ζ-Q21 LOCKED χ.η ★ — Cross-tier serialisation contract (2026-05-05T07:00 BST)

Decision

Locked option: χ.η ★ — Composable wire-format matrix locked Day-1.

Bundle composition (consumes 6 prior cascade locks Day-1):

  • T1→T2 boundary: LinkML 1.10 multi-generator emission (6 generators: json-schema + pydantic + typescript + jsonld + python-dataclass + sqla) from canonical YAML source-of-truth
  • T2↔T3 boundary: JSON-LD canonical per Q-009 ι.ε (TT-hosted bespoke inherit.testate.tech IRI-deref)
  • Outbound testator/witness/executor credentials: SD-JWT VC primary + JOSE/COSE alternative + DI Proofs fallback per Q-015 λ.η
  • AI-agent surface: MCP Streamable HTTP transport per A-NEW-T-CROSS-12 (SSE deprecated mid-2026; Cloudflare Code Mode SDK 2-tools search+execute ~1,000 tokens)
  • Metadata pinning: SSSOM 1.1 extension_definitions YAML metadata (ext_inherit_tier + ext_iri_verified_date) preserved across every wire format per Q-014 V5+
  • HTTP boundaries: content-negotiation Accept-header (default application/ld+json; alternatives application/json / application/vc+sd-jwt / application/json-rpc+stream)
  • Visualisation: W3C Render Method Phase-1.5+ trigger event-driven on (i) W3C-Rec landed Sept 2026 target + (ii) commercial demand from partner firms

Sub-clarifications locked (8)

  1. t1_to_t2_wire_format — LinkML 1.10 multi-gen 6 generators
  2. t2_to_t3_canonical — JSON-LD per Q-009 ι.ε
  3. outbound_vc_serialisation — SD-JWT VC primary per Q-015 λ.η
  4. ai_agent_surface — MCP Streamable HTTP per A-NEW-T-CROSS-12
  5. metadata_pinning — SSSOM 1.1 extension_definitions per Q-014 V5+
  6. content_negotiation_pattern — HTTP Accept-header at every cross-tier boundary
  7. render_method_phase_1_5_trigger — event-driven on W3C-Rec + commercial demand
  8. spike_s1_deferred_lockable — LinkML 1.10 multi-gen E2E test deferred to Phase-1 implementation

Numbers

  • Wsum: 4.86 (margin 0.43 ROBUST over χ.ζ runner-up 4.43; above 0.20 robust threshold)
  • Sensitivity: 6/8 perturbations favour χ.η — #1 (c8 Paul-time ×2) χ.γ borderline reversal; #7 (c12 reversal-readiness ×2) χ.η/χ.γ tied 0.07; #8 (A-25 stress-test forces W3C-Rec lock) χ.ζ forced winner
  • 8-option set: χ.α through χ.θ including χ.α frozen devil’s-advocate + χ.θ aspirational devil’s-advocate + χ.η bold-synthesis 9th option

Cost rows (£K)

  • R1 Phase-1 build: 14-20
  • R2 Phase-1 timeline (mo): ~7
  • R3 Y1 run-cost: 2.5/yr
  • R4 Y2+ uplift: 2-4
  • R5 5y cumulative no-uplift: 26.5-32.5
  • R6 5y cumulative acquirer-ready: 28.5-36.5

SPIKE-CANDIDATE SCAN

Lock-BLOCKING (1): S1 — LinkML 1.10 multi-generator end-to-end pipeline test on Q-003 v1.10 9-asset-class baseline. Verify roundtrip preserves annotations + extension_definitions + ext_iri_verified_date metadata across 6 generators. Cost 1-4h. Deferred to Phase-1 implementation time per sub_clarifications_locked spike_s1_deferred_lockable; if S1 reveals annotation-drop, χ.η degrades to χ.γ at +£0 marginal.

Lock-DEFERABLE (2):

  • D1 — Render Method Sept 2026 W3C-Rec timeline check (½ day)
  • D2 — MCP Streamable HTTP transport benchmark vs gRPC at scale (1 day)

Substrate context

  • Q-019 ε.ζ TIMING locked 2026-05-05T06:27 — orthogonal architectural axis to Q-021 (Q-019 WHEN substrates fire; Q-021 WHAT crosses substrate boundaries)
  • META-Q Q-020 implicitly locked ω.β CONTINUE Phase 2 — Rich’s directive “carry on with more questions” + “extremely high levels of detail” → Q-020 number reserved for META-Q formal lock-cascade housekeeping (deferred)
  • TWELFTH consecutive bold-synthesis lock: Q-006 + Q-007 + Q-008 + Q-009 + Q-010 + Q-011 + Q-012 + Q-013 + Q-014 + Q-015 + Q-019 + Q-021 — pattern reinforced 12×
  • THIRTEENTH refined-prompt-era ζ.2 lock: Q-005 + Q-006..Q-015 + Q-019 + Q-021
  • TWELVE Q-locks in ~10.5h since 2026-05-04T20:10 BST σ.η-on-demand — sustained cadence
  • SECOND v3.11 production use validated (Q-019 was first; Q-021 Harvard-depth uniform default applied)
  • Phase 2 17/18-30 = 57-94% complete — approaching mid-band closure inflection

Cascade artefacts

  • arch-state v3.55 → v3.56 §4 lastmod prose row landed
  • INDEX.md v2.22 → v2.23: asked 16 → 17 + answered 16 → 17 + placeholder stays 5
  • Q-021 cascade-Q file: docs/superpowers/specs/2026-04-29-multi-phase-audit/answered-questions/Q-021-zeta-cross-tier-serialisation-contract-locked.md v1.0 (NEW; not graduated from Q-NU placeholder; framed fresh in Q-019 lock-cascade response)
  • This memory file
  • MEMORY.md index entry inserted at line 2
  • active-work-log entry prepended (chronological-newest-at-top)
  • A-NEW-T-CROSS-12 (MCP Streamable HTTP) + A-NEW-T-CROSS-13 (Cloudflare Code Mode) move from “pending adjudication” toward Day-1 commitment via Q-021 χ.η bundle

Forward-traceability

This Q is load-bearing for:

  • Phase 3 ω.γ-W Wills + ω.γ-P Probate + ω.γ-A Assets module authoring (SDK code-gen contracts)
  • Phase-1 Sprint S2 production InheritKit SDK build
  • Phase-1 Sprint S3 IAS authoring surface (T3 canonical wire format for partner-firm import + export)
  • Phase-1.5+ Render Method activation
  • Acquirer-DD package §4 standards-engagement evidence
  • Phase 5 closure-prep — all CI gates compose against the wire formats Q-021 locks (next Q-022 frame depends on this)

Next

Q-022 — Phase-1 gate sequence dependency (A-21 27-gate fire-order; CI pipeline architecture). Depends on Q-021 χ.η since gates fire at serialisation boundaries. Per dep-map ranking: this is highest-knock-on after Q-021. Frame under refined-prompt v3.11 Harvard-depth uniform default + SPIKE-CANDIDATE SCAN sections.

Remaining queue (3 after Q-022): #3 κ.θ AHP weights (richard-task #205; externalised); #4 Catala Phase-1.5+ formal-verif activation trigger META-Q; #5 Faith-tradition Phase-1.5+ wave-1 trigger META-Q (R-034).