Kernel → vendor instruction projection

Last Verified: 2026-08-31

Status: Active debt / MVP in progress
Tracked: [REDACTED-ID]
Related: POL-ARCH-AGENT-STATE-EXPORT, POL-AGENT-001 (Kernel-First), POL-WORKFLOW-VDS

Problem

Updating Cursor .mdc (or other IDE rule files) by hand when kernel intent changes makes the vendor surface look like the authoring plane. That violates Knowledge Kernel primacy: ephemeral agents are clients; durable rules live as kernel objects (policy, glossary_term, etc.).

Contract

Role	What
SSOT	Kernel objects (+ portable profiles such as VDS spine YAML)
Export	Vendor instruction packs (`.cursor/rules/*.mdc`, future Claude/Agy packs)
Drift gate	Regenerated content must match on-disk export, or CI/agent check fails
Forbidden	Inventing policy prose only in `.mdc` without a kernel object

Inputs (examples)

POL-WORKFLOW-VDS (and peer policies)
Glossary by durable title (e.g. Verifiable Decomposition Spine (VDS)), not hardcoded GLS-*
Spine / customization profiles under docs/quality/

Outputs

Generated files with an explicit header: do not hand-edit body; re-run projector
Optional fingerprint / check mode for pre-commit or agents

MVP (first slice)

CLI (vendor-agnostic): zqk workflow vds project --provider <id> --write|--check
(--all, --list; default provider from config)

Config: docs/quality/verifiable_decomposition_customization.yaml → vendor_providers:

vendor_providers:
  default: cursor
  providers:
    - id: cursor
      format: cursor_mdc
      out: .cursor/rules/verifiable-decomposition-spine.mdc
    # - id: claude
    #   format: claude_md   # when renderer exists
    #   out: .claude/rules/vds.md

Do not add project-cursor / project-claude subcommands — only new format renderers in pkg/vds plus config rows.

Drift gate: scripts/check-vds-vendor-project.sh (zqk workflow vds project --all --check), wired into scripts/pre-commit-lint.sh. Skip: ZQK_SKIP_VDS_VENDOR_PROJECT=1.

Later slices: more formats, multi-policy packs, integrate with validate-agent-rules / context refresh.

Partial existing pieces

scripts/agent-protocol-context-refresh.sh → AGENT_CONTEXT_REFRESH.md (checklist, not full .mdc bodies)
zqk system validate-agent-rules (manifest file list, not content from POL)

Agent habit until complete

Prefer updating kernel objects + re-running the projector. If you must touch .mdc for non-projected rules, leave a TRACK: pointing at this BLI or a child item.