Epic: borromeanRings platform roadmap & backlog

[wimaan3]

Purpose

Umbrella tracking issue for the platform backlog created this cycle — research/efficiency, evaluation, quality, security (pre-public), repo settings, and docs/community. Grouped by milestone.

M3 — Research & efficiency

• Audit & fix borromeanrings-research token blow-up (~70% usage) #47 Audit & fix borromeanrings-research token blow-up (~70% usage)
• Deep-research sweep: token-efficiency techniques to adopt #48 Deep-research sweep: token-efficiency techniques to adopt
• Ingest & distill the Claude Code documents into borromeanRings capabilities #49 Ingest & distill the Claude Code documents
• Token/cost instrumentation + A/B loop #50 Token/cost instrumentation + A/B loop

M2 — Platform evaluation & quality

• Platform self-assessment: how borromeanRings works, gaps, and prioritized improvements #51 Platform self-assessment (how it works, gaps, prioritized fixes)
• Add a shellcheck gate for shell scripts #52 Shellcheck gate for shell scripts
• Tests for init.sh, install-global.sh, and merge.sh #53 Tests for init.sh / install-global.sh / merge.sh
• Strengthen the git-identity guard (--author overrides, exotic invocations) #54 Strengthen the git-identity guard
• Mutation testing — oracle-strength signal beyond coverage #55 Mutation testing
• Rename tail: remote URL, config backward-compat, label descriptions #62 Rename tail (remote URL, config backward-compat, labels)
• Multi-language check sets (TypeScript, Go) #67 Multi-language check sets (TS, Go)
• External rubric critic (separate-model verifier) #68 External rubric critic

M1 — Pre-public hardening

• Add SECURITY.md and a responsible-disclosure policy #56 SECURITY.md + disclosure policy
• Secrets scanning in the gate and CI #57 Secrets scanning (gate + CI)
• Dependency & supply-chain hardening #58 Dependency & supply-chain hardening
• Formal pre-public exposure review #59 Formal pre-public exposure review
• Branch protection on main (require the gate) #60 Branch protection on main
• Public README polish + quickstart + demo #66 Public README polish + quickstart

M4 — Docs & community

• Issue/PR templates, CODEOWNERS, and label/milestone scheme #61 Issue/PR templates, CODEOWNERS, label scheme
• CONTRIBUTING.md — how to extend borromeanRings safely #63 CONTRIBUTING.md
• Set up the GitHub Wiki #64 GitHub Wiki
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md and issue triage guide #65 CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md + triage guide

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Suggested order: M1 (pre-public) → M3 #47 (cost pain) → M2 #51 (evaluation) → everything else.

[wimaan3]

Research-driven additions (meta-harness landscape inspection)

• Research findings: meta-harness landscape & Claude first-party support #70 Research findings: meta-harness landscape & Claude first-party support (M3)
• Evaluate the Claude Agent SDK as an alternative/augment to shell hooks #71 Evaluate the Claude Agent SDK vs shell hooks (M2)
• Evaluate OPA/Rego + agentgateway for substrate-neutral interposition #72 Evaluate OPA/Rego + agentgateway for substrate-neutral interposition (M2)
• Positioning & differentiation: SE-quality sibling to security meta-harnesses #73 Positioning & differentiation: SE-quality sibling to security meta-harnesses (M4)
• Audit GitHub Actions, CI/CD, workflows, and repository settings #74 Audit GitHub Actions, CI/CD, workflows, and repo settings (M1)

[wimaan3]

Branching policy: #75 Enforce trunk-based branching (no direct commits to protected branches) (M2) — local/harness-enforced layer; complements server-side branch protection #60.