OpenXR Guard Manifest Missing from Signer Packet After Route Classification on Quest - Fix

Your pipeline reports that route classification succeeded, but the signer packet arrives without the manifest that explains what changed, why the route was selected, and whether any override occurred.

In 2026 Quest release lanes, this creates audit failure risk: the decision may be correct, but the evidence chain is incomplete.

Direct answer

Treat guard manifests as required release artifacts: fail packet handoff when manifest generation, attachment, or signer-surface rendering is missing, and enforce one manifest schema across preview, submit, and export routes.

Why this spikes now

Teams are shipping diff-based approvals faster, and route logic has moved into shared services. If one service upgrades its guard output while another still expects an old schema, manifests quietly drop from signer packets.

Fastest safe fix path

Define a strict manifest schema version.
Require manifest presence before signer handoff.
Block submit when manifest validation fails.
Log manifest checksum and storage pointer per revision.

Step-by-step fix

Step 1: Lock a manifest schema contract

Required fields:

revision IDs (old/new)
severity decision
changed critical keys
guard engine version
override metadata (if any)

Step 2: Validate at generation time

After classification, validate manifest JSON against schema before writing packet outputs.

Step 3: Validate at handoff time

Signer packet assembler must fail if manifest file is missing, malformed, or mismatched to revision ID.

Step 4: Render manifest summary first

Place a one-line manifest summary at top of signer packet so reviewers immediately see route rationale.

Step 5: Add storage and checksum evidence

Persist manifest hash and storage URI in release logs for later audit replay.

Verification checklist

[ ] Every classified revision has exactly one valid manifest.
[ ] Signer packet includes manifest summary and full reference.
[ ] Missing manifest blocks submit.
[ ] Manifest revision IDs match packet revision IDs.
[ ] Audit replay can retrieve manifest by checksum.