feat(adf): populate command, unknown-op error clarity, CONTEXT scaffold section

[SmartBrandStrategies]

Summary

• charter adf populate — new command that auto-fills ADF context files from codebase signals (package.json, README, stack detection). Eliminates the "ADF files are pure boilerplate after init" problem observed in downstream repos. Idempotent: skips files with non-scaffold content unless --force.
• Patcher error clarity — unknown ops now produce Unknown patch op: 'replace'. Valid ops: ADD_BULLET, ... instead of the cryptic handlers[op.op] is not a function TypeError.
• CORE_SCAFFOLD CONTEXT section — scaffold now includes a CONTEXT placeholder so ADD_BULLET section:CONTEXT works immediately post-init without a preceding ADD_SECTION.
• adf patch help — lists all valid ops with concrete JSON examples for the three most common cases.
• Bootstrap/init next steps — step 1 now points to charter adf populate instead of vague "edit core.adf manually" guidance.
• Harness — extended SDLC corpus and runner with mixed QA/backend signal scenarios that surfaced the classifier routing issues tracked in Classifier routes smoke-test approval bullets to infra.adf when CI/deploy terms coexist with QA language #44 and Classifier overweights API/request/response keywords and underweights QA signals in mixed checklist bullets #45.

Motivation

From a downstream repo session: after charter bootstrap, the agent tried to fill ADF files with Write(), failed on the lock file, then spent several turns discovering ADD_BULLET via trial and error, and got handlers[op.op] is not a function when using the wrong op name. This PR fixes all of that friction.

Test plan

• charter adf populate --dry-run on a fresh repo shows detected project/stack
• charter adf populate fills core.adf CONTEXT, state.adf STATE, backend/frontend.adf CONTEXT
• Re-running populate skips already-customized files
• charter adf patch ... --ops '[{"op":"badOp"}]' shows clear error with valid ops list
• charter adf init then charter adf patch .ai/core.adf --ops '[{"op":"ADD_BULLET","section":"CONTEXT","value":"test"}]' works without ADD_SECTION first
• All 274 tests pass

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[stackbilt-admin]

Review

Verdict: NEEDS FIX before merge

Critical

• adf-populate.ts lines 670, 752, 789, 828 — buildCoreOps, buildStateOps, buildBackendOps, buildFrontendOps all call fs.readFileSync after caller's existsSync check with no try/catch. Any I/O failure produces a raw Node stack trace instead of a CLIError. Wrap each in try/catch.

Non-critical

• parseAdf can throw on malformed .adf input mid-loop with no recovery — single bad file aborts entire populate run
• contentToModule specificity tiebreak has no test coverage
• ESM detection reads ctx.source as relative path — works from project root only (documented contract, but fragile)

Missing

• Zero unit tests for the populate command (390 LOC of new logic). Needs tests for: idempotency (hasScaffoldContent), readReadmeSummary edge cases, --force behavior

Good

• Security surface is clean (no shell injection, path traversal guard solid)
• Classifier and patcher changes are well-exercised by harness corpus
• Code style is consistent

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[stackbilt-admin]

Superseded by 3ba3957 — populate command and CONTEXT scaffold section landed directly on main.