commandkit/docs/roadmap/future.md

# Future work

Status: optional shell validation and future capability proposals.
No delivery dates are selected here.

## Purpose and authority

Earlier completed roadmaps, implementation plans, and review findings have been retired.
This document preserves unfinished work and unselected ideas under the
[release policy](../policy/release.md#release-documentation-and-preparation).
The completed shared debug binding and reporting-mode implementation is recorded
in its [retirement snapshot](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/commandkit/src/commit/56e3b013f9f83c9c9494f11602e802ce5ed8814e/docs/roadmap).
The completed [documentation refresh](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/commandkit/src/commit/5c960532552037d38119941389e558f78bf73aad/docs/roadmap/documentation-refresh.md) remains available in Git history.
The completed audits, consolidated remediation, implementation plan, and
declaration-path follow-up remain available in the
[audit remediation retirement snapshot](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/commandkit/src/commit/aac0e11ae67c78a35745ed9a25688aa51c15e793/docs/roadmap).
The completed PromptKit v0.18.0 adoption roadmap and implementation plan remain
available in the
[PromptKit retirement snapshot](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/commandkit/src/commit/540e2359d66d604a563df0be1c9fc961588f5b9c/docs/roadmap).
The completed PromptKit v0.20.0 and shared reporting implementation is recorded
in its [retirement snapshot](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/commandkit/src/commit/2f43f78f76439f5d11ef313cd379bec036543504/docs/roadmap).
The completed ConfigKit adoption, reporting, dependency alignment, release-tooling,
and remediation records remain available at the
[retirement snapshot](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/commandkit/src/commit/260256d722f52bc947103d078cb67a129f4cc9f1/docs/roadmap).
[Earlier retired records](https://gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/CommandKit/src/commit/6bc37e7ba64ca0920b4d0cc77039a18d4006b24e/docs/roadmap)
also remain in Git history. Completed records are not assignments to restart work.

Accepted [ADRs](../adr/) and the [architecture policy](../policy/architecture.md)
govern any future implementation. The [CLI reference](../cli.md), public GoDoc,
and [consumer guide](../consumers/guide.md) own implemented behavior. Retaining
an idea here does not select its syntax, API, priority, or delivery date.

## Optional verification

### Optional shell completion validation

Zsh and Fish interactive completion checks remain unverified because those
executables were unavailable during remediation. Script generation for Bash,
Zsh and Fish and the Bash interactive checks passed. Run the existing opt-in
backend and consumer checks when those prerequisites are available, following
the [developer guide](../development.md#shell-completion-validation).

## Future capability targets

### Comparison extensions

General collection-clearing support is deferred pending a concrete consumer need.
Revisit standardized syntax and binding support for explicitly replacing a
nonempty application-default selector collection with an empty collection.
This is separate from clearing configuration lists through transient
overrides and does not reinstate comparison inheritance. No clearing grammar
or public helper API is selected.

### Configuration inspection extensions

Persistent configuration editing remains deferred.

Discovery, import defaults, collection identities, and field-level resolution
recording remain available through application loaders. Discovery tracing,
resource-context inspection, and secrets-directory bootstrap commands remain
deferred. Acquired source records do not provide a complete trace of rejected
discovery candidates; bootstrap and resource contexts primarily serve
application loading and startup.

### PromptKit inspection and selection extensions

General-purpose helpers for application-internal PromptKit use remain outside
CommandKit's ownership boundary. The following CLI extensions are deferred.

- **Output-contract override flags.** Deferred from the current adoption. A
  possible future operator task is validating or previewing one prompt with a
  replacement output contract without editing its definition. PromptKit uses
  whole-contract replacement; a complete-contract file option was discussed,
  but no flag spelling or file format is selected. Existing configuration and
  application builders remain available. Revisit when the standard `promptkit`
  commands have a demonstrated need for this workflow.

- **Appended-message flags.** Deferred from the current adoption. The potential
  operator task is reproducing a single request with application-added messages
  through `promptkit show prepared` or `promptkit requirements validate`, to
  inspect roles, ordering, and content or check preparation. These commands do
  not test model responses or application workflows. Appended messages follow
  definition messages in supplied order; they are already rendered and do not
  satisfy missing named prompt inputs. Revisit when request reproduction is a
  demonstrated operator requirement. An ordered message-list file is a candidate,
  but no flag syntax, file format, or supported-role selection is decided.
  Deferring flags does not remove native appended messages from preview reports
  when an application builder supplies them.

### Alias completion and discovery

The delivered [shell completion feature](../cli.md#shell-completion) provides
canonical suggestions and alias-aware interpretation. Potential future work
includes suggesting command and flag alias spellings and valid continuations of
alias-only prefixes. For example, completion could suggest `inspect` after
`app legacy ` when `legacy inspect` is an installed alias.

Alias discovery is outside the initial scope. This deferral does not establish a
permanent canonical-only completion contract or prohibit future alias discovery.
A later design should determine how alias suggestions are presented alongside
canonical suggestions while ensuring inserted continuations form valid next
steps. No delivery date or final API is selected here.

### Reporting extensions

XML is outside current consideration; Markdown and other renderers remain
unselected.

Error-conversion helpers such as `WarnError` remain deferred pending demonstrated
value; applications can already use `report.Warn(err.Error())`. Terminal redraw
and progress-bar presentation were outside the completed reporting scope and
remain unselected. Whole-run buffering to make failed runs show only errors
was also outside that scope. Any later extension needs a deliberate API and
presentation decision rather than assuming those behaviors are already provided.

### Release workflow extensions

Historical hosted-page backfilling and automated CI delivery remain separate
future choices. The current local page-only delivery workflow is implemented;
these extensions are not prerequisites for using it. The release procedure owns
delivery, immutable content, and recovery behavior.

Additional validation options, including race testing, full vet, compilation
matrices, size limits, and more forbidden-file paths, can be considered for
demonstrated needs. None is selected by retaining it here, and the existing
candidate checks do not become general prohibitions on development workspaces.

## Other future proposals

These capabilities remain outside the delivered scope and require a concrete
operator or consumer need and an appropriate ownership/behavior decision:

- Additional report renderers as described under [reporting extensions](#reporting-extensions),
  and output-file management or reloadable export.
- Shell completion extensions, including alias discovery described above and
  dynamic discovery of configured or remote values.
- Persistent configuration mutation. Transient CLI overrides and field metadata
  inspection are available through the standard configuration suite.
- Credential diagnostics beyond PromptKit's native smoke checks and additional
  live provider probes.
- Additional component identity registration and domain artifact catalogs.
- Additional library families, including possible FeedKit integration; families
  can define suitable verbs without requiring comparison or configuration scopes.
- Backend selection or replacement, a plugin framework, general dependency
  injection, and concurrent-dispatch guarantees.

Execution, serving, and session operations remain application-owned.
The [architecture policy](../policy/architecture.md#command-and-application-ownership)
recommends shared vocabulary; the [CLI reference](../cli.md#registered-command-syntax)
owns implemented grammar.
Backend replacement remains possible behind the accepted facade, subject to the
published API/CLI contracts and deliberate compatibility decisions.

## Possible further efficiency work

Selected-scope memoization and selector-membership indexes were deferred pending
measurements that justify their bookkeeping. Mutable backend reuse across
invocations, segmented aggregate YAML delivery, provider caching, consumer-loader
redesign, and a replacement backend were outside the completed performance
target. Reconsider them only with concrete motivation and review of ownership,
invocation state, native reports, and the affected contracts. Retained measurement
records are historical evidence, not performance guarantees or release gates.

## Consumer adoption

CommandKit is in alpha with no consumers. No application adoption work or rollout
order is selected. The [consumer guide](../consumers/guide.md) and maintained
examples provide integration guidance for future applications.