target-revenue/SCOPE.md

Target Revenue Framework — SCOPE

Status: Living document for Stage 0
Authority: Describes what is actually in design or delivery now.
Counterpart: INTENT.md is stable and aspirational. A gap between INTENT and this file is expected and is a maturity signal, not a defect.

Last updated: 2026-07-29
Basis: SWOT recommendations in history/260728-SWOT-Assessment.md; updated per §6's own trigger ("first hosted Trust Service pilot authorized") now that WP-0001/0002/0003 are finished and WP-0006/0007/0008 have started.

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1. Current maturity

Label	Meaning
Stage 0 — finished	Concept consolidated (WP-0003); Stage 0 schema/fold foundation finished (WP-0002); TRSL/CUA V1C1 accepted 2026-07-29 as counsel-briefing material (WP-0001) — not yet production legal text.
Stage 1 — active	Hosted Trust Service (WP-0006), degeneration/canonical-profile finalization (WP-0007), and governance + pilot rollout preparation (WP-0008) across the coulomb Forgejo org's product lines (coulomb-loop, net-kingdom, helix-forge, railiance-*).
Trust Service federation	Stages 1–6 from concept §15 are out of current delivery scope (design readiness only) — unrelated to this document's "Stage 0/1" labels, which track this repo's own maturity, not the Trust Service's federation roadmap.
Legal TRSL/CUA	Accepted as counsel-briefing material, still not production legal text — specialist legal review (License/CUA Appendix A condition 1) remains required before any real Phase; see workplans/TREV-WP-0008-governance-and-pilot-rollout.md T05.
Alpha/beta legal-review deferral	Maintainer decision, 2026-07-29: full specialist legal review of the TRSL/CUA (condition 1 above) is explicitly postponed until the framework moves out of beta, since legal and commercial exposure during build/alpha is limited and the License/CUA will be revised on stakeholder/customer feedback before the legal framework settles. This closed workplans/TREV-WP-0004-global-jurisdiction-research.md and workplans/TREV-WP-0005-enforcement-network-research.md with a synthesis of alpha/beta working defaults (governing law/arbitration, liability cap, data protection, Enforcement Network fee mechanics) rather than full resolution — see history/260729-TRSL-Jurisdiction-Synthesis.md §3 and history/260729-TREN-Synthesis.md for exactly what is and is not covered by this deferral. It does not waive WP-0008-T05's other preconditions (Licensor identity, hosted Trust Service), and it does not mean the legal framework is finished — only that it is judged sufficient to operate pilot-stage Phases under bounded, known risk.
Org-wide license adoption	Maintainer decision, 2026-07-30: TRSL V1C1 adopted as the preliminary LICENSE across every repo in the coulomb Forgejo org (see history/260730-TRSL-OrgWideLicenseRollout.md) — one flagged exception (the-custodian, pre-existing proprietary/confidential license, not touched pending separate confirmation). This is a license-text adoption, not a Phase declaration — no Initial Target, Trust Service registration, or Development Credit tracking exists for any repo as a result; workplans/TREV-WP-0008-governance-and-pilot-rollout.md T05 remains unaccepted.

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2. In scope now

Documentation and specification

• Maintain INTENT, this SCOPE, concept, PRD, TSD, and working defaults.
• Extract normative core artifacts (PRD Roadmap Phase 1):
  • specs/TargetRevenueFrameworkCore.md
  • specs/PhaseManifestSpecification.md
  • specs/TargetLedgerSpecification.md
• Prior-art research (archived under history/260729-TRSL-*.md) and non-binding TargetRevenueSourceLicense-V1C1.md and TargetRevenueCommercialUseAgreement-V1C1.md candidates (WP-0001).
• Provisional answers to conversion-critical open questions (specs/OpenQuestions-WorkingDefaults.md).
• Degeneration policy research artifact (recommended default for Stage 0 pilots).
• Canonical monetization profiles as documentation (defaults + examples).
• Lightweight contributor policy (CONTRIBUTING.md).

Runnable specification foundation (not a hosted service)

• Machine-readable schemas for Phase Manifest, Ledger Entry, Extension Contract, Conversion Attestation.
• Pure, deterministic Outstanding Target fold and offline conformance validators.
• Golden Phase package under examples/ (concept §23 numbers).
• Optional thin library/CLI for validate / fold — no requirement for multi-tenant hosting, auth productization, or federation protocol.

Work system

• Hub-linked workplans, progress events, and consistency sync for this repo.

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3. Explicitly out of scope now

Item	Status
Hosted Trust Service implementation	In scope now — workplans/TREV-WP-0006-trust-service-implementation.md, active
Hosted Trust Service accepting real production data	Still out of scope until WP-0008-T05
Finalized legal license text and commercial agreements	TRSL/CUA V1C1 accepted as counsel-briefing material (WP-0001); specialist legal review still outstanding
Final degeneration formula as irreversible norm	In scope now — workplans/TREV-WP-0007-degeneration-policy-and-canonical-profiles.md, active
Federation Stage 2+ (replication, multi-operator, multi-authority)	PRD Roadmap Phase 6 — still deferred
Governance formalization document	In scope now — workplans/TREV-WP-0008-governance-and-pilot-rollout.md T01, active
Tax / statutory revenue recognition	Permanently out of framework core (INTENT boundaries)
Governing third-party product Phases in production (real Phase declarations, real Commercial Entitlements sold)	Still out of scope — gated behind workplans/TREV-WP-0008-governance-and-pilot-rollout.md T05 (legal review + Licensor governance decision)
Accepting external code into a governed Milestone Release	Until contributor-rights instrument exists — draft in progress, workplans/TREV-WP-0008-governance-and-pilot-rollout.md T04

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4. Sequencing rules (binding for workplans)

These rules implement SWOT I-05 / I-06 and the PRD roadmap order:

1. Normative extraction (WP-0003) and prior-art research (WP-0001) proceed in parallel with schema + pure fold + golden fixture (WP-0002).
2. Full Trust Service implementation (Phase Registry service, hosted append API, Metrics product, multi-user operation) must not start until:
   • WP-0003 core extract deliverables exist (or are explicitly waived by human decision), and
   • Working defaults for Longstop, currency, recognition, and minimum evidence are published.
3. Human accept gates (recorded in the workplan or a decision note) are required before treating as done:
   • WP-0001-T06 TRSL draft skeleton (legal-sensitive),
   • WP-0002 stack/library ADR (if technology is locked),
   • Any promotion of working defaults into normative core language.
4. New monetization ideas land as profiles/extensions, not core terms, unless they pass the complexity budget (universal / interoperable / trust-critical).
5. Real Phase declaration (a repo's actual License header changed to TRSL, a real Commercial Entitlement sold, real Development Credit tracked) must not occur until workplans/TREV-WP-0008-governance-and-pilot-rollout.md T05 is explicitly accepted. WP-0006/0007/0008's other tasks (Trust Service implementation, degeneration/profile finalization, governance drafting, draft/non-binding pilot Phase Manifests) may proceed in parallel and do not themselves authorize going live.

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5. Stage 0 “done enough” signal

Stage 0 package is acceptable when:

1. A newcomer can explain the five-verb lifecycle from README + core doc alone.
2. Offline tools validate a golden Phase and recompute Outstanding Target to zero with no network service.
3. Open questions have provisional defaults or explicit “blocked on legal/research” labels.
4. WP-0001 research artifact exists; legal draft is marked non-binding and not used in production.
5. This SCOPE honestly states what is not yet claimed.

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6. Change policy

Update this file when Stage 0 boundaries change (e.g. first hosted Trust Service pilot authorized, first legal review complete). Do not weaken INTENT to match short-term delivery; expand SCOPE when INTENT milestones become active work.