Slice 68 - Public Beta Gate Audit

Date: 2026-06-30

Scope#

Review the public beta gate against current evidence and make the result recoverable for future agents.

Finding#

docs/python-port/public-release-readiness.md already listed the beta gates, but it did not say which gates were ready, which needed a final rerun, and which still needed product-quality dogfood. That made "release review" a repeated conversation instead of a durable artifact.

Decision#

docs/python-port/public-beta-gate-audit.md is now the gate-by-gate release audit. It records status, evidence, and remaining risk for each public beta gate. The current conclusion is:

• most local product gates are covered by tests, clean-install proof, browser proof, and live dogfood;
• public beta should still wait for a current-head package rehearsal;
• public beta should still wait for one more real lifecycle dogfood pass against a non-toy project source shape.

Guard#

tests/test_public_contract.py now compares the first-column gate areas in public-release-readiness.md with the first-column audit areas in public-beta-gate-audit.md. Adding, removing, or renaming a public beta gate now requires updating the audit.

Cosmic Python Note#

Chapter 10 distinguishes commands from events: commands capture intent, go to one handler, and fail noisily when they cannot be completed. The transfer here is release-process shape. The public beta gate is a command-like checklist, not a loose event log. It needs a single audited outcome for each gate, and missing coverage should fail a test rather than silently becoming stale prose.