fix: drop PyYAML dep so verify job pytest passes

Store doc rules in bin/docs_rules.json (stdlib json). test_check_docs no
longer fails in the simulator job that only installs simulator/requirements.txt.

bin/check_docs.py

@@ -4,17 +4,13 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
+import json
 import re
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 
-try:
-    import yaml
-except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover - stdlib fallback for minimal envs
-    yaml = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
-
 ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
-RULES_PATH = Path(__file__).with_name("docs_rules.yaml")
+RULES_PATH = Path(__file__).with_name("docs_rules.json")
 
 LINK_RE = re.compile(r"!?\[[^\]]*\]\(([^)]+)\)")
 BARE_SEE_RE = re.compile(r"(?<![\[(/])see\s+(\d{2})(?![\w-])", re.IGNORECASE)
@@ -22,10 +18,7 @@ SKIP_SCHEMES = ("http://", "https://", "mailto:", "tel:", "#")
 
 
 def load_rules(path: Path = RULES_PATH) -> dict:
-    text = path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
-    if yaml is not None:
-        return yaml.safe_load(text)
-    raise RuntimeError("PyYAML is required to load docs_rules.yaml")
+    return json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
 
 
 def slug_heading(text: str) -> str:

bin/docs_rules.json

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+{
+  "markdown_paths": [
+    "docs/**/*.md",
+    "README.md",
+    "CONTRIBUTING.md",
+    "AGENTS.md",
+    "simulator/README.md",
+    "prototype/README.md",
+    "infra/**/README.md"
+  ],
+  "glossary": {
+    "file": "docs/00-glossary.md"
+  },
+  "banned_link_targets": [
+    "03-storage-design.md"
+  ],
+  "glossary_section_anchors": [
+    "data--storage",
+    "swarm--robotics",
+    "infrastructure--delivery"
+  ],
+  "preferred_term_anchors": [
+    "t0--hot",
+    "t1--warm",
+    "t2--shared",
+    "t3--warehouse",
+    "t4--dev",
+    "source-of-truth",
+    "architecture-layer-1--ingestion",
+    "architecture-layer-2--storage-and-transform",
+    "architecture-layer-3--serving-and-sync",
+    "pipeline-stage",
+    "bulk-sync",
+    "offload",
+    "rclone",
+    "adr",
+    "asr"
+  ],
+  "readability": {
+    "forbid_bare_see_refs": true
+  }
+}

bin/docs_rules.yaml

@@ -1,47 +0,0 @@
-# Documentation rules enforced by CI (bin/check_docs.py).
-# See docs/improvement/ci-rules.md for rationale and PR workflow.
-
-markdown_paths:
-  - docs/**/*.md
-  - README.md
-  - CONTRIBUTING.md
-  - AGENTS.md
-  - simulator/README.md
-  - prototype/README.md
-  - infra/**/README.md
-
-glossary:
-  file: docs/00-glossary.md
-
-# Relative link targets that must never reappear (known regressions).
-banned_link_targets:
-  - 03-storage-design.md
-
-# Glossary links to these section headers are allowed but reported as warnings
-# when a term-specific ### anchor exists (see preferred_term_anchors).
-glossary_section_anchors:
-  - data--storage
-  - swarm--robotics
-  - infrastructure--delivery
-
-# First-use vocabulary should link to these ### anchors, not section headers.
-preferred_term_anchors:
-  - t0--hot
-  - t1--warm
-  - t2--shared
-  - t3--warehouse
-  - t4--dev
-  - source-of-truth
-  - architecture-layer-1--ingestion
-  - architecture-layer-2--storage-and-transform
-  - architecture-layer-3--serving-and-sync
-  - pipeline-stage
-  - bulk-sync
-  - offload
-  - rclone
-  - adr
-  - asr
-
-readability:
-  # Fail when prose uses bare "see 05" instead of a markdown link.
-  forbid_bare_see_refs: true