Outcome Contract — Forge Proof Layer Upgrade

Outcome

Make the Proof Layer a mandatory, non-bypassable architectural gate with final authority over every claim, plus Evidence Grading and a Trust Score, applied to every Forge request.

Scope (in)

• Seven certification states; only the Proof Layer may assign CERTIFIED /

PRODUCTION_VALIDATED.

• Evidence Grade (A+..F) and Trust Score (0–100) computed from objective evidence.
• AUDITOR_CHALLENGE.md generated per outcome.
• A fail-closed gate (tools/forge-gate.mjs) gating deliver/publish/certify/

benchmark/commit.

• Public portfolio display of Functional/Verification/Proof Status, Evidence

Grade, Trust Score, disclosed seams, limitations, verification summary, and reproduction status.

• Policy encoded in .cursor/rules/ and docs/CURRENT_ARCHITECTURE.md.

Scope (out / seams)

• Grade A/A+ and PRODUCTION_VALIDATED require official benchmarks, independent

reproduction, and external validation — none of which exist in this environment, so those paths are defined but not exercised here.

• Verification exercises the tools against disposable fixtures and one real

existing outcome, not an exhaustive re-proof of every historical package.

Success criteria (MUST_PASS)

1. The Proof Layer engine emits Evidence Grade, Trust Score, Auditor Challenge,

decision, and scorecard for any outcome.

1. The gate permits honest delivery/publication, blocks unsupported

CERTIFIED/benchmark claims, and fails closed when the Proof Layer has not run.

1. The proof package is tamper-evident (checksum self-test detects edits).
2. The seven-state machine assigns the correct state for passing, unauthored,

and failing outcomes.

1. The portfolio publicly displays the nine mandatory proof fields.

Proof standard

PROOF_STANDARD = IRS_AUDITOR — software plus independently verifiable evidence.