Pattern Proposal: Stateful Transition Registry

Summary

Constrain autonomous operations to a finite state machine where legal transitions are registered explicitly.

Candidate Pattern

• ID: stateful-transition-registry
• Classification: governance
• Maturity: established
• Type: implemented

Observed Signals

No specific signals listed.

Evidence

Supporting Evidence

• src/cas_runner/governance/governance_action_engine.py (TransitionRegistry, GovernanceActionEngine) - Registers valid transitions and dispatches actions
• cas-knowledge/templates/heuristic-to-pattern_template.md - Standardized transition template for pattern promotion

Scope Assessment

• Evidence Strength: high
• Confidence: high
• Applies to: ideas-to-life-cas

Rationale

• Intent: Eliminate arbitrary or invalid lifecycle jumps initiated by automated agents.
• Context: Architecture artifacts progress through stages (e.g., heuristic -> pattern -> stable -> retired) requiring guarded promotion.
• Force: Unchecked agents can prematurely promote unproven patterns
• Force: Hardcoded transition checks scattered across steps cause drift

Traceability

Artifact source: proposed-patterns