ADR A-06: Wildcard semantics and limits

Status

Accepted

Context

Wildcard matching is useful for generic condition patterns but can silently collapse constraints if semantics are not explicitly bounded.

Decision

Eligibility requires explicit wildcard policy via elg:wildcardSemantics, using one of:

• elg:NoWildcard
• elg:SingleDimensionWildcard
• elg:MultiDimensionWildcard

Wildcard use is legal only when the condition declares a wildcard-enabled strategy (elg:Wildcard).

Consequences

• Wildcard behavior is transparent and profile-auditable.
• Conditions that do not opt into wildcard strategy stay strict by construction.
• Over-broad matching becomes detectable by static validation.