fix(gates): gate on the DEED grammar, per the template and standards#837

[hyperpolymath]

Why

The guard in dogfood-gate.yml counted .a2ml files only:

COUNT=$(find . -name '*.a2ml' -not -path './.git/*' | wc -l)

so a repo whose manifest is written in the current grammar is reported as having none, and the
summary/compliance row is skipped by the same predicate (if find . -name '*.a2ml' ... | grep -q .).
The validator itself has scanned both grammars for a while -- the caller's predicate is the bug.

Authority

• rsr-template-repo/.github/workflows/deed-validate.yml (the mint source) is what this wording is
  copied from, byte for byte, including -type f-free find and the dual-accept stance.
• standards#837 — "DEED conversion campaign", campaign step 4: *"flip ... RSR gates from .a2ml
  presence to .deed presence alongside". Gate predicates, not document contents.
• deed-ecosystem/README.adoc: "The DEED format name and .deed extension are final, not A2ML."

Deliberately not done

• No .a2ml file is translated or renamed. #837 makes classification into the four DEED forms and
  per-family mapping specs a prerequisite for mass translation; that is not this PR.
• No gate that reads a retained file is touched (CLAIMS.a2ml, .machine_readable/Debtfile.a2ml,
  contractiles/INDEX.a2ml); rewriting those would fail gates that currently pass.
• No job-id or shell-var renames (a2ml-validate, A2ML_COUNT): they are referenced from needs:
  and ${{ needs.*.outputs }}. The Checks-UI label is updated, as it has no references.

Estate-wide .deed gate convergence, 2026-09-21. Script: estate-audit/engine/deed_gate_migration.py.

[coderabbitai]

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ℹ️ Recent review info

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• .github/workflows/dogfood-gate.yml

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• GitHub Check: scan / gitleaks
• GitHub Check: scan / shell-secrets
• GitHub Check: scan / rust-secrets
• GitHub Check: governance / Exemption ratchet
• GitHub Check: governance / Well-Known (RFC 9116 + RSR)
• GitHub Check: governance / Debt ratchet
• GitHub Check: governance / Live Actions policy (credentialed advisory)
• GitHub Check: governance / Trusted-base reduction policy
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• GitHub Check: governance / Code quality + docs
• GitHub Check: governance / Guix packaging policy (Nix retired)
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• GitHub Check: hypatia / Hypatia Neurosymbolic Analysis
• GitHub Check: analyze (actions, none)
• GitHub Check: docs
• GitHub Check: Validate DEED manifests
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🔇 Additional comments (1)

.github/workflows/dogfood-gate.yml (1)

26-26: LGTM!

Also applies to: 36-36, 39-39, 56-56, 58-58, 63-63, 105-105, 256-256, 302-302

---

📝 Summary

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Repository validation now recognises .deed files alongside legacy .a2ml manifests.
  • Dogfood scorecards now include .deed files when checking repository compliance.

• Improvements

  • Validation and scorecard messages now use clearer DEED and K9 terminology.
  • Updated summaries and warnings provide more accurate guidance when manifests or contracts are missing.

Walkthrough

The dogfood workflow now recognises .deed files as manifests alongside legacy .a2ml files. It updates validation messages, scorecard detection, scorecard labels, and an unrelated K9 contract warning.

Changes

DEED manifest validation

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Manifest validation and scorecard updates .github/workflows/dogfood-gate.yml	The workflow detects .deed and .a2ml files, reports repo deed requirements, updates the validation job name, and corrects K9 contract wording. The scorecard detects .deed files and labels the entry as a DEED repo deed.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~5 minutes

Change: Bug fix

Suggested reviewers: metadatastician

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly describes the main change: updating the gates to use the DEED grammar. It is concise and relevant.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description explains the .deed and .a2ml detection change, its authority, and the deliberate scope limits. It directly relates to the changeset.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 0 functions across 0…
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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_{A rabbit checks the deed in place
.deed files join the race
Old .a2ml paths remain
K9 warnings speak plain
The scorecard hops ahead gracely}

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud