# Consistency — the release gate inside `roll release` Seven dimensions are continuously reconciled against truth anchors. A backlog `✅ Done` row is a claim; merge evidence on `main`, acceptance reports, terminal cycle events, and release-gate events are the facts. The dimensions are: ① code ↔ backlog claims · ② cards (every live backlog row owns `features///spec.md`; evidence links never dangle; card-era delivered stories with ACs own a `latest/-report.html`; pre-card-era Done rows are counted, not failed) · ③ docs (changelog / features / guide / README / --help) · ④ tests · ⑤ locale parity (guide en↔zh + i18n keys) · ⑥ site · ⑦ truth-live (`ensureDeliveriesFresh` + `queryStoryDelivery` must prove each release-delta story is actually delivered, with PR refs matching the Done row when present). ```bash roll release # the ONE release flow — the gate runs inside it roll release --dry-run # preview the plan; nothing mutates roll release --gate-check # machine entry (CI uses it); exit 0 = all pass ``` ## The release gate `roll release` runs the **consistency gate twice in the same place: before anything irreversible.** Locally, the gate runs on the release branch — after the version bump and changelog fold are committed, but **before** the PR is opened or merged. A failing dimension aborts the release while it is still just a local branch: the bump+changelog never reach `main`, so there is no merged-but-untagged half-product. Remotely, every `v*` tag re-runs the same gate in `release.yml` before the GitHub Release is created. Shipping with a known drift requires fixing the drift — not skipping the gate. `main` stays PR-protected, so the release opens a PR even for itself. It then drives the merge through GitHub-native **auto-merge** (`gh pr merge --auto --squash`) rather than waiting on a background lane: the merge completes when CI goes green, even if you close the terminal. While it waits, the release prints a progress line per poll and nudges CI (an empty commit) if a fresh PR's checks never schedule. This needs **"Allow auto-merge"** enabled on the repo (Settings → General → Pull Requests); without it the release stops with an honest error asking you to enable the setting or merge the PR manually — never a silent hang. The acceptance-evidence gate is `hard` by default. `loop_safety.attest_gate: soft` is an explicit project policy for migration windows; consistency still reports missing or dangling evidence so the gap cannot disappear silently. The truth-live dimension is the anti-false-Done guard. It first rebuilds the delivery projection from `runs.jsonl` plus first-parent `main` merge commits, then calls `queryStoryDelivery()` for every story id found in the release delta. Backlog markdown is only the human claim; `deliveries.jsonl` is a rebuildable cache; git merges and run events are the facts. ## Doc alignment boundary Registry drift is already a hard red line: if the command registry, README, guide, or `--help` disagree, the FIX-242 guard fails consistency and release. The `doc-gap` signal in `roll attest` is shadow-only. It warns when a delivery diff changes user-visible command or output-copy files without a README/docs/guide/site touch in the same diff, but it does not change the report exit code or Gate verdict yet.