What is PETROVA?
PETROVA is a control plane for the petrova line — a set of repositories you run with disciplined, MR-compliant methodology (decisions, milestones, verification rounds, append-only ledgers) and want to operate consistently across.
It centralises how you work — methodology, action verbs, the registry of governed repos — and leaves what each repo is for inside that repo. Every action it takes against a governed repo becomes a reviewable PR with a stable audit trail.
The shape
Section titled “The shape”┌───────────────────────┐│ Agent fleet │ diagnose, plan, draft proposals└──────────┬────────────┘ │ verb call ▼┌───────────────────────┐│ PETROVA control plane│ schema-validate · check registry ·│ │ enforce dry-run · emit PR└──────────┬────────────┘ │ PR (with audit metadata, idempotency key) ▼┌───────────────────────┐│ Consumer repo │ branch protection, CI, review gate└───────────────────────┘See the full boundary diagram for what crosses each arrow.
The three pains it addresses
Section titled “The three pains it addresses”- Duplication. Methodology files (META-RULES, agent-fleet shape, prompt conventions) used to be copied into each consumer repo and drift. PETROVA centralises them.
- No cross-repo visibility. No aggregate view of phase status,
open decisions, or milestones across the fleet. PETROVA
provides
petrova statusandpetrova dashboard. - No agent-fleet write path. Agent fleets could diagnose but had no disciplined, MR-compliant way to act. PETROVA’s nine verbs are exactly that path.
Three load-bearing invariants
Section titled “Three load-bearing invariants”PETROVA’s value lives in three meta-rules every operation upholds:
- MR-7 — decision docs are append-only, dated, in-repo. The verbs never edit closed decisions; supersession is via a new dated doc.
- MR-10 — verification rounds are mandatory at every phase
close. The
verify_roundverb and theclose_phaseverb encode this together. - MR-12 —
CLAUDE.mdis a projection, not a source. Project intent lives indocs/north-star/; the doc site projects from there but never invents.
See load-bearing invariants for concrete examples drawn from PETROVA’s own evolution.
Where to go next
Section titled “Where to go next”- New here? Start with the Quickstart.
- Want the mental model? Read Concepts.
- Building against the verb surface? Open the Verb reference.
- Operating it? See Operator runbooks.
- Understanding why? Why a thin centre is the readable companion to the formal control-plane decision.