ADR-0017: Caller-owned list API conventions

• Status: Accepted
• Date: 2026-09-02

Context

zlob's tool-shaped list API can synthesize the pattern for NOCHECK, sorts results, and treats a leading ./ asymmetrically. Ferralk's Rust API filters caller-owned values and returns references or indices into that input, so those conventions would either invent an ownerless result or obscure input identity.

Decision

Ferralk's list entry points:

• never synthesize a NOCHECK result when the caller supplied no candidate;
• preserve caller input order; and
• normalize one conventional leading ./ on both pattern and candidate while returning the candidate with its original spelling.

Consequences

The three list-result divergences cite this ADR. Callers can map every result back to their input without sorting or spelling changes.