STAGE 0.6.9

Released: 2026-07-24

The plugin package version is 0.6.9. SPEC.md is method version 0.6.

Release Decision

This patch makes the installed project-map validator and repository snapshot helper, plus the repository-backed external-audit refresher, honor their target-read-only contract at the Git-index boundary.

No Safety Kernel obligation, project-map schema, normative method version, game runtime architecture, or visual-work route changes in this release.

What Changed

• Disable optional Git locks for every source-state observation used by the project-map validator, repository snapshot helper, and external-trial refresher.
• Disable Git's automatic diff index refresh explicitly. Git otherwise runs a silent update-index --refresh for stat-only working-tree changes even when optional locks are disabled.
• Add real-repository regressions that deliberately stale a tracked file's cached stat data, run each read-only operation, and compare the target .git/index bytes before and after.
• Document the target-index guarantee separately from the snapshot receipt's intentionally narrower Git source-state comparison claim.
• Record the installed-0.6.8 mapping probe: packaged validation succeeded, scoped snapshots matched, and a nested repository target failed closed.

Compatibility

• Project-map schemas remain at 0.1 and 0.3; no migration is required.
• stage_version and SPEC.md remain unchanged.
• The plugin still packages only stage-deliver-change and stage-map-project.
• Existing commands and their inputs remain compatible. The change removes an unintended Git-index side effect from operations already documented as read-only.
• Snapshot receipt scope and JSON shape remain unchanged. Use the same helper release for both receipts in one comparison.

Evidence

The release candidate passed 306 tests across 27 modules, every supported map and study, frozen compatibility fingerprints, the Solo Unity profile, repository links, structured-file validation, and diff hygiene. Direct skill and plugin validation passed independently.

Focused subprocess tests exercise canonical and installed-package copies of the project-map validator and snapshot helper. Three real-Git regressions cover index preservation for project-map validation, source capture, and external trial refresh. The regression setup advances tracked-file modification time without changing content, a state in which default git diff refreshes the index; each STAGE operation now leaves the exact index bytes unchanged.

Limitations

• Preventing STAGE's Git observations from refreshing the index does not prove that another process, editor, hook, or concurrent Git command left it unchanged.
• A source snapshot still covers only the fields declared in its receipt. Ignored files, most Git internals, filesystem metadata, and external tool state remain outside its source-state comparison claim.
• The read-only commands observe a live repository through multiple system calls. Matching consecutive observations reject detected races but do not lock the target or prove that no transient mutation occurred.
• Machine-valid paths and provenance do not establish that a project map is semantically complete, useful, or accepted by its owner.
• STAGE remains optimized first for the owner's personal workflow and does not claim independent adoption, empirical proof, or universal fit.