Record index
preference_pattern.index.toml
Preference patterns, namespace PP, at
.working/toml/preference_pattern.index.toml.
About
A preference pattern is a distilled standing preference: the reusable rule beneath a family
of individual rulings, carrying its context and rationale with the
envelope's title. It is active until retired.
Why
Individual rulings answer individual questions; patterns keep the maintainer from answering
the same question forever. Distillation is useful and risky in equal measure, so the standard
gates it: an assistant-distilled pattern lands active/proposed and steers
nothing until a maintainer ratifies it to the unqualified active.
Description
The shared index shape with the standard envelope plus context and
rationale. States: active (initial, gated) to retired
(terminal). Maintainer decisions may link exemplifies toward the pattern they
instantiate, so the evidence for a pattern accumulates as links.
How it works
The gating rides the same single mechanism as block active and contribution
sent: entering a gated state as an assistant or automation takes
/proposed, and only a maintainer ratifies it. Baseline as of spec 1.1.0
(module-tier in 1.0.0); a populated 1.0.0 decision-support index is preserved as is by the
schema upgrade.
Generated view
Surfaced in the composed DECISIONS.md and the
DECISIONS.toml projection, plus the optional
PREFERENCE_PATTERN-INDEX.md mirror.
Value
Standing preferences that are explicit, ratified, and retireable, which helps reduce repeated clarification and helps prevent an assistant's own inference about "what the maintainer wants" from hardening into unratified policy.
Usage
- Created by:
opf init(empty index); records by maintainers directly, or by assistants as gated proposals. - Updated by: maintainer ratification; retirement when a preference no longer holds.
- Read by:
opf render(DECISIONS.md, DECISIONS.toml, the mirror);opf doctor(schema, gated-state legality).