Epic: Formalize + enforce the org .gitignore minimum baseline (secrets L1) with per-repo extension (L2)

[don-petry]

Tracked stories (DAG)

• Story: STANDARDIZE — .gitignore secrets baseline → standalone standard + marker-wrapped block #797 — STANDARDIZE (ROOT)
• Story: SEED + DISTRIBUTE — baseline into repo-template, bootstrap, and deploy sync #798 — SEED + DISTRIBUTE (blocked by Story: STANDARDIZE — .gitignore secrets baseline → standalone standard + marker-wrapped block #797)
• Story: ENFORCE — check_gitignore_baseline at error severity via the compliance engine #799 — ENFORCE (blocked by Story: STANDARDIZE — .gitignore secrets baseline → standalone standard + marker-wrapped block #797)
• Story: BACKFILL + REMEDIATE — bring the fleet to green on the gitignore baseline #800 — BACKFILL + REMEDIATE (blocked by Story: SEED + DISTRIBUTE — baseline into repo-template, bootstrap, and deploy sync #798 and Story: ENFORCE — check_gitignore_baseline at error severity via the compliance engine #799)

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Formalize, distribute, and blockingly enforce an org-wide .gitignore minimum baseline — a language-agnostic secrets-only layer that every repo carries verbatim (L1), while each repo freely extends it with its own ecosystem/OS entries (L2).

Current state (verified, not greenfield)

A strong secrets-only baseline already exists at /.gitignore (396 lines) and is referenced by standards/push-protection.md. But it is under-formalized, under-adopted, and weakly enforced:

1. Template gap — repo-template/.gitignore is 15 ad-hoc lines missing *.pem/*.key; new repos start non-compliant even against today's 3-substring check.
2. Adoption gap — only 4 of 10 repos carry the real baseline (bmad-bgreat-suite, TalkTerm, ContentTwin, .github-private); the other 6 have hand-rolled gitignores with no cloud/SSH/tfvars coverage.
3. Enforcement gap — pp_check_gitignore_secrets_block() checks only 3 substrings at warning severity; the documented rule ("MUST start from the baseline") is not actually enforced.
4. Distribution gap — detection only; nothing seeds or syncs the baseline (grep gitignore in deploy-standard-workflows.sh and bootstrap-new-repo.sh = 0).

The DAG

#797 STANDARDIZE ── standalone standards/gitignore-standard.md (L1/L2 model) +
     wrap the L1 secrets block in BEGIN/END markers in /.gitignore.   [ROOT]
        │
        ├── #798 SEED + DISTRIBUTE ── marker-wrapped block into repo-template +
        │        bootstrap-new-repo.sh + deploy sync; shared idempotent
        │        upsert_gitignore_baseline() (L2 preserved).
        │
        └── #799 ENFORCE ── check_gitignore_baseline: block present + unmodified
                 (hash match), severity ERROR, via the existing
                 compliance-audit engine. No new workflow. L2 never inspected.
                          │
   #800 BACKFILL + REMEDIATE ── remediation hook + fleet back-fill of the 6
        non-baseline repos so the now-blocking check goes green.  (after #798 & #799)

Design — the minimum baseline

Layer	Content	Owner	Enforced	Extendable
L1 secrets baseline	the 396-line block, wrapped in BEGIN/END petry-projects secrets baseline markers	central (.github)	yes — error/blocking, verbatim	no (drift = finding)
L2 ecosystem/OS	node_modules/, target/, __pycache__/, .DS_Store, … (github/gitignore templates)	per-repo, below END marker	no	yes, freely

Enforcement engine

Wired through the existing compliance-audit-and-improvement.yml (Job 1 → compliance-audit.sh / lib/push-protection.sh → findings → issues). We extend a check function, not add a workflow. Per decision, L1 lands at error severity (blocking tier).

Epic acceptance criteria

• Story: STANDARDIZE — .gitignore secrets baseline → standalone standard + marker-wrapped block #797: gitignore-standard.md published; L1 block marker-wrapped in /.gitignore; push-protection.md repointed.
• Story: SEED + DISTRIBUTE — baseline into repo-template, bootstrap, and deploy sync #798: template + bootstrap + deploy carry the marker-wrapped block; upsert_gitignore_baseline() unit-tested (L2 preserved).
• Story: ENFORCE — check_gitignore_baseline at error severity via the compliance engine #799: check_gitignore_baseline = error on missing/drifted, pass on present+unmodified; L2 extensions still pass; audit tests green.
• Story: BACKFILL + REMEDIATE — bring the fleet to green on the gitignore baseline #800: 6 non-baseline repos back-filled (L2 preserved); remediation idempotent; compliance audit = 0 gitignore findings fleet-wide.

Notes / decisions

• Enforcement = error (blocking), via the compliance engine (per session decision).
• Optional hardening in Story: ENFORCE — check_gitignore_baseline at error severity via the compliance engine #799: a one-line ci.yml assertion to make it a per-repo required status check (true PR-time gate) — flagged, not required.
• Ring/soak: harden severity behind the normal audit cadence; back-fill (Story: BACKFILL + REMEDIATE — bring the fleet to green on the gitignore baseline #800) does PR + admin-merge for ruleset-protected repos (add-to-project precedent).