Done-Done

Universal Manifest uses an intentionally strict, evidence-driven definition of “done done”.

“Implemented” is not enough. “Documented” is not enough. “Tested locally” is not enough.

A release is only “done done” when all required gates pass with auditable evidence.

What “done done” means

“Done done” means:

• targeted scope is explicitly defined
• every required acceptance gate has objective pass criteria
• evidence exists for each gate and can be independently reviewed
• unresolved risks are either closed or formally deferred with explicit impact

If any required gate fails, the release is not done.

Maturity targets

Universal Manifest tracks three maturity targets:

Maturity A: Early-adopter ready (v0.x)

• stable enough for controlled adoption
• explicit non-final areas are documented
• conformance baseline exists

Maturity B: Production-candidate standard

• strong interoperability evidence across multiple independent systems
• hardened conformance suite and integrity profile
• operational publishing and governance procedures are reliable

Maturity C: World-ready standard

• broad, independent implementation success
• hardened security and compatibility guarantees
• sustainable governance and release cadence
• low ambiguity for external implementers

“World-ready” corresponds to Maturity C.

Acceptance gates (required)

All required gates must pass for the target maturity level.

Gate G1: Contract completeness

Pass criteria:

• required fields and semantics are explicitly defined
• unknown-field behavior and extension rules are explicit
• versioning and compatibility rules are explicit
• registry conventions for names are documented

Gate G2: Conformance testability

Pass criteria:

• consumer and issuer obligations are explicit
• valid and invalid fixtures exist for required cases
• a reproducible validation harness passes valid fixtures and rejects invalid fixtures

Gate G3: Integrity and trust profile

Pass criteria:

• integrity envelope behavior is explicit for the target maturity
• canonicalization assumptions are explicit for any normative signature behavior
• verification behavior for failure states is explicit

Gate G4: Interoperability proof

Pass criteria:

• at least one end-to-end integration path demonstrates consumption
• cross-system examples exist for projection/pointer usage
• guidance is usable for non-LAN adopters

Gate G5: Publishing and discoverability

Pass criteria:

• canonical URLs and versioning policy are documented
• release process and artifact immutability rules are documented
• docs navigation supports first-time adoption without private context

Gate G6: Governance and change control

Pass criteria:

• major decisions recorded with rationale
• breaking-change handling is explicit
• deprecation and migration policy is explicit

Gate G7: Operational realism

Pass criteria:

• local-first / partial connectivity assumptions are addressed
• TTL/cache/log-reference behavior is clear
• explicit out-of-scope list prevents overbuild
• operational guidance and normative contract are aligned

Evidence pack (required for “done done” claims)

Any “done done” claim MUST be backed by an evidence pack that records PASS/FAIL per gate and provides links/output for verification.

Evidence pack fields (template):

• Release identity (version, maturity, date, owners, reviewers)
• Gate status summary (G1–G7)
• Evidence by gate (artifact links + commands run + output summary)
• Deferred items (why deferred + impact + owner + target date)
• Blocking risks
• Final release decision and sign-off

Practical next steps

• If you’re building: start with Getting Started → Critical Path
• If you’re proving readiness: run Proof → Journeys and capture artifacts