HOWTO: Package a Run Record into an Audit Envelope¶

Purpose: Bundle a run record, supporting records, and approval decisions into a complete audit envelope for change review or compliance handoff.

Difficulty: Intermediate

Track: Verification-Driven Operations

Overview¶

A run record alone is a structured log. An audit envelope is a curated, signed package that makes a complete claim: "this operation ran, with these inputs, under this governance policy, and produced these verified outcomes." This HOWTO covers assembling that package and ensuring it meets the completeness requirements for review and handoff.

1. What Goes Into an Audit Envelope¶

Run record JSON.
Supporting record manifest.
Approval decisions and gate records.
Contract and profile digests.
Envelope metadata: assembled_at, assembled_by, purpose.

2. Assembling the Envelope¶

Packaging workflow command or script for the selected environment.
Automatic vs manual record inclusion.
Handling missing or incomplete supporting records.

3. Validating Completeness¶

Completeness check output.
Required record types per profile policy.
Resolving incompleteness before handoff.

4. Signing the Envelope¶

Envelope signing and verification.
Key management for signing in CI/CD pipelines.
Verifying a received envelope.

5. Storing and Referencing Envelopes¶

Standard storage path: <runtime-root>/logs/envelopes/.
Naming conventions and retention policy.
Linking from change tickets and PR descriptions.

References¶

License: MIT-0 for code, CC-BY-4.0 for documentation unless otherwise stated.