cc-os/plugins/os-doc-hygiene/openspec/changes/lifecycle-aware-doc-hygiene/specs/calibrate/spec.md

12 KiB

Spec: calibrate

ADDED Requirements

Requirement: Calibrate Clusters and Samples Over Unmatched Files

The :calibrate skill SHALL run over the unmatched-files pool (unmatched = unmanaged, per lifecycle-rulebook) as its candidate pool. It SHALL cluster unmatched paths by shape before nominating any rule, so that a proposed rule is authored against a cluster of similar paths rather than a single file.

Scenario: Calibrate operates only on the unmatched pool

  • WHEN :calibrate runs
  • THEN its candidate pool is exactly the set of files the rulebook currently leaves unmatched

Scenario: Rules are proposed against clusters, not single files

  • WHEN :calibrate nominates a candidate rule
  • THEN the nomination is derived from a cluster of similar unmatched paths, not from one instance in isolation

Requirement: Cheap-Model Nomination Produces Patterns, Never Exact-Instance Globs

For each sampled cluster, :calibrate SHALL dispatch a haiku subagent constrained to nominate a bare glob pattern plus a candidate lifetime. The haiku nomination SHALL be constrained to produce generalizable patterns; it SHALL NOT be accepted as final if it hardcodes an identifier unique to a single instance (a run-id, hash, or bare timestamp).

Scenario: Haiku nominates a glob and lifetime per cluster

  • WHEN a cluster of unmatched paths is sampled
  • THEN the haiku subagent returns a bare glob pattern and a candidate lifetime for that cluster

Scenario: Instance-unique nominations are not accepted as final

  • WHEN a haiku nomination's glob hardcodes a run-id, hash, or bare timestamp unique to one file
  • THEN it is not persisted as-is; it must be caught and generalized before the strong-model judgment step, per the rule-quality tests below

Requirement: Strong-Model Batched Judgment with Confirm/Reject/Amend/Consult

:calibrate SHALL dispatch one batched strong-model (Opus or Fable) judge subagent that gathers its own evidence (re-reading matched paths and checking near-miss boundaries) and authors final rule entries. The judge SHALL return one of four verdicts per nominated rule: confirm, reject, amend, or consult. consult SHALL be mandatory whenever an artifact's purpose is unclear (i.e., the judge cannot determine whether the artifact is regenerable or must be retained).

Scenario: Judge gathers its own evidence rather than trusting the nomination

  • WHEN the strong-model judge evaluates a haiku nomination
  • THEN it independently re-reads matched paths and checks near-miss boundaries rather than accepting the nomination's claims at face value

Scenario: Four verdicts are the only possible outcomes

  • WHEN the judge evaluates a nominated rule
  • THEN its verdict is exactly one of confirm, reject, amend, or consult

Scenario: Consult is mandatory when purpose is unclear

  • WHEN the judge cannot determine whether a clustered artifact type is regenerable or must be retained
  • THEN the verdict is consult, never confirm or reject

Requirement: Rule Report to the Human Before Persistence

Before any proposed rule is persisted, :calibrate SHALL present a rule report to the human containing, per proposed rule: the glob verbatim exactly as it would be persisted; every path it currently matches (or a capped sample plus a total count); the near-miss boundary — paths that do NOT match despite looking similar; the lifetime and behavior tier (auto vs confirm); and a plain-language explanation of what the artifact is and why it is clutter. No rule SHALL be persisted before this report has been shown.

Scenario: The report shows the exact persisted glob

  • WHEN a rule report is generated for a proposed rule
  • THEN the glob shown is character-for-character identical to what would be written to the rulebook file

Scenario: The report shows current matches with a capped sample

  • WHEN a proposed rule matches more paths than the display cap
  • THEN the report shows a capped sample of matched paths plus the total count of all matches

Scenario: The report shows the near-miss boundary

  • WHEN a proposed rule's glob narrowly excludes similar-looking paths
  • THEN the report explicitly lists those near-miss non-matching paths, so a boundary bug (e.g. a glob silently missing a sibling path) is visible before persistence

Scenario: No rule is persisted before the report is shown

  • WHEN :calibrate has generated proposed rules
  • THEN it does not write any rule to a rulebook file until the human has seen the rule report for it

Requirement: Persistence Rules by Scope

Project-rulebook writes SHALL land on judge confirmation once the human has reviewed the rule report. Global-rulebook writes (writing into plugins/os-doc-hygiene/rulebook.json) SHALL additionally require explicit human gating, distinct from project-rule confirmation, since it is a cross-repo write into cc-os. Rule removals SHALL be HITL-only in all cases, with recorded reasoning, regardless of scope.

Scenario: Project rule persists on judge confirmation plus report review

  • WHEN the judge verdict is confirm for a project-scoped rule and the human has reviewed its rule report
  • THEN the rule is written to the project's .dochygiene-rules.json

Scenario: Global rulebook writes require an additional explicit gate

  • WHEN a proposed rule would be written to the global rulebook.json
  • THEN a distinct human confirmation for the cross-repo write is required, beyond the project-rule confirmation step

Scenario: Rule removal is always HITL-only

  • WHEN any rule (project or global) is proposed for removal
  • THEN the removal happens only via explicit human instruction, with the reasoning recorded, never as an automatic side effect of a calibration pass

Requirement: Retest Loop with Stop Conditions and Hard Cap

:calibrate SHALL re-run its clustering pass against the shrunk unmatched pool after each round of persisted rules. It SHALL stop when a round yields fewer than 2 new rules OR shrinks the unmatched pool by less than 10%. It SHALL hard-cap at 3 rounds regardless of shrink rate.

Scenario: Stops on fewer than 2 new rules

  • WHEN a retest round yields only 1 new confirmed rule
  • THEN the retest loop stops after that round

Scenario: Stops on less than 10% shrink

  • WHEN a retest round shrinks the unmatched pool by less than 10%
  • THEN the retest loop stops after that round, even if 2 or more rules were confirmed

Scenario: Hard cap of 3 rounds regardless of shrink

  • WHEN three retest rounds have run and each still meets the continuation criteria (≥2 new rules and ≥10% shrink)
  • THEN the retest loop stops after the third round regardless

Requirement: Seed Intake at Judge Intake

The clutter-inventory seed candidates SHALL enter the calibration protocol at judge intake. Full seed intake SHALL apply to every calibration run after calibration pass #1; pass #1 uses the one-off seed hold-out described in the Calibration Pass Validation Criteria requirement below.

Scenario: Seed candidates feed the judge step

  • WHEN a calibration run (other than pass #1) begins
  • THEN the clutter-inventory seed candidates are included as judge-intake evidence

Requirement: Rule-Quality Test — Class Never Path

A proposed rule's glob SHALL name a recurring class of artifact, never an identifier unique to a single instance. A glob that hardcodes a name recurring by convention (e.g. PRD.md, HANDOFF-*.md, migration-report.md) is acceptable. A glob that hardcodes a run-id, hash, or bare timestamp unique to one instance is not acceptable. A rule that currently matches only one file is acceptable; a rule that can, by construction, only ever match one file is a failed generalization and SHALL be flagged loudly rather than silently persisted.

Scenario: A convention-recurring name is acceptable

  • WHEN a proposed rule's glob is HANDOFF-*.md
  • THEN it passes the class-never-path test, since HANDOFF-* is a recurring naming convention, not a single instance

Scenario: An instance-unique identifier fails the test

  • WHEN a proposed rule's glob hardcodes a specific run-id or hash string that can only ever identify one artifact
  • THEN the rule fails the class-never-path test and is flagged loudly, not silently persisted

Scenario: One current match is fine; one-EVER match is not

  • WHEN a proposed rule currently matches exactly one file
  • THEN it is acceptable if the glob's structure could match future similarly-named files; it is flagged as a failed generalization if the glob's structure can never match any file but the one it names today

Requirement: Rule-Quality Tie-Breaker — Prefer the Narrower Glob

When choosing between candidate globs of differing breadth for the same cluster, :calibrate SHALL prefer the narrower glob. Too-narrow failure is self-healing (clutter is merely left for a later round to catch); too-broad failure is dangerous (a keeper file may be deleted and is not self-healing).

Scenario: Narrower glob is chosen when both would satisfy the cluster

  • WHEN two candidate globs both cover the sampled cluster, one narrower and one broader
  • THEN the narrower glob is chosen

Scenario: Rationale is evidence quality, not readability alone

  • WHEN justifying the narrower-glob preference
  • THEN the reasoning cited is that too-narrow fails safe (self-healing) while too-broad fails dangerous (not self-healing), not merely stylistic preference

Requirement: Calibration Pass Validation Criteria

A calibration pass SHALL be judged against: a precision hard gate (the pass FAILS if any persisted rule's glob matches a protected path, regardless of behavior tier — exploration-time consult verdicts on protected paths are free and do not fail the pass); a recall floor of 8 of the 10 rows of the project's clutter inventory, with 4 specific rows mandatory (missing any mandatory row fails the pass); a one-off seed hold-out for calibration pass #1 only (the sealed answer key is withheld from judge intake for pass #1; every later run uses full seed intake); treatment of IGNORE-surface paths as void, not a miss, against the recall floor; and the requirement that a do-nothing pass cannot pass (the recall floor makes the pass falsifiable in the finding direction).

Scenario: A rule matching a protected path fails the pass

  • WHEN any persisted rule's glob matches a path in the fixed protected set
  • THEN the calibration pass fails, regardless of whether that rule's tier was auto or confirm

Scenario: Consult verdicts on protected paths do not fail the pass

  • WHEN the judge issues a consult verdict during exploration for a candidate touching a protected path, and that candidate is not persisted
  • THEN the pass is not failed by that consult verdict

Scenario: Recall floor requires 8 of 10 with 4 mandatory

  • WHEN a calibration pass is graded against the clutter inventory
  • THEN it must recall at least 8 of the 10 inventory rows, and all 4 mandatory rows must be among them, or the pass fails

Scenario: Pass #1 seed hold-out is a one-off

  • WHEN calibration pass #1 runs
  • THEN the sealed answer key (the project's clutter-inventory rows) is withheld from judge intake; every subsequent calibration run instead uses full seed intake

Scenario: IGNORE-surface rows are void, not a miss

  • WHEN grading recall against the clutter inventory and a row corresponds to an IGNORE-surface path
  • THEN that row is excluded from the recall calculation entirely (void), not counted as a miss

Scenario: A do-nothing pass cannot pass

  • WHEN a calibration pass persists zero rules
  • THEN it fails the recall floor and therefore cannot pass