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Teakowa merged 1 commit into from
Oct 19, 2026
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docs(principles): add source-text-is-the-truth #103

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1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions docs/principles/README.md
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Expand Up @@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ Read this index before starting a multi-step task. Open a principle file only wh
| [upstream-is-the-spec](upstream-is-the-spec.md) | OPY or DEL behavior could be "improved" away from the upstream compiler |
| [independent-authority](independent-authority.md) | the evidence that a change works comes from tests written with the change |
| [query-dont-encode](query-dont-encode.md) | guidance or docs are about to record counts, versions, or current status |
| [source-text-is-the-truth](source-text-is-the-truth.md) | a tool changes a project through a structured model instead of through text |

## Repository-local principles

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13 changes: 13 additions & 0 deletions docs/principles/source-text-is-the-truth.md
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# source-text-is-the-truth

**Applies when:** a structured view, an agent operation, or a tool changes a project through a model, such as statements, declarations, settings, or symbols, instead of through text.

**Principle:** Authored source text stays the only truth. Each structured change becomes a local, validated edit of that text. The owner of the language's emission produces the edit, and bytes outside it stay unchanged. No consumer composes source syntax itself.

**Changes the choice between:** building source text in a consumer from catalog spellings, or regenerating a whole file, and asking the owner for a checked local edit.

**Enforced by:** partly: owner source edits reject stale bytes, and edit-transaction revalidation rejects invalid results. Judgment decides who emits and how local an edit is.

**Why:** a second emitter drifts from canonical output in ways validation cannot see. Regenerating a whole file destroys the comments and formatting users wrote.

**Detail:** Wright [ADR-0029](https://github.com/wrightkit/wright/blob/main/docs/adr/0029-structured-statement-edits.md); Wright [tooling architecture, source edits](https://github.com/wrightkit/wright/blob/main/docs/architecture/tooling.md#source-edits); [owner-fixes-it](owner-fixes-it.md)