The windows-test-parity ratchet greps test source for fs.rmSync-without-
maxRetries (and six other Windows-portability anti-patterns), failing when an
integer offender COUNT exceeds a frozen baseline (rmSync: 95). A count ratchet
is a Goodhart metric: fixing one offender and adding another keeps the count
constant, so a new defect slips through green. Replace it — and every other
count ratchet in the repo — with a layered, masking-proof design.
Behavioral seam test
- tests/helpers-cleanup.test.cjs proves helpers.cleanup() carries the Windows
EBUSY retry budget. cleanup() delegates retries to Node's fs.rmSync via
maxRetries (it owns no loop), so the test asserts the option contract
(recursive/force/maxRetries>0/retryDelay>0) + real-FS removal + the cwd-guard,
rather than a loop that does not exist. The EBUSY risk is now tested ONCE at
the helper, not approximated textually at every call site.
Write-time ESLint rule (AST-accurate, replaces the grep)
- eslint-rules/no-raw-rmsync-in-tests.cjs (error in tests/**/*.test.cjs) bans
raw fs.rmSync, steering to cleanup(). Catches member, computed (fs['rmSync']),
destructured and aliased forms; escape hatch is inline
`// eslint-disable-next-line local/no-raw-rmsync-in-tests -- <reason>` only.
- Migrated 336 raw fs.rmSync teardown calls across ~116 test files to cleanup().
~18 genuinely load-bearing sites (mid-test SUT/fault-injection removals,
error-swallowing or name-colliding local teardown helpers) keep the raw call
with an inline eslint-disable + reason.
Shared anti-ratchet primitive
- scripts/lib/allowlist-ratchet.cjs:
- assertWithinAllowlist: fails on NOVEL ids (new offender introduced) AND on
STALE ids (a known offender was fixed but not pruned) — identity, not count,
and a ratchet DOWN toward zero.
- assertTightCeiling: a size/length budget whose ceiling must stay within a
grace band of the high-water mark, so budgets may only tighten, never creep.
Ratchets converted onto the primitive
- windows-test-parity-guard.test.cjs: rmSync rule deleted (now ESLint-enforced);
the remaining six patterns moved from integer baselines to named-set
allowlists with ratchet-down.
- scripts/lint-test-file-count.{cjs,allowlist.json}: per-module integer counts →
named filename sets (closes the swap-a-file-keep-the-count blind spot); a
module dropping under cap now FAILS to force pruning its allowlist entry.
- enh-2790 skill-count `<= 63` → named skill allowlist (ratchets toward ~58).
Size budgets hardened (tighten-only)
- agent-size / workflow-size / feat-3039 help-tiered: ceilings lowered to the
current high-water mark and an assertTightCeiling anti-creep check added per
tier. Fixed external-contract limits (description ≤100 chars, agent ≤100 KB)
are intentionally left as-is — they are not grandfathered creeping budgets.
No user-facing behavior change (tests + tooling only); no USER_FACING_PREFIXES
touched, so no changeset fragment is required.
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
