# Design Evolution — Canonical Archive Index

Design Evolution is historical provenance.

It records what was believed, tested, rejected, learned, and changed over time.

It is **NOT** the source of current product truth.

For current product state use:

- [`docs/current-handoff.md`](../current-handoff.md)
- [`docs/current-project-state.md`](../current-project-state.md)

Historical material should be loaded only when a specific historical question requires it.
This index enables progressive, on-demand loading of individual chapters.

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## Chapter Index

All chapters are exact contiguous extracts from the former monolith at `docs/design-evolution-log.md`.

### Era 1 — Early Interface and Investigation Exploration

| Ch | Path | Source Lines | Summary |
|----|------|-------------|---------|
| 1 | [ch1/experiments-01-to-06-and-phases-1-to-4.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch1/experiments-01-to-06-and-phases-1-to-4.md) | 1–352 | Phases 1–4 and Experiments 01–06. |
| 2 | [ch2/early-reasoning-and-provenance-discovery.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch2/early-reasoning-and-provenance-discovery.md) | 354–1122 | Experiments 07–20 and emerging-direction material. |
| 3 | [ch3/phase-transition-and-emerging-directions.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch3/phase-transition-and-emerging-directions.md) | 1124–1216 | Phase transition, graph as source of truth, Experiments 21–22. |

### Era 2 — State Assessment and Passive Classifier Work

| Ch | Path | Source Lines | Summary |
|----|------|-------------|---------|
| 4 | [ch4/passive-classifiers-and-explore-contract-validation.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch4/passive-classifiers-and-explore-contract-validation.md) | 1218–1501 | Experiments 23–25B and closeout material. |
| 5 | [ch5/context-inventory-routing-and-handoff-infrastructure.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch5/context-inventory-routing-and-handoff-infrastructure.md) | 1502–2052 | Experiments 26–34 — context routing and handoff infrastructure. |
| 6 | [ch6/handoff-validation-behavior-selection-and-assessor-audit.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch6/handoff-validation-behavior-selection-and-assessor-audit.md) | 2053–2503 | Experiments 35–41 and assessor audit. |

### Era 3 — Documentation and Context-Routing Evolution

| Ch | Path | Source Lines | Summary |
|----|------|-------------|---------|
| 7 | [ch7/experiments-42-to-46.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch7/experiments-42-to-46.md) | 2504–3069 | Experiments 42–46 — Clarify readiness, "Too Broad" boundaries. |
| 8 | [ch8/experiments-47-to-51.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch8/experiments-47-to-51.md) | 3070–3534 | Experiments 47–51 — coherence diagnostic, semantic decision-relevance. |
| 9 | [ch9/experiments-52-to-52i.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch9/experiments-52-to-52i.md) | 3535–4980 | Experiments 52–52I — semantic generalisation, ambiguity normalisation. |

### Era 4 — Behaviour and Coherence Experiments

| Ch | Path | Source Lines | Summary |
|----|------|-------------|---------|
| 10 | [ch10/experiments-54a-to-54k-provenance-audit.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch10/experiments-54a-to-54k-provenance-audit.md) | 4981–6423 | Experiments 54A–54K — provenance audit chain, grounding with live inference. |
| 11 | [ch11/experiments-54l-to-54q-grounding-and-evidence-stability.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch11/experiments-54l-to-54q-grounding-and-evidence-stability.md) | 6425–7824 | Experiments 54L–54Q — grounding stability, evidence discrimination. |
| 12 | [ch12/experiment-54r-clarification-requires-source.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch12/experiment-54r-clarification-requires-source.md) | 7825–8012 | Experiment 54R — evidence vs. user-input disagreement classification. |

### Era 5 — Semantic Relevance Experiments

| Ch | Path | Source Lines | Summary |
|----|------|-------------|---------|
| 13 | [ch13/54S-54V-clarification-target-and-answer-resolution.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch13/54S-54V-clarification-target-and-answer-resolution.md) | 8013–8635 | Experiments 54S–54V — clarification target identification, stability. |
| 14 | [ch14/54W-54Z-clarification-chain-and-target-broadening.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch14/54W-54Z-clarification-chain-and-target-broadening.md) | 8636–9294 | Experiments 54W–54Z — clarification chain integrity, target broadening. |

### Era 6 — Provenance and Grounding Experiments

| Ch | Path | Source Lines | Summary |
|----|------|-------------|---------|
| 15 | [ch15/55A-preserve-uncertainty-from-weak-clarification-answers.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch15/55A-preserve-uncertainty-from-weak-clarification-answers.md) | 9296–9529 | Experiment 55A — preserving uncertainty from weak clarification answers. |
| 16 | [ch16/55B-separate-answer-meaning-from-resolution-judgement.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch16/55B-separate-answer-meaning-from-resolution-judgement.md) | 9530–9748 | Experiment 55B — separating answer meaning from resolution judgement. |
| 17 | [ch17/55C-resolution-from-preserved-answer-meaning.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch17/55C-resolution-from-preserved-answer-meaning.md) | 9749–9982 | Experiment 55C — two-stage resolution from preserved meaning. |

### Era 7 — Reasoning Refinement and Recent Product Provenance

| Ch | Path | Source Lines | Summary |
|----|------|-------------|---------|
| 18 | [ch18/55D-separate-stated-vs-inferred-meaning-through-v058-provenance.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch18/55D-separate-stated-vs-inferred-meaning-through-v058-provenance.md) | 9983–10322 | Experiments 55D–55F and v0.51–v0.58 product provenance. |

### Era 8 — Initial Decomposition Hardening (frozen)

| Ch | Path | Source Lines | Summary |
|----|------|-------------|---------|
| 19 | [ch19/initial-decomposition-v0.61.md](../archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/ch19/initial-decomposition-v0.61.md) | — | v0.61 initial decomposition: repeated-same-input stability, Qwen/Terra comparison, focused-deconstruction plumbing fix. Status: frozen for current MVP stage. |

---

## Structure Notes

- This index is the canonical routing entry point for Design Evolution provenance material.
- Physical archive files remain at `docs/archive/experiments/vol-1-chapters/`. Their locations are verified and stable.
- A later task may decide whether physical relocation is worthwhile. That decision is separate from this indexing step.

## Historical Integrity

All chapter files are exact historical records. They were not rewritten, modernised, or reconciled during extraction or migration.