Add Arkive project foundation documents #1

Merged

JackFrostbyte merged 1 commit from feature/issue-1-project-foundation into main

2026-06-03 19:15:18 -04:00

JackFrostbyte commented

2026-06-03 19:13:28 -04:00

Owner

Summary

This PR adds the first foundation documents for the Arkive project.

It defines the project identity, contribution workflow, initial architecture direction, roadmap, monorepo-first decision record, and first-draft policies for source acceptance, licensing, and AI answer behavior.

Scope

Added or updated:

README.md
CONTRIBUTING.md
CHANGELOG.md
governance/decision_records/ADR-0001-use-monorepo-first.md
docs/architecture/overview.md
docs/roadmap/initial-roadmap.md
meta/policies/source_acceptance_policy.md
meta/policies/license_policy.md
meta/policies/ai_answer_policy.md

Key decisions documented

Arkive starts as a structured monorepo.
Source documents are authoritative.
AI is an assistant, not the source of truth.
Future AI behavior should follow citation-backed and no-source-no-answer principles.
Legal redistribution is a core requirement.
Unknown-license documents must not be bundled.
Broad reference packs such as Kiwix/Wikipedia should remain optional reference packs, not mixed into the curated survival core.
Arkive is expected to start Python-first for pipeline, indexing, validation, and runtime prototyping while keeping stable data contracts more important than language lock-in.

Out of scope

This PR does not add:

production code;
ingestion pipelines;
metadata schemas;
document collections;
generated indexes;
model files;
deployment bundles;
AGENTS.md.

AGENTS.md should be handled separately in Issue #2 so LLM-agent rules can be reviewed independently.

Validation

Created all foundation files required for Issue #1.
Reviewed the combined diff through /tmp/arkive-issue-1-foundation.diff.
Confirmed the documentation distinguishes current project state from long-term goals.
Confirmed the foundation does not claim that runtime, indexing, RAG, or content ingestion already exists.

Closes #1

## Summary This PR adds the first foundation documents for the Arkive project. It defines the project identity, contribution workflow, initial architecture direction, roadmap, monorepo-first decision record, and first-draft policies for source acceptance, licensing, and AI answer behavior. ## Scope Added or updated: * `README.md` * `CONTRIBUTING.md` * `CHANGELOG.md` * `governance/decision_records/ADR-0001-use-monorepo-first.md` * `docs/architecture/overview.md` * `docs/roadmap/initial-roadmap.md` * `meta/policies/source_acceptance_policy.md` * `meta/policies/license_policy.md` * `meta/policies/ai_answer_policy.md` ## Key decisions documented * Arkive starts as a structured monorepo. * Source documents are authoritative. * AI is an assistant, not the source of truth. * Future AI behavior should follow citation-backed and no-source-no-answer principles. * Legal redistribution is a core requirement. * Unknown-license documents must not be bundled. * Broad reference packs such as Kiwix/Wikipedia should remain optional reference packs, not mixed into the curated survival core. * Arkive is expected to start Python-first for pipeline, indexing, validation, and runtime prototyping while keeping stable data contracts more important than language lock-in. ## Out of scope This PR does not add: * production code; * ingestion pipelines; * metadata schemas; * document collections; * generated indexes; * model files; * deployment bundles; * `AGENTS.md`. `AGENTS.md` should be handled separately in Issue #2 so LLM-agent rules can be reviewed independently. ## Validation * Created all foundation files required for Issue #1. * Reviewed the combined diff through `/tmp/arkive-issue-1-foundation.diff`. * Confirmed the documentation distinguishes current project state from long-term goals. * Confirmed the foundation does not claim that runtime, indexing, RAG, or content ingestion already exists. ## Related issue Closes #1

JackFrostbyte added 1 commit

2026-06-03 19:13:28 -04:00