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Signal Rail does not route by convenience. It routes by nature, stability, and authority. This discipline exists because the most common document failures are not caused by missing material — they are caused by material landing in the wrong level. A strong sentence becomes a decision. A live blocker becomes project identity. A temporary solution becomes freeze. A hypothesis enters current work before it has earned its place. Signal Rail prevents each of these by requiring the agent to close what a unit is before deciding where it belongs.

The Routing Order

Routing always follows the same three-step sequence. Later steps cannot be taken before earlier ones are closed.
1

Close what the unit IS

Identify the nature of the material. Is it project identity? A hard constraint? A live working line? A taken decision? An unresolved idea? Technical topology? Continuity only?
2

Close how STABLE it is

Determine whether the material is settled enough to promote. Has it already won against a real alternative? Is it already guiding live work? Or is it still mobile and unresolved?
3

Close where it BELONGS

Once nature and stability are both closed, identify the correct canonical destination. Only then is promotion safe.

Level Destination Rules

What the unit isDestination
Project identity01_orientation.txt
Hard-to-reopen constant02_protocol_freeze.txt
Current live work03_master_working.txt
Already-won decision in effect04_decision_log.txt
Live unresolved material05_latent_ideas.txt
Technical topology / safe entry surface08_surface_map.txt
Continuity / restart support09_handoff_reentry.txt
Useful but not active98_parking.txt
Closed / historical99_archive.txt

Non-Promotion Rules

These are hard boundaries. None of these conditions authorize promotion:
  • Clarity is not authority. A unit that is clearly written does not earn a higher canonical level.
  • Strength is not promotion. A strong, confident sentence is not a decision.
  • A summary is not a source. Derived or condensed material does not carry source authority.
  • A strong sentence is not a decision. Only lines already in effect and already won against a real alternative belong in 04.
  • An elegant structure is not freeze. Well-organized material is not the same as a hard-to-reopen identity constant.
  • A plausible line is not live work. A line that could guide work is not the same as a line that already is.
  • If destination is not closed enough, do not force promotion.

Safe Hold

If material is still live but unresolved — it matters, but it has not earned a destination yet — hold it in 05_latent_ideas.txt. It is better to delay routing than to force wrong promotion. 05 is not permanent archive. It is a governed holding space for material that is still in motion. Entries may be unearthed at any time and absorbed, parked, or left alive as the project evolves.

Classify Units, Not Files

Routing classifies internal units, not whole files. A single file can contain material with multiple different correct destinations. The agent must separate file role from content role before classification. If a working document contains both a live work line and a candidate freeze constant, those are two separate units that must be classified independently before either is promoted. Do not merge contents with different destinations into the same summary.

What Signal Rail Prevents

Failure Signal Rail blocks
A strong sentence becoming a decision
A live blocker becoming project identity
A temporary solution becoming freeze
A hypothesis entering current work too early
A handoff note becoming canonical truth
A technical map becoming orientation
A clean rewrite becoming less true than the messy source
A deployed instance being mistaken for the host project

Convergence vs. Divergence

Every session must report whether the task converged or remained divergent. If converged: promote the material to the right file, or state explicitly why it still remains in 05_latent_ideas.txt rather than being promoted. If divergent: declare divergence, propose the Minimally Viable Path, and do not promote. If more than one valid path remains, do not force a route. Before promoting any structurally strong unit, test one realistic failure condition. If that failure condition breaks the unit’s claim to the destination, do not promote. If no realistic failure condition breaks it, confidence in its strongest plausible level increases.

Host Canonical Files Describe the Host Project

In host canonical files (01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 08), describe the host project by default — not Signal Rail. Mention Signal Rail only if it clarifies governance, current live work, or if the host project itself is Signal Rail.

Core Concepts

Understand the canonical levels, authority model, and what keeps each rail distinct.

Latent Ideas Rail

Learn how 05_latent_ideas.txt holds live unresolved material safely until it is ready to route.

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