v2.9.7 (2026-09-05)

Ordered counterexample value gate in first-principles review

• Replace the Falsification matrix enumeration with Gates 0-6, evaluated in order with stop at the first failing gate (skills/first-principles-review/SKILL.md): Gate 0 premise evidence (stage-graded; no evidence parks the counterexample as watch-listed without entering value evaluation); Gate 1 decidability (no obtainable judging evidence parks it as a watched falsifier); Gate 2 value (any one of: lowers future fix probability, shrinks the solution set, exposes a missing actionable acceptance criterion, or the same broken assumption is reused elsewhere); Gate 3 cost match (change cost vs business priority, costed at the current stage; deferred-but-valid counterexamples are recorded, never parked orally); Gate 4 goal regression (constrained solution still meets the original goal; re-read the accepted-constraint list at existing checkpoints); Gate 5 minimize-then-classify (boundary-shaped destructive claims must be minimized first; premise attacks classify as destructive directly; conflicting counterexamples are decided by business-goal ranking, never by stacking constraints); Gate 6 adoption trace (cheapest checkable form written into the existing owner doc).
• AEGIS_PROCESS_BASELINE.md: Bounded Preservation now re-reads the accepted-constraint list against the original goal at existing checkpoints (design review, plan approval, pre-completion verification); no new counter is created for this. No new owner, file, checkpoint, or ceremony.

Verification boundary

• Version-bump audit passed: 8 declared manifests in sync at 2.9.7; no undeclared references.
• tests/e2e/first-principles-review-check.sh passed; tests/e2e/workflow-quality-check.sh passed; workflow quality matrix validation passed; git diff --check passed.