semantic_strictness_decision.md

Decision: Default Semantic Strictness Level

Date: 2025-12-15

Summary:

• We enable SEMANTIC_STRICTNESS_LEVEL_1 by default to improve early detection of malformed or incomplete DSL specifications.
• Level 1 enforces that sections is a non-empty array.

Rationale:

• sections is required by the DSL schema and its absence/emptiness leads to ambiguous checklist/plan generation.
• Enabling Level 1 provides meaningful correctness without requiring full semantic mapping.

Backward compatibility:

• Default behavior can be disabled with SEMANTIC_STRICTNESS_DISABLED=1 to preserve older workflows.
• Higher levels remain opt-in via SEMANTIC_STRICTNESS_LEVEL_N=1 environment flags.

Auditing:

• The engine attaches semantic_strictness_policy to summary.json and manifest for explainability.
• Validation errors include deterministic codes and JSON Pointer locations.