Pattern Proposal: Transition registry governance state machine

Summary

A TransitionRegistry paired with GovernanceActionEngine suggests that governance transitions are registered explicitly and applied by an engine.

Candidate Pattern

• ID: transition-registry-governance-state-machine
• Classification: architectural
• Maturity: emerging
• Type: emerging

Observed Signals

No specific signals listed.

Evidence

Supporting Evidence

• src/cas_runner/governance/governance_action_engine.py (TransitionRegistry, GovernanceActionEngine) - Registry and engine symbols imply registry-driven transition handling.

Scope Assessment

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

Rationale

• Intent: Make allowed governance state transitions explicit and centralize action execution.
• Context: Governance actions likely have lifecycle states that must not be bypassed or misordered.
• Force: Illegal transitions must be rejected
• Force: Transition rules should be auditable
• Force: New action types should be addable without broad code changes

Traceability

Artifact source: proposed-patterns