Promote: Renovate base branch and onboarding guidance alignment

.github/tests/community_health_contract_test.py

@@ -183,6 +183,17 @@ def test_standards_workflow_pins_actions_and_runs_every_contract(self):
         ):
             self.assertIn(expected, workflow)
 
+    def test_local_validation_runs_every_ci_contract_suite(self):
+        pattern = r"(?m)^[ \t]*python3[ \t]+\.github/tests/([A-Za-z0-9_]+_test\.py)[ \t]*$"
+        ci = set(re.findall(
+            pattern, self.read_text(".github/workflows/standards-validation.yml"),
+        ))
+        local = set(re.findall(pattern, self.read_text("scripts/validate.sh")))
+        present = {path.name for path in (ROOT / ".github/tests").glob("*_test.py")}
+
+        self.assertEqual(ci, local)
+        self.assertEqual(present, ci)
+
     def test_zizmor_action_owns_its_supported_cli_version(self):
         workflow = self.read_text(".github/workflows/standards-validation.yml")
         zizmor_step = workflow.split(

.github/tests/tracked_validation_test.py

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from pathlib import Path
+import os
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import tempfile
@@ -9,14 +10,21 @@
 VALIDATOR = ROOT / "scripts/validate_tracked_files.py"
 
 
+def git_env():
+    names = subprocess.check_output(
+        ["git", "rev-parse", "--local-env-vars"], text=True,
+    ).split()
+    return {key: value for key, value in os.environ.items() if key not in names}
+
+
 class TrackedValidationTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         self.temp = tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="tracked-validation-")
         self.addCleanup(self.temp.cleanup)
         self.repo = Path(self.temp.name)
         subprocess.run(
             ["git", "init", "--quiet", str(self.repo)], check=True,
-            capture_output=True,
+            capture_output=True, env=git_env(),
         )
         self.write(".gitignore", ".planning/\n.claude/\n__pycache__/\n", tracked=True)
 
@@ -27,13 +35,13 @@ def write(self, name, content, tracked=False):
         if tracked:
             subprocess.run(
                 ["git", "add", "--", name], cwd=self.repo, check=True,
-                capture_output=True,
+                capture_output=True, env=git_env(),
             )
 
-    def run_validation(self, kind):
+    def run_validation(self, kind, env=None):
         return subprocess.run(
             [sys.executable, str(VALIDATOR), kind], cwd=self.repo,
-            capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=60,
+            capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=60, env=env,
         )
 
     def assert_valid(self, kind):
@@ -92,6 +100,15 @@ def test_profile_keeps_its_separate_rules(self):
         self.write("profile/README.md", "<div>Profile</div>   \n", tracked=True)
         self.assert_invalid("markdown", "MD009")
 
+    def test_repo_local_git_environment_is_ignored(self):
+        self.write(".github/bad.json", "{broken", tracked=True)
+        env = {**os.environ, "GIT_INDEX_FILE": str(self.repo / "bogus-index")}
+        result = self.run_validation("data", env=env)
+        self.assertNotEqual(0, result.returncode, result.stdout + result.stderr)
+        self.assertIn("JSONDecodeError", result.stdout + result.stderr)
+        self.write(".github/bad.json", '{"ok": true}\n', tracked=True)
+        self.assertEqual(0, self.run_validation("data", env=env).returncode)
+
     def test_empty_tracked_input_sets_succeed(self):
         for kind in ("python", "data", "markdown"):
             with self.subTest(kind=kind):

.github/workflows/main-is-released.yml

@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ name: Main Is Released
 #   permissions: {}
 #   jobs:
 #     released:
+#       permissions:
+#         contents: read # A reusable workflow cannot raise its caller's grant.
 #       uses: CodesWhat/.github/.github/workflows/main-is-released.yml@<full SHA>
 #
 # Continuously deployed repositories that never tag (a website, a meta repo)

AGENTS.md

@@ -25,21 +25,26 @@ contract tests that pin the shapes other repositories depend on.
   with safe defaults, never repurpose an existing input, and let consumers
   adopt by rolling their pin deliberately.
 - PRs target `dev/repository-standards`. `main` advances only through
-  promotion PRs. Reconcile before promoting:
+  promotion PRs. Before reconciling, account for released content:
+  `git log --oneline origin/dev/repository-standards..origin/main` should list
+  only the previous promotion's squash commit. Any other commit is content that
+  landed on `main` directly; forward-port it to dev through a normal reviewed PR
+  first, because the `ours` merge keeps dev's tree and silently drops it. Then
+  reconcile:
   `git merge -s ours origin/main -m "chore(sync): reconcile main before promotion"`.
   Verify promotions with tree equality
   (`git diff --quiet origin/main origin/dev/repository-standards`), never
   commit ancestry.
-- Admit new hosted review/heavy CI work through the shared capacity roster.
-  Keep preparation local while queued. After admission, add `review-ready` for
-  the first CodeRabbit review; request subsequent fix-batch reviews explicitly.
+- There is no shared admission queue; pace hosted review and heavy CI with
+  the maintainer directly. Add `review-ready` for a PR's first CodeRabbit
+  review and request subsequent fix-batch reviews explicitly.
   Freeze pushes while review runs, read its output and verify the covered head.
   `.coderabbit.yaml` keeps default/dev targets but disables automatic review on
   ordinary pushes. Required review and protection remain effective.
-- Approve ordinary dependency updates in the Renovate dashboard only after
-  admission. This repo's wrapper limits ordinary PRs/branches to one at a time
-  and one new PR per hour. The shared preset is unchanged; urgent vulnerability
-  updates keep their separate handling.
+- Approve ordinary dependency updates in the Renovate dashboard one at a time.
+  This repo's wrapper targets `dev/repository-standards` and limits ordinary
+  PRs/branches to one at a time and one new PR per hour. The shared preset is
+  unchanged; urgent vulnerability updates keep their separate handling.
 - Commits are plain Conventional Commits, `<type>(scope): <description>`,
   no emoji, no AI attribution trailers.
 - Never weaken branch protection or rulesets to land a change.