Canonical Review Guide

This guide defines the bounded review contract for promoted -> canonical decisions.

Use it when a technique already looks strong and reusable, but the repo still needs one explicit decision about whether it is the default recommendation within its bounded scope.

This guide is review-first. It does not auto-promote techniques from frontmatter metadata, generated catalog fields, or validator results.

See also:

• Documentation Map
• Canonical Rubric
• Promotion Readiness Matrix
• Promotion Wave A Runbook

If the question is still which promoted bundle is honestly closest to review, or what proof is still missing before approve for canonical promotion becomes real, start with Promotion Readiness Matrix instead.

If the question is how to run the current evidence-prep swarm without widening bundle meaning or faking closure, start with Promotion Wave A Runbook instead.

The generated technique_promotion_readiness.min.json surface is a public readiness lens over the current canonical and promoted corpus. It does not replace this guide and does not auto-judge status transitions by itself.

This guide starts after one bundle is already under a real approve now versus defer for now decision.

Outcomes

Canonical review should end in one of two outcomes only:

• approve for canonical promotion
• defer for now

Use approve for canonical promotion when the technique already reads as the natural default within its bounded scope.

Use defer for now when the technique is strong and reusable but still reads as an optional companion, a context-shaped pattern, or an under-validated default.

Review Axes

axis	approve signal	defer signal
reuse beyond origin	The technique has clear reuse evidence beyond the first project, or a second context that reinforces the same bounded contract.	Evidence still comes mostly from one origin, or the second context is too thin to show real transfer.
stronger validation than initial promotion baseline	Examples, checks, readiness notes, or later reviews show stronger validation than the first promoted bundle alone.	Validation still looks close to the initial promotion floor, with little reinforcement beyond basic structure.
clear default-use rationale within bounded scope	The bundle explains when this should be the default choice, and nearby alternatives still have narrower fallback roles.	The technique still reads like one good option among peers, without a crisp reason it should be the default.
adaptation notes separate invariant core from project-shaped detail	Adaptation notes make the transferable contract obvious and keep origin-shaped details subordinate.	Adaptation still depends too much on one project's layout, runtime, or operating habits.
fresh public-safety recheck	The current public bundle remains sanitized, bounded, and safe to recommend more broadly.	Public-safety questions remain unresolved, or the bundle still carries details that are too project-shaped for wider default recommendation.

Metadata Is Informative, Not Decisive

Stage 1 metadata can support canonical review, but it does not decide it.

• maturity_score can hint that a technique is approaching canonical strength.
• validation_strength can show whether reinforcement moved beyond the first promotion baseline.
• review_required can show whether normal adoption still expects explicit human review.
• export_ready only concerns Stage 1 catalog publication safety.

None of these fields auto-promote a technique. Canonical promotion still requires an explicit human review outcome.

Review Notes

Canonical review should stay bounded and concrete.

• Review the bundle as published today, not an imagined future rewrite.
• Name one recommendation only: approve now or defer for now.
• If deferred, name the smallest concrete remaining gap rather than a broad wish list.
• If approved, make the default-use rationale explicit enough that later reviewers do not have to infer it from scattered notes.

The existing notes/canonical-readiness.md surface remains the authoritative place to record bundle-level promotion outcomes.

For techniques that are already canonical, notes/adverse-effects-review.md is now the bounded caution-review supplement. It does not replace canonical-readiness.md and should not reopen the promotion verdict by itself.