Tighten fixture golden change guard (#136)

Signed-off-by: docushell-admin <hello@docushell.com>
Co-authored-by: docushell-admin <hello@docushell.com>

Author: docushell-dev

.github/scripts/check_golden_change_rationale.py

@@ -31,6 +31,17 @@ def is_golden_like(path: str) -> bool:
     name = Path(path).name
     return (
         "/goldens/" in path
+        or (
+            path.startswith("fixtures/")
+            and name
+            in {
+                "extraction.json",
+                "layout.json",
+                "markdown.md",
+                "tables.json",
+                "text.txt",
+            }
+        )
         or "fingerprint" in name
         or name.startswith("expected.")
         or name.endswith(".golden.json")

.github/scripts/test_check_golden_change_rationale.py

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#
+# Copyright 2026 The Ethos maintainers
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import importlib.util
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
+SCRIPT = ROOT / "check_golden_change_rationale.py"
+
+
+def load_module():
+    spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(
+        "check_golden_change_rationale_under_test",
+        SCRIPT,
+    )
+    if spec is None or spec.loader is None:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"could not load {SCRIPT}")
+    module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+    spec.loader.exec_module(module)
+    return module
+
+
+CHECK = load_module()
+
+
+class GoldenChangeRationaleTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_fixture_stage_goldens_are_golden_like(self) -> None:
+        for name in [
+            "extraction.json",
+            "layout.json",
+            "markdown.md",
+            "tables.json",
+            "text.txt",
+        ]:
+            with self.subTest(name=name):
+                self.assertTrue(
+                    CHECK.is_golden_like(f"fixtures/synthetic/simple-text/{name}")
+                )
+
+    def test_fixture_metadata_is_not_golden_like(self) -> None:
+        self.assertFalse(
+            CHECK.is_golden_like("fixtures/synthetic/simple-text/fixture.json")
+        )
+        self.assertFalse(CHECK.is_golden_like("fixtures/manifest.json"))
+
+    def test_existing_golden_patterns_still_match(self) -> None:
+        self.assertTrue(
+            CHECK.is_golden_like("examples/verify/goldens/native_grounded_report.json")
+        )
+        self.assertTrue(
+            CHECK.is_golden_like(
+                "fixtures/foreign/opendataloader/real/expected.verification_report.json"
+            )
+        )
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## Unreleased
 
 - boundary-exception: add `ethos doctor` docs pointer for caller-provided PDFium diagnostics; no PDFium posture or support-boundary change.
+- process-follow-up: include synthetic fixture stage goldens in the light-lane golden-change rationale guard; no parser output change.
 - boundary-exception: prune redundant Milestone E command-index, record-index, source-head, and guard-sequence checks from routine prep and CI after light-check absorbed generic validation.
 - boundary-exception: pilot centralizes public boundary wording and adds local light-lane gates; no release surface or support boundary changes.
 - process-follow-up: add npm/crate/pyproject boundary-claim surfaces and align golden detection with export fixtures after the pilot lands.