Policy Overview

## Policy Overview

Policies are the decision layer of SyntaxValid.

They define how analysis results are interpreted, which issues block progress, and what level of risk is acceptable for a project or team.

---

## What is a policy?

A policy is a set of rules that determines:

- Which issue categories matter

- Which severity levels are acceptable

- Which issues are blocking

- When a merge is considered unsafe

Policies transform raw findings into enforceable decisions.

---

## Why policies exist

Without policies:

- Every issue looks equally important

- Merge decisions become subjective

- Teams argue about risk instead of managing it

Policies replace opinion with consistency.

---

## Policies vs rules

Rules detect problems.

Policies decide what to do about them.

- Rules answer: What is wrong?

- Policies answer: Does this block progress?

This separation reduces noise and increases clarity.

---

## What policies control

Policies control:

- Blocking vs non-blocking classification

- Severity thresholds

- Category enforcement (security, architecture, AI risk, etc.)

- TrustScore impact

- Merge readiness

Policies do not modify code or apply fixes.

---

## Default policies

SyntaxValid includes sensible default policies designed to:

- Catch critical risks

- Avoid over-blocking

- Support incremental improvement

Default policies work out of the box for most teams.

---

## Customizing policies

Teams can customize policies to:

- Increase or reduce strictness

- Adjust blocking thresholds

- Align with internal standards

- Reflect regulatory or compliance needs

Customization allows teams to scale safely.

---

## Policies and TrustScore

TrustScore reflects policy compliance.

If a policy is violated:

- Blocking issues appear

- TrustScore decreases

- Merge readiness is denied

When policy compliance is restored:

- TrustScore improves

- Blocking status clears

- Progress resumes

---

## Policies in team workflows

Policies enable:

- Automated enforcement in pull requests

- Consistent standards across repositories

- Reduced reviewer burden

- Clear accountability

They act as a shared contract between developers and leadership.

---

## What policies are not

Policies are not:

- Coding style preferences

- Developer performance metrics

- One-size-fits-all rulesets

They are risk management tools.

---

## Next steps

- Blocking rules explained

- Rule categories

- Custom policies