Adds the first consumer of CORE's two built epistemic substrates — the
decode-state taxonomy (core/epistemic_state.py) and the risk-reward
reliability gate (core/reliability_gate/, ADR-0175) — beginning to close
the LABEL-ONLY consumption gap they sat behind.
Ships the scaffold only:
- core/response_governance/policy.py — ReachLevel (STRICT < APPROXIMATE <
EXTRAPOLATE < CREATIVE), ReachPolicy, govern_response (STRICT-only stub),
shape_surface (STRICT = identity transform; higher levels real but
unreachable in production), and the 9/5/1 EpistemicState partition.
- chat/runtime.py — cognition-path seam: the response surface now flows
through shape_surface(govern_response(...)). STRICT = identity, so the
path is byte-identical to pre-bridge. reach_level carried on ChatResponse.
- core/physics/identity.py — reach_level on TurnEvent (default "strict").
wrong==0 untouched: select_self_verified is NOT touched (ADR-0206 §5);
reach_level is NOT added to the telemetry JSONL dict, so pinned lane SHAs
stay byte-identical. Widening, SITUATE/FEED-BACK, the math-serving seam,
and the EVIDENCED reconcile are deferred to their own PRs.
Tests (tests/test_response_governance.py): STRICT-only contract over all
states x license x stakes, STRICT identity, live-wiring proof (forces
APPROXIMATE -> policy-sensitive surface), total+disjoint taxonomy
partition. Each fails loudly under the violation it guards.