# DevTrail - Documentation Governance Rules
> **This file is automatically managed by DevTrail CLI.**
> Read and follow these rules when working on this project.
> For complete rules: `.devtrail/00-governance/AGENT-RULES.md`
---
## Governance Context
These rules operationalize **ISO/IEC 42001:2023** (AI Management System) — DevTrail's vertebral standard. Following them produces documented evidence compatible with:
- **EU AI Act** (Regulation 2024/1689) — risk classification, transparency, incident reporting
- **NIST AI RMF 1.0 + 600-1** — risk management functions and generative AI risk profiles
- **GDPR** — data protection impact assessments and privacy safeguards
> See `AI-GOVERNANCE-POLICY.md` for the full ISO 42001 Annex A control mapping.
---
## 1. Fundamental Principle
> **"No significant change without a documented trace."**
---
## 2. Language Configuration
Check `.devtrail/config.yml` for the project's language setting:
```yaml
language: en # Options: en, es (default: en)
```
**Template paths based on language:**
| `en` (default) | `.devtrail/templates/TEMPLATE-*.md` |
| `es` | `.devtrail/templates/i18n/es/TEMPLATE-*.md` |
If the config file doesn't exist or `language` is not set, use English (`en`) as default.
---
## 3. Documentation Reporting
At the end of each task, you MUST report your DevTrail documentation status:
**If you created documentation:**
```
DevTrail: Created AILOG-2025-01-27-001-implement-auth.md
```
**If documentation was not needed:**
```
DevTrail: No documentation required (minor change / below complexity threshold)
```
**If you should have documented but didn't:**
```
DevTrail: Documentation pending - review required
```
This transparency helps users verify compliance with DevTrail rules.
---
## 4. Agent Identity
When working on this project:
- **Identify yourself** with your platform and version (e.g., `claude-code-v1.0`, `gemini-cli-v1.0`, `copilot-cli-v1.0`)
- **Declare** your confidence level in decisions: `high | medium | low`
- **Record** your identification in the `agent:` field of the metadata
---
## 5. Git Operations
> **CRITICAL: Never commit directly to `main` branch.**
All changes must go through feature/fix branches and Pull Requests.
### Branch Prefixes
| `feature/` or `feat/` | New features |
| `fix/` | Bug fixes |
| `hotfix/` | Urgent production fixes |
| `docs/` | Documentation only |
| `refactor/` | Code refactoring |
| `test/` | Test changes |
### Conventional Commits
| `feat:` | New feature |
| `fix:` | Bug fix |
| `docs:` | Documentation only |
| `refactor:` | No behavior change |
| `chore:` | Maintenance |
### Quick Workflow
```bash
git checkout main && git pull origin main
git checkout -b fix/descriptive-name
# ... make changes and commits ...
git push -u origin fix/descriptive-name
gh pr create --title "fix: description" --body "..."
```
> **Full details:** `.devtrail/00-governance/GIT-BRANCHING-STRATEGY.md`
---
## 6. When to Document
### MANDATORY (create document)
| Code complexity above threshold | Create AILOG — run `devtrail analyze <files> --output json`; fallback: >20 lines |
| Decision between technical alternatives | Create AIDEC |
| Changes in auth/authorization/PII | Create AILOG (`risk_level: high`) + ETH draft |
| Changes in public API or DB schema | Create AILOG + consider ADR |
| Changes in ML models or AI prompts | Create AILOG + human review |
| Security-critical dependency changes | Create AILOG + human review |
| OTel instrumentation changes | Create AILOG + tag `observabilidad` |
### DO NOT DOCUMENT
- Trivial changes (whitespace, typos, formatting)
- Sensitive information (credentials, tokens, API keys)
---
## 7. File Naming Convention
```
[TYPE]-[YYYY-MM-DD]-[NNN]-[description].md
```
**Example**: `AILOG-2025-01-27-001-implement-oauth.md`
---
## 8. Minimum Metadata
```yaml
---
id: AILOG-2026-03-25-001
title: Brief description
status: accepted
created: 2026-03-25
agent: your-agent-id-v1.0
risk_level: low | medium | high | critical
tags: [oauth, authentication, api]
related:
- ADR-2026-01-20-001-use-jwt-tokens.md
# Optional regulatory fields (activate by context):
# eu_ai_act_risk: not_applicable
# nist_genai_risks: []
# iso_42001_clause: []
# observability_scope: none
---
```
### Tags
- Use **kebab-case** keywords: `sqlite`, `api-design`, `gnome-integration`
- 3 to 8 tags per document — describe topic, technology, or component
- Tags enable search and categorization in `devtrail explore`
### Related
- Reference other **DevTrail documents** by filename (with `.md`): `AILOG-2025-01-27-001-implement-oauth.md`
- For documents in subdirectories, include path from `.devtrail/`: `07-ai-audit/agent-logs/daemon/AILOG-2026-02-03-001-file.md`
- For documents in the same directory, filename alone is sufficient
- **Do not** use task IDs, issue numbers, or URLs — those go in the document body
---
## 9. Autonomy Limits
| **AILOG** | Create freely | — |
| **AIDEC** | Create freely | — |
| **SBOM** | Create freely | — |
| **ETH** | Create draft | Approval |
| **ADR** | Create draft | Review |
| **SEC** | Create draft | Approval (always) |
| **MCARD** | Create draft | Approval (always) |
| **DPIA** | Create draft | Approval (always) |
| **REQ** | Propose | Validation |
| **TES** | Propose | Validation |
| **INC** | Contribute analysis | Conclusions |
| **TDE** | Identify | Prioritize |
---
## 10. Documentation Map
> **IMPORTANT**: This is the complete project structure.
> Not everything is loaded in this session, but any document can be accessed when needed.
```
.devtrail/
├── 00-governance/ ← POLICIES AND RULES
│ ├── PRINCIPLES.md # Project guiding principles
│ ├── DOCUMENTATION-POLICY.md # Complete documentation policy
│ ├── AGENT-RULES.md # Detailed rules for AI agents
│ └── exceptions/ # Documented exceptions
│
├── 01-requirements/ ← REQUIREMENTS (REQ)
│ └── [REQ-*.md] # System requirements
│
├── 02-design/ ← DESIGN
│ └── decisions/ # ADRs (Architecture Decision Records)
│ └── [ADR-*.md]
│
├── 03-implementation/ ← IMPLEMENTATION GUIDES
│ └── [technical guides]
│
├── 04-testing/ ← TESTING (TES)
│ └── [TES-*.md] # Test strategies and plans
│
├── 05-operations/ ← OPERATIONS
│ ├── [runbooks]
│ └── incidents/ # Post-mortems (INC)
│ └── [INC-*.md]
│
├── 06-evolution/ ← EVOLUTION
│ └── technical-debt/ # Technical debt (TDE)
│ └── [TDE-*.md]
│
├── 07-ai-audit/ ← AI AGENT AUDIT
│ ├── agent-logs/ # Action logs (AILOG)
│ │ └── [AILOG-*.md]
│ ├── decisions/ # Agent decisions (AIDEC)
│ │ └── [AIDEC-*.md]
│ └── ethical-reviews/ # Ethical reviews (ETH, DPIA)
│ └── [ETH-*.md]
│
├── 08-security/ ← SECURITY ASSESSMENTS (SEC)
│ └── [SEC-*.md]
│
├── 09-ai-models/ ← AI MODEL CARDS (MCARD)
│ └── [MCARD-*.md]
│
├── templates/ ← TEMPLATES (12 types)
│
└── QUICK-REFERENCE.md ← 1-page quick reference
```
---
## 11. When to Load Additional Documents
| Going to create an AILOG | `.devtrail/templates/TEMPLATE-AILOG.md` |
| Going to create an AIDEC | `.devtrail/templates/TEMPLATE-AIDEC.md` |
| Going to create an ADR | `.devtrail/templates/TEMPLATE-ADR.md` |
| Going to create a REQ | `.devtrail/templates/TEMPLATE-REQ.md` |
| Questions about naming or metadata | `.devtrail/00-governance/DOCUMENTATION-POLICY.md` |
| Questions about autonomy limits | `.devtrail/00-governance/AGENT-RULES.md` |
| Need to see existing requirements | List `.devtrail/01-requirements/` |
| Need to see existing ADRs | List `.devtrail/02-design/decisions/` |
| Need to see technical debt | List `.devtrail/06-evolution/technical-debt/` |
---
## 12. Workflow
```
1. EVALUATE if the change requires documentation (see section 6)
|
v
2. LOAD the corresponding template (see section 11)
|
v
3. CREATE the document with correct naming
[TYPE]-[YYYY-MM-DD]-[NNN]-[description].md
|
v
4. If risk_level: high/critical or confidence: low
-> Mark review_required: true
```
---
## 13. Quick Type Reference
| Prefix | Name | Location |
|--------|------|----------|
| `AILOG` | AI Action Log | `.devtrail/07-ai-audit/agent-logs/` |
| `AIDEC` | AI Decision | `.devtrail/07-ai-audit/decisions/` |
| `ETH` | Ethical Review | `.devtrail/07-ai-audit/ethical-reviews/` |
| `ADR` | Architecture Decision Record | `.devtrail/02-design/decisions/` |
| `REQ` | Requirement | `.devtrail/01-requirements/` |
| `TES` | Test Plan | `.devtrail/04-testing/` |
| `INC` | Incident Post-mortem | `.devtrail/05-operations/incidents/` |
| `TDE` | Technical Debt | `.devtrail/06-evolution/technical-debt/` |
| `SEC` | Security Assessment | `.devtrail/08-security/` |
| `MCARD` | Model/System Card | `.devtrail/09-ai-models/` |
| `SBOM` | Software Bill of Materials | `.devtrail/07-ai-audit/` |
| `DPIA` | Data Protection Impact Assessment | `.devtrail/07-ai-audit/ethical-reviews/` |
---
## 14. Regulatory Alignment
DevTrail is aligned with the following standards and regulations:
| Standard | Role in DevTrail | Key Documents |
|----------|-----------------|---------------|
| **ISO/IEC 42001:2023** | Vertebral standard — AI Management System | AI-GOVERNANCE-POLICY.md |
| **EU AI Act** | Risk classification, incident reporting, transparency | ETH, INC, AILOG regulatory fields |
| **NIST AI RMF / 600-1** | Risk management, 12 GenAI risk categories | ETH, AILOG |
| **ISO/IEC 25010:2023** | Software quality model (9 characteristics) | REQ, ADR |
| **ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2018** | Requirements engineering | REQ |
| **ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-3:2021** | Software testing documentation | TES |
| **GDPR** | Data protection and privacy | ETH (Data Privacy) |
| **OpenTelemetry** | Observability (optional, complementary) | Tag `observabilidad` |
| **C4 Model** | Architecture visualization in ADR documents | ADR (Mermaid diagrams) |
> **Reference**: See `AI-GOVERNANCE-POLICY.md` for the full ISO 42001 Annex A mapping to DevTrail documents.
---
## Directive Injection Markers
DevTrail uses HTML comment markers to manage injected content in agent configuration files (CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, .cursorrules, etc.):
```html
<!-- devtrail:begin -->
... managed content ...
<!-- devtrail:end -->
```
- Content between these markers is managed by `devtrail init`, `update`, and `repair`
- Do not remove or modify these markers manually — they are required for safe updates
- If markers are missing from a target file, DevTrail appends the content block at the end
---
*DevTrail | [GitHub](https://github.com/StrangeDaysTech/devtrail)*
*[Strange Days Tech](https://strangedays.tech) — Because every change tells a story.*