Failure Taxonomy and Exit Codes

Stable Exit Contract

Code	Meaning	Typical Trigger
0	Success	Command completed successfully
1	Runtime failure	Internal execution error
2	Verification failure	Proof chain or artifact verification failed
3	Policy/schema violation	Policy or schema check failed
4	Approval required	Lifecycle or approval gate requires explicit approval
5	Regression drift	Drift detected against baseline
6	Invalid input	Invalid flags or input combinations
7	Dependency missing	Missing required external/source dependency
8	Unsafe operation blocked	Unsafe output path or blocked operation

Command Anchors

wrkr scan --json
wrkr verify --chain --json
wrkr regress run --baseline ./.tmp/wrkr-regress-baseline.json --json
wrkr evidence --frameworks soc2 --output ./.tmp/evidence --json

CI Guidance

Treat exit codes as machine contracts, not human hints.

Q&A

Which exit code represents policy or schema violations?

Exit code 3 means policy/schema validation failed and should be treated as a hard gate failure.

Which exit code indicates baseline drift or regression?

Exit code 5 indicates drift/regression against baseline and is the expected CI signal for posture regressions.

How should CI map Wrkr exit codes?

Use code-based branching with non-zero fail semantics. Keep a simple rule: 0 pass, any non-zero fail, with code-specific remediation messaging.