Knowledge Lifecycle — User guide

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Contorium tracks whether project knowledge is still trustworthy — how stale decisions are and why they may need review.

Git remembers changes. Contorium remembers why — and whether that reasoning still holds.

Artifacts

Lifecycle projection

Path	Purpose
`.contora/lifecycle/index.json`	Full lifecycle projection (decisions + health + review queue)
`.contora/lifecycle/review-queue.json`	Prioritized review items
`.contora/lifecycle/decisions/<id>.json`	Per-decision metadata (owner, verification, expiry, evidence)

Governance graphs (Validity Intelligence)

Path	Purpose
`.contora/governance/assumption_graph.json`	Structured assumptions per decision
`.contora/governance/decision_dependency_graph.json`	Decision → assumptions / modules / deps
`.contora/governance/dependency_baseline.json`	Manifest package baseline for diff events
`.contora/governance/dismissed_impact_alerts.json`	IDE banner ignore list

Lifecycle updates when you sync the workspace — it is a projection of decisions and events, not a separate source of truth.

Validity state machine (v3)

VALID → WARNING → DECAYING → SUSPECTED_INVALID → NEEDS_REVALIDATION → INVALIDATED
                                                                         ARCHIVED

Field	Meaning
`validity_state`	One of the states above
`validity_signals[]`	Causal triggers (type, severity, reason, evidence)
`invalidation_reason_chain`	Change event → assumption → impact
`decay_penalty`	Confidence reduction from active signals
`decision_validity_health`	Rollup counts on Knowledge Health

Decay / impact triggers: code & architecture drift · dependency add/remove (manifest baseline) · owner change · assumption failure · superseded / ADR conflict · propagated impact.

Thresholds (shared): stale verify = 60 days (LIFECYCLE_POLICY.staleVerifyDays); expire = 180 days. Cognitive Health ADR stale warnings use the same 60-day policy.

CLI

contorium lifecycle              # Knowledge Health dashboard
contorium lifecycle inspect      # Decision health + causes
contorium review                 # Review queue only
contorium why <decision-id>      # Impact / validity chain
contorium lifecycle owner <id> --owner <name>
contorium lifecycle verify <id> [--type …] [--by …] [--reason …] [--evidence …]
contorium lifecycle expire <id> --days <n>
contorium inspect decisions      # Alias → lifecycle inspect

Ask Contorium

Question	Route
What needs review?	`review`
Knowledge health / stale decisions?	`knowledge_health` / `lifecycle`
Why was X decided / why invalid?	`decision` + lifecycle trust / impact chain

IDE

Sidebar Explore menu: Review Queue · Knowledge Health · Set Owner · Verify Decision

Top-of-sidebar governance banner (not a screen-center modal):

Shows Decision / Changed / Assumption / Impact / Reason
Actions: Review · Confirm Still Valid · Update · Ignore
Queue: ‹ › to cycle alerts · Open Review Queue

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
`get_knowledge_health`	Lifecycle dashboard
`get_review_queue`	Review queue
`set_decision_lifecycle_meta`	Owner / verify (+ reason & evidence) / expiry

Dashboard

A/B — Live Cognition / Governance Overlay (MCP mode)
C/D — Debug Trace / Project History (local lenses, Enter applies)
E — LLM Config