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+# RFC 0003: Conditional skips
+
+## Summary
+
+Forge receives the same generation decision in two opposite vendor forms:
+Stainless lists targets to skip, while Fern lists audiences to keep. Copying
+either shape would make Forge's model vendor-specific and leave plugins to
+interpret it. Both should normalize into one Forge-native policy so specs can
+migrate away from the vendor extensions.
+
+Forge filters skipped operations and fields before a plugin receives its model.
+`x-forge-skip` accepts a boolean or a condition rule:
+
+```yaml
+x-forge-skip: true
+
+x-forge-skip:
+  when: [terraform]
+
+x-forge-skip:
+  unless: [sdk]
+
+x-forge-skip:
+  when: [terraform]
+  unless: [sdk]
+```
+
+A generation has an unordered set of active condition names, such as `sdk` and
+`typescript`. `when` skips when any named condition is active. `unless` skips
+when none is active. A condition rule contains at least one of the two keys and
+may contain both. When both are present, the element is skipped if `when`
+matches **or** `unless` does not match, so exclusion wins.
+
+| Value                    | Result                                                      |
+| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
+| missing or `false`       | keep                                                        |
+| `true`                   | skip                                                        |
+| `{ when: names }`        | skip when the active set intersects `names`                 |
+| `{ unless: names }`      | skip when the active set misses every `name`                |
+| `{ when: a, unless: b }` | skip when the active set intersects `a` or misses every `b` |
+
+Each supplied list contains at least one condition. Names are non-empty, exact,
+case-sensitive strings. Their order and duplicates have no effect. An empty
+rule or list is invalid rather than an implicit always or never rule; use a
+boolean for those cases.
+
+## Conditions
+
+Several independent conditions can describe one output. For example, a
+TypeScript SDK can activate both `sdk` and `typescript`.
+
+The CLI accepts additional conditions as a comma-separated set:
+
+```console
+forge openapi.json --target wasm://plugin.wasm --conditions=sdk,typescript --out sdk
+```
+
+Built-in targets provide their own conditions. A custom plugin starts with no
+active conditions unless the CLI supplies them. With no active conditions,
+`when` never skips and `unless` always skips.
+
+The host resolves skips before building the Forge model, so plugins cannot
+disagree about filtering and never receive skipped definitions or skip
+metadata.
+
+After filtering, the host validates the resulting document. Straightforward
+local bookkeeping is repaired, such as removing a skipped property from its
+schema's `required` list. If a retained element references a skipped component,
+generation fails with a diagnostic identifying both the reference and the
+skipped target. Forge neither cascades the skip to the referencing element nor
+retains the skipped dependency.
+
+## Compatibility adapters
+
+The compatibility layer maps vendor intent instead of copying vendor shapes:
+
+- `x-stainless-skip: [terraform]` becomes
+  `x-forge-skip: { when: [terraform] }`.
+- `x-fern-audiences: [sdk]` becomes
+  `x-forge-skip: { unless: [sdk] }`.
+- Boolean vendor skips remain boolean.
+
+An explicit `x-forge-skip`, including `false`, is authoritative. When it is
+present, Forge ignores compatibility extensions on the same element. When it is
+absent, normalization combines recognized compatibility inputs into one native
+rule: target skips contribute `when`, audiences contribute `unless`, and names
+for the same key are unioned. A boolean `true` dominates and becomes an
+unconditional skip; `false` contributes nothing.
+
+`x-forge-availability` remains independent lifecycle metadata and is not a
+filter. This design adds no audience field to the plugin API and requires no WIT
+change.