Data Descriptor Template: Schema, Provenance, and Release Readiness

This exemplar demonstrates a data descriptor workflow in which the schema, file inventory, provenance chain, license boundary, and validation gate are treated as first-class research artifacts rather than afterthoughts. It ships a small, public, synthetic demonstration dataset (two CSV files under data/fixtures/) and a machine-readable descriptor (data/example descriptor.json) that declares each file's media type, sha256 checksum, and row count alongside a six-field data dictionary with typed constraints. A tested validation library (src/data descriptor/) checks the descriptor's shape, safety, and completeness; recomputes each declared checksum and row count against the bytes on disk; and emits a deterministic, metadata-only release manifest suitable for pre-publication review. Every figure and quantitative claim in this manuscript is produced by that library and regenerated on demand, s