/author-mode — IWE Author Mode

Trigger: staging / promote / author / template / extensions
Applies to: template author only (author_mode: true)

§8. Staging (testing → template)

Rules under testing. When validated, they move to the template (L1).

Staging channel

Rule for adding: new behavior in §9 (author) → SIMULTANEOUSLY add a row to STAGING.md (status: testing).

Promotion (at Week Close):

1. Review STAGING.md — are there testing entries ready for promotion? Readiness (validated) means more than "the author ran it locally" — the rule must pass verification on at least one non-author profile/user of the template (ADR-IWE-014 R8, carrier-replacement test): any personal path/key/assumption of the author that does not survive that replacement is not ready for promotion — it stays testing or moves to rejected.
2. Remove author-specific constants → replace with {{PLACEHOLDER}}
3. Mode (ADR-IWE-014 R9, WP-552 Phase 5): ask — is this mandatory for all template installations, or a toggleable marketplace extension? This axis is orthogonal to R8 and is decided independently of readiness from step 1. Toggleable extension → see "Marketplace extension branch" below; mandatory template rule → go directly to step 4.
4. Move to IWE + commit feat: promote S-NN from staging
5. Update STAGING.md: status → promoted, "Mode" column → mandatory or extension

Rejection: anything specific to the author environment → status rejected (stays in §9, not promoted). Do not delete from the table — this is a recorded decision.

Marketplace extension branch: promote-common.sh writes the entry to marketplace-manifest.yaml rather than promotion-status.yaml — fields: type (existing Artifact type: Pack, skill, AR.NNN, Role — no new type is created), owner, install_point, permissions, toggleable, conflict_rule, staging_source (reference to the STAGING.md row for auditability — which rule passed the R8 test and when).

§9. Author layer (L3 — my IWE only)

This section is the personal L3 layer. update.sh does not touch it during updates.
Add rules and constants here that apply only to your environment.
L1/L2/L3 Architecture: CONTRIBUTING.md §Three Layers.

Extensions Gate (BLOCKING)

For users: customizing Protocols/Skills → ONLY in extensions/*.md.
Directly editing .claude/skills/ or memory/protocol-*.md is an error.

Architectural rationale: platform files (L1) and user extensions (L3) are separate layers. Mixing layers creates brittleness during updates.
Separation: platform → IWE → update.sh. User → extensions/ + params.yaml.

Author (author_mode: true): direct editing of L1 is PERMITTED.
Delivery to FMT: bash $IWE_SCRIPTS/{script|hook|skill}-promote.sh <file> [--dry-run]
CLAUDE.md: bash $IWE_SCRIPTS/template-sync.sh (sync / --dry-run / --check)

Naming (placeholders)

• {{GOVERNANCE_REPO}} — personal governance hub
• ${IWE_WORKSPACE:-$HOME/IWE}/ — working directory

Blocking rules (author)

Fill in with rules specific to the author environment.

Distinctions (author)

Stored in memory/distinctions-warm.md and extensions/. The file .claude/rules/distinctions.md belongs to the platform hot layer; update.sh preserves only the explicitly marked USER-SPACE block.