Mirrored verbatim from utopia-models/knowledge wi/decisions/ADR-9836-a-project-free-shared-floor.md by the allowlisted publish pipeline. Edit it there, not here.

artifact_type: adr
adr_id: ADR-9836
adr_status: accepted
status: active
decision_date: 2026-10-23
supersedes:
superseded_by:
issue: 9836
subprocess: process
references:
  - wi/work/specs/plan-405-session-context-wiring/spec.md
  - _process/floor/
  - _infra/scripts/process-build.py
  - _infra/scripts/always-on-census.py
  - utopia-models/fleet-plugins#113

ADR-9836 — The Architect's always-on layer is a project-free floor; project text is <project>/context.md

Context

PLAN-405 (Feature #9835): every session works one project and carries no other project's text. Measured on the Architect's box on 2026-10-23 with _infra/scripts/always-on-census.py against the newest real session: CLAUDE.md 8,361 B · bundle-architect.md 52,998 B · MEMORY.md 11,862 B · SessionStart 15,315 B = 88,536 B, with 57 lines naming another project (capability rows, roster roles, the comms digest, cleaning/DMV/net memory lines, WI's org map, cleaning's sales and site-build rules). The spec's ceiling is 45,000 B.

Options considered

1. Do nothing — 88.5 KB on every turn of every session, most of it irrelevant to the session's one project. Rejected: it is the problem PLAN-405 exists to remove.
2. Trim in place — shorten the existing _process/*.md sources. Rejected: eight of them also build the master, cowork, personal and always-on bundles, which this phase must leave byte-identical; every cut to the Architect would move four other classes.
3. Floor files in the fleet-doctrine plugin, injected by a SessionStart hook (the issue's wording). Rejected on placement: hook output is counted against the same budget, does not survive /compact unless re-injected, and moves doctrine out of the repo that process-build.py --check, kb-lint R8 and feedback-deliver.sh grade. The plugin keeps what only a plugin can do (the SessionStart hooks).
4. Integrate existing: a floor compiled by the existing generator — CHOSEN. Four hand-written files in _process/floor/ (lifecycle · voice-asking · credentials-tracker · behavior) become bundle-architect.md, still delivered by the one ~/.claude/rules/bundle.md symlink. Each architect rule is stated once in the floor with its path; the rule file keeps the full text and evidence.

Decision

• process-build.py: the architect bundle is the floor, in that order. A source with architect in its audience is reached when a floor file cites its path. An architect-only rule nothing cites (a rule /feedback-loop just wrote) is appended under Not yet folded into a floor file and named on every run — delivery never breaks, and the debt is visible. A rule cited by a <project>/context.md belongs to that project. The other four bundles are built exactly as before (byte-identical, measured with cmp).
• Ceiling ARCHITECT_PREFIX_CEILING = 17_500 (measured 17,413 B). Never raised.
• Project text moves to <project>/context.md (≤3 KB) for wi, dmv-research, cleaning, net, govcon and talent; kb-lint admits the name. Project memories leave fleet-memory/agent/MEMORY.md and are listed in their project's context file. P2's loader reads that file when /plan-start sets the project.
• The Architect's CLAUDE.md (brain-agent) keeps only box facts; the comms digest leaves its SessionStart.
• fleet-doctrine 0.91.0: capabilities is one count line (capabilities.sh --summary), the undispatched advisory prints counts (--list for the split), the roster drops roles and counts project-bound agents.
• Deleted (folded): _process/artifact-order.md → floor lifecycle; _process/north-star.md → wi/context.md; _process/execute-tylers-own-work.md → _rules/tyler-owns-it-so-execute-it.md body.

Corrections preserved, and the retired list

Every 🔴 rule of the old architect bundle is in the floor with its _rules/ path, or in a context file (flame → wi/context.md; site builds and sales-not-lawyer → cleaning/context.md). Merged duplicates, each now stated once: the merge-by---admin rule (was in the-loop, a rule and CLAUDE.md) → lifecycle.md; credentials (credentials.md + CLAUDE.md) → credentials-tracker.md; Tyler's-own-work (2.9 KB process file + rule) → credentials-tracker.md; lane and board law (CLAUDE.md) → credentials-tracker.md; the hard stop (three places) → credentials-tracker.md; the planning-frame trigger (CLAUDE.md) → lifecycle.md.

Retired from the Architect's always-on text (each still lives where cited, or in git history): the CLAUDE.md "Dead — never resurrect" list (git history is the archive) · the "15 PRs stacked 2026-07-31" and "~3,100 B master headroom" measurements (stale) · the 234-file verification-reports count · the gates table rows for Vercel COMMIT_AUTHOR_REQUIRED and the bash -n syntax guard (still in the master bundle; the floor cites the commit-author rule) · the mode-file tombstone mechanics (mode-set.sh documents them) · plan-artifact-section-check.py · the "~8% of proven capacity" and #3530 freshness evidence (still in _process/behaviors.md for the other classes) · the #3728/#3902 false-gate evidence (in wi/components/escalation-gates.md) · the derived-subscription-login line · the rules' long "Fires when" paragraphs (full text in each rule file) · one-recommendation's default-option clause and config's naming-convention clause (rule files).

Consequences

• A new architect rule costs bytes only when folded into a floor sentence; until then it rides as one line.
• The always-on total is graded by always-on-census.py --search on the Architect's box; P2 adds the project file it now omits.
• Until P2 ships, a session's project memories are reached through <project>/context.md by hand.