work-dir",
+		workDir,
+		"--work-dir-retention",
+		"always",
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "synthetic backend failure") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected backend failure details, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "diagnostics:") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected diagnostics path in stderr, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(onlyRunDir(t, workDir), "error.log")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected error.log in retained failed run: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessFailureMidPipelinePreservesPartialReportsSubprocess(t *testing.T) {
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	reportPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "report.json")
+	result := runCLISubprocessWithEnv(t,
+		map[string]string{"AUDITA_SUBPROCESS_TEST_LLM_MODE": "mid_pipeline_fail"},
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--modules",
+		"glossary,homophones,glossary,spoken_word,grammar",
+		"--report-json",
+		reportPath,
+		"--work-dir",
+		workDir,
+		"--work-dir-retention",
+		"always",
+	)
+	if result.exitCode == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected nonzero exit code")
+	}
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	reportRaw := readFile(t, reportPath)
+	var report struct {
+		Status        string `json:"status"`
+		ErrorPhase    string `json:"error_phase"`
+		ModuleResults []struct {
+			ModuleInstance string `json:"module_instance"`
+			Status         string `json:"status"`
+		} `json:"module_results"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(reportRaw, &report); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal report: %v", err)
+	}
+	if report.Status != "failed" || report.ErrorPhase != "runner_execution" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected failed runner_execution report, got %+v", report)
+	}
+	if len(report.ModuleResults) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected partial module results in failure report")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessCancellationViaSubprocessTimeoutHook(t *testing.T) {
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 3*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	result := runCLISubprocessContext(t, ctx,
+		map[string]string{
+			"AUDITA_SUBPROCESS_TEST_LLM_MODE":       "block_until_cancel",
+			"AUDITA_SUBPROCESS_TEST_RUN_TIMEOUT_MS": "120",
+		},
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--modules",
+		"grammar",
+		"--work-dir",
+		workDir,
+		"--work-dir-retention",
+		"always",
+	)
+	if result.stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout on failure, got %q", result.stdout)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(result.stderr, "context deadline exceeded") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected context deadline error, got %q", result.stderr)
+	}
+	runDir := onlyRunDir(t, workDir)
+	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(runDir, "error.log")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected error.log for canceled run: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(runDir, "report.json")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected report.json for canceled run: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProcessSubprocessNoSecretLeakInOutputsAndDiagnostics(t *testing.T) {
+	secret := "subprocess-secret"
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	reportPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "report.json")
+	outputPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "out.json")
+	result := runCLISubprocessWithEnv(t,
+		map[string]string{
+			"AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY":            secret,
+			"AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_API_KEY": secret,
+		},
+		"process",
+		fixturePath("tiny_transcript.json"),
+		"--glossary",
+		fixturePath("tiny_glossary.yaml"),
+		"--output",
+		outputPath,
+		"--report-json",
+		reportPath,
+		"--work-dir",
+		workDir,
+		"--work-dir-retention",
+		"always",
+	)
+	if result.exitCode != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected success, got %d stderr=%q", result.exitCode, result.stderr)
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(result.stdout, secret) || strings.Contains(result.stderr, secret) {
+		t.Fatalf("secret leaked in subprocess stdio")
+	}
+	assertNoSecretInFile(t, reportPath, secret)
+	assertNoSecretInTree(t, onlyRunDir(t, workDir), secret)
+}
+
+type subprocessResult struct {
+	stdout   string
+	stderr   string
+	exitCode int
+}
+
+func runCLISubprocess(t *testing.T, args ...string) subprocessResult {
+	t.Helper()
+	return runCLISubprocessWithEnv(t, nil, args...)
+}
+
+func runCLISubprocessWithEnv(t *testing.T, extraEnv map[string]string, args ...string) subprocessResult {
+	t.Helper()
+	return runCLISubprocessContext(t, context.Background(), extraEnv, args...)
+}
+
+func runCLISubprocessContext(t *testing.T, ctx context.Context, extraEnv map[string]string, args ...string) subprocessResult {
+	t.Helper()
+	cmdArgs := append([]string{"-test.run=TestHelperProcess", "--"}, args...)
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, os.Args[0], cmdArgs...)
+	env := append(filterAuditaEnv(os.Environ()), "GO_WANT_HELPER_PROCESS=1")
+	for k, v := range extraEnv {
+		env = append(env, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", k, v))
+	}
+	cmd.Env = env
+	var stdoutBuf bytes.Buffer
+	var stderrBuf bytes.Buffer
+	cmd.Stdout = &stdoutBuf
+	cmd.Stderr = &stderrBuf
+
+	err := cmd.Run()
+	result := subprocessResult{
+		stdout: stdoutBuf.String(),
+		stderr: stderrBuf.String(),
+	}
+	if err == nil {
+		return result
+	}
+
+	if exitErr, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); ok {
+		result.exitCode = exitErr.ExitCode()
+		return result
+	}
+
+	t.Fatalf("subprocess execution failed: %v", err)
+	return subprocessResult{}
+}
+
+func filterAuditaEnv(env []string) []string {
+	filtered := make([]string, 0, len(env))
+	for _, entry := range env {
+		key := entry
+		if idx := strings.IndexByte(entry, '='); idx >= 0 {
+			key = entry[:idx]
+		}
+		if strings.HasPrefix(key, "AUDITA_") || key == "OPENROUTER_API_KEY" {
+			continue
+		}
+		filtered = append(filtered, entry)
+	}
+	return filtered
+}
+
+func fixturePath(name string) string {
+	return filepath.Join("..", "..", "internal", "cli", "testdata", name)
+}
+
+func schemaFixturePath(name string) string {
+	return filepath.Join("..", "..", "internal", "core", "schema", "testdata", name)
+}
+
+func readFile(t *testing.T, path string) []byte {
+	t.Helper()
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read file %q: %v", path, err)
+	}
+	return data
+}
+
+func assertJSONSemanticallyEqual(t *testing.T, expected []byte, actual []byte) {
+	t.Helper()
+	if !json.Valid(actual) {
+		t.Fatalf("actual output is not valid JSON: %q", string(actual))
+	}
+
+	var expectedValue any
+	var actualValue any
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(expected, &expectedValue); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to unmarshal expected JSON: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(actual, &actualValue); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to unmarshal actual JSON: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(expectedValue, actualValue) {
+		t.Fatalf("JSON content mismatch: expected %q got %q", string(expected), string(actual))
+	}
+}
+
+func writeLargeTranscriptFixture(t *testing.T, segments int) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	path := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "large-transcript.json")
+	rows := make([]string, 0, segments)
+	for i := 0; i < segments; i++ {
+		rows = append(rows, fmt.Sprintf(`{"id":%d,"speaker":"Speaker%d","start":%s,"end":%s,"text":"Segment %d has enough words to exercise stdout and pipe buffering safely."}`,
+			i+1,
+			(i%4)+1,
+			strconv.FormatFloat(float64(i)*1.1, 'f', 1, 64),
+			strconv.FormatFloat(float64(i)*1.1+1.0, 'f', 1, 64),
+			i+1,
+		))
+	}
+	payload := "[\n  " + strings.Join(rows, ",\n  ") + "\n]\n"
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte(payload), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write large transcript fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+	return path
+}
+
+func onlyRunDir(t *testing.T, workDir string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	entries, err := os.ReadDir(workDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read work dir %q: %v", workDir, err)
+	}
+	dirs := make([]string, 0, len(entries))
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		if e.IsDir() {
+			dirs = append(dirs, filepath.Join(workDir, e.Name()))
+		}
+	}
+	if len(dirs) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exactly one run dir in %q, found %d", workDir, len(dirs))
+	}
+	return dirs[0]
+}
+
+func assertNoSecretInFile(t *testing.T, path, secret string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	raw := string(readFile(t, path))
+	if strings.Contains(raw, secret) {
+		t.Fatalf("secret leaked in %s", path)
+	}
+}
+
+func assertNoSecretInTree(t *testing.T, root, secret string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	_ = filepath.WalkDir(root, func(path string, d os.DirEntry, err error) error {
+		if err != nil || d == nil || d.IsDir() {
+			return nil
+		}
+		raw, readErr := os.ReadFile(path)
+		if readErr == nil && strings.Contains(string(raw), secret) {
+			t.Fatalf("secret leaked in %s", path)
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+}

docs/architecture/architecture.md

@@ -0,0 +1,849 @@
+# Audita Architecture
+
+## Scope and intent
+This document describes:
+- the architecture used in production today.
+
+Historical rewrite details live in `docs/rewrite-notes.md`.
+
+## Current implementation status
+Implemented today:
+- Go CLI entrypoint and `audita process` wiring.
+- Config defaults, env loading, CLI override precedence, and validation.
+- Transcript and glossary parsing/validation.
+- Deterministic transcript normalization.
+- Deterministic token estimation and transcript chunking.
+- Per-run diagnostics directory creation plus process-level artifacts.
+- Process report JSON output with diagnostics artifact references.
+- Framework foundation packages for contracts and proposal application.
+- Production runner orchestration package with deterministic sequential module execution.
+- Module-level report structures with applied/skipped change records.
+- Runtime validator models and deterministic validators.
+- Deterministic validator-chain execution in the runner with cardinality enforcement.
+- Module-level validator decision/rejection reporting.
+- Internal structured LLM client contract plus an Audita-owned OpenAI-compatible structured LLM adapter package.
+- Bounded FIFO LLM scheduler infrastructure with context-aware permit handling.
+- Runtime primary/validation LLM effective-config resolution helpers with validation inheritance.
+- Generic JSON prompt/response diagnostics writer primitives with secret redaction.
+- LLM-backed validator models, prompt builders, batching, and runtime execution.
+- Runner wiring for LLM validators via the internal structured LLM abstraction and scheduler hooks.
+- LLM validator diagnostics artifacts and report-level decision metadata paths.
+- Shared LLM proposal-generation helper with structured correction-set parsing.
+- Deterministic proposal-index assignment and enriched proposal mapping for shared generation.
+- Proposal-generation diagnostics artifacts with secret redaction.
+- Production module registry with known-key recognition and explicit unsupported-module errors.
+- Production `grammar` module implementation in `internal/modules/grammar`.
+- Production `glossary` module implementation in `internal/modules/glossary`.
+- Production `homophones` module implementation in `internal/modules/homophones`.
+- Production `spoken_word` module implementation in `internal/modules/spoken_word`.
+- Explicit runtime support for `--modules grammar` through the production runner path.
+- Explicit runtime support for `--modules glossary`, including repeated stages such as `--modules glossary,glossary`.
+- Explicit runtime support for `--modules homophones` through the production runner path.
+- Explicit runtime support for `--modules spoken_word` through the production runner path.
+
+Current reality:
+- all production modules exist and are wired into the default runtime path.
+- a normal `audita process` run without `--modules` now executes the full sequence:
+  - `glossary`
+  - `homophones`
+  - `glossary`
+  - `spoken_word`
+  - `grammar`
+- repeated glossary stages are deterministic and reported distinctly as `glossary_1` and `glossary_2`.
+
+## Actual Go package layout
+
+```text
+cmd/audita/
+  main.go
+
+internal/cli/
+  run.go
+
+internal/core/config/
+  config.go
+  env.go
+  flags.go
+  redaction.go
+  validation.go
+
+internal/core/schema/
+  transcript.go
+  glossary.go
+  errors.go
+
+internal/core/io/
+  files.go
+
+internal/core/normalization/
+  normalize.go
+  tokens.go
+
+internal/core/chunking/
+  sections.go
+  summary.go
+  tokens.go
+
+internal/core/diagnostics/
+  run_dir.go
+
+internal/core/reporting/
+  report.go
+
+internal/framework/contracts/
+  contracts.go
+
+internal/framework/proposals/
+  proposal.go
+  policy.go
+  preview.go
+  apply.go
+
+internal/framework/runner/
+  observability.go
+  runner.go
+
+internal/framework/proposal_generation/
+  generate.go
+
+internal/framework/modules/
+  registry.go
+
+internal/modules/grammar/
+  module.go
+  prompt.go
+
+internal/modules/glossary/
+  module.go
+  prompt.go
+
+internal/modules/homophones/
+  module.go
+  prompt.go
+
+internal/modules/spoken_word/
+  module.go
+  prompt.go
+
+internal/framework/validators/
+  models.go
+  deterministic.go
+  llm_models.go
+  llm_prompt_builders.go
+  llm_batching.go
+  llm_validators.go
+
+internal/validators/
+  metadata/
+    metadata.go
+  registry.go
+  chains.go
+  confidence_threshold/
+    validator.go
+  original_text_presence/
+    validator.go
+  non_empty_corrected_text/
+    validator.go
+  no_effect/
+    validator.go
+  protected_terms/
+    validator.go
+  spoken_form_plausibility/
+    validator.go
+  meaning_reversal_review/
+    validator.go
+  editorial_review/
+    validator.go
+  grammar_review/
+    validator.go
+  spoken_word_review/
+    validator.go
+
+internal/prompts/
+  registry.go
+  render.go
+  assets/
+    shared/
+    modules/
+    validators/
+
+internal/framework/llm/
+  openai_compatible_client.go
+  scheduler.go
+  effective_config.go
+  diagnostics.go
+
+internal/framework/responseschema/
+  registry.go
+  registry_test.go
+
+internal/cli/
+  review_artifacts.go
+  parity_test.go
+  release_fixtures_test.go
+  testdata/
+    parity/
+    release/
+```
+
+## Current CLI behavior
+Primary commands:
+
+```sh
+audita process <transcript.json> --glossary <glossary.yaml> [flags]
+audita config validate --config <config.yml>
+audita config print-effective [--config <config.yml>]
+```
+
+Current runtime flow (`internal/cli/run.go`):
+1. Build runtime config from:
+   - defaults;
+   - file config source (`--config`, `AUDITA_CONFIG`, or default search paths when present: `/usr/local/etc/audita/config.yml`, then `/etc/audita/config.yml`);
+   - environment overrides;
+   - CLI overrides.
+2. Parse flags and apply CLI overrides.
+3. Validate transcript positional argument and required `--glossary`.
+4. Create per-run diagnostics directory.
+5. Read transcript and glossary files.
+6. Parse/validate transcript and glossary.
+7. Write source transcript artifacts.
+8. Normalize transcript.
+9. Write normalized transcript and normalization summary artifacts.
+10. Chunk normalized transcript and compute chunk summaries.
+11. Write chunking summary artifact.
+12. Execute runner modules sequentially:
+    - default run path uses configured default sequence (`glossary,homophones,glossary,spoken_word,grammar`);
+    - explicit `--modules` overrides the default sequence;
+    - test/injected module factory path remains available for deterministic runtime tests.
+    - each module recomputes chunks from the current working transcript, runs chunk proposal work concurrently, aggregates deterministically, validates, and applies approved proposals once.
+13. Output working transcript to `--output` file or stdout.
+14. Build process report metadata.
+15. Optionally write `--report-json`; always write run-dir `report.json`.
+16. Apply work-dir retention.
+
+Config command behavior (`internal/cli/run.go`):
+- `audita config validate --config <path>`:
+  - loads and validates a versioned YAML config file;
+  - does not require transcript or glossary inputs.
+- `audita config print-effective [--config <path>]`:
+  - builds effective config from defaults + file config + env overrides;
+  - prints redacted JSON to stdout;
+  - does not require transcript or glossary inputs.
+
+Parity fixture status:
+- representative Python-parity fixture coverage exists under `internal/cli/testdata/parity`;
+- parity tests use fake structured LLM responses for deterministic behavior, including default full-pipeline shape assertions;
+- parity comparisons intentionally ignore nondeterministic metadata (timestamps, run IDs, temp paths, token usage) and remain strict for deterministic contract fields (transcript content, module order/instance naming, applied/skipped/rejected counts, and status).
+- intentional Python-vs-Go differences and open parity gaps are documented in `docs/python-parity.md`.
+
+Important behavior details:
+- Glossary is validated and is used for explicit glossary/grammar/homophones/spoken_word module correction paths.
+- Default production CLI behavior now executes the full production module sequence unless `--modules` override is supplied.
+- Explicit `--modules grammar`, `--modules glossary`, `--modules homophones`, and `--modules spoken_word` continue to run production module paths with LLM-backed proposal generation and validator-chain execution.
+- Default runs (without explicit module selection) perform LLM calls through production module and validator paths.
+- Success path is generally quiet on stderr.
+- Source IDs are preserved into a canonical transcript before normalization; normalization then reassigns output IDs sequentially from `1`.
+
+## Implemented data contracts
+
+### Transcript input
+Accepted top-level forms:
+- bare JSON array of segments
+- object with `segments` array
+
+Source segment contract:
+- `id` optional integer
+- `speaker` non-empty string
+- `start` finite non-negative number
+- `end` finite non-negative number with `end >= start`
+- `text` non-empty string
+- `categories` optional array of non-empty strings
+
+Additional checks:
+- duplicate explicit source IDs are rejected.
+
+### Transcript output
+Transcript output is selected through an output schema registry (`internal/core/outputschema`).
+
+Supported output schemas:
+- `bare-segments` (default):
+  - top-level JSON array of normalized segments;
+  - each segment includes `id`, `speaker`, `start`, `end`, `text`, optional `categories`.
+- `audita-v1`:
+  - top-level object with:
+    - `schema: "audita-v1"`
+    - `version: "v1"`
+    - `segments: [...]` (same normalized segment payload).
+
+Current status:
+- `seriatim-intermediate` is not implemented yet; selecting it fails clearly as an unsupported output schema.
+
+Selection behavior:
+- CLI: `--output-schema <name>`
+- file config: `output.schema: <name>`
+- precedence remains runtime-wide defaults -> file config -> env -> CLI.
+
+Both stdout transcript output and `--output` file output use the same selected output encoder.
+
+### Glossary input
+YAML with `glossary` entries. Required fields per entry:
+- `name`, `category`, `summary`
+
+Optional:
+- `aliases`, `plural`
+
+## Implemented config/env/flag behavior
+Precedence for `audita process`:
+1. defaults (`config.Default()`)
+2. config file (if resolved from `--config`, `AUDITA_CONFIG`, or default path)
+3. environment overrides
+4. CLI flags (`ApplyCLIOverrides`)
+
+File-config source behavior:
+- explicit `--config <path>`:
+  - required to exist, otherwise process fails clearly.
+- `AUDITA_CONFIG` (when `--config` is not provided):
+  - required to exist, otherwise process fails clearly.
+- default paths `/usr/local/etc/audita/config.yml`, then `/etc/audita/config.yml` (when neither explicit source is provided):
+  - first existing path in that order is used;
+  - both missing is silently ignored.
+
+Versioned file-config behavior (`internal/core/config/file_config.go`):
+- supported version: `version: 1`;
+- missing version fails;
+- unsupported version fails;
+- strict unknown-field rejection is enabled.
+
+`api_key_env` behavior:
+- file config can declare API key environment variable names for proposal/validation LLM settings;
+- runtime resolves those names from the process environment during config application;
+- no direct API-key value field is supported in file config.
+
+Redaction behavior:
+- effective config artifacts and `audita config print-effective` both use the same redaction path (`Config.Redacted()`), so API keys are not emitted in plaintext.
+
+Implemented config surfaces include:
+- module list
+- primary and validation LLM settings
+- total/proposal/validation LLM concurrency controls
+- transcript description context (`--transcript-description`)
+- section token controls and target sections
+- confidence thresholds
+- normalization controls
+- work-dir and retention mode
+
+Current caveat:
+- LLM/module-related settings are active for default and explicit module-run paths.
+- compatibility environment variables and lower-level CLI tuning flags remain available while the preferred config-driven surface is adopted.
+
+Transcript description behavior:
+- `--transcript-description` is a process-flag input for optional user-supplied background context.
+- runtime config stores this value in `Config.TranscriptDescription` after CLI trimming and length validation.
+- default value is empty; empty values produce no prompt context section.
+- this value is intentionally non-secret and appears in effective config and invocation metadata artifacts.
+
+## Implemented transcript description prompt context
+Transcript description context is wired through production prompt paths:
+- proposal prompts for `glossary`, `homophones`, `spoken_word`, and `grammar`;
+- LLM-backed validator prompts for spoken-form plausibility, meaning reversal, editorial review, grammar review, and spoken-word review.
+
+Prompt guardrail semantics are consistent across modules and validators:
+- transcript description is labeled as "background context only";
+- it may help interpret ambiguous terms;
+- it must not override transcript content;
+- the model must not invent corrections, facts, names, events, motivations, or speaker intent from this description.
+
+Generated transcript descriptions remain deferred and are not implemented in the current runtime.
+
+## Implemented embedded prompt assets
+Prompt assets are now built-in embedded Markdown files under `internal/prompts/assets`:
+- `assets/modules/*` for production module proposal prompts;
+- `assets/validators/*` for LLM-backed validator prompts;
+- `assets/shared/prompt_hardening.md` for shared prompt-injection hardening text.
+
+Prompt source behavior:
+- built-in embedded prompts are the only supported source in current runtime;
+- filesystem prompt overrides and prompt-source selection flags are not implemented.
+
+`internal/prompts` registry responsibilities:
+- register stable prompt IDs;
+- register prompt version and source metadata;
+- load embedded assets;
+- compute deterministic SHA-256 prompt source hashes;
+- render system/user prompts with `text/template` using missing-key errors.
+
+Prompt metadata fields:
+- `prompt_id`
+- `prompt_version`
+- `prompt_source` (`builtin`)
+- `embedded_path`
+- `sha256`
+
+Prompt rendering flow:
+- module proposal builders construct typed template data (section JSON, glossary JSON, transcript-description block) and render via `internal/prompts`;
+- validator prompt builders construct typed template data (validation payload JSON, transcript-description block) and render via `internal/prompts`.
+
+Shared prompt hardening:
+- the same centralized hardening fragment is included in every proposal and LLM-validator prompt;
+- hardening text enforces untrusted transcript handling, no instruction-following from transcript content, and no invented facts/corrections.
+
+Prompt metadata diagnostics flow:
+- proposal-generation diagnostics request metadata includes prompt metadata;
+- LLM-validator diagnostics request metadata includes prompt metadata;
+- detailed prompt metadata is diagnostics-scoped today and is not yet expanded into broad report-level prompt registries.
+
+## Implemented structured LLM infrastructure
+`internal/framework/contracts` now defines a typed structured-completion contract:
+- `StructuredLLMClient.CompleteStructured(ctx, req, out)`
+- caller-owned typed decode target via `out` pointer.
+- caller-selected structured response schema metadata via `StructuredCompletionRequest.ResponseSchema`.
+
+`internal/framework/llm` provides `OpenAICompatibleClient`, a direct `net/http` adapter over OpenAI-compatible chat completions:
+- configurable `base_url`, model, optional API key, retries, HTTP client, and request timeout;
+- OpenAI-compatible endpoint behavior (for example OpenAI/OpenRouter/local-compatible base URLs);
+- request message translation from `contracts.LLMMessage` to chat-completions messages;
+- strict `response_format.type = json_schema` with registered structured response schemas (`strict: true`, schema name, and schema body);
+- response metadata mapping (provider/model/token usage) into Audita-owned response types;
+- API-key redaction in adapter-returned errors;
+- context cancellation and timeout propagation through request contexts and HTTP client timeouts;
+- bounded retry behavior for transient request failures and malformed retryable structured responses.
+
+Structured response schemas are owned by Audita in `internal/framework/responseschema` and currently include:
+- key `correction_set`:
+  - id `audita.correction_set`
+  - version `v1`
+  - name `audita_correction_set_v1`
+  - sha256 `05f8ff3fa04f68115c0cb1859d2656f51aa5c0bae8ff2470b2d4f6f531953195`
+- key `validator_decision_set`:
+  - id `audita.validator_decision_set`
+  - version `v1`
+  - name `audita_validator_decision_set_v1`
+  - sha256 `b73f4790b98fbb955f0aec5496dd8ce9a8fe14aa2f35c700b4b4e5634f106fd5`
+
+Provider-level structured output is treated as a guardrail, not a trust boundary:
+- the adapter decodes assistant message content into caller-owned structs;
+- proposal-generation and validator layers continue local validation (shape, cardinality, confidence bounds, and proposal-index semantics) before changes can be applied.
+
+Current runtime boundary:
+- the default CLI runtime path (without explicit module selection) instantiates the full production module sequence.
+- LLM calls are exercised in production in both default full-pipeline runs and explicit `--modules` runs, and in tests when fake/injected clients are used.
+- normal `go test ./...` does not require real LLM credentials or Python dependencies.
+
+`internal/framework/llm` also provides:
+- a bounded FIFO `Scheduler` for controlled concurrent LLM calls with reliable permit release on success, error, and cancellation;
+- primary/validation effective-config resolution helpers, including validation inheritance fallback to total LLM concurrency settings;
+- generic interaction diagnostics primitives that write machine-readable JSON artifacts for request metadata, request payload, response payload, and optional error payload with secret redaction.
+
+Structured LLM diagnostics behavior:
+- proposal-generation and validator diagnostics include structured response schema metadata (`id`, `version`, `name`, `sha256`) when schema-driven calls are made;
+- API keys and bearer tokens are redacted from request/response/error diagnostics artifacts and surfaced errors.
+
+Dependency posture:
+- the runtime no longer depends on `instructor-go`;
+- structured LLM behavior is implemented through Audita-owned code paths behind `StructuredLLMClient`.
+
+LLM concurrency runtime behavior:
+- `total` concurrency bounds all proposal and validation LLM calls.
+- `proposal` concurrency adds a proposal-only sub-cap, composed with total.
+- `validation` concurrency adds a validation-only sub-cap, composed with total.
+- legacy `llm-concurrency` inputs remain compatibility aliases for total concurrency.
+- modules execute serially, chunk proposals run concurrently within each module, and approved proposals are applied once per module in deterministic order.
+
+## Implemented normalization behavior
+Normalization (`internal/core/normalization`) currently:
+- sorts by segment start time;
+- merges adjacent same-speaker segments when constraints pass;
+- uses gap-based joiners:
+  - gap `< ellipsis_gap` -> single space join
+  - gap `>= ellipsis_gap` -> `... ` join
+- enforces merged duration and token-limit constraints;
+- reassigns output IDs sequentially from `1`;
+- returns `NormalizationSummary` with merge and skip counters.
+
+Note: merged categories are concatenated (not deduplicated).
+
+## Implemented chunking behavior
+Chunking (`internal/core/chunking`) currently provides:
+- deterministic heuristic token estimation;
+- contiguous sectioning with section metadata;
+- max/min section token validation;
+- optional `target_sections` override for section-count planning;
+- summary and detailed summary generation.
+
+Current behavior details:
+- if a single segment exceeds max tokens, it is emitted as its own section (not hard-failed);
+- default section count is planned from `ceil(total_tokens / max_section_tokens)`;
+- section sizing targets `ceil(total_tokens / section_count)` with a deterministic forward pass;
+- sections remain contiguous and ordered, and segments are never split.
+
+## Implemented proposal/replacement infrastructure
+`internal/framework/proposals` provides deterministic proposal composition logic:
+- `CorrectionProposal` and `EnrichedCorrectionProposal` models;
+- replacement policies: `require_unique`, `replace_all`;
+- safe preview (`PreviewProposalForSegment`) with stable skip reasons;
+- deterministic apply (`ApplyProposals`) in ascending `proposal_index` order;
+- applied/skipped change records suitable for reporting.
+
+`internal/framework/contracts` provides interfaces and run-spec metadata scaffolding, including deterministic repeated module instance naming (`ResolveModuleRunSpecs`).
+
+These primitives are wired into the production runner and report model. The grammar, glossary, homophones, and spoken_word modules are implemented.
+
+## Implemented validator runtime infrastructure
+`internal/framework/validators` provides deterministic validator infrastructure:
+- runtime validation request/result models;
+- stable validator reason codes;
+- cardinality enforcement for validator decisions:
+  - missing proposal indexes fail
+  - duplicate proposal indexes fail
+  - unknown proposal indexes fail
+- deterministic validators:
+  - confidence threshold by module key/config threshold
+  - original-text presence against current working transcript
+  - non-empty corrected text
+  - identical/no-effect rejection
+  - conservative protected glossary-term guard for non-glossary modules
+
+`internal/framework/runner` executes module pipelines with deterministic boundaries:
+- modules still execute serially over the working transcript;
+- section proposal work is launched promptly and can run concurrently;
+- section-level validator-chain work starts as section proposals become available (deterministic validators before LLM-backed validators);
+- proposal-generation and LLM-validator calls can overlap under composed scheduler limits;
+- approved proposals are still applied once per module after section work settles.
+
+Validator rejections are reported distinctly from proposal-application skips.
+
+Validator composition is now explicit and registry-backed through `internal/validators`:
+- built-in validator registry with stable keys and lookup/build failure for unknown keys;
+- built-in chain definitions per production module key;
+- production modules resolve validator chains from those built-in definitions.
+
+Package ownership boundary:
+- `internal/validators/<validator_key>` owns built-in validator construction and stable key identity.
+- `internal/framework/validators` remains shared runtime machinery:
+  - request/result models;
+  - decision cardinality enforcement;
+  - protected-vocabulary helpers;
+  - generic LLM-backed validator runtime, batching, and diagnostics glue.
+
+Validator execution classification metadata:
+- `internal/validators/metadata` defines execution class markers:
+  - `deterministic`
+  - `llm_backed`
+- runner ordering uses this metadata interface rather than concrete framework validator type assertions.
+- validators without classification metadata default to deterministic ordering.
+
+`protected_terms` construction ownership:
+- `internal/validators/protected_terms.New()` builds the general (non-glossary-stage) variant.
+- `internal/validators/protected_terms.NewGlossaryStage()` builds the glossary-stage variant used by glossary chains.
+- both variants preserve the stable key `protected_terms`.
+
+Stable built-in validator keys:
+- deterministic:
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `protected_terms`
+- LLM-backed:
+  - `spoken_form_plausibility`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+  - `editorial_review`
+  - `grammar_review`
+  - `spoken_word_review`
+
+Built-in module chains:
+- `glossary`:
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `protected_terms`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `spoken_form_plausibility`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+- `homophones`:
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `protected_terms`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `spoken_form_plausibility`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+- `spoken_word`:
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `protected_terms`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `spoken_word_review`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+- `grammar`:
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `protected_terms`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `grammar_review`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+
+1.0 boundary:
+- validator chains are built-in and not user-configurable from config/CLI.
+- existing threshold and batching knobs remain configurable.
+
+## Implemented LLM-backed validator infrastructure
+`internal/framework/validators` now includes LLM-backed validator support:
+- typed request/response models for structured LLM validation;
+- prompt builders for:
+  - spoken-form plausibility
+  - meaning reversal detection
+  - editorial review
+  - grammar review
+  - spoken-word review
+- deterministic batching by `validation_max_prompt_tokens`;
+- strict cardinality validation of structured LLM decisions (missing/duplicate/unknown indexes fail);
+- safe failure behavior for malformed/invalid structured responses.
+
+`internal/framework/runner` wires LLM validators into existing validator chains using:
+- the internal structured LLM client abstraction (`contracts.StructuredLLMClient`);
+- bounded scheduler hooks for validator call execution;
+- diagnostics writer hooks for machine-readable prompt/response artifacts with secret redaction.
+
+## Implemented shared proposal-generation infrastructure
+`internal/framework/proposal_generation` provides a reusable, prompt-agnostic helper for future real modules:
+- structured request model including module key/instance, replacement policy, working transcript context, optional section metadata, glossary, config, and diagnostics context;
+- structured correction-set response model (`corrections`) mapped into existing `proposals.CorrectionProposal` and `proposals.EnrichedCorrectionProposal` models;
+- deterministic proposal-index assignment through a caller-provided `start_index`;
+- structured LLM calls through `contracts.StructuredLLMClient` only (no direct provider calls);
+- optional bounded execution through scheduler hooks (`contracts.LLMScheduler`);
+- prompt/response diagnostics artifact writing via the generic `internal/framework/llm` diagnostics primitives with redaction of API keys/secrets.
+
+This helper only produces candidate proposals; validator-chain execution and proposal application remain runner responsibilities.
+
+## Implemented production module-registry scaffolding
+`internal/framework/modules` now provides a production registry scaffold:
+- recognizes intended module keys:
+  - `glossary`
+  - `homophones`
+  - `spoken_word`
+  - `grammar`
+- supports explicit constructor registration with dependency injection for:
+  - run spec
+  - config
+  - glossary
+  - proposal/validation structured LLM clients
+  - proposal/validation schedulers
+  - diagnostics directory context
+- returns explicit errors for unknown keys (`unsupported_module`).
+
+The `grammar`, `glossary`, `homophones`, and `spoken_word` module keys are now registered and constructible.
+
+## Implemented grammar production module
+`internal/modules/grammar` now provides the first production module:
+- prompt builder faithfully constrained to punctuation/capitalization/spacing/article cleanup;
+- explicit guardrails against meaning-changing rewrites, style rewrites, summarization, and invention;
+- proposal generation through `internal/framework/proposal_generation` and `contracts.StructuredLLMClient`;
+- scheduler-aware proposal calls through existing `contracts.LLMScheduler` hooks;
+- replacement policy `require_unique` (current runtime policy);
+- validator chain integration using existing deterministic + LLM-backed validators;
+- grammar confidence threshold enforcement through existing validator/config infrastructure;
+- module-level reporting and diagnostics capture through existing runner/reporting paths.
+
+## Implemented glossary production module
+`internal/modules/glossary` now provides the second production module:
+- prompt builder aligned to Python glossary-module intent, constrained to glossary-backed domain/acoustic corrections;
+- prompt context includes glossary names, aliases, categories, summaries, and plural forms where available;
+- guardrails against broad style rewriting and against replacing unrelated terms simply because they appear in glossary entries;
+- proposal generation through `internal/framework/proposal_generation` and `contracts.StructuredLLMClient`;
+- scheduler-aware proposal calls through existing `contracts.LLMScheduler` hooks;
+- replacement policy `replace_all` (matching Python glossary behavior);
+- validator chain integration using existing deterministic + LLM-backed validators;
+- glossary confidence threshold enforcement through existing validator/config infrastructure;
+- module-level reporting and diagnostics capture through existing runner/reporting paths;
+- explicit support for repeated glossary stages with deterministic instance names (`glossary_1`, `glossary_2`, ...), where later stages see prior-stage working transcript changes.
+
+## Implemented protected-term behavior
+`internal/framework/validators/protected_terms.go` provides deterministic glossary-derived protected vocabulary:
+- extracts protected terms from glossary names and aliases;
+- includes explicit plural fields and synthetic plural forms where safe;
+- deduplicates and returns stable ordering for repeatable behavior/tests.
+
+This vocabulary is used by deterministic validators for both glossary-stage and non-glossary-stage protection checks, keeping protected-term guardrails active across modules.
+
+## Implemented homophones production module
+`internal/modules/homophones` now provides the third production module:
+- prompt builder aligned to Python homophones-module intent, constrained to conservative homophone/near-homophone/mistranscription corrections;
+- prompt context includes protected glossary names/aliases/plurals to avoid damaging known terms;
+- explicit guardrails against punctuation cleanup, grammar cleanup, style rewriting, summarization, and content invention;
+- proposal generation through `internal/framework/proposal_generation` and `contracts.StructuredLLMClient`;
+- scheduler-aware proposal calls through existing `contracts.LLMScheduler` hooks;
+- replacement policy `require_unique` (matching Python homophones behavior);
+- validator chain integration using existing deterministic + LLM-backed validators;
+- homophones confidence threshold enforcement through existing validator/config infrastructure;
+- protected-term guardrails for non-glossary modules remain active and are exercised through the homophones path;
+- module-level reporting and diagnostics capture through existing runner/reporting paths.
+
+## Implemented spoken_word production module
+`internal/modules/spoken_word` now provides the fourth production module:
+- prompt builder aligned to Python spoken_word-module intent, constrained to conservative dysfluency cleanup;
+- strong prompt guardrails preserving meaning/intent/voice/named entities/domain terms and substantive content;
+- explicit guardrails against summarization, style rewriting, grammar-only cleanup, punctuation-only cleanup, invention, and meaning-changing rewrites;
+- proposal generation through `internal/framework/proposal_generation` and `contracts.StructuredLLMClient`;
+- scheduler-aware proposal calls through existing `contracts.LLMScheduler` hooks;
+- replacement policy `require_unique` (matching Python spoken_word behavior);
+- validator chain integration using existing deterministic + LLM-backed validators, including strong semantic guardrails (`spoken_word_review`, `meaning_reversal_review`);
+- spoken_word confidence threshold enforcement through existing validator/config infrastructure;
+- protected-term guardrails for non-glossary modules remain active and are exercised through the spoken_word path;
+- module-level reporting and diagnostics capture through existing runner/reporting paths.
+
+## Reports and diagnostics (implemented)
+Current per-run artifacts include:
+- `source-transcript.json`
+- `source-transcript-parsed.json`
+- `normalized-transcript.json`
+- `normalization-summary.json`
+- `chunking-summary.json`
+- `utilization-diagnostics.json`
+- `correction-ledger.json`
+- `invocation.json`
+- `effective-config.json` (redacted credentials)
+- `report.json`
+- `error.log` on failure
+
+`--report-json` writes a separate report file when requested.
+
+Current process reports include diagnostics metadata references for:
+- diagnostics directory path;
+- source transcript artifact path;
+- parsed source transcript artifact path;
+- normalized transcript artifact path;
+- normalization summary artifact path;
+- chunking summary artifact path;
+- utilization diagnostics artifact path;
+- correction ledger artifact path;
+- invocation metadata artifact path;
+- redacted effective-config artifact path;
+- error-log artifact path on failure.
+
+Current process reports also include:
+- module-level results (when runner modules execute), including applied/skipped proposal changes;
+- run-level module summary totals and failed module instance metadata.
+- module-level validator decisions and validator rejections.
+- optional decision-level diagnostic artifact paths for validator LLM interactions when available.
+- stable validator keys in `validator_name` fields for validator decisions/rejections.
+- explicit report metadata:
+  - report schema name;
+  - report schema version;
+  - selected output schema;
+  - config file version when config file input is used.
+- review/observability artifacts:
+  - run-level and module-level utilization/timing summaries;
+  - flattened correction ledger entries for applied/rejected/skipped/failed correction dispositions.
+
+Utilization diagnostics collection:
+- collection is performed in the runner path via lightweight instrumentation around LLM scheduler and structured-client execution (`internal/framework/runner`);
+- instrumentation is observational only and does not change scheduler acquisition/release semantics or module execution order;
+- serialized artifact: `utilization-diagnostics.json`.
+
+Utilization diagnostics high-level shape:
+- `effective_concurrency`:
+  - `total_llm`, `proposal_llm`, `validation_llm`;
+- `run_timing`:
+  - `run_wall_time_ms`;
+  - `scheduler_queue_wait_ms`;
+  - `llm_execution_time_ms`;
+  - `deterministic_validation_time_ms`;
+  - `max_in_flight_llm_calls`;
+  - `average_in_flight_llm_calls`;
+- `llm_calls`:
+  - `total_proposal_calls`;
+  - `total_validation_calls`;
+- `modules`:
+  - per-module key/instance timing summaries including module wall time and per-module call counts;
+- `validators`:
+  - per-validator summaries keyed by stable validator key with elapsed time and LLM-backed marker.
+
+Correction ledger construction:
+- ledger entries are built from runner module results in the CLI report/diagnostics path (`internal/cli/review_artifacts.go`);
+- serialized artifact: `correction-ledger.json`;
+- one flattened record per applied/validator-rejected/application-skipped outcome where data is available, plus module-failed records for failed module instances.
+
+Correction ledger high-level shape:
+- run/module/proposal identity:
+  - `run_id`, `module_key`, `module_instance`, `proposal_index`, `segment_id`;
+- correction payload:
+  - `original_text`, `proposed_corrected_text`, `applied_corrected_text` (when applied), `replacement_policy`;
+- disposition:
+  - `disposition` in `{applied,rejected,skipped,failed}`;
+  - `disposition_reason_code`, `disposition_message`;
+- validator decision snapshots:
+  - `deterministic_validator_decisions[]`;
+  - `llm_validator_decisions[]`;
+  - each decision uses stable validator keys and reason codes.
+
+Identity and metadata boundaries:
+- stable module keys/instance names and stable validator keys are included directly in ledger records;
+- prompt metadata and structured response schema metadata remain in LLM interaction diagnostics payloads and are not duplicated into every ledger row;
+- reports reference artifact paths for utilization and ledger files through diagnostics metadata.
+
+Redaction and retention:
+- secret redaction guarantees continue to apply to diagnostics/report artifacts;
+- utilization and ledger artifacts are emitted within the existing run-directory retention model (`auto|always|never`) and are retained/removed with the run directory.
+
+Current report schema metadata values:
+- `report_metadata.report_schema_name = "audita-process-report"`
+- `report_metadata.report_schema_version = "v1"`
+
+Retention modes implemented in `ApplyRetention`:
+- `always`: keep all run directories.
+- `never`: keep successful run directories.
+- `auto`: keep failed runs and successful runs with skipped corrections.
+- failed runs are always retained.
+
+Current runtime note:
+- default non-explicit runs usually have no module-level skipped corrections, so `auto` commonly removes clean successful run directories.
+- explicit grammar/glossary/homophones/spoken_word runs can produce validator rejections and application skips, which are reflected in reports and retention input.
+
+## Current tests and quality posture
+Implemented tests currently cover:
+- CLI argument handling and behavior (`internal/cli/run_test.go`)
+- subprocess stdout/stderr and exit-code behavior (`cmd/audita/main_integration_test.go`)
+- config/env/override validation (`internal/core/config/*_test.go`)
+- transcript and glossary schema validation (`internal/core/schema/*_test.go`)
+- deterministic normalization (`internal/core/normalization/*_test.go`)
+- deterministic chunking and summaries (`internal/core/chunking/*_test.go`)
+- proposal preview/apply semantics (`internal/framework/proposals/*_test.go`)
+- contracts/foundation composition tests (`internal/framework/contracts/*_test.go`)
+- runner sequencing and failure behavior with deterministic fake modules (`internal/framework/runner/*_test.go`)
+- CLI runner integration through injected fake module factories (`internal/cli/run_test.go`)
+- validator models, cardinality enforcement, and deterministic validators (`internal/framework/validators/*_test.go`)
+- LLM-backed validator batching, prompt builders, structured-response safety, scheduler hooks, and diagnostics redaction (`internal/framework/validators/*_test.go`, `internal/framework/runner/*_test.go`)
+- shared proposal-generation request/response parsing, deterministic indexing, scheduler hooks, and diagnostics redaction (`internal/framework/proposal_generation/*_test.go`, `internal/framework/runner/*_test.go`)
+- production module-registry known-key recognition and unsupported/internal-registry error behavior (`internal/framework/modules/*_test.go`, `internal/cli/run_test.go`)
+- production grammar module prompt constraints, proposal mapping, validator-chain behavior, confidence-threshold enforcement, diagnostics redaction, and explicit CLI/runtime integration (`internal/modules/grammar/*_test.go`, `internal/cli/run_test.go`, `internal/framework/runner/*_test.go`)
+- production glossary module prompt constraints, proposal mapping, validator-chain behavior, confidence-threshold enforcement, diagnostics redaction, repeated-stage behavior, and explicit CLI/runtime integration (`internal/modules/glossary/*_test.go`, `internal/cli/run_test.go`, `internal/framework/runner/*_test.go`)
+- production homophones module prompt constraints, proposal mapping, validator-chain behavior, confidence-threshold enforcement, diagnostics redaction, protected-term behavior, and explicit CLI/runtime integration (`internal/modules/homophones/*_test.go`, `internal/cli/run_test.go`, `internal/framework/runner/*_test.go`)
+- production spoken_word module prompt constraints, proposal mapping, validator-chain behavior, semantic guardrail behavior, confidence-threshold enforcement, diagnostics redaction, protected-term behavior, and explicit CLI/runtime integration (`internal/modules/spoken_word/*_test.go`, `internal/cli/run_test.go`, `internal/framework/runner/*_test.go`)
+- glossary-derived protected-term extraction and stable behavior (`internal/framework/validators/protected_terms_test.go`)
+- default full-pipeline runtime shape and ordering (`internal/cli/run_test.go`, `cmd/audita/main_integration_test.go`, `internal/cli/parity_test.go`)
+- subprocess operational hardening behavior including large-input, failure-mode, timeout/cancellation, backend-failure, and partial-progress paths (`cmd/audita/main_integration_test.go`)
+- report/diagnostics redaction and artifact-shape behavior across success and failure paths (`internal/cli/run_test.go`, `cmd/audita/main_integration_test.go`)
+- curated release-fixture and idempotence-oriented readiness checks using fake structured LLM responses (`internal/cli/release_fixtures_test.go`, `internal/cli/testdata/release`)
+
+## Operational hardening status
+The runtime now includes hardened subprocess behavior for parent-process callers:
+- deterministic success/failure exit codes;
+- strict stdout/stderr separation suitable for machine orchestration;
+- failure stderr summaries that include diagnostics location when available;
+- retained failure diagnostics (`report.json`, `error.log`, and artifacts written before failure);
+- deterministic timeout/cancellation behavior in tests;
+- redaction coverage for API keys/secrets across reports, diagnostics artifacts, and surfaced errors.
+- stable output routing behavior:
+  - with `--output`, stdout remains empty on success;
+  - without `--output`, stdout contains only transcript JSON in the selected output schema;
+  - `--report-json` writes report data to file only (never stdout).
+
+Operational caller guidance is documented in [`docs/subprocess-operations.md`](docs/subprocess-operations.md).
+
+## Final status
+- Audita's default full module-sequence runtime is implemented and tested.
+- Parity fixtures and operational hardening coverage are in place.
+- Historical migration context is documented in [`docs/migration-from-python.md`](docs/migration-from-python.md).

docs/architecture/diagnostics.md

@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+# Audita Diagnostics
+
+This document describes the run-directory diagnostics artifacts produced by `audita process`.
+
+## Purpose
+
+Diagnostics provide machine-readable run context and execution artifacts for:
+- failure debugging;
+- validator/correction review;
+- post-run performance analysis.
+
+Diagnostics are written under the configured work directory (`--work-dir`) when run-directory initialization succeeds.
+
+## Core artifacts
+
+Typical artifacts in each run directory:
+- `source-transcript.json`
+- `source-transcript-parsed.json`
+- `normalized-transcript.json`
+- `normalization-summary.json`
+- `chunking-summary.json`
+- `invocation.json`
+- `effective-config.json` (redacted)
+- module/validator LLM interaction artifacts
+- `report.json`
+- `error.log` on failure
+
+## Utilization diagnostics artifact
+
+Artifact:
+- `utilization-diagnostics.json`
+
+High-level fields:
+- `effective_concurrency`:
+  - total/proposal/validation LLM concurrency limits in effect.
+- `run_timing`:
+  - run wall time;
+  - scheduler queue wait time;
+  - LLM execution time;
+  - deterministic validator time;
+  - max/average in-flight LLM calls.
+- `llm_calls`:
+  - total proposal and validation LLM call counts.
+- `modules`:
+  - module-level timing summaries.
+- `validators`:
+  - per-validator timing summaries keyed by stable validator key.
+
+## Correction ledger artifact
+
+Artifact:
+- `correction-ledger.json`
+
+Ledger records are flattened review entries derived from module results and include:
+- module/proposal identity (`module_key`, `module_instance`, `proposal_index`, `segment_id`);
+- correction text fields and replacement policy when available;
+- disposition:
+  - `applied`
+  - `rejected`
+  - `skipped`
+  - `failed`
+- stable reason codes/messages;
+- deterministic and LLM validator decision snapshots using stable validator keys.
+
+Validator rejection and proposal-application skip are distinct dispositions.
+
+## Report references
+
+`report.json` and optional `--report-json` output include diagnostics metadata paths for:
+- utilization diagnostics artifact;
+- correction ledger artifact;
+- existing transcript/normalization/chunking/invocation/effective-config artifacts.
+
+## Retention behavior
+
+Run-directory retention follows configured policy:
+- `always`: keep all run directories;
+- `never`: keep successful run directories;
+- `auto`: keep failed runs and successful runs with skipped/rejected corrections.
+
+## Redaction guarantees
+
+API keys and other configured secrets are redacted from:
+- `effective-config.json`;
+- LLM interaction diagnostics artifacts;
+- reports and surfaced errors.
+
+## Debugging guide
+
+When debugging:
+- slow runs:
+  - inspect `utilization-diagnostics.json` (`run_timing`, `modules`, `validators`, in-flight metrics).
+- validator rejections:
+  - inspect `correction-ledger.json` rejected entries and matching validator decisions;
+  - inspect validator response diagnostics payloads.
+- application skips:
+  - inspect `correction-ledger.json` skipped entries and skip reason codes;
+  - compare with validator decisions to distinguish validation rejection vs apply-time skip.

docs/architecture/output-schemas.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+# Audita Output Schemas
+
+This document describes the built-in transcript output schema registry used by `audita process`.
+
+## Supported schema names
+
+### `bare-segments`
+
+Status:
+- implemented
+- default output schema
+
+Shape:
+- top-level JSON array of transcript segments
+
+Segment fields:
+- `id`
+- `speaker`
+- `start`
+- `end`
+- `text`
+- optional `categories`
+
+Compatibility:
+- this preserves the long-standing output shape used by existing consumers.
+
+### `audita-v1`
+
+Status:
+- implemented
+
+Shape:
+- top-level JSON object:
+  - `schema`: `"audita-v1"`
+  - `version`: `"v1"`
+  - `segments`: transcript segment array
+
+Segment fields inside `segments` match `bare-segments` segment fields.
+
+Compatibility:
+- this is the Audita-native object format with explicit schema/version metadata.
+
+### `seriatim-intermediate`
+
+Status:
+- deferred / not implemented
+
+Current behavior:
+- selecting `seriatim-intermediate` fails clearly as an unsupported output schema.
+
+Reason:
+- a concrete, repository-backed contract for this schema has not been finalized yet.
+
+## Selection
+
+Choose output schema with CLI:
+
+```sh
+audita process <transcript.json> --glossary <glossary.yaml> --output-schema audita-v1
+```
+
+Or in file config:
+
+```yaml
+version: 1
+output:
+  schema: audita-v1
+```
+
+Precedence remains:
+1. defaults
+2. file config
+3. environment overrides
+4. CLI overrides
+
+`--output-schema` overrides `output.schema` when both are supplied.
+
+## Output routing behavior
+
+- With `--output`, transcript JSON is written to file using the selected schema and stdout stays empty on success.
+- Without `--output`, stdout contains transcript JSON only, using the selected schema.
+- `--report-json` writes report JSON to file and does not write report payloads to stdout.
+
+## Backward-compatibility expectations
+
+- default schema stays `bare-segments` for compatibility unless explicitly changed in a future breaking release;
+- supported schema names are treated as stable public contract values;
+- unsupported schema names fail before output write.

docs/architecture/prompts.md

@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+# Audita Prompts
+
+This document describes Audita's built-in embedded prompt assets and prompt registry behavior.
+
+## Why embedded prompt assets
+
+Audita embeds production prompt text into the binary so runtime behavior is:
+- deterministic;
+- auditable;
+- dependency-light;
+- not dependent on external prompt files at execution time.
+
+Prompt text is authored as Markdown assets and rendered by Go code using typed template data.
+
+## Built-in prompt registry
+
+The prompt registry lives in `internal/prompts` and is responsible for:
+- loading embedded prompt assets;
+- registering stable prompt IDs and versions;
+- recording prompt source metadata;
+- computing deterministic SHA-256 source hashes;
+- rendering system/user prompts with strict missing-key failures.
+
+Current prompt source behavior:
+- built-in embedded prompts only (`prompt_source = builtin`).
+- filesystem prompt overrides are not supported.
+
+## Built-in prompt IDs
+
+Module proposal prompts:
+- `modules.glossary.proposal`
+- `modules.homophones.proposal`
+- `modules.spoken_word.proposal`
+- `modules.grammar.proposal`
+
+LLM-backed validator prompts:
+- `validators.spoken_form_plausibility`
+- `validators.meaning_reversal_review`
+- `validators.editorial_review`
+- `validators.grammar_review`
+- `validators.spoken_word_review`
+
+## Prompt version semantics
+
+Current built-in prompt version value is `v1`.
+
+Version is a stable metadata identifier for diagnostics and debugging. It is not a dynamic prompt-selection mechanism.
+
+## Prompt hash semantics
+
+Each registered prompt includes a deterministic SHA-256 hash of embedded source text.
+
+Hash purpose:
+- identify exact prompt source used in a run;
+- support diagnostics reproducibility and change auditing.
+
+Current hash scope:
+- source prompt text (system + user assets for a registered prompt), not a runtime secret-bearing payload.
+
+## Template rendering behavior
+
+Prompt rendering uses Go `text/template` with typed template data from module/validator builders.
+
+Missing-key behavior:
+- rendering uses missing-key errors;
+- missing/renamed template fields fail quickly instead of silently producing incomplete prompts.
+
+Go code still owns:
+- structured request/response models;
+- response schema selection;
+- transcript/glossary/payload formatting;
+- module and validator selection;
+- diagnostics wiring.
+
+## Shared prompt hardening policy
+
+A shared hardening fragment is embedded once and included in every module proposal prompt and every LLM-validator prompt.
+
+Hardening policy includes:
+- transcript text is untrusted data;
+- glossary entries and transcript descriptions are reference data, not instructions;
+- instructions found inside transcript text must not be obeyed;
+- model must perform only the requested correction/validation task;
+- no invention of facts, names, events, motivations, speaker intent, or corrections;
+- transcript remains the source of truth.
+
+## Transcript description behavior
+
+Transcript description remains background-only prompt context:
+- it may help interpret ambiguous terms;
+- it is explicitly non-authoritative and must not override transcript content;
+- empty descriptions do not render awkward blank context sections.
+
+Generated transcript descriptions are not implemented in this workstream.
+
+## Diagnostics and report metadata boundaries
+
+Current metadata flow:
+- proposal-generation diagnostics request metadata includes prompt metadata;
+- LLM-validator diagnostics request metadata includes prompt metadata.
+
+Prompt metadata fields used in diagnostics:
+- `prompt_id`
+- `prompt_version`
+- `prompt_source`
+- `embedded_path`
+- `sha256`
+
+Current boundary:
+- detailed prompt metadata is diagnostics-first;
+- broad report-level prompt registries/ledgers are deferred.
+
+## 1.0 boundary
+
+Not implemented for 1.0 in this workstream:
+- filesystem prompt overrides;
+- user-configurable prompt selection;
+- external prompt directories.

docs/architecture/public-contract.md

@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+# Audita Public Contract
+
+This document defines stability expectations for Audita's external process and data interfaces.
+
+## Scope
+
+This contract covers:
+- CLI invocation and behavior
+- versioned config file behavior
+- transcript/glossary input forms
+- transcript output schema selection
+- process report schema metadata
+- stable validator key identifiers in report/diagnostics records
+- prompt metadata identifiers in diagnostics
+- diagnostics directory behavior
+- utilization diagnostics and correction-ledger artifact presence/pathing in diagnostics metadata
+- stdout/stderr and exit-code behavior
+- secret redaction guarantees
+- compatibility and deprecation policy
+
+## CLI stability expectations
+
+Stable commands:
+- `audita process`
+- `audita config validate`
+- `audita config print-effective`
+
+For `audita process`, stable high-value flags include:
+- `--config`
+- `--glossary`
+- `--output`
+- `--report-json`
+- `--modules`
+- `--output-schema`
+
+Compatibility flags and lower-level tuning flags remain available; they may be narrowed over time with explicit compatibility notes.
+
+## Config file stability expectations
+
+Supported file format:
+- YAML
+- strict unknown-field rejection
+- explicit `version`
+
+Supported version:
+- `version: 1`
+
+Precedence for `audita process`:
+1. built-in defaults
+2. file config
+3. environment overrides
+4. CLI overrides
+
+Config source behavior:
+- `--config <path>`: missing path is a clear failure
+- `AUDITA_CONFIG`: missing path is a clear failure
+- defaults `/usr/local/etc/audita/config.yml`, then `/etc/audita/config.yml`: both missing is non-fatal
+
+## Supported transcript input forms
+
+Audita accepts transcript JSON as either:
+- a top-level array of segments
+- an object with a `segments` array
+
+Segments must satisfy the schema and validation rules enforced by `internal/core/schema`.
+
+## Supported glossary input form
+
+Audita accepts glossary YAML with a top-level `glossary` entry list and validates required fields per entry.
+
+## Supported output schema names
+
+Built-in output schema registry supports:
+- `bare-segments` (default)
+- `audita-v1`
+
+`seriatim-intermediate` is planned but not implemented.
+
+Unknown output schema names fail clearly.
+
+## Report schema/versioning expectations
+
+Process report payloads include `report_metadata` with:
+- `report_schema_name`
+- `report_schema_version`
+- `output_schema`
+- `config_version` when file config is used
+
+Current values:
+- `report_schema_name`: `audita-process-report`
+- `report_schema_version`: `v1`
+
+`--report-json` output and diagnostics run-dir `report.json` use the same report schema metadata.
+
+Validator decision/rejection records in reports use stable validator keys in `validator_name`.
+Report diagnostics metadata includes artifact-path fields for utilization diagnostics and correction ledger when diagnostics initialization succeeds.
+
+## Diagnostics directory behavior
+
+When diagnostics directory creation succeeds, Audita writes run artifacts including:
+- invocation metadata
+- redacted effective config
+- transcript/normalization/chunking artifacts
+- utilization diagnostics (`utilization-diagnostics.json`)
+- correction ledger (`correction-ledger.json`)
+- report and failure error log (when applicable)
+- module/LLM diagnostics artifacts as available
+
+Retention behavior is controlled by configured retention mode; failed runs are retained.
+
+Diagnostics metadata for LLM interactions may include semi-public prompt identifiers:
+- `prompt_id`
+- `prompt_version`
+- `prompt_source`
+- `embedded_path`
+- `sha256`
+
+These are diagnostic identifiers, not user-facing prompt override controls.
+
+## Stdout/stderr behavior
+
+Success behavior:
+- with `--output`, stdout is empty
+- without `--output`, stdout contains only transcript JSON in selected output schema
+- report JSON is not written to stdout
+
+Failure behavior:
+- stderr contains human-readable error summary
+- nonzero exit
+- diagnostics path is printed when available
+
+## Exit-code behavior
+
+- `0`: success
+- nonzero: failure
+
+Treat any nonzero exit as a failed invocation.
+
+## Secret redaction guarantees
+
+Audita redacts API keys and authorization secrets from:
+- effective config outputs (`audita config print-effective`, diagnostics effective-config artifact)
+- report artifacts
+- LLM diagnostics artifacts
+- surfaced request/response error messages
+
+Config files should reference secrets via environment variable names (`api_key_env`) rather than embedding secret values.
+
+## Compatibility and deprecation policy
+
+- Existing stable schema names, report metadata keys, and top-level command behavior are treated as public contract.
+- Compatibility inputs (legacy flags/env aliases) may remain during transition windows.
+- Any planned removal or behavior change should include clear compatibility notes and migration guidance.
+
+## Breaking changes after 1.0
+
+After 1.0, breaking changes include, for example:
+- changing default success/failure exit-code semantics
+- changing stdout/stderr routing semantics
+- silently changing default output schema shape
+- removing supported output schema names without compatibility strategy
+- changing report schema fields or meanings incompatibly
+- changing config version semantics incompatibly without version bump
+
+Additive fields, additive diagnostics, and new optional schema names are generally non-breaking when existing behavior remains intact.

docs/architecture/structured-llm.md

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+# Structured LLM Architecture
+
+## Purpose
+
+This document describes Audita's structured LLM runtime boundary and adapter behavior.
+
+## Why Audita owns the adapter
+
+Audita owns a small structured LLM adapter so that core runtime behavior is controlled inside the repository:
+- request construction and schema handling are explicit and testable;
+- retries, timeouts, cancellation, and error redaction are consistent across modules and validators;
+- provider SDK types are not exposed outside the adapter boundary;
+- dependency weight and transitive provider-specific behavior are reduced.
+
+At runtime, the rest of Audita depends only on the internal contract:
+- `StructuredLLMClient`
+- `CompleteStructured(ctx, req, out)`
+
+## OpenAI-compatible request shape
+
+At a conceptual level, Audita sends chat completion requests with:
+- `model`
+- `messages` (role/content pairs)
+- `response_format`:
+  - `type = "json_schema"`
+  - `json_schema.name` (stable schema name)
+  - `json_schema.strict = true`
+  - `json_schema.schema` (registered JSON Schema payload)
+
+The adapter uses OpenAI-compatible `POST {base_url}/chat/completions` over `net/http`.
+
+## Structured response schema registry
+
+Structured response schemas are registered in `internal/framework/responseschema` with stable metadata:
+- schema key
+- schema ID
+- schema version
+- schema name (OpenAI-compatible `response_format` name)
+- raw JSON Schema payload
+- SHA-256 hash
+
+Current schemas:
+- `correction_set`:
+  - id `audita.correction_set`
+  - version `v1`
+  - name `audita_correction_set_v1`
+- `validator_decision_set`:
+  - id `audita.validator_decision_set`
+  - version `v1`
+  - name `audita_validator_decision_set_v1`
+
+## Provider compatibility assumptions
+
+Audita assumes an OpenAI-compatible chat-completions endpoint that:
+- accepts message arrays with model selection;
+- accepts `response_format.type = json_schema`;
+- returns a completion with assistant message content and optional usage metadata.
+
+Provider-specific differences are expected in strictness and error payload shapes, so the adapter treats provider output as untrusted until locally decoded.
+
+## Local decode and validation remain mandatory
+
+Provider-level structured output is a transport guardrail, not final validation.
+
+After receiving a response, Audita still:
+- decodes assistant content into typed request-specific structs;
+- validates proposal and validator payload invariants locally;
+- enforces deterministic validator/cardinality rules before any transcript application.
+
+This protects runtime correctness even when provider responses are malformed, partial, or semantically inconsistent.
+
+## Diagnostics and redaction
+
+When structured schemas are used, diagnostics metadata records:
+- schema ID
+- schema version
+- schema name
+- schema hash
+
+Diagnostics and surfaced errors preserve secret redaction:
+- API keys and bearer tokens are redacted from request/response/error artifacts;
+- redaction is applied before diagnostic files are written.
+
+## Runtime behavior guarantees
+
+The structured LLM path preserves existing runtime guarantees:
+- bounded LLM call execution through schedulers;
+- context-aware cancellation and timeout propagation;
+- retry behavior for transient failures and retryable malformed structured responses;
+- deterministic module/chunk/proposal/validator behavior outside provider nondeterminism.

docs/architecture/validators.md

@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+# Audita Validators
+
+This document describes Audita's built-in validator registry and module validator chains.
+
+For LLM-backed validator prompt asset details, see [`docs/prompts.md`](prompts.md).
+
+## Package ownership
+
+Built-in validator construction is package-owned under `internal/validators/<validator_key>`:
+- `internal/validators/confidence_threshold`
+- `internal/validators/original_text_presence`
+- `internal/validators/non_empty_corrected_text`
+- `internal/validators/no_effect`
+- `internal/validators/protected_terms`
+- `internal/validators/spoken_form_plausibility`
+- `internal/validators/meaning_reversal_review`
+- `internal/validators/editorial_review`
+
+Registry and chain wiring stay in:
+- `internal/validators/registry.go`
+- `internal/validators/chains.go`
+
+Shared validator runtime mechanics stay in `internal/framework/validators`:
+- request/result/decision models
+- decision cardinality helpers
+- protected vocabulary helpers
+- shared LLM validator runtime, batching, and diagnostics helpers
+
+Execution classification metadata is defined in `internal/validators/metadata`:
+- `deterministic`
+- `llm_backed`
+
+Runner ordering uses this metadata so deterministic validators run before LLM-backed validators without concrete framework type assertions.
+
+## Scope
+
+Validator chains are built-in runtime behavior.
+
+Current 1.0 boundary:
+- built-in validator keys and built-in module chains are stable runtime identifiers;
+- thresholds and batching knobs remain configurable where already supported;
+- arbitrary user-defined validator chains are deferred.
+
+## Built-in validator keys
+
+### Deterministic validators
+
+- `confidence_threshold`
+  - checks proposal confidence against module-specific configured threshold.
+- `original_text_presence`
+  - ensures target segment exists and `original_text` exists in current working segment text.
+- `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - rejects blank/whitespace-only `corrected_text`.
+- `no_effect`
+  - rejects proposals where `original_text == corrected_text`.
+- `protected_terms`
+  - protects glossary-derived terms from unsafe mutations in non-glossary modules.
+  - glossary stages use glossary-specific protection logic but still report this same stable key.
+
+### LLM-backed validators
+
+- `spoken_form_plausibility`
+  - checks whether proposed spoken-form change remains plausible in transcript context.
+- `meaning_reversal_review`
+  - checks for likely meaning reversal or semantic contradiction.
+- `editorial_review`
+  - performs conservative editorial safety review.
+
+## Built-in module chains
+
+Current built-in chains resolved from `internal/validators/chains.go`:
+
+- `glossary`
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `protected_terms`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `spoken_form_plausibility`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+
+- `homophones`
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `protected_terms`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `spoken_form_plausibility`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+
+- `spoken_word`
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `protected_terms`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `editorial_review`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+
+- `grammar`
+  - `no_effect`
+  - `original_text_presence`
+  - `confidence_threshold`
+  - `protected_terms`
+  - `non_empty_corrected_text`
+  - `editorial_review`
+  - `meaning_reversal_review`
+
+## Protected terms construction
+
+`protected_terms` has explicit constructors:
+- general constructor used by non-glossary modules through the built-in registry
+- glossary-stage constructor used by glossary chain resolution
+
+Both variants preserve existing behavior and report the stable key `protected_terms`.
+
+## Execution semantics
+
+- modules execute serially;
+- section proposal work can run concurrently within a module;
+- deterministic validators run before LLM-backed validators;
+- malformed/missing/duplicate/unknown LLM validator decisions fail safely;
+- approved proposals are applied once per module after section work settles.
+
+## Validator rejections vs proposal-application skips
+
+- validator rejection:
+  - proposal is denied by validator-chain review and appears in validator rejection reporting with validator key and reason code.
+- proposal-application skip:
+  - proposal passed validators but could not be applied under replacement-policy semantics (for example no matching span at apply time).
+
+These are separate outcomes and are reported separately.
+
+## Reporting and diagnostics identity
+
+- report validator decision/rejection entries use stable validator keys in `validator_name`.
+- validator LLM diagnostics include validator identity in interaction metadata and structured response schema metadata.
+- correction ledger entries include deterministic and LLM validator decision snapshots keyed by the same stable validator keys, and keep validator rejection distinct from application-level skip.
+
+Prompt assets are unchanged by the validator package-ownership refactor and remain built-in under `internal/prompts`.
+
+## Configurable knobs that remain supported
+
+- per-module confidence thresholds (`thresholds.*` / equivalent env+CLI overrides)
+- validation batching limits (`validation_max_prompt_tokens` / equivalent env+CLI overrides)
+- validation LLM model/base URL/timeout/retries/concurrency settings
+
+These tune validator behavior without exposing arbitrary user-defined chains.

docs/configuration.md

@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+# Audita Configuration
+
+This document describes Audita's versioned YAML config support and related commands.
+
+## Purpose
+
+Audita's config file provides a stable place for pipeline defaults and runtime tuning that would otherwise require many environment variables or CLI flags.
+
+Use config files for baseline settings, then use environment variables and CLI flags for deployment and per-run overrides.
+
+## Supported version
+
+Current supported config version:
+
+- `version: 1`
+
+Rules:
+
+- missing `version` fails validation;
+- unknown versions fail validation;
+- unknown fields fail validation (strict decoding).
+
+## Config path resolution
+
+For `audita process`, config path resolution is:
+
+1. `--config <path>` if provided
+2. `AUDITA_CONFIG` if set and `--config` is not provided
+3. default `/usr/local/etc/audita/config.yml` if present
+4. fallback default `/etc/audita/config.yml` if present
+
+Missing-file behavior:
+
+- missing `--config` path: hard failure;
+- missing `AUDITA_CONFIG` path: hard failure;
+- missing both default-path files: non-fatal, run continues.
+
+## Precedence model
+
+Effective config precedence is:
+
+1. built-in defaults
+2. file config
+3. environment overrides
+4. CLI overrides
+
+## Supported YAML fields
+
+```yaml
+version: 1
+
+pipeline:
+  modules: [glossary, homophones, glossary, spoken_word, grammar]
+
+output:
+  schema: bare-segments
+
+llm:
+  proposal:
+    base_url: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
+    model: openrouter/google/gemma-4-31b-it
+    api_key_env: AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY
+    timeout: 120s
+    max_retries: 3
+
+  validation:
+    base_url: https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
+    model: openrouter/google/gemma-4-31b-it
+    api_key_env: AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_API_KEY
+    timeout: 120s
+    max_retries: 3
+
+concurrency:
+  total_llm: 2
+  proposal_llm: 2
+  validation_llm: 1
+
+chunking:
+  target_sections: 8
+  max_section_tokens: 8192
+  min_section_tokens: 2048
+
+normalization:
+  max_segment_gap: 4s
+  ellipsis_gap: 3.5s
+  max_segment_duration: 60s
+  max_segment_tokens: 2048
+
+thresholds:
+  glossary: 0.8
+  homophones: 0.8
+  spoken_word: 0.8
+  grammar: 0.8
+
+context:
+  description: "optional transcript background context"
+
+diagnostics:
+  work_dir: /tmp/audita
+  retention: auto
+```
+
+`context.description` provides background-only transcript context for prompts.
+If both config and CLI provide a description, `--transcript-description` takes precedence.
+
+`output.schema` supports the built-in output schema registry values:
+- `bare-segments` (default)
+- `audita-v1`
+
+Unknown schema names fail clearly before transcript output is written.
+
+Duration-like fields accept either:
+
+- numeric seconds (for example `120`, `3.5`), or
+- duration strings (for example `120s`, `2m`).
+
+For LLM timeouts, duration strings must resolve to whole seconds.
+
+## Secret handling
+
+Use `api_key_env` for secrets:
+
+- `llm.proposal.api_key_env`
+- `llm.validation.api_key_env`
+
+These fields must contain environment variable names, not secret values.
+
+At runtime, Audita resolves those names from the process environment.
+
+Redaction behavior:
+
+- run diagnostics `effective-config.json` is redacted;
+- `audita config print-effective` output is redacted;
+- API keys are never emitted in plaintext by those outputs.
+
+## Config commands
+
+Validate a config file:
+
+```sh
+audita config validate --config ./audita.yml
+```
+
+Print redacted effective config:
+
+```sh
+audita config print-effective --config ./audita.yml
+```
+
+`print-effective` loads defaults, then file config, then environment overrides.
+
+## Example: local OpenAI-compatible endpoint
+
+```yaml
+version: 1
+
+llm:
+  proposal:
+    base_url: http://localhost:8000/v1
+    model: local/proposal-model
+    api_key_env: AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY
+    timeout: 90s
+    max_retries: 2
+
+  validation:
+    base_url: http://localhost:8000/v1
+    model: local/validation-model
+    api_key_env: AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_API_KEY
+    timeout: 90s
+    max_retries: 2
+
+pipeline:
+  modules: [glossary, homophones, glossary, spoken_word, grammar]
+
+diagnostics:
+  work_dir: /tmp/audita
+  retention: auto
+```
+
+## Compatibility notes
+
+Existing environment variables and lower-level CLI flags remain available for compatibility.
+
+Current guidance:
+
+- prefer file config for baseline behavior;
+- keep environment variables for secrets/deployment-specific overrides;
+- use CLI flags for per-run overrides.
+- validator chains are built-in and are not user-configurable in config.
+- prompt source selection and filesystem prompt overrides are not config options.

docs/integration/subprocess-operations.md

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+# Audita Subprocess Operations
+
+This document describes how parent processes should invoke `audita process` safely in production orchestration.
+
+## Recommended command form
+
+Use explicit file outputs for orchestrated runs:
+
+```sh
+audita process <transcript.json> \
+  --transcript-description "Brief context that may help resolve ambiguous terms." \
+  --glossary <glossary.yaml> \
+  --output <output-transcript.json> \
+  --report-json <report.json>
+```
+
+Additional flags that may be situationally appropriate:
+- `--config <path>` to select an explicit versioned config file.
+- `--output-schema <bare-segments|audita-v1>` to select transcript output shape.
+- `--work-dir <dir>` to control diagnostics location.
+- `--work-dir-retention <always|auto|never>` to control retained run directories.
+- `--total-llm-concurrency`, `--proposal-llm-concurrency`, and `--validation-llm-concurrency` when orchestration needs to set explicit LLM throughput controls.
+- `--modules ...` only when intentionally overriding the default sequence.
+
+For config-driven orchestration, validate config files in CI/preflight:
+
+```sh
+audita config validate --config <path>
+```
+
+## Stdout behavior
+
+- With `--output`: stdout is expected to be empty on success.
+- Without `--output`: stdout contains transcript JSON only on success.
+- Report JSON is never written to stdout.
+
+## Stderr behavior
+
+- Success path should be quiet or minimal human-readable logs.
+- Failure path writes concise human-readable errors.
+- When a diagnostics run directory exists, failure stderr includes its path.
+- Prompt/response diagnostic payloads are not streamed to stderr.
+
+## Output file behavior
+
+- `--output` writes transcript JSON in the selected output schema to the provided path.
+- Output write failures return nonzero and surface actionable errors.
+- The command does not silently ignore output write errors.
+
+## Report JSON behavior
+
+- `--report-json` writes a machine-readable process report to the requested path.
+- Run-directory `report.json` is written independently under diagnostics.
+- Best-effort failure reports are emitted when possible without masking the primary failure.
+- Report write failures return nonzero with clear stderr messaging.
+- Report diagnostics metadata references run-directory artifacts including utilization diagnostics and correction ledger paths when available.
+
+## Diagnostics directory behavior
+
+- Each run creates (when possible) a per-run diagnostics directory.
+- Typical artifacts include transcript, normalization, chunking, invocation, effective config, LLM diagnostics, `utilization-diagnostics.json`, `correction-ledger.json`, `report.json`, and `error.log` on failure.
+- Failed runs retain diagnostics.
+- Under `auto` retention, successful runs with skipped/rejected corrections are retained; clean successful runs may be removed.
+
+## Exit codes
+
+- `0`: success.
+- Nonzero: failure (input/schema/config/module/LLM/runtime/output/report/diagnostics errors).
+
+Treat any nonzero as a failed subprocess invocation.
+
+## Timeout and cancellation
+
+- Runtime operations propagate context cancellation and request timeouts through LLM/scheduler paths.
+- On cancellation or timeout, the process exits nonzero and should not hang.
+- If diagnostics were initialized before failure, failure artifacts remain available for debugging.
+
+## Secret redaction expectations
+
+API keys and configured secret values are redacted from:
+- reports (`--report-json` and run-dir `report.json`);
+- diagnostics artifacts (including effective config and LLM interaction artifacts);
+- surfaced adapter/runtime errors;
+- test fixtures and regression outputs.
+
+Parent-process logs should still avoid printing raw environment variables.
+
+## Parent-process pipe guidance
+
+To avoid deadlocks in orchestrators:
+- always read both stdout and stderr concurrently when invoking as a subprocess;
+- prefer file outputs (`--output`, `--report-json`) for machine workflows;
+- treat stderr as human-readable diagnostics, not structured data;
+- parse structured results from output/report files.
+
+For Go callers, prefer `exec.CommandContext` with explicit timeout/cancellation and buffered/streamed readers for both pipes.

docs/release-checklist.md

@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+# Audita Release Checklist
+
+Use this checklist before cutting a pre-1.0 or 1.0 release candidate.
+
+## Core test pass
+
+- Run:
+  - `go test ./...`
+- Confirm tests pass without live LLM credentials and without Python dependencies.
+
+## Config validation and precedence
+
+- Validate a representative config:
+  - `audita config validate --config <path>`
+- Inspect redacted effective config:
+  - `audita config print-effective --config <path>`
+- Confirm precedence behavior:
+  - defaults -> file config -> environment -> CLI.
+- Confirm default config search order:
+  - `/usr/local/etc/audita/config.yml` first, then `/etc/audita/config.yml`.
+- Confirm missing both default-path config files is non-fatal when `--config`/`AUDITA_CONFIG` are unset.
+
+## Output schema checks
+
+- Verify default output schema remains `bare-segments`.
+- Verify `--output-schema audita-v1` emits object payload with `schema` and `version`.
+- Verify unknown schema (for example `seriatim-intermediate`) fails clearly.
+
+## Subprocess contract checks
+
+- With `--output`, verify stdout is empty on success.
+- Without `--output`, verify stdout contains transcript JSON only.
+- Verify `--report-json` writes file output and does not write report JSON to stdout.
+- Verify failure stderr remains human-readable and includes diagnostics path when available.
+- Verify nonzero exit on failures.
+
+## Structured LLM checks
+
+- Verify runtime uses the Audita-owned OpenAI-compatible adapter.
+- Verify structured response schemas are attached via `response_format.type=json_schema`.
+- Verify diagnostics metadata includes structured schema `id/version/name/sha256`.
+- Verify provider output is still locally decoded/validated before use.
+
+## Report and diagnostics schema checks
+
+- Verify report metadata fields:
+  - `report_schema_name`
+  - `report_schema_version`
+  - `output_schema`
+  - `config_version` when file config is used.
+- Verify diagnostics artifact references exist in reports:
+  - transcript/normalization/chunking/invocation/effective-config artifacts
+  - utilization diagnostics artifact
+  - correction ledger artifact
+  - error log on failures.
+
+## Redaction checks
+
+- Verify secrets are redacted from:
+  - `effective-config.json`
+  - run-dir and `--report-json` reports
+  - LLM request/response/error diagnostics payloads.
+- Verify no API keys/bearer tokens leak into fixtures or outputs.
+
+## Prompt and validator metadata checks
+
+- Verify prompt metadata appears in LLM request metadata diagnostics:
+  - `prompt_id`, `prompt_version`, `prompt_source`, `embedded_path`, `sha256`.
+- Verify stable validator keys appear in report decisions/rejections.
+- Verify built-in validator chains resolve and execute for default and explicit module runs.
+
+## Utilization diagnostics checks
+
+- Verify `utilization-diagnostics.json` exists on successful runs.
+- Verify partial utilization artifact behavior on controlled failure paths.
+- Verify utilization fields are structurally present and nonnegative:
+  - effective concurrency
+  - run timing
+  - module timing summaries
+  - per-validator timing summaries.
+
+## Correction ledger checks
+
+- Verify `correction-ledger.json` exists on successful runs.
+- Verify report references ledger artifact path.
+- Verify ledger dispositions include applied/rejected and skipped/failed where exercised.
+- Verify validator rejection and proposal-application skip remain distinct.
+
+## Pipeline behavior checks
+
+- Verify default full pipeline run remains:
+  - `glossary`, `homophones`, `glossary`, `spoken_word`, `grammar`
+  - with deterministic repeated instance naming (`glossary_1`, `glossary_2`).
+- Verify explicit module runs (`--modules`) still work.
+
+## Failure and cancellation checks
+
+- Verify controlled failure paths retain diagnostics and produce best-effort failure reports.
+- Verify timeout/cancellation paths exit nonzero, do not hang, and retain failure diagnostics when initialized.
+
+## Release fixture/idempotence checks
+
+- Run release fixtures (`internal/cli/testdata/release`) through `go test ./...`.
+- Confirm fixture checks cover:
+  - must-apply and must-not-apply expectations
+  - protected-term survival
+  - report and diagnostics contracts
+  - output-schema checks
+  - prompt/schema metadata diagnostics
+  - utilization/ledger artifacts
+  - idempotence-oriented second pass no-op behavior with deterministic fake responses.
+
+## Deferred-feature guardrail
+
+- Confirm release docs do not claim support for deferred items:
+  - filesystem prompt overrides
+  - user-configurable validator chains
+  - arbitrary user-supplied output schemas
+  - resume/start-at/stop-after execution
+  - diff/check/propose-only modes
+  - generated transcript descriptions enabled by default
+  - interactive review UI
+  - UI/server wrapper
+  - provider benchmarking harness.

go.mod

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+module gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita
+
+go 1.24.0
+
+require gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1
+
+require (
+	github.com/kr/pretty v0.3.1 // indirect
+	github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.14.1 // indirect
+	gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20201130134442-10cb98267c6c // indirect
+)

go.sum

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+github.com/creack/pty v1.1.9/go.mod h1:oKZEueFk5CKHvIhNR5MUki03XCEU+Q6VDXinZuGJ33E=
+github.com/kr/pretty v0.2.1/go.mod h1:ipq/a2n7PKx3OHsz4KJII5eveXtPO4qwEXGdVfWzfnI=
+github.com/kr/pretty v0.3.1 h1:flRD4NNwYAUpkphVc1HcthR4KEIFJ65n8Mw5qdRn3LE=
+github.com/kr/pretty v0.3.1/go.mod h1:hoEshYVHaxMs3cyo3Yncou5ZscifuDolrwPKZanG3xk=
+github.com/kr/pty v1.1.1/go.mod h1:pFQYn66WHrOpPYNljwOMqo10TkYh1fy3cYio2l3bCsQ=
+github.com/kr/text v0.1.0/go.mod h1:4Jbv+DJW3UT/LiOwJeYQe1efqtUx/iVham/4vfdArNI=
+github.com/kr/text v0.2.0 h1:5Nx0Ya0ZqY2ygV366QzturHI13Jq95ApcVaJBhpS+AY=
+github.com/kr/text v0.2.0/go.mod h1:eLer722TekiGuMkidMxC/pM04lWEeraHUUmBw8l2grE=
+github.com/pkg/diff v0.0.0-20210226163009-20ebb0f2a09e/go.mod h1:pJLUxLENpZxwdsKMEsNbx1VGcRFpLqf3715MtcvvzbA=
+github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.9.0/go.mod h1:WtVeX8xhTBvf0smdhujwtBcq4Qrzq/fJaraNFVN+nFs=
+github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.14.1 h1:UQB4HGPB6osV0SQTLymcB4TgvyWu6ZyliaW0tI/otEQ=
+github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.14.1/go.mod h1:MaRKkUm5W0goXpeCfT7UZI6fk/L7L7so1lCWt35ZSgc=
+gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
+gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20201130134442-10cb98267c6c h1:Hei/4ADfdWqJk1ZMxUNpqntNwaWcugrBjAiHlqqRiVk=
+gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20201130134442-10cb98267c6c/go.mod h1:JHkPIbrfpd72SG/EVd6muEfDQjcINNoR0C8j2r3qZ4Q=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1 h1:fxVm/GzAzEWqLHuvctI91KS9hhNmmWOoWu0XTYJS7CA=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=

internal/cli/parity_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,338 @@
+package cli
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/reporting"
+)
+
+type parityFixtureCase struct {
+	Name                    string            `json:"name"`
+	TranscriptFile          string            `json:"transcript_file"`
+	GlossaryFile            string            `json:"glossary_file"`
+	ModulesCSV              string            `json:"modules_csv,omitempty"`
+	ProposalResponsesFile   string            `json:"proposal_responses_file,omitempty"`
+	ValidationResponsesFile string            `json:"validation_responses_file,omitempty"`
+	Env                     map[string]string `json:"env,omitempty"`
+	Expect                  parityExpectation `json:"expect"`
+}
+
+type parityExpectation struct {
+	ExitCode                     int      `json:"exit_code"`
+	Status                       string   `json:"status,omitempty"`
+	ErrorPhase                   string   `json:"error_phase,omitempty"`
+	StdoutMode                   string   `json:"stdout_mode,omitempty"` // empty|json
+	StderrContains               string   `json:"stderr_contains,omitempty"`
+	OutputTranscriptFile         string   `json:"output_transcript_file,omitempty"`
+	ModuleInstances              []string `json:"module_instances,omitempty"`
+	ModuleCount                  int      `json:"module_count,omitempty"`
+	TotalAppliedChanges          int      `json:"total_applied_changes,omitempty"`
+	TotalSkippedChanges          int      `json:"total_skipped_changes,omitempty"`
+	FailedModuleInstance         string   `json:"failed_module_instance,omitempty"`
+	ValidatorRejectedReasonCodes []string `json:"validator_rejected_reason_codes,omitempty"`
+	ApplicationSkipReasonCodes   []string `json:"application_skip_reason_codes,omitempty"`
+	RequireErrorLog              bool     `json:"require_error_log,omitempty"`
+	SecretMarkers                []string `json:"secret_markers,omitempty"`
+	ExpectedProposalCalls        []string `json:"expected_proposal_calls,omitempty"`
+	ExpectedValidationCalls      []string `json:"expected_validation_calls,omitempty"`
+	ModuleAppliedCounts          []int    `json:"module_applied_counts,omitempty"`
+	ModuleRejectedCounts         []int    `json:"module_rejected_counts,omitempty"`
+	ModuleSkipCounts             []int    `json:"module_skip_counts,omitempty"`
+	MinResponsePayloadArtifacts  int      `json:"min_response_payload_artifacts,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func TestParityFixtures(t *testing.T) {
+	casePaths, err := filepath.Glob(parityFixturePath("*.case.json"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("glob parity fixtures: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(casePaths) == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("expected at least one parity fixture case")
+	}
+
+	for _, casePath := range casePaths {
+		fx := loadParityFixtureCase(t, casePath)
+		t.Run(fx.Name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			runParityFixtureCase(t, filepath.Dir(casePath), fx)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func loadParityFixtureCase(t *testing.T, casePath string) parityFixtureCase {
+	t.Helper()
+	var fx parityFixtureCase
+	raw := readFile(t, casePath)
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &fx); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse parity case %q: %v", casePath, err)
+	}
+	if strings.TrimSpace(fx.Name) == "" {
+		t.Fatalf("parity case %q missing name", casePath)
+	}
+	return fx
+}
+
+func runParityFixtureCase(t *testing.T, caseDir string, fx parityFixtureCase) {
+	t.Helper()
+	for k, v := range fx.Env {
+		t.Setenv(k, v)
+	}
+
+	proposalClient := &fakeStructuredLLMClient{}
+	validationClient := &fakeStructuredLLMClient{}
+
+	if strings.TrimSpace(fx.ProposalResponsesFile) != "" {
+		raw := readFile(t, filepath.Join(caseDir, fx.ProposalResponsesFile))
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &proposalClient.proposalResponses); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("parse proposal responses: %v", err)
+		}
+		processProposalLLMClient = proposalClient
+	}
+	if strings.TrimSpace(fx.ValidationResponsesFile) != "" {
+		raw := readFile(t, filepath.Join(caseDir, fx.ValidationResponsesFile))
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &validationClient.validationResponses); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("parse validation responses: %v", err)
+		}
+		processValidationLLMClient = validationClient
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		processProposalLLMClient = nil
+		processValidationLLMClient = nil
+	})
+
+	var stdout, stderr bytes.Buffer
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	outputPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "out.json")
+	reportPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "report.json")
+	args := []string{
+		"process",
+		filepath.Join(caseDir, fx.TranscriptFile),
+		"--glossary",
+		filepath.Join(caseDir, fx.GlossaryFile),
+		"--report-json",
+		reportPath,
+		"--work-dir",
+		workDir,
+		"--work-dir-retention",
+		"always",
+	}
+	// Keep stdout shape deterministic for parity tests.
+	if fx.Expect.StdoutMode != "json" {
+		args = append(args, "--output", outputPath)
+	}
+	if strings.TrimSpace(fx.ModulesCSV) != "" {
+		args = append(args, "--modules", fx.ModulesCSV)
+	}
+
+	exitCode := Run(args, &stdout, &stderr)
+	if exitCode != fx.Expect.ExitCode {
+		t.Fatalf("expected exit code %d, got %d stderr=%q", fx.Expect.ExitCode, exitCode, stderr.String())
+	}
+
+	switch fx.Expect.StdoutMode {
+	case "json":
+		if _, err := json.Marshal(stdout.String()); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected stdout marshal error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if !json.Valid(stdout.Bytes()) {
+			t.Fatalf("expected JSON stdout, got %q", stdout.String())
+		}
+	default:
+		if stdout.Len() != 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout, got %q", stdout.String())
+		}
+	}
+
+	if fx.Expect.StderrContains != "" && !strings.Contains(stderr.String(), fx.Expect.StderrContains) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected stderr to contain %q, got %q", fx.Expect.StderrContains, stderr.String())
+	}
+
+	report := readProcessReport(t, reportPath)
+	assertParityReport(t, report, fx.Expect)
+
+	runDir := onlyRunDir(t, workDir)
+	runDirReport := readProcessReport(t, filepath.Join(runDir, "report.json"))
+	assertParityReport(t, runDirReport, fx.Expect)
+
+	if fx.Expect.RequireErrorLog {
+		if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(runDir, "error.log")); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("expected error.log: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	if strings.TrimSpace(fx.Expect.OutputTranscriptFile) != "" && fx.Expect.ExitCode == 0 {
+		got := readFile(t, outputPath)
+		want := readFile(t, filepath.Join(caseDir, fx.Expect.OutputTranscriptFile))
+		assertJSONSemanticEqual(t, want, got)
+	}
+
+	if len(fx.Expect.ExpectedProposalCalls) > 0 && !reflect.DeepEqual(proposalClient.calls, fx.Expect.ExpectedProposalCalls) {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected proposal calls: got %v want %v", proposalClient.calls, fx.Expect.ExpectedProposalCalls)
+	}
+	if len(fx.Expect.ExpectedValidationCalls) > 0 && !reflect.DeepEqual(validationClient.calls, fx.Expect.ExpectedValidationCalls) {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected validation calls: got %v want %v", validationClient.calls, fx.Expect.ExpectedValidationCalls)
+	}
+
+	if len(fx.Expect.SecretMarkers) > 0 {
+		assertNoSecretMarkers(t, reportPath, fx.Expect.SecretMarkers)
+		assertNoSecretMarkersInTree(t, runDir, fx.Expect.SecretMarkers)
+	}
+	if fx.Expect.MinResponsePayloadArtifacts > 0 {
+		matches, err := filepath.Glob(filepath.Join(runDir, "*", "*response-payload.json"))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("glob response payload artifacts: %v", err)
+		}
+		if len(matches) < fx.Expect.MinResponsePayloadArtifacts {
+			t.Fatalf("expected at least %d response payload artifacts, got %d", fx.Expect.MinResponsePayloadArtifacts, len(matches))
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func assertParityReport(t *testing.T, report reporting.ProcessReport, exp parityExpectation) {
+	t.Helper()
+	if exp.Status != "" && report.Status != exp.Status {
+		t.Fatalf("expected report status %q, got %q", exp.Status, report.Status)
+	}
+	if exp.ErrorPhase != "" && report.ErrorPhase != exp.ErrorPhase {
+		t.Fatalf("expected report error_phase %q, got %q", exp.ErrorPhase, report.ErrorPhase)
+	}
+	if len(exp.ModuleInstances) > 0 {
+		got := make([]string, 0, len(report.ModuleResults))
+		for _, mr := range report.ModuleResults {
+			got = append(got, mr.ModuleInstance)
+		}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, exp.ModuleInstances) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected module instances: got %v want %v", got, exp.ModuleInstances)
+		}
+	}
+	if exp.ModuleCount > 0 {
+		if report.ModulesSummary == nil || report.ModulesSummary.ModuleCount != exp.ModuleCount {
+			t.Fatalf("expected module_count=%d, got %+v", exp.ModuleCount, report.ModulesSummary)
+		}
+	}
+	if exp.TotalAppliedChanges > 0 {
+		if report.ModulesSummary == nil || report.ModulesSummary.TotalAppliedChanges != exp.TotalAppliedChanges {
+			t.Fatalf("expected total_applied_changes=%d, got %+v", exp.TotalAppliedChanges, report.ModulesSummary)
+		}
+	}
+	if exp.TotalSkippedChanges > 0 {
+		if report.ModulesSummary == nil || report.ModulesSummary.TotalSkippedChanges != exp.TotalSkippedChanges {
+			t.Fatalf("expected total_skipped_changes=%d, got %+v", exp.TotalSkippedChanges, report.ModulesSummary)
+		}
+	}
+	if exp.FailedModuleInstance != "" {
+		if report.ModulesSummary == nil || report.ModulesSummary.FailedModuleInstance != exp.FailedModuleInstance {
+			t.Fatalf("expected failed_module_instance=%q, got %+v", exp.FailedModuleInstance, report.ModulesSummary)
+		}
+	}
+
+	if len(exp.ValidatorRejectedReasonCodes) > 0 {
+		got := collectValidatorRejectedReasonCodes(report.ModuleResults)
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, exp.ValidatorRejectedReasonCodes) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected validator rejected reason codes: got %v want %v", got, exp.ValidatorRejectedReasonCodes)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(exp.ApplicationSkipReasonCodes) > 0 {
+		got := collectApplicationSkipReasonCodes(report.ModuleResults)
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, exp.ApplicationSkipReasonCodes) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected application skip reason codes: got %v want %v", got, exp.ApplicationSkipReasonCodes)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(exp.ModuleAppliedCounts) > 0 {
+		got := make([]int, 0, len(report.ModuleResults))
+		for _, mr := range report.ModuleResults {
+			got = append(got, len(mr.AppliedChanges))
+		}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, exp.ModuleAppliedCounts) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected per-module applied counts: got %v want %v", got, exp.ModuleAppliedCounts)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(exp.ModuleRejectedCounts) > 0 {
+		got := make([]int, 0, len(report.ModuleResults))
+		for _, mr := range report.ModuleResults {
+			got = append(got, len(mr.ValidatorRejected))
+		}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, exp.ModuleRejectedCounts) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected per-module rejected counts: got %v want %v", got, exp.ModuleRejectedCounts)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(exp.ModuleSkipCounts) > 0 {
+		got := make([]int, 0, len(report.ModuleResults))
+		for _, mr := range report.ModuleResults {
+			got = append(got, len(mr.SkippedChanges))
+		}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, exp.ModuleSkipCounts) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected per-module skip counts: got %v want %v", got, exp.ModuleSkipCounts)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func collectValidatorRejectedReasonCodes(results []reporting.ModuleReport) []string {
+	out := make([]string, 0)
+	for _, mr := range results {
+		for _, vr := range mr.ValidatorRejected {
+			out = append(out, vr.ReasonCode)
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func collectApplicationSkipReasonCodes(results []reporting.ModuleReport) []string {
+	out := make([]string, 0)
+	for _, mr := range results {
+		for _, sk := range mr.SkippedChanges {
+			out = append(out, string(sk.SkipReason))
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func assertJSONSemanticEqual(t *testing.T, expected []byte, actual []byte) {
+	t.Helper()
+	var exp any
+	var act any
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(expected, &exp); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal expected json: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(actual, &act); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal actual json: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(exp, act) {
+		t.Fatalf("JSON mismatch\nexpected=%s\nactual=%s", string(expected), string(actual))
+	}
+}
+
+func assertNoSecretMarkers(t *testing.T, filePath string, markers []string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	raw := string(readFile(t, filePath))
+	for _, marker := range markers {
+		if marker != "" && strings.Contains(raw, marker) {
+			t.Fatalf("secret marker %q leaked in %s", marker, filePath)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func assertNoSecretMarkersInTree(t *testing.T, root string, markers []string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	_ = filepath.WalkDir(root, func(path string, d os.DirEntry, err error) error {
+		if err != nil || d == nil || d.IsDir() {
+			return nil
+		}
+		raw := string(readFile(t, path))
+		for _, marker := range markers {
+			if marker != "" && strings.Contains(raw, marker) {
+				t.Fatalf("secret marker %q leaked in %s", marker, path)
+			}
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+}
+
+func parityFixturePath(name string) string {
+	return filepath.Join("testdata", "parity", name)
+}

internal/cli/release_fixtures_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,469 @@
+package cli
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/reporting"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/schema"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/framework/proposal_generation"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/framework/validators"
+)
+
+type releaseFixtureExpectations struct {
+	MustApplyTexts         []string `json:"must_apply_texts"`
+	MustNotApplyTexts      []string `json:"must_not_apply_texts"`
+	ProtectedTerms         []string `json:"protected_terms"`
+	ExpectedModuleInstance []string `json:"expected_module_instances"`
+	MinimumCounts          struct {
+		Applied  int `json:"applied"`
+		Rejected int `json:"rejected"`
+		Skipped  int `json:"skipped"`
+	} `json:"minimum_counts"`
+}
+
+func TestReleaseFixtureDefaultPipelineReadiness(t *testing.T) {
+	base := fixturePath(filepath.Join("release", "default-release"))
+
+	var expectations releaseFixtureExpectations
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(readFile(t, base+".expectations.json"), &expectations); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal release expectations: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	proposalResponses := readProposalResponses(t, base+".proposals.json")
+	validationResponses := readValidationResponses(t, base+".validations.json")
+
+	// First pass: default full pipeline with deterministic fake LLM responses.
+	first := runReleaseFixturePass(t, releaseRunConfig{
+		transcriptPath:         base + ".transcript.json",
+		glossaryPath:           base + ".glossary.yaml",
+		outputSchema:           "bare-segments",
+		proposalResponses:      proposalResponses,
+		validationResponses:    validationResponses,
+		expectedProposalCalls:  []string{"glossary_1:proposal", "homophones:proposal", "glossary_2:proposal", "spoken_word:proposal", "grammar:proposal"},
+		reportSchemaName:       reporting.DefaultProcessReportSchemaName,
+		reportSchemaVersion:    reporting.DefaultProcessReportSchemaVersion,
+		expectedOutputSchema:   "bare-segments",
+		expectModuleInstances:  expectations.ExpectedModuleInstance,
+		expectUtilizationPaths: true,
+	})
+
+	gotTranscript := mustReadTranscript(t, first.outputPath)
+	expectFinalTranscriptContains(t, gotTranscript, expectations.MustApplyTexts)
+	expectFinalTranscriptDoesNotContain(t, gotTranscript, expectations.MustNotApplyTexts)
+	expectFinalTranscriptContains(t, gotTranscript, expectations.ProtectedTerms)
+
+	assertReleaseCounts(t, first.report, expectations)
+	assertPromptAndSchemaMetadataPresent(t, first.runDir)
+	assertReleaseLedgerShape(t, first.report)
+	assertReleaseUtilizationShape(t, first.report)
+	assertStableValidatorKeysPresent(t, first.report)
+	assertStdoutStderrContract(t, first.stdout, first.stderr)
+	assertNoSecretMarkersInTree(t, first.runDir, []string{"release-secret"})
+	assertNoSecretMarkers(t, first.reportPath, []string{"release-secret"})
+
+	// Output schema check: audita-v1 object payload.
+	auditaV1 := runReleaseFixturePass(t, releaseRunConfig{
+		transcriptPath:         base + ".transcript.json",
+		glossaryPath:           base + ".glossary.yaml",
+		outputSchema:           "audita-v1",
+		proposalResponses:      proposalResponses,
+		validationResponses:    validationResponses,
+		expectedProposalCalls:  []string{"glossary_1:proposal", "homophones:proposal", "glossary_2:proposal", "spoken_word:proposal", "grammar:proposal"},
+		reportSchemaName:       reporting.DefaultProcessReportSchemaName,
+		reportSchemaVersion:    reporting.DefaultProcessReportSchemaVersion,
+		expectedOutputSchema:   "audita-v1",
+		expectModuleInstances:  expectations.ExpectedModuleInstance,
+		expectUtilizationPaths: true,
+	})
+	assertAuditaV1OutputShape(t, auditaV1.outputPath)
+
+	// Idempotence-oriented second pass:
+	// run again on first output with deterministic no-op responses.
+	noOpProposals := make([]proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet, 5)
+	for i := range noOpProposals {
+		noOpProposals[i] = proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet{Corrections: nil}
+	}
+	second := runReleaseFixturePass(t, releaseRunConfig{
+		transcriptPath:         first.outputPath,
+		glossaryPath:           base + ".glossary.yaml",
+		outputSchema:           "bare-segments",
+		proposalResponses:      noOpProposals,
+		validationResponses:    nil,
+		expectedProposalCalls:  []string{"glossary_1:proposal", "homophones:proposal", "glossary_2:proposal", "spoken_word:proposal", "grammar:proposal"},
+		reportSchemaName:       reporting.DefaultProcessReportSchemaName,
+		reportSchemaVersion:    reporting.DefaultProcessReportSchemaVersion,
+		expectedOutputSchema:   "bare-segments",
+		expectModuleInstances:  expectations.ExpectedModuleInstance,
+		expectUtilizationPaths: true,
+	})
+	firstSegments := mustReadTranscript(t, first.outputPath)
+	secondSegments := mustReadTranscript(t, second.outputPath)
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(firstSegments, secondSegments) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected idempotent second pass transcript; first=%+v second=%+v", firstSegments, secondSegments)
+	}
+	if second.report.ModulesSummary == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected modules summary on second pass")
+	}
+	if second.report.ModulesSummary.TotalAppliedChanges != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected no-op second pass (0 applied), got %+v", second.report.ModulesSummary)
+	}
+}
+
+type releaseRunConfig struct {
+	transcriptPath         string
+	glossaryPath           string
+	outputSchema           string
+	proposalResponses      []proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet
+	validationResponses    []validators.LLMValidationResponse
+	expectedProposalCalls  []string
+	reportSchemaName       string
+	reportSchemaVersion    string
+	expectedOutputSchema   string
+	expectModuleInstances  []string
+	expectUtilizationPaths bool
+}
+
+type releaseRunResult struct {
+	stdout     string
+	stderr     string
+	outputPath string
+	reportPath string
+	report     reporting.ProcessReport
+	runDir     string
+}
+
+func runReleaseFixturePass(t *testing.T, cfg releaseRunConfig) releaseRunResult {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	processProposalLLMClient = &fakeStructuredLLMClient{proposalResponses: append([]proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet(nil), cfg.proposalResponses...)}
+	processValidationLLMClient = &fakeStructuredLLMClient{validationResponses: append([]validators.LLMValidationResponse(nil), cfg.validationResponses...)}
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		processProposalLLMClient = nil
+		processValidationLLMClient = nil
+	})
+
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	reportPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "report.json")
+	outputPath := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "out.json")
+	configPath := writeFile(t, "release-config.yml", "version: 1\n")
+
+	args := []string{
+		"process",
+		cfg.transcriptPath,
+		"--glossary",
+		cfg.glossaryPath,
+		"--config",
+		configPath,
+		"--output",
+		outputPath,
+		"--output-schema",
+		cfg.outputSchema,
+		"--report-json",
+		reportPath,
+		"--work-dir",
+		workDir,
+		"--work-dir-retention",
+		"always",
+	}
+
+	var stdout, stderr bytes.Buffer
+	exitCode := Run(args, &stdout, &stderr)
+	if exitCode != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected success, got %d stderr=%q", exitCode, stderr.String())
+	}
+
+	report := readProcessReport(t, reportPath)
+	if report.ReportMetadata.ReportSchemaName != cfg.reportSchemaName || report.ReportMetadata.ReportSchemaVersion != cfg.reportSchemaVersion {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected report schema metadata: %+v", report.ReportMetadata)
+	}
+	if report.ReportMetadata.OutputSchema != cfg.expectedOutputSchema {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected output schema metadata: got %q want %q", report.ReportMetadata.OutputSchema, cfg.expectedOutputSchema)
+	}
+	if len(cfg.expectModuleInstances) > 0 {
+		got := make([]string, 0, len(report.ModuleResults))
+		for _, mr := range report.ModuleResults {
+			got = append(got, mr.ModuleInstance)
+		}
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, cfg.expectModuleInstances) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected module instances: got %v want %v", got, cfg.expectModuleInstances)
+		}
+	}
+	if report.Diagnostics == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected diagnostics metadata")
+	}
+	if cfg.expectUtilizationPaths {
+		if report.Diagnostics.UtilizationSummaryPath == "" || report.Diagnostics.CorrectionLedgerPath == "" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected utilization/ledger artifact paths in report diagnostics: %+v", report.Diagnostics)
+		}
+	}
+
+	runDir := onlyRunDir(t, workDir)
+	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(runDir, "report.json")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected run-dir report: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if c, ok := processProposalLLMClient.(*fakeStructuredLLMClient); ok {
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(c.calls, cfg.expectedProposalCalls) {
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected proposal call order: got %v want %v", c.calls, cfg.expectedProposalCalls)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return releaseRunResult{
+		stdout:     stdout.String(),
+		stderr:     stderr.String(),
+		outputPath: outputPath,
+		reportPath: reportPath,
+		report:     report,
+		runDir:     runDir,
+	}
+}
+
+func readProposalResponses(t *testing.T, path string) []proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet {
+	t.Helper()
+	var out []proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(readFile(t, path), &out); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal proposal responses: %v", err)
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func readValidationResponses(t *testing.T, path string) []validators.LLMValidationResponse {
+	t.Helper()
+	var out []validators.LLMValidationResponse
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(readFile(t, path), &out); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal validation responses: %v", err)
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func mustReadTranscript(t *testing.T, path string) []schema.Segment {
+	t.Helper()
+	transcript, err := schema.ParseTranscriptJSON(readFile(t, path))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse transcript output: %v", err)
+	}
+	return transcript.Segments
+}
+
+func expectFinalTranscriptContains(t *testing.T, segments []schema.Segment, needles []string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	joined := flattenTranscriptText(segments)
+	for _, needle := range needles {
+		if !strings.Contains(joined, needle) {
+			t.Fatalf("expected transcript to contain %q, got %q", needle, joined)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func expectFinalTranscriptDoesNotContain(t *testing.T, segments []schema.Segment, needles []string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	joined := flattenTranscriptText(segments)
+	for _, needle := range needles {
+		if strings.Contains(joined, needle) {
+			t.Fatalf("expected transcript to not contain %q, got %q", needle, joined)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func flattenTranscriptText(segments []schema.Segment) string {
+	parts := make([]string, 0, len(segments))
+	for _, s := range segments {
+		parts = append(parts, s.Text)
+	}
+	return strings.Join(parts, "\n")
+}
+
+func assertReleaseCounts(t *testing.T, report reporting.ProcessReport, exp releaseFixtureExpectations) {
+	t.Helper()
+	if report.ModulesSummary == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected modules_summary")
+	}
+	if report.ModulesSummary.TotalAppliedChanges < exp.MinimumCounts.Applied {
+		t.Fatalf("expected at least %d applied changes, got %+v", exp.MinimumCounts.Applied, report.ModulesSummary)
+	}
+	validatorRejected := 0
+	skipped := 0
+	for _, mr := range report.ModuleResults {
+		validatorRejected += len(mr.ValidatorRejected)
+		skipped += len(mr.SkippedChanges)
+	}
+	if validatorRejected < exp.MinimumCounts.Rejected {
+		t.Fatalf("expected at least %d validator rejections, got %d", exp.MinimumCounts.Rejected, validatorRejected)
+	}
+	if skipped < exp.MinimumCounts.Skipped {
+		t.Fatalf("expected at least %d application skips, got %d", exp.MinimumCounts.Skipped, skipped)
+	}
+}
+
+func assertReleaseUtilizationShape(t *testing.T, report reporting.ProcessReport) {
+	t.Helper()
+	var payload struct {
+		EffectiveConcurrency struct {
+			TotalLLM int `json:"total_llm"`
+		} `json:"effective_concurrency"`
+		RunTiming struct {
+			SchedulerQueueWaitMS      int64 `json:"scheduler_queue_wait_ms"`
+			LLMExecutionTimeMS        int64 `json:"llm_execution_time_ms"`
+			DeterministicValidationMS int64 `json:"deterministic_validation_time_ms"`
+		} `json:"run_timing"`
+		Modules    []map[string]any `json:"modules"`
+		Validators []map[string]any `json:"validators"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(readFile(t, report.Diagnostics.UtilizationSummaryPath), &payload); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal utilization diagnostics: %v", err)
+	}
+	if payload.EffectiveConcurrency.TotalLLM <= 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected positive total llm concurrency, got %+v", payload.EffectiveConcurrency)
+	}
+	if payload.RunTiming.SchedulerQueueWaitMS < 0 || payload.RunTiming.LLMExecutionTimeMS < 0 || payload.RunTiming.DeterministicValidationMS < 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected non-negative run timing values, got %+v", payload.RunTiming)
+	}
+	if len(payload.Modules) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected module timing summaries")
+	}
+	if len(payload.Validators) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validator timing summaries")
+	}
+}
+
+func assertReleaseLedgerShape(t *testing.T, report reporting.ProcessReport) {
+	t.Helper()
+	var entries []struct {
+		ModuleKey            string `json:"module_key"`
+		ModuleInstance       string `json:"module_instance"`
+		ProposalIndex        int    `json:"proposal_index"`
+		Disposition          string `json:"disposition"`
+		DispositionReason    string `json:"disposition_reason_code"`
+		OriginalText         string `json:"original_text"`
+		ProposedCorrected    string `json:"proposed_corrected_text"`
+		ReplacementPolicy    string `json:"replacement_policy"`
+		DeterministicResults []struct {
+			ValidatorKey string `json:"validator_key"`
+		} `json:"deterministic_validator_decisions"`
+		LLMResults []struct {
+			ValidatorKey string `json:"validator_key"`
+		} `json:"llm_validator_decisions"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(readFile(t, report.Diagnostics.CorrectionLedgerPath), &entries); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal correction ledger: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(entries) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected correction ledger entries")
+	}
+	hasApplied := false
+	hasRejected := false
+	hasSkipped := false
+	for _, entry := range entries {
+		if entry.ModuleInstance == "" || entry.ModuleKey == "" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected module identity in ledger entry: %+v", entry)
+		}
+		switch entry.Disposition {
+		case "applied":
+			hasApplied = true
+		case "rejected":
+			hasRejected = true
+		case "skipped":
+			hasSkipped = true
+		}
+	}
+	if !hasApplied || !hasRejected {
+		t.Fatalf("expected applied and rejected entries in correction ledger, got %+v", entries)
+	}
+	if !hasSkipped {
+		// Some deterministic fixture paths do not trigger apply-time skips;
+		// rejections are still captured separately from application skips.
+	}
+}
+
+func assertPromptAndSchemaMetadataPresent(t *testing.T, runDir string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	metadataPaths, err := filepath.Glob(filepath.Join(runDir, "*", "*request-metadata.json"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("glob request metadata artifacts: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(metadataPaths) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected request metadata artifacts with prompt metadata")
+	}
+
+	foundPromptMetadata := false
+	foundSchemaMetadata := false
+	for _, path := range metadataPaths {
+		var payload map[string]any
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(readFile(t, path), &payload); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("unmarshal request metadata artifact %q: %v", path, err)
+		}
+		if pm, ok := payload["prompt_metadata"].(map[string]any); ok {
+			if pm["prompt_id"] != nil && pm["prompt_version"] != nil && pm["sha256"] != nil {
+				foundPromptMetadata = true
+			}
+		}
+		if sm, ok := payload["response_schema"].(map[string]any); ok {
+			if sm["id"] != nil && sm["version"] != nil && sm["name"] != nil && sm["sha256"] != nil {
+				foundSchemaMetadata = true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if !foundPromptMetadata {
+		t.Fatalf("expected prompt metadata in request metadata artifacts")
+	}
+	if !foundSchemaMetadata {
+		t.Fatalf("expected structured response schema metadata in request metadata artifacts")
+	}
+}
+
+func assertStableValidatorKeysPresent(t *testing.T, report reporting.ProcessReport) {
+	t.Helper()
+	seen := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, module := range report.ModuleResults {
+		for _, decision := range module.ValidatorDecisions {
+			seen[decision.ValidatorName] = true
+		}
+		for _, rejected := range module.ValidatorRejected {
+			seen[rejected.ValidatorName] = true
+		}
+	}
+	expectedAny := []string{
+		"confidence_threshold",
+		"original_text_presence",
+		"no_effect",
+	}
+	for _, key := range expectedAny {
+		if !seen[key] {
+			t.Fatalf("expected stable validator key %q in report decisions/rejections; seen=%v", key, seen)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func assertStdoutStderrContract(t *testing.T, stdout, stderr string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	if stdout != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected empty stdout with --output, got %q", stdout)
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(stderr, `"module_results"`) || strings.Contains(stderr, `"report_metadata"`) {
+		t.Fatalf("stderr should remain human-readable, not report JSON: %q", stderr)
+	}
+}
+
+func assertAuditaV1OutputShape(t *testing.T, outputPath string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	var payload struct {
+		Schema   string           `json:"schema"`
+		Version  string           `json:"version"`
+		Segments []schema.Segment `json:"segments"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(readFile(t, outputPath), &payload); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal audita-v1 output: %v", err)
+	}
+	if payload.Schema != "audita-v1" || payload.Version != "v1" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected audita-v1 metadata: %+v", payload)
+	}
+	if len(payload.Segments) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected non-empty audita-v1 segments")
+	}
+}

internal/cli/review_artifacts.go

@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+package cli
+
+import (
+	"path/filepath"
+	"sort"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/framework/runner"
+)
+
+const (
+	correctionDispositionApplied  = "applied"
+	correctionDispositionRejected = "rejected"
+	correctionDispositionSkipped  = "skipped"
+	correctionDispositionFailed   = "failed"
+)
+
+type correctionLedgerEntry struct {
+	RunID                         string                          `json:"run_id,omitempty"`
+	ModuleKey                     string                          `json:"module_key"`
+	ModuleInstance                string                          `json:"module_instance"`
+	ProposalIndex                 int                             `json:"proposal_index"`
+	SegmentID                     int                             `json:"segment_id,omitempty"`
+	OriginalText                  string                          `json:"original_text,omitempty"`
+	ProposedCorrectedText         string                          `json:"proposed_corrected_text,omitempty"`
+	AppliedCorrectedText          string                          `json:"applied_corrected_text,omitempty"`
+	ReplacementPolicy             string                          `json:"replacement_policy,omitempty"`
+	Disposition                   string                          `json:"disposition"`
+	DispositionReasonCode         string                          `json:"disposition_reason_code,omitempty"`
+	DispositionMessage            string                          `json:"disposition_message,omitempty"`
+	DeterministicValidatorResults []ledgerValidatorDecisionRecord `json:"deterministic_validator_decisions,omitempty"`
+	LLMValidatorResults           []ledgerValidatorDecisionRecord `json:"llm_validator_decisions,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type ledgerValidatorDecisionRecord struct {
+	ValidatorKey string `json:"validator_key"`
+	Approved     bool   `json:"approved"`
+	ReasonCode   string `json:"reason_code"`
+	Message      string `json:"message,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func buildCorrectionLedger(runDirPath string, runOutput *runner.RunOutput) []correctionLedgerEntry {
+	if runOutput == nil || len(runOutput.ModuleResults) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	runID := ""
+	if runDirPath != "" {
+		runID = filepath.Base(runDirPath)
+	}
+
+	entries := make([]correctionLedgerEntry, 0)
+	llmBacked := map[string]bool{
+		"spoken_form_plausibility": true,
+		"meaning_reversal_review":  true,
+		"editorial_review":         true,
+	}
+
+	for _, module := range runOutput.ModuleResults {
+		decisionsByProposal := make(map[int][]runner.ValidatorDecisionRecord)
+		for _, decision := range module.ValidatorDecisions {
+			decisionsByProposal[decision.ProposalIndex] = append(decisionsByProposal[decision.ProposalIndex], decision)
+		}
+
+		for _, change := range module.AppliedChanges {
+			entries = append(entries, correctionLedgerEntry{
+				RunID:                         runID,
+				ModuleKey:                     module.ModuleKey,
+				ModuleInstance:                module.ModuleInstance,
+				ProposalIndex:                 change.ProposalIndex,
+				SegmentID:                     change.TargetSegmentID,
+				OriginalText:                  change.OriginalText,
+				ProposedCorrectedText:         change.CorrectedText,
+				AppliedCorrectedText:          change.CorrectedText,
+				ReplacementPolicy:             string(module.ReplacementPolicy),
+				Disposition:                   correctionDispositionApplied,
+				DeterministicValidatorResults: filterLedgerDecisions(decisionsByProposal[change.ProposalIndex], false, llmBacked),
+				LLMValidatorResults:           filterLedgerDecisions(decisionsByProposal[change.ProposalIndex], true, llmBacked),
+			})
+		}
+		for _, change := range module.SkippedChanges {
+			entries = append(entries, correctionLedgerEntry{
+				RunID:                         runID,
+				ModuleKey:                     module.ModuleKey,
+				ModuleInstance:                module.ModuleInstance,
+				ProposalIndex:                 change.ProposalIndex,
+				SegmentID:                     change.TargetSegmentID,
+				OriginalText:                  change.OriginalText,
+				ProposedCorrectedText:         change.CorrectedText,
+				ReplacementPolicy:             string(module.ReplacementPolicy),
+				Disposition:                   correctionDispositionSkipped,
+				DispositionReasonCode:         string(change.SkipReason),
+				DispositionMessage:            change.Message,
+				DeterministicValidatorResults: filterLedgerDecisions(decisionsByProposal[change.ProposalIndex], false, llmBacked),
+				LLMValidatorResults:           filterLedgerDecisions(decisionsByProposal[change.ProposalIndex], true, llmBacked),
+			})
+		}
+		for _, rejection := range module.ValidatorRejected {
+			entries = append(entries, correctionLedgerEntry{
+				RunID:                         runID,
+				ModuleKey:                     module.ModuleKey,
+				ModuleInstance:                module.ModuleInstance,
+				ProposalIndex:                 rejection.ProposalIndex,
+				SegmentID:                     rejection.TargetSegmentID,
+				OriginalText:                  rejection.OriginalText,
+				ProposedCorrectedText:         rejection.CorrectedText,
+				ReplacementPolicy:             string(module.ReplacementPolicy),
+				Disposition:                   correctionDispositionRejected,
+				DispositionReasonCode:         rejection.ReasonCode,
+				DispositionMessage:            rejection.Message,
+				DeterministicValidatorResults: filterLedgerDecisions(decisionsByProposal[rejection.ProposalIndex], false, llmBacked),
+				LLMValidatorResults:           filterLedgerDecisions(decisionsByProposal[rejection.ProposalIndex], true, llmBacked),
+			})
+		}
+		if module.Status == runner.ModuleStatusFailed {
+			entries = append(entries, correctionLedgerEntry{
+				RunID:                 runID,
+				ModuleKey:             module.ModuleKey,
+				ModuleInstance:        module.ModuleInstance,
+				Disposition:           correctionDispositionFailed,
+				DispositionReasonCode: "module_failed",
+				DispositionMessage:    module.ErrorMessage,
+			})
+		}
+	}
+
+	sort.SliceStable(entries, func(i, j int) bool {
+		if entries[i].ModuleInstance != entries[j].ModuleInstance {
+			return entries[i].ModuleInstance < entries[j].ModuleInstance
+		}
+		if entries[i].ProposalIndex != entries[j].ProposalIndex {
+			return entries[i].ProposalIndex < entries[j].ProposalIndex
+		}
+		return entries[i].Disposition < entries[j].Disposition
+	})
+
+	return entries
+}
+
+func filterLedgerDecisions(in []runner.ValidatorDecisionRecord, wantLLM bool, llmBacked map[string]bool) []ledgerValidatorDecisionRecord {
+	if len(in) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	out := make([]ledgerValidatorDecisionRecord, 0, len(in))
+	for _, decision := range in {
+		if llmBacked[decision.ValidatorName] != wantLLM {
+			continue
+		}
+		out = append(out, ledgerValidatorDecisionRecord{
+			ValidatorKey: decision.ValidatorName,
+			Approved:     decision.Approved,
+			ReasonCode:   decision.ReasonCode,
+			Message:      decision.Message,
+		})
+	}
+	return out
+}

internal/cli/subprocess_test_hooks.go

@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+package cli
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/framework/contracts"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/framework/proposal_generation"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/framework/validators"
+)
+
+const (
+	subprocessTestLLMModeEnv      = "AUDITA_SUBPROCESS_TEST_LLM_MODE"
+	subprocessTestRunTimeoutMSEnv = "AUDITA_SUBPROCESS_TEST_RUN_TIMEOUT_MS"
+)
+
+// ConfigureSubprocessTestHooksFromEnv enables deterministic test-only hooks for
+// subprocess integration tests that run through the Go test binary helper path.
+func ConfigureSubprocessTestHooksFromEnv() {
+	mode := strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv(subprocessTestLLMModeEnv))
+	timeoutMSRaw := strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv(subprocessTestRunTimeoutMSEnv))
+	// Only activate in explicit subprocess test mode.
+	if mode == "" && timeoutMSRaw == "" {
+		return
+	}
+
+	if mode != "" {
+		client := &subprocessTestLLMClient{mode: mode}
+		processProposalLLMClient = client
+		processValidationLLMClient = client
+	}
+
+	if timeoutMSRaw == "" {
+		return
+	}
+	timeoutMS, err := strconv.Atoi(timeoutMSRaw)
+	if err != nil || timeoutMS <= 0 {
+		return
+	}
+	processRunnerContext = func() (context.Context, context.CancelFunc) {
+		return context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Duration(timeoutMS)*time.Millisecond)
+	}
+}
+
+type subprocessTestLLMClient struct {
+	mode      string
+	mu        sync.Mutex
+	proposals int
+}
+
+func (c *subprocessTestLLMClient) CompleteStructured(ctx context.Context, req contracts.StructuredCompletionRequest, out any) (contracts.StructuredCompletionResponse, error) {
+	_ = req
+
+	switch c.mode {
+	case "backend_error":
+		return contracts.StructuredCompletionResponse{}, errors.New("synthetic backend failure")
+	case "block_until_cancel":
+		<-ctx.Done()
+		return contracts.StructuredCompletionResponse{}, ctx.Err()
+	case "malformed_structured":
+		switch target := out.(type) {
+		case *proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet:
+			*target = proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet{
+				Corrections: []proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionProposal{
+					{TargetSegmentID: 0, OriginalText: "x", CorrectedText: "y", Confidence: 0.99},
+				},
+			}
+		case *validators.LLMValidationResponse:
+			*target = validators.LLMValidationResponse{
+				Validations: []validators.LLMValidationDecision{
+					{CorrectionIndex: 999, Approved: true, Confidence: 0.9, Reason: "bad index"},
+				},
+			}
+		}
+	case "mid_pipeline_fail":
+		switch target := out.(type) {
+		case *proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet:
+			c.mu.Lock()
+			c.proposals++
+			proposalCall := c.proposals
+			c.mu.Unlock()
+
+			if proposalCall >= 3 {
+				*target = proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet{
+					Corrections: []proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionProposal{
+						{TargetSegmentID: 0, OriginalText: "x", CorrectedText: "y", Confidence: 0.99},
+					},
+				}
+			} else {
+				*target = proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet{
+					Corrections: []proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionProposal{
+						{TargetSegmentID: 1, OriginalText: "Segment", CorrectedText: "Segment", Confidence: 0.99},
+					},
+				}
+			}
+		case *validators.LLMValidationResponse:
+			*target = validators.LLMValidationResponse{Validations: nil}
+		}
+	default:
+		switch target := out.(type) {
+		case *proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet:
+			*target = proposal_generation.StructuredCorrectionSet{Corrections: nil}
+		case *validators.LLMValidationResponse:
+			*target = validators.LLMValidationResponse{Validations: nil}
+		}
+	}
+	return contracts.StructuredCompletionResponse{}, nil
+}

internal/cli/testdata/malformed_transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"segments":[{"id":1,"text":"oops"}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/application-skip-ambiguous.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+  "name": "ambiguous_match_rejected_before_application",
+  "transcript_file": "application-skip-ambiguous.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "default-handoff.glossary.yaml",
+  "modules_csv": "homophones",
+  "proposal_responses_file": "application-skip-ambiguous.proposals.json",
+  "validation_responses_file": "application-skip-ambiguous.validations.json",
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 0,
+    "status": "success",
+    "output_transcript_file": "application-skip-ambiguous.expected-transcript.json",
+    "module_instances": ["homophones"],
+    "module_count": 1,
+    "total_applied_changes": 0,
+    "total_skipped_changes": 1,
+    "module_applied_counts": [0],
+    "module_rejected_counts": [1],
+    "module_skip_counts": [0],
+    "validator_rejected_reason_codes": ["ambiguous_original_text"],
+    "expected_proposal_calls": ["homophones:proposal"]
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/application-skip-ambiguous.expected-transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0,"end":1,"text":"the site near another site"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/application-skip-ambiguous.proposals.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "site", "corrected_text": "sight", "confidence": 0.99}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/application-skip-ambiguous.transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0.0,"end":1.0,"text":"the site near another site"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/application-skip-ambiguous.validations.json

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-full-pipeline.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+{
+  "name": "default_full_pipeline_shape_and_reports",
+  "transcript_file": "default-full-pipeline.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "default-full-pipeline.glossary.yaml",
+  "proposal_responses_file": "default-full-pipeline.proposals.json",
+  "validation_responses_file": "default-full-pipeline.validations.json",
+  "env": {
+    "AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY": "parity-secret",
+    "AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_API_KEY": "parity-secret"
+  },
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 0,
+    "status": "success",
+    "output_transcript_file": "default-full-pipeline.expected-transcript.json",
+    "module_instances": ["glossary_1", "homophones", "glossary_2", "spoken_word", "grammar"],
+    "module_count": 5,
+    "total_applied_changes": 3,
+    "total_skipped_changes": 3,
+    "secret_markers": ["parity-secret"],
+    "expected_proposal_calls": [
+      "glossary_1:proposal",
+      "homophones:proposal",
+      "glossary_2:proposal",
+      "spoken_word:proposal",
+      "grammar:proposal"
+    ]
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-full-pipeline.expected-transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0,
+    "end": 1,
+    "text": "Hello, there were Jesters hmm"
+  }
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-full-pipeline.glossary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+glossary:
+  - name: Jesters
+    aliases:
+      - jester
+    plural: jesters
+    category: faction
+    summary: A protected in-world faction term.

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-full-pipeline.proposals.json

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+[
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "gestures", "corrected_text": "Jesters", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "Jesters", "corrected_text": "jesters", "confidence": 0.99},
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "Jesters", "corrected_text": "JESTERX", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "jesters", "corrected_text": "JESTERS", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "uh", "corrected_text": "hmm", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "hello ,", "corrected_text": "Hello,", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  }
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-full-pipeline.transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0.0,"end":1.0,"text":"hello , there were gestures uh"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-full-pipeline.validations.json

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": false, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "reject cleanup"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "parity-secret"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-handoff.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{
+  "name": "default_pipeline_handoff_and_module_order",
+  "transcript_file": "default-handoff.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "default-handoff.glossary.yaml",
+  "proposal_responses_file": "default-handoff.proposals.json",
+  "validation_responses_file": "default-handoff.validations.json",
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 0,
+    "status": "success",
+    "output_transcript_file": "default-handoff.expected-transcript.json",
+    "module_instances": ["glossary_1", "homophones", "glossary_2", "spoken_word", "grammar"],
+    "module_count": 5,
+    "total_applied_changes": 5,
+    "total_skipped_changes": 0,
+    "module_applied_counts": [1, 1, 1, 1, 1],
+    "module_rejected_counts": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
+    "module_skip_counts": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
+    "expected_proposal_calls": [
+      "glossary_1:proposal",
+      "homophones:proposal",
+      "glossary_2:proposal",
+      "spoken_word:proposal",
+      "grammar:proposal"
+    ],
+    "min_response_payload_artifacts": 15
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-handoff.expected-transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0,"end":1,"text":"Hello, there were Jesters at the Sight um"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-handoff.glossary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+glossary:
+  - name: Jesters
+    aliases: [jester]
+    plural: jesters
+    category: faction
+    summary: A protected in-world faction term.

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-handoff.proposals.json

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "gestures", "corrected_text": "Jesters", "confidence": 0.99}]},
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "site", "corrected_text": "sight", "confidence": 0.99}]},
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "sight", "corrected_text": "Sight", "confidence": 0.99}]},
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "um um", "corrected_text": "um", "confidence": 0.99}]},
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "hello ,", "corrected_text": "Hello,", "confidence": 0.99}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-handoff.transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0.0,"end":1.0,"text":"hello , there were gestures at the site um um"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/default-handoff.validations.json

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/deterministic-validator-low-confidence.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "name": "deterministic_validator_low_confidence",
+  "transcript_file": "deterministic-validator-low-confidence.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "default-full-pipeline.glossary.yaml",
+  "modules_csv": "grammar",
+  "proposal_responses_file": "deterministic-validator-low-confidence.proposals.json",
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 0,
+    "status": "success",
+    "output_transcript_file": "deterministic-validator-low-confidence.expected-transcript.json",
+    "module_instances": ["grammar"],
+    "module_count": 1,
+    "total_skipped_changes": 1,
+    "validator_rejected_reason_codes": ["low_confidence"],
+    "expected_proposal_calls": ["grammar:proposal"]
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/deterministic-validator-low-confidence.expected-transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0,"end":1,"text":"hello , world"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/deterministic-validator-low-confidence.proposals.json

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "hello ,", "corrected_text": "Hello,", "confidence": 0.1}
+    ]
+  }
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/deterministic-validator-low-confidence.transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0.0,"end":1.0,"text":"hello , world"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/glossary-schema-error.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+  "name": "glossary_schema_handling",
+  "transcript_file": "default-full-pipeline.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "glossary-schema-error.glossary.yaml",
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 1,
+    "status": "failed",
+    "error_phase": "glossary_schema",
+    "stderr_contains": "glossary_schema",
+    "require_error_log": true
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/glossary-schema-error.glossary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+glossary:
+  - name: MissingCategoryAndSummary

internal/cli/testdata/parity/llm-validator-rejection.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{
+  "name": "llm_validator_decision_handling",
+  "transcript_file": "llm-validator-rejection.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "default-full-pipeline.glossary.yaml",
+  "modules_csv": "grammar",
+  "proposal_responses_file": "llm-validator-rejection.proposals.json",
+  "validation_responses_file": "llm-validator-rejection.validations.json",
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 0,
+    "status": "success",
+    "output_transcript_file": "llm-validator-rejection.expected-transcript.json",
+    "module_instances": ["grammar"],
+    "module_count": 1,
+    "total_skipped_changes": 1,
+    "validator_rejected_reason_codes": ["llm_rejected"],
+    "expected_proposal_calls": ["grammar:proposal"],
+    "expected_validation_calls": ["grammar:section-0000:editorial_review:batch-0000"]
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/llm-validator-rejection.expected-transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0,"end":1,"text":"hello , world"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/llm-validator-rejection.proposals.json

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "hello ,", "corrected_text": "Hello,", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  }
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/llm-validator-rejection.transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0.0,"end":1.0,"text":"hello , world"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/llm-validator-rejection.validations.json

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[
+  {
+    "validations": [
+      {"correction_index": 0, "approved": false, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "reject stylistic overreach"}
+    ]
+  }
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/mid-pipeline-failure.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{
+  "name": "mid_pipeline_failure_partial_progress",
+  "transcript_file": "default-handoff.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "default-handoff.glossary.yaml",
+  "proposal_responses_file": "mid-pipeline-failure.proposals.json",
+  "validation_responses_file": "mid-pipeline-failure.validations.json",
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 1,
+    "status": "failed",
+    "error_phase": "runner_execution",
+    "stderr_contains": "runner_execution",
+    "module_instances": ["glossary_1", "homophones", "glossary_2"],
+    "module_count": 3,
+    "total_applied_changes": 2,
+    "total_skipped_changes": 0,
+    "failed_module_instance": "glossary_2",
+    "module_applied_counts": [1, 1, 0],
+    "module_rejected_counts": [0, 0, 0],
+    "module_skip_counts": [0, 0, 0],
+    "require_error_log": true,
+    "expected_proposal_calls": ["glossary_1:proposal", "homophones:proposal", "glossary_2:proposal"]
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/mid-pipeline-failure.proposals.json

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "gestures", "corrected_text": "Jesters", "confidence": 0.99}]},
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "site", "corrected_text": "sight", "confidence": 0.99}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/mid-pipeline-failure.validations.json

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/protected-term-rejection.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+{
+  "name": "protected_glossary_term_behavior",
+  "transcript_file": "protected-term-rejection.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "default-handoff.glossary.yaml",
+  "modules_csv": "homophones",
+  "proposal_responses_file": "protected-term-rejection.proposals.json",
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 0,
+    "status": "success",
+    "output_transcript_file": "protected-term-rejection.expected-transcript.json",
+    "module_instances": ["homophones"],
+    "module_count": 1,
+    "total_applied_changes": 0,
+    "total_skipped_changes": 1,
+    "module_applied_counts": [0],
+    "module_rejected_counts": [1],
+    "module_skip_counts": [0],
+    "validator_rejected_reason_codes": ["protected_glossary_term"],
+    "expected_proposal_calls": ["homophones:proposal"]
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/protected-term-rejection.expected-transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0,"end":1,"text":"The Jesters entered the hall."}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/protected-term-rejection.proposals.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"corrections": [{"id": 1, "original_text": "Jesters", "corrected_text": "Gestures", "confidence": 0.99}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/protected-term-rejection.transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0.0,"end":1.0,"text":"The Jesters entered the hall."}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/parity/transcript-schema-error.case.json

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+  "name": "transcript_schema_handling",
+  "transcript_file": "transcript-schema-error.transcript.json",
+  "glossary_file": "default-full-pipeline.glossary.yaml",
+  "expect": {
+    "exit_code": 1,
+    "status": "failed",
+    "error_phase": "transcript_schema",
+    "stderr_contains": "transcript_schema",
+    "require_error_log": true
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/parity/transcript-schema-error.transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"","start":0.0,"end":1.0,"text":"bad"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/release/default-release.expectations.json

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{
+  "must_apply_texts": [
+    "Hello, there were Jesters hmm"
+  ],
+  "must_not_apply_texts": [
+    "JESTERX",
+    "there were gestures"
+  ],
+  "protected_terms": [
+    "Jesters"
+  ],
+  "expected_module_instances": [
+    "glossary_1",
+    "homophones",
+    "glossary_2",
+    "spoken_word",
+    "grammar"
+  ],
+  "minimum_counts": {
+    "applied": 1,
+    "rejected": 1,
+    "skipped": 0
+  }
+}

internal/cli/testdata/release/default-release.expected-transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0,
+    "end": 1,
+    "text": "Hello, there were Jesters hmm"
+  }
+]

internal/cli/testdata/release/default-release.glossary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+glossary:
+  - name: Jesters
+    aliases:
+      - jester
+    plural: jesters
+    category: faction
+    summary: A protected in-world faction term.

internal/cli/testdata/release/default-release.proposals.json

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+[
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "gestures", "corrected_text": "Jesters", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "Jesters", "corrected_text": "jesters", "confidence": 0.99},
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "Jesters", "corrected_text": "JESTERX", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "jesters", "corrected_text": "JESTERS", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "uh", "corrected_text": "hmm", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "corrections": [
+      {"id": 1, "original_text": "hello ,", "corrected_text": "Hello,", "confidence": 0.99}
+    ]
+  }
+]

internal/cli/testdata/release/default-release.transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[
+  {"id":1,"speaker":"Alice","start":0.0,"end":1.0,"text":"hello , there were gestures uh"}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/release/default-release.validations.json

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": false, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "reject cleanup"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "release-secret"}]},
+  {"validations": [{"correction_index": 0, "approved": true, "confidence": 0.99, "reason": "ok"}]}
+]

internal/cli/testdata/tiny_glossary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+glossary:
+  - name: Audita
+    aliases:
+      - audita
+    category: product
+    summary: The Audita transcript correction CLI.

internal/cli/testdata/tiny_transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "A",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 1.2,
+    "text": "hello world"
+  }
+]

internal/core/chunking/sections.go

@@ -0,0 +1,312 @@
+package chunking
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/schema"
+)
+
+// Section represents a contiguous chunk of transcript segments with metadata.
+type Section struct {
+	// Index is the 0-based section index within the chunked transcript
+	Index int `json:"section_index"`
+
+	// StartSegmentID is the ID of the first segment in this section
+	StartSegmentID int `json:"start_segment_id"`
+
+	// EndSegmentID is the ID of the last segment in this section
+	EndSegmentID int `json:"end_segment_id"`
+
+	// EstimatedTokens is the approximate token count for this section
+	EstimatedTokens int `json:"estimated_tokens"`
+
+	// Segments contains the segments in this section, in order
+	Segments []schema.Segment `json:"segments"`
+}
+
+// ChunkingConfig holds configuration for transcript chunking.
+type ChunkingConfig struct {
+	// MaxSectionTokens is the maximum allowed tokens per section
+	MaxSectionTokens int
+
+	// MinSectionTokens is a validated soft lower-bound setting retained for
+	// configuration/reporting compatibility.
+	MinSectionTokens int
+
+	// TargetSections is an optional target number of sections
+	// If nil, section count is derived from total/max token budgeting.
+	TargetSections *int
+}
+
+// Chunker performs deterministic chunking of normalized transcript segments.
+type Chunker struct {
+	config    ChunkingConfig
+	estimator TokenEstimator
+}
+
+// NewChunker creates a new chunker with the given configuration.
+func NewChunker(config ChunkingConfig) *Chunker {
+	return &Chunker{
+		config:    config,
+		estimator: NewSimpleTokenEstimator(),
+	}
+}
+
+// NewChunkerWithEstimator creates a new chunker with a custom estimator.
+func NewChunkerWithEstimator(config ChunkingConfig, estimator TokenEstimator) *Chunker {
+	return &Chunker{
+		config:    config,
+		estimator: estimator,
+	}
+}
+
+// ChunkTranscript divides a normalized transcript into contiguous token-bounded
+// sections using a deterministic balanced forward pass.
+//
+// Behavior:
+//   - preserve segment order and never split segments;
+//   - estimate per-segment tokens once, then compute total;
+//   - derive desired section count from ceil(total/max_section_tokens), unless
+//     target_sections is explicitly set;
+//   - prefer section sizes near ceil(total/section_count) while never exceeding
+//     max_section_tokens unless a section consists of a single oversized segment.
+//
+// Returns an error if explicit target_sections is impossible under constraints.
+// The input transcript is never mutated.
+func (c *Chunker) ChunkTranscript(transcript *schema.Transcript) ([]Section, error) {
+	if transcript == nil || len(transcript.Segments) == 0 {
+		return []Section{}, nil
+	}
+
+	// Validate configuration
+	if c.config.MaxSectionTokens <= 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("max_section_tokens must be positive, got %d", c.config.MaxSectionTokens)
+	}
+
+	if c.config.MinSectionTokens < 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("min_section_tokens must be non-negative, got %d", c.config.MinSectionTokens)
+	}
+
+	if c.config.MinSectionTokens > c.config.MaxSectionTokens {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("min_section_tokens (%d) cannot exceed max_section_tokens (%d)",
+			c.config.MinSectionTokens, c.config.MaxSectionTokens)
+	}
+
+	// Calculate token counts for each segment (deterministic).
+	segmentTokens := make([]int, len(transcript.Segments))
+	totalTokens := 0
+	for i, seg := range transcript.Segments {
+		segmentTokens[i] = c.estimator.EstimateTokens(seg.Text)
+		totalTokens += segmentTokens[i]
+	}
+
+	minPossibleSections := c.calculateMinPossibleSections(segmentTokens)
+
+	var desiredSections int
+	useExplicitTarget := false
+	if c.config.TargetSections != nil {
+		desiredSections = *c.config.TargetSections
+		useExplicitTarget = true
+		if desiredSections <= 0 {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("target_sections must be positive, got %d", desiredSections)
+		}
+		if err := c.validateTargetSections(desiredSections, segmentTokens); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	} else {
+		desiredSections = ceilDiv(totalTokens, c.config.MaxSectionTokens)
+		if desiredSections < minPossibleSections {
+			desiredSections = minPossibleSections
+		}
+		if desiredSections < 1 {
+			desiredSections = 1
+		}
+		if desiredSections > len(transcript.Segments) {
+			desiredSections = len(transcript.Segments)
+		}
+	}
+
+	targetTokensPerSection := ceilDiv(totalTokens, desiredSections)
+	if useExplicitTarget {
+		return c.buildSectionsWithExplicitTarget(
+			transcript.Segments,
+			segmentTokens,
+			desiredSections,
+			targetTokensPerSection,
+		)
+	}
+
+	return c.buildSectionsBalanced(transcript.Segments, segmentTokens, targetTokensPerSection), nil
+}
+
+// validateTargetSections checks if the target section count is achievable.
+func (c *Chunker) validateTargetSections(target int, segmentTokens []int) error {
+	// Maximum possible sections: limited by segment count
+	maxPossibleSections := len(segmentTokens)
+
+	if target > maxPossibleSections {
+		return fmt.Errorf(
+			"target_sections (%d) is impossible: cannot have more sections than segments (%d)",
+			target, maxPossibleSections)
+	}
+
+	// Minimum possible sections: each segment must fit within max bounds
+	minPossibleSections := c.calculateMinPossibleSections(segmentTokens)
+
+	if target < minPossibleSections {
+		return fmt.Errorf(
+			"target_sections (%d) is impossible: need at least %d sections to respect max_section_tokens (%d)",
+			target, minPossibleSections, c.config.MaxSectionTokens)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+// buildSectionsBalanced creates sections with a deterministic single-pass policy.
+func (c *Chunker) buildSectionsBalanced(segments []schema.Segment, segmentTokens []int, targetTokensPerSection int) []Section {
+	var sections []Section
+	var currentSegments []schema.Segment
+	currentTokens := 0
+
+	for i, seg := range segments {
+		tokens := segmentTokens[i]
+
+		// Empty section: always accept the next segment, including oversized.
+		if len(currentSegments) == 0 {
+			currentSegments = append(currentSegments, seg)
+			currentTokens = tokens
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// If adding next segment would exceed max, close current section.
+		if currentTokens+tokens > c.config.MaxSectionTokens {
+			sections = append(sections, c.buildSection(len(sections), currentSegments, currentTokens))
+			currentSegments = []schema.Segment{seg}
+			currentTokens = tokens
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Prefer staying near target tokens per section.
+		if targetTokensPerSection == 0 || currentTokens < targetTokensPerSection {
+			currentSegments = append(currentSegments, seg)
+			currentTokens += tokens
+			continue
+		}
+
+		sections = append(sections, c.buildSection(len(sections), currentSegments, currentTokens))
+		currentSegments = []schema.Segment{seg}
+		currentTokens = tokens
+	}
+
+	if len(currentSegments) > 0 {
+		sections = append(sections, c.buildSection(len(sections), currentSegments, currentTokens))
+	}
+
+	return sections
+}
+
+// buildSection creates a Section from segments.
+func (c *Chunker) buildSection(index int, segments []schema.Segment, tokens int) Section {
+	return Section{
+		Index:           index,
+		StartSegmentID:  segments[0].ID,
+		EndSegmentID:    segments[len(segments)-1].ID,
+		EstimatedTokens: tokens,
+		Segments:        segments,
+	}
+}
+
+// calculateMinPossibleSections calculates the minimum number of sections needed
+// to ensure no section exceeds max tokens.
+func (c *Chunker) calculateMinPossibleSections(segmentTokens []int) int {
+	sections := 0
+	currentTokens := 0
+
+	for _, tokens := range segmentTokens {
+		if tokens > c.config.MaxSectionTokens {
+			// Each oversized segment needs its own section
+			if currentTokens > 0 {
+				sections++
+				currentTokens = 0
+			}
+			sections++
+		} else if currentTokens+tokens > c.config.MaxSectionTokens {
+			sections++
+			currentTokens = tokens
+		} else {
+			currentTokens += tokens
+		}
+	}
+
+	if currentTokens > 0 {
+		sections++
+	}
+
+	return sections
+}
+
+// buildSectionsWithExplicitTarget builds exactly desiredSections when feasible.
+func (c *Chunker) buildSectionsWithExplicitTarget(
+	segments []schema.Segment,
+	segmentTokens []int,
+	desiredSections int,
+	targetTokensPerSection int,
+) ([]Section, error) {
+	n := len(segments)
+	cursor := 0
+	sections := make([]Section, 0, desiredSections)
+
+	for sectionIdx := 0; sectionIdx < desiredSections; sectionIdx++ {
+		if cursor >= n {
+			break
+		}
+
+		remainingSectionsAfter := desiredSections - sectionIdx - 1
+		currentSegments := []schema.Segment{segments[cursor]}
+		currentTokens := segmentTokens[cursor]
+		cursor++
+
+		for cursor < n {
+			remainingSegments := n - cursor
+
+			// Reserve one segment per future section to avoid empty sections.
+			if remainingSegments == remainingSectionsAfter {
+				break
+			}
+
+			nextTokens := segmentTokens[cursor]
+			if currentTokens+nextTokens > c.config.MaxSectionTokens {
+				break
+			}
+			if targetTokensPerSection == 0 || currentTokens < targetTokensPerSection {
+				currentSegments = append(currentSegments, segments[cursor])
+				currentTokens += nextTokens
+				cursor++
+				continue
+			}
+			break
+		}
+
+		sections = append(sections, c.buildSection(len(sections), currentSegments, currentTokens))
+	}
+
+	if cursor != n || len(sections) != desiredSections {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
+			"target_sections (%d) is impossible under current constraints (got %d sections)",
+			desiredSections,
+			len(sections),
+		)
+	}
+
+	return sections, nil
+}
+
+func ceilDiv(numerator int, denominator int) int {
+	if denominator <= 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	if numerator <= 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return (numerator + denominator - 1) / denominator
+}

internal/core/chunking/sections_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,518 @@
+package chunking
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/schema"
+)
+
+// mapTokenEstimator provides deterministic per-segment token counts for tests.
+type mapTokenEstimator struct {
+	byText map[string]int
+}
+
+func (e *mapTokenEstimator) EstimateTokens(text string) int {
+	if e.byText == nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+	if tokens, ok := e.byText[text]; ok {
+		return tokens
+	}
+	return 0
+}
+
+func makeSegments(texts []string) []schema.Segment {
+	segments := make([]schema.Segment, len(texts))
+	for i, text := range texts {
+		segments[i] = schema.Segment{
+			ID:      i + 1,
+			Speaker: "DM",
+			Start:   float64(i * 10),
+			End:     float64(i*10 + 5),
+			Text:    text,
+		}
+	}
+	return segments
+}
+
+func makeTranscript(segments []schema.Segment) *schema.Transcript {
+	return &schema.Transcript{Segments: segments}
+}
+
+func intPtr(i int) *int {
+	return &i
+}
+
+func assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t *testing.T, input []schema.Segment, sections []Section) {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	seen := make([]schema.Segment, 0, len(input))
+	for _, sec := range sections {
+		seen = append(seen, sec.Segments...)
+	}
+
+	if len(seen) != len(input) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected %d total segment occurrences, got %d", len(input), len(seen))
+	}
+
+	for i := range input {
+		if seen[i].ID != input[i].ID {
+			t.Fatalf("segment order mismatch at index %d: got id=%d want id=%d", i, seen[i].ID, input[i].ID)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func assertSectionMetadataConsistent(t *testing.T, sections []Section) {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	for i, sec := range sections {
+		if sec.Index != i {
+			t.Fatalf("section %d: expected index=%d got=%d", i, i, sec.Index)
+		}
+		if len(sec.Segments) == 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("section %d: section must not be empty", i)
+		}
+		if sec.StartSegmentID != sec.Segments[0].ID {
+			t.Fatalf("section %d: start_segment_id mismatch", i)
+		}
+		if sec.EndSegmentID != sec.Segments[len(sec.Segments)-1].ID {
+			t.Fatalf("section %d: end_segment_id mismatch", i)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func assertMaxBoundExceptSingletonOversized(t *testing.T, sections []Section, max int) {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	for i, sec := range sections {
+		if sec.EstimatedTokens <= max {
+			continue
+		}
+		if len(sec.Segments) != 1 {
+			t.Fatalf("section %d exceeds max tokens (%d>%d) with %d segments", i, sec.EstimatedTokens, max, len(sec.Segments))
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func imbalance(sections []Section) int {
+	if len(sections) == 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	minTokens := sections[0].EstimatedTokens
+	maxTokens := sections[0].EstimatedTokens
+	for _, sec := range sections {
+		if sec.EstimatedTokens < minTokens {
+			minTokens = sec.EstimatedTokens
+		}
+		if sec.EstimatedTokens > maxTokens {
+			maxTokens = sec.EstimatedTokens
+		}
+	}
+	return maxTokens - minTokens
+}
+
+func greedyMaxFillSections(segments []schema.Segment, tokens []int, max int) []Section {
+	sections := make([]Section, 0)
+	var current []schema.Segment
+	currentTokens := 0
+
+	for i, seg := range segments {
+		tok := tokens[i]
+		if len(current) == 0 {
+			current = append(current, seg)
+			currentTokens = tok
+			continue
+		}
+		if currentTokens+tok > max {
+			sections = append(sections, Section{
+				Index:           len(sections),
+				StartSegmentID:  current[0].ID,
+				EndSegmentID:    current[len(current)-1].ID,
+				EstimatedTokens: currentTokens,
+				Segments:        append([]schema.Segment(nil), current...),
+			})
+			current = []schema.Segment{seg}
+			currentTokens = tok
+			continue
+		}
+		current = append(current, seg)
+		currentTokens += tok
+	}
+
+	if len(current) > 0 {
+		sections = append(sections, Section{
+			Index:           len(sections),
+			StartSegmentID:  current[0].ID,
+			EndSegmentID:    current[len(current)-1].ID,
+			EstimatedTokens: currentTokens,
+			Segments:        append([]schema.Segment(nil), current...),
+		})
+	}
+
+	return sections
+}
+
+func TestChunkEmptyTranscript(t *testing.T) {
+	chunker := NewChunker(ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 100, MinSectionTokens: 10})
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript(nil): %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 0 sections for nil transcript, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+
+	sections, err = chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(nil))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript(empty): %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 0 sections for empty transcript, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkSingleSegment(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"s1"})
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(
+		ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 100, MinSectionTokens: 10},
+		&mapTokenEstimator{byText: map[string]int{"s1": 7}},
+	)
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 section, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+	if sections[0].EstimatedTokens != 7 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected estimated_tokens=7, got %d", sections[0].EstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t, segments, sections)
+	assertSectionMetadataConsistent(t, sections)
+}
+
+func TestChunkSingleOversizedSegment(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"big"})
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(
+		ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 50, MinSectionTokens: 5},
+		&mapTokenEstimator{byText: map[string]int{"big": 120}},
+	)
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 section, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+	if sections[0].EstimatedTokens != 120 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected oversized singleton section, got %d", sections[0].EstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	assertMaxBoundExceptSingletonOversized(t, sections, 50)
+}
+
+func TestChunkTotalBelowMaxSingleSection(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"a", "b", "c"})
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(
+		ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 50, MinSectionTokens: 5},
+		&ConstTokenEstimator{Tokens: 10},
+	)
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 section, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+	if sections[0].EstimatedTokens != 30 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 30 section tokens, got %d", sections[0].EstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t, segments, sections)
+}
+
+func TestChunkTotalExactlyDivisibleByMax(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"a", "b", "c", "d"})
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(
+		ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 10, MinSectionTokens: 1},
+		&ConstTokenEstimator{Tokens: 5},
+	)
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 2 sections, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+	if sections[0].EstimatedTokens != 10 || sections[1].EstimatedTokens != 10 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected [10,10] tokens, got [%d,%d]", sections[0].EstimatedTokens, sections[1].EstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t, segments, sections)
+	assertMaxBoundExceptSingletonOversized(t, sections, 10)
+}
+
+func TestChunkTotalNotDivisibleByMax(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"a", "b", "c", "d", "e"})
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(
+		ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 10, MinSectionTokens: 1},
+		&ConstTokenEstimator{Tokens: 5},
+	)
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 3 sections, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+	if sections[0].EstimatedTokens != 10 || sections[1].EstimatedTokens != 10 || sections[2].EstimatedTokens != 5 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected [10,10,5] tokens, got [%d,%d,%d]", sections[0].EstimatedTokens, sections[1].EstimatedTokens, sections[2].EstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t, segments, sections)
+	assertMaxBoundExceptSingletonOversized(t, sections, 10)
+}
+
+func TestChunkTargetSectionsPrecedenceAndSuccess(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10"})
+	target := 3
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(
+		ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 200, MinSectionTokens: 1, TargetSections: &target},
+		&ConstTokenEstimator{Tokens: 10},
+	)
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != target {
+		t.Fatalf("expected %d sections from explicit target, got %d", target, len(sections))
+	}
+	assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t, segments, sections)
+	assertSectionMetadataConsistent(t, sections)
+}
+
+func TestChunkTargetSectionsImpossibleTooMany(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"1", "2", "3", "4", "5"})
+	target := 10
+	chunker := NewChunker(ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 100, MinSectionTokens: 1, TargetSections: &target})
+
+	_, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected error for impossible target_sections")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "cannot have more sections than segments") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkTargetSectionsImpossibleTooFew(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"1", "2", "3"})
+	target := 1
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(
+		ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 50, MinSectionTokens: 1, TargetSections: &target},
+		&ConstTokenEstimator{Tokens: 30},
+	)
+
+	_, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected error for impossible target_sections")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "need at least 3 sections") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkManySmallSegmentsBalanced(t *testing.T) {
+	texts := []string{"1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "11"}
+	segments := makeSegments(texts)
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(
+		ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 50, MinSectionTokens: 1},
+		&ConstTokenEstimator{Tokens: 10},
+	)
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 3 sections, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+	if sections[0].EstimatedTokens != 40 || sections[1].EstimatedTokens != 40 || sections[2].EstimatedTokens != 30 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected [40,40,30], got [%d,%d,%d]", sections[0].EstimatedTokens, sections[1].EstimatedTokens, sections[2].EstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t, segments, sections)
+	assertMaxBoundExceptSingletonOversized(t, sections, 50)
+}
+
+func TestChunkMixedLargeAndSmallSegments(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"big1", "s1", "s2", "s3", "big2", "s4"})
+	estimator := &mapTokenEstimator{byText: map[string]int{
+		"big1": 120,
+		"s1":   10,
+		"s2":   10,
+		"s3":   10,
+		"big2": 120,
+		"s4":   10,
+	}}
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 100, MinSectionTokens: 1}, estimator)
+
+	sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(sections) != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 4 sections, got %d", len(sections))
+	}
+	if len(sections[0].Segments) != 1 || sections[0].Segments[0].Text != "big1" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected first oversized segment in singleton section, got %+v", sections[0].Segments)
+	}
+	if len(sections[2].Segments) != 1 || sections[2].Segments[0].Text != "big2" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected second oversized segment in singleton section, got %+v", sections[2].Segments)
+	}
+	assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t, segments, sections)
+	assertMaxBoundExceptSingletonOversized(t, sections, 100)
+}
+
+func TestChunkDeterministicOrdering(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f"})
+	chunkerCfg := ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 15, MinSectionTokens: 1}
+	estimator := &ConstTokenEstimator{Tokens: 5}
+
+	var first []Section
+	for i := 0; i < 5; i++ {
+		chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(chunkerCfg, estimator)
+		sections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("iteration %d: %v", i, err)
+		}
+		if i == 0 {
+			first = sections
+			continue
+		}
+		if len(sections) != len(first) {
+			t.Fatalf("iteration %d: section count mismatch (%d vs %d)", i, len(sections), len(first))
+		}
+		for j := range sections {
+			if sections[j].Index != first[j].Index ||
+				sections[j].StartSegmentID != first[j].StartSegmentID ||
+				sections[j].EndSegmentID != first[j].EndSegmentID ||
+				sections[j].EstimatedTokens != first[j].EstimatedTokens ||
+				len(sections[j].Segments) != len(first[j].Segments) {
+				t.Fatalf("iteration %d section %d mismatch", i, j)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkNoMutationOfInput(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"original one", "original two"})
+	transcript := makeTranscript(segments)
+	original := make([]string, len(transcript.Segments))
+	for i := range transcript.Segments {
+		original[i] = transcript.Segments[i].Text
+	}
+
+	chunker := NewChunker(ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 50, MinSectionTokens: 1})
+	if _, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(transcript); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+	for i := range transcript.Segments {
+		if transcript.Segments[i].Text != original[i] {
+			t.Fatalf("segment %d mutated", i)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkConfigValidation(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name        string
+		config      ChunkingConfig
+		errContains string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:        "zero max tokens",
+			config:      ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 0, MinSectionTokens: 1},
+			errContains: "max_section_tokens must be positive",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "negative max tokens",
+			config:      ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: -1, MinSectionTokens: 1},
+			errContains: "max_section_tokens must be positive",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "negative min tokens",
+			config:      ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 10, MinSectionTokens: -1},
+			errContains: "min_section_tokens must be non-negative",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "min exceeds max",
+			config:      ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 10, MinSectionTokens: 11},
+			errContains: "min_section_tokens (11) cannot exceed max_section_tokens (10)",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "zero target sections",
+			config:      ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 10, MinSectionTokens: 1, TargetSections: intPtr(0)},
+			errContains: "target_sections must be positive",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "negative target sections",
+			config:      ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 10, MinSectionTokens: 1, TargetSections: intPtr(-1)},
+			errContains: "target_sections must be positive",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			chunker := NewChunker(tt.config)
+			_, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(makeSegments([]string{"x"})))
+			if err == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("expected error containing %q", tt.errContains)
+			}
+			if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), tt.errContains) {
+				t.Fatalf("expected error containing %q, got %q", tt.errContains, err.Error())
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkBalancedAlgorithmBeatsGreedyMaxFillOnUnevenTranscript(t *testing.T) {
+	segments := makeSegments([]string{"s1", "s2", "s3", "s4", "s5", "s6"})
+	tokenMap := map[string]int{
+		"s1": 50,
+		"s2": 10,
+		"s3": 10,
+		"s4": 10,
+		"s5": 10,
+		"s6": 10,
+	}
+	estimator := &mapTokenEstimator{byText: tokenMap}
+	chunker := NewChunkerWithEstimator(ChunkingConfig{MaxSectionTokens: 80, MinSectionTokens: 1}, estimator)
+
+	balancedSections, err := chunker.ChunkTranscript(makeTranscript(segments))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ChunkTranscript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	tokens := make([]int, 0, len(segments))
+	for _, seg := range segments {
+		tokens = append(tokens, tokenMap[seg.Text])
+	}
+	greedySections := greedyMaxFillSections(segments, tokens, 80)
+
+	balancedImbalance := imbalance(balancedSections)
+	greedyImbalance := imbalance(greedySections)
+	if balancedImbalance >= greedyImbalance {
+		t.Fatalf(
+			"expected balanced chunking to improve over greedy max-fill; balanced=%d greedy=%d",
+			balancedImbalance,
+			greedyImbalance,
+		)
+	}
+
+	assertSegmentCoverageAndOrder(t, segments, balancedSections)
+	assertMaxBoundExceptSingletonOversized(t, balancedSections, 80)
+}

internal/core/chunking/summary.go

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+package chunking
+
+// Summary provides a concise overview of chunking results for reports
+type Summary struct {
+	ChunkCount           int  `json:"chunk_count"`
+	MinEstimatedTokens   int  `json:"min_estimated_chunk_tokens"`
+	MaxEstimatedTokens   int  `json:"max_estimated_chunk_tokens"`
+	TotalEstimatedTokens int  `json:"total_estimated_transcript_tokens"`
+	TargetSections       *int `json:"target_sections,omitempty"`
+	MaxSectionTokens     int  `json:"max_section_tokens"`
+	MinSectionTokens     int  `json:"min_section_tokens"`
+}
+
+// ChunkSummary represents a single chunk's metadata for diagnostics
+type ChunkSummary struct {
+	Index           int `json:"index"`
+	StartSegmentID  int `json:"start_segment_id"`
+	EndSegmentID    int `json:"end_segment_id"`
+	EstimatedTokens int `json:"estimated_tokens"`
+	SegmentCount    int `json:"segment_count"`
+}
+
+// DetailedSummary provides per-chunk details for diagnostics
+type DetailedSummary struct {
+	Summary `json:",inline"`
+	Chunks  []ChunkSummary `json:"chunks"`
+}
+
+// ComputeSummary creates a Summary from sections and config
+func ComputeSummary(sections []Section, config ChunkingConfig) Summary {
+	if len(sections) == 0 {
+		return Summary{
+			ChunkCount:       0,
+			MaxSectionTokens: config.MaxSectionTokens,
+			MinSectionTokens: config.MinSectionTokens,
+			TargetSections:   config.TargetSections,
+		}
+	}
+
+	minTokens := sections[0].EstimatedTokens
+	maxTokens := sections[0].EstimatedTokens
+	totalTokens := 0
+
+	for _, sec := range sections {
+		if sec.EstimatedTokens < minTokens {
+			minTokens = sec.EstimatedTokens
+		}
+		if sec.EstimatedTokens > maxTokens {
+			maxTokens = sec.EstimatedTokens
+		}
+		totalTokens += sec.EstimatedTokens
+	}
+
+	return Summary{
+		ChunkCount:           len(sections),
+		MinEstimatedTokens:   minTokens,
+		MaxEstimatedTokens:   maxTokens,
+		TotalEstimatedTokens: totalTokens,
+		TargetSections:       config.TargetSections,
+		MaxSectionTokens:     config.MaxSectionTokens,
+		MinSectionTokens:     config.MinSectionTokens,
+	}
+}
+
+// ComputeDetailedSummary creates a DetailedSummary from sections and config
+func ComputeDetailedSummary(sections []Section, config ChunkingConfig) DetailedSummary {
+	summary := ComputeSummary(sections, config)
+
+	chunks := make([]ChunkSummary, len(sections))
+	for i, sec := range sections {
+		chunks[i] = ChunkSummary{
+			Index:           sec.Index,
+			StartSegmentID:  sec.StartSegmentID,
+			EndSegmentID:    sec.EndSegmentID,
+			EstimatedTokens: sec.EstimatedTokens,
+			SegmentCount:    len(sec.Segments),
+		}
+	}
+
+	return DetailedSummary{
+		Summary: summary,
+		Chunks:  chunks,
+	}
+}

internal/core/chunking/summary_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+package chunking
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/schema"
+)
+
+func TestComputeSummary(t *testing.T) {
+	config := ChunkingConfig{
+		MaxSectionTokens: 100,
+		MinSectionTokens: 10,
+	}
+
+	sections := []Section{
+		{Index: 0, EstimatedTokens: 30, StartSegmentID: 1, EndSegmentID: 2},
+		{Index: 1, EstimatedTokens: 50, StartSegmentID: 3, EndSegmentID: 4},
+		{Index: 2, EstimatedTokens: 20, StartSegmentID: 5, EndSegmentID: 5},
+	}
+
+	summary := ComputeSummary(sections, config)
+
+	if summary.ChunkCount != 3 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk_count=3, got %d", summary.ChunkCount)
+	}
+	if summary.MinEstimatedTokens != 20 {
+		t.Errorf("expected min_estimated_tokens=20, got %d", summary.MinEstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	if summary.MaxEstimatedTokens != 50 {
+		t.Errorf("expected max_estimated_tokens=50, got %d", summary.MaxEstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	if summary.TotalEstimatedTokens != 100 {
+		t.Errorf("expected total_estimated_tokens=100, got %d", summary.TotalEstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	if summary.MaxSectionTokens != 100 {
+		t.Errorf("expected max_section_tokens=100, got %d", summary.MaxSectionTokens)
+	}
+	if summary.MinSectionTokens != 10 {
+		t.Errorf("expected min_section_tokens=10, got %d", summary.MinSectionTokens)
+	}
+	if summary.TargetSections != nil {
+		t.Errorf("expected target_sections=nil, got %v", summary.TargetSections)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestComputeSummaryWithTarget(t *testing.T) {
+	target := 5
+	config := ChunkingConfig{
+		MaxSectionTokens: 100,
+		MinSectionTokens: 10,
+		TargetSections:   &target,
+	}
+
+	sections := []Section{
+		{Index: 0, EstimatedTokens: 30, StartSegmentID: 1, EndSegmentID: 2},
+	}
+
+	summary := ComputeSummary(sections, config)
+
+	if summary.TargetSections == nil || *summary.TargetSections != 5 {
+		t.Errorf("expected target_sections=5, got %v", summary.TargetSections)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestComputeSummaryEmptySections(t *testing.T) {
+	config := ChunkingConfig{
+		MaxSectionTokens: 100,
+		MinSectionTokens: 10,
+	}
+
+	sections := []Section{}
+
+	summary := ComputeSummary(sections, config)
+
+	if summary.ChunkCount != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk_count=0, got %d", summary.ChunkCount)
+	}
+	if summary.MinEstimatedTokens != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected min_estimated_tokens=0 for empty, got %d", summary.MinEstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	if summary.MaxSectionTokens != 100 {
+		t.Errorf("expected max_section_tokens preserved, got %d", summary.MaxSectionTokens)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestComputeDetailedSummary(t *testing.T) {
+	config := ChunkingConfig{
+		MaxSectionTokens: 100,
+		MinSectionTokens: 10,
+	}
+
+	sections := []Section{
+		{
+			Index:           0,
+			EstimatedTokens: 30,
+			StartSegmentID:  1,
+			EndSegmentID:    2,
+			Segments:        make([]schema.Segment, 2), // 2 segments
+		},
+		{
+			Index:           1,
+			EstimatedTokens: 50,
+			StartSegmentID:  3,
+			EndSegmentID:    5,
+			Segments:        make([]schema.Segment, 3), // 3 segments
+		},
+	}
+
+	detailed := ComputeDetailedSummary(sections, config)
+
+	if detailed.ChunkCount != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk_count=2, got %d", detailed.ChunkCount)
+	}
+	if len(detailed.Chunks) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 2 chunk entries, got %d", len(detailed.Chunks))
+	}
+
+	// Check first chunk
+	if detailed.Chunks[0].Index != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[0].index=0, got %d", detailed.Chunks[0].Index)
+	}
+	if detailed.Chunks[0].StartSegmentID != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[0].start_segment_id=1, got %d", detailed.Chunks[0].StartSegmentID)
+	}
+	if detailed.Chunks[0].EndSegmentID != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[0].end_segment_id=2, got %d", detailed.Chunks[0].EndSegmentID)
+	}
+	if detailed.Chunks[0].EstimatedTokens != 30 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[0].estimated_tokens=30, got %d", detailed.Chunks[0].EstimatedTokens)
+	}
+	if detailed.Chunks[0].SegmentCount != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[0].segment_count=2, got %d", detailed.Chunks[0].SegmentCount)
+	}
+
+	// Check second chunk
+	if detailed.Chunks[1].Index != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[1].index=1, got %d", detailed.Chunks[1].Index)
+	}
+	if detailed.Chunks[1].StartSegmentID != 3 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[1].start_segment_id=3, got %d", detailed.Chunks[1].StartSegmentID)
+	}
+	if detailed.Chunks[1].EndSegmentID != 5 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[1].end_segment_id=5, got %d", detailed.Chunks[1].EndSegmentID)
+	}
+	if detailed.Chunks[1].SegmentCount != 3 {
+		t.Errorf("expected chunk[1].segment_count=3, got %d", detailed.Chunks[1].SegmentCount)
+	}
+}

internal/core/chunking/tokens.go

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package chunking
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"unicode"
+)
+
+// TokenEstimator provides a deterministic token estimation suitable for prompt budgeting.
+// The estimator is approximate but stable, isolated, and replaceable.
+type TokenEstimator interface {
+	EstimateTokens(text string) int
+}
+
+// SimpleTokenEstimator provides a basic deterministic token estimation.
+// This uses a simple heuristic based on word count and punctuation.
+type SimpleTokenEstimator struct{}
+
+// NewSimpleTokenEstimator creates a new simple token estimator.
+func NewSimpleTokenEstimator() *SimpleTokenEstimator {
+	return &SimpleTokenEstimator{}
+}
+
+// EstimateTokens provides a rough estimate of the number of tokens in the given text.
+// This implementation uses a simple heuristic: count words and punctuation as tokens.
+// The estimate is deterministic and stable for the same input text.
+func (e *SimpleTokenEstimator) EstimateTokens(text string) int {
+	if text == "" {
+		return 0
+	}
+
+	// Simple heuristic: split on whitespace and count non-empty segments
+	words := strings.Fields(text)
+	tokenCount := len(words)
+
+	// Add some estimate for punctuation that might be separate tokens
+	punctuationCount := 0
+	for _, r := range text {
+		if unicode.IsPunct(r) && r != '\'' && r != '-' && r != '_' {
+			punctuationCount++
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Rough estimate: each word is a token, plus half the punctuation as separate tokens
+	return tokenCount + (punctuationCount / 2)
+}
+
+// ConstTokenEstimator returns a constant token count for testing purposes.
+type ConstTokenEstimator struct {
+	Tokens int
+}
+
+// EstimateTokens returns the configured constant token count.
+func (e *ConstTokenEstimator) EstimateTokens(text string) int {
+	return e.Tokens
+}

internal/core/chunking/tokens_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+package chunking
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestSimpleTokenEstimator(t *testing.T) {
+	estimator := NewSimpleTokenEstimator()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		text     string
+		expected int
+	}{
+		{"empty string", "", 0},
+		{"single word", "hello", 1},
+		{"two words", "hello world", 2},
+		{"with punctuation", "hello, world!", 3},                  // 2 words + 2 punctuation/2 = 3
+		{"multiple sentences", "Hello world. This is a test.", 7}, // 7 words + 2 punctuation/2 = 8? Actually "Hello world." has 3 punctuation
+		{"with apostrophes", "don't won't can't", 3},
+		{"with hyphens", "well-known state-of-the-art", 2}, // hyphens don't count
+		{"unicode text", "café naïve", 2},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := estimator.EstimateTokens(tt.text)
+			if got != tt.expected {
+				t.Errorf("EstimateTokens(%q) = %d, want %d", tt.text, got, tt.expected)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestConstTokenEstimator(t *testing.T) {
+	estimator := &ConstTokenEstimator{Tokens: 42}
+
+	if got := estimator.EstimateTokens("any text"); got != 42 {
+		t.Errorf("ConstTokenEstimator.EstimateTokens = %d, want 42", got)
+	}
+
+	if got := estimator.EstimateTokens(""); got != 42 {
+		t.Errorf("ConstTokenEstimator.EstimateTokens(empty) = %d, want 42", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTokenEstimatorDeterminism(t *testing.T) {
+	estimator := NewSimpleTokenEstimator()
+	text := "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Hello, world!"
+
+	// Run multiple times and verify same result
+	first := estimator.EstimateTokens(text)
+	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
+		got := estimator.EstimateTokens(text)
+		if got != first {
+			t.Errorf("EstimateTokens not deterministic: iteration %d got %d, first was %d", i, got, first)
+		}
+	}
+}

internal/core/config/config.go

@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type WorkDirRetention string
+
+const (
+	WorkDirRetentionAuto   WorkDirRetention = "auto"
+	WorkDirRetentionAlways WorkDirRetention = "always"
+	WorkDirRetentionNever  WorkDirRetention = "never"
+)
+
+const (
+	DefaultModulesCSV                                     = "glossary,homophones,glossary,spoken_word,grammar"
+	DefaultOutputSchema                                   = "bare-segments"
+	DefaultPrimaryModel                                   = "openrouter/google/gemma-4-31b-it"
+	DefaultPrimaryBaseURL                                 = "https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"
+	DefaultPrimaryLLMTimeoutSeconds                       = 600
+	DefaultMaxRetries                                     = 3
+	DefaultLLMConcurrency                                 = 1
+	DefaultValidationMaxPromptTokens                      = 2048
+	DefaultMaxSectionTokens                               = 8192
+	DefaultMinSectionTokens                               = 2048
+	DefaultConfidenceThreshold                            = 0.8
+	DefaultNormalizeMaxSegmentGap                         = 4.0
+	DefaultNormalizeEllipsisGap                           = 3.5
+	DefaultNormalizeMaxSegmentDuration                    = 60.0
+	DefaultNormalizeMaxSegmentTokens                      = 2048
+	DefaultTranscriptDescriptionMaxChars                  = 500
+	DefaultWorkDir                                        = "/tmp/audita"
+	DefaultWorkDirRetention              WorkDirRetention = WorkDirRetentionAuto
+)
+
+type Config struct {
+	Modules                   []string
+	OutputSchema              string
+	PrimaryLLM                LLMConfig
+	ValidationLLM             ValidationLLMConfig
+	TotalLLMConcurrency       int
+	ProposalLLMConcurrency    int
+	ValidationLLMConcurrency  *int
+	ValidationMaxPromptTokens int
+	MaxSectionTokens          int
+	MinSectionTokens          int
+	TargetSections            *int
+	Thresholds                ConfidenceThresholds
+	Normalization             NormalizationConfig
+	TranscriptDescription     string
+	WorkDir                   string
+	WorkDirRetention          WorkDirRetention
+}
+
+type LLMConfig struct {
+	APIKey         string
+	Model          string
+	BaseURL        string
+	TimeoutSeconds int
+	MaxRetries     int
+	// Concurrency is retained as a backward-compatible alias for
+	// TotalLLMConcurrency.
+	Concurrency int
+}
+
+type ValidationLLMConfig struct {
+	APIKey         string
+	Model          string
+	BaseURL        string
+	TimeoutSeconds *int
+	MaxRetries     *int
+	// Concurrency is retained as a backward-compatible alias for
+	// ValidationLLMConcurrency.
+	Concurrency *int
+}
+
+type ConfidenceThresholds struct {
+	Glossary   float64
+	Grammar    float64
+	Homophones float64
+	SpokenWord float64
+}
+
+type NormalizationConfig struct {
+	MaxSegmentGap      float64
+	EllipsisGap        float64
+	MaxSegmentDuration float64
+	MaxSegmentTokens   int
+}
+
+func Default() Config {
+	modules, _ := ParseModulesCSV(DefaultModulesCSV)
+
+	return Config{
+		Modules:      modules,
+		OutputSchema: DefaultOutputSchema,
+		PrimaryLLM: LLMConfig{
+			Model:          DefaultPrimaryModel,
+			BaseURL:        DefaultPrimaryBaseURL,
+			TimeoutSeconds: DefaultPrimaryLLMTimeoutSeconds,
+			MaxRetries:     DefaultMaxRetries,
+			Concurrency:    DefaultLLMConcurrency,
+		},
+		ValidationLLM:             ValidationLLMConfig{},
+		TotalLLMConcurrency:       DefaultLLMConcurrency,
+		ProposalLLMConcurrency:    DefaultLLMConcurrency,
+		ValidationLLMConcurrency:  nil,
+		ValidationMaxPromptTokens: DefaultValidationMaxPromptTokens,
+		MaxSectionTokens:          DefaultMaxSectionTokens,
+		MinSectionTokens:          DefaultMinSectionTokens,
+		TargetSections:            nil,
+		Thresholds: ConfidenceThresholds{
+			Glossary:   DefaultConfidenceThreshold,
+			Grammar:    DefaultConfidenceThreshold,
+			Homophones: DefaultConfidenceThreshold,
+			SpokenWord: DefaultConfidenceThreshold,
+		},
+		Normalization: NormalizationConfig{
+			MaxSegmentGap:      DefaultNormalizeMaxSegmentGap,
+			EllipsisGap:        DefaultNormalizeEllipsisGap,
+			MaxSegmentDuration: DefaultNormalizeMaxSegmentDuration,
+			MaxSegmentTokens:   DefaultNormalizeMaxSegmentTokens,
+		},
+		WorkDir:          DefaultWorkDir,
+		WorkDirRetention: DefaultWorkDirRetention,
+	}
+}
+
+func ParseModulesCSV(raw string) ([]string, error) {
+	parts := strings.Split(raw, ",")
+	modules := make([]string, 0, len(parts))
+	for _, part := range parts {
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(part)
+		if trimmed == "" {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("modules list contains an empty value")
+		}
+		modules = append(modules, trimmed)
+	}
+	if len(modules) == 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("modules list must not be empty")
+	}
+	return modules, nil
+}
+
+func (c Config) EffectiveValidationLLMConfig() LLMConfig {
+	effective := c.PrimaryLLM
+
+	if c.ValidationLLM.APIKey != "" {
+		effective.APIKey = c.ValidationLLM.APIKey
+	}
+	if c.ValidationLLM.Model != "" {
+		effective.Model = c.ValidationLLM.Model
+	}
+	if c.ValidationLLM.BaseURL != "" {
+		effective.BaseURL = c.ValidationLLM.BaseURL
+	}
+	if c.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds != nil {
+		effective.TimeoutSeconds = *c.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds
+	}
+	if c.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries != nil {
+		effective.MaxRetries = *c.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries
+	}
+	effective.Concurrency = c.EffectiveValidationLLMConcurrency()
+
+	return effective
+}
+
+func (c Config) EffectiveValidationLLMConcurrency() int {
+	if c.ValidationLLMConcurrency != nil {
+		return *c.ValidationLLMConcurrency
+	}
+	return c.TotalLLMConcurrency
+}
+
+func (c Config) EffectiveProposalLLMConcurrency() int {
+	if c.ProposalLLMConcurrency > 0 {
+		return c.ProposalLLMConcurrency
+	}
+	return c.TotalLLMConcurrency
+}
+
+func (c *Config) syncLegacyConcurrencyAliases() {
+	if c == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	c.PrimaryLLM.Concurrency = c.TotalLLMConcurrency
+	c.ValidationLLM.Concurrency = intPtr(c.ValidationLLMConcurrency)
+}
+
+func intPtr(v *int) *int {
+	if v == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	x := *v
+	return &x
+}

internal/core/config/config_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,423 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestDefaultConfigValues(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+
+	if got, want := strings.Join(cfg.Modules, ","), DefaultModulesCSV; got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("modules mismatch: got %q want %q", got, want)
+	}
+	if cfg.OutputSchema != DefaultOutputSchema {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default output schema: %q", cfg.OutputSchema)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model != DefaultPrimaryModel {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default primary model: %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.BaseURL != DefaultPrimaryBaseURL {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default primary base url: %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.BaseURL)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds != DefaultPrimaryLLMTimeoutSeconds {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default timeout seconds: %d", cfg.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.MaxRetries != DefaultMaxRetries {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default max retries: %d", cfg.PrimaryLLM.MaxRetries)
+	}
+	if cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency != DefaultLLMConcurrency {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default total llm concurrency: %d", cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency != DefaultLLMConcurrency {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default proposal llm concurrency: %d", cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation llm concurrency to be unset by default")
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.Concurrency != cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency {
+		t.Fatalf("expected primary llm concurrency alias to mirror total, got primary=%d total=%d", cfg.PrimaryLLM.Concurrency, cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation timeout to be unset by default")
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation max retries to be unset by default")
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLM.Concurrency != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected legacy validation llm concurrency alias to be unset by default")
+	}
+	if cfg.TargetSections != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected target sections to be unset by default")
+	}
+	if cfg.WorkDir != DefaultWorkDir {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default work dir: %q", cfg.WorkDir)
+	}
+	if cfg.TranscriptDescription != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected default transcript description to be empty, got %q", cfg.TranscriptDescription)
+	}
+	if cfg.WorkDirRetention != DefaultWorkDirRetention {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected default work dir retention: %q", cfg.WorkDirRetention)
+	}
+	if err := cfg.Validate(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("default config should validate: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoadFromEnvOverridesAndFallback(t *testing.T) {
+	env := map[string]string{
+		"AUDITA_MODEL":                            "openai/gpt-4.1-mini",
+		"AUDITA_BASE_URL":                         "https://api.openai.com/v1",
+		"AUDITA_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS":              "120",
+		"AUDITA_MAX_RETRIES":                      "7",
+		"AUDITA_TOTAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY":            "6",
+		"AUDITA_PROPOSAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY":         "4",
+		"AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_CONCURRENCY":       "2",
+		"AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_PROMPT_TOKENS":     "4096",
+		"AUDITA_MAX_SECTION_TOKENS":               "9000",
+		"AUDITA_MIN_SECTION_TOKENS":               "3000",
+		"AUDITA_TARGET_SECTIONS":                  "5",
+		"AUDITA_GLOSSARY_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD":    "0.9",
+		"AUDITA_GRAMMAR_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD":     "0.7",
+		"AUDITA_HOMOPHONES_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD":  "0.6",
+		"AUDITA_SPOKEN_WORD_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD": "0.5",
+		"AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_GAP":        "2.5",
+		"AUDITA_NORMALIZE_ELLIPSIS_GAP":           "2.0",
+		"AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_DURATION":   "30.0",
+		"AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_TOKENS":     "1024",
+		"AUDITA_WORK_DIR":                         "/var/tmp/audita",
+		"AUDITA_WORK_DIR_RETENTION":               "always",
+		"OPENROUTER_API_KEY":                      "fallback-key",
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := loadFromLookup(mapLookup(env))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("loadFromLookup returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey != "fallback-key" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected OPENROUTER_API_KEY fallback, got %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model != env["AUDITA_MODEL"] {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected model: %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.BaseURL != env["AUDITA_BASE_URL"] {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected base url: %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.BaseURL)
+	}
+	if cfg.TargetSections == nil || *cfg.TargetSections != 5 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected target sections: %#v", cfg.TargetSections)
+	}
+	if cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency != 6 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected total llm concurrency: %d", cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected proposal llm concurrency: %d", cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency == nil || *cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected validation llm concurrency: %#v", cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.Concurrency != 6 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected primary alias concurrency 6, got %d", cfg.PrimaryLLM.Concurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLM.Concurrency == nil || *cfg.ValidationLLM.Concurrency != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation alias concurrency 2, got %#v", cfg.ValidationLLM.Concurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.WorkDirRetention != WorkDirRetentionAlways {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected work dir retention: %q", cfg.WorkDirRetention)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoadFromEnvLegacyLLMConcurrencyAliasForTotalAndProposal(t *testing.T) {
+	env := map[string]string{
+		"AUDITA_LLM_CONCURRENCY": "5",
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := loadFromLookup(mapLookup(env))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("loadFromLookup returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency != 5 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected total concurrency from legacy alias, got %d", cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency != 5 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected proposal concurrency to inherit legacy total, got %d", cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoadFromEnvCanonicalTotalWinsLegacyAlias(t *testing.T) {
+	env := map[string]string{
+		"AUDITA_TOTAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY": "4",
+		"AUDITA_LLM_CONCURRENCY":       "9",
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := loadFromLookup(mapLookup(env))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("loadFromLookup returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected canonical total to win over legacy alias, got %d", cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected proposal to inherit canonical total when unset, got %d", cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoadFromEnvUsesAuditaLLMAPIKeyOverFallback(t *testing.T) {
+	env := map[string]string{
+		"AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY": "primary-key",
+		"OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "fallback-key",
+	}
+
+	cfg, err := loadFromLookup(mapLookup(env))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("loadFromLookup returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey != "primary-key" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY to win, got %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyCLIOverridesPrecedence(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model = "env-model"
+	cfg.WorkDir = "/env/work"
+
+	model := "cli-model"
+	workDir := "/cli/work"
+	modules := "grammar"
+	outputSchema := "audita-v1"
+	totalLLMConcurrency := 5
+	proposalLLMConcurrency := 3
+	overrides := CLIOverrides{
+		PrimaryModel:           &model,
+		WorkDir:                &workDir,
+		ModulesCSV:             &modules,
+		OutputSchema:           &outputSchema,
+		TotalLLMConcurrency:    &totalLLMConcurrency,
+		ProposalLLMConcurrency: &proposalLLMConcurrency,
+	}
+
+	if err := cfg.ApplyCLIOverrides(overrides); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ApplyCLIOverrides failed: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model != "cli-model" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected CLI model override, got %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model)
+	}
+	if cfg.WorkDir != "/cli/work" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected CLI work dir override, got %q", cfg.WorkDir)
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(cfg.Modules, []string{"grammar"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected modules: %#v", cfg.Modules)
+	}
+	if cfg.OutputSchema != "audita-v1" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected CLI output schema override, got %q", cfg.OutputSchema)
+	}
+	if cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency != 5 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected CLI total concurrency override, got %d", cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected CLI proposal concurrency override, got %d", cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyCLIOverridesTrimsTranscriptDescription(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	description := "   background context about speakers   "
+	if err := cfg.ApplyCLIOverrides(CLIOverrides{TranscriptDescription: &description}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ApplyCLIOverrides failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	if cfg.TranscriptDescription != "background context about speakers" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected transcript description trim result: %q", cfg.TranscriptDescription)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestValidationRejectsOverlyLongTranscriptDescription(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	cfg.TranscriptDescription = strings.Repeat("a", DefaultTranscriptDescriptionMaxChars+1)
+	err := cfg.Validate()
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected transcript description length validation error")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "transcript description must be 500 characters or fewer") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected validation error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyCLIOverridesLegacyLLMConcurrencyAlias(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	aliasConcurrency := 6
+
+	if err := cfg.ApplyCLIOverrides(CLIOverrides{PrimaryLLMConcurrency: &aliasConcurrency}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ApplyCLIOverrides failed: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency != 6 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected legacy --llm-concurrency alias to set total, got %d", cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency != 6 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected proposal to inherit aliased total when unset, got %d", cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyCLIOverridesCanonicalTotalWinsLegacyAlias(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	canonicalTotal := 4
+	legacyAlias := 9
+
+	if err := cfg.ApplyCLIOverrides(CLIOverrides{TotalLLMConcurrency: &canonicalTotal, PrimaryLLMConcurrency: &legacyAlias}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ApplyCLIOverrides failed: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected canonical total concurrency to win, got %d", cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected proposal to inherit canonical total when proposal is unset, got %d", cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestValidationFailures(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	cfg.OutputSchema = "unknown-schema"
+	cfg.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds = -1
+	cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency = 0
+	cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency = 0
+	validationConcurrency := 5
+	cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency = &validationConcurrency
+	cfg.ValidationMaxPromptTokens = 0
+	cfg.MaxSectionTokens = 100
+	cfg.MinSectionTokens = 200
+	cfg.Thresholds.Grammar = 1.5
+	cfg.WorkDirRetention = WorkDirRetention("sometimes")
+
+	err := cfg.Validate()
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation error")
+	}
+
+	message := err.Error()
+	for _, expected := range []string{
+		"primary llm timeout seconds",
+		"total llm concurrency",
+		"proposal llm concurrency",
+		"validation llm concurrency must be less than or equal to total llm concurrency",
+		"validation max prompt tokens",
+		"min section tokens",
+		"grammar confidence threshold",
+		"work dir retention",
+		"unsupported output schema",
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(message, expected) {
+			t.Fatalf("expected error to contain %q, got %q", expected, message)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEffectiveValidationLLMInheritance(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey = "primary-key"
+	cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model = "primary-model"
+	cfg.PrimaryLLM.BaseURL = "https://primary.example/v1"
+	cfg.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds = 111
+	cfg.PrimaryLLM.MaxRetries = 2
+	cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency = 7
+	cfg.syncLegacyConcurrencyAliases()
+
+	effective := cfg.EffectiveValidationLLMConfig()
+	if effective.APIKey != "primary-key" || effective.Model != "primary-model" || effective.BaseURL != "https://primary.example/v1" || effective.TimeoutSeconds != 111 || effective.MaxRetries != 2 || effective.Concurrency != 7 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected inherited config: %#v", effective)
+	}
+
+	validationTimeout := 222
+	validationRetries := 9
+	cfg.ValidationLLM.APIKey = "validation-key"
+	cfg.ValidationLLM.Model = "validation-model"
+	cfg.ValidationLLM.BaseURL = "https://validation.example/v1"
+	cfg.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds = &validationTimeout
+	cfg.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries = &validationRetries
+	validationConcurrency := 4
+	cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency = &validationConcurrency
+	cfg.syncLegacyConcurrencyAliases()
+
+	effective = cfg.EffectiveValidationLLMConfig()
+	if effective.APIKey != "validation-key" || effective.Model != "validation-model" || effective.BaseURL != "https://validation.example/v1" || effective.TimeoutSeconds != 222 || effective.MaxRetries != 9 || effective.Concurrency != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected overridden validation config: %#v", effective)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestValidationLLMConcurrencyCannotExceedTotal(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency = 2
+	cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency = 2
+	validationConcurrency := 3
+	cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency = &validationConcurrency
+
+	if err := cfg.Validate(); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected validation error when validation llm concurrency exceeds total")
+	}
+
+	validationConcurrency = 2
+	cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency = &validationConcurrency
+	if err := cfg.Validate(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected equal concurrency to validate, got %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProposalLLMConcurrencyCannotExceedTotal(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency = 2
+	cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency = 3
+
+	if err := cfg.Validate(); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected validation error when proposal llm concurrency exceeds total")
+	}
+
+	cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency = 2
+	if err := cfg.Validate(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected equal concurrency to validate, got %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCLITotalLLMConcurrencyOverrideDrivesEffectiveValidationConcurrencyWhenValidationUnset(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	totalLLMConcurrency := 6
+	if err := cfg.ApplyCLIOverrides(CLIOverrides{TotalLLMConcurrency: &totalLLMConcurrency}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ApplyCLIOverrides failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation concurrency to remain unset, got %#v", cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.EffectiveValidationLLMConcurrency() != 6 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected inherited validation concurrency 6, got %d", cfg.EffectiveValidationLLMConcurrency())
+	}
+}
+
+func TestRedactedConfig(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey = "secret-primary"
+	cfg.ValidationLLM.APIKey = "secret-validation"
+
+	redacted := cfg.Redacted()
+
+	if redacted.PrimaryLLM.APIKey != redactedSecret {
+		t.Fatalf("expected primary api key to be redacted, got %q", redacted.PrimaryLLM.APIKey)
+	}
+	if redacted.ValidationLLM.APIKey != redactedSecret {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation api key to be redacted, got %q", redacted.ValidationLLM.APIKey)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey != "secret-primary" {
+		t.Fatalf("redaction should not mutate original config")
+	}
+}
+
+func mapLookup(values map[string]string) func(string) (string, bool) {
+	return func(key string) (string, bool) {
+		value, ok := values[key]
+		return value, ok
+	}
+}

internal/core/config/env.go

@@ -0,0 +1,268 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+)
+
+const (
+	DefaultConfigPath          = "/etc/audita/config.yml"
+	DefaultConfigPathUsrLocal  = "/usr/local/etc/audita/config.yml"
+)
+
+var DefaultConfigSearchPaths = []string{
+	DefaultConfigPathUsrLocal,
+	DefaultConfigPath,
+}
+
+func LoadFromEnv() (Config, error) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	if err := cfg.applyEnvOverrides(os.LookupEnv); err != nil {
+		return Config{}, err
+	}
+	return cfg, nil
+}
+
+func loadFromLookup(lookup func(string) (string, bool)) (Config, error) {
+	cfg := Default()
+	if err := cfg.applyEnvOverrides(lookup); err != nil {
+		return Config{}, err
+	}
+	return cfg, nil
+}
+
+func (c *Config) ApplyEnvOverrides() error {
+	return c.applyEnvOverrides(os.LookupEnv)
+}
+
+func (c *Config) applyEnvOverrides(lookup func(string) (string, bool)) error {
+	if c == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("config must not be nil")
+	}
+
+	cfg := c
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_MODULES"); ok {
+		modules, err := ParseModulesCSV(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_MODULES: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Modules = modules
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_LLM_API_KEY"); ok {
+		cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey = raw
+	} else if raw, ok := lookup("OPENROUTER_API_KEY"); ok {
+		cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey = raw
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_API_KEY"); ok {
+		cfg.ValidationLLM.APIKey = raw
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_MODEL"); ok {
+		cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model = raw
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_VALIDATION_MODEL"); ok {
+		cfg.ValidationLLM.Model = raw
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_BASE_URL"); ok {
+		cfg.PrimaryLLM.BaseURL = raw
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_VALIDATION_BASE_URL"); ok {
+		cfg.ValidationLLM.BaseURL = raw
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds = value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds = &value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_MAX_RETRIES"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_MAX_RETRIES: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.PrimaryLLM.MaxRetries = value
+	}
+	totalConcurrencySet := false
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_TOTAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_TOTAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency = value
+		totalConcurrencySet = true
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_LLM_CONCURRENCY"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_LLM_CONCURRENCY: %w", err)
+		}
+		if !totalConcurrencySet {
+			cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency = value
+			totalConcurrencySet = true
+		}
+	}
+
+	proposalConcurrencySet := false
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_PROPOSAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_PROPOSAL_LLM_CONCURRENCY: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency = value
+		proposalConcurrencySet = true
+	}
+	if totalConcurrencySet && !proposalConcurrencySet {
+		cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency = cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_RETRIES"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_RETRIES: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries = &value
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_CONCURRENCY"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_VALIDATION_LLM_CONCURRENCY: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency = &value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_PROMPT_TOKENS"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_VALIDATION_MAX_PROMPT_TOKENS: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.ValidationMaxPromptTokens = value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_MAX_SECTION_TOKENS"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_MAX_SECTION_TOKENS: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.MaxSectionTokens = value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_MIN_SECTION_TOKENS"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_MIN_SECTION_TOKENS: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.MinSectionTokens = value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_TARGET_SECTIONS"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_TARGET_SECTIONS: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.TargetSections = &value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_GLOSSARY_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD"); ok {
+		value, err := parseFloat(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_GLOSSARY_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Thresholds.Glossary = value
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_GRAMMAR_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD"); ok {
+		value, err := parseFloat(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_GRAMMAR_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Thresholds.Grammar = value
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_HOMOPHONES_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD"); ok {
+		value, err := parseFloat(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_HOMOPHONES_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Thresholds.Homophones = value
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_SPOKEN_WORD_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD"); ok {
+		value, err := parseFloat(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_SPOKEN_WORD_CONFIDENCE_THRESHOLD: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Thresholds.SpokenWord = value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_GAP"); ok {
+		value, err := parseFloat(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_GAP: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentGap = value
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_NORMALIZE_ELLIPSIS_GAP"); ok {
+		value, err := parseFloat(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_NORMALIZE_ELLIPSIS_GAP: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Normalization.EllipsisGap = value
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_DURATION"); ok {
+		value, err := parseFloat(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_DURATION: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentDuration = value
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_TOKENS"); ok {
+		value, err := parseInt(raw)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("AUDITA_NORMALIZE_MAX_SEGMENT_TOKENS: %w", err)
+		}
+		cfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentTokens = value
+	}
+
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_WORK_DIR"); ok {
+		cfg.WorkDir = raw
+	}
+	if raw, ok := lookup("AUDITA_WORK_DIR_RETENTION"); ok {
+		cfg.WorkDirRetention = WorkDirRetention(raw)
+	}
+
+	cfg.syncLegacyConcurrencyAliases()
+
+	if err := cfg.Validate(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func parseInt(raw string) (int, error) {
+	value, err := strconv.Atoi(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("must be an integer")
+	}
+	return value, nil
+}
+
+func parseFloat(raw string) (float64, error) {
+	value, err := strconv.ParseFloat(raw, 64)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("must be a number")
+	}
+	return value, nil
+}

internal/core/config/file_config.go

@@ -0,0 +1,342 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+)
+
+const SupportedFileConfigVersion = 1
+
+var envVarNamePattern = regexp.MustCompile(`^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$`)
+
+type FileConfig struct {
+	Version       int                      `yaml:"version"`
+	Pipeline      *FileConfigPipeline      `yaml:"pipeline,omitempty"`
+	Output        *FileConfigOutput        `yaml:"output,omitempty"`
+	LLM           *FileConfigLLM           `yaml:"llm,omitempty"`
+	Concurrency   *FileConfigConcurrency   `yaml:"concurrency,omitempty"`
+	Chunking      *FileConfigChunking      `yaml:"chunking,omitempty"`
+	Normalization *FileConfigNormalization `yaml:"normalization,omitempty"`
+	Thresholds    *FileConfigThresholds    `yaml:"thresholds,omitempty"`
+	Context       *FileConfigContext       `yaml:"context,omitempty"`
+	Diagnostics   *FileConfigDiagnostics   `yaml:"diagnostics,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigPipeline struct {
+	Modules []string `yaml:"modules,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigOutput struct {
+	Schema *string `yaml:"schema,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigLLM struct {
+	Proposal   *FileConfigLLMTarget `yaml:"proposal,omitempty"`
+	Validation *FileConfigLLMTarget `yaml:"validation,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigLLMTarget struct {
+	BaseURL    *string                  `yaml:"base_url,omitempty"`
+	Model      *string                  `yaml:"model,omitempty"`
+	APIKeyEnv  *string                  `yaml:"api_key_env,omitempty"`
+	Timeout    *fileConfigDurationOrInt `yaml:"timeout,omitempty"`
+	MaxRetries *int                     `yaml:"max_retries,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigConcurrency struct {
+	TotalLLM      *int `yaml:"total_llm,omitempty"`
+	ProposalLLM   *int `yaml:"proposal_llm,omitempty"`
+	ValidationLLM *int `yaml:"validation_llm,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigChunking struct {
+	TargetSections   *int `yaml:"target_sections,omitempty"`
+	MaxSectionTokens *int `yaml:"max_section_tokens,omitempty"`
+	MinSectionTokens *int `yaml:"min_section_tokens,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigNormalization struct {
+	MaxSegmentGap      *fileConfigDurationOrFloat `yaml:"max_segment_gap,omitempty"`
+	EllipsisGap        *fileConfigDurationOrFloat `yaml:"ellipsis_gap,omitempty"`
+	MaxSegmentDuration *fileConfigDurationOrFloat `yaml:"max_segment_duration,omitempty"`
+	MaxSegmentTokens   *int                       `yaml:"max_segment_tokens,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigThresholds struct {
+	Glossary   *float64 `yaml:"glossary,omitempty"`
+	Homophones *float64 `yaml:"homophones,omitempty"`
+	SpokenWord *float64 `yaml:"spoken_word,omitempty"`
+	Grammar    *float64 `yaml:"grammar,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigContext struct {
+	Description *string `yaml:"description,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type FileConfigDiagnostics struct {
+	WorkDir   *string `yaml:"work_dir,omitempty"`
+	Retention *string `yaml:"retention,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type fileConfigDurationOrInt struct {
+	seconds int
+}
+
+func (v *fileConfigDurationOrInt) UnmarshalYAML(node *yaml.Node) error {
+	switch node.Kind {
+	case yaml.ScalarNode:
+		if node.Tag == "!!int" {
+			var n int
+			if err := node.Decode(&n); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("must be an integer seconds value or duration string")
+			}
+			v.seconds = n
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		var s string
+		if err := node.Decode(&s); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("must be an integer seconds value or duration string")
+		}
+		d, err := time.ParseDuration(strings.TrimSpace(s))
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid duration %q", s)
+		}
+		if d <= 0 {
+			v.seconds = int(d / time.Second)
+			return nil
+		}
+		if d%time.Second != 0 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("duration %q must resolve to whole seconds", s)
+		}
+		v.seconds = int(d / time.Second)
+		return nil
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("must be an integer seconds value or duration string")
+	}
+}
+
+func (v fileConfigDurationOrInt) Seconds() int { return v.seconds }
+
+type fileConfigDurationOrFloat struct {
+	seconds float64
+}
+
+func (v *fileConfigDurationOrFloat) UnmarshalYAML(node *yaml.Node) error {
+	switch node.Kind {
+	case yaml.ScalarNode:
+		if node.Tag == "!!int" || node.Tag == "!!float" {
+			var f float64
+			if err := node.Decode(&f); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("must be a numeric seconds value or duration string")
+			}
+			v.seconds = f
+			return nil
+		}
+		var s string
+		if err := node.Decode(&s); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("must be a numeric seconds value or duration string")
+		}
+		d, err := time.ParseDuration(strings.TrimSpace(s))
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid duration %q", s)
+		}
+		v.seconds = d.Seconds()
+		return nil
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("must be a numeric seconds value or duration string")
+	}
+}
+
+func (v fileConfigDurationOrFloat) Seconds() float64 { return v.seconds }
+
+func LoadFileConfig(path string) (FileConfig, error) {
+	b, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("read config file %q: %w", path, err)
+	}
+	cfg, err := ParseFileConfigYAML(b)
+	if err != nil {
+		return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("parse config file %q: %w", path, err)
+	}
+	return cfg, nil
+}
+
+func ParseFileConfigYAML(data []byte) (FileConfig, error) {
+	var fileCfg FileConfig
+	dec := yaml.NewDecoder(strings.NewReader(string(data)))
+	dec.KnownFields(true)
+	if err := dec.Decode(&fileCfg); err != nil {
+		return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("decode yaml: %w", err)
+	}
+	if fileCfg.Version == 0 {
+		return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("config version is required")
+	}
+	if fileCfg.Version != SupportedFileConfigVersion {
+		return FileConfig{}, fmt.Errorf("unsupported config version %d", fileCfg.Version)
+	}
+	return fileCfg, nil
+}
+
+func (c *Config) ApplyFileConfig(fileCfg FileConfig) error {
+	return c.applyFileConfigWithLookup(fileCfg, os.LookupEnv)
+}
+
+func (c *Config) applyFileConfigWithLookup(fileCfg FileConfig, lookup func(string) (string, bool)) error {
+	if c == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("config must not be nil")
+	}
+	if fileCfg.Version != SupportedFileConfigVersion {
+		return fmt.Errorf("unsupported config version %d", fileCfg.Version)
+	}
+
+	if fileCfg.Pipeline != nil && len(fileCfg.Pipeline.Modules) > 0 {
+		c.Modules = append([]string(nil), fileCfg.Pipeline.Modules...)
+	}
+	if fileCfg.Output != nil && fileCfg.Output.Schema != nil {
+		c.OutputSchema = strings.TrimSpace(*fileCfg.Output.Schema)
+	}
+
+	if fileCfg.LLM != nil {
+		if fileCfg.LLM.Proposal != nil {
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.BaseURL != nil {
+				c.PrimaryLLM.BaseURL = *fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.BaseURL
+			}
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.Model != nil {
+				c.PrimaryLLM.Model = *fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.Model
+			}
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.Timeout != nil {
+				c.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds = fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.Timeout.Seconds()
+			}
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.MaxRetries != nil {
+				c.PrimaryLLM.MaxRetries = *fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.MaxRetries
+			}
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.APIKeyEnv != nil {
+				apiKey, err := resolveAPIKeyEnv(*fileCfg.LLM.Proposal.APIKeyEnv, lookup)
+				if err != nil {
+					return fmt.Errorf("llm.proposal.api_key_env: %w", err)
+				}
+				c.PrimaryLLM.APIKey = apiKey
+			}
+		}
+		if fileCfg.LLM.Validation != nil {
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Validation.BaseURL != nil {
+				c.ValidationLLM.BaseURL = *fileCfg.LLM.Validation.BaseURL
+			}
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Validation.Model != nil {
+				c.ValidationLLM.Model = *fileCfg.LLM.Validation.Model
+			}
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Validation.Timeout != nil {
+				v := fileCfg.LLM.Validation.Timeout.Seconds()
+				c.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds = &v
+			}
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Validation.MaxRetries != nil {
+				v := *fileCfg.LLM.Validation.MaxRetries
+				c.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries = &v
+			}
+			if fileCfg.LLM.Validation.APIKeyEnv != nil {
+				apiKey, err := resolveAPIKeyEnv(*fileCfg.LLM.Validation.APIKeyEnv, lookup)
+				if err != nil {
+					return fmt.Errorf("llm.validation.api_key_env: %w", err)
+				}
+				c.ValidationLLM.APIKey = apiKey
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	if fileCfg.Concurrency != nil {
+		if fileCfg.Concurrency.TotalLLM != nil {
+			c.TotalLLMConcurrency = *fileCfg.Concurrency.TotalLLM
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Concurrency.ProposalLLM != nil {
+			c.ProposalLLMConcurrency = *fileCfg.Concurrency.ProposalLLM
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Concurrency.ValidationLLM != nil {
+			v := *fileCfg.Concurrency.ValidationLLM
+			c.ValidationLLMConcurrency = &v
+		}
+	}
+
+	if fileCfg.Chunking != nil {
+		if fileCfg.Chunking.TargetSections != nil {
+			v := *fileCfg.Chunking.TargetSections
+			c.TargetSections = &v
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Chunking.MaxSectionTokens != nil {
+			c.MaxSectionTokens = *fileCfg.Chunking.MaxSectionTokens
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Chunking.MinSectionTokens != nil {
+			c.MinSectionTokens = *fileCfg.Chunking.MinSectionTokens
+		}
+	}
+
+	if fileCfg.Normalization != nil {
+		if fileCfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentGap != nil {
+			c.Normalization.MaxSegmentGap = fileCfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentGap.Seconds()
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Normalization.EllipsisGap != nil {
+			c.Normalization.EllipsisGap = fileCfg.Normalization.EllipsisGap.Seconds()
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentDuration != nil {
+			c.Normalization.MaxSegmentDuration = fileCfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentDuration.Seconds()
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentTokens != nil {
+			c.Normalization.MaxSegmentTokens = *fileCfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentTokens
+		}
+	}
+
+	if fileCfg.Thresholds != nil {
+		if fileCfg.Thresholds.Glossary != nil {
+			c.Thresholds.Glossary = *fileCfg.Thresholds.Glossary
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Thresholds.Homophones != nil {
+			c.Thresholds.Homophones = *fileCfg.Thresholds.Homophones
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Thresholds.SpokenWord != nil {
+			c.Thresholds.SpokenWord = *fileCfg.Thresholds.SpokenWord
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Thresholds.Grammar != nil {
+			c.Thresholds.Grammar = *fileCfg.Thresholds.Grammar
+		}
+	}
+
+	if fileCfg.Context != nil && fileCfg.Context.Description != nil {
+		c.TranscriptDescription = strings.TrimSpace(*fileCfg.Context.Description)
+	}
+
+	if fileCfg.Diagnostics != nil {
+		if fileCfg.Diagnostics.WorkDir != nil {
+			c.WorkDir = *fileCfg.Diagnostics.WorkDir
+		}
+		if fileCfg.Diagnostics.Retention != nil {
+			c.WorkDirRetention = WorkDirRetention(*fileCfg.Diagnostics.Retention)
+		}
+	}
+
+	c.syncLegacyConcurrencyAliases()
+	if err := c.Validate(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func resolveAPIKeyEnv(envName string, lookup func(string) (string, bool)) (string, error) {
+	name := strings.TrimSpace(envName)
+	if name == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("must not be empty")
+	}
+	if !envVarNamePattern.MatchString(name) {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("must be an environment variable name")
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(name, string(filepath.Separator)) {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("must be an environment variable name")
+	}
+	v, _ := lookup(name)
+	return v, nil
+}

internal/core/config/file_config_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,290 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestParseFileConfigYAMLValid(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `
+version: 1
+pipeline:
+  modules: [glossary, homophones, grammar]
+output:
+  schema: audita-v1
+llm:
+  proposal:
+    base_url: https://example.test/v1
+    model: provider/model-a
+    api_key_env: AUDITA_PROPOSAL_KEY
+    timeout: 2m
+    max_retries: 4
+  validation:
+    base_url: https://example.test/validation
+    model: provider/model-b
+    api_key_env: AUDITA_VALIDATION_KEY
+    timeout: 45
+    max_retries: 3
+concurrency:
+  total_llm: 8
+  proposal_llm: 4
+  validation_llm: 2
+chunking:
+  target_sections: 6
+  max_section_tokens: 9000
+  min_section_tokens: 3000
+normalization:
+  max_segment_gap: 1.5s
+  ellipsis_gap: 2
+  max_segment_duration: 45s
+  max_segment_tokens: 1500
+thresholds:
+  glossary: 0.9
+  homophones: 0.7
+  spoken_word: 0.8
+  grammar: 0.75
+context:
+  description: "  crowd scene with many proper nouns  "
+diagnostics:
+  work_dir: /tmp/audita-config
+  retention: always
+`
+	cfg, err := ParseFileConfigYAML([]byte(raw))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ParseFileConfigYAML error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if cfg.Version != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected version 1, got %d", cfg.Version)
+	}
+	if cfg.Pipeline == nil || len(cfg.Pipeline.Modules) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected pipeline modules: %#v", cfg.Pipeline)
+	}
+	if cfg.Output == nil || cfg.Output.Schema == nil || *cfg.Output.Schema != "audita-v1" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected output schema audita-v1, got %#v", cfg.Output)
+	}
+	if cfg.LLM == nil || cfg.LLM.Proposal == nil || cfg.LLM.Validation == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected llm proposal+validation blocks")
+	}
+	if cfg.LLM.Proposal.Timeout == nil || cfg.LLM.Proposal.Timeout.Seconds() != 120 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected proposal timeout 120s, got %#v", cfg.LLM.Proposal.Timeout)
+	}
+	if cfg.LLM.Validation.Timeout == nil || cfg.LLM.Validation.Timeout.Seconds() != 45 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation timeout 45s, got %#v", cfg.LLM.Validation.Timeout)
+	}
+	if cfg.Normalization == nil || cfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentGap == nil || cfg.Normalization.MaxSegmentGap.Seconds() != 1.5 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected parsed duration for normalization max_segment_gap")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseFileConfigYAMLRejectsUnknownField(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `
+version: 1
+pipeline:
+  modules: [grammar]
+output:
+  unknown: v1
+`
+	_, err := ParseFileConfigYAML([]byte(raw))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected unknown field error")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "field unknown not found") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseFileConfigYAMLRejectsMissingVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `pipeline: {modules: [grammar]}`
+	_, err := ParseFileConfigYAML([]byte(raw))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected missing version error")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "config version is required") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseFileConfigYAMLRejectsUnsupportedVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `version: 2`
+	_, err := ParseFileConfigYAML([]byte(raw))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected unsupported version error")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unsupported config version 2") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyFileConfigParsesAndMergesFields(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `
+version: 1
+pipeline:
+  modules: [spoken_word, grammar]
+output:
+  schema: audita-v1
+llm:
+  proposal:
+    model: provider/new-proposal
+    api_key_env: PROPOSAL_KEY_NAME
+    timeout: 90s
+    max_retries: 5
+  validation:
+    model: provider/new-validation
+    api_key_env: VALIDATION_KEY_NAME
+    timeout: 150
+    max_retries: 6
+concurrency:
+  total_llm: 7
+  proposal_llm: 3
+  validation_llm: 2
+chunking:
+  target_sections: 9
+thresholds:
+  glossary: 0.91
+  homophones: 0.61
+  spoken_word: 0.71
+  grammar: 0.81
+diagnostics:
+  retention: never
+`
+	fileCfg, err := ParseFileConfigYAML([]byte(raw))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ParseFileConfigYAML error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	cfg := Default()
+	lookup := func(name string) (string, bool) {
+		switch name {
+		case "PROPOSAL_KEY_NAME":
+			return "proposal-secret", true
+		case "VALIDATION_KEY_NAME":
+			return "validation-secret", true
+		default:
+			return "", false
+		}
+	}
+
+	if err := cfg.applyFileConfigWithLookup(fileCfg, lookup); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("applyFileConfigWithLookup error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if strings.Join(cfg.Modules, ",") != "spoken_word,grammar" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected modules: %#v", cfg.Modules)
+	}
+	if cfg.OutputSchema != "audita-v1" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected output schema: %q", cfg.OutputSchema)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model != "provider/new-proposal" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected proposal model: %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.Model)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey != "proposal-secret" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected proposal key from api_key_env lookup, got %q", cfg.PrimaryLLM.APIKey)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds != 90 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected proposal timeout: %d", cfg.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLM.Model != "provider/new-validation" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected validation model: %q", cfg.ValidationLLM.Model)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLM.APIKey != "validation-secret" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation key from api_key_env lookup, got %q", cfg.ValidationLLM.APIKey)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds == nil || *cfg.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds != 150 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected validation timeout: %#v", cfg.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds)
+	}
+	if cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency != 7 || cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected llm concurrency values: total=%d proposal=%d", cfg.TotalLLMConcurrency, cfg.ProposalLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency == nil || *cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected validation llm concurrency: %#v", cfg.ValidationLLMConcurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.TargetSections == nil || *cfg.TargetSections != 9 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected target sections: %#v", cfg.TargetSections)
+	}
+	if cfg.WorkDirRetention != WorkDirRetentionNever {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected retention: %q", cfg.WorkDirRetention)
+	}
+	if cfg.PrimaryLLM.Concurrency != 7 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected legacy alias to sync, got %d", cfg.PrimaryLLM.Concurrency)
+	}
+	if cfg.ValidationLLM.Concurrency == nil || *cfg.ValidationLLM.Concurrency != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected validation alias to sync, got %#v", cfg.ValidationLLM.Concurrency)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyFileConfigContextDescriptionTrim(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `
+version: 1
+context:
+  description: "  scene context  "
+`
+	fileCfg, err := ParseFileConfigYAML([]byte(raw))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ParseFileConfigYAML error: %v", err)
+	}
+	cfg := Default()
+	if err := cfg.applyFileConfigWithLookup(fileCfg, mapLookup(map[string]string{})); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("applyFileConfigWithLookup error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if cfg.TranscriptDescription != "scene context" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected transcript description: %q", cfg.TranscriptDescription)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyFileConfigRejectsInvalidAPIKeyEnvName(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `
+version: 1
+llm:
+  proposal:
+    api_key_env: "not a var name"
+`
+	fileCfg, err := ParseFileConfigYAML([]byte(raw))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ParseFileConfigYAML error: %v", err)
+	}
+	cfg := Default()
+	err = cfg.applyFileConfigWithLookup(fileCfg, mapLookup(map[string]string{}))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected api_key_env validation error")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "environment variable name") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseFileConfigDurationParsingErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `
+version: 1
+llm:
+  proposal:
+    timeout: "1.5s"
+`
+	_, err := ParseFileConfigYAML([]byte(raw))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected duration parse error")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "whole seconds") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLoadFileConfigReadsFromPath(t *testing.T) {
+	p := writeTempFileConfig(t, "version: 1\n")
+	cfg, err := LoadFileConfig(p)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("LoadFileConfig error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if cfg.Version != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected version 1, got %d", cfg.Version)
+	}
+}
+
+func writeTempFileConfig(t *testing.T, contents string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	path := dir + "/config.yaml"
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte(contents), 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write config file: %v", err)
+	}
+	return path
+}

internal/core/config/flags.go

@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type CLIOverrides struct {
+	ModulesCSV                    *string
+	OutputSchema                  *string
+	PrimaryLLMAPIKey              *string
+	ValidationLLMAPIKey           *string
+	PrimaryModel                  *string
+	ValidationModel               *string
+	PrimaryBaseURL                *string
+	ValidationBaseURL             *string
+	PrimaryLLMTimeoutSeconds      *int
+	TotalLLMConcurrency           *int
+	ProposalLLMConcurrency        *int
+	PrimaryLLMConcurrency         *int
+	ValidationLLMTimeoutSeconds   *int
+	MaxRetries                    *int
+	ValidationMaxRetries          *int
+	ValidationLLMConcurrency      *int
+	ValidationMaxPromptTokens     *int
+	MaxSectionTokens              *int
+	MinSectionTokens              *int
+	TargetSections                *int
+	GlossaryConfidenceThreshold   *float64
+	GrammarConfidenceThreshold    *float64
+	HomophonesConfidenceThreshold *float64
+	SpokenWordConfidenceThreshold *float64
+	NormalizeMaxSegmentGap        *float64
+	NormalizeEllipsisGap          *float64
+	NormalizeMaxSegmentDuration   *float64
+	NormalizeMaxSegmentTokens     *int
+	TranscriptDescription         *string
+	WorkDir                       *string
+	WorkDirRetention              *string
+}
+
+func (c *Config) ApplyCLIOverrides(overrides CLIOverrides) error {
+	if overrides.ModulesCSV != nil {
+		modules, err := ParseModulesCSV(*overrides.ModulesCSV)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("--modules: %w", err)
+		}
+		c.Modules = modules
+	}
+	if overrides.OutputSchema != nil {
+		c.OutputSchema = strings.TrimSpace(*overrides.OutputSchema)
+	}
+
+	if overrides.PrimaryLLMAPIKey != nil {
+		c.PrimaryLLM.APIKey = *overrides.PrimaryLLMAPIKey
+	}
+	if overrides.ValidationLLMAPIKey != nil {
+		c.ValidationLLM.APIKey = *overrides.ValidationLLMAPIKey
+	}
+	if overrides.PrimaryModel != nil {
+		c.PrimaryLLM.Model = *overrides.PrimaryModel
+	}
+	if overrides.ValidationModel != nil {
+		c.ValidationLLM.Model = *overrides.ValidationModel
+	}
+	if overrides.PrimaryBaseURL != nil {
+		c.PrimaryLLM.BaseURL = *overrides.PrimaryBaseURL
+	}
+	if overrides.ValidationBaseURL != nil {
+		c.ValidationLLM.BaseURL = *overrides.ValidationBaseURL
+	}
+	if overrides.PrimaryLLMTimeoutSeconds != nil {
+		c.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds = *overrides.PrimaryLLMTimeoutSeconds
+	}
+	totalConcurrencySet := false
+	if overrides.TotalLLMConcurrency != nil {
+		c.TotalLLMConcurrency = *overrides.TotalLLMConcurrency
+		totalConcurrencySet = true
+	}
+	// Backward-compatible alias: --llm-concurrency maps to total concurrency
+	// only when --total-llm-concurrency is not set in the same CLI invocation.
+	if overrides.PrimaryLLMConcurrency != nil && !totalConcurrencySet {
+		c.TotalLLMConcurrency = *overrides.PrimaryLLMConcurrency
+		totalConcurrencySet = true
+	}
+	proposalConcurrencySet := false
+	if overrides.ProposalLLMConcurrency != nil {
+		c.ProposalLLMConcurrency = *overrides.ProposalLLMConcurrency
+		proposalConcurrencySet = true
+	}
+	if totalConcurrencySet && !proposalConcurrencySet {
+		c.ProposalLLMConcurrency = c.TotalLLMConcurrency
+	}
+	if overrides.ValidationLLMTimeoutSeconds != nil {
+		value := *overrides.ValidationLLMTimeoutSeconds
+		c.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds = &value
+	}
+	if overrides.MaxRetries != nil {
+		c.PrimaryLLM.MaxRetries = *overrides.MaxRetries
+	}
+	if overrides.ValidationMaxRetries != nil {
+		value := *overrides.ValidationMaxRetries
+		c.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries = &value
+	}
+	if overrides.ValidationLLMConcurrency != nil {
+		value := *overrides.ValidationLLMConcurrency
+		c.ValidationLLMConcurrency = &value
+	}
+	if overrides.ValidationMaxPromptTokens != nil {
+		c.ValidationMaxPromptTokens = *overrides.ValidationMaxPromptTokens
+	}
+	if overrides.MaxSectionTokens != nil {
+		c.MaxSectionTokens = *overrides.MaxSectionTokens
+	}
+	if overrides.MinSectionTokens != nil {
+		c.MinSectionTokens = *overrides.MinSectionTokens
+	}
+	if overrides.TargetSections != nil {
+		value := *overrides.TargetSections
+		c.TargetSections = &value
+	}
+	if overrides.GlossaryConfidenceThreshold != nil {
+		c.Thresholds.Glossary = *overrides.GlossaryConfidenceThreshold
+	}
+	if overrides.GrammarConfidenceThreshold != nil {
+		c.Thresholds.Grammar = *overrides.GrammarConfidenceThreshold
+	}
+	if overrides.HomophonesConfidenceThreshold != nil {
+		c.Thresholds.Homophones = *overrides.HomophonesConfidenceThreshold
+	}
+	if overrides.SpokenWordConfidenceThreshold != nil {
+		c.Thresholds.SpokenWord = *overrides.SpokenWordConfidenceThreshold
+	}
+	if overrides.NormalizeMaxSegmentGap != nil {
+		c.Normalization.MaxSegmentGap = *overrides.NormalizeMaxSegmentGap
+	}
+	if overrides.NormalizeEllipsisGap != nil {
+		c.Normalization.EllipsisGap = *overrides.NormalizeEllipsisGap
+	}
+	if overrides.NormalizeMaxSegmentDuration != nil {
+		c.Normalization.MaxSegmentDuration = *overrides.NormalizeMaxSegmentDuration
+	}
+	if overrides.NormalizeMaxSegmentTokens != nil {
+		c.Normalization.MaxSegmentTokens = *overrides.NormalizeMaxSegmentTokens
+	}
+	if overrides.TranscriptDescription != nil {
+		c.TranscriptDescription = strings.TrimSpace(*overrides.TranscriptDescription)
+	}
+	if overrides.WorkDir != nil {
+		c.WorkDir = *overrides.WorkDir
+	}
+	if overrides.WorkDirRetention != nil {
+		c.WorkDirRetention = WorkDirRetention(*overrides.WorkDirRetention)
+	}
+
+	c.syncLegacyConcurrencyAliases()
+
+	return c.Validate()
+}

internal/core/config/redaction.go

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package config
+
+const redactedSecret = "[REDACTED]"
+
+func (c Config) Redacted() Config {
+	redacted := c
+	redacted.PrimaryLLM.APIKey = redactSecret(redacted.PrimaryLLM.APIKey)
+	redacted.ValidationLLM.APIKey = redactSecret(redacted.ValidationLLM.APIKey)
+	return redacted
+}
+
+func redactSecret(value string) string {
+	if value == "" {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return redactedSecret
+}

internal/core/config/validation.go

@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+func (c Config) Validate() error {
+	var issues []string
+
+	if len(c.Modules) == 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "modules must not be empty")
+	}
+	for _, module := range c.Modules {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(module) == "" {
+			issues = append(issues, "modules must not contain empty values")
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if strings.TrimSpace(c.OutputSchema) == "" {
+		issues = append(issues, "output schema must not be empty")
+	} else {
+		switch strings.TrimSpace(c.OutputSchema) {
+		case "bare-segments", "audita-v1":
+		default:
+			issues = append(issues, fmt.Sprintf("unsupported output schema %q", c.OutputSchema))
+		}
+	}
+
+	if c.PrimaryLLM.TimeoutSeconds <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "primary llm timeout seconds must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.PrimaryLLM.MaxRetries < 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "max retries must be zero or greater")
+	}
+	if c.TotalLLMConcurrency <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "total llm concurrency must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.ProposalLLMConcurrency <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "proposal llm concurrency must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.ProposalLLMConcurrency > c.TotalLLMConcurrency {
+		issues = append(issues, "proposal llm concurrency must be less than or equal to total llm concurrency")
+	}
+
+	if c.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds != nil && *c.ValidationLLM.TimeoutSeconds <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "validation llm timeout seconds must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries != nil && *c.ValidationLLM.MaxRetries < 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "validation max retries must be zero or greater")
+	}
+	if c.ValidationLLMConcurrency != nil && *c.ValidationLLMConcurrency <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "validation llm concurrency must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.ValidationLLMConcurrency != nil && *c.ValidationLLMConcurrency > c.TotalLLMConcurrency {
+		issues = append(issues, "validation llm concurrency must be less than or equal to total llm concurrency")
+	}
+
+	if c.ValidationMaxPromptTokens <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "validation max prompt tokens must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.MaxSectionTokens <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "max section tokens must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.MinSectionTokens <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "min section tokens must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.MinSectionTokens > c.MaxSectionTokens {
+		issues = append(issues, "min section tokens must be less than or equal to max section tokens")
+	}
+	if c.TargetSections != nil && *c.TargetSections <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "target sections must be greater than zero when set")
+	}
+
+	if err := validateConfidence("glossary", c.Thresholds.Glossary); err != nil {
+		issues = append(issues, err.Error())
+	}
+	if err := validateConfidence("grammar", c.Thresholds.Grammar); err != nil {
+		issues = append(issues, err.Error())
+	}
+	if err := validateConfidence("homophones", c.Thresholds.Homophones); err != nil {
+		issues = append(issues, err.Error())
+	}
+	if err := validateConfidence("spoken-word", c.Thresholds.SpokenWord); err != nil {
+		issues = append(issues, err.Error())
+	}
+
+	if c.Normalization.MaxSegmentGap < 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "normalize max segment gap must be zero or greater")
+	}
+	if c.Normalization.EllipsisGap < 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "normalize ellipsis gap must be zero or greater")
+	}
+	if c.Normalization.MaxSegmentDuration <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "normalize max segment duration must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if c.Normalization.MaxSegmentTokens <= 0 {
+		issues = append(issues, "normalize max segment tokens must be greater than zero")
+	}
+	if len(strings.TrimSpace(c.TranscriptDescription)) > DefaultTranscriptDescriptionMaxChars {
+		issues = append(issues, fmt.Sprintf("transcript description must be %d characters or fewer", DefaultTranscriptDescriptionMaxChars))
+	}
+
+	if strings.TrimSpace(c.WorkDir) == "" {
+		issues = append(issues, "work dir must not be empty")
+	}
+
+	if err := validateRetention(c.WorkDirRetention); err != nil {
+		issues = append(issues, err.Error())
+	}
+
+	if len(issues) > 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid config: %s", strings.Join(issues, "; "))
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func validateConfidence(name string, threshold float64) error {
+	if threshold < 0.0 || threshold > 1.0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s confidence threshold must be between 0.0 and 1.0", name)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func validateRetention(retention WorkDirRetention) error {
+	switch retention {
+	case WorkDirRetentionAuto, WorkDirRetentionAlways, WorkDirRetentionNever:
+		return nil
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("work dir retention must be one of: auto, always, never")
+	}
+}

internal/core/diagnostics/retention_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+package diagnostics
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestShouldRetainRunDirectoryMatrix(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name  string
+		input RetentionDecisionInput
+		want  bool
+	}{
+		{name: "always success keeps", input: RetentionDecisionInput{RetentionMode: "always", RunSucceeded: true}, want: true},
+		{name: "always failure keeps", input: RetentionDecisionInput{RetentionMode: "always", RunSucceeded: false}, want: true},
+		{name: "never success keeps", input: RetentionDecisionInput{RetentionMode: "never", RunSucceeded: true}, want: true},
+		{name: "never failure keeps", input: RetentionDecisionInput{RetentionMode: "never", RunSucceeded: false}, want: true},
+		{name: "auto success no skips removes", input: RetentionDecisionInput{RetentionMode: "auto", RunSucceeded: true, HasSkippedCorrections: false}, want: false},
+		{name: "auto success skips keeps", input: RetentionDecisionInput{RetentionMode: "auto", RunSucceeded: true, HasSkippedCorrections: true}, want: true},
+		{name: "auto failure keeps", input: RetentionDecisionInput{RetentionMode: "auto", RunSucceeded: false}, want: true},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := ShouldRetainRunDirectory(tc.input)
+			if got != tc.want {
+				t.Fatalf("unexpected retain decision: got=%v want=%v", got, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyRetentionRemovesWhenDecisionSaysRemove(t *testing.T) {
+	workDir := t.TempDir()
+	runPath := filepath.Join(workDir, "run-test")
+	if err := os.Mkdir(runPath, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("mkdir run path: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	runDir := &RunDirectory{path: runPath, retention: "auto"}
+	err := runDir.ApplyRetention(RetentionDecisionInput{RunSucceeded: true, HasSkippedCorrections: false})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ApplyRetention failed: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if _, err := os.Stat(runPath); !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected run directory removed, stat err=%v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestApplyRetentionReturnsRemovalError(t *testing.T) {
+	parent := t.TempDir()
+	runPath := filepath.Join(parent, "run-test")
+	if err := os.Mkdir(runPath, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("mkdir run path: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Make parent non-writable so removing child fails.
+	if err := os.Chmod(parent, 0o500); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("chmod parent: %v", err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		_ = os.Chmod(parent, 0o700)
+	})
+
+	runDir := &RunDirectory{path: runPath, retention: "auto"}
+	err := runDir.ApplyRetention(RetentionDecisionInput{RunSucceeded: true, HasSkippedCorrections: false})
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected removal error, got nil")
+	}
+}

internal/core/diagnostics/run_dir.go

@@ -0,0 +1,242 @@
+package diagnostics
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"time"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/chunking"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/config"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/normalization"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/reporting"
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/schema"
+)
+
+// RunDirectory represents a per-run diagnostics directory
+type RunDirectory struct {
+	path      string
+	retention string
+	createdAt time.Time
+}
+
+type RetentionDecisionInput struct {
+	RetentionMode         string
+	RunSucceeded          bool
+	HasSkippedCorrections bool
+}
+
+func ShouldRetainRunDirectory(input RetentionDecisionInput) bool {
+	// Failed runs are always retained.
+	if !input.RunSucceeded {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	switch input.RetentionMode {
+	case "always":
+		return true
+	case "never":
+		return true
+	case "auto":
+		return input.HasSkippedCorrections
+	default:
+		// Be conservative for unknown values.
+		return true
+	}
+}
+
+// InvocationMetadata captures non-secret invocation details for diagnostics.
+type InvocationMetadata struct {
+	Operation             string    `json:"operation"`
+	TranscriptPath        string    `json:"transcript_path"`
+	GlossaryPath          string    `json:"glossary_path"`
+	OutputPath            string    `json:"output_path,omitempty"`
+	ReportJSONPath        string    `json:"report_json_path,omitempty"`
+	ConfigPath            string    `json:"config_path,omitempty"`
+	ConfigSource          string    `json:"config_source,omitempty"`
+	ConfigVersion         *int      `json:"config_version,omitempty"`
+	TranscriptDescription string    `json:"transcript_description,omitempty"`
+	Modules               []string  `json:"modules"`
+	RunID                 string    `json:"run_id"`
+	StartedAt             time.Time `json:"started_at"`
+}
+
+// NewRunDirectory creates a new run directory under the configured work dir
+func NewRunDirectory(workDir, retention string) (*RunDirectory, error) {
+	if workDir == "" {
+		workDir = ".audita-runs"
+	}
+
+	// Create work directory if it doesn't exist
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(workDir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create work directory %q: %w", workDir, err)
+	}
+
+	// Create a unique run directory identifier.
+	runID := fmt.Sprintf("run-%d", time.Now().UTC().UnixNano())
+	runPath := filepath.Join(workDir, runID)
+
+	if err := os.Mkdir(runPath, 0o755); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create run directory %q: %w", runPath, err)
+	}
+
+	return &RunDirectory{
+		path:      runPath,
+		retention: retention,
+		createdAt: time.Now().UTC(),
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// Path returns the run directory path
+func (r *RunDirectory) Path() string {
+	return r.path
+}
+
+func (r *RunDirectory) runID() string {
+	return filepath.Base(r.path)
+}
+
+// WriteInvocationMetadata writes invocation metadata for this run.
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteInvocationMetadata(metadata InvocationMetadata) error {
+	if metadata.RunID == "" {
+		metadata.RunID = r.runID()
+	}
+	if metadata.StartedAt.IsZero() {
+		metadata.StartedAt = r.createdAt
+	}
+
+	path := filepath.Join(r.path, "invocation.json")
+	bytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(metadata, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal invocation metadata: %w", err)
+	}
+	bytes = append(bytes, '\n')
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, bytes, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write invocation metadata: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// WriteEffectiveConfig writes redacted effective config metadata for this run.
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteEffectiveConfig(cfg config.Config) error {
+	path := filepath.Join(r.path, "effective-config.json")
+	redacted := cfg.Redacted()
+	bytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(redacted, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal effective config: %w", err)
+	}
+	bytes = append(bytes, '\n')
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, bytes, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write effective config: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// WriteSourceTranscript writes the source transcript artifact
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteSourceTranscript(transcript *schema.SourceTranscript, raw []byte) error {
+	// Write raw source for reference
+	sourcePath := filepath.Join(r.path, "source-transcript.json")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(sourcePath, raw, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write source transcript: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// Write parsed source for debugging
+	parsedPath := filepath.Join(r.path, "source-transcript-parsed.json")
+	parsedBytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(transcript, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal parsed source transcript: %w", err)
+	}
+	parsedBytes = append(parsedBytes, '\n')
+	if err := os.WriteFile(parsedPath, parsedBytes, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write parsed source transcript: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+// WriteNormalizedTranscript writes the normalized transcript artifact
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteNormalizedTranscript(transcript *schema.Transcript) error {
+	normalizedPath := filepath.Join(r.path, "normalized-transcript.json")
+	bytes, err := schema.TranscriptToJSON(transcript)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to serialize normalized transcript: %w", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(normalizedPath, bytes, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write normalized transcript: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// WriteNormalizationSummary writes the normalization summary artifact
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteNormalizationSummary(summary *normalization.NormalizationSummary) error {
+	summaryPath := filepath.Join(r.path, "normalization-summary.json")
+	bytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(summary, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal normalization summary: %w", err)
+	}
+	bytes = append(bytes, '\n')
+	if err := os.WriteFile(summaryPath, bytes, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write normalization summary: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// WriteReport writes the authoritative report artifact
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteReport(report reporting.ProcessReport) error {
+	reportPath := filepath.Join(r.path, "report.json")
+	bytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(report, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal report: %w", err)
+	}
+	bytes = append(bytes, '\n')
+	if err := os.WriteFile(reportPath, bytes, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write report: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// WriteErrorLog writes an error log on failure
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteErrorLog(errorMessage string) error {
+	errorPath := filepath.Join(r.path, "error.log")
+	return os.WriteFile(errorPath, []byte(errorMessage+"\n"), 0o644)
+}
+
+// WriteChunkingSummary writes the chunking summary artifact
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteChunkingSummary(summary *chunking.DetailedSummary) error {
+	summaryPath := filepath.Join(r.path, "chunking-summary.json")
+	bytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(summary, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal chunking summary: %w", err)
+	}
+	bytes = append(bytes, '\n')
+	if err := os.WriteFile(summaryPath, bytes, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write chunking summary: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (r *RunDirectory) WriteJSONArtifact(name string, payload any) error {
+	artifactPath := filepath.Join(r.path, name)
+	bytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(payload, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal %s: %w", name, err)
+	}
+	bytes = append(bytes, '\n')
+	if err := os.WriteFile(artifactPath, bytes, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write %s: %w", name, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (r *RunDirectory) ApplyRetention(input RetentionDecisionInput) error {
+	decision := input
+	if decision.RetentionMode == "" {
+		decision.RetentionMode = r.retention
+	}
+
+	if ShouldRetainRunDirectory(decision) {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return os.RemoveAll(r.path)
+}

internal/core/io/files.go

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+package io
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+)
+
+func ReadRequiredFile(path string, label string) ([]byte, error) {
+	contents, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read %s file %q: %w", label, path, err)
+	}
+	return contents, nil
+}
+
+func ValidateWellFormedJSON(path string, raw []byte) error {
+	if !json.Valid(raw) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("transcript file %q is not valid JSON", path)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func WriteFile(path string, contents []byte) error {
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, contents, 0o644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write output file %q: %w", path, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}

internal/core/normalization/normalize.go

@@ -0,0 +1,206 @@
+package normalization
+
+import (
+	"sort"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/schema"
+)
+
+// NormalizationConfig holds configuration parameters for transcript normalization
+type NormalizationConfig struct {
+	MaxSegmentGap      float64 // Maximum gap between segments to consider for merging (seconds)
+	EllipsisGap        float64 // Gap threshold above which to insert ellipsis (seconds)
+	MaxSegmentDuration float64 // Maximum duration for a merged segment (seconds)
+	MaxSegmentTokens   int     // Maximum token estimate for a merged segment
+}
+
+// NormalizationSummary records the results and statistics of normalization
+type NormalizationSummary struct {
+	InputSegmentCount  int `json:"input_segment_count"`
+	OutputSegmentCount int `json:"output_segment_count"`
+	MergesPerformed    int `json:"merges_performed"`
+	IDsReassigned      int `json:"ids_reassigned"`
+	SkippedMerges      struct {
+		DifferentSpeakers  int `json:"different_speakers"`
+		GapTooLarge        int `json:"gap_too_large"`
+		DurationExceeded   int `json:"duration_exceeded"`
+		TokenLimitExceeded int `json:"token_limit_exceeded"`
+	} `json:"skipped_merges"`
+}
+
+// NormalizeTranscript performs deterministic normalization on a transcript
+type NormalizeTranscript struct {
+	config    NormalizationConfig
+	estimator *SimpleTokenEstimator
+}
+
+// NewNormalizer creates a new transcript normalizer with the given configuration
+func NewNormalizer(config NormalizationConfig) *NormalizeTranscript {
+	return &NormalizeTranscript{
+		config:    config,
+		estimator: &SimpleTokenEstimator{},
+	}
+}
+
+// Normalize performs deterministic normalization on the given transcript
+func (n *NormalizeTranscript) Normalize(transcript *schema.Transcript) (*schema.Transcript, *NormalizationSummary) {
+	summary := &NormalizationSummary{
+		InputSegmentCount: len(transcript.Segments),
+	}
+
+	if len(transcript.Segments) == 0 {
+		return transcript, summary
+	}
+
+	// Sort segments chronologically
+	sortedSegments := make([]schema.Segment, len(transcript.Segments))
+	copy(sortedSegments, transcript.Segments)
+	sort.Slice(sortedSegments, func(i, j int) bool {
+		return sortedSegments[i].Start < sortedSegments[j].Start
+	})
+
+	// Merge same-speaker adjacent segments
+	var normalizedSegments []schema.Segment
+	var currentSegment schema.Segment
+
+	for i, segment := range sortedSegments {
+		if i == 0 {
+			// Initialize with first segment
+			currentSegment = segment
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Check if we should merge with current segment
+		gap := segment.Start - currentSegment.End
+		merge, reason := shouldMergeWithReason(n.config, n.estimator, &currentSegment, &segment, gap)
+		if merge {
+			summary.MergesPerformed++
+			currentSegment = mergeSegments(&currentSegment, &segment, gap, n.config.EllipsisGap)
+		} else {
+			// Track the reason for not merging
+			switch reason {
+			case "different_speakers":
+				summary.SkippedMerges.DifferentSpeakers++
+			case "gap_too_large":
+				summary.SkippedMerges.GapTooLarge++
+			case "duration_exceeded":
+				summary.SkippedMerges.DurationExceeded++
+			case "token_limit_exceeded":
+				summary.SkippedMerges.TokenLimitExceeded++
+			}
+			// Finalize current segment and start new one
+			normalizedSegments = append(normalizedSegments, currentSegment)
+			currentSegment = segment
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Add the last segment
+	if len(currentSegment.Text) > 0 {
+		normalizedSegments = append(normalizedSegments, currentSegment)
+	}
+
+	// Reassign sequential IDs starting at 1
+	for i, segment := range normalizedSegments {
+		if segment.ID != i+1 {
+			summary.IDsReassigned++
+		}
+		normalizedSegments[i].ID = i + 1
+	}
+
+	summary.OutputSegmentCount = len(normalizedSegments)
+
+	return &schema.Transcript{Segments: normalizedSegments}, summary
+}
+
+func shouldMerge(config NormalizationConfig, estimator *SimpleTokenEstimator,
+	current, next *schema.Segment, gap float64) bool {
+
+	// Don't merge if different speakers
+	if current.Speaker != next.Speaker {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// Don't merge if gap is too large
+	if gap > config.MaxSegmentGap {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// Calculate what the merged segment would look like
+	mergedText := current.Text
+	if gap >= config.EllipsisGap {
+		mergedText += "... "
+	} else {
+		mergedText += " "
+	}
+	mergedText += next.Text
+
+	mergedDuration := next.End - current.Start
+
+	// Don't merge if duration would be exceeded
+	if mergedDuration > config.MaxSegmentDuration {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// Don't merge if token estimate would be exceeded
+	tokenEstimate := estimator.EstimateTokens(mergedText)
+	if tokenEstimate > config.MaxSegmentTokens {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	return true
+}
+
+func shouldMergeWithReason(config NormalizationConfig, estimator *SimpleTokenEstimator,
+	current, next *schema.Segment, gap float64) (bool, string) {
+
+	if current.Speaker != next.Speaker {
+		return false, "different_speakers"
+	}
+	if gap > config.MaxSegmentGap {
+		return false, "gap_too_large"
+	}
+
+	mergedText := current.Text
+	if gap >= config.EllipsisGap {
+		mergedText += "... "
+	} else {
+		mergedText += " "
+	}
+	mergedText += next.Text
+
+	mergedDuration := next.End - current.Start
+	if mergedDuration > config.MaxSegmentDuration {
+		return false, "duration_exceeded"
+	}
+
+	tokenEstimate := estimator.EstimateTokens(mergedText)
+	if tokenEstimate > config.MaxSegmentTokens {
+		return false, "token_limit_exceeded"
+	}
+
+	return true, ""
+}
+
+func mergeSegments(current, next *schema.Segment, gap, ellipsisGap float64) schema.Segment {
+	mergedText := current.Text
+	if gap >= ellipsisGap {
+		mergedText += "... "
+	} else {
+		mergedText += " "
+	}
+	mergedText += next.Text
+
+	// Merge categories
+	categories := make([]string, 0, len(current.Categories)+len(next.Categories))
+	categories = append(categories, current.Categories...)
+	categories = append(categories, next.Categories...)
+
+	return schema.Segment{
+		ID:         current.ID, // Will be reassigned later
+		Speaker:    current.Speaker,
+		Start:      current.Start,
+		End:        next.End,
+		Text:       mergedText,
+		Categories: categories,
+	}
+}

internal/core/normalization/normalize_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,684 @@
+package normalization
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/audita/internal/core/schema"
+)
+
+func TestNormalizationNoOp(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 1, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 1.0, Text: "Hello"},
+			{ID: 2, Speaker: "Bob", Start: 2.0, End: 3.0, Text: "Hi"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, summary := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should be no-op since different speakers
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 2 segments, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if summary.InputSegmentCount != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected input count 2, got %d", summary.InputSegmentCount)
+	}
+	if summary.OutputSegmentCount != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected output count 2, got %d", summary.OutputSegmentCount)
+	}
+	if summary.MergesPerformed != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 0 merges, got %d", summary.MergesPerformed)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationSameSpeakerMergeWithinGap(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 1, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 1.0, Text: "Hello"},
+			{ID: 2, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 1.5, End: 2.5, Text: "world"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, summary := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should merge since same speaker and small gap
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 1 merged segment, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if summary.MergesPerformed != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 1 merge, got %d", summary.MergesPerformed)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(normalized.Segments[0].Text, "Hello") || !strings.Contains(normalized.Segments[0].Text, "world") {
+		t.Errorf("expected merged text to contain both parts, got %q", normalized.Segments[0].Text)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationEllipsisInsertionAboveThreshold(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        0.5,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 1, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 1.0, Text: "Hello"},
+			{ID: 2, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 2.0, End: 3.0, Text: "world"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should merge with ellipsis since gap (1.0) > ellipsis threshold (0.5)
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 1 merged segment, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(normalized.Segments[0].Text, "...") {
+		t.Errorf("expected ellipsis in merged text, got %q", normalized.Segments[0].Text)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationNoMergeDifferentSpeakers(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 1, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 1.0, Text: "Hello"},
+			{ID: 2, Speaker: "Bob", Start: 1.5, End: 2.5, Text: "Hi"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, summary := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should NOT merge since different speakers
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 2 segments, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if summary.SkippedMerges.DifferentSpeakers != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 1 skipped merge for different speakers, got %d", summary.SkippedMerges.DifferentSpeakers)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationNoMergeWhenMaxDurationExceeded(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 1.0, // Very small max duration
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 1, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 0.5, Text: "Hello"},
+			{ID: 2, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.6, End: 1.5, Text: "world"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, summary := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should NOT merge since merged duration (1.5) > max duration (1.0)
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 2 segments, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if summary.SkippedMerges.DurationExceeded != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 1 skipped merge for duration exceeded, got %d", summary.SkippedMerges.DurationExceeded)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationNoMergeWhenTokenLimitExceeded(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   1, // Very small token limit
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 1, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 1.0, Text: "Hello"},
+			{ID: 2, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 1.5, End: 2.5, Text: "world"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, summary := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should NOT merge since merged token count would exceed limit
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 2 segments, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if summary.SkippedMerges.TokenLimitExceeded != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 1 skipped merge for token limit exceeded, got %d", summary.SkippedMerges.TokenLimitExceeded)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationChronologicalOrdering(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 2, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 5.0, End: 6.0, Text: "Later"},
+			{ID: 1, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 1.0, Text: "First"},
+			{ID: 3, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 2.0, End: 3.0, Text: "Middle"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should be sorted chronologically
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 1 merged segment, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if normalized.Segments[0].Start != 0.0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected first segment to start at 0.0, got %f", normalized.Segments[0].Start)
+	}
+	if normalized.Segments[0].End != 6.0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected merged segment to end at 6.0, got %f", normalized.Segments[0].End)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationSequentialIDReassignment(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 5, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 1.0, Text: "Hello"},
+			{ID: 10, Speaker: "Bob", Start: 2.0, End: 3.0, Text: "Hi"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, summary := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should have sequential IDs starting at 1
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 2 segments, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if normalized.Segments[0].ID != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected first segment ID 1, got %d", normalized.Segments[0].ID)
+	}
+	if normalized.Segments[1].ID != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected second segment ID 2, got %d", normalized.Segments[1].ID)
+	}
+	if summary.IDsReassigned != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 2 IDs reassigned, got %d", summary.IDsReassigned)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationCategoryPreservation(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	transcript := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: []schema.Segment{
+			{ID: 1, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 0.0, End: 1.0, Text: "Hello", Categories: []string{"greeting"}},
+			{ID: 2, Speaker: "Alice", Start: 1.5, End: 2.5, Text: "world", Categories: []string{"response"}},
+		},
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(transcript)
+
+	// Should merge and preserve both categories
+	if len(normalized.Segments) != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 1 merged segment, got %d", len(normalized.Segments))
+	}
+	if len(normalized.Segments[0].Categories) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("expected 2 categories, got %d", len(normalized.Segments[0].Categories))
+	}
+	if normalized.Segments[0].Categories[0] != "greeting" || normalized.Segments[0].Categories[1] != "response" {
+		t.Errorf("expected preserved categories, got %v", normalized.Segments[0].Categories)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationGoldenBareArrayTranscript(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/bare_array_transcript.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read test fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	transcript, err := schema.ParseSourceTranscriptJSON(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse source transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	converted := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: make([]schema.Segment, len(transcript.Segments)),
+	}
+	for i, s := range transcript.Segments {
+		id := i + 1
+		if s.ID != nil {
+			id = *s.ID
+		}
+		converted.Segments[i] = schema.Segment{
+			ID:         id,
+			Speaker:    s.Speaker,
+			Start:      s.Start,
+			End:        s.End,
+			Text:       s.Text,
+			Categories: s.Categories,
+		}
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(converted)
+
+	// Compare with golden output semantically
+	expectedRaw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/bare_array_transcript.golden.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read golden fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	expectedTranscript, err := schema.ParseTranscriptJSON(expectedRaw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse golden transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	assertTranscriptsEqual(t, normalized, expectedTranscript)
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationGoldenObjectWithSegmentsTranscript(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/object_with_segments_transcript.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read test fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	transcript, err := schema.ParseSourceTranscriptJSON(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse source transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	converted := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: make([]schema.Segment, len(transcript.Segments)),
+	}
+	for i, s := range transcript.Segments {
+		id := i + 1
+		if s.ID != nil {
+			id = *s.ID
+		}
+		converted.Segments[i] = schema.Segment{
+			ID:         id,
+			Speaker:    s.Speaker,
+			Start:      s.Start,
+			End:        s.End,
+			Text:       s.Text,
+			Categories: s.Categories,
+		}
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(converted)
+
+	// Compare with golden output semantically
+	expectedRaw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/object_with_segments_transcript.golden.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read golden fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	expectedTranscript, err := schema.ParseTranscriptJSON(expectedRaw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse golden transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	assertTranscriptsEqual(t, normalized, expectedTranscript)
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationGoldenTranscriptWithCategories(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_with_categories.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read test fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	transcript, err := schema.ParseSourceTranscriptJSON(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse source transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	converted := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: make([]schema.Segment, len(transcript.Segments)),
+	}
+	for i, s := range transcript.Segments {
+		id := i + 1
+		if s.ID != nil {
+			id = *s.ID
+		}
+		converted.Segments[i] = schema.Segment{
+			ID:         id,
+			Speaker:    s.Speaker,
+			Start:      s.Start,
+			End:        s.End,
+			Text:       s.Text,
+			Categories: s.Categories,
+		}
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(converted)
+
+	// Compare with golden output semantically
+	expectedRaw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_with_categories.golden.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read golden fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	expectedTranscript, err := schema.ParseTranscriptJSON(expectedRaw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse golden transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	assertTranscriptsEqual(t, normalized, expectedTranscript)
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationGoldenTranscriptWithOriginalIDs(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_with_original_ids.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read test fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	transcript, err := schema.ParseSourceTranscriptJSON(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse source transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	converted := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: make([]schema.Segment, len(transcript.Segments)),
+	}
+	for i, s := range transcript.Segments {
+		id := i + 1
+		if s.ID != nil {
+			id = *s.ID
+		}
+		converted.Segments[i] = schema.Segment{
+			ID:         id,
+			Speaker:    s.Speaker,
+			Start:      s.Start,
+			End:        s.End,
+			Text:       s.Text,
+			Categories: s.Categories,
+		}
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(converted)
+
+	// Compare with golden output semantically
+	expectedRaw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_with_original_ids.golden.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read golden fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	expectedTranscript, err := schema.ParseTranscriptJSON(expectedRaw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse golden transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	assertTranscriptsEqual(t, normalized, expectedTranscript)
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationGoldenSameSpeakerMerge(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_same_speaker_merge.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read test fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	transcript, err := schema.ParseSourceTranscriptJSON(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse source transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	converted := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: make([]schema.Segment, len(transcript.Segments)),
+	}
+	for i, s := range transcript.Segments {
+		id := i + 1
+		if s.ID != nil {
+			id = *s.ID
+		}
+		converted.Segments[i] = schema.Segment{
+			ID:         id,
+			Speaker:    s.Speaker,
+			Start:      s.Start,
+			End:        s.End,
+			Text:       s.Text,
+			Categories: s.Categories,
+		}
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(converted)
+
+	// Compare with golden output semantically
+	expectedRaw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_same_speaker_merge.golden.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read golden fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	expectedTranscript, err := schema.ParseTranscriptJSON(expectedRaw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse golden transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	assertTranscriptsEqual(t, normalized, expectedTranscript)
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationGoldenEllipsisMerge(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_ellipsis_merge.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read test fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	transcript, err := schema.ParseSourceTranscriptJSON(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse source transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	converted := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: make([]schema.Segment, len(transcript.Segments)),
+	}
+	for i, s := range transcript.Segments {
+		id := i + 1
+		if s.ID != nil {
+			id = *s.ID
+		}
+		converted.Segments[i] = schema.Segment{
+			ID:         id,
+			Speaker:    s.Speaker,
+			Start:      s.Start,
+			End:        s.End,
+			Text:       s.Text,
+			Categories: s.Categories,
+		}
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(converted)
+
+	// Compare with golden output semantically
+	expectedRaw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_ellipsis_merge.golden.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read golden fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	expectedTranscript, err := schema.ParseTranscriptJSON(expectedRaw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse golden transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	assertTranscriptsEqual(t, normalized, expectedTranscript)
+}
+
+func TestNormalizationGoldenDifferentSpeakersNoMerge(t *testing.T) {
+	config := NormalizationConfig{
+		MaxSegmentGap:      2.0,
+		EllipsisGap:        1.0,
+		MaxSegmentDuration: 60.0,
+		MaxSegmentTokens:   100,
+	}
+	normalizer := NewNormalizer(config)
+
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_different_speakers_no_merge.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read test fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	transcript, err := schema.ParseSourceTranscriptJSON(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse source transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	converted := &schema.Transcript{
+		Segments: make([]schema.Segment, len(transcript.Segments)),
+	}
+	for i, s := range transcript.Segments {
+		id := i + 1
+		if s.ID != nil {
+			id = *s.ID
+		}
+		converted.Segments[i] = schema.Segment{
+			ID:         id,
+			Speaker:    s.Speaker,
+			Start:      s.Start,
+			End:        s.End,
+			Text:       s.Text,
+			Categories: s.Categories,
+		}
+	}
+
+	normalized, _ := normalizer.Normalize(converted)
+
+	// Compare with golden output semantically
+	expectedRaw, err := os.ReadFile("testdata/transcript_different_speakers_no_merge.golden.json")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to read golden fixture: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	expectedTranscript, err := schema.ParseTranscriptJSON(expectedRaw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to parse golden transcript: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	assertTranscriptsEqual(t, normalized, expectedTranscript)
+}
+
+func assertTranscriptsEqual(t *testing.T, actual, expected *schema.Transcript) {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	if len(actual.Segments) != len(expected.Segments) {
+		t.Errorf("segment count mismatch: expected %d, got %d", len(expected.Segments), len(actual.Segments))
+		return
+	}
+
+	for i := range actual.Segments {
+		a := actual.Segments[i]
+		e := expected.Segments[i]
+
+		if a.ID != e.ID {
+			t.Errorf("segment %d: ID mismatch: expected %d, got %d", i, e.ID, a.ID)
+		}
+		if a.Speaker != e.Speaker {
+			t.Errorf("segment %d: speaker mismatch: expected %q, got %q", i, e.Speaker, a.Speaker)
+		}
+		if a.Start != e.Start {
+			t.Errorf("segment %d: start mismatch: expected %f, got %f", i, e.Start, a.Start)
+		}
+		if a.End != e.End {
+			t.Errorf("segment %d: end mismatch: expected %f, got %f", i, e.End, a.End)
+		}
+		if a.Text != e.Text {
+			t.Errorf("segment %d: text mismatch: expected %q, got %q", i, e.Text, a.Text)
+		}
+		if len(a.Categories) != len(e.Categories) {
+			t.Errorf("segment %d: categories count mismatch: expected %d, got %d", i, len(e.Categories), len(a.Categories))
+			continue
+		}
+		for j, cat := range a.Categories {
+			if j >= len(e.Categories) || cat != e.Categories[j] {
+				t.Errorf("segment %d: category %d mismatch: expected %q, got %q", i, j, e.Categories[j], cat)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}

internal/core/normalization/testdata/bare_array_transcript.golden.json

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 1.5,
+    "text": "Hello world."
+  },
+  {
+    "id": 2,
+    "speaker": "Bob",
+    "start": 2.0,
+    "end": 3.5,
+    "text": "Hi there.",
+    "categories": [
+      "greeting"
+    ]
+  }
+]

internal/core/normalization/testdata/bare_array_transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 1.5,
+    "text": "Hello world."
+  },
+  {
+    "id": 2,
+    "speaker": "Bob",
+    "start": 2.0,
+    "end": 3.5,
+    "text": "Hi there.",
+    "categories": ["greeting"]
+  }
+]

internal/core/normalization/testdata/comprehensive_glossary.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+glossary:
+  - name: Jesters
+    category: faction
+    summary: A faction name.
+    aliases:
+      - Jester
+      - Jest
+  - name: Popov
+    category: character
+    summary: A character name.
+    aliases:
+      - Hrank
+      - Pop
+  - name: Audita
+    category: system
+    summary: The transcript polishing system.
+    aliases:
+      - Audit
+      - Auditor

internal/core/normalization/testdata/object_with_segments_transcript.golden.json

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 1.5,
+    "text": "Hello world."
+  },
+  {
+    "id": 2,
+    "speaker": "Bob",
+    "start": 2.0,
+    "end": 3.5,
+    "text": "Hi there.",
+    "categories": [
+      "greeting"
+    ]
+  }
+]

internal/core/normalization/testdata/object_with_segments_transcript.json

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{
+  "segments": [
+    {
+      "id": 1,
+      "speaker": "Alice",
+      "start": 0.0,
+      "end": 1.5,
+      "text": "Hello world."
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 2,
+      "speaker": "Bob",
+      "start": 2.0,
+      "end": 3.5,
+      "text": "Hi there.",
+      "categories": ["greeting"]
+    }
+  ]
+}

internal/core/normalization/testdata/transcript_different_speakers_no_merge.golden.json

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 1.0,
+    "text": "Hello"
+  },
+  {
+    "id": 2,
+    "speaker": "Bob",
+    "start": 1.5,
+    "end": 2.5,
+    "text": "Hi"
+  }
+]

internal/core/normalization/testdata/transcript_different_speakers_no_merge.json

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 1.0,
+    "text": "Hello"
+  },
+  {
+    "id": 2,
+    "speaker": "Bob",
+    "start": 1.5,
+    "end": 2.5,
+    "text": "Hi"
+  }
+]

internal/core/normalization/testdata/transcript_ellipsis_merge.golden.json

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 3.0,
+    "text": "Hello... world"
+  }
+]

internal/core/normalization/testdata/transcript_ellipsis_merge.json

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 1.0,
+    "text": "Hello"
+  },
+  {
+    "id": 2,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 2.0,
+    "end": 3.0,
+    "text": "world"
+  }
+]

internal/core/normalization/testdata/transcript_same_speaker_merge.golden.json

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 2.2,
+    "text": "Hello world"
+  }
+]

internal/core/normalization/testdata/transcript_same_speaker_merge.json

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": 1,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 0.0,
+    "end": 1.0,
+    "text": "Hello"
+  },
+  {
+    "id": 2,
+    "speaker": "Alice",
+    "start": 1.2,
+    "end": 2.2,
+    "text": "world"
+  }
+]