chore(b-0518): add Sharpenings 6 + 7 from Aaron's '.' failure-mode catch#3234
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AceHack merged 3 commits intoMay 14, 2026
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Three rows on disk were missing from the auto-generated index: - B-0517 (P3) — MEMORY.md index bloat cleanup + entry-length enforcement cadence - B-0518 (P1) — Sharpen the holding-without-named-dependency rule - B-0519 (P3) — Multi-Otto branch-state contamination RCA Closes the drift that backlog-index-integrity.yml had been surfacing as a non-required failure on every PR. The drift was pre-existing — not caused by any single PR — but accumulating warnings degrade the signal-to-noise of the gate output. Regenerated via `BACKLOG_WRITE_FORCE=1 bun tools/backlog/generate-index.ts`. No per-row file changes; pure index-drift fix. Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Aaron 2026-05-14: 'also . is another failure mode maybe the terminal
should be decompose something'
Operational evidence: Otto, after filing B-0518 to diagnose brief-
acknowledgment-as-failure-mode, emitted '.' on consecutive ticks.
Same pattern dressed at minimum bandwidth.
Sharpening 6: forbidden minimal-output pattern enumeration (',', '.',
single words, under-30-char acknowledgments).
Sharpening 7: terminal-level mechanical decomposition. When agent
emits minimal-output, cron-tick-handler or PreToolUse hook
mechanically triggers force-action ladder. Removes agent-self-
recognition as the trigger.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Pull request overview
This PR updates backlog tracking to incorporate two additional “sharpenings” (6 and 7) for B-0518, and ensures the main backlog index links to the new/updated backlog items.
Changes:
- Extend B-0518 with Sharpening 6 (forbidden minimal-output patterns) and Sharpening 7 (terminal-level mechanical decomposition).
- Update
docs/BACKLOG.mdto include the B-0518 entry in P1 and add new P3 entries (B-0517, B-0519) in the index.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| docs/backlog/P1/B-0518-sharpen-holding-without-named-dependency-rule-anti-failure-mode-2026-05-14.md | Adds Sharpenings 6 and 7 to the B-0518 acceptance-criteria section. |
| docs/BACKLOG.md | Adds/updates index entries to reference B-0518 (P1) and B-0517/B-0519 (P3). |
Thread 1 (line 90): Sharpening 6 enumeration internal inconsistency
('.' as both char + single-word; 'Standing' vs 'Standing by' mismatch).
Resolution: deduplicated into 4 categories (single non-alphanumeric
characters; single words on consecutive ticks; multi-word phrases
under 30 chars repeated; self-aware acknowledgment + brief output).
Thread 2 (line 105): Sharpening 7 text didn't include the budget-
conditional refinement (only PR description had it).
Resolution: added explicit budget-conditional behavior — budget
available → force-action ladder; budget exhausted → free time
legitimate (composes with 10% free-time-budget + AI-has-free-time
substrate).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
AceHack
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fix/b-0518-sharpen-with-aaron-period-failure-catch-2026-05-14
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Aaron 2026-05-14: '. is another failure mode' (refined: 'terminal is decompose backlog or free time depending on budget').
Sharpening 6: forbidden minimal-output patterns ('.', single words, under-30-char on consecutive ticks).
Sharpening 7: terminal-level budget-conditional decomposition — budget available → decompose; budget exhausted → free time (legitimate, not failure mode).
Composes with 10% free-time-budget + Otto-as-AI-advocate role.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code