@rules-as-tests/core — the workspace-private core payload (G2)

Status: shipped-beta · Ships to: clone (payload source) — contents reach consumers as files through the installer stages, never as an npm artifact · Fires at: install time (stages 10/30/40/45/46/47/50/60/80/99 + install.sh), then from inside the consumer repo once delivered

What it is

The framework's payload store: a private: true npm workspace package that is never published and never installed as a package. Its reason to exist is the directory of files under packages/core/ that the installer copies into consumer repos. The package's own metadata says exactly this: «"description": "Framework core for rules-as-tests — discipline-bearing code as the project's contract artifact. Ships the rule manifest, ESLint rules, detector/research/synthesizer/installer toolchain, templates, skills, and install wiring.",» — and its main is not code but data: «"main": "./manifest/rules-manifest.json",».

The payload groups:

• Rule manifest — manifest/rules-manifest.json, 20 top-level rule entries R1–R20 (title, stack applicability, check, bad/good examples, policy, fixture per rule; manifest/rules-manifest.schema.json sits beside it).
• ESLint rules — eslint-rules/ (20 files: rule .ts sources plus pre-compiled .mjs/.d.ts twins, tests, an index barrel). Install performs no compilation: the .mjs/.d.ts are pre-built at framework build time by scripts/build-shipped-eslint-rules.sh (stated in the delivery comment at setup.d/40-configs.sh:229-232).
• Toolchain — detector/, research/, synthesizer/, installer/, validator/, plus ir/, backends/, diagnostics/, composition/, render/, scenario-generator/, spec-validation/, python-starter/, principles/, probes/, diff/.
• Templates — templates/ with cargo/, go/, python/, react-next/, shared/ subtrees (tier-home.md, AI-USAGE-GUIDE.md, AGENTS.md.template, husky pre-commit template, ts-server/react-next/python/cargo/go stacks).
• Skills tests — skills/ holds the vitest suite for the shipped skills (dispatcher/, pipeline/ tests) — not the skills themselves, which live at the repo root .claude/skills/ and are delivered by stage 10.
• Audit/probe scripts — audit-self/ (audit-ai-docs.sh, check-rule-globs.sh, pre-merge-local.sh, …) and probes/, the source of the consumer scripts/ payload.
• Install wiring — install/ (rule-bootstrap-cli.ts, synth-and-wire, wire-eslint-r2), the entry the rule-bootstrapping stage executes.

How it works

Nothing imports this package over npm. Every consumer touch is a file copy from $PKG_ROOT/packages/core/... by a numbered stage. Measured at the working pin, PKG_ROOT/packages/core is referenced 72 times across install.sh (13) and the stages 10-skills (1), 30-templates (7), 40-configs (22), 45-python (11), 46-cargo (1), 47-go (1), 50-hooks (6), 60-ci (1), 80-rule-bootstrap (1), 99-finalize (7), lib.sh (1). Examples of the three delivery shapes:

• copy_safe file delivery — audit scripts: «copy_safe "$PKG_ROOT/packages/core/audit-self/audit-ai-docs.sh" "$PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/audit-ai-docs.sh"» (stage 40); templates: «copy_safe "$PKG_ROOT/packages/core/templates/shared/tier-home.md" "$PROJECT_ROOT/.ai-factory/tier-home.md"» (stage 30, env+ gate on the preceding line).
• rule-file loops — stage 40 copies packages/core/eslint-rules/*.ts (skipping tests, .d.ts, index barrels) into the consumer's eslint-rules-local/ for every stack; the refresh arm iterates the same source dir (install.sh:1205 comment: "Iterate the SAME source dirs (core + per-stack presets)").
• execution in place — the rule-bootstrapping stage runs the factory from the framework checkout: «_rb_cli="$PKG_ROOT/packages/core/install/rule-bootstrap-cli.ts"» (setup.d/80-rule-bootstrap.sh:29), with --consumer-root pointing at the consumer.

The package's own README states the publish posture: «This package is currently private: true.» and names the planned public shape — a future @getff/core 0.1.0 after the repo-wide rename (packages/core/README.md:11). It also documents the six bin entrypoints (detect, research, synth, validate, install, verify-provenance — all .ts run via the tsx dependency): «The package exposes six bin: entrypoints (all .ts, executed via the tsx runtime dependency):»

Satellites & companions

USES nothing upstream — it IS the upstream. The A-stages ADAPT its files into consumer-facing capability: stage 40 (A13) delivers audit-self/ as the consumer scripts/ gate cluster (F31–F56 source), stage 30 (A12) delivers templates/shared/ as .ai-factory/ content, stage 80 (A18) executes install/rule-bootstrap-cli.ts as the deterministic factory (F42), stage 50 (A14) delivers the husky templates and the ESM marker. G9 ADDS distribution over it: packages/core is a root in the dist assembler's PAYLOAD list, so the tarball carries the same tree. The rule manifest is the render input for the shipped RULES.md docs (the ts-server/react-next base RULES.md is manifest-rendered per setup.d/30-templates.sh:20-23).

Anchors

At framework pin aa87d0a47a6d8502f983cc9fe7284bd5dcb3d650:

• packages/core/package.json:4 — «"private": true,»
• packages/core/package.json:5 — «"description": "Framework core for rules-as-tests — discipline-bearing code as the project's contract artifact. Ships the rule manifest, ESLint rules, detector/research/synthesizer/installer toolchain, templates, skills, and install wiring.",»
• packages/core/package.json:8 — «"main": "./manifest/rules-manifest.json",»
• packages/core/manifest/rules-manifest.json:2 — «"R1": {» (R1–R20, 20 entries)
• packages/core/README.md:11 — «This package is currently private: true.»
• packages/core/README.md:15 — «The package exposes six bin: entrypoints (all .ts, executed via the tsx runtime dependency):»
• setup.d/40-configs.sh:14 — «copy_safe "$PKG_ROOT/packages/core/audit-self/audit-ai-docs.sh" "$PROJECT_ROOT/scripts/audit-ai-docs.sh"»
• setup.d/30-templates.sh:109 — «copy_safe "$PKG_ROOT/packages/core/templates/shared/tier-home.md" "$PROJECT_ROOT/.ai-factory/tier-home.md"»
• setup.d/80-rule-bootstrap.sh:29 — «_rb_cli="$PKG_ROOT/packages/core/install/rule-bootstrap-cli.ts"»
• install.sh:201 — «"packages/core/templates/shared/AGENTS.md.template"» (first entry of the SHIPPED_DOCS refresh list)