[B1] Beta.1 stage: framework qualification + governance freeze (qualify & publish)

[SisyphusZheng]

Part of #1155. Target: v0.44.0-beta.1, the first public v0.44 prerelease.

Objective

Independently qualify and publish the framework produced by internal Alpha.8 + Alpha.9. Activate the repository-owned thinker, implementer and fresh release-verifier loop for the first time, preserve exact-SHA/package-byte evidence, and perform the one-time reviewed remote-branch convergence required by ADR-0149.

Beta.1 is framework qualification and first publication, not another architecture wave. UI qualification remains Beta.3.

Blocked by

• [0.44 internal alpha.8] Integrate and qualify the compiled framework and packed consumer matrix #1181 — Alpha.8 integration checkpoint
• [0.44 internal alpha.9] Converge semantic ownership before Beta.1 #1200 and its A9.1-A9.8 workstreams — internal Alpha.9 semantic convergence
• PR feat(v0.44): close unpublished Alpha.8 and Alpha.9 integration #1199 — final exact-head qualification and merge to dev

This issue is explicitly blocked until PR #1199 merges its accepted exact SHA and #1200 records complete closure. Alpha.9 creates no package, tag, release or dist-tag.

Deliverables

• Consume the exact merged PR feat(v0.44): close unpublished Alpha.8 and Alpha.9 integration #1199 SHA from dev.
• Activate the three-role exact-SHA release loop and require unanimous explicit GO.
• Independently replay framework qualification, including ADR-0148 direct-core, forbidden-import, deterministic artifact, Vite-shell and compiler-to-runtime conformance.
• Qualify coherent packed five-package artifacts without workspace aliases.
• Publish the first public v0.44 prerelease as v0.44.0-beta.1 only after exact-SHA acceptance.
• Preserve provenance, integrity and release evidence for the published bytes.
• Inventory and classify every remote branch; resolve or explicitly carry open PRs; delete only an explicit reviewed branch list after publication evidence is durable.

Acceptance

• All Alpha.9 issues are closed with exact merged-SHA evidence.
• Local and PR exact-head evidence agree on the merged Alpha SHA.
• Chromium, Firefox and WebKit; Node/Workers; packed consumers; Starter and third-party WC qualification pass.
• Release-only, negative, provenance and policy checks pass for the published SHA and bytes.
• All three roles record explicit GO for the same SHA.
• Five packages publish coherently as beta.1.
• Remote branch convergence is fail closed and leaves the intended long-lived heads.
• latest remains on stable 0.43.x.

Authority

• ADR-0148
• ADR-0149
• ADR-0150
• docs/current/VERSION_PLAN.md
• docs/current/v0.44.0-EXECUTION-PLAN.md

[SisyphusZheng]

Provenance note (2026-08-26): the nextCrm codename used here (and in #1148/#1149) is superseded by the Electrical Export Sales SaaS authoring-fitness slice. The #1149 spike closed with a repository-fixture PASS (docs/evidence/2026-08-26-zag-composition-spike.md) but, per its outcome rules, does not unlock this issue: real-application evidence is still required, and Zag composition is explicitly out of that product's V1 scope. This issue remains parked as a future-minor candidate under ADR-0140.

[SisyphusZheng]

Retained in the reopened v0.44 milestone as optional UI dogfood after the compiled Element path is usable. It does not block alpha sequencing or RC admission by itself; it may provide real-application evidence for #1177, but Zag semantics do not enter OpenElement core.