fix(journal): anti-hallucination hardening + message_count fix

Prep prose (services/journal_prep.py):
- Emit explicit "WEATHER: none available — do NOT mention weather"
  absent-marker so a small model can't invent partly-cloudy/temperature
  prose when both configured locations have empty addresses.
- Replace negative-only system rule with positive-anchored guidance
  forbidding weather/temp/precip mentions unless a numeric WEATHER
  section is present; also bans echoing parenthetical labels verbatim.
- Reword overdue header to "(past their due date, still open — backlog,
  not today's work)" and render lines as "was due <date>, N day(s)
  overdue" with correct singular/plural. Supersedes the wording noted
  in Fable task #159.
- Deterministic fabricated-weather reconciler: low-false-positive regex
  detects fabricated weather phrasing; on trip with an empty section,
  regenerate once with a corrective. Persistent fabrication logs ERROR
  rather than mangling prose.

Journal route (routes/journal.py):
- Override message_count with len(messages) in _day_payload. The chat
  path already does this; the journal path was hitting the
  Conversation.to_dict() fallback to 0 because messages aren't
  eager-loaded on that instance.

Tests:
- tests/test_journal_message_count.py — pins the model-level trap and
  the override contract (3 cases).
- tests/test_journal_prep_hardening.py — 11 cases covering the
  fabricated-weather reconciler and absent-marker rendering.
- tests/test_journal_prep_filtering.py — updated one stale assertion.

Tracks Fable task #171.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-05-20 18:54:35 -04:00
parent e6f2ee2b94
commit 5d2d27c499
5 changed files with 306 additions and 28 deletions
+7 -1
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@@ -407,8 +407,14 @@ async def _day_payload(*, user_id: int, day_date: datetime.date):
.order_by(Message.created_at)
)
messages = (await session.execute(msgs_stmt)).scalars().all()
# conv.to_dict() recomputes message_count from the `messages`
# relationship, which isn't eager-loaded here, so it would report 0.
# We already have the real list — override with the known count, same
# convention the chat-list path uses (services/chat.py).
conv_dict = conv.to_dict()
conv_dict["message_count"] = len(messages)
return jsonify({
"day_date": day_date.isoformat(),
"conversation": conv.to_dict(),
"conversation": conv_dict,
"messages": [m.to_dict() for m in messages],
})
+113 -26
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@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
import datetime
import logging
import re
from zoneinfo import ZoneInfo
from sqlalchemy import select
@@ -249,7 +250,9 @@ async def _open_threads(*, user_id: int, day_date: datetime.date) -> list[dict]:
def _render_task_line(t: dict, *, include_due: bool, include_overdue: bool) -> str:
line = f" - {t.get('title', '?')}"
if include_overdue and t.get("days_overdue"):
line += f" (due {t['due_date']}, {t['days_overdue']} days ago)"
n = t["days_overdue"]
unit = "day" if n == 1 else "days"
line += f" (was due {t['due_date']}, {n} {unit} overdue)"
elif include_due and t.get("due_date"):
line += f" (due {t['due_date']})"
if t.get("priority") and t["priority"] not in (None, "none"):
@@ -277,7 +280,7 @@ def _render_sections_for_prompt(sections: dict) -> str:
lines.append(_render_task_line(t, include_due=True, include_overdue=False))
lines.append("")
if overdue:
lines.append("OVERDUE TASKS (still on the list, not currently due):")
lines.append("OVERDUE TASKS (past their due date, still open — backlog, not today's work):")
for t in overdue[:8]:
lines.append(_render_task_line(t, include_due=False, include_overdue=True))
lines.append("")
@@ -312,6 +315,17 @@ def _render_sections_for_prompt(sections: dict) -> str:
bits.append(f"{precip}% chance of precipitation")
lines.append(" - " + ", ".join(bits))
lines.append("")
else:
# Explicit absent-marker. A silently-omitted weather block leaves a
# small model an unanchored void it tends to fill with plausible
# fabricated weather (observed: invented "68°F, 15% rain" with an
# empty weather section). A concrete "none" line + directive holds
# far better than relying on a negative system-prompt rule alone.
lines.append(
"WEATHER: none available — no weather, temperature, or precipitation "
"data exists for today. Do NOT mention weather in any form."
)
lines.append("")
projects = sections.get("projects") or []
if projects:
@@ -342,8 +356,14 @@ def _render_sections_for_prompt(sections: dict) -> str:
lines.append(f" - [{day}] {content}")
lines.append("")
if not lines:
return "(No data for today — quiet morning.)"
# The weather-none marker is always emitted, so `lines` is never empty;
# a quiet day is one with no *substantive* sections beyond that marker.
substantive = [ln for ln in lines if ln and not ln.startswith("WEATHER: none")]
if not substantive:
return (
"(No tasks, events, or notable data for today — a quiet day. "
"Do not invent weather or any other details.)"
)
return "\n".join(lines).rstrip()
@@ -360,15 +380,19 @@ _PREP_SYSTEM_PROMPT = (
"greetings unless the actual content warrants two clauses' worth.\n"
"- TASK BUCKETS — three sections may appear: TASKS DUE TODAY, UPCOMING TASKS, "
"OVERDUE TASKS. Lead with TASKS DUE TODAY when present. Do NOT call overdue items "
"\"due today\" — they aren't. When OVERDUE TASKS appears, surface it with the "
"staleness duration (\"still on the list 68 days\") and frame it as something to "
"revisit, not as today's work. If the only data is overdue, lead with it but "
"frame it as a backlog reminder.\n"
"\"due today\" — they aren't. When OVERDUE TASKS appears, state the overdue "
"duration exactly as given (e.g. \"3 days overdue\") and frame it as backlog to "
"revisit, not as today's work. Do NOT echo the parenthetical section labels "
"verbatim. If the only data is overdue, lead with it but frame it as a backlog "
"reminder.\n"
"- If RECENT JOURNAL MOMENTS or OPEN THREADS are present, mention one or two BRIEFLY "
"at the end as context — not as the lead. Skip them if nothing notable.\n"
"- Close with one short invitation to journal: \"What's on your mind?\", "
"\"Anything to set down?\", \"How's the morning shaping up?\" — pick one, keep it under 8 words.\n"
"- Don't fabricate. Skip categories with no data; don't acknowledge their absence.\n"
"- Use ONLY the data below. A category marked 'none' (or absent) genuinely has no "
"data — do not invent it and do not mention it. In particular, NEVER state weather, "
"temperature, or precipitation unless an explicit WEATHER section with numbers "
"appears below.\n"
"- Voice is competent assistant briefing the user. Not a friend writing a letter."
)
@@ -379,6 +403,40 @@ def _fallback_prep_text(day_date: datetime.date) -> str:
return f"{weekday}, {day_date.isoformat()}. What's on your mind?"
# Strong, low-false-positive weather signals. Deliberately NOT bare words like
# "rain"/"sunny"/"weather" (those legitimately appear in task/event titles —
# "buy rain boots"). Targets the concrete phrasings small models actually
# emit when fabricating ("partly cloudy with a high of 68°F and a 15% chance
# of rain"): temperature glyphs, "high/low of N", "chance of <precip>",
# "(partly|mostly) (cloudy|sunny)", "overcast", "precipitation", "forecast".
_WEATHER_SIGNAL_RE = re.compile(
r"""
\d{1,3}\s?°
| \b\d{1,3}\s?°?\s?(?:degrees|fahrenheit|celsius)\b
| \b(?:high|low)\s+of\s+\d
| \bchance\s+of\s+(?:rain|showers?|precipitation|snow|sleet|storms?|thunder)
| \b(?:partly|mostly)\s+(?:cloudy|sunny)\b
| \bovercast\b
| \bprecipitation\b
| \bforecast\b
""",
re.IGNORECASE | re.VERBOSE,
)
def _prose_fabricated_weather(prose: str, sections: dict) -> bool:
"""True when the prose talks weather but no weather data was gathered.
The deterministic backstop for the system-prompt rule: an 814B model
still invents weather on quiet days even when told not to. If the
WEATHER section is genuinely empty and the prose trips a strong weather
signal, that text is fabricated.
"""
if sections.get("weather"):
return False
return bool(_WEATHER_SIGNAL_RE.search(prose or ""))
async def _generate_prep_prose(
*,
sections: dict,
@@ -400,25 +458,54 @@ async def _generate_prep_prose(
f"Write the opener for today's journal."
)
messages = [
{"role": "system", "content": _PREP_SYSTEM_PROMPT},
{"role": "user", "content": user_trigger},
]
_WEATHER_CORRECTION = (
"\n\nIMPORTANT: there is NO weather data for today. Do not mention "
"weather, temperature, sky conditions, or precipitation in any form."
)
try:
prose = await generate_completion(
messages=messages,
model=model,
max_tokens=400,
)
except Exception:
logger.exception("Daily prep prose generation failed for day %s", day_date)
return _fallback_prep_text(day_date)
# Up to 2 attempts: if the first trips the fabricated-weather guard, retry
# once with an explicit corrective appended to the user turn. A 14B model
# almost always complies on the corrected pass; if it still doesn't we log
# and accept (surgically excising a sentence risks breaking prose flow —
# better a rare stray clause than mangled output, and the log lets us
# measure whether a model bump is actually warranted).
prose = ""
for attempt in (1, 2):
trigger = user_trigger
if attempt == 2:
trigger = user_trigger + _WEATHER_CORRECTION
messages = [
{"role": "system", "content": _PREP_SYSTEM_PROMPT},
{"role": "user", "content": trigger},
]
try:
raw = await generate_completion(
messages=messages,
model=model,
max_tokens=400,
)
except Exception:
logger.exception("Daily prep prose generation failed for day %s", day_date)
return _fallback_prep_text(day_date)
prose = (prose or "").strip()
if not prose:
logger.warning("LLM returned empty prep prose for day %s — using fallback", day_date)
return _fallback_prep_text(day_date)
prose = (raw or "").strip()
if not prose:
logger.warning("LLM returned empty prep prose for day %s — using fallback", day_date)
return _fallback_prep_text(day_date)
if not _prose_fabricated_weather(prose, sections):
return prose
if attempt == 1:
logger.warning(
"daily_prep: fabricated weather detected for day %s (no weather "
"data gathered) — regenerating with corrective", day_date,
)
else:
logger.error(
"daily_prep: weather still fabricated after corrective retry "
"for day %s — accepting prose as-is", day_date,
)
return prose
+60
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@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
"""Regression coverage for the journal `message_count: 0` bug.
`_day_payload` (routes/journal.py) loads messages in a separate query and
serializes the Conversation with `conv.to_dict()`. `Conversation.to_dict()`
derives `message_count` from the `messages` relationship, which is NOT
eager-loaded on that instance — so it silently fell back to 0 for every
journal day (observed via the fable MCP: conversation #291 reported
message_count 0 with 9 messages present).
Full HTTP coverage of `_day_payload` needs a live DB (not available in the
unit-test env — see test_events_routes.py). These tests pin the model-level
contract that necessitates the route-side override.
"""
from datetime import date, datetime, timezone
from fabledassistant.models.conversation import Conversation, Message
def _conv() -> Conversation:
now = datetime(2026, 5, 19, 9, 0, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
return Conversation(
user_id=1,
conversation_type="journal",
day_date=date(2026, 5, 19),
title="2026-05-19",
created_at=now,
updated_at=now,
)
def test_to_dict_reports_zero_when_messages_relationship_not_loaded():
"""The trap: an untouched `messages` relationship is absent from the
instance state, so to_dict() reports 0 regardless of DB rows. This is
exactly the journal path's situation and why the route must override."""
conv = _conv()
assert conv.to_dict()["message_count"] == 0
def test_to_dict_counts_when_messages_loaded():
"""When the relationship IS populated the count is correct — confirming
the model isn't broken, the journal path just never loaded it."""
conv = _conv()
conv.messages = [
Message(conversation_id=1, role="assistant", content="prep"),
Message(conversation_id=1, role="user", content="hi"),
]
assert conv.to_dict()["message_count"] == 2
def test_day_payload_override_yields_true_count():
"""Pins the fix contract: _day_payload already holds the real message
list and overrides message_count with len(messages), the same way the
chat-list path (services/chat.py) supplies its own count."""
conv = _conv() # messages relationship deliberately not loaded
messages = [object(), object(), object()] # stand-ins for the loaded rows
conv_dict = conv.to_dict()
conv_dict["message_count"] = len(messages)
assert conv_dict["message_count"] == 3
+3 -1
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@@ -145,7 +145,9 @@ def test_render_overdue_includes_staleness_duration():
}
rendered = _render_sections_for_prompt(sections)
assert "OVERDUE TASKS" in rendered
assert "68 days ago" in rendered
# Unambiguous overdue phrasing (replaced the old "68 days ago", which the
# model parroted alongside the header into a self-contradiction).
assert "68 days overdue" in rendered
assert "2026-02-20" in rendered
# Crucially, NOT framed as due today.
assert "DUE TODAY" not in rendered
+123
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@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
"""Coverage for the daily-prep hardening pass.
Targets the two prep-quality defects observed via the fable MCP on
2026-05-19 (conversation #291):
1. Fabricated weather ("partly cloudy with a high of 68°F and a 15%
chance of rain") emitted with an empty weather section.
2. Self-contradictory overdue phrasing ("still on the list, not
currently due, 88 days ago"; "1 days ago").
All targets are pure sync functions — no DB / LLM needed.
"""
import datetime
from fabledassistant.services.journal_prep import (
_prose_fabricated_weather,
_render_sections_for_prompt,
_render_task_line,
)
TODAY = datetime.date(2026, 5, 19)
# ── Overdue phrasing ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
def test_overdue_line_singular_day():
line = _render_task_line(
{"title": "Change my oil", "due_date": "2026-05-18", "days_overdue": 1},
include_due=False, include_overdue=True,
)
assert "1 day overdue" in line
assert "1 days" not in line # the old ungrammatical form is gone
def test_overdue_line_plural_days_no_contradiction():
line = _render_task_line(
{"title": "Research X", "due_date": "2026-02-20", "days_overdue": 88},
include_due=False, include_overdue=True,
)
assert "88 days overdue" in line
assert "was due 2026-02-20" in line
assert "days ago" not in line # replaced by unambiguous "overdue"
def test_overdue_section_header_is_unambiguous():
out = _render_sections_for_prompt({
"tasks_overdue": [
{"title": "Research X", "due_date": "2026-02-20", "days_overdue": 88},
],
})
assert "past their due date, still open" in out
# The phrase that the model parroted into the self-contradiction is gone.
assert "not currently due" not in out
# ── Weather absent-marker ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
def test_empty_weather_emits_explicit_none_marker():
out = _render_sections_for_prompt({
"tasks_overdue": [
{"title": "Change my oil", "due_date": "2026-05-18", "days_overdue": 1},
],
"weather": [],
})
assert "WEATHER: none available" in out
assert "Do NOT mention weather" in out
def test_present_weather_renders_data_not_marker():
out = _render_sections_for_prompt({
"tasks_due_today": [{"title": "Ship it"}],
"weather": [{
"location_label": "Home",
"forecast_json": {"daily": {
"temperature_2m_max": [70],
"temperature_2m_min": [52],
"precipitation_probability_max": [10],
}},
}],
})
assert "WEATHER:" in out
assert "none available" not in out
assert "high 70°" in out
def test_quiet_day_returns_fabrication_forbidding_text():
out = _render_sections_for_prompt({})
assert "quiet day" in out
assert "Do not invent weather" in out
# ── Fabricated-weather guard ────────────────────────────────────────────────
def test_guard_flags_the_real_observed_hallucination():
prose = (
"You have two overdue tasks. The weather today is partly cloudy "
"with a high of 68°F and a 15% chance of rain. What's on your mind?"
)
assert _prose_fabricated_weather(prose, {"weather": []}) is True
def test_guard_flags_bare_temperature_glyph():
assert _prose_fabricated_weather("Expect around 72° later.", {"weather": []}) is True
def test_guard_passes_clean_prose():
prose = "Two tasks are overdue and nothing is due today. What's on your mind?"
assert _prose_fabricated_weather(prose, {"weather": []}) is False
def test_guard_no_false_positive_on_rain_in_task_title():
# Bare "rain" must NOT trip the guard — only "chance of rain" etc. does.
prose = "Don't forget to buy rain boots and finish the training module."
assert _prose_fabricated_weather(prose, {"weather": []}) is False
def test_guard_allows_weather_when_data_present():
prose = "Home is 70°F with a 10% chance of rain."
sections = {"weather": [{"location_label": "Home"}]}
assert _prose_fabricated_weather(prose, sections) is False