# Compatibility Certification Policy

## Purpose
Define how Darkelogix qualifies and declares governed integrations against specific runtime, plugin, and policy versions.

## Audience
- Engineering and release teams
- Enterprise buyers evaluating governed integrations
- Security and assurance reviewers

## What This Policy Covers
Compatibility certification applies to a declared combination of:
- integration or runtime version
- plugin or enforcement-point version
- policy pack or decision pack version
- evidence and reason-code contract

## Certification Objective
Certification establishes whether Darkelogix can truthfully claim governed behavior for a specific version combination.

## Minimum Validation Requirements
- Deterministic allow, deny, and constrain behavior
- Expected fail-safe posture for high-risk actions
- Trace and reason-code output verification
- Evidence structure and version-stamp verification
- Regression checks against known high-impact scenarios

## Certification States
- `CERTIFIED_ENFORCED`: validated combination with enforcement claims supported by current evidence
- `LOCKDOWN_ONLY`: partial or conservative posture only; enforced claims are not made
- `UNSUPPORTED`: no enforcement claims for the declared combination

## Revalidation Triggers
Revalidation is required when:
- a runtime version changes
- a plugin or enforcement point changes materially
- a policy pack changes materially
- evidence structure or reason-code behavior changes
- a known issue materially affects governance behavior

## Publication Rule
Only combinations with current supporting validation evidence may be published as `CERTIFIED_ENFORCED`.

## Output Artifacts
Certification outputs should include:
- declared version tuple
- certification state
- evidence references
- known limitations or caveats
- review date or release-cycle reference