os-sdlc: behavior-verifier cannot read its brief when the diff is large (brief truncated at tool display limit) #993

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opened 2026-10-11 22:31:56 +00:00 by jared · 0 comments

jared commented

2026-10-11 22:31:56 +00:00

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Discovered

Project: n8n-api (github:jaredswanson/n8n-api), ticket #6, implementation 10, dispatch 85. Session 8aec61c5-c50b-4af4-a1da-ba023682b07e.

What happened

os-sdlc-brief --dispatch-id 85 printed 34.5 KB (the diff moved ~20 files). The agent's Bash tool saved it to a file and showed a 2 KB preview that ended in the Approach section. The verifier never saw the acceptance criteria or code_changes; reading the saved file with cat is outside its charter and was truncated the same way. It returned verdict error (MISSING: ticket_brief, code_changes), and the Runner ended the run as implementation_failed. A fresh run would hit the same limit.

Expected

A verifier can read the whole brief for any diff size (e.g. paged brief sections, or a diff summary/stat in place of full rename hunks).

Also observed in the same session (no ticket yet)

The behavior-verifier's relayed reroute block was not verbatim (it removed a sentence from misfit).
When a change-auditor/test-writer leaves existing-test edits unassigned, the programmer escalates (it cannot edit tests). A re-run then hits unexpected_pass at test-writer because production work is already present. Both happened on n8n-api #4 and #6, and the fix was a reroute each time.

Workaround used

The orchestrator verified #6 by deterministic checks (full suite, Loader.eager_load, required-work greps, programmer lint gate) and committed by hand.

## Discovered Project: n8n-api (github:jaredswanson/n8n-api), ticket #6, implementation 10, dispatch 85. Session 8aec61c5-c50b-4af4-a1da-ba023682b07e. ## What happened `os-sdlc-brief --dispatch-id 85` printed 34.5 KB (the diff moved ~20 files). The agent's Bash tool saved it to a file and showed a 2 KB preview that ended in the Approach section. The verifier never saw the acceptance criteria or `code_changes`; reading the saved file with `cat` is outside its charter and was truncated the same way. It returned verdict `error` (MISSING: ticket_brief, code_changes), and the Runner ended the run as `implementation_failed`. A fresh run would hit the same limit. ## Expected A verifier can read the whole brief for any diff size (e.g. paged brief sections, or a diff summary/stat in place of full rename hunks). ## Also observed in the same session (no ticket yet) - The behavior-verifier's relayed reroute block was not verbatim (it removed a sentence from `misfit`). - When a change-auditor/test-writer leaves existing-test edits unassigned, the programmer escalates (it cannot edit tests). A re-run then hits `unexpected_pass` at test-writer because production work is already present. Both happened on n8n-api #4 and #6, and the fix was a reroute each time. ## Workaround used The orchestrator verified #6 by deterministic checks (full suite, `Loader.eager_load`, required-work greps, programmer lint gate) and committed by hand.