refactor(mcp): _INSTRUCTIONS orients the workflow, not a rulebook (#4389)
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Spike #4389 read the spec, Claude's docs and a dozen servers: the field is
for how the tools fit together, and the field runs ~600-1,600 characters.
Ours sat at the 2,048 cap as a keyword index that also carried stance.

- JUDGE, REPORT and MISSED leave the index. They fire mid-work, not at
  session start; using-scribe and reporting-back state them in full, and
  `placement`/`report_back` cue reporting in-band. No skill text changes.
- The rest is rewritten as plain practices (1,503 chars) and keeps every
  session-start marker the ownership registry pins.
- INSTRUCTIONS_BUDGET 2000 -> 1600; the three index markers are dropped
  from the registry; the miss-route index test now checks that the index
  keeps what_might_apply and stays off the route.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-24 07:50:34 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5.5
parent c26b7f248e
commit 4fb53b844d
5 changed files with 60 additions and 57 deletions
+9 -5
View File
@@ -69,8 +69,11 @@ def _instructions_text() -> str:
# Claude Code injects only the first ~2,048 characters of an MCP server's
# instructions and silently cuts the rest mid-word (#2562: observed live —
# the previous 20k-char version delivered ~10% of itself, and none of the
# Systems tagging guidance ever reached a session). 2,000 leaves margin.
INSTRUCTIONS_BUDGET = 2000
# Systems tagging guidance ever reached a session). The budget is set below
# the cap, not at it: the field runs ~600–1,600 characters (spike #4389), and
# a block pressed against 2,048 is being used for depth that belongs in a
# skill.
INSTRUCTIONS_BUDGET = 1600
def test_instructions_fit_the_fold():
@@ -181,9 +184,10 @@ def test_the_strength_guard_can_fail():
# ── Reporting back (milestone 409 step 3) ──────────────────────────────
#
# The reporting-back skill carries the shapes, but a skill only helps if it
# fires. The reflex that sends a session to it is stated in using-scribe; the
# server's index carries a REPORT line pointing at `placement`, and the in-band
# cue on update_task is the half that fires on its own in every client. The
# fires. The reflex that sends a session to it is stated in using-scribe, and
# the in-band cue on update_task (`placement`, `report_back`) is the half that
# fires on its own in every client. The server's index carried a REPORT line
# until #4389: reporting is a mid-work stance, not a session-start practice. The
# static context was a second plugin-side copy until milestone 410.
REPORT_REFLEX = "report back in a shape the operator can read"