# Development

This is the first-read landing page for people and LLM coding agents working on
Notarius. It provides a concise repository orientation and routes each kind of
change to its canonical documentation.

## Orientation

Notarius is a small Go application for extracting structured data from source
material. It is a general extraction platform with an initial Seriatim and D&D
implementation. Configured modules run through a fixed workflow:

```text
input -> chunk -> extract -> merge -> normalize -> output
```

The CLI is the application boundary. Core packages own deterministic models and
policy, framework packages own reusable contracts and orchestration, and module
and validator packages own concrete behavior.

## Repository Map

- `cmd/notarius`: executable entry point.
- `internal/cli`: CLI behavior and production composition.
- `internal/core`: deterministic source, config, artifact, diagnostics, and
  workspace packages.
- `internal/framework`: contracts, pipeline orchestration, validation helpers,
  checkpoints, debug recording, and LLM runtime plumbing.
- `internal/modules`: concrete implementations of the six pipeline stages.
- `internal/validators`: concrete output validators.
- `docs`: canonical policy, reference, integration, internal, ADR, and roadmap
  documentation.
- `examples`: maintained, secret-free example inputs and configuration.

See [Internal Overview](internal/overview.md) for the implemented component
map and links to focused internal documentation.

## What To Read

| When working on | Read | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Application shape, package boundaries, contracts, dependency direction, runtime guarantees, or safety properties | [Architecture](policy/architecture.md) and relevant [ADRs](adr/) | Architecture defines the intended system and its invariants; ADRs preserve significant decision rationale. |
| Any documentation addition or revision | [Documentation Policy](policy/documentation.md) | It defines canonical homes, audiences, current-behavior rules, and maintenance requirements. |
| Pipeline resolution or execution | [Pipeline Internals](internal/pipeline.md) | It documents profiles, references, validation, retries, checkpoints, and runner behavior. |
| Production modules or validators | [Module Internals](internal/modules.md) | It documents implemented module contracts, capabilities, assets, and registration. |
| LLM clients, prompts, schemas, profiles, or scheduling | [LLM Runtime](internal/llm.md) | It documents the transport boundary and Scriptorium integration. |
| Diagnostics, workspace state, resume, or debug artifacts | [Diagnostics Internals](internal/diagnostics.md), [Operations](operations.md), and [Configuration](config.md) | These separate implementation details, operator behavior, and configuration contracts. |
| CLI or user-visible configuration behavior | [CLI Reference](cli.md) and [Configuration](config.md) | These are the canonical user and operator references. |
| External input formats, artifact schemas, or durable output files | [Integration Contracts](integrations/) | Integration documents define external and durable data contracts. |
| Proposed or unimplemented behavior | [Roadmap](roadmap/) | Future work belongs only in roadmap documentation until implemented. |

For an existing subsystem, also inspect its focused tests and the package-local
types and contracts before changing behavior.

## Validation

Use focused package tests while iterating. Run the repository-wide checks when
a change affects shared contracts, application behavior, or maintained
documentation examples:

```sh
go test ./...
go vet ./...
go build ./cmd/notarius
```

## Universal Reminders

- Keep non-roadmap documentation limited to implemented behavior.
- Update affected documentation and maintained examples in the same change as
  behavior.
- Use fakes, fixtures, or local test servers instead of real external services
  in tests.
- Do not expose secrets in code, errors, logs, diagnostics, manifests,
  documentation, or examples.