Kova is a validation lab for the OpenClaw runtime, designed to run release-shaped scenarios on real machines and collect structured evidence. It is a CLI tool written in Node.js (ESM) that orchestrates testing via the OpenClaw Control Manager (OCM), provisioning disposable environments, installing runtimes, and managing services. The system executes scenarios defined in declarative JSON contracts (surfaces, states, scenarios, profiles), collects performance metrics (RSS, CPU, latency, event-loop delays), and evaluates them against configurable thresholds. Results are produced as JSON reports, Markdown summaries, and a web dashboard built with Astro. The architecture is modular: a command dispatcher (src/main.mjs) routes to subcommands (run, matrix, report, setup, publish, self-check). The runner (src/runner.mjs) executes scenarios in phases, with collectors (src/collectors/) gathering evidence from processes, logs, timelines, and system state. An evaluator (src/evaluator.mjs) checks evidence against thresholds and produces violations. The reporting layer (src/reporting/) renders output in multiple formats. The system includes extensive self-checks (src/selfcheck/) that validate internal contracts and fixture behavior. Key external dependencies include Node.js, the OCM CLI, the OpenClaw runtime under test, and channel adapters (Telegram, Discord) for conformance testing. The codebase is well-structured with clear separation of concerns, reusable patterns (UI toolkit, evidence ledger, baseline management, channel conformance framework), and comprehensive validation of its own contracts.