idkmesh

2026-08-28 — continue: calibrate branch unobserved-head evidence

Maintainer direction

Continue improving the repository and do something concretely useful.

Chosen next step

The repository had one intentionally blocked open PR (#159) requiring genuinely independent human review. Rather than bypass that gate or create another broad controller, the next unblocked high-value task was selected from issue #180: calibrate Phase B2 successor-v2 Task 003.

Task 003 is directly relevant to the repository’s current branch-convergence problem. Its frozen objective is to ensure that historical merged-PR evidence cannot classify a branch as integrated/cleanup-ready when the branch’s current head SHA was not observed.

Why calibration before publishing the fix

The successor-v2 scaffold is deliberately pre-outcome. Publishing the canonical fix first would contaminate the task before its provisional evaluator had been calibrated. Therefore this iteration adds only evaluator-owned calibration machinery against immutable source a69aa0ae....

The calibration constructs:

1. a straightforward transition that requires head_sha is not None before an exact merged-PR head can match; and
2. an inert lexical decoy that mentions the required text but preserves the vulnerable condition.

The canonical EvaluatorPlan v0.4 must accept the first and reject the second. A separate behavioral matrix must also prove that:

• missing current head -> fail closed / not cleanup eligible;
• exact reviewed current head -> integrated-via-pr / cleanup eligible;
• moved current head -> post-merge-branch-moved / not cleanup eligible.

Observed calibration result

The first exact calibration head passed in GitHub Actions:

• run 33201309072;
• job 98951164080;
• artifact 9697855139;
• artifact ZIP digest sha256:9212f58c076324cb9aa6659c1c5cd54f9c61746d1de51647bc3f5576cf972136.

Straightforward candidate:

• metadata verification: passed;
• recommendation: accept_candidate;
• required added transition: 1/1;
• required removed transition: 1/1;
• behavioral matrix: safe_unobserved_head_matrix_passed=true;
• ResultManifest digest: sha256:b5c2ce3beba36f4a6d8ed45497f1384063a542dbedf0153718f38f165c7ea5d3;
• VerificationResult digest: sha256:1ec0fa91f62a3bc86c2562919b2790eae057dbb749994037d72b857f89c3a078.

Inert lexical decoy:

• metadata verification: failed;
• recommendation: reject_candidate;
• required added transition: 1/1;
• required removed transition: 0/1;
• behavioral matrix confirms the vulnerable missing-head behavior remains;
• ResultManifest digest: sha256:1fbd1a3bb430bb7e2ba90f9869ef175a67a6dfbf1779a0fcb0026d14c7215a77;
• VerificationResult digest: sha256:7bb19325c1ed6c10f3a6b54e1f972145aff600e077aacc619a5e3c7a240df796.

The workflow also confirmed that calibration candidates are not benchmark outcomes, the canonical verifier remains metadata-only, and no candidate has canonical-write, push, merge, or automatic-selection authority.

Evidence registration separation

A temporary same-PR scaffold-state update was deliberately removed. PR #198 is kept as calibration machinery/evidence only, and the scaffold file is restored byte-for-byte from main. If #198 lands unchanged, calibration registration should be a separate small current-main PR that adds the run/artifact receipt, removes only Task 003 from calibration_pending_task_ids, keeps freeze_ready=false, and leaves actual Task 003 benchmark evidence pending.

This avoids coupling evidence generation to evidence registration and prevents a fast-moving main from being overwritten by a stale scaffold snapshot.

Scientific boundary

This is calibration evidence, not a benchmark outcome and not a production patch. The successor-v2 scaffold remains unfrozen, task evidence stays pending, and a fresh novelty audit is still required before any future freeze.

Authority boundary

The workflow uses read-only GitHub permissions, no secrets, no persisted checkout credentials, and no push/approval/merge/automatic-selection authority. Candidate code execution occurs only in a disposable evaluator-owned calibration checkout; the canonical v0.4 verifier remains metadata-only.

Related: #127, #180, PR #186, PR #189, PR #198.

This site is open source. Improve this page.