ADR-0032: Proven builds every query from a fixed template; a model picks the template and its values

Status: accepted · Date: 2026-10-23 Decided by: the owner · Written by: the master of the reviewer core (claude-code, claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-23 Follows: ADR-0002 (evidence is a test or a query), ADR-0015 and ADR-0023 (Zetaris over REST), ADR-0025 point 7 (Proven builds the Prover's command) Trigger: the owner, 23 October, choosing how a query reaches Zetaris

Context

The Investigator and the Skeptic gather query evidence through Zetaris (ADR-0002). A query is evidence only if its meaning is the one Proven intends: the rows it returns must answer the question the review asked. ADR-0025 point 7 has already settled the same question for the Prover's command: Proven builds what is run, from a fixed template, and a model only supplies values.

Decision

1. No query text written by a model reaches Zetaris. The Investigator and the Skeptic choose one query template from a closed list that Proven defines (for example: an OSV advisory by package and version, a KEV entry by CVE id, an EPSS score by CVE id) and give the values for its parameters.
2. Proven validates every value against a strict format before it builds the query: a package name per ecosystem, a version, a CVE id, an advisory id. A value that fails its format is refused with a named reason, and that finding has no query evidence (the Judge decides as today).
3. Proven builds the SQL itself from the template and the validated values, with each value as a literal that cannot change the query's meaning. The query and its rows are recorded in the trace as today.
4. A read-only Zetaris role is a second layer only if Zetaris offers one cheaply. This is measured, not assumed: until a measurement shows that a read-only key exists and refuses a write, Proven relies on points 1-3 alone, and the documentation does not claim a read-only key.

Consequences

• A model can no longer ask Zetaris a question outside the templates. A new kind of evidence needs a new template, which is a change to Proven reviewed like any other.
• The templates are listed in one place, with their parameters and formats, so a reader can see every question Proven can ask.
• The query check that read a model's SQL text is replaced by the template list; the sample fixtures' recorded answers change shape once.