# ROOT_ Program Architecture Phase 6A §2 — the canonical course architecture for `root_` (Linux → systems → containers → Kubernetes → DevOps/platform engineering, ages ~15-18+/college/adult per the youth ladder — see `docs/PHASE6A_ROOT_COURSE_FOUNDATION.md` §1). This document is the design; the actual seed data lives in `platform/api/migrations/022_course_content.sql`, generated to match this exactly. All 13 rows below are `courses` under the ONE existing program, `root-kubernetes-foundations` (`programs` table, unchanged — see §"why one program, not thirteen" below). Every status claim here is grounded in `docs/ROOT_CURRICULUM_INVENTORY.md`, not aspirational. **Updated for Phase 6B** (`platform/api/migrations/023_phase6b_curriculum.sql`, `docs/PHASE6B_ROOT_CURRICULUM_EXPANSION.md`): ROOT 08 and 09 moved from PLANNED to PARTIAL, and 6 courses gained new teaching modules — the module-level detail and evidence for every new placement lives in `docs/ROOT_CURRICULUM_COVERAGE_MATRIX.md`, not duplicated here. ## Course sequence | # | Course | Status | Why | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | Computing & Linux Foundations | **PLANNED** | No lab content exists in this repository — every scenario is Kubernetes/CKS. | | 2 | Linux Administration & Networking | **PLANNED** | Same — no Linux-admin scenario content exists. | | 3 | Git & Collaborative Development | **PLANNED** | No Git scenario content exists. | | 4 | Containers & Docker | **PLANNED** | No Docker-specific scenario content exists (the Lab itself runs k3s, but no student-facing "learn Docker" scenarios exist). | | 5 | Kubernetes Foundations | **PARTIAL** | Phase 6B added a READY front-door module (`root-05-m00-kubernetes-mental-model` — full lesson/demo/knowledge-check/guided-exercise/lab/reflection) sequenced before the existing 20-scenario bare-lab bank (`root-05-m01`), which now sits behind it. | | 6 | Kubernetes Application Workloads | **PARTIAL** | Phase 6B added a READY `root-06-m02-deployments-scaling-updates` and a PARTIAL `root-06-m03-jobs-cronjobs-daemonsets`, both in front of the existing bare-lab bank. | | 7 | Kubernetes Networking & Configuration | **PARTIAL** | Phase 6B added a READY `root-07-m03-services-and-service-discovery` and a PARTIAL `root-07-m04-ingress-networkpolicy-foundations`. The existing configuration bank (`root-07-m02`) still has no authored teaching content — an honest, documented gap. | | 8 | Kubernetes Storage & Scheduling | **PARTIAL** | Phase 6B wired the real scenario content the inventory identified (PV/PVC, StorageClass, taints/tolerations, PDB, quotas/limits) into two new PARTIAL modules — moved off PLANNED for the first time. | | 9 | Kubernetes Security | **PARTIAL** | Phase 6B built the 22-scenario CKS-style bank into four modules (Security Model & SecurityContext — READY; ServiceAccounts & RBAC, Network & Supply Chain Security, Cluster Hardening & Runtime — all PARTIAL), classifying scenarios CORE/GUIDED/INDEPENDENT/ADVANCED/ASSESSMENT-BANK rather than exposing them as 22 disconnected tasks — moved off PLANNED. | | 10 | Kubernetes Troubleshooting & Observability | **PARTIAL** | The Phase 6A gold-standard module (READY, unmodified) plus a new PARTIAL `root-10-m03-troubleshooting-framework` (the generalized Observe/Evidence/Hypothesis/Test/Repair/Validate/Prevent framework) and the existing bare-lab bank, now sequenced last. | | 11 | DevOps & Platform Engineering Foundations | **PLANNED** | No CI/CD/IaC/GitOps scenario content exists anywhere in this repository — unchanged, out of Phase 6B's authoring scope. | | 12 | RootNode Real Ops | **PARTIAL** | Phase 6B added an incident-response framing lesson and a post-incident reflection wrapping the existing 4-scenario module — the incidents themselves are unchanged, still deliberately un-guided. | | 13 | ROOT Capstone — Operate and Recover a Production-Like Environment | **PARTIAL** | Phase 6B added a READY Capstone Readiness module (orientation, no answers) sequenced before the existing capstone assessment module — see `docs/ROOT_CAPSTONE_READINESS.md`. | No course is marked READY at the course level in Phase 6A — that's honest: a course only earns READY once every module in it has real teaching content, and Phase 6A deliberately built exactly one complete module (the gold standard) as the authoring template, not a finished curriculum. ## Prerequisite chain ``` 01 Linux Foundations → 02 Linux Admin/Networking → 03 Git → 04 Containers/Docker │ ▼ 05 Kubernetes Foundations │ ▼ 06 Application Workloads │ │ ┌─────────────────────┤ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ 07 Networking/Config 09 Security 10 Troubleshooting │ │ │ ▼ │ ▼ 08 Storage/Scheduling │ 11 DevOps/Platform ▼ 12 RootNode Real Ops │ ▼ CAPSTONE — Operate & Recover ``` 01-04 have no prerequisite chain enforced against each other yet (all PLANNED, zero content — locking a PLANNED course behind another PLANNED course would just be decorative). 05 is the first course with a real prerequisite gate. See `docs/COURSE_CONTENT_MODEL.md`'s "prerequisite/ locking rule" for why a PLANNED/content-free prerequisite never actually blocks anything. ## Deviations from the spec's suggested sequence, and why The authorization's suggested sequence listed Security (09) after Storage/Scheduling (08) and before Troubleshooting (10). This document keeps that numbering for continuity, but the **prerequisite graph** branches 09 and 10 both directly off 06 (Application Workloads) rather than chaining 08→09→10 linearly — the existing content doesn't actually build 09 on top of 08's concepts (RBAC/PSA/network-policy security content is orthogonal to PV/PVC/scheduling content), so a straight linear chain would impose a false dependency. This is exactly the case the authorization's "if existing content suggests a better grouping, document the reasoning" line anticipated. ## Real Ops and Capstone placement Real Ops (12) sits after Troubleshooting (10), matching the existing curriculum's own stage order (`rootnode-path.json`'s `real-ops` stage already comes after `troubleshooting`) — Real Ops scenarios assume the diagnostic skills Troubleshooting teaches. The Capstone sits after Real Ops alone, not after every course, because that's what the existing `rootnode-capstone` assessment definition's own `unlock_rule` already requires (all 6 content stages of `rootnode-path.json` complete — which necessarily includes 05-06-07-10-12's underlying scenarios, plus networking/ configuration). 08, 09, and 11 are not currently gating the capstone, because their scenario content isn't part of `rootnode-path.json`'s stage list at all yet — see `docs/COURSE_CONTENT_MODEL.md` for how course-level completion is computed independently of that assessment-engine unlock_rule (the two systems currently agree by construction, not by a shared implementation). ## Why one program, not thirteen `programs` (Phase 5B) models the commercial/academic unit a student enrolls in. root_ is described by this authorization as one continuous ladder — "Linux → systems → containers → Kubernetes → DevOps/platform engineering" — not thirteen separate purchases. Attaching all 13 courses to the single existing `root-kubernetes-foundations` program means: - Zero changes to the `programs` table, enrollment model, or entitlement logic — an enrolled student automatically has structured access to the whole ladder as it's built out. - No renaming/redefinition of the existing program (which would risk a real, if cosmetic, break for anyone already enrolled) — see Phase 6A's explicit "do not redesign working systems" constraint. If a future phase needs `root_` split into separately-purchasable programs (e.g. "Kubernetes Foundations" sold standalone from "DevOps"), that's a `programs`-table decision to make deliberately later, informed by real pricing/business requirements — not something to guess at here.