audience-paths.md

Audience Paths

This repository publishes many high-signal artifacts, but different readers still need different entry paths.

The machine-readable form lives in ../PUBLIC_AUDIENCE_PATHS.json.

What this layer answers

• where a reviewer should start
• where an integrator should start
• where a contributor should start
• where a tool-builder should start
• where a maintainer should start
• which files are strongest for each audience
• which verification commands keep each path honest

Why this exists

README.md, QUICKSTART.md, and docs/reviewer-guide.md already provide useful entrypoints, but they do not answer one narrower question on their own: which path is correct for a specific public audience?

This layer makes that answer explicit instead of forcing outside readers to infer the right path from folder layout, document names, or maintainer intuition.

It also preserves a clean split between:

• human-safe entry paths the shortest bounded reading lanes for people
• agent-facing entry paths the machine-readable starts, stronger surfaces, and verification commands that LLMs and automation should follow

Golden path summary

Use the machine-readable file for the full starting points, strongest surfaces, and verification commands. Use this section when you want the shortest human-safe lane first:

• reviewers: ../README.md, reviewer-guide.md, ../PUBLIC_EVALUATION_PACKET.json
• integrators: ../QUICKSTART.md, integration-guide.md, api-envelopes.md, schema-family-reference.md
• contributors: ../ONBOARDING.md, ../CONTRIBUTING.md, repo-validation-workflow.md
• tool-builders: ../QUICKSTART.md, schema-family-reference.md, schema-bundles.md, reference-pack.md
• maintainers: ../MAINTAINERS.md, ../GOVERNANCE.md, maintainer-operations.md

Public branch note

• main is the stable public branch.
• dream is the public exploration branch for larger still-public work.
• Neither branch is a private maintainer surface.

Relationship to other public surfaces

• ../PUBLIC_DEPENDENCY_GRAPH.json Explains reading order and stronger-surface dependencies across the public stack.
• ../PUBLIC_EVALUATION_PACKET.json Gives the shortest reviewer/program path through the public surface.
• ../PUBLIC_CAPABILITY_MATRIX.json Explains what concrete outcomes the public repo currently supports.
• ../PUBLIC_VERIFICATION_MATRIX.json Explains which check families protect the public review and maintenance surfaces.
• ../PUBLIC_REVIEW_SCORECARD.json Explains which reviewer-facing maturity criteria the repo satisfies.

Important boundary

These audience paths are bounded public navigation aids. They do not replace the stronger docs, schemas, examples, release evidence, or live validator behavior that the individual paths reference.