# DEC-20260106-01 - Local AI rails

Status: Accepted
Date: 2026-01-06

## Goal

Establish minimal, repo-local rails that prevent AI-assisted edits from breaking Barkday data integrity,
docs policy, and local verification.

## Intended outcome

- A repo-local rules file exists and is referenced in contributor guidance.
- Any AI-assisted change must be accompanied by a decision record and must run local verification before commit.
- Changes are made on a branch and are reversible via version control.

## Non-goals

- Selecting a specific local model, inference engine, or hardware stack.
- Automating commit signing or branch protection from within this repo.

## Constraints

- No secrets or private operational details in the public repo.
- The rails must be easy to follow for a novice contributor.

## Acceptance criteria

- The rails are documented, repeatable, and do not block normal manual edits.
- A contributor can follow the rails to make a change and pass checks on Windows.
- The rails do not require external paid services.

## Rollback plan

- Revert the commit(s) that introduced the rails.
- Remove the rules file and any new tooling, then restore prior documentation.

## Notes

These rails are about safety and repeatability, not speed.