notarius/docs/policy/development.md

Development

This document defines contributor workflow for Notarius. For architectural invariants and package boundaries, read Architecture first.

Required Reading

Before changing the repository, review:

• Architecture
• Documentation Policy

Keep current-behavior documentation limited to implemented behavior. Put planned or deferred behavior under docs/roadmap/.

Repository Layout

• cmd/notarius: executable entry point.
• internal/cli: CLI parsing, production catalog wiring, config loading, run command orchestration, output writes, and user-facing errors.
• internal/core: deterministic models and policy for artifacts, source documents, config, and diagnostics.
• internal/framework: reusable contracts, pipeline orchestration, prompt helpers, validation helpers, and LLM runtime plumbing.
• internal/modules: concrete input, chunk, extract, merge, normalize, and output modules.
• docs: policy, user/operator docs, internal docs, integration docs, and roadmap files.
• examples: maintained, secret-free examples covered by tests where practical.

Validation Commands

Run focused tests for the area changed, then run the broader checks when the change affects shared contracts, CLI behavior, or documentation examples.

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

Useful focused checks:

go test ./internal/cli
go test ./internal/core/config
go test ./internal/framework/pipeline
go test ./internal/framework/llm
go test ./internal/modules/input/seriatim
go test ./internal/modules/extract/dnd/spells
go test ./internal/modules/output/json

Go Conventions

• Prefer the standard library unless a dependency is justified by correctness, security, interoperability, or substantial complexity reduction.
• Keep package names short, lowercase, and idiomatic.
• Preserve import direction: framework and core code must not depend on concrete production modules.
• Use context.Context for long-running operations and external calls.
• Return contextual errors that name the operation and relevant module, path, or resource.
• Do not include secrets in errors, logs, diagnostics, manifests, or docs.

Adding Config Fields

Config behavior is centralized under internal/core/config.

When adding a file config field:

1. Update file config structs and YAML parsing in file_config.go.
2. Apply the field over defaults in config application code.
3. Add validation in validation.go when the field has constraints.
4. Add environment override support in env.go only for operational overrides.
5. Update redaction if the field can contain secrets.
6. Add focused config tests.
7. Update Configuration and maintained examples when behavior changes.

Pipeline composition should remain config-driven. Do not add command flags that silently replace structural pipeline definitions.

Adding CLI Flags Or Commands

CLI behavior lives in internal/cli.

When adding CLI surface:

1. Keep syntax explicit and update usage text.
2. Validate arguments before running expensive work.
3. Convert internal errors into concise user-facing messages.
4. Add CLI tests for success, syntax errors, and failure modes.
5. Update CLI Reference, and update Operations or Troubleshooting if run behavior changes.

Adding Modules Or Adapters

Concrete modules live under internal/modules/<kind>/... and implement the interfaces in internal/framework/contracts.

For a new production module:

1. Implement the relevant contract.
2. Expose a ModuleSpec with the correct module key, module kind, provided capabilities, and required capabilities.
3. Expose a Register function that registers the module with its registry.
4. Add focused module tests for contract behavior, registration, options, validation, and errors.
5. Register the module in internal/cli/catalog.go only when it is production ready.
6. Update internal docs and user-facing docs only for implemented behavior.

Source-format behavior belongs in input modules and integration docs. Extraction-domain behavior belongs in extract modules and artifact docs.

Updating Examples

Examples must be valid, secret-free, and small.

• Prefer environment-based secret configuration.
• Keep examples/dnd-spells.config.yml loadable by CLI tests.
• Keep examples/seriatim-minimal-transcript.json compatible with the Seriatim adapter.
• Do not add expected-output fixtures unless they are validated or have a clear regeneration procedure.

Documentation Updates

Update docs in the same change when behavior changes.

• CLI syntax: docs/cli.md
• Config fields and defaults: docs/config.md
• Output, diagnostics, retention, or recovery: docs/operations.md
• Common user-facing failures: docs/troubleshooting.md
• Internal architecture and contracts: docs/internal/
• External file formats and durable integration contracts: docs/integrations/
• Future or planned work only: docs/roadmap/