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FabledScribe/tests/test_instruction_surfaces_agree.py
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feat(rules): the instruction surfaces say to RETRIEVE a rule, not only to receive one (#3523)
Every instruction surface told a session to load the always-on rules and
stopped there. None said the loaded set is partial, so an empty one read as
"no rule applies" when it only ever meant "none was pushed" — different
claims, and only one of them has been checked.

That is #2198's asymmetry one level in. The earlier defect was trusting the
SessionStart push over the explicit pull; this is trusting the resident TIER
as if it were the whole rulebook.

It is also why the always-on tier was the only one that worked, on any install
rather than this one (rule 115): a rule nothing retrieves must be resident to
bind at all, and a resident rule costs tokens in every session forever — so a
rulebook that only delivers cannot grow past what one session holds.
Retrieval lifts that ceiling, and it fires only if something asks. A
tool-choice reflex asks least of all (#3476, #161).

The same obligation now lands on all three session-start surfaces, because
rule 119 makes them the specification jointly and a surface stating it
differently IS the product behaving differently (#2497). Pinned by
test_every_session_start_surface_states_the_conditional_retrieval, mirroring
the pull test beside it.

THE BUDGET TRADE. _INSTRUCTIONS sat at 1978 against a 2000 test budget, and
its own comment says an addition there is a trade, never an append. Bought the
new clause by trading out "Processes are saved procedures (follow verbatim)"
and "Deletes are trash-recoverable" — both already in DISPLACED_TOPICS and
already stated on a delivered surface, and both per-tool guidance, which by
this block's doctrine belongs in the tool docstring. Now 1976. Recorded in the
comment above the block so it is not silently reversed.

Plugin version minted: shipped plugin content moved.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011cPyzNnegXHr5iRMzzy5KJ
2026-09-03 21:41:53 -04:00

255 lines
12 KiB
Python

"""The instruction surfaces must agree that the agent pulls the rules itself.
WHY THIS EXISTS
Rule #119 makes the instruction surfaces the SPECIFICATION for product
behaviour — there is no other place the "load the operator's rules" obligation
is written down, and no code path enforces it. So a surface that states it
differently isn't a documentation slip; it is the product behaving differently.
That happened (#2497). `_INSTRUCTIONS` said the SessionStart hook "is the
bridge" for getting rules into a session, while the `using-scribe` skill said to
pull them yourself and treat any push as a bonus. An agent weighting the first
would reasonably skip the pull.
#2198 is the case where that is wrong: every plugin hook was silently inert for
an extended period, and nothing announced it. An agent trusting the push would
have run with no binding rules and no signal — while those rules govern branch,
commit, push and other hard-to-reverse actions.
The asymmetry is the whole argument, and it is what these tests pin: pulling
when a push also arrived costs one redundant call; not pulling when the push
never came costs the operator's rules entirely.
WHAT THIS DOES NOT DO
It cannot tell whether two surfaces contradict each other in prose generally —
that needs a reader. It pins the one instruction whose absence is known to be
load-bearing, and the specific shape the #2497 defect took: naming the push
without also stating the pull.
"""
from __future__ import annotations
import pathlib
ROOT = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
# The pull instruction, however a surface phrases the surrounding prose.
PULL = "list_always_on_rules"
# Surfaces a session loads before substantive work. Hand-written because
# "is this a session-start surface?" is an editorial fact, not a derivable one —
# but each entry is asserted to EXIST, so a move or rename fails loudly here
# instead of quietly dropping that surface from the check.
SESSION_START_SURFACES = (
ROOT / "src" / "scribe" / "mcp" / "server.py",
ROOT / "plugin" / "hooks" / "scribe_static_context.md",
ROOT / "plugin" / "skills" / "using-scribe" / "SKILL.md",
)
def _all_surfaces() -> list[tuple[str, str]]:
"""(label, text) for every file a SESSION loads as instructions.
Deliberately not every markdown file under plugin/: `README.md` describes
the push channel to the operator installing the plugin, and telling a human
what the hook does is not the same act as telling an agent it need not pull.
The boundary is "does a session read this", which is skills (loaded by
description match), the hook-injected static context, and the MCP server's
own instructions.
"""
found = [(str(p.relative_to(ROOT)), p.read_text())
for p in (ROOT / "plugin" / "skills").rglob("SKILL.md")]
found += [(str(p.relative_to(ROOT)), p.read_text())
for p in (ROOT / "plugin" / "hooks").glob("*.md")]
server = ROOT / "src" / "scribe" / "mcp" / "server.py"
found.append((str(server.relative_to(ROOT)), server.read_text()))
return found
def test_every_session_start_surface_states_the_pull():
missing = []
for path in SESSION_START_SURFACES:
assert path.exists(), (
f"{path.relative_to(ROOT)} is gone — it was one of the surfaces "
f"carrying the load-the-rules instruction. If it moved, update "
f"SESSION_START_SURFACES; if it was retired, check the instruction "
f"still lives somewhere a fresh session reads."
)
if PULL not in path.read_text():
missing.append(str(path.relative_to(ROOT)))
assert not missing, (
f"these surfaces no longer tell the agent to call {PULL}(): {missing}. "
f"The rules are pull-only and the push is best-effort, so a surface "
f"that omits this leaves a session bound by nothing (#2198, #2497)."
)
def _instructions_text() -> str:
"""The _INSTRUCTIONS literal from server.py, as the client would see it."""
import re
src = (ROOT / "src" / "scribe" / "mcp" / "server.py").read_text()
match = re.search(r'_INSTRUCTIONS = """(.*?)"""', src, re.S)
assert match, "server.py no longer defines _INSTRUCTIONS as a triple-quoted literal"
return match.group(1).strip()
# 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
def test_instructions_fit_the_fold():
text = _instructions_text()
assert len(text) <= INSTRUCTIONS_BUDGET, (
f"_INSTRUCTIONS is {len(text)} chars; the client injects only ~2,048 "
f"and silently cuts the rest (#2562). This block is a MAP — move the "
f"detail to the tool's docstring (delivered at reach-for time), the "
f"plugin static context (always delivered), or a skill; see the "
f"comment above _INSTRUCTIONS."
)
def test_floor_states_the_systems_reflex():
"""Write-time tagging guidance must live on the surface that always arrives.
#2562's behavioral finding: with the guidance only in tool descriptions,
sessions filed records untagged. The static context is the delivery floor,
so the tag-as-you-write reflex has to be stated there.
"""
floor = (ROOT / "plugin" / "hooks" / "scribe_static_context.md").read_text()
for needle in ("system_ids", "create_system"):
assert needle in floor, (
f"plugin/hooks/scribe_static_context.md no longer mentions "
f"{needle} — the Systems tagging reflex must be stated on the "
f"floor, not only in tool descriptions (#2562)."
)
def test_floor_names_the_snippet_recording_triggers():
"""The floor must state the pattern-library recording model, by name.
#2664's behavioral finding: recording guidance as a trailing clause of the
reuse bullet converted zero times outside snippet-minded sessions. The
2026-08-16 ruling (decision #2686) then replaced the reactive model
entirely: every shape is recorded at FIRST build — no "will it recur?"
judgment — and second-copy consolidation is only the backstop. The floor
is the delivery surface for that reflex, so all three elements must stay
stated: the tool, the first-build trigger, and the backstop.
"""
floor = (ROOT / "plugin" / "hooks" / "scribe_static_context.md").read_text()
for needle in ("create_snippet", "first build", "second copy"):
assert needle in floor, (
f"plugin/hooks/scribe_static_context.md no longer states the "
f"snippet-recording model ({needle!r}) — record-every-shape-at-"
f"first-build with second-copy consolidation as the backstop must "
f"be stated on the floor (#2664, decision #2686)."
)
# Topics displaced from _INSTRUCTIONS when it was cut to fit the fold. Each
# must remain stated on at least one DELIVERED surface: a tool docstring
# (arrives with the tool schema), the plugin static context (always arrives),
# or a bundled skill (arrives on trigger match). Keyed by a phrase distinctive
# enough that its disappearance means the guidance is gone, not reworded —
# update the phrase alongside a deliberate rewording.
DISPLACED_TOPICS = {
"supersedes": "supersedes",
"trash is recoverable": "deleted_batch_id",
"duplicate gate": "duplicate",
"systems tag-as-you-write": "system_ids",
"reference note vs dev-log": "reference note",
"work-logs over body rewrites": "add_task_log",
"rule homes / altitude": "create_project_rule",
"rules vs other entities": "standing instruction",
"shared records are suggestions": "shared",
"processes run verbatim": "verbatim",
"snippet reuse reflex": "when_to_use",
"compaction at seams": "compact",
"plans are milestones": "start_planning",
"scope to the entered project": "cross-project",
"project bootstrap needs confirmation": "never guessing a project",
}
def test_displaced_topics_live_on_a_delivered_surface():
corpus = ""
for p in (ROOT / "src" / "scribe" / "mcp" / "tools").glob("*.py"):
corpus += p.read_text()
corpus += (ROOT / "plugin" / "hooks" / "scribe_static_context.md").read_text()
for p in (ROOT / "plugin" / "skills").rglob("SKILL.md"):
corpus += p.read_text()
corpus = corpus.lower()
missing = [
f"{topic} (phrase: {phrase!r})"
for topic, phrase in DISPLACED_TOPICS.items()
if phrase.lower() not in corpus
]
assert not missing, (
f"guidance displaced from _INSTRUCTIONS has fallen off every delivered "
f"surface (tool docstrings / static context / skills): {missing}. It "
f"was cut from _INSTRUCTIONS deliberately (#2562) on the premise it "
f"lives elsewhere — restore it somewhere that delivers."
)
# The SECOND pull (milestone 333 step 3). `list_always_on_rules()` fetches the
# resident tier; this one says that tier is not all of them, and that a
# conditional rule has to be gone looking for. However a surface words the
# surrounding prose, it names the call.
RETRIEVE = 'content_type="rule"'
def test_every_session_start_surface_states_the_conditional_retrieval():
"""The push/pull asymmetry, one level in.
The tests above pin that a session PULLS the resident rules rather than
trusting the SessionStart push. This pins the same shape between the two
TIERS: an always-on rule is delivered, a conditional one is retrieved, and
a surface that states only the first leaves a session reading its loaded
set as the whole rulebook.
That reading is wrong in the direction that costs something. "Nothing was
pushed" and "no rule applies" are different claims, and only one of them
has been checked — the same asymmetry as #2198, now between tiers instead
of between channels.
It is also what made the always-on tier the only one that worked, on any
install rather than this one (rule 115). A rule nothing retrieves has to be
resident to bind at all, so every rule worth keeping becomes resident; and
a resident rule costs tokens in every session forever, so a rulebook that
only delivers cannot grow past what one session can hold. Retrieval is what
lifts that ceiling — and it only fires if something asks.
"""
missing = []
for path in SESSION_START_SURFACES:
if RETRIEVE not in path.read_text():
missing.append(str(path.relative_to(ROOT)))
assert not missing, (
f"these surfaces state the always-on pull but never tell the agent to "
f"retrieve a conditional rule ({RETRIEVE}): {missing}. A session that "
f"reads its loaded set as the whole rulebook will act on \"I was not "
f"told\" as if it meant \"there is no rule\" (milestone 333 step 3)."
)
def test_no_surface_names_the_push_without_stating_the_pull():
"""The exact shape #2497 took.
Mentioning the SessionStart hook is fine and often useful. Mentioning it
*instead of* the pull is the defect: it reads as "this is handled", and the
surface that says so is the one an agent has least reason to doubt.
"""
offenders = [
label for label, text in _all_surfaces()
if "SessionStart" in text and PULL not in text
]
assert not offenders, (
f"these surfaces describe the SessionStart push but never state the "
f"explicit pull: {offenders}. The push is a delivery optimisation, not "
f"the bridge — it can be absent without saying so. Name it if it helps, "
f"but say to call {PULL}() regardless."
)