Execute the slug-sweep authorized by ADR-067 + ADR-068 + ADR-069 that was never actually completed in any prior commit

Published

May 20, 2026

ADR-071: ADR cross-reference slug-sweep closure

Status

Accepted.

Context

The 2026-05-19 four-ADR immutability-relaxation chain (ADR-067 through ADR-070) authorized four narrow classes of in-place editorial fixes to immutable ADRs. Each ADR documented the authorization + the canonical substitution patterns; ADR-067 §C1 in particular includes a 14-row canonical mapping table covering the most common broken slug references.

The 2026-05-20 audit re-verification revealed that the authorizations landed in the audit trail but the corresponding substitution commits never landed in the working tree:

  • 59 broken decisions/ADR-NNN-<wrong-slug>.md markdown references still ship across 21 ADR files (re-grep on the v1.2.8 HEAD)
  • ADR-067 §C1’s own canonical mapping table contains 14 live broken markdown links in its wrong-slug column (the table is presented as “here are the slugs that need fixing” — the broken column was not removed after the fix landed because the fix never landed)
  • The .lycheeignore patterns ADR-067 §C3 said would be removed at v1.2.2 + v1.2.6 are still present in the file
  • ADR-040 line 9 + line 38 + line 166 still cite a local-fs path /home/brandon_behring/.claude/plans/twinkly-weaving-puppy.md that ADR-067 Class A would have stripped under the “factual-typo / unintended-leak” reading (the local plan file is gitignored; emailed separately at submission per AGENTS.md transcript discipline; should not be publicly referenced in immutable ADRs)
  • 2 references to non-existent slugs ADR-029-adr-immutability-and- supersession-discipline.md + ADR-029-immutable-adrs-supersede- dont-edit.md survive in ADR-067 itself; the actual ADR-029 is test-marker-strategy-four-marker-ratification, not an immutability ADR. These were already flagged in ADR-067 §C2.5 for “remove without replacement” treatment.

A reader following any of the 59 broken [link](path) cross-references inside decisions/ gets a GitHub 404. The four-ADR relaxation chain documents the intent to fix this but the working tree never reflected the documented intent.

Decision

Apply the canonical slug-mapping table across the 22 affected ADRs (21 originally surfaced + ADR-064 which carries 6 broken refs flagged in the v1.2.8 audit but not yet swept). The full mapping covers 33 broken patterns resolving to 15 canonical filenames:

ADR-001: ADR-001-brief-alignment-tight-calendar-with-fallback-ladder.md → ADR-001-submission-deadline-and-scope-ambition.md

ADR-005: 4 wrong variants → ADR-005-methodology-principles.md (attack-class-scope-and-three-state-contamination-taxonomy, honest-methodology-over-claimed-best-numbers, methodology-over-metrics, project-level-methodology-principles)

ADR-006: 3 wrong variants → ADR-006-headline-metrics-and-statistical-apparatus.md (headline-metrics-and-statistical-floor, single-seed-protocol-for-comparative-claims, statistical-multi-seed-protocol)

ADR-013, ADR-015: 1 wrong each → canonical bundles

ADR-016: 2 wrong variants → ADR-016-data-design-bundle.md

ADR-018, ADR-021, ADR-023, ADR-031, ADR-032, ADR-033, ADR-036, ADR-037, ADR-042, ADR-043, ADR-046: 1 wrong variant each → canonical filename

ADR-019: 3 wrong variants → ADR-019-lora-and-transformer-training-recipe.md

ADR-020: 3 wrong variants → ADR-020-compute-infrastructure-and-cost-discipline.md

ADR-030: 2 wrong variants → ADR-030-deliverable-format-quarto-html-site.md

Special: ADR-029 misattributions (2 patterns). Per ADR-067 §C2.5, replace the wrong-slug ref with the bare ADR-029 identifier (no link target). The narrative around them stays; only the misattributed link target is stripped. Reason: the actual ADR-029 is test-marker-strategy-four-marker-ratification; the “immutability” methodology is documented in CLAUDE.md + AGENTS.md + ADR-005, not in any standalone ADR-029-immutability file (which never existed).

Special: ADR-040 local-fs path strip (3 occurrences on lines 9, 38, 166). Replace /home/brandon_behring/.claude/plans/twinkly-weaving-puppy.md with neutral prose: “the Phase 0 audit synthesis plan file (gitignored; emailed separately at submission)”. Same content meaning; no local-filesystem-path leak in a public ADR.

.lycheeignore cleanup: Remove any lines matching the 33 broken-slug patterns + the 2 ADR-029 misattribution patterns. Smaller .lycheeignore reduces ongoing maintenance friction + makes the remaining ignored patterns more legibly load-bearing.

Commit message format follows ADR-067 §B3 + ADR-068 §B3 type-prefixed discipline: chore(adr): ADR-071 slug-sweep closure — apply 67 §C1 canonical mappings + extension.

Consequences

  • Lychee CI passes on a smaller .lycheeignore (smaller surface to maintain; remaining ignores are clearly justified)
  • The 4-ADR relaxation chain (067-070) becomes load-bearing rather than ceremonial — it documents the rules that ADR-071 actually followed in execution
  • Reader experience improves materially: a reviewer clicking any of the 59 broken refs gets the correct target
  • No methodology decisions change — every fix is editorial (slug typo, factual-typo strip, link-target removal); claim text, status, numeric values, acceptance criteria, prose all unchanged
  • Resolves the “documented intent without execution” optic that currently makes the 067-070 chain look like process-ceremony without follow-through
  • ADR-067’s own §C1 mapping table is updated: the wrong-slug column is rewritten to use the canonical filenames (the table now reads as a historical record of “here are the fixes applied” rather than “here are the fixes pending”)

Alternatives Considered

  1. Leave the 59 refs broken indefinitely. Rejected — ADR-067 explicitly authorizes the fix; not executing leaves the chain as documented intent with no payoff. A reviewer concludes either the rules are decorative or the author lost track of follow-through.
  2. One ADR per fix-class (separate ADR-071 for slug-sweep, ADR-072 for ADR-040 fs-path strip, ADR-073 for .lycheeignore cleanup). Rejected — would extend the 067-070 chain to 8+ ADRs; the consolidation pattern argues against this. Single ADR-071 covering all editorial corrections is cleaner.
  3. Skip the ADR; just do the rewrites under ADR-067’s existing authorization. Rejected — the immutability rule means even surface fixes need an authorizing record. ADR-067 wrote the authorization but never logged the execution. ADR-071 is the execution log + closes the audit loop.

Linked ADRs

  • ADR-067 (immutability narrow relaxation — Class A slug typos): superseded on the “applied” axis only; methodology unchanged
  • ADR-068 (Class B broken external references): same supersession scope
  • ADR-069 (Class C publisher-URL → DOI canonicalization): same supersession scope (covered the documented patterns; future publisher-URL fixes need separate ADR or extension)
  • ADR-070 (Class D render-only markdown corrections): not superseded here; the markdown corrections it documents are out of scope for ADR-071’s slug-focused execution
  • ADR-029 (test-marker-strategy-four-marker-ratification): not superseded; ADR-071 strips misattribution refs that pointed at a non-existent immutability-ADR-029 slug
  • ADR-040 (phase-0-audit-findings-and-assumption-backfill): not superseded; ADR-071 applies the local-fs-path strip authorized under Class A “unintended-leak” reading

Transcript

Transcript file (gitignored per AGENTS.md): the 2026-05-20 audit re-verification cycle + slug-sweep execution captured in the audit report at ~/notes/prompt-injection-audit-2026-05-20.md (consumer side) and the appendix at ~/notes/prompt-injection-audit-2026-05-20-adr-appendix.md.