RFC-RFCSTD-0002                                                   Section 4
Category: Standards Track                           Formatting Standards

# N. Section Title

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### Invariant N — Short Title
 
Statement using RFC 2119 keywords (MUST, MUST NOT, etc.).
 
Explanation of why this invariant exists and consequences of violation.

### Invariant 3 — Secret Authority
 
HashiCorp Vault MUST be the sole authoritative source for secrets
required by platform applications.
 
No application MAY store authoritative secrets outside of Vault.
Kubernetes Secrets exist only as derived artifacts synchronized
by External Secrets Operator.
 
This invariant ensures centralized secret lifecycle management
and auditability. Violation would create untracked secrets
outside the rotation and audit framework.

### Component Name
 
| Aspect | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| Responsibility | What this component does |
| Inputs | What it receives |
| Outputs | What it produces |
| Dependencies | What it requires |
| Failure Mode | How it fails |
| Recovery | How it recovers |

### N.N.N Alternative Name
 
**Description**: What the alternative is.
 
**Why It Was Attractive**:
- Genuine benefit 1
- Genuine benefit 2
 
**Why It Was Rejected**:
- Specific failure or limitation 1
- Specific failure or limitation 2
- Violates Invariant N (if applicable)
 
**Conclusion**: Summary judgment.

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