kind	meaning	required_evidence	allowed_scope	forbidden_use
abi-contract	Binary layout, calling convention, ownership, value representation, symbol, or relocation guarantee.	Layout tests; cross-backend ABI tests; compatibility notes; release artifact evidence.	ABI docs, runtime ABI tables, object/archive/linker/native backend evidence.	Names that only describe planned ABI work or untested layout assumptions.
api-contract	Request, response, route, schema, or public callable surface guarantee.	Validators; encoder and decoder tests; bad-input diagnostics; public examples; API docs.	Public APIs, app APIs, framework APIs, generated API docs.	Constructors that imply runtime behavior without validators or failure behavior.
package-contract	Package metadata, lockfile, resolver, registry, publish, install, rollback, provenance, or deprecation guarantee.	Resolver tests; registry integrity tests; checksum and signature evidence; rollback evidence.	Package manifests, lockfiles, registry metadata, publish/install/release docs.	Registry or resolver claims without repeatable install and rollback evidence.
runtime-contract	Runtime behavior, capability, process, socket, memory, browser, service, actor, distributed, embedded, or host-boundary guarantee.	Runtime tests; security-negative tests; failure behavior; observability; operator docs.	Runtime docs, runtime tables, capability docs, operator docs, release evidence.	Test fixtures, deterministic doubles, or adapters presented as production behavior.
source-contract	Checked source syntax, type annotation, effect annotation, compiler phase, IR, lowering, or diagnostic guarantee.	Parser/checker/lowering tests; invalid examples; stable diagnostics; language docs.	Language spec, syntax docs, compiler docs, IR docs, diagnostic docs.	Source annotations that are accepted but not checked by the documented implementation.
tooling-contract	Formatter, docs, lint, release, registry, source-owned tool, or maintainer workflow guarantee.	Tool tests; source ownership evidence; release helper rows; maintainer docs.	Tooling docs, release helpers, source-owned tooling inventory, maintainer docs.	Host shims or scripts represented as source-owned production tools without evidence.
test-fixture-contract	Deterministic fixture behavior used by tests only.	Test-only path; fixture docs; production exclusion check.	Tests, test fixtures, and explicitly test-scoped helper packages.	Any production, development, release, or public behavior claim.