Apply GH-DEC-2026-017: declare layer Staff, make layer.yaml derived, answer the section 4 question.

gate-house ruled the section 3 vocabulary closed at four case-insensitive
tokens and named Staff (role pep-shaped unchanged). Both files were changed
the same day, as this repository had committed to. INTENT.md now governs.
layer.yaml is marked derived from INTENT.md and carries no standard or
companion version. The reasoning behind `surface` stays in layer.yaml as
history.

INFD-IN-0006 is closed. INFD-IN-0007 asks once more how section 3.4's Staff
definition fits a deterministic, non-agentic, evidence-holding repository.
It is a question only: nothing waits on it.

Section 4 answer: yes, as a Staff / pep-shaped / evidence-source row. The
emission guarantee is owed per event class: presentation (volume),
disposition (rare), stance-application (rare). See
docs/section-4-catalog-row.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Assistant: claude-code
Assistant-Model: opus
Assistant-Process: 63291@bnt-lap001
Assistant-Session: 8bd77868-ca68-4f49-bb1e-d539ecc0d703

INTENT.md

@@ -6,9 +6,24 @@ intent_version: 0.1.0
 date: "2026-09-09"
 domain: infotech
 topic_slug: netkingdom
-layer: surface
-role: pep-shaped          # confirmed by GH-DEC-2026-012; see layer.yaml
-standard: net-kingdom/canon/standards/security-layer-model_v0.7.md
+# NetKingdom security layer declaration (security-layer-model §11).
+# THIS FRONTMATTER IS THE DECLARATION. GH-DEC-2026-017 §1 rules that INTENT.md
+# governs and that `layer.yaml` is a DERIVED artifact which must agree with it.
+#
+# `layer: surface` stood here from 2026-09-09 to 2026-09-21. GH-DEC-2026-017 §3
+# ruled the §3 vocabulary closed at four tokens — Taxonomy, Tooling, Engine,
+# Staff — and named Staff for this repository. Changed the same day, without
+# argument, as this repository pre-committed in
+# docs/gate-house-decision-request-layer-vocabulary.md §3. The reasoning that
+# produced `surface` is kept as history in layer.yaml; it is not erased.
+#
+# No standard version is carried, per GH-DEC-2026-017 §5 / A12: this declares a
+# standing property, and a version here would read as a validity condition that
+# every revision of the standard invalidated. Version-scoped state belongs in
+# the derived conformance record.
+layer: Staff
+role: pep-shaped          # §6.4 shape, confirmed by GH-DEC-2026-012 R1; a role is not a layer
+standard: net-kingdom/canon/standards/   # the body, unversioned on purpose
 companion: net-kingdom/SECURITY-COMPANION.md
 ---
 
@@ -186,21 +201,61 @@ not failure** — a memo sent back for improvement is the surface working.
 
 ## Layer Placement — Ruled
 
-**PEP-shaped**, confirmed by `GH-DEC-2026-012` (answering `INFD-IN-0001`).
-Not an Engine: this repository holds no state another layer reads at runtime for
-a verdict, and renders no decision. Companion §5 is owed and statute §6.4
-applies in full. The declaration is `layer.yaml`, in this repository's own voice
-— a layer someone else states about you is not a declaration.
+**Layer: `Staff`. Role: PEP-shaped.** Both are ruled.
 
-The **shape** is ruled; the **layer value** is open. `GH-DEC-2026-012` R1 left
-the layer to this repository to declare, and `surface` was written by
-elimination — the presentation-and-binding tier, the runtime a human touches.
-§3 of the model does not enumerate it, which the custodian's estate-wide sweep
-surfaced on 2026-09-21. This repository holds that `surface` names a real tier
-§3 omits, and will change the value without argument if `gate-house` rules the
-vocabulary closed and names which of the four applies. Open as `INFD-IN-0006`;
-the argument is `docs/gate-house-decision-request-layer-vocabulary.md`. The
-frontmatter value is unchanged pending that ruling, on purpose.
+The **shape** was ruled by `GH-DEC-2026-012` R1 (answering `INFD-IN-0001`): not
+an Engine — this repository holds no state another layer reads at runtime for a
+verdict, and renders no decision. Companion §5 is owed and statute §6.4 applies
+in full.
+
+The **layer value** was ruled by `GH-DEC-2026-017` §3 (answering `INFD-IN-0006`)
+on 2026-09-21. §3's vocabulary is **closed** and has four tokens — `Taxonomy`,
+`Tooling`, `Engine`, `Staff`; comparison is ASCII case-insensitive and nobody is
+asked to re-spell anything. `surface` is not among them, and the correct value
+here is `Staff`, with `role: pep-shaped` untouched. `ops-mason` and `ops-warden`
+are the precedent: Staff in the layer column, PEP-shaped in the role column.
+
+This repository had pre-committed to changing both files the same day, without
+argument, if the vocabulary was ruled closed and a value was named
+(`docs/gate-house-decision-request-layer-vocabulary.md` §3). It did. **The
+reasoning that produced `surface` is not erased** — it is kept as history in
+`layer.yaml`, because a value written by elimination against a vocabulary that
+turned out to be closed is evidence about the vocabulary, not carelessness.
+
+Two things follow, and are recorded rather than argued:
+
+- **`informed-decision` was never a §11 non-conformance.** §11's obligations
+  attach to estate-authored repositories **in §4**, and this repository holds no
+  §4 catalog row. `GH-DEC-2026-017` §4 states that a run which grades it is
+  over-scoped, and requires every conformance run to state its scope. The
+  correct report is *declared voluntarily, outside catalog scope; value not in
+  the vocabulary, correction identified*. The correction was this repository's
+  to make and it made it.
+- **The declaration's form changed too.** `INTENT.md` frontmatter **governs**;
+  `layer.yaml` is a **derived artifact** that must be marked derived, must name
+  `INTENT.md` as what it derives from, and must agree with it
+  (`GH-DEC-2026-017` §1 / A11). A declaration carries **no standard version**
+  (§5 / A12), so the `standard_version: "0.7"` this repository flagged is gone.
+  `ops-warden` owns the reference sidecar form and is updating it; this
+  repository applied the two ruled properties and follows that form for the rest.
+
+One thing the ruling did **not** settle, carried as `INFD-IN-0007` rather than
+treated as settled: §3.4 says Staff *"MUST NOT hold state that another layer
+depends on at runtime"*, and this repository's presentation records are exactly
+state `audit-core` depends on. The ruling reaches `Staff` by elimination — not
+Engine per `GH-DEC-2026-012` R1, and nothing else in the four is true — which is
+the same route this repository walked, and it gives the value. It does not say
+how a deterministic, non-agentic repository that holds evidentiary state sits
+inside the layer defined by non-determinism and agentic capability. **The value
+is applied regardless**; the question is asked for the next repository in this
+position, not as a condition on the change.
+
+### §4 catalog membership — answered: yes
+
+`GH-DEC-2026-017` §4 deliberately did **not** enrol this repository, because a
+layer stated about a repository by another is not a declaration and that rule
+applies to catalogue membership at least as strongly. The question was asked,
+and this repository's answer is **yes**: see `docs/section-4-catalog-row.md`.
 
 The ruling also confirmed that emitting a **presentation claim** does not
 require a second catalog row: PEP and PIP are shapes a repository has, and §4