Example Design: Variation Paths

This artifact makes the running example’s combination and variation rules explicit. It supports Chapter 06 without introducing a second canonical approval artifact.

Product-Like Review Context

The workflow needs several independently meaningful inputs at the same time before human approval can complete. The product-like object is Combined Review Context. It is the smallest shared context that preserves the information required for review.

Component Objects

• Requested Scope
• Policy Result
• Evidence Links

Canonical Projections

• scope-of: Combined Review Context -> Requested Scope
• policy-status-of: Combined Review Context -> Policy Result
• evidence-links-of: Combined Review Context -> Evidence Links

Engineering Reading

The reviewer view renders this context as a Decision Packet. The construction stays product-like only while each downstream check can recover the same three components without hidden global state.

Coproduct-Like Review Routes

The workflow supports more than one explicit review route before approval completion. The coproduct-like object is Review Route. It makes route selection explicit while keeping Approved Change as the single canonical approval artifact.

Variant Objects

• Standard Review Path
• Escalated Review Path

Canonical Entries

• enter-standard: Standard Review Path -> Review Route
• enter-escalated: Escalated Review Path -> Review Route

Routing Rules

• Standard Review Path applies when the change stays within the default repository boundary and policy status is satisfied without exceptions.
• Escalated Review Path applies when protected files, elevated operational risk, or policy exceptions require added scrutiny.
• Both routes still require explicit human approval before Approved Change exists.

Relationship To Other Artifacts

This artifact complements commutative-diagram.md by separating combination from variation. It aligns with review/reviewer-view.md, runtime/runtime-view.md, and implementation/workflow.md when those artifacts preserve the same route boundary and approval meaning.