asdecided · tcballard · Jul 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
diff --git a/.cursor/rules b/.cursor/rules
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<!-- BEGIN RAC MANAGED BLOCK (digest: 7f693642352f74bd5ca870cc752ced16f41d665303b41779f38bc68d52be5f78) -->
+<!-- BEGIN RAC MANAGED BLOCK (digest: 0c499330c6558847fce241383f95b9c92153e44ad9b82e5a75670276155fb02a) -->
 <!-- Managed by `rac export --agent-rules`. Edit decisions in rac/, not here; content outside this block is preserved. -->
 ## Settled decisions (RAC)
 
@@ -69,4 +69,5 @@ These decisions are already accepted. Do not re-open or contradict them; ask the
 - **RAC-KW6NQ4Y814N7** — ADR-094: Roadmaps Are Identified by Stable Codename, Not a vX.Y.Z Scope-Fence _(Process)_
 - **RAC-KW8ZTVEQJ366** — ADR-095: rac-connectors Repackage, PyPI Rename, and Outbound Field Rename _(Architecture)_
 - **RAC-KWBJJRZR84PT** — ADR-096: External-Target Verification Edge (`verified_by`) _(Technical)_
+- **RAC-KWGKWKEXP1TJ** — ADR-098: Decision Applies-To Scope and Path Lookup _(Technical)_
 <!-- END RAC MANAGED BLOCK -->
diff --git a/.github/copilot-instructions.md b/.github/copilot-instructions.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<!-- BEGIN RAC MANAGED BLOCK (digest: 7f693642352f74bd5ca870cc752ced16f41d665303b41779f38bc68d52be5f78) -->
+<!-- BEGIN RAC MANAGED BLOCK (digest: 0c499330c6558847fce241383f95b9c92153e44ad9b82e5a75670276155fb02a) -->
 <!-- Managed by `rac export --agent-rules`. Edit decisions in rac/, not here; content outside this block is preserved. -->
 ## Settled decisions (RAC)
 
@@ -69,4 +69,5 @@ These decisions are already accepted. Do not re-open or contradict them; ask the
 - **RAC-KW6NQ4Y814N7** — ADR-094: Roadmaps Are Identified by Stable Codename, Not a vX.Y.Z Scope-Fence _(Process)_
 - **RAC-KW8ZTVEQJ366** — ADR-095: rac-connectors Repackage, PyPI Rename, and Outbound Field Rename _(Architecture)_
 - **RAC-KWBJJRZR84PT** — ADR-096: External-Target Verification Edge (`verified_by`) _(Technical)_
+- **RAC-KWGKWKEXP1TJ** — ADR-098: Decision Applies-To Scope and Path Lookup _(Technical)_
 <!-- END RAC MANAGED BLOCK -->
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -94,9 +94,9 @@ jobs:
           - name: mcp
             paths: "tests/test_mcp_server.py tests/test_mcp_tools.py tests/test_mcp_isolation.py tests/test_mcp_telemetry.py tests/test_mcp_ping.py tests/test_mcp_audit.py"
           - name: relationships
-            paths: "tests/test_relationships.py tests/test_relationships_cmd.py tests/test_relationship_validation.py tests/test_relationship_graph.py tests/test_lifecycle_status.py tests/test_rename.py"
+            paths: "tests/test_relationships.py tests/test_relationships_cmd.py tests/test_relationship_validation.py tests/test_relationship_graph.py tests/test_lifecycle_status.py tests/test_rename.py tests/test_applies_to.py"
           - name: resolve
-            paths: "tests/test_resolve.py tests/test_find_decisions.py tests/test_explain.py"
+            paths: "tests/test_resolve.py tests/test_find_decisions.py tests/test_explain.py tests/test_decisions_for_path.py"
           - name: eval
             paths: "tests/test_eval.py"
           - name: review

diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<!-- BEGIN RAC MANAGED BLOCK (digest: 7f693642352f74bd5ca870cc752ced16f41d665303b41779f38bc68d52be5f78) -->
+<!-- BEGIN RAC MANAGED BLOCK (digest: 0c499330c6558847fce241383f95b9c92153e44ad9b82e5a75670276155fb02a) -->
 <!-- Managed by `rac export --agent-rules`. Edit decisions in rac/, not here; content outside this block is preserved. -->
 ## Settled decisions (RAC)
 
@@ -69,4 +69,5 @@ These decisions are already accepted. Do not re-open or contradict them; ask the
 - **RAC-KW6NQ4Y814N7** — ADR-094: Roadmaps Are Identified by Stable Codename, Not a vX.Y.Z Scope-Fence _(Process)_
 - **RAC-KW8ZTVEQJ366** — ADR-095: rac-connectors Repackage, PyPI Rename, and Outbound Field Rename _(Architecture)_
 - **RAC-KWBJJRZR84PT** — ADR-096: External-Target Verification Edge (`verified_by`) _(Technical)_
+- **RAC-KWGKWKEXP1TJ** — ADR-098: Decision Applies-To Scope and Path Lookup _(Technical)_
 <!-- END RAC MANAGED BLOCK -->
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ to the corpus artifact and they load through the imports below.
 - Previous series: `rac/roadmaps/v0.21.x-editor/` (complete)
 - Decisions (ADRs): `rac/decisions/`
 
-<!-- BEGIN RAC MANAGED BLOCK (digest: 7f693642352f74bd5ca870cc752ced16f41d665303b41779f38bc68d52be5f78) -->
+<!-- BEGIN RAC MANAGED BLOCK (digest: 0c499330c6558847fce241383f95b9c92153e44ad9b82e5a75670276155fb02a) -->
 <!-- Managed by `rac export --agent-rules`. Edit decisions in rac/, not here; content outside this block is preserved. -->
 ## Settled decisions (RAC)
 
@@ -94,4 +94,5 @@ These decisions are already accepted. Do not re-open or contradict them; ask the
 - **RAC-KW6NQ4Y814N7** — ADR-094: Roadmaps Are Identified by Stable Codename, Not a vX.Y.Z Scope-Fence _(Process)_
 - **RAC-KW8ZTVEQJ366** — ADR-095: rac-connectors Repackage, PyPI Rename, and Outbound Field Rename _(Architecture)_
 - **RAC-KWBJJRZR84PT** — ADR-096: External-Target Verification Edge (`verified_by`) _(Technical)_
+- **RAC-KWGKWKEXP1TJ** — ADR-098: Decision Applies-To Scope and Path Lookup _(Technical)_
 <!-- END RAC MANAGED BLOCK -->
diff --git a/docs/cli.md b/docs/cli.md
@@ -1272,6 +1272,52 @@ rac find markdown rac/ --explain        # show the relevance-score breakdown
 ```
 
 
+---
+
+## decisions
+
+The live decisions whose declared `## Applies To` scopes govern a path
+(ADR-098) — scoped grounding at the point of work. Given a repository-relative
+file or directory, returns the Accepted, non-retired decisions that declare a
+path scope matching it, each with its status and the scope(s) that matched.
+Bindings and evidence, never a verdict: the lookup tells you which decisions
+bind the path; reading and judging them stays with the caller (ADR-067).
+
+- **Input:** `rac decisions <path> [directory]` — directory defaults to the
+  current directory.
+- **Options:** `--json` · `--top-level`
+- **Exit codes:** `0` lookup completed (matches or none) · `2` not a
+  directory, or an empty path
+
+Matching is deterministic and case-sensitive: a directory scope governs its
+whole subtree, `*` crosses `/`, and component labels (entries with whitespace
+or no separator, like `RAC Core`) never match a path query. An empty result is
+a valid outcome, not an error.
+
+```bash
+rac decisions src/auth/login.py rac/
+rac decisions src/auth/ rac/ --json
+```
+
+```json
+{
+  "schema_version": "1",
+  "path": "src/auth/login.py",
+  "type": "decision",
+  "match_count": 1,
+  "matches": [
+    {
+      "id": "RAC-F1XTVREAVTH0",
+      "type": "decision",
+      "title": "Auth module boundaries",
+      "status": "Accepted",
+      "path": "rac/decisions/auth-boundaries.md",
+      "scopes": ["src/auth/"]
+    }
+  ]
+}
+```
+
 ---
 
 ## migrate

diff --git a/docs/mcp.md b/docs/mcp.md
@@ -139,14 +139,16 @@ and cite the decision ID in its response.
 If you are pointing at your own repository, substitute a topic you know
 a decision covers.
 
-## 5. The four tools
+## 5. The six tools
 
 | Tool | When the agent calls it |
 |---|---|
 | `get_summary` | Once at session start — counts artifacts, flags health issues |
 | `search_artifacts` | Before designing or implementing anything that a recorded decision might cover |
 | `get_artifact` | When an artifact ID appears, or before changing anything a decision covers |
 | `get_related` | After retrieving an artifact — finds what else the change could affect |
+| `find_decisions` | Before proposing anything a prior decision might have settled — the live (Accepted, non-retired) decisions binding a topic |
+| `decisions_for_path` | Before editing code — the live decisions whose declared `## Applies To` scopes govern the file or directory being changed (ADR-098) |
 
 `get_related` takes an optional `depth` (default `1`, capped at `5`): the default
 returns immediate neighbours only, while `depth>1` additionally returns a

diff --git a/docs/relationships.md b/docs/relationships.md
@@ -87,6 +87,38 @@ In `rac export --graph` an external edge carries `"external": true`,
 deliberate ticket link from a dangling in-corpus reference (both are unresolved,
 only the external one is marked).
 
+## Applies-to scope (decisions)
+
+`## Applies To` declares the code a decision governs (ADR-098) — the join that
+lets `rac decisions <path>` and the MCP `decisions_for_path` tool answer "which
+decisions govern the file I am editing?" deterministically. Decisions only, one
+entry per line:
+
+```markdown
+## Applies To
+- src/auth/
+- docs/*.md
+- the login surface
+```
+
+An entry is either a **path glob** (repo-root-relative, POSIX separators — any
+entry with a `/` or a glob character) or a **component label** (anything with
+whitespace, or a bare name like `rac-core` — recorded for humans, never
+resolved). A repository-root file opts into path-hood with `./`
+(`./pyproject.toml`). Matching is case-sensitive; a directory scope governs its
+whole subtree.
+
+Two checks, deliberately split (ADR-098):
+
+- `rac validate` **format-lints** path entries offline (`malformed-applies-to`:
+  absolute paths, backslashes, `.`/`..` segments) — blocking, like any
+  structural error.
+- A path scope that **matches nothing in the working tree** is an **advisory**:
+  `rac relationships --validate` reports it under a separate `advisories` key
+  (present only when non-empty) and `rac doctor` warns — but neither ever fails.
+  A moved path is the drift signal the freshness gate consumes, not a merge
+  blocker.
+
 ## Viewing relationships
 
 ```bash

diff --git a/rac/decisions/adr-018-rac-directory-as-root.md b/rac/decisions/adr-018-rac-directory-as-root.md
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 ---
 schema_version: 1
 id: RAC-KTQ63DR3G4YG
@@ -315,4 +315,7 @@
 ## Review Date
 
 Review at v1.0.0 once external adoption patterns are better understood.
-```
+
+## Applies To
+
+- rac/
diff --git a/rac/decisions/adr-023-clean-break-internal-refactors.md b/rac/decisions/adr-023-clean-break-internal-refactors.md
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 ---
 schema_version: 1
 id: RAC-KTQ63DRPK57V
@@ -200,3 +200,7 @@
 
 Review before v1.0.0, or if RAC begins publishing a supported Python API (as opposed to
 its CLI and JSON contracts), which would warrant a deliberate deprecation policy.
+
+## Applies To
+
+- src/rac/
diff --git a/rac/decisions/adr-027-ci-test-topology.md b/rac/decisions/adr-027-ci-test-topology.md
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 ---
 schema_version: 1
 id: RAC-KTQ63DSC8SZW
@@ -232,3 +232,7 @@
 Review before v1.0.0, or sooner if RAC accepts outside contributors who need pre-merge
 test feedback — which would warrant re-adding a `pull_request` trigger (rule 1) — or if
 the job count from the battery × version grid becomes burdensome.
+
+## Applies To
+
+- .github/workflows/
diff --git a/rac/decisions/adr-033-guide-response-budget.md b/rac/decisions/adr-033-guide-response-budget.md
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 ---
 schema_version: 1
 id: RAC-KTW0M81HX5C6
@@ -155,3 +155,7 @@
 ## Related Roadmaps
 
 - v0.10.0-guide-foundation
+
+## Applies To
+
+- src/rac/mcp/
diff --git a/rac/decisions/adr-035-byo-ai-credentials.md b/rac/decisions/adr-035-byo-ai-credentials.md
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # ADR-035: User-Managed AI Credentials

 ## Status
@@ -294,3 +294,8 @@
 ## Review Date
 
 Review at v1.0.0 or upon introduction of the first AI-assisted capability within RAC Core.
+
+## Applies To
+
+- RAC Core
+- open-source extensions