# NetKingdom layer declaration route

Date: 2026-09-04
Catalog: `netkingdom-layer-declaration`
Doctrine owner: `gate-house`
Path steward: `ops-warden`

This page is a route from the accepted NetKingdom security companion to the
reference declaration artifacts. It does not redefine the layer model.

## Worker checklist

1. Read `net-kingdom/SECURITY-COMPANION.md`, then use the accepted
   `net-kingdom/canon/standards/security-layer-model_v0.7.md` for the normative
   layer, Tooling-contact, and PEP obligations. `v0.8` is proposed, not accepted,
   and its acceptance flip is held on amendments A9–A13 (`GH-DEC-2026-019`) —
   but those amendments' substance **already governs** through the decision
   record that authorises each of them, so declare to the shape below now.
2. **Declare in your own `INTENT.md` frontmatter.** That is the declaration
   (`GH-DEC-2026-017` §1). Use ops-warden's `layer.yaml` as the machine-readable
   reference *form*, which is a **derived** artifact that must be marked derived,
   must name `INTENT.md` as its source, and must agree with it. Adapt its
   repository, layer, contacts, and ownership facts; do not copy ops-warden-specific
   claims as your own.
3. If the repository is PEP-shaped, use `pep-stance.yaml` as the stance-map
   reference and publish the resulting path in the repository's layer declaration.
4. Adapt `scripts/check_layer_conformance.py` and
   `tests/test_layer_conformance.py`, then run both checks in the declaring repo.
5. Send the declaration and any stance-map inventory pointer to `gate-house` for
   doctrine/register review. Route credential or operational-lane questions back
   through `warden route`; do not place doctrine in the routing catalog.

Reference checks in this checkout:

```bash
python3 scripts/check_layer_conformance.py
pytest tests/test_layer_conformance.py
```

## Reference-form change set — 2026-09-21 (`GH-DEC-2026-017`)

**If you copied ops-warden's `layer.yaml` before 2026-09-21, it is now the wrong
shape in three ways.** The change is to the reference form, which is why
`gate-house` asked ops-warden to make it here rather than asking each adopter to
work it out. Apply all three in your own repository; ops-warden does not edit
anyone else's files.

1. **Remove `standard_version:` from the sidecar *and* from your `INTENT.md`
   frontmatter.** A layer declaration MUST NOT carry a standard version
   (`GH-DEC-2026-017` §5, amendment A12): the declared layer is a standing
   property that does not change when the standard is revised, and a version in
   the declaration makes every revision read as though it invalidated every
   declaration. Keeping it "for information" was declined explicitly — a field
   that is present will be branched on. Version-scoped state belongs in the
   derived conformance record. If your checker lists `standard_version` as a
   required key, or prints it in a report line, it will now **reject a conforming
   declaration** — fix the checker in the same commit.
2. **Add `derived: true` and `derived_from: INTENT.md`.** The sidecar is a derived
   artifact under §11's derived-artifact rule and does not govern
   (`GH-DEC-2026-017` §1, amendment A11). If your `INTENT.md` has no frontmatter
   `layer:` key, add one — that, not the sidecar and not a prose line, is your
   declaration.
3. **Fold ASCII case before comparing a layer value, and re-spell nothing.** §3's
   vocabulary is closed and has **four** tokens — `Taxonomy`, `Tooling`,
   `Engine`, `Staff` — and comparison is case-insensitive (`GH-DEC-2026-017` §2
   and §3, amendment A9). `Staff` and `staff` are the same value; a lowercase
   declaration is conforming, not tolerated. Two traps: a validator that admits
   only three tokens and rejects `Taxonomy` carries a defect — the layer this
   standard itself occupies is in the vocabulary; and an equality assertion
   between your two forms silently performs the re-spelling the ruling declined
   to order. Assert the **fold**, so a real layer divergence still fails.

A disagreement between the two forms, after folding, is a **finding in its own
right** and must be reported rather than resolved away by precedence. Precedence
says which value is your answer; it does not say the disagreement did not happen.

`pep-stance.yaml` is **not** a layer declaration and is out of scope here: its
`standard_version` / `standard_version_reviewed` pair is a stance map's record of
what was reviewed, and stays.

ops-warden's applied instance of this change set is commit-local: `INTENT.md`,
`layer.yaml`, `scripts/check_layer_conformance.py`, `tests/test_layer_conformance.py`.
Read those four together rather than the sidecar alone.

## Ownership boundary

`gate-house` owns what the model requires. Each repository owns the truth of its
own declaration. `ops-warden` owns only this discoverable path to those sources.