Open a project

Assurance Forge opens on the welcome screen. It is also reachable later from View → Welcome Screen.

The welcome screen: Start actions, recent projects, and walkthrough cards

Start

Action	What it does
Create Empty Assurance Project	Asks for a name and a location, and creates a project with an empty argument file.
Create Assurance Project from Template	Not implemented yet — the button reports so and does nothing.
Open Project	Opens an OS file picker for an existing `af.proj`.
Create Project from Existing SACM	Asks for a SACM file (`.sacm` or `.xml`), then a location, then a name (the file's own name is offered). The project's first argument is a copy of that file under `arguments/`; the original is not touched. A file the SACM library cannot load is refused with the library's reason, and no project folder is left behind.

Once a project is open, File → Import SACM File... copies another SACM file into it as a further tracked argument, asks what to call the copy (a name the project already tracks is refused rather than overwritten), and opens it. Both imports copy the bytes as they are — the SACM file is the argument, and an import that rewrote it would be a silent edit. Neither carries anything but the one argument file: registers, review state and audit history of a source project are not merged. To work on an existing Assurance Forge project, use Open Project. The MCP server also accepts a bare .sacm path (--project), read-only.

The three Walkthroughs cards are likewise placeholders at present; they report that walkthroughs are not yet implemented.

When a file changed outside Assurance Forge

af.proj records a hash of every file the project tracks. If a file no longer matches it (someone edited the argument in another tool, or a checkout changed its line endings), opening the project shows Project Loading Status with the file listed under External changes detected.

Pressing OK records those changes as seen on this computer, in the .af/ folder that version control ignores, so the next open does not report them again. It does not update af.proj. The file keeps showing as modified outside Assurance Forge until Assurance Forge next saves it, and a further change to it is reported again. Anyone else opening the same project sees the warning themselves.

Open Recent Projects

Each entry shows the project name, its claim / strategy / evidence / undeveloped counts as of the last time it was open, and its path. The list is ordered by last opened, so an entry's position changes as you work.

What a project holds

A project is a directory with an af.proj manifest beside the files it tracks:

my-case/
  af.proj                     the manifest: tracked files, roles, hashes, settings
  arguments/main.sacm         the argument — SACM 2.3 XML, the source of truth
  analysis/confidence.af.json confidence assessments, when used
  reviews/review-items.af.json review state
  .af/                        audit log, backups, snapshots, working drafts (not for hand-editing)

The manifest records a hash per tracked file, so a file changed outside the application is detected and reported rather than silently absorbed. Details are in project storage.

The SACM file is the argument. Everything the tool writes elsewhere is derived, recorded state — never a second copy of the argument.

Saving

File → Save Project (or the toolbar's save icon) writes the tracked files. The status bar shows Saved or Unsaved changes, and closing with unsaved work asks before exiting. Edits are applied through an audited command bus, so Edit → Undo (Ctrl+Z) steps back through them; see Review an element for what that history records.