Init and governed reads

The /init protocol and the governed-reads discipline are the two foundational constraints that ensure Claude Code sessions interact correctly with the spec-spine governance surface.

The /init protocol

Every new Claude Code session should start with /init. The protocol:

1. Loads rules: reads orchestrator-rules.md, governed-artifact-reads.md, and adversarial-prompt-refusal.md.
2. Refreshes the registry: runs npx spec-spine compile (the registry shards are a per-clone local cache; recompiling is deterministic and guarantees lifecycle counts reflect the current specs/*/spec.md frontmatter).
3. Parallel reads: dispatches simultaneously:
   • CLAUDE.md, README.md, standards/spec/contract.md, standards/spec/constitution.md
   • npx spec-spine index check (staleness gate, non-fatal)
   • npx spec-spine registry status-report --json (lifecycle counts)
   • npx spec-spine registry list --json (spec inventory)
   • ls process/ contract/ adapters/ (the three governed layers)
   • ls docs/ (human-facing docs surface)
   • git log --oneline -10 and git diff --stat HEAD~1
4. Emits summary: an ## initialized: factory-encore block with layer overview, recent activity, and a ## lifecycle: sub-section from the status-report output.

Staleness handling

If npx spec-spine index check exits non-zero, the summary includes:

Codebase index: stale, run `npm run spec:index`

The session continues; staleness is non-fatal but visible.

CLI missing

If npx --no-install spec-spine --version fails, the protocol instructs the user to run npm install. It does not fall back to ad-hoc parsing of .derived/**/*.json.

Governed reads

The governed-reads rule applies to every orchestrated workflow (skills, agents, and the init protocol). Interactive, exploratory tool use answering a user question is not bound by this rule.

The principle

Compiled artifacts under .derived/** MUST be read through the spec-spine CLI, never via ad-hoc parsers.

Why

The .derived/ tree is a compiled cache. Its internal structure (JSON shards, naming conventions, nesting) is an implementation detail of the spec-spine CLI that may change between versions. Reading it through the CLI ensures:

• Consumers are insulated from internal format changes.
• The CLI can validate, filter, and format output consistently.
• No workflow accidentally depends on an undocumented internal layout.

Available CLI verbs

Need	Command
List all specs	npx spec-spine registry list [--json]
Show one spec	npx spec-spine registry show <id> [--json]
Lifecycle counts	npx spec-spine registry status-report [--json]
Dependency graph	npx spec-spine registry relationships <id> [--json]
Index freshness	npx spec-spine index check
Compile registry	npx spec-spine compile
Lint corpus	npx spec-spine lint [--fail-on-warn]
Coupling gate	npx spec-spine couple --base <ref> [--head <ref>] [--pr-body <file>]
Build index	npx spec-spine index

What to do when a verb is missing

If a legitimate workflow query has no corresponding CLI verb, the correct path is to request it from the spec-spine project, not to work around it with python, jq, awk, or sed.

Relationship to the constitution

Governed reads implement Constitution Principle 5:

Governed reads. Orchestrated workflows read derived artifacts only through spec-spine verbs — never by ad-hoc JSON parsing.

And are enforced by the factory kernel (spec 000, FR-001):

The spec corpus under specs/ MUST compile to a deterministic registry (spec-spine compile).