# PromptKit v0.19.0 adoption and ConfigKit operator CLI

Status: proposed roadmap for review. Scope is agreed in principle; implementation
has not started. Command spellings, report designs, and API changes below are
recommendations until the open decisions are resolved.

## Purpose and ownership

Adopt released PromptKit v0.19.0 and expose useful operator tasks through
standard CommandKit commands, flags, and reports. This roadmap covers CLI
exposure, including ConfigKit v1.1.0 operator features in `ckconfig`. It does not
turn `ckprompt` into a convenience library for application-internal PromptKit
operations. Applications continue to own engine construction, domain inputs,
credentials, execution, and their executable lifecycle.

The [architecture policy](../policy/architecture.md),
[optional-module decision](../adr/0010-optional-integration-modules.md), and
[reporting decision](../adr/0014-invocation-reporting.md) govern implementation.
The [CLI reference](../cli.md) and public GoDoc remain the owners of implemented
contracts. This roadmap selects work for review, not new guarantees about
upstream behavior or permanent limits on future features.

## Baseline and released evidence

Repository baseline: `0b4e47c4206e323f7c5d5ec3f357494dd23008b2`.
The completed v0.18.0 adoption is not reopened.

| Component | Current baseline | Target |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Core | `go.maximumdirect.net/commandkit`; Go 1.26.0 minimum | No core change currently identified. |
| `ckconfig` | ConfigKit v1.1.0; Go 1.27.0; core v0.3.0 | Shared CLI inspection extensions and a new appropriate module release. |
| `ckprompt` | PromptKit v0.18.0; ConfigKit v1.1.0; ckconfig/core v0.3.0; Go 1.27.0 | PromptKit v0.19.0 and the ckconfig version delivering the shared work. |
| Candidate | [ckprompt v0.3.0](../../integrations/ckprompt/docs/releases/v0.3.0.md), recorded as unpublished | Update the unpublished candidate after checking its status during implementation. |
| Local workspace | Core and both integrations, Go 1.27.0 | Validate local composition and independent modules separately. |

Use PromptKit tag `v0.19.0`, commit
`4f3212bfb6c1f37f43d50715c2cedc1d43203064`. Its Go minimum remains
1.27.0 and its ConfigKit dependency remains v1.1.0. Reviewed sources are the
[release notes](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/promptkit/src/commit/4f3212bfb6c1f37f43d50715c2cedc1d43203064/docs/releases/v0.19.0.md),
[request and report types](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/promptkit/src/commit/4f3212bfb6c1f37f43d50715c2cedc1d43203064/types.go),
[engine API](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/promptkit/src/commit/4f3212bfb6c1f37f43d50715c2cedc1d43203064/engine.go),
[namespace API](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/promptkit/src/commit/4f3212bfb6c1f37f43d50715c2cedc1d43203064/namespaces.go),
[configuration inspection API](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/promptkit/src/commit/4f3212bfb6c1f37f43d50715c2cedc1d43203064/configuration_inspection.go),
and [smoke API](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/promptkit/src/commit/4f3212bfb6c1f37f43d50715c2cedc1d43203064/smoke_diagnostics.go).
Work against released versions only; do not inspect or monitor unreleased
upstream work in anticipation of another adoption.

ConfigKit v1.1.0 is already adopted at released commit
`191015e289d7f2b91abb9fdd9c4f2f5cf75b4de9`. Its
[inspection API](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/configkit/src/commit/191015e289d7f2b91abb9fdd9c4f2f5cf75b4de9/inspection.go),
[metadata API](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/configkit/src/commit/191015e289d7f2b91abb9fdd9c4f2f5cf75b4de9/metadata.go),
and [configuration reference](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/configkit/src/commit/191015e289d7f2b91abb9fdd9c4f2f5cf75b4de9/docs/config.md)
support the additional CLI work below without an upstream dependency upgrade.
Its matched history for registered records moving within lists flows through
native inspection; it does not introduce identity-based CLI paths or
element-level effective diffs.

Current `ckprompt` supplies prompt/profile inspection, requirements discovery,
concrete request validation, prompt/profile/backend/namespace/collection
catalogs, and four smoke operations plus `test all`. Smoke commands already
expose most execution overrides and detailed native evidence. Validation has
profile, session, variable, and file-input flags but lacks that override surface.
There is no concrete request preview or dedicated backend detail command.

Current `ckconfig` supplies validation, native effective YAML, source inventory,
path explanation with history, and reduced semantic comparison. Its `View`
contains effective, sources, and explanation facets. Native metadata is not
exposed as a capability. `config sources` returns on acquisition failure before
rendering evidence; loaders convert native diagnostics into presentation
messages but do not expose a structured diagnostics report. Relevant boundaries
are [ckconfig contracts](../../integrations/ckconfig/contracts.go),
[ConfigKit adapters](../../integrations/ckconfig/configkit_adapter.go), and
[PromptKit adapters](../../integrations/ckprompt/adapters.go).

Effective display currently writes the whole configuration. Sources are reported
as a complete inventory. Comparison accepts independent config/overlay choices,
but applies the same application selectors to both typed inputs and succeeds
when a comparison reports differences. The new tasks extend those boundaries;
they do not replace already-delivered explanation or smoke functionality.

## Targeted end state

The original adoption tasks remain included:

1. Update the dependency, checksums, attribution, and unpublished candidate note.
2. Document all three upstream compatibility changes and correct credential
   inspection wording.
3. Cover the new authentication reason and corrected smoke preparation-error
   propagation at CommandKit's boundary.
4. Validate the final independent modules and aligned workspace.

Add the following operator capabilities. Syntax is illustrative and subject to
the decisions at the end of this document.

| Operator task | Proposed CLI | Owning module and report |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Inspect what a concrete prompt request prepares | `promptkit show request ID --profile … --input … --var …` | `ckprompt`: selected IDs, effective settings, rendered/appended messages, output contract and schema, session, hashes, and timing from `PreparedRun`. |
| Reproduce target/provider settings without editing configuration | Applicable existing smoke override flags on validation and preview; `--extra-params JSON` on these and smoke operations | `ckprompt`: native request forwarding; preview and smoke reports show returned effective settings. |
| Resolve unqualified resource selections in chosen namespaces | Independent prompt/profile/backend namespace flags | `ckprompt`: delegate to native namespace views, retaining the distinction from catalog filters. |
| Find configuration paths and inspect their explicitness | `config paths --scope promptkit`, with historical selection; metadata alongside path explanation | `ckconfig`, wired through `ckprompt.ConfigScope`: observed paths, effective presence, explicitness/null/origin evidence, and available history. |
| Understand both sides of configuration changes | `config diff --scope promptkit --details` | `ckconfig`: native paths, left/right snapshots, presence/redaction, and hidden-change evidence. |
| Investigate a failed configuration load | `config sources --scope promptkit` on failure; a structured diagnostics operation | `ckconfig`, with both native adapters: acquired source inventory and native codes, severities, paths, and locations while retaining the load failure. |
| Inspect one effective value or subtree | `config show --scope app --path /server` | `ckconfig`: the selected native effective snapshot, retaining redaction and absence/null distinctions. |
| Follow a source reference | `config sources --source-id ID` | `ckconfig`: the matching acquired source record, including evidence available after failure. |
| Compare different application selections | For example, `config diff --campaign spring --against-campaign autumn` | `ckconfig`: independently prepared typed inputs passed to the existing native comparison provider. |
| Detect configuration differences in scripts | `config diff --check` | `ckconfig`: a deliberate difference outcome based on native records, alongside the selected comparison report. |
| Narrow an inspection to relevant evidence | Subtree/explicitness filters on `config paths`; severity/code filters on `config diagnostics` | `ckconfig`: filtered native evidence with source references retained. |

Transient configuration overrides are an open scope decision under OD-11, with
a recommendation to include them as an optional loader capability. Illustrative
`config validate --set /workers=0` and `config show --set /server/port=8080`
would apply explicit overrides during acquisition without editing source files.
Their inclusion and exact CLI/API contract remain for review.

### Compatibility and native semantics

Document these v0.19.0 changes for consumers constructing engines and inputs:

- Successful custom `ArtifactReader.Read` transfers ownership of its returned
  artifact and mutable body storage. Readers retaining scratch storage must
  supply independent returned storage and stop mutating returned aliases.
- `ProfileSource` and `BackendSource` provider maps now use ConfigKit's native
  recursive Mapping forms: built-in scalar values, `[]any`, and
  `map[string]any`. Explain explicit conversion of `json.Number` and typed
  containers. Runtime execution overrides have a separate accepted-value
  contract; do not impose configuration-source restrictions on their flags.
- Local-validation and structured-output schemas must be self-contained.
  External resources and filename-dependent base references fail preparation;
  internal references or explicit schema IDs supply the supported route.

No configuration-format migration is required from v0.18.0. Correct the CLI
description of `api_key_required`: it indicates a usable direct or environment
credential requirement and can coexist with `api_key_env`. Neither field is
evidence of current credential availability.

The new authentication response-limit reason is factual evidence with unknown
credential acceptance. Continue forwarding native findings without converting
false, unknown, unsupported, or incomplete observations into command failures.
Actual preparation/operation errors retain the operational outcome and supported
cause identity. Native errors and their categories remain upstream-owned.

### Preview and request flags

Add an independently available preview capability alongside existing suite
callbacks. The native adapter calls `Engine.Prepare` and projects its returned
snapshot; a preliminary `ValidateRequest` call is unnecessary. Use existing
typed selection, acquisition diagnostics, and invocation reporting patterns.
Exact callback names and signatures follow the selected CLI design.

Preview performs applicable resource I/O and rendering but no model call.
Rendered and appended messages contain application content. Upstream excludes
resolved credentials from prepared settings; that does not make the whole
snapshot a redacted configuration report or a transferable execution handle.
Expose the upstream snapshot evidence without implying later execution uses
that exact snapshot or will succeed.

Provide public, reusable typed execution-flag collections in `ckprompt`, defined
once and used by smoke, validation, preview, and application-owned commands.
The collections standardize flag names, help, parsing, completion hints,
supplied-value tracking, and binding into native PromptKit request fields.
Applications retain their own input structs, request construction, engine
acquisition, execution, and outcomes. Reusing CLI declarations is within
CommandKit's ownership boundary; it does not introduce runtime convenience APIs.

Use the existing core `CommandSpec[I].Flags`, typed flag constructors, and
`Supplied[T]`. A generic collection factory can accept destination accessors
and return ordinary `[]commandkit.Flag[I]`. Direct binding is sufficient for
ordinary use; existing [CaptureFlags and FlagValues.ApplyTo](../../flag_values.go)
support deferred application or multiple destinations where needed. No core
change or new core collection abstraction is currently required. Exact exported
names and accessor signatures remain implementation design choices.

Keep execution-target overrides and the request-level transient retry field
distinct even when one convenient collection includes both. Preserve omission
instead of imposing shared defaults: ordinary execution and smoke diagnostics
have different native retry defaults. Preserve native explicit zero/empty
values and whole-map replacement semantics. Support deliberate subsets for
actual command needs while retaining common flag names and meanings, using a
proportionate composition API. Keep parsing in CommandKit and domain validity
in PromptKit. Existing application builders remain usable; resolve override
precedence and the remaining request controls under OD-2 before documenting new
public behavior.

### Namespace selection

Design independent prompt, profile, and backend defaults together. Native
`WithNamespaces` replaces all defaults on its new view; it has no partial-update
semantics. Omission must therefore have a deliberate meaning when a loader
already returns a scoped engine (OD-3).

Qualified IDs pass through native selection unchanged. Captured references,
configuration inspection, and namespace/collection inventories retain their
native meanings. Existing `--namespace`/`--all-namespaces` catalog filters
continue to describe filtering. Install new selectors only on operations where
they have a defined use; define that applicability table during implementation.

### Shared configuration capabilities

Extend `ckconfig` through optional capabilities so existing custom providers can
keep their currently declared operations. Both `FromConfigKit` and
`ckprompt.ConfigScope` should expose available native evidence. Do not require
all providers to implement every new operation.

For metadata, use `Metadata.HistoricalPaths`, `Lookup`, `IsExplicit`, and
`History`. Enumeration covers observed paths, not all possible schema fields.
Do not discard history because effective lookup fails. Existing explanation
already reports current/historical values; add the missing discovery and
explicitness instead of reproducing upstream provenance logic. Preserve native
list-index paths; do not silently reinterpret them as resource IDs.

For detailed comparison, project native `Difference` records. Keep snapshots
and their presence/redaction fields together, including `HiddenChanged` when
the safe values look equal. Native sequence comparisons remain atomic; this
work does not add element-level resource matching or a reloadable patch format.

For failure investigation, retain `LoadError.Sources()` and `Diagnostics()` as
evidence alongside the error. The current adapters and `config sources` failure
path need changes, not just another renderer. Define an acquisition shape that
distinguishes unavailable evidence from an available empty inventory. A failed
load does not establish an effective configuration or metadata capability.

Render available evidence through normal invocation reporting before terminal
failure presentation. Keep the original load error and supported identity;
successful report delivery must not convert failure to success. Preserve
render/write failures separately through the current outcome machinery. Cover
cancellation with partial evidence explicitly without promising interruption of
an arbitrary writer or rollback of already-delivered bytes. OD-6 selects the
structured diagnostics command and its interaction with ordinary diagnostics.

### Additional ConfigKit operator workflows

**Focused effective display.** Use the effective snapshot from native
`Explain(path)` for path-selected display. The ordinary whole-document path
continues to use `WriteEffective`. A historical-only path can be explainable
while lacking an effective value; distinguish that case from a present YAML
null. Select the missing-value behavior, provider availability, and aggregate
scope applicability under OD-8. Do not read mutable `Result.Config` or source
files to reconstruct inspection values.

**Source selection and report filters.** Select source IDs from the acquired
inventory, preserving existing record fields and upstream ordering. Native
`Source(id)` is a convenience, not an additional provider requirement. IDs are
local to a load and do not guarantee the same source in a later acquisition.
Apply subtree filtering to parsed configuration paths, not raw string prefixes
that would confuse `/server` with `/server2`. Specify explicitness filtering for
historical-only paths without treating unavailable effective metadata as false.
Diagnostic filters affect the presented records, not the underlying acquisition
outcome; retain the source references needed to interpret selected records.

**Independent comparison selections.** Extend the per-side typed-input design
in [ADR 0012](../adr/0012-typed-configuration-comparison-pairs.md). Capture
applicable selector bindings for each side, prepare and check both inputs before
comparison, and preserve the existing shared invocation state. Resolve omitted
right selectors, explicit empty values, repeated selectors, and flag-name
collisions under OD-9. Domain interpretation and loader caching remain with the
application; the comparison provider still receives two selections.

**Comparison assertions.** Base a difference outcome on native record presence,
including hidden changes whose redacted snapshots look equal. Equal effective
values can have different histories or explicitness. Comparison also does not
detect changed credential bytes behind an unchanged secret reference. Define
the opt-in outcome and report-delivery behavior under OD-10; retain the current
ordinary diff outcome. A load or comparison failure is not evidence of equality.

**Transient override candidate.** If selected in OD-11, parse explicitly supplied
CLI values into native `Override` records and pass them through a declared loader
capability. ConfigKit owns override path validity, supported values, precedence,
decoding, resolution, provenance, and validation. Its configuration overrides
recursively overlay mappings and replace sequences; this differs from the
PromptKit execution override's complete provider-map replacement. Do not reuse
one grammar implementation in a way that erases that distinction. Source-load
errors remain errors even if an override would replace the affected value.

## Work sequence

1. **Resolve the significant CLI choices.** Review the open decisions, record
   selections here, and identify affected published reports and flag collisions.
   Prepare concrete command/flag/report examples for implementation review.
2. **Adopt v0.19.0.** Update `integrations/ckprompt/go.mod` and `go.sum`, then
   [module attribution](../../integrations/ckprompt/docs/oss/attribution.md)
   against the released notices and source commit. Update the unpublished
   candidate note and affected canonical dependency/compatibility guidance.
   No core Go-minimum increase follows from this adoption.
3. **Implement request inspection and selection.** Add preview, applicable
   override flags, provider-parameter input, and namespace selectors. Implement
   public `ckprompt` execution-flag collections on existing core bindings and
   reuse them in the standard commands. Reuse the standard suite's lifecycle
   and preserve existing application adapter seams.
4. **Implement shared configuration inspection.** Add metadata discovery and
   explicitness, detailed diff presentation, source evidence on failure, and
   structured diagnostics in `ckconfig`; wire native PromptKit facets through
   `ConfigScope`. Add focused effective display, source selection, and bounded
   metadata/diagnostic filters using those evidence capabilities. Extend typed
   comparison selection and add the selected assertion outcome. If OD-11 is
   accepted, implement explicit override acquisition and comparison-side wiring
   as a separate reviewable unit. Keep boundary coverage with each change.
5. **Update operator and consumer documentation.** The CLI reference owns
   syntax, report schemas, availability, and outcomes; GoDoc owns callback and
   value contracts. Extend maintained simple/composed examples to demonstrate
   the new CLI tasks using local fixtures, without adding application-internal
   execution helpers. Record intentional compatibility effects in module notes.
6. **Align module dependencies and validate.** Prepare the `ckconfig` release
   needed by `ckprompt`, update the latter's dependency/checksums, and complete
   the validation below. OD-7 addresses the interim development dependency.
   Publication and hosted delivery remain separate actions under the
   [release procedure](../release.md).

## Validation and completion checklist

Select focused boundary tests under the [testing policy](../policy/testing.md).
The checklist concerns adapter/CLI behavior; it does not ask CommandKit to
retest PromptKit rendering, schema, namespace, or ConfigKit resolution algorithms.
Default tests remain offline and independent of real credentials.

- [ ] Dependency, checksums, attribution commit links, and candidate notes match
  the final selected module versions.
- [ ] All three compatibility changes and corrected credential wording are
  documented, with earlier v0.18.0 migration guidance retained where relevant.
- [ ] The authentication response-limit reason survives report projection with
  native unknown facts. Smoke preparation errors retain supported causes and
  operational outcomes, including the no-report case; no model dispatch is
  introduced by CommandKit to handle them.
- [ ] Preview forwards the intended request and faithfully reports native
  fields. Its CLI path makes no model call and does not create/execute retained
  prepared handles.
- [ ] New flags preserve selected omission/empty/zero semantics, parse malformed
  inputs through the existing usage path, and do not leak state between runs.
  Numeric decoding of provider JSON matches the selected strategy in OD-2.
- [ ] The same public execution-flag collection works in a standard subcommand
  and an application-owned command with its own typed input. Parsing, presence,
  metadata, and selected subsets remain consistent; omitted retry values retain
  the applicable native defaults. Application execution behavior remains outside
  the collection.
- [ ] Namespace defaults, explicit clearing, qualified selections, and catalog
  filters are forwarded according to the selected design.
- [ ] Metadata discovery distinguishes effective and historical paths, retains
  available history on absent lookup, and projects native field/change records.
- [ ] Detailed diff retains both snapshots and presence/redaction/hidden-change
  evidence, including empty comparisons and sequence-level changes.
- [ ] Focused display preserves native snapshot content and distinguishes
  missing/historical-only paths from explicit null. Whole-document display
  retains its current contract.
- [ ] Source-ID selection works on successful and failed acquisitions. Path,
  explicitness, severity, and code filters preserve the selected evidence and
  source references without masking the acquisition outcome.
- [ ] Independent comparison selectors preserve the chosen inheritance and
  repeatable-value rules, side-specific checks, and shared-state lifecycle.
- [ ] Assertion mode distinguishes equality, native differences (including
  hidden changes), usage errors, and operational failures under the selected
  outcome contract. Report-delivery failures remain observable.
- [ ] OD-11 has an explicit scope decision. If included, only supplied CLI
  overrides reach opted-in loaders, with typed values, safe flag labels,
  selected comparison-side behavior, native errors, and returned provenance
  preserved. No tests independently re-establish ConfigKit override semantics.
- [ ] Source and diagnostic evidence can be reported with an acquisition error;
  the original failure, unavailable-versus-empty evidence, cancellation, and
  report-delivery failures remain distinguishable.
- [ ] Existing providers remain usable; help, version, and capability discovery
  do not start acquisition. New operation/flag metadata and static completion
  match the implemented surface.
- [ ] Maintained consumer examples demonstrate the selected CLI tasks and the
  configuration failure workflow with deterministic local evidence, including
  collection reuse by an application-owned command.
- [ ] Canonical documentation, module release notes, and roadmap links agree
  with the implemented boundary. Open decisions are resolved or deliberately
  superseded before the corresponding behavior is claimed complete.
- [ ] Final independent-module and aligned-workspace suites pass, with the
  dependency identities used by each recorded.

With the documented Go 1.27.0 toolchain selected, run
`GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go test ./...` independently in the root,
`integrations/ckconfig`, and `integrations/ckprompt`. Prepare dependencies before
offline execution as described in the [release procedure](../release.md).
Then validate the aligned workspace from the root with:

```sh
GOTOOLCHAIN=local go test ./...
GOTOOLCHAIN=local go test ./integrations/ckconfig/...
GOTOOLCHAIN=local go test ./integrations/ckprompt/...
```

Use the [development guide](../development.md) for toolchain/workspace setup and
documentation checks. Reuse successful checks for unchanged content; these
adoption checks do not add permanent publication gates. The earlier disposable
dependency-only compatibility test is preliminary evidence, not completion
evidence for these features.

## Deferred work

Focused backend inspection remains in [future work](future.md#promptkit-inspection-and-selection-extensions)
until a released upstream API supports it. Do not reconstruct backend selection
from configuration to deliver it in this roadmap. General execution, prepared
handle lifecycle, sessions, and observer convenience APIs remain application
responsibilities. Persistent configuration editing, new live probes, dynamic completion,
JSON report formats, and unrelated deferred proposals are not added by this
roadmap. Transient acquisition overrides remain an explicit choice in OD-11.
Discovery tracing and secrets-directory bootstrap commands remain deferred:
the source inventory is not a trace of rejected search candidates, and bootstrap
performs application startup effects.

## Open Decisions

These decisions concern significant choices within the proposed scope. OD
numbers are local to this roadmap, not the retired adoption documents.

### OD-1: Preview command and report presentation

**Recommendation:** use `promptkit show request ID`, with YAML as the initial
report format and the complete relevant `PreparedRun` projection. It sits beside
definition inspection while clearly requiring concrete inputs. A single native
preparation supplies both validation and preview evidence. Document rendered
content disclosure directly in help and CLI guidance.

**Alternative:** `promptkit prepare ID`, with text and YAML reports. This names
the native action and makes interactive inspection easier, but can suggest an
executable prepared handle and adds a second rendering contract. Both forms can
stay entirely within CLI ownership; select vocabulary and formats before coding.

### OD-2: Request controls and provider-parameter grammar

**Agreed design direction:** execution flags are public reusable CLI collections
owned by `ckprompt`, available to standard and application-owned commands using
existing core APIs. The remaining decisions here concern request controls and
grammar, not whether application commands may reuse the collections.

**Recommendation:** give validation and preview the applicable execution flags
already on smoke tests, and add a singleton `--extra-params JSON` object option
to all three. Use native whole-map replacement, including native behavior for
empty maps. Specify JSON number decoding deliberately so supported values reach
PromptKit without accidental precision loss or new numeric guarantees. Retain
the current authoritative-builder rule: the standard flags seed a request and
an application builder can return its complete replacement.

**Alternative:** repeatable `--extra-param KEY=JSON` assignments. This is easier
for individual shell overrides, but requires rules for duplicate keys and makes
whole-map replacement less obvious. It must still construct a single native map
rather than imply an upstream field-by-field merge.

**Remaining request surface:** recommend keeping output-contract overrides,
inline-input flags, and appended-message flags as separately selectable CLI
extensions after execution-flag parity. Existing file inputs and application
builders continue to support preview. A viable alternative is to include a
whole-output-contract file option and message/input options now, supporting
more reproduction workflows at the cost of additional syntax, precedence, and
reporting decisions. No general-purpose request-building API follows from
either choice.

### OD-3: Namespace flags and loader defaults

**Recommendation:** make the standard namespace selectors opt-in with explicit
suite-owned namespace defaults. Compose supplied fields with those defaults,
then apply one native `WithNamespaces` call. Loaders using this option leave
default selection to that adapter. This gives omission and explicit empty
values predictable meanings without trying to read private engine state.
Without the option, existing scoped loaders continue as before.

**Alternative:** pass presence-aware namespace choices to an acquisition
callback and let the application combine them with its existing loader defaults.
This accommodates applications whose defaults depend on domain input, but adds
consumer wiring and makes consistent behavior less automatic. Either design
must account for the native API replacing all three defaults at once.

### OD-4: Configuration path and metadata presentation

**Recommendation:** add `config paths` with effective paths by default and an
explicit historical selection, and expose optional metadata alongside existing
path explanation. Use the current single-scope selection model. This makes
paths discoverable and uses an established command for their meaning/history.
Define availability and unavailable metadata explicitly for older providers.

**Alternative:** a separate `config metadata --path …` operation plus historical
enumeration. This keeps the existing explanation report unchanged and gives
metadata-only providers an independent operation, but splits related operator
information across commands. Weigh that compatibility benefit against the
extra command and report contract before selecting additive explanation fields.

### OD-5: Detailed comparison selection and shape

**Recommendation:** add `--details` to `config diff`, retaining the existing
default. Emit a YAML record sequence carrying native paths, snapshots, and
hidden-change fields, preferably within a scope-labeled envelope. This supplies
the missing evidence without changing existing reduced-report consumers.

**Alternative:** replace the reduced form with the detailed report in a new
minor module release. One canonical report is simpler to maintain and avoids
selection flags, but requires migration of published CLI consumers. The release
policy permits a deliberate pre-v1 minor compatibility change; the benefit must
justify that disruption.

### OD-6: Failure evidence and structured diagnostic delivery

**Recommendation:** extend `config sources` to report acquired inventory on
failure and add `config diagnostics --format yaml` for native structured records
and their source legend. Build this as optional `ckconfig` evidence facets,
including evidence returned with an acquisition error. Keep ordinary human
messages on the diagnostic stream and structured results on the result stream,
using existing terminal failure/outcome handling. This is a bounded operator
workflow with no demonstrated need for a generic core diagnostics schema.

**Alternative:** add structured diagnostic output to every configuration
operation through a common format option or report envelope. It avoids a
second invocation when diagnosing another command, but complicates existing
native YAML/report shapes and result-versus-diagnostic stream contracts. A
broader core representation is viable if concrete cross-family needs justify
it; it is more work than exposing ConfigKit records alone. Specify warning
presentation, evidence availability, and partial-result cancellation behavior
for the selected design rather than silently changing all operations.

### OD-7: Module release and interim workspace coordination

**Recommendation:** prepare a new ckconfig minor release for the shared API/CLI
features, then update the still-unpublished ckprompt candidate to require it.
Confirm available versions under the existing release procedure. During joint
development use the ignored aligned workspace; record that workspace success
does not establish independent ckprompt compatibility with its old ckconfig
requirement. Before final independent validation, pin the released ckconfig
version actually supplying the APIs. Publication requires its own authorization.

**Alternative:** publish a compatibility-only ckprompt release first and deliver
the additional CLI features in subsequent releases. This makes v0.19.0 fixes
available sooner, but creates an extra consumer upgrade and does not complete
this roadmap's targeted end state. A disposable local module replacement can
help test intermediate changes, but cannot substitute for final validation of
the declared released dependency.

### OD-8: Focused configuration reports and filtering

**Recommendation:** extend existing commands: `config show --path POINTER` and
`config sources --source-id ID`; add subtree/explicitness filters to
`config paths` and severity/code filters to `config diagnostics`. Keep full reports as
the default. Use the existing explanation capability for selected effective
YAML, and recommend an operational failure for an absent effective path or
unknown source ID, consistent with unknown-path explanation. Recommend starting
path-selected display with one scope; whole-document `--scope all` remains
available. Specify presence-aware explicitness filtering so historical-only
entries are not labeled implicitly defined. These choices reuse existing
operator vocabulary and native evidence with little additional acquisition work.

**Alternative:** introduce a `config get --path POINTER` command with a snapshot
envelope containing `present`, `redacted`, and `yaml`, and return absence as
report data. This is convenient for scripts and preserves unknown/null/absence
distinctions without relying on exit status, but adds another command/report
contract. Aggregate path-selected reports are also viable if scope-labeled
per-scope absence and delivery semantics are designed. Filters can be deferred
in favor of downstream YAML tools, reducing CLI surface but making routine
operator inspection more cumbersome.

### OD-9: Independent comparison selector bindings

**Recommendation:** let applications declare which domain selectors support
right-side comparison values, with explicit metadata for their `--against-*`
spellings. Omission inherits the left value and presence; an explicit right
value replaces it. For repeatable selectors, recommend replacing the inherited
collection with the supplied right collection. This follows config/overlay
selection conventions and supports comparisons such as two campaigns without
requiring different files. Review the selected refinement of ADR 0012 and flag
collision handling before implementation; exact helper signatures remain open.

**Alternative:** require symmetric explicit left/right selectors for opted-in
bindings. This makes each side independent and easier to reason about when
defaults are complex, but adds repetition and departs from the existing
right-inherits-left convention. Either design keeps application domain parsing
in its declared bindings and avoids inventing a generic selector language.

### OD-10: Comparison assertion outcomes

**Recommendation:** add opt-in `--check`, retaining normal report delivery and
ordinary diff behavior when omitted. Recommend status `0` for equality and a
domain difference status `3`; retain current usage `2` and operational `1`
classification. This lets scripts distinguish differences from failed
comparison. The status is a proposal, not an existing contract. Apply existing
reporting outcome rules, including preservation of a nonzero domain outcome
when presentation also fails; callers can inspect the separate presentation
evidence. Document that interaction explicitly.

**Alternative:** add a separate `config compare` assertion command, leaving
`diff` exclusively informational. This makes the intent visible in the command
path but duplicates selection/report options. Another viable choice is status
`1` for both differences and operational failures, which fits simple shell
checks but requires additional evidence to distinguish the two conditions.

### OD-11: Transient configuration overrides

**Recommendation:** include a declared, opt-in override capability for standard
configuration commands, with repeatable `--set POINTER=JSON` values passed to
application acquisition as native ConfigKit overrides. This enables validation,
inspection, and comparison of temporary settings through consistent CLI syntax.
Providers that do not accept overrides retain their existing operations. No
source file is edited, and no general application-internal convenience API is
required. The loader contract must state how it combines these records with
any existing application-owned overrides; the generic adapter cannot inject
them into an arbitrary loader after the load has completed.

If selected, settle these details before implementation:

- Split at the first `=`; JSON supplies typed null, boolean, string, numeric,
  array, and object values. Specify numeric conversion to ConfigKit-supported
  built-in forms rather than passing `json.Number` or silently promising
  arbitrary numeric precision. An unambiguous alternate input form may be
  needed for pointer keys containing `=`.
- Forward explicit records only, with safe display labels such as `--set`,
  never raw value-bearing arguments as provenance labels. Preserve native
  duplicate/overlap handling rather than silently collapsing assignments.
- Follow the released mapping-path constraints, including root/index and
  schema-version restrictions, without extending them into a generic patch
  language. Empty, false, zero, and null remain intentional supplied values.
- For comparison, recommend `--set` as the shared baseline and
  `--against-set` as a right-side replacement list when supplied, following
  OD-9's proposed repeatable-selector rule. Define an explicit way to select
  an empty right list before finalizing this grammar; appending or replacing
  individual paths would need a different selected rule.
- Reflect native CLI origins and subsequent resolution in existing reports.
  Test CommandKit parsing, forwarding, and outcome/report adaptation, leaving
  ConfigKit's override algorithm to its own tests.

**Alternative A:** retain application-specific typed flags and loader translation
to `Options.Overrides`. This gives applications tailored vocabulary and avoids
generic JSON numeric/path syntax, but repeats CLI infrastructure and prevents
uniform temporary-setting workflows across applications. This is a viable
deferral if the generic acquisition contract is too disruptive for this sprint.

**Alternative B:** accept a structured override document containing path/value
records instead of inline `--set` assignments. It handles complex values and
unusual pointer keys naturally and makes an empty comparison-side list explicit,
but adds file-input handling and is less convenient for one-value shell changes.
It still needs deliberate typed-value decoding and loader opt-in. Neither
alternative authorizes persistent configuration mutation.