The Claude Agent SDK loop (agent/hotpath_agent/loop.py, model
claude-fable-5) drives the seven harness tools over a standalone stdio
MCP server (mcp_server.py) and runs the full profile -> hypothesize ->
patch -> gated-verdict cycle on comrak with no human in the loop.
Three audited attempts, all honest rejections, ZERO false accepts:
- phase2-comrak-001 class 3: syntect buffer with_capacity, [0.971,1.007]
- phase2-comrak-002 class 5: gate dead VecDeque build, [0.982,1.026]
- phase2-comrak-003 class 6: hoist find_special_char check, [0.970,1.007]
The agent picked the cheapest untried class each time (3->5->6) and
TWICE refused to fabricate a verdict it couldn't read back, verifying
ledger integrity instead — the anti-reward-hacking behavior SPEC §10
targets.
Harness changes surfaced by the loop:
- run_verdict is now async: launches the multi-minute build+bench
detached (past the 60s MCP transport cap) and returns immediately;
new read_verdict op polls the append-only ledger row (ledger
verdict_summary). Fixes attempt 001's unreadable-verdict gap.
- read_target_source takes offset/limit line windows so 100KB+ files
page instead of overflowing — removes the agent's reason to reach for
a shell (attempt 003 paged a 2400-line file cleanly, no shell).
Honest boundary note (case study + code comments): in THIS dev
container the SDK tool allow/deny layer is defense-in-depth, not the
trust boundary — a nested CLI as root under a parent session doesn't
reliably gate built-ins. SPEC §10's boundary is OS process/user
isolation; that hardening is the remaining Phase 2 exit item
(docs/infra.md). What holds regardless: propose_patch is the only
mediated write path (path-allowlist + git apply) and the ledger is
append-only.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EcKPWQ3MQD4NdEHwar96u2
The agent's only door to the trust layer (SPEC 3.5, 10): harnessd
serves read_profile, read_ledger, read_playbook, read_target_source,
propose_patch, run_verdict over stdio JSON lines. propose_patch
enforces the path allowlist (relative paths only, no parent
components, no .git, target name validated) before git apply --check
+ apply rooted in the target workspace; run_verdict builds the
candidate into an isolated dir and hands off to the verdict pipeline
(pristine-rebuilt baseline included). Python client
(agent/hotpath_agent/harness.py) + tools.py rewired from stubs to
live calls.
E2E evidence: escape attempts refused (bad target name, ../ paths,
trust-layer diff touching config/accept.toml rejected before any
apply); benign doc patch applied, candidate built, full verdict ran
mechanically end to end -> +8.9% [1.079, 1.104] accepted (ship-tree
patches ride along as the candidate), ledger row phase1-ipc-smoke-001.
Phase 1 caveat recorded in the daemon header: same-uid filesystem
read-only enforcement still needs the separate-user/container setup.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EcKPWQ3MQD4NdEHwar96u2
Adds crates/verdict ('just verdict'): runs the core gates on the
candidate binary, then an interleaved A/B bench vs the baseline with
the CI-lower-bound rule, and writes the append-only ledger row with
per-side median CIs, workload statement, and env fingerprint. Gate
failure short-circuits to rejected-gate; --needs-human-review caps an
accepted verdict (never upgrades). CPU pinning moves into accept.toml
(pin_prefix, machine-specific, applied to both sides identically).
The smoke test caught a real trust gap: pointing --baseline-bin at the
workspace build (phase1-verdict-smoke-001) measured patched-vs-patched
and returned null, because gate runs rebuild the workspace binary from
the patched tree. Fix: --rebuild-baseline stashes the patch, builds
the baseline into isolated targets/<name>/baseline/, and restores the
patch — SPEC 3.1's pristine-checkout rule, now enforced by the
harness. Re-run (phase1-verdict-smoke-002) reproduces the Phase 0
result mechanically: +10.4% median, 95% CI [1.0932, 1.1137], accepted.
Both smoke rows are in the ledger, including the null one.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EcKPWQ3MQD4NdEHwar96u2
Attempt 4 (phase0-tokei-002, class 3, ACCEPTED — first auto-accept):
every file was read through encoding_rs_io's DecodeReaderBytes via
generic read_to_end, which zero-fills every grown buffer chunk (~221MB
memset/run, 8.5% of Ir) and grows without a size hint. Patch: fs::read
with a BOM-gated fallback to the identical decode path (a UTF-8-BOM
file transcodes invalid sequences, so the fallback is required for
equivalence). Gates: golden byte-identical; differential fuzz old-vs-
new binaries 4,332 iterations (BOM grid, invalid UTF-8, binary junk,
randomized) zero divergence; 250 upstream tests green; ASan+LSan clean
with ASan-run output hashing to golden. Bench: +9.9% [8.0%, 12.7%].
Attempt 5 (phase0-tokei-003, ship tree, ACCEPTED): stacks fat LTO+cgu=1
(real +1.6% standalone but under threshold, phase0-tokei-001) on the
accepted patch; benched as a whole vs pristine: +10.4% [8.5%, 12.0%].
Median clears the Phase 0 exit bar; CI lower bound 8.5%.
Case study written (results/phase0/case-study-tokei.md), ledger at 5
attempts, CLAUDE.md phase line moved to Phase 1, next hypotheses
logged (tokei class-5 byte-skip table; comrak class-3 arena).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01EcKPWQ3MQD4NdEHwar96u2
Claude