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Corpus Precedence

Corpus support uses explicit precedence so global convenience does not override project safety.

Precedence Order

  1. project explicit disable
  2. project explicit narrowing rules
  3. project explicit path override within allowed policy
  4. global corpus settings
  5. framework defaults

Practical Rules

Project OFF Overrides Global ON

The rule is simple: project OFF overrides global ON.

If a project sets corpus support off, that project should not read from the global corpus even when the global corpus is enabled.

Global OFF Blocks Project Read

If the global corpus feature is disabled and the project only inherits global settings, corpus reference stays off.

Global Write-Back OFF Blocks Project Write-Back

A project should not be able to turn write-back on if the global policy keeps write-back off.

Project Narrowing Is Allowed

A project may narrow access relative to the global policy. Examples:

  • use reference only and disable write-back
  • allow only summaries, not append-only notes
  • use a smaller project-specific sub-path

Project Widening Is Not Allowed By Default

A project should not silently widen beyond global permissions. If global write-back is off, the project cannot opt itself into write-back.

Missing Path Rule

If the effective corpus path is missing:

  • corpus reference is unavailable
  • corpus write-back is unavailable
  • ORCA should report the path failure rather than substituting generic assumptions

Re-Index Rule

If the effective path changes, prior corpus index state should be treated as stale until refreshed.