[bug] System prompt points at two rules in DA_IDENTITY.md that a principal-written… #2783

What happened

the system prompt cites rules in DA_IDENTITY.md (bolded lead-in ban, operative five-check) that a principal-written DA_IDENTITY does not contain, and DocCheck checks only paths, not section anchors

Summary

LIFEOS/LIFEOS_SYSTEM_PROMPT.md (v4.4.3, LifeOS 8.761.0) delegates two rules to DA_IDENTITY.md, a file the principal writes:

1. Format Rules, "Enrich the text so it scans": "never a bolded lead-in on a bullet, which DA_IDENTITY.md bans".
2. The Voice paragraph: "the operative five-check and full voice contract live in DA_IDENTITY.md § Writing Style".

On my install the principal-written DA_IDENTITY.md has a Writing Style section but contains neither a bolded-lead-in ban nor a five-check. So the system prompt states as fact a rule that does not exist where it says it does: the model either follows a ban nobody wrote, or looks for a five-check that is not there. Every install whose principal rewrote DA_IDENTITY.md is in the same state. (The pre-emit check that does exist lives in the Writing Style backstop reference file, which the same sentence names as the backstop.)

Two suggestions:

• Doctrine should not rely on content in a user-owned file. Either state the rule in the system prompt itself ("never a bolded lead-in on a bullet") or point at a system-owned file, and keep DA_IDENTITY.md as voice only. The system prompt already does this well elsewhere ("pointer only" for Verification, "define nothing" for Permission Boundaries).
• Extend DocCheck to verify § anchors. LIFEOS/TOOLS/DocCheck.ts extracts path references and checks the file exists. A reference of the form `FILE` § Section passes even when the section is missing. Checking that the named heading exists in the target file would have caught both of these, and the same pattern in other docs.

Found by a coherence pass over the always-loaded doctrine files. Locally I replaced both citations with the rule itself and a pointer to the backstop's pre-emit check.

Details

• Kind: bug
• LifeOS version: 8.761.0

Filed with the LifeOS /feedback command. The reporter approved this exact text before it was sent; paths, secrets and personal details were stripped locally.