Artifact Lifecycle

Knowledge moves through defined states. The promotion pipeline is the enforcement of these transitions. A state change happens only when its rule is met.

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Capture
    Capture --> Working: has potential value
    Capture --> Private: sensitive
    Working --> Reviewed: passes review with source refs
    Reviewed --> Evergreen: promoted and indexed
    Evergreen --> DecisionSupport: compiled into a decision artifact
    Working --> Archive: superseded
    Evergreen --> Archive: superseded by newer canonical
    Private --> [*]
    Archive --> [*]
    DecisionSupport --> Accepted: human validation
    Accepted --> [*]

Transition Rules

From	To	Rule
Capture	Working	The item has potential reuse value and a clear owner
Capture	Private	The item is sensitive and stays out of retrieval
Working	Reviewed	Source references are named and sensitivity is classified
Reviewed	Evergreen	Required metadata is present, the manifest is updated, the promotion log is written, and validation passes
Evergreen	DecisionSupport	The knowledge is compiled into a decision artifact with typed relationships
DecisionSupport	Accepted	The operator validates the artifact for its bounded use
Working or Evergreen	Archive	A newer canonical version supersedes it

Why The Gate Sits At Reviewed To Evergreen

Only Evergreen and beyond are eligible for default retrieval. That is the boundary that keeps raw and working material out of search. The heaviest gate sits exactly there, because that transition is the moment unproven material would otherwise become trusted, searchable knowledge.