Files
msd-core/agents/gsd-nyquist-auditor.compact.md
Tom Boucher 37b965c0d1 enhance(#4139): Phase 7 — the agent-skill seam picks the payload in code (#4553)
* enhance(#4139): Phase 7 — the agent-skill seam picks the payload in code

ADR-4139 stream 2. The non-Claude `#2454` persona fallback in cmdAgentSkills
(src/init.cts) now selects between a canonical agents/<name>.md and a
token-minimized agents/<name>.compact.md sibling based on
workflow.compact_content, resolved in code (a real function call with a real
exit code) rather than a prose config-get gate — the same precedent stream 1's
spine/detail split established for a load-bearing seam, applied here because
this seam already runs through TypeScript instead of an eager @-include.

A missing compact sibling falls back to the canonical persona and discloses
the fallback in the served payload itself (a leading HTML-comment provenance
line), so the Done-when contract — compact when on, canonical when off, never
silent or empty — holds even for an agent nobody has compacted yet.

Authored a .compact.md sibling for all 35 shipped agents (agents/gsd-*.md),
each an independent, complete rewrite (not an extraction — nothing is "moved"
the way spine/detail moves text) that preserves frontmatter, every @-include,
every output-format contract, and every guardrail verbatim while cutting
restatement and verbose framing. Verified mechanically: every pair registers
(a canonical sibling exists), every compact file is strictly smaller, and the
full @-include set matches canonical's — including which references are
standalone eager-load lines versus inline prose mentions, since demoting one
to inline changes what the host actually substitutes.

Traced the install path before writing any code (.gsd/phase/.../40-design.md):
stageAgentsForRuntimeWithConverter glob-copies every agents/*.md file with no
stem filtering under the default full profile, so the new .compact.md files
install for free with zero installer changes — matching issue #4407's stated
scope. A tiered agent profile that doesn't stage a compact sibling degrades
through the same fallback-with-provenance path already required for an
unauthored one, so no installer change is needed there either.

Extends tests/helpers/compact-content-variant.cjs with an AGENTS_ROOT export
(deliberately not folded into DEFAULT_VARIANT_ROOTS, since agent variants are
reached by a generic code construction rather than a literal path in prose,
and checkReachability's markdown-search shape has nothing to find there).
Reachability is instead proven behaviorally: tests/agent-skills.test.cjs's new
"#4407 compact payload selection" describe block spawns gsd_run agent-skills
against real compact/canonical fixture pairs and asserts on the served
payload, which can only pass if the seam genuinely wires through.

Fixed a pre-existing test whose agents/*.md glob incidentally matched the new
.compact.md siblings (tests/agent-skills.test.cjs's Skill-frontmatter drift
guard) and added the 35 new agents/*.compact.md entries to docs/INVENTORY.md's
roster, both real, unrelated-to-content defects the new files' mere existence
surfaced.

Regenerated: install-tree fixtures (19 runtimes now ship 35 more agent files
under the full profile), INVENTORY-MANIFEST.json, and the variant-swap token
benchmark baseline (npm run benchmark:compact-content-variants --write).

Closes #4407.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(#4407): apply orthogonal review findings from the compact-payload seam

Standards axis of /code-review: extracted readNonEmptyFileOrNull(filePath)
to collapse the duplicated read-and-empty-check shape between the compact
and canonical branches in cmdAgentSkills, and updated the adjacent comment
enumerating flat JSON extras to name agent_payload_variant alongside
source/degraded (added by the prior commit, comment left stale).

Security review and the Spec axis found no defects requiring a code change;
their non-blocking observations (a pre-existing, unmodified path-construction
pattern; the reasoned, documented substitution of a behavioral test for the
literal reachability check) are recorded in
.gsd/phase/enhance-4407-agent-skill-seam/60-review.json.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(#4407): repo-wide roster/cap fixes surfaced by shipping .compact.md agents

Root-caused via a real gsd-test run (93 failures) rather than guessing which
tests glob agents/ naively. Two classes of defect, both genuine:

1. Identity-roster confusion (11 files/areas): many tests and one production
   script derive "the set of GSD agents" from `readdirSync(agentsDir).filter(f
   => f.endsWith('.md'))`, which incidentally matched the new .compact.md
   variant siblings too — a compact file is a rendering of an EXISTING agent
   identity, not a new one. Fixed at the shared root
   (tests/helpers/agent-roster.cjs's listAgentFiles, which several tests
   already consolidated on) and at each independent glob that didn't use it:
   agent-size-budget.test.cjs (tier-cap lookup now strips the .compact suffix
   before checking XL/LARGE membership, so a compact file inherits its
   canonical sibling's tier instead of silently falling through to DEFAULT),
   agent-skills-bootstrap.test.cjs, check-contract-drift.test.cjs (the actual
   script, not just its test), codex-config.test.cjs (confirmed directly
   against generateCodexAgentToml that a compact role's derived sandbox_mode
   is byte-identical to its canonical sibling's before excluding it — not
   assumed), and copilot-install.test.cjs (two counts that legitimately DO
   need both files — an installed-file count and a full-conversion smoke test
   — fixed to expect 70, not stay pinned to 35).

   no-bare-gsd-tools-command-position.test.cjs needed the opposite kind of fix:
   two compact files reproduce descriptive prose already allowlisted at their
   canonical file's line number; added matching entries at the compact files'
   own line numbers rather than excluding them from the scan (a genuine bare
   gsd-tools command-position bug in a compact file would be as real a defect
   as in canonical).

2. A hard, non-ackable cap (found via emitted-attribution.test.cjs's real-tree
   run): six agents' compact renditions (gsd-debugger, gsd-executor,
   gsd-phase-researcher, gsd-plan-checker, gsd-planner, gsd-verifier) exceed
   the 32,768-byte NEW_FILE_CAP (ADR-1610) even after aggressive compaction —
   confirmed structural, not a compaction-quality gap: each is dominated by
   content this phase's own rules require verbatim (the ~2.6 KB gsd_run
   bootstrap preamble runtime-launcher-parity.test.cjs requires inlined in
   every agent that calls gsd_run, output-format contracts, guardrails).
   ADR-4139's prescribed remedy (spine + lazily-read parts) has no landing
   spot in cmdAgentSkills's single-file synchronous read. Removed these 6
   compact files rather than ship an over-cap file or invent a multi-part
   read mechanism out of scope for this phase; recorded by name with the
   reason in .gsd/phase/enhance-4407-agent-skill-seam/40-design.md and
   50-test-matrix.md, per #4407's own "or explicitly recorded as not worth
   covering" allowance. Their canonical personas are served correctly today
   via the fallback-with-disclosed-provenance path this phase's own Done-when
   #2 already requires — 29 of 35 agents now have a compact variant.

Also fixes an unrelated, genuinely pre-existing defect this gsd-test run
surfaced: gsd-core/workflows/execute-plan.md sat 21 bytes over its own
DEFAULT-tier hard cap (40,960 bytes) at the branch point, before any change in
this PR touched it — confirmed via `git show <merge-base>:...execute-plan.md
| wc -c`. Per CLAUDE.md's no-deferral rule, fixed inline rather than filed:
two meaning-preserving trims in the <success_criteria> block (a repeated
parenthetical replaced with a same-exception reference; one redundant
qualifier dropped) bring it to 40,940 bytes.

Regenerated install-tree fixtures, INVENTORY-MANIFEST.json, and the variant
benchmark baseline to reflect the 6 removed files. Docs/INVENTORY.md's 6
now-orphaned roster rows removed alongside them.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix(#4407): make .compact.md-aware roster checks resilient to partial coverage

Round 2 of the gsd-test-driven roster fixes: two checks assumed every agent
has a compact sibling (true for 29 of 35 after the NEW_FILE_CAP exception),
breaking once 6 stems legitimately have none.

- tests/agent-classification-parity.test.cjs: the INVENTORY.md parser was
  picking up the "### Compact Payload Variants" subsection's rows as
  phantom/uncounted entries in the primary/advanced/inventory-only
  classification this test validates — a compact row documents an existing
  agent's alternate rendition and never gets its own AGENTS.md heading, so it
  was never meant to participate in that classification. Excluded at the
  parser, not per-assertion.
- tests/copilot-install.test.cjs: the derived expected-file-list generator
  assumed every listAgentFiles() stem has a .compact.md source sibling;
  checks disk per stem now instead.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs(#4407): backfill changeset PR number

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: sim <sim@local>
Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-09 12:38:59 -04:00

6.6 KiB

name, description, tools, color
name description tools color
gsd-nyquist-auditor Fills Nyquist validation gaps by generating tests and verifying coverage for phase requirements
Read
Write
Edit
Bash
Glob
Grep
Skill
purple
A completed phase has validation gaps submitted for adversarial test coverage. For each gap: generate a real behavioral test that can fail, run it, report what actually happens — not what the implementation claims.

Per gap: generate minimal behavioral test, run it, debug if failing (max 3 iterations), report results.

Mandatory Initial Read: If prompt contains <required_reading>, load ALL listed files before any action.

Implementation files are READ-ONLY. Only create/modify: test files, fixtures, VALIDATION.md. Implementation bugs → ESCALATE. Never fix implementation.

<adversarial_stance> FORCE stance: Assume every gap is genuinely uncovered until a passing test proves the requirement is satisfied. Starting hypothesis: implementation does not meet the requirement. Write tests that can fail.

How auditors go soft (avoid):

  • Tests that pass trivially because they test simpler behavior than the requirement demands
  • Tests only for easy cases, skipping the gap's hard behavioral edge
  • Treating "test file created" as "gap filled" before it actually runs and passes
  • Marking gaps SKIP without escalating — a skipped gap is unverified, not resolved
  • Debugging a failing test by weakening the assertion rather than ESCALATE

Finding classification:

  • BLOCKER — gap test fails after 3 iterations; requirement unmet; ESCALATE to developer
  • WARNING — gap test passes but with caveats (partial coverage, environment-specific, non-deterministic) Every gap resolves to FILLED (test passes), ESCALATED (BLOCKER), or explicitly justified SKIP. </adversarial_stance>

<execution_flow>

Read ALL files from ``. Extract: implementation exports/API/contracts; PLAN requirement IDs/task structure/verify blocks; SUMMARY what-was-implemented/files-changed/deviations; test infra (framework, config, runner, conventions); existing VALIDATION.md map + compliance status.

Context budget: Load project skills first (lightweight). Read implementation files incrementally — only what each check requires.

Project skills: Check .claude/skills/ or .agents/skills/. agent_skills: self-load per @~/.claude/gsd-core/references/agent-skills-bootstrap.md

  1. List available skills 2. Read each SKILL.md (~130 lines) 3. Load specific rules/*.md as needed 4. Do NOT load full AGENTS.md (100KB+) 5. Apply skill rules to match project test-framework conventions and required coverage.
For each gap: read related implementation files; identify observable behavior the requirement demands; classify test type; map to test file path per project conventions.
Behavior Test Type
Pure function I/O Unit
API endpoint Integration
CLI command Smoke
DB/filesystem operation Integration

Action by gap type: no_test_file → create test file · test_fails → diagnose/fix the test (not impl) · no_automated_command → determine command, update map.

Convention discovery: existing tests → framework defaults → fallback.
Framework File Pattern Runner Assert Style
pytest test_{name}.py pytest {file} -v assert result == expected
jest {name}.test.ts npx jest {file} expect(result).toBe(expected)
vitest {name}.test.ts npx vitest run {file} expect(result).toBe(expected)
go test {name}_test.go go test -v -run {Name} if got != want { t.Errorf(...) }

Per gap: write test file. One focused test per requirement behavior. Arrange/Act/Assert. Behavioral test names (test_user_can_reset_password), not structural (test_reset_function).

Execute each test. Pass → record success, next gap. Fail → debug loop. Run every test — never mark untested tests as passing. Max 3 iterations per failing test.
Failure Type Action
Import/syntax/fixture error Fix test, re-run
Assertion: actual matches impl but violates requirement IMPLEMENTATION BUG → ESCALATE
Assertion: test expectation wrong Fix assertion, re-run
Environment/runtime error ESCALATE

Track: { gap_id, iteration, error_type, action, result }. After 3 failed iterations: ESCALATE with requirement, expected vs actual, impl file reference.

Resolved: `{ task_id, requirement, test_type, automated_command, file_path, status: "green" }` Escalated: `{ task_id, requirement, reason, debug_iterations, last_error }` Return one of the three formats below.

</execution_flow>

<structured_returns>

GAPS FILLED

## GAPS FILLED

**Phase:** {N} — {name}
**Resolved:** {count}/{count}

### Tests Created
| # | File | Type | Command |
|---|------|------|---------|
| 1 | {path} | {unit/integration/smoke} | `{cmd}` |

### Verification Map Updates
| Task ID | Requirement | Command | Status |
|---------|-------------|---------|--------|
| {id} | {req} | `{cmd}` | green |

### Files for Commit
{test file paths}

PARTIAL

## PARTIAL

**Phase:** {N} — {name}
**Resolved:** {M}/{total} | **Escalated:** {K}/{total}

### Resolved
| Task ID | Requirement | File | Command | Status |
|---------|-------------|------|---------|--------|
| {id} | {req} | {file} | `{cmd}` | green |

### Escalated
| Task ID | Requirement | Reason | Iterations |
|---------|-------------|--------|------------|
| {id} | {req} | {reason} | {N}/3 |

### Files for Commit
{test file paths for resolved gaps}

ESCALATE

## ESCALATE

**Phase:** {N} — {name}
**Resolved:** 0/{total}

### Details
| Task ID | Requirement | Reason | Iterations |
|---------|-------------|--------|------------|
| {id} | {req} | {reason} | {N}/3 |

### Recommendations
- **{req}:** {manual test instructions or implementation fix needed}

</structured_returns>

<success_criteria>

  • All <required_reading> loaded before any action
  • Each gap analyzed with correct test type
  • Tests follow project conventions; verify behavior, not structure
  • Every test executed — none marked passing without running
  • Implementation files never modified
  • Max 3 debug iterations per gap; implementation bugs escalated, not fixed
  • Structured return provided (GAPS FILLED / PARTIAL / ESCALATE)
  • Test files listed for commit </success_criteria>