Reviewed the eight implementation commits from `ae0c94d` through `18af2d2`
against the [implementation plan](implementation.md) and
[feature roadmap](main-relative-inputs.md).
| Stage | Review result |
| --- | --- |
| 1 | The root facade copies binding and fallback descriptions. Preflight checks active binding scope and static context shape. Concrete overrides and inactive overlays take precedence over shadowed settings. |
| 2 | The acquired main's resolved context feeds underlay acquisition. Derived inputs retain the namespace and containment root, clear the main's physical path, and use receiving-tier host identity. Fallback selection and namespace anchors use the chosen context. |
| 3 | Bound traversal and contextless imports share declaration policy and placement preparation, with source-local diagnostic sites. |
| 4 | Without a base, the loader retains payload and version processing, honors requiredness and the empty named-path exception, and emits no fabricated selection evidence. Root assembly has a second implementation. See Finding 2. |
| 5 | Layered overlays select explicit, main-derived, then fallback context. Lookup base and containment root are separate. Native link handling leaves a gap in containment and duplicate detection. See Finding 1. |
| 6 | The executable example covers discovery, embedded defaults, mounted file and recursive directory imports, transitive imports, whole-record upsert, and the selected overlay. A companion test rejects duplicate peers. |
| 7 | Public and engine tests cover discovery, source and version evidence, optional resources, budgets, and cleanup. The exhaustion and lazy fallback branches need focused regression coverage. See Finding 3. |
| 8 | The configuration contract, public comments, architecture policy, and ADR describe deferred binding. Two supporting descriptions misstate ownership. See Finding 4. |
**Status** — Complete. Native overlay lookup resolves supported symlinks before containment and repeat checks. The overlay tests cover escapes, aliases in both directions, and a contained target.
The follow-up reviewed the same implementation through its existing callers
and downstream consumers. Findings 1–4 remain open.
| Stage | Interaction reviewed |
| --- | --- |
| 1 | The public facade copies the new descriptions into each request. Existing concrete context checks, disabled import handling, and overlay name validation still run on their established paths. |
| 2 | Derived imports preserve the receiving tier's repeat detection and the native namespace token. A probe confirmed that a derived import and explicit file repeat within the same namespace, while separately constructed namespaces with the same label and path compose independently. Standalone host validation diverges from explicit context handling. See Finding 5. |
| 3 | Both traversal paths prepare declarations from the existing parsed specs. Placement diagnostics still use the local mapping scope for sequence items. |
| 4 | With optional imports and no base, the declaring source enters the established scope composition and version evidence paths. A probe with a mounted sequence item and required source version produced the same record and version evidence with or without an explicit base. Only the bound path reported a completed empty selection. |
| 5 | The selected overlay uses the existing loader, version protection, aggregate limits, and source context construction after main and underlay assembly. The inherited native link limitation is recorded in Finding 1. |
| 6 | The executable example exercises the handoff from discovery through embedded and operator tiers, identified record upsert, and overlay application using existing composition operations. |
| 7 | Focused regressions passed for main-relative loading, ordinary and layered overlays, source contexts, import defaults, source versions, and sequence-item placement. The host access mismatch calls for the regression in Finding 5. |
| 8 | The public contract requires a usable base for `RequireBase` and describes the established context checks. Finding 5 concerns code behavior under that contract. The ownership corrections from Finding 4 still apply. |
**Status** — Complete. Derived and explicit standalone contexts share the host root open and close checks. The permission regression passed for both paths.
The audit covers the implementation from `ae0c94d` through `18af2d2`.
It analyzes the work and storage implied by the code. The planning decisions
on precedence, selection, import traversal, and context ownership remain the
basis for the analysis.
| Stage | Work and storage reviewed |
| --- | --- |
| 1 | Facade conversion and binding preflight visit each input once, with work proportional to the option data copied or validated. The existing diagnostic sort orders failures after collection. |
| 2 | Binding and namespace anchor selection use a fixed number of linear passes. The temporary context table and per-input resolved copies are avoidable. See Finding 7. |
| 3 | Declaration preparation visits each declaration once, but resolving a shared pattern default copies its entries for each inheriting directory declaration. See Finding 6. |
| 4 | The no-base path prepares declarations and scans requiredness before assembling one payload. The pattern copies contribute a multiplicative cost even though no traversal runs. Root assembly duplication is already tracked in Finding 2. |
| 5 | Context selection considers at most three choices, and the shared overlay loader makes one linear pass over acquired sources for duplicate detection. The native path correctness issue remains in Finding 1. |
| 6 | The example uses one layered load and the existing declaration, import, and tier assembly paths. It adds no separate scan for companion files. |
| 7 | Source budgeting and evidence reuse the existing load state. The focused suite passed for the new loading paths and their import, overlay, and sequence-item dependencies. |
| 8 | The documented single discovery and deferred selection match the call path reviewed above. The identified improvements concern private storage and work, with no change to the selected algorithms or public behavior. |
