init: CIVICVS repository — CBPs, corpus standard, directory structure

- README.md: project identity, TESSERA relationship, directory layout
- CIVICVS-CBPs.md: CBP-001 through CBP-006 adapted for CIVICVS
- docs/corpus/mesolithic-corpus-standard-v1.md: 10-table schema, 6-sprint plan, 25 seed concepts
Per CBP-001: committed same session as produced.

CIVICVS-CBPs.md

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+# CIVICVS — Critical Baseline Protocols
+### Status: Normative
+### Date: 2026-04-18
+### Adapted from: TESSERA v3.0 CBPs (ssot/docs/v3/README.md)
+
+---
+
+These are not guidelines. They are not best practices. They are the
+conditions under which this project operates. Deviation is not
+permitted. If a CBP cannot be followed, work stops until it can be.
+
+CIVICVS inherits the same process failure mode that cost TESSERA v2.0
+months of work: documents produced in chat sessions, never committed,
+permanently lost. These CBPs exist to prevent that failure from
+recurring in CIVICVS.
+
+---
+
+## CBP-001 — Every document is committed before the session ends
+
+Any document produced in a session — schema, governance doc,
+architecture decision, corpus entry, session log — is committed to
+this repository before the session ends. Not summarised. Not noted
+for later. Committed.
+
+A session that produces a document and does not commit it has produced
+nothing. The chat log is not a repository. It is not durable. It is
+not citable. It does not exist.
+
+**Enforcement:** The last action of every session is to verify that
+every document produced in that session exists in the repository.
+If it does not, the session is not over.
+
+---
+
+## CBP-002 — Every session produces a session log
+
+A session log is a raw, detailed record of what happened. It includes:
+- Every decision made, with the reasoning
+- Every failure encountered, with the exact error
+- Every workaround discovered, with the exact command
+- Every assumption that proved wrong
+- Every benchmark measured, with the actual number
+
+Session logs are not polished. They are not summaries. They are the
+unfiltered record. Future contributors — human or AI — must be able
+to reconstruct exactly what was tried, what worked, and what did not,
+without repeating the same experiments.
+
+**Enforcement:** A session log is committed before any other end-of-
+session work. It is the first commit, not the last.
+
+---
+
+## CBP-003 — Infrastructure is tested before it is designed around
+
+No component — Saltcorn, ChromaDB, Ollama, any API — is designed
+around an assumption about what it can do. The assumption is tested
+first with a minimal real operation. Only then is the design built.
+
+If a data source, service, or tool is investigated and found
+unsuitable, that finding is documented. Failures are permanent
+knowledge. Do not let the next session repeat the same investigation.
+
+**Enforcement:** Before any new service is incorporated into CIVICVS
+design, its actual behaviour, actual data format, and actual
+limitations are documented with the date of investigation.
+
+---
+
+## CBP-004 — The file transfer protocol is followed without exception
+
+Every file that reaches a server node travels this exact path:
+
+```
+Claude produces tarball → user downloads → user uploads to /tmp/ on target node → commands run there
+```
+
+There is no other path. There is no heredoc injection. There is no
+"write it directly." There is no assuming a file is present because
+it was produced in a previous step.
+
+If a command references a file that is not confirmed present in /tmp/
+on the target node, the command is not run.
+
+**Enforcement:** Every deploy sequence begins with confirming the
+tarball is present at /tmp/ on the target node before any git or
+extract command runs.
+
+---
+
+## CBP-005 — The Mesolithic Corpus Standard is the source of truth for corpus work
+
+When the corpus schema says one thing and a corpus entry does another,
+the entry is wrong until proven otherwise. If the schema is wrong,
+it is corrected immediately and the correction is committed with an
+inline note explaining what was wrong and when it was fixed.
+
+The corpus standard is at `docs/corpus/mesolithic-corpus-standard-v1.md`.
+It is normative. All corpus entries, Saltcorn tables, and views must
+conform to it. Deviations are not tolerated silently — they are
+either corrected or the standard is updated with explicit reasoning.
+
+**Enforcement:** Before any corpus sprint begins, the corpus standard
+and the current Saltcorn table schema are read together and confirmed
+consistent.
+
+---
+
+## CBP-006 — The handover is written for the next assistant, not for posterity
+
+A handover document is not a summary of what was accomplished. It is
+an operational briefing for an assistant who has no prior context and
+must be able to continue the work without asking clarifying questions
+about project state.
+
+A handover must state:
+- What is currently running and its status
+- What is pending and why
+- What is broken and what the exact error is
+- The first task for the next session, unambiguously
+
+A handover that requires the recipient to make assumptions is
+incomplete.
+
+**Enforcement:** The handover is tested by asking: "What is the first
+thing to do?" If the answer is uncertain, the handover is rewritten.
+
+---
+
+## What CIVICVS CBPs do not cover
+
+These CBPs govern session continuity and commit discipline. They do
+not cover:
+
+- The corpus schema (see `docs/corpus/mesolithic-corpus-standard-v1.md`)
+- Infrastructure decisions (see TESSERA `ssot/docs/v3/infrastructure.md`)
+- The simulation RFC stack (to be created)
+- The TESSERA data model (see TESSERA RFC stack)
+
+---
+
+*CIVICVS-CBPs.md — 2026-04-18*
+*Status: Normative*
+*The process is the project.*