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Content Lifecycle Model

This document defines the canonical lifecycle model for all content in the Engineering Journal.

The lifecycle is strictly enforced and applies to all content types.

Lifecycle States​

Content MUST use one of the following states:

  • draft
  • review
  • active
  • deprecated
  • archived

Lifecycle Flow​

draft → review → active → deprecated → archived

Transition Rules​

Only the following transitions are allowed:

FromTo
draftreview
reviewdraft
reviewactive
activedeprecated
deprecatedarchived

Disallowed Transitions​

The following transitions are NOT allowed:

  • draft → active
  • active → review
  • archived → any state
  • deprecated → active

Violations MUST fail CI validation.

Review Requirement​

Content MUST pass through review before becoming active.

This ensures:

  • quality control
  • accuracy validation
  • governance consistency

Staleness Handling​

Staleness is NOT a lifecycle state.

Instead, it is derived from:

  • last_reviewed field
  • future automation (stale detection scripts)

Content not reviewed within a defined period is flagged as stale but does NOT change lifecycle state automatically.

Ownership Responsibility​

Content owners are responsible for:

  • moving content through lifecycle states
  • ensuring timely reviews
  • deprecating outdated content
  • archiving obsolete content

Enforcement​

The lifecycle model is enforced via:

  • CI validation scripts
  • frontmatter validation
  • PR governance rules

Any invalid transition MUST result in a CI failure.

Related Content​