Gherkin view renders any Spec as a disposable read shape

outcome

Give maintainers a generated Gherkin-shaped page for reading any Spec, without making it a carrier, changing the default carrier or claiming conversion back to the authored Spec.

rule line 23 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:23

renderGherkinView is a pure Reader -> pages projection with no filesystem or clock access; equal reader data produces byte-identical pages.

rule line 24 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:24

Every Spec renders as one Gherkin-shaped page plus one deterministic index. Pages use spec/<id body>.feature.md, with the spec: namespace removed from the id. Packs are not projected. The projection never uses .sdp.gherkin and never claims round-trip parity.

rule line 25 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:25

Each page says it is generated and disposable. A page for a kind the Gherkin carrier does not carry has a # LOSSY: comment in its header giving that kind's reason, and content Gherkin cannot carry honestly is marked the same way rather than invented as structure.

rule line 26 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:26

Description prose lands only on the narrative and keyed description bullets under the prose-ownership decision, spec:decisions.prose-ownership; the projection never emits DocStrings, DataTables, Scenario Outlines, Examples tables, backgrounds, star steps or leading conjunctions.

rule line 27 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:27

Every emitted record is ordered by deterministic code-unit order independent of graph input order. Hostile characters are escaped so they cannot close a fence or invent a DocString.

rule line 28 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:28

After the shared build, publication owns only generated/gherkin/ and uses the explicit sdp gherkin surface. It is not a child of or an extra write inside Design Review's transaction, and it shares no publication bus or hidden side channel with other projections.

rule line 29 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:29

A Gherkin-view run writes its complete page set to generated/gherkin.tmp/, removes the prior Gherkin-view root, and renames the temporary root into place. The shared build invalidates this root and all sibling projection roots before extraction, as spec:consumers.wholesale-view-rewrite#rule.buildInvalidates states, so failure leaves honest absence rather than stale output that looks current. A failed publish removes any live or temporary Gherkin-view root it cannot certify.

rule line 30 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:30

sdp gherkin --check-clean renders an independent twin, refuses divergent renders, and compares the current generated root with the new render. Missing or drifted output returns nonzero and is removed; clean output is replaced wholesale with byte-identical content.

rule line 31 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:31

When extraction succeeds but graph validation reports errors, the Gherkin view still publishes the labelled diagnostic projection and returns the nonzero validation exit code.

rule line 32 · specs/consumers/gherkin-view.sdp.md:32

The projection adds no Gherkin-specific Reader accessors and confers nothing back into the graph.

10 unkeyed rules.

Example space

Given a graph containing behavior, example, and refused-kind Specs with hostile titles
When the Gherkin-view projection renders and publishes through the explicit gherkin command
Then each Spec page is a visibly generated Gherkin-shaped read
Then refused-kind pages carry the per-kind lie-reason as lossy commentary
Then a clean independent render is byte-identical
Then hostile characters cannot close a fence or invent a DocString
Then generated/gherkin/ is the only current Gherkin-view root
Then validation errors label the index as a diagnostic projection
Then no page uses the .sdp.gherkin suffix

Verifier bindings

• test:protocol.gherkin-view · verifies the generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection · anchored · test anchor binding present · test/gherkin-view.test.ts:20

  External run evidence from test/gherkin-view.test.ts

  Test anchors: test:protocol.gherkin-view. Specs verified by those bindings: spec:consumers.gherkin-view.

  Run 1: external run evidence from vitest 4.1.10

  Build: CI 391 · Branch: cursor/media-plan-and-articles-09b1 · Commit: 076cd4f1f85640d8236e5cca1bffffa68ab79a33 · Start: 2026-10-31T15:32:20.471Z · Stop: 2026-10-31T15:34:02.073Z

  Name	Suite	Result	Duration
  double-renders byte-identically and sorts independently of input order	the generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection	passed	3.27 ms
  labels the index as diagnostic when validation errors are present	the generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection	passed	0.46 ms
  marks refused kinds with the ruled lie-reason and never uses .sdp.gherkin	the generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection	passed	0.37 ms
  marks escaped relation reasons as lossy commentary in relation order without changing tags	the generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection	passed	4.88 ms
  marks every populated section that a canonical Gherkin shape cannot represent	the generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection	passed	0.62 ms
  escapes hostile characters so they cannot close a fence or invent a DocString	the generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection	passed	0.35 ms
  renders the checkout-v1 corpus as a disposable generated view	the generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection	passed	133.62 ms
  publishes diagnostic output for validation errors and returns nonzero	sdp gherkin publication	passed	24.21 ms
  surfaces the explicit command in help and names Gherkin on bad input	sdp gherkin publication	passed	0.45 ms
  publishes only generated/gherkin wholesale and regenerates byte-identically without tmp residue	sdp gherkin publication	passed	17.44 ms
  passes --check-clean only when twin renders and the published bytes agree	sdp gherkin publication	passed	19.63 ms
  refuses perturbed published bytes and removes both live and temporary roots	sdp gherkin publication	passed	17.56 ms
  refuses divergent --check-clean twins and removes both publication roots	sdp gherkin publication	passed	20.96 ms
  removes planted stale live and tmp output when the authored corpus fails	sdp gherkin publication	passed	6.04 ms

Requirement drawing

• Declared verifying examples: no declared verifying example.

Decisions

• Carrier universality is bounded by honest kind structure

  In order, first, Gherkin remains an honest canonical per-ID option only for behavior (Feature) and example (ordinary Scenario); the other six kinds stay Markdown because a Gherkin mapping would lie against the kind-evidence table — workflow has no distinct Gherkin root and Feature mapping erases the kind; rule collides with Rule: already consumed as inline behavior.rules; constraint needs machine-readable targets a Scenario cannot own; model needs keyed terms; decision needs context/decision/rationale/consequences (and supersedes) that Feature structure cannot distinguish; contract shares the behavior family row but Feature cannot structurally mark the kind. Second, rich content is ruled by physical form: Feature and Scenario description prose (keyed description bullets and remaining non-heading prose) is lawful only as free prose on the prose owners the prose-ownership law (MD-19) names — narrative or description on the typed owner — never a new field and never a parser-within-a-parser beyond enumerated constructs; Gherkin DocStrings and DataTables remain refused. Third, "universal" means per-ID carriers plus a generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection of any Spec (visibly generated, disposable, lossy commentary allowed for refused kinds), not one default authored carrier for everything and not a lossless codec. Fourth, the corpus default does not flip: Markdown remains the default Spec carrier; a default flip is refused before full honest round-trip exists. Fifth, Packs are out of this ruling; the Pack syntax ruling (MD-25) remains the Pack carrier law.

• Prose belongs to typed graph owners

  Free prose is stored as a narrative or a description on its typed owner; unowned prose is refused.

• The shipped projections stay frozen

  Re-specifying the shipped Design Review, census, Mermaid, or Gherkin projection is refused. These four projections are the ruled read surfaces over the one graph. A later decision Spec that supersedes this one replaces the ruling whole; a decision Spec that refines this one narrows it for one projection or one rendering and leaves the rest frozen. Either passes the ADR three-part test.

• component:protocol.cli · entry points, shared build and publication · src/cli/build-command.ts:32 · layer edge · context protocol

  Uses

  • component:protocol.adapters · external runtime and source adapters · src/adapters/vitest.ts:23 · layer adapter · context protocol
  • component:protocol.codegen · contracts and registrar output · src/codegen/contracts.ts:633 · layer application · context protocol
  • component:protocol.extract · the carrier and source pipeline · src/extract/index.ts:192 · layer application · context protocol
  • component:protocol.graph · the one graph and its semantic decisions · src/graph/schema.ts:34 · layer domain · context protocol
  • component:protocol.import · canonical conversion with a fidelity boundary · src/import/import.ts:45 · layer application · context protocol
  • component:protocol.model · the authored contracts and stable ids · src/model/anchors.ts:100 · layer domain · context protocol
  • component:protocol.projections · read-only output, layout and owned publication · src/projections/design-review.ts:29 · layer edge · context protocol
  • component:protocol.reader · the typed graph contract and body evaluator · src/reader/reader.ts:671 · layer application · context protocol
  • component:protocol.validate · one finding currency and ordered checks · src/validate/validators.ts:72 · layer domain · context protocol
• component:protocol.extract · the carrier and source pipeline · src/extract/index.ts:192 · layer application · context protocol

  Uses

  • component:protocol.graph · the one graph and its semantic decisions · src/graph/schema.ts:34 · layer domain · context protocol
  • component:protocol.model · the authored contracts and stable ids · src/model/anchors.ts:100 · layer domain · context protocol
  • component:protocol.notation · the leaf step codec · src/notation/slots.ts:261 · layer domain · context protocol
  • component:protocol.validate · one finding currency and ordered checks · src/validate/validators.ts:72 · layer domain · context protocol
• component:protocol.projections · read-only output, layout and owned publication · src/projections/design-review.ts:29 · layer edge · context protocol

  Uses

  • component:protocol.extract · the carrier and source pipeline · src/extract/index.ts:192 · layer application · context protocol
  • component:protocol.graph · the one graph and its semantic decisions · src/graph/schema.ts:34 · layer domain · context protocol
  • component:protocol.model · the authored contracts and stable ids · src/model/anchors.ts:100 · layer domain · context protocol
  • component:protocol.notation · the leaf step codec · src/notation/slots.ts:261 · layer domain · context protocol
  • component:protocol.reader · the typed graph contract and body evaluator · src/reader/reader.ts:671 · layer application · context protocol
  • component:protocol.validate · one finding currency and ordered checks · src/validate/validators.ts:72 · layer domain · context protocol
• impl:protocol.gherkin-kind-policy · shared Gherkin kind-refusal and loss explanations · src/extract/gherkin-kind-honesty.ts:6

  Component: component:protocol.extract · the carrier and source pipeline · src/extract/index.ts:192 · layer application · context protocol

  Uses

  None.

• impl:protocol.gherkin-view · renders a generated Gherkin-shaped READ projection of any Spec · src/projections/gherkin-view.ts:19

  Component: component:protocol.projections · read-only output, layout and owned publication · src/projections/design-review.ts:29 · layer edge · context protocol

  Uses

  • impl:protocol.gherkin-kind-policy · shared Gherkin kind-refusal and loss explanations · src/extract/gherkin-kind-honesty.ts:6
• impl:protocol.gherkin-view-cli · publishes the Gherkin view through the explicit sdp gherkin surface · src/cli/gherkin-command.ts:66

  Component: component:protocol.cli · entry points, shared build and publication · src/cli/build-command.ts:32 · layer edge · context protocol

  Uses

  None.

Runtime observation: not tracked.

Runtime observation: not tracked.

Build attestations: not tracked.

Deployments: not tracked.

Bills of materials: not tracked.