Scope discipline

Summary

Before adding a screen, flow, or pricing change, check the canonical files; if a change conflicts with the V1 scope or the permanently-out-of-scope list, the change does not ship.

Why it matters

Scope creep in a tax product is fatal — every new noun is a new compliance surface, a new parser, a new test fixture, a new audit-trail story. The discipline is twofold: (1) machine-checkable drift against .context/wiki/entities/* is a bug to fix immediately, and (2) editorial drift against the permanently-out-of-scope list ("we don't cancel subscriptions", "we don't trade", "we don't file") is a signal to cut the wireframe rather than build it. Saying no is how the product stays shippable.

Implications

• Before any change: check .context/wiki/entities/* for canonical values, .context/wiki/surfaces/* for surface registry, .context/wiki/flows/* for journey fit. Append the decision to .context/wiki/decisions/* (latest at top).
• Drift from .context/wiki/entities/* is a bug — fix the code or update .context/wiki/entities/*, never let two values coexist silently.
• V1 is web-only — mobile is Phase 8 post-V1.
• Manual entry for any pillar is permanently out of scope.
• Chitragupt does not file returns of any kind. Filing routes through Ask CA (Hire-CA or Invite-CA).
• Notice handling beyond §143(1) is out.
• B2B / agency / white-label mode is out.
• Auto-debit / subscription recurring is out — one-time per AY.
• Multi-region is out — production runs only out of asia-south1.
• Platform-set CA prices are out — CAs set their own; platform takes 10%.
• NRI flows are out.
• Open-ended AI tax advice is out — the assistant only answers over confirmed parsed facts.
• Third-party orchestration (subscription cancel, trade execute, dispute submit, e-file) is permanently out — see read-only-review.
• Joint filing, named product recommendations, tax math via LLM, multi-engagement parallel CAs, forward-looking budgeting with alerts, goal-based auto-allocation, free-form cross-transaction projects — all permanently out.

Related

• read-only-review — the parent stance for most out-of-scope items
• no-manual-entry — sub-rule of this discipline
• upload-only — sub-rule of this discipline
• architecture-rules — the infra side of the same discipline
• 2026-07-26-self-file-permanently-out-of-scope — the platform never files
• 2026-05-30-v1-website-only — web-only pin
• 2026-06-01-v1-inbox-tax-only — V1 scope cut

Sources

• .context/wiki/concepts/* § "Scope discipline"
• .context/wiki/concepts/* § "What V1 explicitly does NOT include"
• .context/wiki/concepts/* § "Permanently out of scope"