# ArcKit v6.20.0: A Bid Can't Mark Its Own Homework **ArcKit v6.20.0 is out, and the main change is for anyone scoring suppliers: a bid no longer reaches the part of ArcKit that scores it. Also new are an arc42 overlay from Chris McKelt, and NORA and GEMMA for Dutch government from @trednets.** *Mark Craddock ยท medium.com/arckit* --- ## A bid can't mark its own homework A supplier wants a high score, and hiding an instruction in a proposal is a cheap way to try for one. So I've split reading a bid from scoring it. In Claude Code, a read-only reader now opens one supplier's documents at a time and returns short claims against each criterion. `/arckit:evaluate` and `/arckit:score` work from those claims and never see the bid. - **No claim, no marks.** A criterion the bid doesn't address scores 0. That's arithmetic, not opinion. - **Mandatory qualifications need evidence.** One with no claim fails, and `/arckit:score compare` won't recommend that vendor. - **Every score traces to its source.** The claims are saved with their file and location. - **A bid that can't be read stays unscored.** You're told which file and why. It never gets a 0. - **Planted text gets reported, not followed.** The finding says where it is, not what it says. It isn't bulletproof. Scoring is still a judgement on what a supplier claims, so a bid that fools the reader into a false claim can still move a score. I'd check the claims behind any close result. The other assistants can't run a separate reader, so they still read bids in one place. `/arckit:hld-review`, `/arckit:dld-review`, `/arckit:gcloud-search` and `/arckit:gcloud-clarify` get a lighter version. They treat what a supplier wrote as claims and list anything aimed at the reviewer, but that's an instruction to the model, not a separation, so it's weaker. ## Checks that stop when they can't run ArcKit checks your artefacts as they're written: secrets, filenames, scores, Wardley maps, backlog totals. If a check hung or crashed, Claude Code carried on without it, which isn't good enough for a governance tool. Now, writing an ArcKit artefact or reading a bid stops if its check can't run, and the error says why. Your other repositories aren't affected. ## arc42 from what you already have Chris McKelt has contributed an `arckit-arc42` overlay. `/arckit:arc42` writes all 12 sections of an arc42 description from your existing requirements, decisions, diagrams and risk register, citing each source. A section nothing covers is marked as not yet documented, with the command that would fill it. Four more commands cover quality scenarios, crosscutting concepts, a technical debt register and a handover pack for Spec Kit. Delivery evidence then comes back: `/arckit:traceability` shows what's been delivered against each requirement, and `/arckit:health` flags a description when the artefacts behind it have moved on. ## NORA and GEMMA for Dutch government @trednets has added two commands to the Netherlands overlay. `/arckit-nl:nl-nora` assesses a Dutch government service against the NORA principles, adding the GEMMA principles for a gemeente. `/arckit-nl:nl-gemma` maps a gemeente's application landscape onto GEMMA's reference components, showing coverage, overlap and gaps. ArcKit ships no NORA or GEMMA text. The commands build a local copy from the official sources on your machine. ## Before you update - **Update Claude Code.** ArcKit now needs v2.1.295 or later. - **Check Node.js is installed.** Writing ArcKit artefacts and reading bids now need it on your `PATH`. - **Export Word bids to PDF.** The reader can't open Word documents. - **Move any existing evaluations.** They now sit in `vendors/_evaluations//`. Before re-scoring a vendor, move its `evaluation.md` and `notes.md` there. Scoring stops for a vendor whose folder still holds them, because they could equally have come with the bid. ## Thank you Thanks to Chris McKelt, @chrismckelt, for arc42, the Spec Kit handover and getting Paperclip and Codex projects the files their commands need. Thanks to @trednets for NORA and GEMMA, and @umag for reviewing them. And thanks to Chris Nesbitt-Smith, @chrisns, for making ArcKit's evaluations prove a command really loaded. ## Get it ```bash # Claude Code /plugin marketplace add tractorjuice/arckit-claude claude plugin install arckit # the optional overlays claude plugin install arckit arckit-arc42 claude plugin install arckit arckit-nl ``` Already using ArcKit? Run `claude plugin update arckit@arckit-claude`. --- *ArcKit is MIT licensed and maintained at [github.com/tractorjuice/arc-kit](https://github.com/tractorjuice/arc-kit). The full list of changes is in the [6.20.0 release notes](https://github.com/tractorjuice/arc-kit/releases/tag/v6.20.0).* ## Join the ArcKit Community - **Discord** - real-time conversation, help with commands, and what people are building: [discord.gg/HsA4Y3hQ4](https://discord.gg/HsA4Y3hQ4) - **LinkedIn Group** - announcements, case studies, and longer-form discussion: [linkedin.com/groups/17641034](https://www.linkedin.com/groups/17641034/) - **GitHub** - code, issues, and contributions: [github.com/tractorjuice/arc-kit](https://github.com/tractorjuice/arc-kit)