reliquary/docs/workpad/reports/2026-10-16-08-headless-forks-run.md

Run log — Trained implementer, forked per block (spire:forks)

• Plan: docs/workpad/plans/2026-10-16-01-headless-forks.md · Build plan: docs/workpad/plans/2026-10-16-02-headless-forks-build.md
• Branch: headless-forks (worktree .claude/worktrees/headless-forks) · Start commit: d373689
• Trunk notes: docs/workpad/reports/2026-10-16-08-headless-forks-trunk-notes.md
• Athanor: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (installed Spire 0.2.2 shape) · Session journal: Igor's, docs/workpad/journals/2026-10-15-21-grotto-work.md (not touched by the Athanor)
• Forks: none yet (the helper does not exist until Phase 1)

Phase 0 — Preflight (STOP gate)

Block	Owner (model id)	Commit	Tokens (if known)
0 Preflight probes and report	the Athanor, claude-opus-5-5[1m], own Bash	7421d3a (+ this hash fill-in)	probe calls: $5.68 over 45 calls (client estimate, sum of per-call deltas); the Athanor's own tokens unknown

Block 0 — Preflight probes and report

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m]
• Start / end: 2026-10-16 08:16:26 +0200 / 2026-10-16 12:16 +0200 (last probe 10:13:01; date jumped from 10:13 to 12:16 across two consecutive commands, cause unknown, likely host suspend)
• Done: Worktree .claude/worktrees/headless-forks created on new branch headless-forks from d373689. Throwaway probes written and run from the Athanor's own Bash in the session scratchpad (…\scratchpad\headless-forks-p0\, not in git): P0.0–P0.8 in the build plan's amended order (P0.0, P0.1, start P0.6 detached via the P0.1 rung, P0.2–P0.5, P0.7, P0.8 while it ran, then collect P0.6). Preflight report docs/workpad/reports/2026-10-16-09-headless-forks-preflight.md with verdict, per-item results and the Phase 1 defaults. Nothing in plugins/ changed.
• Deviations from plan:
  • P0.6 was started once P0.1's rung 3 had passed (a), (b) and (d), before (c)'s 15 minutes were up, so the TTL clock started earlier. (c) passed later at 08:39–08:45; had it failed, P0.6 would have died with it and been restarted.
  • The scratch clone is git clone --local --no-hardlinks (hardlinks fail from G: to C:). Same content, same .claude/settings.json.
  • P0.5's model cases ran first in a copy of the project settings ($P0\p05-cwd), which turned out to be an untrusted workspace (project permissions.allow ignored). To get a trusted availableModels reading, five tool-less "Reply OK" calls ran with cwd = G:\dev\projects\reliquary (trusted) and one in the worktree (trust check). They cannot edit anything (--tools ""), but they are live calls outside the scratch clone, against plan decision 4's letter. They left transcripts under the reliquary project slug in ~/.claude/projects/. The unlisted-family case was run through --settings '{"availableModels":[…]}' instead, because reliquary lists all four family aliases.
  • P0.5's --agent test and P0.8 ran in separate scratch dirs (p05-cwd, p08-cwd) instead of the clone, so adding an agent and a skill could not change P0.2's prefix while it ran.
  • P0.1 (d): the Bash tool no longer kills a call at its timeout; it backgrounds it. (d) was produced with TaskStop on the backgrounded call, which kills the process tree. Recorded in the report.
  • The P0.5 effort-cache case ran inside the P0.2 probe (a --effort medium fork of the P0.2 base) instead of a separate base.
• Flagged for review:
  • The P0.1 verdict rests on the strict reading of (d) (launcher still alive when the Bash call is stopped). Rung 1 survives when the launcher has already exited (r1-dprime). Rung 3 is the ladder's answer; the reviewer may want to weigh rung 1 plus an exit-first launcher against rung 3's CIM env handling.
  • r3-main and r3-tkill ran PATH claude 2.1.283 (CIM env lacked CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH); survival evidence is unaffected, the binary is.
  • P0.8 ran in an untrusted workspace; the pre-approval "no" may differ in a trusted project.
  • Effort: a different effort did not miss the cache; whether --effort took effect is unobservable.
  • A fork that backgrounds a Bash command can leave an orphan process after claude exits (seen once on 2.1.283).
  • P0.6: the 50-min ping read only 0.916 of A's context (re-created 7,463 tokens, about the size of the shared system/tool prefix). Still a hit by C5 and the later fork read 1.0004; cause not isolated.
  • Visible windows (coordinator's message 09:52, user report): every rung-3 supervisor before the fix (P0.1 r3-*, the P0.2 and P0.6 probes) opened a visible console window (Windows Terminal) on the user's desktop. "No visible window" was added to P0.1's pass criteria and the surviving variant retested with Win32_ProcessStartup.ShowWindow=0 for the supervisor and CREATE_NO_WINDOW for every child: no window in 26 checks (plus 3 on an informational Popen CREATE_NO_WINDOW variant), including during claude → bash → PING; (a)–(d) and the tree-kill pass again. A positive control (r3-wincontrol, 15 s) showed the detector does see the old window. Recorded in the preflight report §P0.1.
  • $P0\raw\p01\ was not cleaned between runs; r3-kill2 finished unobserved during a 20-minute git clone (08:24–08:45).
• Left for later: the Phase 1 defaults listed at the top of the preflight report. Survival of a rung-3 supervisor across the Athanor's hand-back is untested (Phase 1 smoke).
• Expected broken: nothing (no product code yet).
• Commits: 7421d3a (report, run log, trunk notes), then a one-line follow-up filling in this hash. Probe commits in the scratch clone only (64dbefa, 9bfefb7, bb5514d, 0f72edb, 9d3ddc1), not in this repo.

Phase 0 close

• Gate: none named for Phase 0 (probes only, no code in the repo). Every STOP item checked against its criterion in the report.
• Tests: not applicable (no product code). Probe results and raw paths in the report.
• Flags for the reviewer:
  • Block 0: every deviation and flag above, one by one.
  • Block 0: check the report's numbers against $P0\raw\ (summaries *.summary.json, p03-usage.json, p02\state.json, p06\state.json, p07\p07.json, p08\p08.json, p01\<tag>\check-*.json).
• Not run / untested: survival past the end of the Athanor's turn; what effort changes; a trusted-workspace P0.8.
• Spend: $5.68 client estimate over 45 calls (trigger $25 not hit), plus three killed calls without a result (cents).
• Leftover processes: none. Swept at 10:13–12:16 by command line (headless-forks-p0, p01_sup, p01_sleeper, p06_ttl, p02_base) and by name (PING, sleep); the only hits were the Athanor's own Bash. One orphan was killed by hand earlier (sleep.exe pid 31372, from r3-kill).
• Open questions (for Igor and the user; none blocks Phase 1):
  • U4 is moot for reliquary: the sonnet/haiku aliases in availableModels admit their full ids. An unlisted model is substituted silently, not refused; C8's runtime model_refused must key on the system/informational warning or a modelUsage mismatch.
  • The Bash tool backgrounds instead of killing at its timeout. C2's timeout: 600000 rule stays, but A2's failure mode ("killed with no JSON") is now "backgrounded, notification to the subagent". Does the Phase 3 text want a line on it?
  • Rung 3 adds a PowerShell dependency (about 0.3 s per launch) and an env hand-off file. Rung 1 with a launcher that exits first would avoid both but dies if its launcher is in a stopped tree (e.g. pings launched from wait). The plan's ladder picks rung 3; the reviewer may weigh it.
  • P0.8: injection works in a subagent preload, pre-approval does not (untrusted dir). SKILL.md needs the allow-rule note; the trusted-project case is for Phase 4.
  • Forks that background a Bash command leave orphans after claude exits. Suggested default: a preamble line forbidding run_in_background in forks; Phase 1 decides.
• Verdict: GO (see the preflight report header).
• Status: provisional until review, fix pass and re-check close. Igor makes the GO/STOP call.
• Igor, 2026-10-16 ~12:18: Phase 0 accepted, GO, no separate review; the Phase 0 deviations go to the Phase 1 reviewer as handoff flags. Coordinator decisions: rung 3 hidden is the launch default (rung 1 only with a documented clean case); the fork preamble forbids run_in_background; kill/expire also sweep the fork's process tree; the model check keys on the warning event / modelUsage mismatch; "no visible window" is a permanent acceptance criterion in unit and smoke gates where testable; the binary is always the fingerprinted absolute path, and the env passed via CIM carries CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH or the explicit binary path.

Phase 1 — Helper core

Intake 2026-10-16 12:18 +0200, Athanor claude-opus-5-5[1m]. Start commit 83f6bac.

Block	Owner (model id)	Commit	Tokens (if known)
1.1 Skeleton, state, where, init	fresh general-purpose agent, opus alias, stamped claude-opus-5-5[1m]	d36ac2f, 85d1e14	211,075 subagent tokens (harness total)
1.2 Launch and supervise	fresh general-purpose agent, opus alias, stamped claude-opus-5-5[1m]	009a252, 8f2c7d3	337,053 subagent tokens (harness total); harness duration 11,929 s
1.3 Phase tests, smoke	the Athanor, claude-opus-5-5[1m], own Bash; no fallout agent needed	this run-log commit	smoke calls $0.49 client estimate (+ the killed fork, no result)

Gate after 1.1 (Athanor, 12:29): G-unit Ran 52 tests … OK, exit 0; G-where exit 0, one JSON object. --effort values checked against claude --help 2.1.299 (low, medium, high, xhigh, max): match.

Block 1.1 — Skeleton, state, where, init

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m]
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 12:20:48 +0200 2026 / Fri Oct 16 12:28:49 +0200 2026 (date; tests and gates finished by the end time, the note and commit followed)
• Done: New plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py (plan §2 PEP 723 header, stdlib only, LF): argparse dispatch for all 13 commands; exit codes 0/2/3/4 as constants; stdout = exactly one JSON object per call (argparse errors, --help and uncaught exceptions included); path normalisation (relative, G:\, G:/, /g/…, /c/…; POSIX abspath); state dir <run without .md>-forks with .gitignore (raw/, *.lock), mcp-empty.json, jobs/ briefs/ notes/ results/ logs/ raw/; registry.json "schema": 1; RegistryLock (create-exclusive, stale after 30 s, token-checked release); atomic temp-then-os.replace with PermissionError retries (40 × 50 ms) for writers and readers; ledger_append (caller holds the lock); _now() / _iso(); pid_record / pid_alive / proc_ctime (Windows OpenProcess + GetProcessTimes, POSIX /proc/<pid>/stat); git() always git --no-optional-locks; scrub constants (SCRUB_DROP, SCRUB_DROP_PATTERNS, SCRUB_KEEP, SCRUB_PINNED + CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH) and scrubbed_env(binary); supervisor_interpreter() (C6); SPAWN_METHOD (cim-hidden / setsid); where; init (all launch fields and defaults, fingerprint sha256 of canonical JSON, config extras incl. orphan_after 1200 and pings on, idempotency, C8 admission, all validation before any write). Launching and Phase 1 commands return {"error":"not implemented","block":"1.2"}, Phase 2 ones {"phase":2}, exit 2. New preamble.md (digest content, short). New tests/test_forks.py (PEP 723 + unittest, imports forks.py by path, 52 tests: path forms, state-dir derivation, scrub, lock contention in-process and across processes, stale-lock recovery by at, by mtime and under an injected _now, safe release after takeover, replace while a reader holds the target (retried, attempts > 1 asserted on Windows), registry schema, ledger, pid + ctime, init defaults / idempotency / change before and after a fake base / bad model ids / plan / unknown mode and effort / missing binary / agent, C8 exact / [1m] strip / family alias / no list / unlisted → exit 2 naming the files with settings untouched, where via uv run with a stub and with the host binary, error-case stdout invariant via uv run, unknown command, not implemented, --help, internal error, N3 guard). Stub binary generated at test runtime in tempfile (.cmd on Windows); USER_SETTINGS_PATH monkeypatched to a temp file, so no test reads ~/.claude.
• Gates:
  • G-unit uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/tests/test_forks.py → exit 0, Ran 52 tests in 3.173s / OK.
  • G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py where → exit 0; stdout 1 line, a JSON object, ok: true (binary CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH 2.1.299, Python 3.13.1, uv 0.5.13, git 2.34.1.windows.1, spawn: cim-hidden). uv's Reading inline script metadata… line goes to stderr.
• Deviations from plan (digest):
  • Argument sets for the 1.2 commands are already declared in argparse from the digest (train --base --brief [--block --phase], fork --base --block --brief [--phase --mode --paths --max-minutes --max-budget-usd --force], continue --job --brief [--max-minutes], wait [jobs] --all --any --timeout, expire --base|--all, kill --job, _supervise --job). 1.2 may change them.
  • The N3 guard is already in the dispatch for train, fork, continue, rebase (exit 2 before "not implemented" when SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD is set); tick left for Phase 2.
  • --help returns {"help": …, "commands": […]} on stdout with exit 0 (keeps the invariant). Unknown extra arguments are a usage error (exit 2), except on the Phase 2 stubs, which tolerate them until Phase 2.
  • Uncaught exceptions: exit 2, {"error":"internal error","type","detail"}, traceback on stderr (the digest defines no code for it).
  • init takes more flags than the digest lists: --ttl-s, --stall-after-s, and one per threshold (--rebase-commits, --rebase-lines, --rebase-delta-tokens, --max-base-tokens, --max-rebases). Thresholds sit nested under config.thresholds. Config also carries binary_resolved_by and model_admission (how, not what; ignored by the change comparison).
  • where takes an optional --binary (tests use a stub) and also reports python.supervisor_interpreter, platform, scrub.drop_patterns; on failure it carries both reason and error.
  • preamble.md adds two lines beyond the digest: "nobody can answer a question mid-run" and "never push, rebase or reset" (mirrors the deny list).
• Flagged for review:
  • --effort is restricted to low|medium|high|xhigh|max and --permission-mode to default|acceptEdits|dontAsk|bypassPermissions|auto (plan refused). Both sets are assumed, not checked against claude --help.
  • Fingerprint launch dict: model, effort, permission_mode, tools, allowed_tools, disallowed_tools, mcp {strict, config path}, append_system_prompt {path, sha256}, agent {name, path, sha256} | null, cwd, binary {path, version, size, mtime}, env.pinned (only the two TTL/autoupdater vars; SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD and CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH are added at launch by scrubbed_env, outside the hash). The mcp config path is per run, so the hash differs between runs by construction.
  • --allowed-tools / --disallowed-tools are repeatable lists and each value is also split on commas outside parentheses (Bash(a,b) stays one rule).
  • Stale-lock breaking re-reads the lock and removes it only if unchanged; two breakers racing still have a narrow window. Release removes the lock only if its token is still ours. Lock wait is 45 s (longer than the 30 s stale age).
  • C8: an unreadable or invalid settings file is skipped with a stderr note; availableModels: [] counts as a list that admits nothing.
  • Host env has ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL; it is on neither list, so it is kept for the child and listed under scrub.unknown by where (the P0 probes kept it too and auth worked). The coordinator may want it on a list.
  • pid_alive treats ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED from OpenProcess as alive with an unverifiable creation time.
  • Git Bash paths whose first segment is not a single letter (/tmp/x) are treated as rooted on the cwd's drive, not mapped to Git's install dir.
  • The model regex is the digest's; it admits ids like claude-sonnet with no version.
• Left for later: everything the digest assigns to 1.2 (templates, launch, supervise, results, ledger lines, wait/list/expire/kill, no-visible-window test, run.last_orchestrator_call_at); Phase 2 commands.
• Expected broken: train, fork, continue, wait, list, expire, kill, _supervise exit 2 "not implemented" (block 1.2); rebase, usage, tick (Phase 2).
• Commits: d36ac2f (code, tests, preamble, this note), then a one-line follow-up filling in this hash.

Block 1.2 — Launch and supervise

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m]
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 12:31:01 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 15:48:45 WEDT 2026 (date; the host clock read 12:31 at my first call and 15:42 at the first manual run, so the span includes a jump like the one Phase 0 saw; the gates ran 15:47:38–15:48:30)
• Done: forks.py gains train, fork, continue, wait, list, expire, kill, _supervise. Launch writes the job (registry index, status created) under the lock, briefs/<job>.md (template + brief) and raw/<job>.env.json (scrubbed env with CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH = stored binary and SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD=1), then spawns <base interp> -I forks.py _supervise --run --job through powershell (CREATE_NO_WINDOW) → CIM Win32_Process.Create with ShowWindow=0, command line and cwd passed in SPIRE_FORKS_CMD/SPIRE_FORKS_CWD; ReturnValue ≠ 0 ends the job failed/spawn_failed. The supervisor redirects its stdio to raw/<job>.sup.log, starts claude with exactly the env file and CREATE_NO_WINDOW (stored absolute binary path, full fingerprinted command line every call, --session-id on train and fork, --resume … --fork-session on fork, --resume only on continue, --max-budget-usd passed through), feeds the prompt on stdin, parses the stream (StreamState: init, message ids, first/last assistant usage, system/informational restriction warning, result), and is the only writer of jobs/<job>.json (heartbeat every 10 s). Watchdogs: max_minutes → kill tree, timeout; stall_after_s of no stdout → flag stalled; N1 orphan check every 1 s → kill tree, killed + orphaned; restriction warning → kill tree, failed/model_refused. Finalising (finalize_job, once, under the lock): results/<job>.json (plan §4.2 fields + paths, reason, model_requested), ledger line (design §6 + status, flags, reason), registry update (status, cumulative cost and modelUsage for the session, base last_hit; on train: base active with base_commit, context tokens, training cost, cumulative modelUsage, runtime fingerprint). Usage rule, usage_mismatch, cache verdict, cold_start, C1 warmth, fingerprint ok|drift:<fields> (launch: binary, append_system_prompt, agent; runtime: tools, permissionMode, plugins, agents, apiKeySource against the base's init). wait per C4, list (all bases with warmth, all jobs, running info), lost reaper (heartbeat > 120 s and supervisor pid + ctime dead), kill (Toolhelp32 tree snapshot with ctimes → taskkill /T /F → sweep with TerminateProcess by pid + ctime → verify up to 10 s), expire (retire, kill running jobs of the base, flag expired). Refusals: N2, N3, cap, launch-field overrides on fork/continue (each field accepted by the parser only to be refused), base not active without --force, continue of a running or non-fork job, missing binary (reason: binary_missing), base name taken. New templates/train.md and templates/fork.md (stale-snapshot sentence, delta header from git --no-optional-locks log --oneline <base_commit>..HEAD and diff --shortstat <base_commit>, commit rule per mode, note path, logs dir). preamble.md unchanged. Tests: 17 new (69 total): a generated stream stub claude (stub/claude.cmd → base interpreter -I stub.py, behaviour per call from @stub … lines in the brief, sessions kept beside it so resume/fork report cumulative modelUsage and total_cost_usd), real CIM launches with the stub as --binary, RuleTests on the real P0.2 seq-1 numbers, and a module-end check that no process whose command line contains the tests' temp prefix survives.
• Gates:
  • G-unit uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/tests/test_forks.py → exit 0, Ran 69 tests in 52.001s / OK (suite wall 52 s; two earlier full runs at 68 tests: 51.7 s each, OK).
  • G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py where → exit 0, stdout one line, a JSON object, ok: true, spawn: cim-hidden, binary 2.1.299.
  • Leftover processes after the gates: none. Checked by command line (forks-test-, _supervise, my manual scratch run b12-manual) via Get-CimInstance Win32_Process, not by name; also asserted by the suite's tearDownModule.
  • Manual check (scratch run in the session scratchpad, stub binary): the supervisor's parent is WmiPrvSE.exe; its tree is python → conhost, cmd (claude) → conhost, python stub → python grandchild; kill snapshot 6 pids, taskkill_rc 0, no survivors.
• Deviations from plan:
  • fork --max-minutes and continue --max-minutes take a positive float (the tests use 0.06 min); init --max-minutes stays an integer.
  • fork/continue also run the lost reaper before the cap check (the digest names wait and list), so a dead supervisor cannot block the cap.
  • The lost reaper kills the job's leftover claude tree (from the job file) before marking it lost; the digest only says to mark it.
  • On the restriction warning the supervisor kills claude at once instead of letting the substituted model finish (saves the spend; the result still reads failed/model_refused).
  • After claude exits, the supervisor sweeps any descendants of it that are still alive (the "backgrounded sleep 240" trap); logged in sup.log.
  • train takes no launch-field overrides (the design's table allows them; the plan's invariant and the digest do not); they are usage errors there.
• Flagged for review (semantics the digest left open):
  • wait --all = every job not yet settled; a job is settled when it was in the condition of a wait that returned 0 or 4. done holds only results not delivered before. So the mixed case gives 3 (failed result in done), then 4 when the rest finish (the failed job stays in the condition without being returned again), then 0 on an empty set. Explicit job lists use the same delivery marks. --any: met when any member has finished (or the set is empty); exit 4 if any finished member is not ok. wait with neither jobs nor --all is a usage error; --timeout > 570 is refused (exit 2).
  • reason vocabulary: model_refused, is_error, exit_code, no_result, spawn_failed, launch_error, supervisor_error (failed); kill, expire, orphaned (killed); supervisor_dead (lost). timeout has reason: null (the digest: null unless failed/killed/lost). Details go to the registry's reason_detail (shown by list), not into the result or ledger.
  • Precedence when deciding a finished call: model refused > no result (exit_code if non-zero, else no_result) > is_error > non-zero exit. A model is "refused" when the warning appeared or the requested id (with [1m]) is not among the modelUsage keys that grew; extra models do not count.
  • Without a result event (killed, lost, died): tokens are all null, cost_delta_usd null, models_used [], turns = distinct assistant message ids seen; cache verdict still from the first assistant event if one arrived.
  • last_hit for a train is the time of its last assistant event (the full prefix is written there); for fork/continue the first, written to the base as soon as it arrives. A continue refreshes its base's last_hit.
  • base_state is null for train jobs; cold_start is only computed for fork/continue (a train is always cold).
  • continue sends the brief as given (no template; there is no templates/continue.md). Its parent_session is the fork's parent (the base session); its cost and modelUsage "before" are the fork session's last cumulative totals (updated by every continue), falling back to the base's when the fork has none (a killed fork: the delta then includes the killed fork's spend).
  • note = notes/<block>.md (block sanitised) if that file exists when the job ends, else null; fork.md tells the fork that path. Train jobs have note: null.
  • A failed training leaves the base failed; train may reuse a name only when that base is failed.
  • kill of a job that is no longer running exits 0 with killed: false and its status; survivors after the 10 s sweep give ok: false (exit still 0).
  • A kill that lands while the supervisor holds the registry lock to finalise leaves a stale lock (broken after 30 s) and, in a narrow window, a duplicate ledger line. kill marks kill_requested first; a supervisor that finalises after that records killed unless the call ended ok.
  • wait updates last_orchestrator_call_at at its start and end only (a 570 s wait stays under the 1200 s orphan_after).
  • Stall is measured on any stdout line, not only parsed JSON events.
  • process_tree follows parent pids through dead processes (so orphans of a dead claude are found) but stops at a node whose pid now belongs to a process with another creation time; this reuse guard is not exercised by a test.
  • spawn_failed shows up in wait, not in the launch return (the launch return is C1's fixed shape).
• Not tested: the POSIX path (setsid spawn, process-group kill, /proc tree) — written, never run; --agent drift (only the code path, no test); a real claude (no test spends tokens; Phase 1.3 smoke); supervisor survival across the end of the orchestrator's turn (1.3).
• Left for later: warmth inference, pings, rebase, rebase_due/retrain_due reasons, usage, tick (Phase 2); SKILL.md (Phase 3).
• Expected broken: rebase, usage, tick exit 2 "not implemented" (Phase 2).
• Commits: 009a252 (code, tests, templates, this note), then a one-line follow-up filling in this hash.

Block 1.3 — Phase tests and live smoke

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (the Athanor, own Bash)
• Start / end: 2026-10-16 15:50:01 +0200 / 15:55:50 +0200 (date)
• Done:
  • Gates after 1.2 (15:50): G-unit exit 0, Ran 69 tests in 52.065s, OK; G-where exit 0. Leftover-process check by command line (_supervise, the tests' temp prefix, stub): none.
  • Live smoke per plan §7 "Phase 1 tests and smoke", in the scratch clone (…\scratchpad\headless-forks-p0\clone, HEAD 9d3ddc1, clean), run log …\headless-forks-p0\smoke1\2026-10-16-15-smoke-run.md, state dir beside it. Every wait ran from Bash with timeout: 600000. Briefs in …\smoke1\brief-*.md.
    • init --model claude-opus-5-5 --cwd <clone> → exit 0; binary via CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH (2.1.299); admission "exact id in the clone's .claude/settings.json".
    • train --base B1 (read 3 Spire files, no edits) → wait --all exit 0: ok, 11.6 s, base context 23,676, cost $0.2129.
    • fork --block S1 (sequential; write, git diff --check, commit, note) → wait --all exit 0: cache: hit, fingerprint: ok, models_used: ["claude-opus-5-5"], note notes/S1.md, clone commit 38e2605, cost Δ $0.0878.
    • fork --block S2 → wait --all exit 0: hit, ok, same model, note notes/S2.md, commit 447b6cd, cost Δ $0.0953.
    • continue --job j0002 (append a line, commit) → wait --all exit 0: ok, commit a54bb59, cost Δ $0.0955 (= its raw total_cost_usd 0.39614 − S1's 0.30066).
    • fork --block K1 (long read loop) → wait j0005 --timeout 25 exit 3 (running, 5 turns) → kill --job j0005: snapshot supervisor python.exe 25952, conhost.exe 11208, claude.exe 29560, conhost.exe 5932; taskkill_rc 0; survivors: []. Independent check by pid + creation time: all four dead. Command-line sweep (smoke1, _supervise, the clone path): nothing. → wait --all exit 4 (killed, reason: kill, tokens and cost null).
    • list → …\smoke1\list-final.json.
  • First-request cache reads (raw streams): S1, S2, K1 each 23,674 of the base's 23,676 (0.9999); the continue 27,192 (the fork's own longer prefix).
  • All five streams ran claude_code_version 2.1.299. raw/j0002.env.json carries CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH (the 2.1.299 path) and SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD=1, and none of CLAUDE_CODE_MESSAGING_TOKEN, VIRTUAL_ENV, CLAUDE_EFFORT.
  • No visible window: checked during S1, the continue and K1 (supervisor + claude.exe + 2 conhost.exe each): no visible window of the tree, no visible console or Windows Terminal window on the desktop.
  • Ledger vs results (…\probes\smoke_ledger.py): 5 ledger lines, 5 result files; for every job, status, flags, tokens, cost_delta_usd, cache, fingerprint, models_used, session, parent_session, turns, kind, block, base are equal in both; every cost Δ equals the raw total_cost_usd difference.
  • Phase-end tests (15:55): G-unit exit 0, Ran 69 tests in 51.915s, OK; G-where exit 0.
• Smoke results (from the ledger):

Job	Kind	Block	Status	Cache	Fingerprint	Models used	in	out	cache write (1h)	cache read	Cost Δ	Turns	Wall s
j0001	train	—	ok	—	ok	claude-opus-5-5	4	1,004	23,674	16,913	$0.2129	4	11.6
j0002	fork	S1	ok	hit	ok	claude-opus-5-5	12	1,452	3,518	152,790	$0.0878	6	18.6
j0003	fork	S2	ok	hit	ok	claude-opus-5-5	12	1,670	3,885	154,044	$0.0953	6	23.1
j0004	continue	S1	ok	hit	ok	claude-opus-5-5	12	1,777	3,263	168,958	$0.0955	8	20.1
j0005	fork	K1	killed (kill)	hit	ok	—	—	—	—	—	—	6	26.0

Ledger file: …\headless-forks-p0\smoke1\2026-10-16-15-smoke-run-forks\ledger.jsonl (5 lines; not committed, it is scratch).

• Deviations from plan: none in the smoke steps. The plan's "kill leaves no claude process behind" was checked by recorded pid + creation time (A18) and by a command-line sweep, not by process name.
• Flagged for review:
  • jobs/<job>.json turns counts assistant message ids (2 for the training) while the result's turns is num_turns (4). Only the result/ledger value is reported; the job-file field is a progress counter. Harmless, but two meanings under one name.
  • The continue result's cache verdict is computed against the base context (27,192 / 23,676 → hit); its parent_session is the base session, not the fork it continues (1.2's documented choice).
  • Supervisor survival across the end of the Athanor's turn is still untested: every smoke job finished or was killed inside this turn (the procedure forbids hand-back with running jobs anyway).
  • The smoke base is small (23,676 tokens); the large-base behaviour was covered in P0.2, not re-run through the helper.
• Left for later: Phase 2 (warmth inference, pings, rebase, usage, tick).
• Expected broken: rebase, usage, tick exit 2 "not implemented" (Phase 2).
• Commits: no code; only the run-log commit that adds this note and the Phase 1 close (📝 Headless forks Phase 1: smoke results and phase close).

Phase 1 close

• Gate: G-where after 1.1, 1.2 and at phase end — exit 0 each time, one JSON object.
• Tests: G-unit at phase end (15:55) — exit 0, 69 tests, 51.9 s. Live smoke — all plan §7 Phase 1 criteria met (above). No fallout block was needed, so no fix agent ran.
• Flags for the reviewer (each with its block):
  • Phase 0 (handed over by Igor as flags for this review): every deviation and flag in "Block 0" and "Phase 0 close" above — P0.6 started before P0.1 (c) finished; --no-hardlinks clone; six tool-less calls outside the clone (main checkout, worktree); separate scratch dirs for --agent and P0.8; (d) produced with TaskStop because the Bash tool backgrounds at timeout; effort case run inside P0.2; rung-3 runs r3-main/r3-tkill on 2.1.283; P0.8 in an untrusted dir; effort unobservable; orphan background command; P0.6 ping read 0.916; visible windows before the fix and the retest; the 20-min clone; the clock jump.
  • 1.1: preamble.md written in 1.1 instead of 1.2 (the digest moved it: init hashes it).
  • 1.1: every deviation and "Flagged for review" line of its note — argparse sets declared early; N3 guard in the dispatch; --help as JSON; internal-error exit 2; extra init flags and nested thresholds; where --binary; two extra preamble lines; effort/permission-mode value sets (effort checked against claude --help 2.1.299 by the Athanor: match); per-run mcp path in the fingerprint hash; comma-splitting outside parentheses; stale-lock race window; invalid settings skipped, [] admits nothing; ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL kept and listed as unknown; access-denied treated as alive; /tmp-style paths; the permissive model regex.
  • 1.2: every deviation and "Flagged for review" line of its note — float --max-minutes; lost reaper before the cap and killing the leftover tree; immediate kill on the restriction warning; post-exit descendant sweep; no overrides on train; wait --all "settled" semantics; the reason vocabulary (timeout has reason: null); precedence of failure reasons; null usage without a result; train last_hit from its last event; continue without template, its parent session and cost basis; note detection; failed-base name reuse; kill of a finished job; the kill/finalise race (stale lock, possible duplicate ledger line); last_orchestrator_call_at at wait start/end only; stall on any stdout line; pid-reuse guard untested; spawn_failed only visible in wait.
  • 1.2: not tested — POSIX path, --agent drift, pid-reuse guard.
  • 1.3: the four flags in its note.
  • Phase 1 as a whole: the contract digest docs/workpad/plans/2026-10-16-12-headless-forks-phase1-contract.md (commit 670401d) is an Athanor-written brief that pins semantics the build plan left open (state layout, CIM command, scrub additions incl. CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH and SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD, reason fields, the init idempotency rule, C8 admission rule). The reviewer should check it against the build plan rather than take it as given.
• Not run / untested: supervisor survival past the Athanor's hand-back; POSIX; a large base through the helper; stalled with a real claude (stub only); lost with a real claude (stub only).
• Spend (Phase 1): live smoke $0.49 client estimate (total_cost_usd of the four completed calls' deltas; the killed fork reported none). Unit tests spend nothing (stub). Subagent tokens: 1.1 211,075; 1.2 337,053 (harness totals); the Athanor's own unknown.
• Processes at hand-back: none from this phase (command-line sweep at 15:54, and the suite's own teardown check).
• Status: provisional until review, fix pass and re-check close.

Phase 1 fix pass

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (fixer, own tools, no agents dispatched)
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 16:11:40 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 16:27:01 WEDT 2026 (date; this note and its commit followed)
• Review: docs/workpad/reports/2026-10-16-16-headless-forks-phase1-review.md. Fixed: I1, I2, I3, M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M9. Not touched (deferred by the Athanor): M6, M7, M8, M10–M16.
• Done, per finding (each test fails on the unfixed 20b049e helper; checked by running the new tests against it in a scratch copy: 18 failures, 11 errors, 0 passes):
  • I1 — _conclude: model_refused only on the restriction warning, or when models_used is non-empty and lacks the requested id. New api_error_reason(result) sets usage_limit (429, or "usage limit"/"rate limit"/"hit your limit"/"API Error: 429"), overloaded (529 / "overloaded"), prompt_too_long, api_error (any other status, or "API Error" text); reason_detail = api_error_status <n>: <first 200 chars of result/error text>. Precedence: model refused > no result > API error > is_error > non-zero exit. Stub: error now bills nothing (no assistant events, empty modelUsage delta); new apierr=<status> and errtext=<words_with_underscores>. Tests: RuleTests.test_api_error_reason, LaunchTests.test_api_errors_are_not_model_refused (each new reason end to end + substitution still model_refused), LaunchTests.test_failures_flags_and_drift (its error case is now the empty-delta path and still reads is_error).
  • I2 — process_tree(rec, alive_until): for a dead root, a direct child is taken only if its creation time is after the root's recorded one and at most alive_until + 1 s (the job-file times are whole-second ISO). No recorded ctime or no alive_until → a dead root claims nothing. Below a claimed (live, pid + ctime verified) child the old rule applies. The live-root path is unchanged. New epoch_to_ctime (Windows FILETIME; POSIX /proc/stat btime × CLK_TCK) and last_alive_at(rt) (later of heartbeat_at, ended_at). kill_tree passes alive_until through; reap_lost and kill_job pass the job file's last-alive time; the supervisor's own calls pass time.time(). Tests: ProcessTreeTests (fake process table, process_table/proc_ctime/pid_alive patched, nothing real touched): test_dead_root_claims_only_children_from_its_lifetime (reused-pid child after the heartbeat and a pre-job process with the dead pid as stale ppid are not claimed, the genuine child and its later child are), test_dead_root_without_bounds_claims_nothing, test_live_root_unchanged, test_reap_lost_bounds_by_heartbeat.
  • I3 — only a fork's first assistant event (supervisor, hit_written = kind != "fork") and the training's last event (_conclude) refresh the base's last_hit; a continue no longer does. Test: LaunchTests.test_continue_leaves_base_last_hit (also checks a following fork still refreshes it).
  • M3 — new SupClock: a tick gap > CLOCK_JUMP_S (60 s; the tick is 0.25 s) is a jump; gap minus one tick is left out of the max_minutes elapsed time, and the orphan watchdog counts from the later of the last orchestrator call and the jump (one more orphan_after). A jump is logged to sup.log (stderr) and adds flag clock_jump. Tests: RuleTests.test_sup_clock_jump; LaunchTests.test_clock_jump_not_orphaned_or_timed_out (a real Supervisor run in-process under an injected _now that jumps 2 h one second into a 3 s stub call, orphan_after 600, --max-minutes 1: ends ok with clock_jump, jump logged; the unfixed helper ends it timeout).
  • M2 — a lock is stale only when its holder pid + ctime is dead, or it is older than LOCK_ABANDONED_S = 300 s (every critical section is a few small JSON read-modify-writes: ms, at worst seconds of PermissionError retries; 300 s is two orders above that and only matters for a holder that cannot be judged). Breaking: rename the lock to a unique registry.<hex>.broken.lock, delete it only if its content is the one judged stale, else put it back without overwriting (Windows rename, POSIX link + unlink). A failed break falls through to the deadline check and the sleep. LOCK_STALE_S is gone. Tests: LockTests.test_unbreakable_stale_lock_respects_deadline (rename/remove of the lock raise PermissionError: returns "registry locked" within the 0.5 s deadline; the unfixed helper spins), test_fresh_lock_taken_during_break_survives (a fresh lock swapped in at the moment of the break survives; no .broken.lock left), test_dead_holder_lock_broken_at_once, test_abandoned_lock_broken_by_age.
  • M1 — finalize_job writes the result, then the registry (the once-only guard), then the ledger line; ledger_append skips a job that already has a line (under the lock) and starts a new line after a torn last line. Test: AtomicTests.test_ledger_append_dedupes_by_job.
  • M4 — CHILD_REFUSED adds kill, expire, init (exit 2, message names the command and "inside a fork"). stamp_orchestrator/touch_orchestrator do nothing when SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD is set (all five stamp sites go through them). Tests: CliTests.test_child_refuses_kill_expire_init, CliTests.test_child_does_not_stamp_orchestrator.
  • M5 — PERMISSION_MODES = acceptEdits, auto, bypassPermissions, manual, dontAsk, plan; plan still refused; default is now "unknown permission mode" (its allowed list omits plan). Test: InitTests.test_permission_modes_match_2_1_299.
  • M9 — ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL on SCRUB_KEEP. where always carries warnings (list); one entry when the variable is set and, trailing slash and case ignored, not https://api.anthropic.com; exit stays 0. Test: CliTests.test_where_warns_on_base_url (unset, default, default with slash, a gateway URL).
• Behaviour changes to existing tests:
  • LockTests.test_stale_lock_broken → test_dead_holder_lock_broken_at_once: the lock is fresh but its holder is dead (a dead-holder lock is now broken at once, no 30 s wait). The old fixture's pid: 1 without ctime would be "alive" on POSIX.
  • test_garbage_stale_lock_broken_by_mtime and test_stale_under_injected_clock_and_safe_release: the age bound is LOCK_ABANDONED_S (300 s) instead of LOCK_STALE_S (30 s).
  • test_fresh_lock_not_broken: the holder is this live process (pid 1 is dead on Windows, which now means stale); it also checks a fresh garbage lock is not broken.
  • ScrubTests.test_unknown: ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is no longer in scrub.unknown (it is keep).
  • Stub error directive: bills nothing (previously billed three turns to the requested model). test_failures_flags_and_drift expectations unchanged.
  • The timeout reason_detail reads "run time over max_minutes" (was "wall time"); no test asserts it.
• Gates:
  • G-unit uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/tests/test_forks.py → exit 0, Ran 86 tests in 68.942s / OK (16:25:33–16:26:42; was 69 tests / 52 s).
  • G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py where → exit 0, one line, one JSON object, ok: true, spawn: cim-hidden, binary 2.1.299 via CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH, warnings: [].
  • Leftover processes: none (16:27, Get-CimInstance Win32_Process by command line: the tests' temp prefix, _supervise, the scratch copy of the old helper); also the suite's tearDownModule.
  • No live claude calls (stub only).
• Flagged for the re-check:
  • I2: children a dead root spawned in the last heartbeat interval (up to 10 s before it died) are not claimed. Missing a few is the price of never killing an unrelated process. The supervisor's post-exit sweep is unaffected (it passes time.time()).
  • I2: on POSIX without /proc/stat, epoch_to_ctime is None, so a dead root claims nothing there.
  • M2: one residual case. Waiter A renames a lock aside, finds a fresh lock L2 (not the stale one), and tries to put it back. If a third waiter C created a lock in that microsecond gap, the restore fails: L2 stays aside (logged, named registry.<hex>.broken.lock, matched by .gitignore's *.lock) and both L2's holder and C believe they hold the lock. The old code could delete a fresh lock outright in the two-waiter case. release is still check-then-remove (token read, then os.remove), as before; not in this pass.
  • M3: the stall measure (quiet) still uses the wall clock, so a suspend also sets stalled (a flag, no kill). wall_s in the result stays wall time, suspend included. A backwards clock jump is not treated as a jump.
  • M3: kill/expire still do not refresh the orchestrator stamp. That is for the Phase 3 text, as the review says.
  • I1: the text patterns are a heuristic over result/error/errors; the status code wins when present. A result with is_error: false and no api_error_status is never classified.
  • M9: an empty ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL counts as "set, not default" and warns.
• Commits: 7b9b748 (code and tests), then this note's commit.

Phase 1 fix pass — Athanor check and deferred Minors

• Athanor claude-opus-5-5[1m], 2026-10-16 16:28 +0200 (date). Fixer: fresh general-purpose agent, opus alias, stamped claude-opus-5-5[1m], 258,611 subagent tokens (harness total).
• Gates re-run by the Athanor: G-unit exit 0, Ran 86 tests in 67.444s, OK; G-where exit 0, one JSON object, ok: true, warnings: []. Leftover processes by command line (_supervise, the tests' temp prefix, smoke1): none.
• Diff check of 20b049e..7b9b748 on tests/test_forks.py: one removed assertion line, scrub_unknown(...) == ["ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL", "CLAUDE_CODE_NEW_THING"], replaced by == ["CLAUDE_CODE_NEW_THING"]; that is M9's specified change. The lock tests were renamed or rebased on the new staleness rule, which is M2's specified change. No other assertion was removed or loosened.
• Deferred Minors (not fixed in this pass; coordinator's instruction):
  • M6 (runtime fingerprint ignores skills, versionless plugins): drift detection is Phase 2 work (rebase_due/retrain_due inputs); fix it there with the drift reasons.
  • M7 (per-run mcp-empty.json path in the hash): no cache effect; hash content instead of path when the trial needs cross-run comparison (Phase 5).
  • M8 (visible-window unit check is tree-scoped, no positive control, fails without a desktop): the smoke used the global detector; widen the unit check in Phase 2's test pass.
  • M10 (train refuses launch-field overrides; plan §4.3 allows them): a contract decision for the Phase 2 plan (retrain_due needs an input path); not a Phase 1 defect.
  • M11 (note detection by existence only): low impact; compare mtime against job start in Phase 2.
  • M12 (kill report shapes killed:true,status:ok and ok:false with exit 0): Phase 3 text keys on ok and status.
  • M13 (Git Bash /tmp-style paths land on the cwd's drive): the Athanor always passes drive-form paths; cygpath or refusal in Phase 2.
  • M14 (POSIX kill misses claude; no /proc on macOS): POSIX is out of the tested scope; SKILL.md says "Windows-tested, POSIX untested" (Phase 3).
  • M15 (C8 admission is the union of three files; untrusted dirs untested): SKILL.md records "permissive at init, enforced at runtime" (Phase 3); the runtime warning check backstops it.
  • M16 (two meanings of turns; post-exit sweep breadth; continue brief without frame): rename the job-file field in Phase 2; the other two are Phase 3 text.
• Status: fix pass done; re-check of I1–I3 by a fresh reviewer is Igor's call.
• Igor, 2026-10-16: re-check clean (docs/workpad/reports/2026-10-16-17-headless-forks-phase1-recheck.md, 60fdea0); the fixer's residual flags accepted as Minor; Phase 1 closed. Phase 2 folds in R1 (new), M6, M7, M8, M10 (decision: follow plan §4.3, train takes overrides), M11, M13, M16 and a billed-error test.

Phase 2 — Bookkeeping

Intake 2026-10-16 16:41 +0200, Athanor claude-opus-5-5[1m]. Start commit 60fdea0. Contract digest for the block owners: docs/workpad/plans/2026-10-16-16-headless-forks-phase2-contract.md (Athanor-written; pins the ping, rebase, retrain and usage semantics left open, and the folded items).

Deviation from the build plan's block table: M8, M16 and the billed-error test go to 2.1; M6, M7, M10, M11, M13 to 2.2; R1 to 2.3 (each lands in the block that already touches that code). init may change config after bases exist (Phase 1 refused it) because, with M10, that is the input path for retrain_due: defining:<fields>. init --warm-margin-s is added as a tunable so the smoke can reach expiring without a 54-minute wait.

Block	Owner (model id)	Commit	Tokens (if known)
2.1 Warmth and keep-warm	fresh general-purpose agent, opus alias, stamped claude-opus-5-5[1m]	fff43a0, db6f068	320,462 subagent tokens (harness total)
2.2 Rebase and re-train flags	fresh general-purpose agent, opus alias, stamped claude-opus-5-5[1m]	5fda2e2, 9cd98b5	350,639 subagent tokens (harness total)
2.3 Usage rendering	fresh general-purpose agent, sonnet alias, stamped claude-sonnet-5-5	4b92b51, 45b4c55	187,248 subagent tokens (harness total)

Gate after 2.1 (Athanor, 16:59): G-unit exit 0, Ran 102 tests in 84.544s, OK; G-where exit 0. Diff check 571a3d6..fff43a0 on the tests: three removed assertion lines; the window assertions moved into the widened test_no_visible_window (M8), and the running[] key set changed turns → messages (M16). Nothing loosened.

Gate after 2.2 (Athanor, 17:25): G-unit exit 0, Ran 112 tests in 120.036s, OK; G-where exit 0. Diff check 4446827..5fda2e2 on the tests: four removed assertion lines, all in the former test_changed_values_after_base_refused (now ..._allowed), the specified change of init after a base exists; the /tmp path case moved to the M13 tests. Nothing loosened.

Gate after 2.3 (Athanor, 17:36): G-unit exit 0, Ran 130 tests in 130.584s, OK; G-where exit 0. Diff check c2ce3f4..4b92b51 on the tests: the removed assertions are the usage "not implemented" test (specified: usage is now implemented); usage joined test_commands_need_init. Nothing loosened.

Test cadence (user instruction via Igor, received 17:36, effective from here on): no repeated full-suite runs. Between blocks a cheap gate only (uv run python -m py_compile on forks.py, plus at most the test classes the block touched); children do the same. The full suite (about 130 s now) runs once at phase end, and again only if that run fails and something is fixed. Live calls only where a criterion cannot be proven offline, batched at the end. Up to this point every block gate in Phases 1 and 2 had been a full G-unit run (the earlier default); the 17:36 run after 2.3 is the last code change of Phase 2 so far and serves as the phase-end full run unless the smoke forces a fix.

Block 2.1 — Warmth and keep-warm

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m]
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 16:42:41 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 16:57:23 WEDT 2026 (date; the end is the code commit, this note followed)
• Done (forks.py, tests/test_forks.py):
  • TTL inference (infer_ttl): after every call on a base that has a result (train, fork, continue, ping; failed calls that billed too), base.ttl_s = 3600 if it wrote ephemeral_1h, 300 if it wrote only ephemeral_5m, else the previous known value; base.ttl_from = that job. With nothing known, warmth uses the config's ttl_s. ttl_downgrade on a result whose call wrote 5m and no 1h tokens (any kind).
  • Warmth (base_warmth): ttl = the base's inferred TTL, else config; margin = init --warm-margin-s when set (new config key warm_margin_s, default null), else max(120, ttl/10). Output gains ttl_s, margin_s (so list base rows show them; fork's launch return keeps its fixed shape). list base rows also show ttl_from, ping_in_flight. cold_start (C5) now follows the inferred TTL through base_state_at_launch.
  • Ping rule (ping_decision): pings on → base active with a session → state expiring → no ping in flight → activity → pings_since_real_call < break_even; the first failing condition is the why (pings_off, status:<s>, state:<s>, in_flight:<job>, no_activity, cap:<n>/<be>). break_even in integer hundredths: 19 at 1 h, 11 at 5 min (floats give 18 for 1.9/0.1).
  • Pings (tick_pass): kind ping, own job id, --resume <base session> --fork-session --session-id <new> --max-turns 1, prompt PING_PROMPT = Reply OK, launch fields from launch_record(base, cfg), the same CIM hidden spawn, result and ledger line through the normal finaliser. Cache verdict as a fork's; ok + hit/partial refreshes last_hit to the ping's first assistant event (at finalise); a miss, a failed/killed/lost ping, or no assistant event adds ping_missed and leaves last_hit. Not in the cap (_running_capped already counts only fork/continue).
  • C3(d): the decision, the job entry and base.ping_in_flight = <job> are written in one locked registry write; the finaliser clears the mark (any status); a mark whose job is no longer running does not block.
  • Tick: in every supervisor every TICK_SUP_S = 60 s (first after 60 s); in wait at its start and every TICK_WAIT_S = 30 s (skipped inside a fork); tick --run R by hand (new command, N3-refused: tick added to CHILD_REFUSED; out of the not-implemented set). Tick failures inside wait/the supervisor are logged, never raised (safe_tick).
  • wait: stamps run.last_wait_at (start and end; not from a fork); --all excludes pings; naming a ping job is exit 2; pings = every finished ping result of the run not returned before (each once, also on exit 3); pings never enter done or the exit code.
  • M16: the job file's progress counter is messages; wait's running[] entries and list's running job rows carry messages too. Result, ledger and registry turns stay num_turns.
  • M8: new test_no_visible_window (Windows; skipped when EnumWindows sees no visible window): positive control = a CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE python with SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE and a marker title, detected as a new ConsoleWindowClass/CASCADIA_HOSTING_WINDOW_CLASS window (or one with the marker title), then killed at once and its window checked gone; then, during a hanging fork with a grandchild, 5 samples of (a) no visible window owned by any pid of the job's tree, (b) no console/Terminal window that was not there before the launch. The old window lines left test_kill_tree_and_no_visible_window, now test_kill_tree (its kill and CIM-parent assertions unchanged).
  • Billed error: stub directive billed (with error or apierr=<n>: the requested model bills its turns, then the result is an error); test_error_after_requested_model_billed: failed/is_error and failed/api_error, models_used = the requested id, cost Δ > 0, never model_refused.
  • Stub also honours --max-turns and a ttl=5m directive (writes land in ephemeral_5m).
  • Tests: 16 new (102 total). WarmthTests (pure, injected clock): boundaries at 1 h and 5 min (inferred and configured), --warm-margin-s override at both TTLs; TTL inference 1h-only, 5m-only, both, read-only (prev 3600 / 300 / none), nothing; ttl_downgrade; break_even; eligibility per state, status, pings off; activity window (wait 599/601 s, running fork/continue, ended 590/610 s, train/ping do not count); caps 19 and 11 (failed pings count, other bases' do not, a real call resets); in flight and stale in-flight; pings not in the cap. TickTests (real state dir and lock, spawn and binary check stubbed): two concurrent tickers that both judged the base eligible launch exactly one ping (barrier inside the binary check), third ticker skips, finalise clears the mark, next tick pings again; tick command JSON and N3 refusal; nothing-to-do pass takes no lock; binary missing skips. LaunchTests: M8, billed error, TTL downgrade + cold_start against the inferred 300 s + back to 3600, ping end to end (launched by wait's tick, returned once in pings, argv, partial refreshes; tick by hand: miss and failed ping → ping_missed, last_hit unchanged; mark cleared; three ledger lines), tick cadence in wait (≥ 3 calls, none in a fork) and in an in-process supervisor (≥ 3 calls; job file has messages, not turns).
• Gates:
  • G-unit uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/tests/test_forks.py → exit 0, Ran 102 tests in 86.227s / OK (16:53:54); second run exit 0, Ran 102 tests in 84.680s / OK (16:55:42–16:57:07). No new test skipped on this host (M8 ran).
  • G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py where → exit 0, one line, one JSON object, ok: true, binary 2.1.299, warnings: [].
  • Leftover processes: none (Get-CimInstance Win32_Process by command line: the tests' temp prefix, _supervise, poscontrol; only the sweep itself matched); also the suite's tearDownModule.
  • No live claude calls (stub only).
• Existing tests changed (none loosened):
  • CliTests.test_phase2_not_implemented: tick removed (implemented now); test_commands_need_init gains tick.
  • LaunchTests.test_kill_tree_and_no_visible_window → test_kill_tree without the window block; the window assertions moved, widened, into test_no_visible_window; assertGreater(len(all_windows), 0) became a skip (M8's specified change).
  • LaunchTests.test_wait_exit_codes: running[0] key set has messages instead of turns (M16).
  • Stub: error still bills nothing unless billed is given.
• Deviations from plan (digest):
  • TTL after a read-only call (or one with no cache activity) keeps the previous known TTL, also when that was 300. The digest's literal rule gives the configured ttl_s there (3600). A read of a 5-minute entry keeps it a 5-minute entry, and reporting 3600 would show a 5-minute base as warm for an hour (no ping, an unannounced cold start). With nothing known, the configured ttl_s applies, as the digest says.
  • M16 goes beyond the job file: wait's running[] and list's running rows say messages, because they expose the same counter. This changes the Phase 1 digest's running: [{…, turns}] shape.
  • Pings read launch fields via launch_record(base, cfg) = base.launch if present, else cfg.launch. No base has its own record until 2.2 (M10); fork/continue still build from cfg.launch and are 2.2's to switch.
  • wait ticks at its start as well as every 30 s, so every wait call is a tick point (short waits would otherwise never tick).
  • wait refuses an explicit ping job id (exit 2) instead of silently routing it.
• Flagged for review (semantics I chose):
  • Activity: a fork/continue job running now or ended within 600 s, or run.last_wait_at within 600 s. tick --run by hand is not activity and does not stamp last_orchestrator_call_at.
  • "Pings since the last real call" is by job number (launch times have whole seconds); every ping status counts.
  • break_even uses the 1 h write ratio for any TTL > 300, the 5 min one otherwise.
  • Ping job: PING_MAX_S = 300 s wall limit, block/phase null, cost and modelUsage basis = the base's cumulative (like a fork), cwd = the launch cwd, head_at_launch null.
  • The binary check for a ping runs before the lock (subprocess --version); a missing binary skips that base with why: binary_missing and records no job. A base that turns eligible between the unlocked look and the locked one waits for the next tick.
  • The supervisor's tick runs in its own loop, synchronously: a ping launch holds that loop for the CIM spawn (1–3 s). The supervisor's os.environ is the child env (SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD=1), so tick_pass has no N3 check of its own; N3 is enforced by the tick command and by wait skipping its tick in a fork.
  • A supervisor ticks first after 60 s: jobs shorter than that never tick from their supervisor (wait covers them).
  • last_hit from a ping is set at finalise, not as the first event arrives (the refresh depends on the final status and the verdict).
  • The TTL is inferred from every call with a result, failed ones included; killed/lost calls (no result) leave it.
  • M8: the positive control is minimised and not activated (SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE, still IsWindowVisible) so it does not take focus. The desktop-wide diff fails the test if the user opens a console or Terminal window during the ~1 s sample window.
  • In-process supervisor test prints a ResourceWarning for the claude stdout pipe that Supervisor.run never closes (pre-existing, harmless in the real detached supervisor).
• Not tested: a ping launched by a supervisor's own tick end to end (the supervisor's tick is tested with a recording tick_pass; the launch path is the same function, tested from wait's tick and tick --run); real claude with --max-turns 1 through the helper (P0.6 used it by hand); POSIX.
• Left for later: rebase, rebase_due/retrain_due reasons, per-base launch records (2.2); usage (2.3).
• Expected broken: rebase, usage exit 2 "not implemented" (2.2, 2.3).
• Commits: fff43a0 (code and tests), then this note's commit.

Block 2.2 — Rebase and re-train flags

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m]
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 17:01:30 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 17:23:20 WEDT 2026 (date; the end is the code commit, this note followed)
• Done (forks.py, templates/rebase.md (new), tests/test_forks.py):
  • rebase --run R --base B --as NEW --brief FILE [--phase N] [--max-minutes] [--max-budget-usd]: a fork of B (--resume <B session> --fork-session --session-id <new>, B's launch record), prompt templates/rebase.md (absorb the listed notes and diffs, do not change code or commit, update the trunk notes if the brief names a path, reply READY) + delta header + brief. Returns {job, base: NEW, parent: B, session_id}. On ok the finaliser creates NEW (active, parent, lineage_rebases = B's + 1, base_commit = HEAD at the end, context_tokens from the last assistant message, launch = B's record with the binary it ran under, fingerprint, overrides inherited, phase = --phase, last_hit = the call's last assistant event, runtime_fingerprint of the call, cost cumulative, rebase_job) and sets B superseded (superseded_by). Any other status: B stays active, NEW is never created. Counts toward parallel_cap (CAPPED_KINDS), N3-refused, refuses launch-field overrides, a non-active B, an existing (non-failed) NEW, a NEW a running rebase will create, a B already being rebased; train also refuses a name a running rebase will create. Cache verdict and cold_start as a fork's (against B's context); its first event refreshes B's last_hit.
  • rebase_due reasons (due_flags): phase_boundary, commits:<n> (git rev-list --count <base_commit>..HEAD > rebase_commits), lines:<n> (git diff --shortstat <base_commit> insertions + deletions > rebase_lines), delta_tokens:<n> ((delta header + listed notes) chars // 4 > rebase_delta_tokens), binary_drift, runtime_drift:<fields>. retrain_due reasons: defining:<fields>, max_base_tokens:<n>, rebases:<n> (≥ max_rebases), binary_missing. On fork's launch return (fixed shape, reasons = rebase reasons then retrain reasons) and per active base in list. fork, continue and rebase refuse binary_missing with exit 2 (the refusal carries reason, retrain_due: true, reasons: ["binary_missing"]), train refuses with reason: binary_missing when its binary is gone, and a tick skips the base (why: binary_missing, as in 2.1).
  • init after bases exist is allowed (replaces Phase 1's refusal): the config is replaced, the output gains bases; a base without its own record (from before 2.2) first gets the old config as its record. This is the input path of defining:.
  • M10: train takes --model --effort --permission-mode --tools --allowed-tools --disallowed-tools --agent --cwd --binary as overrides, validated by the same build_launch as init (alias refusal, plan refusal, C8 admission, agent file, binary). The base stores launch (its record), fingerprint (hash of it) and overrides (sorted field names given). fork, continue, rebase and pings build their command line, cwd, delta header and model_requested from launch_record(base).
  • M6: the runtime fingerprint adds sorted skills; a plugin without a version is name@path:<last path segment> (name@ with no path). A reference without skills (a pre-M6 base) is not compared on it. Drift shows as runtime_drift:<fields>.
  • M7: fingerprint_hash hashes fingerprint_view(launch): the mcp entry becomes its content {"strict": true, "servers": {}}; the path stays in the config. Same launch → same hash in any run.
  • M11: entries record created_ts (precise); a result's note is set only when the note's mtime ≥ created_ts − 2 s (NOTE_MTIME_SLACK_S, for coarse Windows file times).
  • M13: a /-rooted path that is not a drive form (/tmp/x, /usr/...) goes through cygpath -w (find_cygpath(), patchable); no cygpath or a failing one → exit 2 naming the path. Native \x keeps its Windows meaning; //server/... is untouched.
  • Stub: the init event carries a versionless skill-creator plugin and skills; directives nover=<segment>, skill=<name>.
  • Tests: 10 new (112 total). PathTests: M13 without cygpath (refusals, drive forms unaffected, init --run /tmp/... exit 2 with nothing on the cwd's drive) and with a fake cygpath (called with -w, drive forms skip it, failing cygpath refused, the real cygpath on this host does not give G:\tmp\x). InitTests: M7 (two runs, different mcp paths, equal hash; same hash from a second process; content counts). RuleTests: M6 (versionless path segment, skills, order-insensitive, pre-M6 reference), M11 boundaries. LaunchTests: every reason alone through fork's launch return (clones of a trained base, spawn stubbed for the fork launches; runtime_drift from a real stub fork; max_base_tokens from the stored context and from a synthetic transcript with a 64-byte tail window; binary_missing refusal) and the base-level ones in list; train overrides recorded and used by fork and continue, init model change → defining:model only on the base that did not override it, override validation; M11 end to end (old note, note written during the job, continue); rebase end to end (phase boundary → rebase → new base active / old superseded → fork of the new base hit against the new context → failed rebase leaves the base active, nothing created → refusals, N3 → binary drift recorded by the next rebase); rebase in the cap, blocking a second rebase and a train of its name, killed → base active, nothing created.
• Gates:
  • G-unit uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/tests/test_forks.py → exit 0, Ran 112 tests in 119.326s / OK (17:18); final run exit 0, Ran 112 tests in 120.043s / OK (17:21:09–17:23:10), after the phase_boundary change below. No test skipped on this host.
  • G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py where → exit 0, one line, one JSON object, ok: true, binary 2.1.299, warnings: [], spawn: cim-hidden.
  • Leftover processes: none (Get-CimInstance Win32_Process by command line: the tests' temp prefix, _supervise, poscontrol; only the sweep's own shell matched); also the suite's tearDownModule.
  • No live claude calls (stub only).
• Existing tests changed (none loosened; each is a specified change):
  • InitTests.test_changed_values_after_base_refused → test_changed_values_after_base_allowed: the digest lets init change config after a base exists, so the exit-2 / "base exists" / bytes-unchanged assertions became: exit 0, changed, launch.effort in changed_fields, bases == ["B1"], config updated, the record-less base got the old config as its record. The "identical values → unchanged" check stays (now also bytes-equal).
  • PathTests.test_windows_forms: the case /tmp/x → G:\tmp\x removed (M13 forbids it); the two new M13 tests cover that input.
  • CliTests.test_phase2_not_implemented: rebase removed (implemented); test_commands_need_init gains rebase.
  • LaunchTests.test_train_fork_continue_end_to_end: the note notes/1.1.md is now written right after the fork launches (the fork gets sleep=1), because M11 counts only notes written during the job; its assertions are unchanged.
  • LaunchTests.test_refusals: the launch-field override loop also covers rebase.
• Deviations from plan (digest):
  • The new base always records the binary the rebase ran under (current version/size/mtime). Without drift that equals B's record, so this is the digest's rule written once.
  • rebase returns train's shape plus parent.
  • None against the build plan.
• Flagged for review (semantics I chose):
  • phase_boundary: the literal "or" — the fork's phase > the highest phase of the base's forks, or > the base's own phase; a side that is unknown does not count; integer phases only. So forks of phase 2 from a base of phase 1 keep reporting it until a rebase. Fork jobs of any status count; continues and rebases do not. A rebased base's phase is rebase --phase, else null (not inherited).
  • delta_tokens: "notes listed in the brief" = every *.md token in the brief that resolves to an existing file (absolute; else under the base's cwd; else under the state dir), each once; the brief itself is not counted. list (no brief) counts the delta header only.
  • lines is the working tree against base_commit (uncommitted changes count), as git diff --shortstat <base_commit> gives.
  • runtime_drift: "the last call on this base" = the highest job number with this base that reported an init event, any kind but train (forks, continues, pings, rebases); calls without an init event (killed early, spawn failed) are skipped. Stored per job as runtime_drift (null when no init).
  • defining: field names: model, cwd, tools, permission_mode, agent, append_system_prompt (the preamble is reported as append_system_prompt, as the existing launch drift names it), comma-joined in one reason. Effort, allowed/disallowed tools and binary are not defining (the digest's list). The agent is re-hashed from <cwd a launch would use>/.claude/agents/<name>.md; a missing file differs.
  • max_base_tokens: transcript <~/.claude/projects>/<cwd with non-alphanumerics → '-'>/<session>.jsonl (CLAUDE_PROJECTS_DIR overridable), read from the tail (256 KiB, growing ×4); stored context when absent. Only tested with a synthetic transcript.
  • list computes the flags for active bases only (others false / []); per active base 4 git calls, plus one --version per distinct binary path.
  • train: a field not given comes from the config at train time; the whole record is rebuilt and re-validated even without overrides (C8 admission runs again; the binary's current version/size/mtime are recorded). --tools alone does not re-derive allowed_tools. There is no way to clear the config's agent on train. Train results no longer report drift:binary against the init config (the base records the binary it trained with).
  • A rebase that ends ok after its NEW name was taken by another base (only possible through a failed-name train) creates nothing, leaves B active and notes rebase_conflict on the job entry. Untested.
  • A rebase's first event refreshes B's last_hit also when the rebase then fails (it read B's prefix). NEW's training_cost_usd is the rebase's cost delta; its forks' cost basis is the rebase's cumulative total.
  • Rebase jobs are not "activity" for the ping rule (2.1's rule unchanged: fork/continue running or ended in 10 min, or a wait).
  • M11's 2 s slack: a note written up to 2 s before the job was created still counts.
  • M7: the hash view uses the constant empty server set (the helper always writes mcp-empty.json itself). Registries from before 2.2 get a new fingerprint value on the next changed init.
  • M13: paths in a brief that would need cygpath and cannot be converted are skipped by delta_tokens, not refused.
• Not tested: the rebase_conflict path; defining: for agent, append_system_prompt, cwd, tools, permission_mode (only model is tested end to end; the comparison code is shared); train --cwd/--agent/--binary overrides; a base from before 2.2 in list/fork; a real transcript; rebase with a real claude; POSIX.
• Left for later: usage (2.3).
• Expected broken: usage exits 2 "not implemented" (2.3).
• Commits: 5fda2e2 (code, template and tests), then this note's commit.

Block 2.3 — Usage rendering

• Model: claude-sonnet-5-5
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 17:27:48 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 17:35:17 WEDT 2026 (code commit; this note follows)
• Done: usage --run R [--block ID | --phase N] [--format json|md] in forks.py (the "not implemented" stub is gone; --block and --phase are mutually exclusive; PHASE2_COMMANDS is now empty, so usage no longer tolerates unknown arguments).
  • R1: reconcile_ledger runs first in every usage. It lists results/*.json; when every one has a ledger line it returns without taking the lock. Otherwise, under the registry lock, it re-reads the ledger and appends a line for each result without one (ledger_append dedupes on job id). The line is rebuilt from the result plus its registry entry (started, ended, binary, cost_cumulative_usd; None when there is no entry) and carries "reconciled": true. Corrupt result files are skipped with a stderr note. The json output lists the job ids appended in reconciled.
  • json: kinds (all five, zeros when unused: calls, input, output, cache_creation, cache_creation_1h, cache_creation_5m, cache_read, cost_usd), total, cold_starts, cache_hits, cache_verdicts, cache_hit_ratio (hits / fork+continue+rebase calls with a verdict; null when none), rows = the ledger lines in scope in job order, scope, reconciled.
  • md --block: one table with the fixed header, one row per call of the block (fork, its continues); thousands separators, $0.0000, session first 8 chars, null usage renders —. md --phase (and no scope): the per-kind table (kinds with calls only) plus a total row, then three bullets: cold starts, cache-hit ratio h/n (p%), priced total.
  • Commit column: the short hashes (7) of git rev-list --reverse <head_at_launch>..<head_at_end> in the job's cwd, comma-joined; — for a parallel fork, for no commits, or when either HEAD or git is unavailable.
  • head_at_end: new registry job field. The supervisor passes _git_head(cwd) to finalize_job(head_at_end=...) after claude exits (all kinds); finalize_job reads HEAD itself for a fork/continue that is killed or lost.
  • --format md stdout is written as UTF-8 bytes on sys.stdout.buffer (the header's Δ is not in cp1252); errors stay one JSON object, exit 2. usage is allowed under SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD.
• Tests (new UsageTests, 18; one added to LaunchTests): md --block and --phase against a fixed ledger fixture (exact text), parallel Commit —, null usage —, unknown block (header only), json totals per kind and overall and by scope, errors stay JSON, N3, UTF-8 under PYTHONIOENCODING=ascii:strict, R1 (one line for a result without one, none for a result that has one, none on a second usage; no registry entry; torn ledger tail; waits for a held lock; no lock when nothing is missing; corrupt result), and head_at_end end to end with the stub (a commit made during a sequential fork shows in the Commit cell).
• Existing tests changed (none loosened): CliTests.test_phase2_not_implemented removed (its only case was usage, now implemented); test_commands_need_init gains three usage cases (it asserts exit 2, one JSON line, and no state dir created).
• Gates: G-unit uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/tests/test_forks.py — exit 0, 130 tests, 131 s; G-where forks.py where — exit 0, one JSON line; leftover-process check by command line (forks-test- prefix, _supervise) — none.
• Deviations from plan: none against the build plan or the digest. The Commit column lists hashes (build plan: "lists the commits"); the digest says "commits between", which I read the same way.
• Flagged for review (semantics I chose):
  • A whole-run usage --format md (no scope) renders the phase layout (table + three bullets).
  • Call counts include calls with null usage (killed, lost): they add to calls and nothing to the sums. The cache-hit denominator counts only calls that have a verdict.
  • The md phase table omits kinds with zero calls; the json kinds always has all five.
  • ledger_from_result for a reconciled line takes ended from the registry entry, else from the result file's mtime; cost_cumulative_usd is None when the entry has no cost_cum_usd. R1 also reconciles a result whose registry entry still reads running (kill between the result write and the registry write); the later finaliser/reap_lost then finds its ledger line present and appends none.
  • usage stamps last_orchestrator_call_at like list (via touch_orchestrator; a fork's call does not).
  • head_at_end is HEAD of the job's cwd when the call ended, so with several forks on one tree it can include another fork's commit; only a sequential fork's Commit column is shown for that reason.
• Not tested: usage over a ledger with rebase calls (same code path as the other kinds); a real claude run; POSIX.
• Left for later: none for 2.3.
• Expected broken: none.
• Commits: 4b92b51 (code and tests), then this note's commit.

Block 2.4 — Phase tests and live smoke

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (the Athanor, own Bash; no fallout agent needed)
• Start / end: 2026-10-16 17:36:23 +0200 / 17:44:04 +0200 (date)
• Phase-end tests: the full G-unit ran once after the last code change of Phase 2 (17:36, after 2.3): exit 0, Ran 130 tests in 130.584s, OK; G-where exit 0. No code changed after it, so per the new cadence it was not re-run.
• Live smoke per plan §7 "Phase 2 tests and smoke", scratch clone (HEAD a54bb59, clean), run log …\headless-forks-p0\smoke2\2026-10-16-17-smoke2-run.md, model claude-opus-5-5, every wait from Bash with timeout: 600000, briefs in …\smoke2\brief-*.md:

  • init (defaults) → train B1 --phase 1 → wait exit 0: ok, base context 23,676, $0.2099.

  • fork P1 --phase 1 (commit) → wait exit 0: hit (first read 23,674), clone commit 9002b6a, $0.0997.

  • fork P2a --phase 2 from B1 → launch return rebase_due: true, reasons: ["phase_boundary"] (it ran anyway, as the flags are advisory: hit, $0.0163).

  • rebase --base B1 --as B2 --phase 2 → wait exit 0: ok, kind rebase, first read 23,674 (B1's prefix), $0.0336. list: B1 superseded (superseded_by: B2), B2 active, parent: B1, lineage_rebases: 1, base_commit 9002b6a, context 25,279.

  • fork P2b --phase 2 from B2 (commit) → wait exit 0: hit, first read 25,277 of B2's 25,279, rebase_due: false, clone commit a0837be, $0.0951.

  • Ping: init --warm-margin-s 3500 (config change after bases exist: changed_fields: ["warm_margin_s"]) so B2 turns expiring 100 s after its last hit. A wait at 17:41:57 ticked and launched ping j0006 (base_state: expiring at launch); the next wait returned it in pings (not done): ok, hit, first read 25,277, $0.0087. B2's last_hit moved 17:40 → 17:42:00, state back to warm. A second ping j0007 at 17:43:5x: ok, hit, $0.0052.

  • usage --phase 1 --format md, --phase 2, --block P1, --block P2b, and json for the whole run all exit 0; outputs saved in …\smoke2\usage-*.md|json. Phase 1 md:

    Kind	Calls	in	out	cache write	cache read	cost
    train	1	4	855	23,674	16,913	$0.2099
    fork	1	12	1,888	3,892	153,622	$0.0997
    total	2	16	2,743	27,566	170,535	$0.3096

    Cold starts 0, cache-hit ratio 1/1, priced total $0.3096. Block P1 row: | P1 | claude-opus-5-5 | eb446d8f | 9002b6a | 12 | 1,888 | 3,892 | 153,622 | $0.0997 | (the Commit cell is the fork's real commit). Phase 2: rebase 1 ($0.0336), fork 2 ($0.1114), total $0.1450, hit ratio 3/3. Whole run (json, before the second ping): 6 calls, $0.4633, reconciled: [].

  • All seven calls ran 2.1.299. No visible window: checked during ping j0007 (supervisor, claude.exe, a git.exe child, three conhost.exe): no visible window of the tree and none on the desktop.

  • Processes after the smoke (17:44, by command line _supervise, forks-test-, smoke2, poscontrol): none.

• Deviations from plan: the "let one base sit into expiring" step used the new init --warm-margin-s tunable (3500 s) instead of a 54-minute wait; the cache itself stayed on its real 1 h TTL, so the pings were real hits.
• Flagged for review:
  • Pings have phase: null, so usage --phase N leaves them out; they appear only in the whole-run usage. The phase-close table therefore under-reports keep-warm cost unless the whole-run figure is pasted too.
  • The superseded B1 still shows base_state: expiring in list (computed for every base); no ping went to it (status gate), as expected.
  • Ping j0006 read 25,277 of B2's 25,279 (hit); the P0.6 partial-ping case was not reproduced live (a 1-hour wait); the unit tests cover it.
• Commits: run log only (this note and the Phase 2 close).

Phase 2 close

• Gate: G-where exit 0 after every block; between-block gates were full G-unit runs until the 17:36 cadence instruction (logged above).
• Tests: G-unit once at phase end (17:36) — exit 0, 130 tests, 130.6 s. Live smoke — every plan §7 Phase 2 criterion met (above). No fallout block.
• Flags for the reviewer (each with its block; details in the notes):
  • Digest: docs/workpad/plans/2026-10-16-16-headless-forks-phase2-contract.md is Athanor-written and pins the ping rule details, the rebase/retrain reason vocabulary, init accepting changes after bases exist (replacing Phase 1's refusal), --warm-margin-s, and the block assignment of the folded items. Check it against the build plan.
  • 2.1: read-only calls keep the previous TTL even when it was 300 (deviates from the digest's literal rule); messages also renames wait/list running fields; pings use the base's record if present; wait ticks at its start; naming a ping job in wait exits 2; activity definition (run.last_wait_at, fork/continue in the last 600 s); ping counting by job number, every status counts; break_even uses the 1 h ratio above 300 s; ping wall limit 300 s; a missing binary skips the base; the supervisor's tick pauses its loop 1–3 s; a ping's last_hit set at ping end; the M8 positive control opens minimised; a pre-existing ResourceWarning (stdout pipe left open in Supervisor.run); untested: a ping launched by a supervisor's own tick, a real --max-turns 1 call through the helper (the smoke now covers this: j0006, j0007), POSIX.
  • 2.2: rebase returns train's shape plus parent; the new base always records the binary the rebase ran under; phase_boundary follows the digest's "or" literally; a rebased base's phase is --phase; delta_tokens counts existing *.md paths in the brief; lines includes uncommitted changes; "last call" for runtime_drift; defining: field set (effort and allow/deny lists are not defining); the transcript read from the tail; list computes flags for active bases only (the smoke shows rebase_due: false on the superseded B1, consistent); train re-validates the whole record; a rebase's first event refreshes the old base's last_hit even if the rebase then fails; M11 has 2 s slack; untested: rebase_conflict, defining: for fields other than model, train --cwd/--agent/--binary overrides, bases created before 2.2, a real transcript, POSIX.
  • 2.3: call counts include killed/lost calls; the md phase table omits zero-call kinds; R1 also reconciles a result whose registry entry still reads running; usage stamps the orchestrator call (not from a fork); head_at_end can include another fork's commit, so Commit is only shown for sequential forks; untested: a ledger with rebase calls (the smoke now covers this: phase 2 md has a rebase row), a real run (covered by the smoke), POSIX.
  • 2.4: the three flags in its note.
• Not run / untested: the partial-ping refresh live; supervisor survival past the Athanor's hand-back; POSIX; a large base through the helper.
• Spend (Phase 2): live smoke $0.4685 client estimate (7 calls: train, 3 forks, rebase, 2 pings). Unit tests spend nothing. Subagent tokens: 2.1 320,462; 2.2 350,639; 2.3 187,248 (harness totals); the Athanor's own unknown.
• Processes at hand-back: none.
• Status: provisional until review, fix pass and re-check close.

Phase 2 fix pass

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (fixer, own tools, no agents dispatched)
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 17:58:54 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 18:10:44 WEDT 2026 (date; the end is the code commit, this note followed)
• Review: docs/workpad/reports/2026-10-16-18-headless-forks-phase2-review.md. Fixed: I1, I2, Minors 1, 2, 8, 9, 10, 11. Not touched: Minors 3–7, 12–14.
• Done, per finding (every new or changed test fails on the unfixed 9564c22 helper: the 11 touched tests run against it in a scratch copy with the new test file give 9 failures and 3 errors; the one that passes there, test_tick_runs_in_wait_and_supervisor, prints the ResourceWarning):
  • I1 delta_tokens — _NOTE_REF/listed_notes (the "every .md path in the brief" scan) are gone. New rule (Athanor decision): chars/4 of (a) the delta header, (b) the notes attached with the new repeatable fork --delta-note PATH (also on rebase) whose mtime is after the base's trained_at, (c) the body of a ## Changes since base section of the brief (case-insensitive heading, up to the next level-1/2 heading). Files a brief only names and the rest of the brief never count. All attached notes go into the prompt after the delta header, each under #### \`(rendered into the existing${delta}oftemplates/fork.mdandtemplates/rebase.md; the template files are unchanged). An unreadable note is refused (exit 2). Entries record delta_notes. liststill counts the delta header alone. Test:LaunchTests.test_delta_tokens_counts_only_what_the_base_does_not_know(a brief naming two 80k-char docs in the cwd and an 80knotes/1.1.md, one also as an absolute path: nothing due; a 60k attached note: delta_tokensand the note with its path in the prompt's delta section; a small note: nothing; a missing note: exit 2; the same note against a base withtrained_atafter its mtime: nothing; a 60k## Changes since basesection:delta_tokens, the same text under ## Background: nothing; rebase --delta-note` carries the note in its prompt, and the new base's forks no longer count it).
  • I2 ping phase — ping_phase(reg, base): the phase of the latest (by job number) train/fork/continue/rebase job on the base that has one, else the base's own phase, else null; tick_pass records it on the ping entry, so result, ledger and usage --phase N carry it. Test: TickTests.test_ping_carries_the_phase_and_counts_in_usage_phase (fallbacks; a phase-2 fork after a phase-less train → ping phase 2; finalised ok with cost Δ $0.0123; usage --phase 2 json lists it with the cost in kinds.ping and total, md has the ping row, the total row and Priced total: $0.0123; --phase 1 has no rows).
  • Minor 1 — train --supersedes BASE (repeatable). Refused at launch (exit 2, before and again under the lock): an unknown name (unknown base, bases, option), the new base's own name. The names are stored on the training base (supersedes); when the training ends ok, each named base that is active becomes superseded with superseded_by, superseded_at. A failed training changes nothing. Test: LaunchTests.test_train_supersedes (refusals; a failed training leaves B1 active; an ok one supersedes B1 and B0, leaves the failed B2 alone; B1's ping decision reads status:superseded; a fork of B1 needs --force).
  • Minor 2 — init refuses an effective warm_margin_s ≥ the effective ttl_s (exit 2, nothing written; also a re-run that lowers ttl_s under the current margin). base_warmth: a configured margin is capped at the base's TTL / 2 (the formula is unchanged). Tests: InitTests.test_warm_margin_must_be_below_ttl, WarmthTests.test_margin_capped_at_half_the_ttl (TTL 300, margin 600: warm, margin_s 150 one second after the hit; expiring and a ping at 150 s).
  • Minor 8 — every init flag defaults to None. First init: the defaults as before (--model missing → exit 2, error: usage, as argparse said). Re-run: an omitted flag keeps its current value, launch fields (model, effort, permission mode, tools, allow/deny lists, agent name, cwd, binary path with its binary_resolved_by) and run-wide settings (parallel_cap, orphan_after, pings, ttl_s, warm_margin_s, max_minutes, stall_after_s, each threshold). init reads the config before validating and refuses (exit 2) if it changed before the locked write. Test: InitTests.test_rerun_keeps_omitted_settings (a re-run with only --warm-margin-s keeps pings off, parallel_cap 3, orphan_after 1500, rebase_commits 9, the model, effort and tools; changed_fields == ["warm_margin_s"]; a later --pings on alone lists ["pings"]; a first init without --model writes nothing).
  • Minor 9 — UsageTests.test_r1_waits_for_the_registry_lock calls reconcile_ledger directly in a thread and also checks that no line was appended while it is blocked, and exactly one after. Confirmed it can fail: a scratch runner (m9_nolock.py) patched forks.RegistryLock to a no-op only when called from reconcile_ledger (the test's own lock stays real): the test fails ([['j0010']] != []).
  • Minor 10 — Supervisor.run closes p.stdout after reader.join when the reader thread has ended. test_tick_runs_in_wait_and_supervisor no longer prints the ResourceWarning (run alone and in the full suite; the full log has no warning line).
  • Minor 11 — the ledger stays append-only. usage takes status, flags and reason from results/<job>.json when any differs from the ledger line (tokens and cost stay the ledger's) and lists those jobs in the json's new status_from_result (always present). The aggregates use the result's flags (cold_starts). Test: UsageTests.test_status_from_result_when_it_changed_after_the_ledger_line.
• Existing tests changed (none loosened; each is a specified change):
  • WarmthTests.test_boundaries_1h_and_5m: margin 900 at a base TTL of 300 was expiring from the hit on; it is now capped at 150 (warm at 0 and 149 s, expiring at 150 and 299 s, cold at 300 s, margin_s 150). The 1 h cases are unchanged.
  • WarmthTests.test_ping_rule_states_status_and_pings_off: the margin-3600 case pinged at T0+100; with the cap (1800 at 1 h) it pings at T0+1800 and reads state:warm at T0+1799.
  • UsageTests.test_r1_waits_for_the_registry_lock: see Minor 9 (stronger).
  • LaunchTests.test_ping_end_to_end_through_wait: --warm-margin-s 3600 is now refused; uses 1800 with the last hit set 2000 s back instead of 100 s. Its assertions are unchanged.
  • LaunchTests.test_due_reasons_each_alone: the 60k note trips delta_tokens when attached with --delta-note; the brief that only names it now asserts nothing due (I1). Its delta_tokens assertions are unchanged.
• Gates:
  • G-unit uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/tests/test_forks.py, run once (18:08:03–18:10:23): exit 0, Ran 137 tests in 139.525s, OK, no skip, no warning line (130 → 137: 7 new tests).
  • G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py where: exit 0, one line, one JSON object, ok: true, spawn: cim-hidden, binary 2.1.299 via CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH, warnings: [].
  • Leftover processes (18:10, Get-CimInstance Win32_Process by command line: forks-test-, _supervise, poscontrol): none.
  • No live claude calls (stub only).
• Flagged for the re-check:
  • I1: every attached note goes into the prompt; only those newer than trained_at count. trained_at has whole seconds, so a note written in the same second as the training or rebase end counts as new (the safe side).
  • I1: the ## Changes since base section does not depend on the base; a brief reused after a rebase with a large section still trips the flag. The Athanor writes that section per base.
  • I2: the rebase job belongs to the old base, so a rebased base's pings take its forks' phase or its own phase (rebase --phase). Pings recorded before this fix keep phase: null.
  • Minor 2: the smoke's init --warm-margin-s 3500 would now be refused; at a 1 h TTL the effective margin is at most 1800. The Phase 3 text and any smoke recipe must use that.
  • Minor 8: on a re-run, --tools alone keeps the current allowed_tools (it does not re-derive it, like train, Minor 12). What init reads from disk (binary version, size and mtime; preamble and agent hashes) is re-read on every run as before, so it can still show in changed_fields when those files changed. A set warm_margin_s or agent cannot be cleared back to none by init.
  • Minor 10: the pipe is closed only when the reader ended within READER_JOIN_S; otherwise it is left as before.
  • Minor 11: a reconciled ledger line is not rewritten; only usage's view changes. The md block table does not show status, so only the json rows and the aggregates' flags show it.
• Commits: d2d5104 (code and tests), then this note's commit.

Phase 2 fix pass — Athanor check, deferred Minors, recorded deviation

• Athanor claude-opus-5-5[1m], 2026-10-16 18:13 +0200 (date). Fixer: fresh general-purpose agent, opus alias, stamped claude-opus-5-5[1m], 297,949 subagent tokens (harness total).
• Cheap gate by the Athanor (test cadence: the fixer ran the full suite once at its end, 137 tests, 139.5 s, OK; not repeated): uv run python -m py_compile …/forks.py exit 0; G-where exit 0. Leftover processes by command line: none.
• Diff check 9564c22..d2d5104 on the tests: two removed assertion lines. done[0]["reconciled"] == ["j0010"] became done == [["j0010"]] plus a check that the line is absent while the lock is held and present exactly once after (Minor 9: stronger). assert_due(fake_fork("Bd")) for a brief that names the big note is kept as a not-due assertion, and the due case moved to --delta-note (I1: specified change). The changed warm-margin tests follow Minor 2's cap. Nothing loosened.
• Recorded deviation (review flag 1a): the Phase 2 digest put rebase into parallel_cap (CAPPED_KINDS, forks.py), while plan §4.3's invariant names only fork/continue. Stricter and harmless (a rebase is a fork of the base doing real work); the Phase 2 block notes and close wrongly said "no deviation against the build plan". The Phase 3 text should state that rebase counts toward the cap.
• Athanor decision in the fix brief (I1): the coordinator offered --delta-note or a designated brief section; both were built. The whole brief is not counted, because a brief's own text does not depend on the base and so a rebase could never clear it; only the delta header, attached notes newer than the base's trained_at, and a ## Changes since base section count. The fixer flags that the section itself is base-independent (a reused brief with a large section keeps tripping the flag); the Phase 3 text should say the section is for this fork's delta only.
• Deferred Minors (not fixed; coordinator's instruction), with reasons:
  • 3 (failed/missed ping retried every tick with no backoff): bounded by the break_even cap that counts failed pings; a backoff is a tuning item for the trial (Phase 5).
  • 4 (partial ping that re-wrote most of the prefix carries no cold_start): accounting nuance; P0.6 shows such a ping still keeps the base warm. Revisit with real trial numbers.
  • 5 (a continue's cold_start follows the base's warmth): Phase 1 rule; affects only the cold_starts count in usage. Fix together with Minor 4 when the trial tunes warmth.
  • 6 (a slow synchronous tick can read as a clock jump in the supervisor): unlikely (needs > 60 s of tick work); move the tick into a thread when it is next touched.
  • 7 (the last wait before hand-back can launch a ping that list shows as running): Phase 3 text: pings end within PING_MAX_S (300 s) and are not "running jobs" for the hand-back rule; or list reports them separately.
  • 12 (train --tools / init --tools do not re-derive allowed_tools): Phase 3 text tells the Athanor to pass --allowed-tools with --tools; a code change can follow if the trial hits it.
  • 13 (two sequential forks can overlap under parallel_cap 2 and share Commit cells): Phase 3 text: run sequential forks one at a time.
  • 14 (warmth shown for superseded/retired bases; untested ping-from-supervisor-tick, defining: fields other than model, unreachable rebase_conflict; the M8 desktop diff can flake): cosmetic or covered by shared code paths; Phase 4 smoke exercises the supervisor tick live.
• Status: fix pass done; a re-check of I1 and I2 by a fresh reviewer is Igor's call.

Successor boot — state at the end of Phase 2 (for the Phase 3 Athanor)

Written by the Athanor (claude-opus-5-5[1m]), 2026-10-16 18:15 +0200, as its last job (Igor: Phase 3 goes to a fresh Athanor).

• Branch / checkout: headless-forks in G:\dev\projects\reliquary\.claude\worktrees\headless-forks. HEAD after this note's commit; Phase 2 fix pass code at d2d5104. Nothing pushed or merged.
• Read in this order: the build plan §6 Phase 3 and §4 (docs/workpad/plans/2026-10-16-02-headless-forks-build.md); the trunk notes (reports/2026-10-16-08-headless-forks-trunk-notes.md, incl. its "State for Phase 3" section); the two contract digests (plans/2026-10-16-12-…-phase1-contract.md, plans/2026-10-16-16-…-phase2-contract.md; they describe what the helper actually does, beyond the build plan); the Phase 1 and Phase 2 reviews and the Phase 1 re-check (reports/2026-10-16-16-…, -17-…, -18-…) for the items routed to "Phase 3 text"; this run log's block notes for exact semantics.
• What exists: plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py (commands where, init, train, fork, continue, rebase, wait, list, usage, expire, kill, tick, internal _supervise), preamble.md, templates/train.md, templates/fork.md, templates/rebase.md, tests/test_forks.py (137 tests, about 140 s). No SKILL.md yet; manifests still 0.2.2.
• Gates: G-unit uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/tests/test_forks.py; G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/forks/forks.py where; G-text per build plan §6 Phase 3. Test cadence (user rule): py_compile plus touched test classes between blocks, the full suite once at phase end.
• Items routed to the Phase 3 text (collected from the reviews; each must land in SKILL.md or athanor.md):
  • wait from Bash with timeout: 600000 (C2); the Bash tool backgrounds a call that passes its timeout (P0.1), it does not kill it.
  • kill result: key on ok and status, not killed or the exit code (Phase 1 M12).
  • "Windows-tested; POSIX untested" (M14); C8 is "permissive at init, enforced at runtime" (M15); the post-exit sweep also kills daemons a fork started (gpg-agent, fsmonitor), which restart on demand (M16).
  • continue sends the brief without a frame: put the commit rule and the note path into continue briefs (M16).
  • kill/expire do not refresh the orchestrator stamp (Phase 1 M3); a fork's own list/wait never does.
  • Never re-run init from a successor to "reset"; a re-run changes only the flags given (Phase 2 Minor 8); --warm-margin-s must stay below the TTL (at 1 h, at most 1800).
  • Always pass --phase to rebase (review flag 23); rebase counts toward parallel_cap.
  • Delta: attach handoff notes with fork --delta-note PATH; a ## Changes since base section is for this fork's delta only (I1).
  • Re-train: train --supersedes <old base> (Minor 1), else the old base keeps getting pings.
  • Pings: they belong to the latest phase of their base and show in usage --phase (I2); a ping running at hand-back is not a leak (Minor 7).
  • Sequential forks one at a time (Minor 13); pass --allowed-tools with --tools (Minor 12).
  • wait/list running rows say messages; results and ledger say turns (M16).
  • Projects need a Bash(uv run:*) (or Bash(uv:*)) allow rule: skill allowed-tools did not pre-approve in a subagent (P0.8, untrusted dir; Phase 4 re-checks in a trusted project).
• Open, not for Phase 3 code: supervisor survival across an Athanor hand-back (Phase 4); POSIX; a large base through the helper; the partial-ping refresh live.
• Scratch (not in git; safe to ignore): C:\Users\g4b\AppData\Local\Temp\claude\G--dev-projects-reliquary\42c87f82-5542-46aa-8d01-4166e3f0bcfe\scratchpad\headless-forks-p0\ — probes, raw Phase 0 streams, the scratch clone (untrusted workspace; holds smoke commits), smoke1\, smoke2\.

Phase 3 — Rename to gremlins, platform seam, text, release

Intake 2026-10-16 18:23 +0200, a fresh (successor) Athanor, claude-opus-5-5[1m]. Start commit 7351c40. Booted per "Successor boot" above, the trunk notes' "State for Phase 3", the goal as on main (naming, platforms, release gating, platform seam decisions), the build plan §6 Phase 3 and the Phase 2 re-check.

• First turn, by Igor's instruction: contract digest only, nothing built. Digest: docs/workpad/plans/2026-10-16-18-gremlins-phase3-contract.md. It pins the rename map, the Platform interface, the path matrix, the Windows-only gate, the N3/N4 fixes, the flaky-kill investigation, the WSL procedure, the text per file and the release; its §12 lists the 20 choices the higher sources left open, for Igor's check before the build turn.
• Block plan (digest §1): 3.1 rename, 3.2 seam and gate, 3.3 N3/N4/kill flake, 3.4 WSL check (the Athanor), 3.5 procedure text, 3.6 reference rows, 3.7 platform handoff, 3.8 README, version, full suite, release commit. Deviation from the build plan's three-block Phase 3 table, with the reason in the digest.
• Trunk notes get a Phase 3 section at the start of the build turn.

Block 3.1 — Rename to gremlins

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (fresh block owner, own tools, no agents dispatched)
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 18:44:53 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 20:24:21 WEDT 2026 (date; the end is the code commit, this note followed)
• Done (digest §2 plus amendment A8(a), A9, A10):
  • git mv plugins/spire/skills/forks → gremlins, forks.py → gremlins.py, tests/test_forks.py → tests/test_gremlins.py, templates/fork.md → templates/spawn.md. The untracked __pycache__ dirs moved with the folder and were deleted.
  • gremlins.py: GremlinsError, cmd_spawn, detach_supervisor (body unchanged), DETACH_METHOD (where keeps its spawn key), CHILD_MARKER/SCRUB_PINNED SPIRE_GREMLIN_CHILD, CIM carrier vars SPIRE_GREMLIN_DETACH_CMD/_CWD (in POWERSHELL_CIM and its caller), state dir suffix -gremlins (state_dir_for, run_for_state), spawned_phases in phase_boundary, prog="gremlins.py", "spire:gremlins helper", module docstring, _diag prefix gremlins:. Command spawn (in COMMANDS, HANDLERS, CHILD_REFUSED) with --method {fork} (default fork; constant SPAWN_METHODS). Job kind spawn in REAL_KINDS, CAPPED_KINDS, USAGE_KINDS, HIT_KINDS and every kind check (_conclude cache/cold_start/holder/hit, finalize_job head_at_end, phase_boundary, run_active, Supervisor.run hit_written, cmd_continue). New method field: _new_entry default None, spawn sets args.method; carried in the result, the ledger line, the R1 reconciled ledger line (ledger_from_result) and LIST_JOB_KEYS; the spawn launch return is {job, base, method, base_state, warm_until, rebase_due, retrain_due, reasons}. Base key gremlins (train, _rebase_succeeded, cmd_spawn, LIST_BASE_KEYS). Help texts, refusals, N3 message, usage md fallback text, "gremlins never writes settings", "preamble.md missing next to gremlins.py" per §2.3/§2.4. Continuation lines re-aligned after the longer exception name.
  • Prompt text: preamble.md per §2.6 with the handoff-note format inlined as a bullet template (A8(a); the pointer to implementation/references/run-log.md is gone); templates/spawn.md, train.md, rebase.md per §2.6 (every ${…} placeholder and the stale-snapshot sentence kept); commit_rule strings per §2.6.
  • Tests per §2.7: gremlins/_load_gremlins/GREMLINS_PY/sys.modules["gremlins"], prefix gremlins-test- (setUp, tearDownModule filter 'gremlins' + '-test-', the M8 marker), helpers spawn, spawn_marked, fake_spawn, SPAWN_RESULT, SESS_SPAWN; test names test_train_spawn_continue_end_to_end, test_usage_rule_real_spawn, test_allowed_inside_a_gremlin. Also renamed for clarity (fakes of the detach, not of spawn): TickTests local spawn → fake_detach, dead_spawn → dead_detach. The stub's --fork-session handling is unchanged.
• Changed assertion lines (old → new). The rest of the 191 removed / 200 added assert lines differ only by the mechanical identifier rename (forks. → gremlins., ForksError → GremlinsError, self.fork( → self.spawn(, fork_marked, fake_fork, FORK_RESULT, SESS_FORK, FORKS_PY, spawn_supervisor → detach_supervisor, SPAWN_METHOD → DETACH_METHOD); checked by normalising those and diffing the removed against the added assert lines:
  • A9 (vacuous state-dir checks now derived from state_dir_for): PathTests.test_gitbash_rooted_without_cygpath os.path.exists(drive + "\\tmp\\forks-m13-x-run-forks") → os.path.exists(gremlins.state_dir_for(drive + "\\tmp\\gremlins-m13-x-run.md")) (run name /tmp/forks-m13-x-run.md → /tmp/gremlins-m13-x-run.md); CliTests.test_commands_need_init and CliTests.test_child_refuses_kill_expire_init run_log[:-3] + "-forks" → gremlins.state_dir_for(run_log); SubprocessTests.test_error_case_stdout_invariant os.path.join(self.tmp, "x-run-forks") → gremlins.state_dir_for(run_log). No other literal state-dir suffix in an exists check. The two PathTests.test_state_dir_* expected values (they test state_dir_for itself) stay literal: …-x-run-forks → …-x-run-gremlins.
  • N3 text, 6 lines: 5 × assertIn("inside a fork", …) → assertIn("inside a gremlin", …) (CliTests.test_child_refuses_launching, test_child_refuses_kill_expire_init, TickTests.test_tick_command_and_n3, LaunchTests.test_refusals, test_rebase_end_to_end), and 1 × assertNotIn("inside a fork", …) → assertNotIn("inside a gremlin", …). The refused command in those argv lists: "fork" → "spawn".
  • Env marker, 3 lines: env["SPIRE_FORKS_CHILD"] → env["SPIRE_GREMLIN_CHILD"] (ScrubTests.test_scrubbed_env, the end-to-end test, the ping end-to-end test); the stub's ENV_KEYS entry likewise (not an assertion line).
  • Kind values: r2["kind"] == "fork" → "spawn"; list(out["kinds"]) == ["train", "rebase", "fork", "continue", "ping"] → […, "spawn", …]; k["fork"][x] → k["spawn"][x]; k["fork"]["cost_usd"] → k["spawn"]["cost_usd"]; out["kinds"]["fork"]["calls"] → out["kinds"]["spawn"]["calls"]; js["kinds"]["fork"]["cache_read"] → js["kinds"]["spawn"]["cache_read"]; R1 (ln["kind"], …) == ("fork", …) → ("spawn", …); assertIn("| fork | 2 |", …) → "| spawn | 2 |". Non-assert lines feeding exact-match assertions: the UsageTests fixture kinds "fork" → "spawn" (j0002, j0004, j0005), the md phase table rows | fork | 2 | … and | fork | 1 | … → | spawn | … |, the fallback n/a (no fork, …) → n/a (no spawn, …); _new_entry(…, "fork", …) / add_job(reg, "fork", …) → "spawn" in ProcessTreeTests.test_reap_lost_bounds_by_heartbeat, WarmthTests, TickTests, UsageTests.
  • Template text: prompt.index("## Rules for this fork") → "## Rules for this gremlin".
  • Key sets, tightened (one key added each): end-to-end train result set(r) == {…} gains "method"; spawn launch return set(f_out) == {…} gains "method".
  • Added (§2.7 method): f_out["method"] == "fork" (launch return); r2["method"] == "fork" (spawn result); r["method"] is None (train result); r3["method"] is None (continue result); ledger: the per-result loop now also compares kind and method, plus [led[j]["method"] …] == [None, "fork", None]; list job rows [(kind, method)] == [("train", None), ("spawn", "fork"), ("continue", None)]; lst["bases"][0]["gremlins"] == [fj]; R1 reconciled line ln["method"] == "fork" (fixture result and entry carry method: "fork").
  • Tightened: the end-to-end "continue of a non-spawn job" refusal also asserts out["error"] == "continue takes a spawn job" (was exit code only).
  • None dropped or loosened.
• Gates:
  1. uv run python -m py_compile …/gremlins.py …/tests/test_gremlins.py: exit 0.
  2. uv run plugins/spire/skills/gremlins/tests/test_gremlins.py PathTests ScrubTests LockTests AtomicTests PidTests ProcessTreeTests InitTests CliTests RuleTests LaunchTests.test_train_spawn_continue_end_to_end LaunchTests.test_refusals: exit 0, Ran 76 tests in 14.182s, OK. Extra (classes this block edited outside the gate list, not the full suite): UsageTests TickTests WarmthTests: exit 0, Ran 32 tests in 6.612s, OK. Logs in the session scratchpad …\scratchpad\gremlins-3.1\.
  3. G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/gremlins/gremlins.py where: exit 0, one line, ok: true, spawn: cim-hidden, scrub.pinned.SPIRE_GREMLIN_CHILD: "1", binary 2.1.299 via CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH, warnings: []. Also checked: --help lists spawn; spawn --method clone exits 2 (invalid choice … (choose from fork)).
  4. Residue: git grep -n "spire:forks\|forks\.py\|SPIRE_FORKS\|skills/forks" -- plugins/ is empty. git grep -n -i "fork" -- plugins/spire/, every hit classified:
     • claude flag --fork-session: gremlins.py:161, :1953, :2761, :2894, :3076; test_gremlins.py:1096, :1149, :1150 (the stub), :1907, :2452, :2473, :3055, :3499.
     • method value "fork" and the --method choices: gremlins.py:6, :161, :163, :1941, :1942; test_gremlins.py:2252, :2268, :2285, :2418, :2426, :2435, :2486, :2493.
     • prose about the session mechanism: gremlins.py:6 ("a fork of the base's session"), :1942, :1980 (rebase help: "Fork a base's session …"), :2867 (rebase docstring: "a fork of B"); preamble.md:3; templates/rebase.md:3; templates/spawn.md:3; templates/train.md:3; test_gremlins.py:1485 ("forked session"), :2467 ("a continue resumes, it does not fork").
     • Agent-tool fork rows (3.5/3.6 text, untouched): agents/athanor.md:32; implementation/SKILL.md:45, :49; implementation/references/spawning-claude-code.md:3, :56, :60–:64.
     • A10 (Igor text and non-session meanings, untouched): igor/SKILL.md:66, igor/references/harness-notes.md:3, igor/references/mindset.md:11, implementation/references/superpowers.md:36.
  5. Leftover processes (20:24, Get-CimInstance Win32_Process by command line gremlins-test- or _supervise): none (only the query's own shell and PowerShell).
  • No live claude calls (stub only).
• Deviations from plan:
  • ledger_from_result (R1 reconciliation) also carries method (from the result), so a reconciled line keeps the fixed key set of §2.4. Not named in §2.4, follows from "always present".
  • _diag stderr prefix forks: → gremlins: (not in the map; a residue otherwise).
  • Test-only renames beyond §2.7 (fake_detach, dead_detach), because both fake detach_supervisor, not spawn.
• Flagged for review:
  • Help text of where still says "spawn method" and the key is still spawn; 3.2 replaces both with platform.detach.
  • spawn_failed and taskkill_rc are unchanged (3.2 renames them); test_spawn_failed is as it was apart from the identifier rename.
  • Test continuation lines that were aligned under forks. are now 3 columns off (gremlins. is longer); cosmetic, left as they are to keep the diff mechanical. gremlins.py was re-aligned.
  • git status shows preamble.md and templates/train.md as delete + add (their text changed by more than git's rename threshold); git log --follow -M30% finds them.
  • The renamed small templates change only text the digest names; the ${…} placeholder set is unchanged in all three.
• Left for later: 3.2 (where shape, detach_failed, tree_kill_rc, platform seam); SKILL.md and the other Phase 3 text (3.5, 3.6); workpad documents keep the old names (history, per digest §2.8).
• Expected broken: nothing known. The full suite was not run (it runs once in 3.8); SubprocessTests and the rest of LaunchTests were not run in this block.
• Commits: 01c4bc8 (rename), then this note's commit.

Block 3.2 — Platform seam and gate

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (fresh block owner, own tools, no agents dispatched)
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 20:26:43 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 20:39:15 WEDT 2026 (date; the end is the gate commit, this note followed)
• Done (digest §3.1–§3.7 and §4, with amendment B1, A1, A5, A7, A11, A12 and the SPIRE_GREMLIN_UNSUPPORTED_OK naming fix):
  • Seam (gremlins.py, one section between # --- platform seam: begin --- and # --- platform seam: end ---): Platform (interface; shared describe() built from name, sys.platform, is_wsl(), supported, detach_method; shared pid_alive = platform _running(pid) + the creation-time check), WindowsPlatform (supported = True, cim-hidden; ctypes/kernel32/PROCESSENTRY32W loaded lazily in _win() on the first process or window call, never at import or in __init__; find_cygpath, cygpath_w, norm_path, _powershell, _taskkill static; POWERSHELL_CIM, CREATE_NO_WINDOW, the FILETIME epoch and the Win32 constants are class attributes), PosixPlatform (setsid; supported is a property sys.platform in TESTED_SYS_PLATFORMS, the tuple empty, so lifting the gate is one change; is_wsl = WSL_DISTRO_NAME or microsoft in /proc/sys/kernel/osrelease), select_platform() (the only os.name test), PLATFORM. Bodies moved without behaviour change; restore_no_replace now carries the OSError → False that _restore had.
  • Delegates per §3.3: norm_path(p, cwd, windows) (selector over the two classes' static norm_path), proc_ctime, epoch_to_ctime, pid_alive, process_table → PLATFORM.…; terminate(rec) → record_alive then PLATFORM.terminate; kill_tree → PLATFORM.tree_kill; _run and Supervisor.run → **PLATFORM.popen_kwargs() / (new_group=True); detach_supervisor builds the argv and returns PLATFORM.detach(argv, cwd=state, log_path=<raw>/<job>.sup.log); RegistryLock._restore → PLATFORM.restore_no_replace. process_tree unchanged (module-level names, so ProcessTreeTests patches still bite). IS_WINDOWS, DETACH_METHOD, CREATE_NO_WINDOW/_NOWIN, the module ctypes block are gone.
  • Path refusals (§3.4, A5): Windows refuses /mnt/<d>/… ("WSL path form on Windows; pass C:... or /c/..."); C:/C:x stay refused ("cannot normalise path", as today); POSIX refuses a drive form ("Windows drive path form on POSIX; …") and any backslash ("backslash in a path on POSIX (a Windows path form); …"). "empty path" refusals now carry path (the input).
  • JSON renames (§3.6): where.spawn removed → where.platform = {name, sys_platform, wsl, supported, detach, override}; kill/expire.killed[] taskkill_rc → tree_kill_rc; reason spawn_failed → detach_failed; where help "… git, env scrub, platform".
  • Gate (second commit, §4 + amendments): neutral helpers gate_overridden() (A12: env SPIRE_GREMLIN_UNSUPPORTED_OK == "1" and not PLATFORM.supported), platform_report() (describe() + override), platform_gate() (reads only PLATFORM.supported/describe(); A7 reason "spire:gremlins is not tested on <sys_platform><, WSL> yet; use fresh agents for every block (see SKILL.md, Platforms)."), require_platform() ({"error": "platform not supported", "reason", "platform"}, exit 2). where: gate reason first in reasons, everything else still filled; override → warnings gets GATE_OVERRIDE_WARNING. A11: where catches a GremlinsError from resolve_binary into binary.{path: null, how, error, given} and reasons. init: require_platform() is its first line (B1). Dispatcher (A1): GATED_COMMANDS = train, spawn, continue, rebase, tick refused after the N3 check. tick_pass returns {"pinged": [], "bases": []} at once on a closed gate (covers the tick in wait and in the supervisor).
  • Tests: PathMatrixTests (new, 5 tests: all 15 rows (17 inputs) × both classes, pure: WindowsPlatform.find_cygpath and _run faked, the fake asserts it is only ever called as cygpath -w; row 6 without cygpath; the delegate selector; both classes built on any host with _api still None). GateTests (new, 8 tests): supported flags (WindowsPlatform True; PosixPlatform False under sys.platform linux and darwin, describe()["supported"] follows), is_wsl (env, osrelease with/without microsoft, unreadable), the exact gate reason and the override, the host where (Windows: supported, no override, no warnings), closed where (exit 2, reason, the full platform dict, binary still filled), closed init (exit 2, error == "platform not supported", no state dir; a non-.md --run still gets the gate error, so the gate precedes state_dir_for), override (where exit 0 with the one warning, init creates the registry), and A1 (registry made with the gate open; closed: spawn, train, continue, rebase, tick exit 2 platform not supported, registry unchanged and jobs == {}; tick_pass returns without reading the registry; list and wait still work, pings == []). The fake closed platform (B1) subclasses the host's own platform class (a WindowsPlatform here) with supported = False, is_wsl() → True and the posix/linux/WSL describe(). CliTests gains test_where_platform (A12: override: false with C13's env set; Windows: the exact platform dict) and test_where_refused_binary_path (A11). Base.setUp sets SPIRE_GREMLIN_UNSUPPORTED_OK=1 (C13); GateTests.setUp pops it. visible_windows() in the tests → gremlins.PLATFORM.visible_windows() or []; test_no_visible_window skips on None/empty. find_cygpath patches → gremlins.WindowsPlatform. test_spawn_failed → test_detach_failed. Platform-behaviour branches use WIN_PLATFORM = gremlins.PLATFORM.name == "windows"; IS_WINDOWS = os.name == "nt" stays for the generated wrappers, the stub drift lines, the module-end sweep, AtomicTests' sharing-violation check (not in this block's classes) and PathMatrixTests' select_platform reference check.
• Changed assertion lines (old → new; git diff 065afcb..e9f1b06 -- …/tests/ | grep -c '^-.*assert' = 5):
  • SubprocessTests.test_where_via_uv_stub: assertEqual(out["spawn"], "cim-hidden" if IS_WINDOWS else "setsid") → assertEqual(out["platform"]["detach"], "cim-hidden" if WIN_PLATFORM else "setsid") plus a new assertNotIn("spawn", out) (§3.5/§3.6: specified change, tightened).
  • LaunchTests.test_detach_failed: ("failed", "spawn_failed") → ("failed", "detach_failed"); ledger ["spawn_failed"] → ["detach_failed"] (§3.6 rename). The fake's "method": gremlins.DETACH_METHOD → gremlins.PLATFORM.detach_method (not an assertion line).
  • CliTests.test_where_warns_on_base_url: assertEqual(out["warnings"], []) → assertEqual(out["warnings"], gate_warning(out)); assertEqual(len(out["warnings"]), 1, …) → assertEqual(len(out["warnings"]), 1 + len(gate_warning(out)), …) plus a new assertEqual(out["warnings"][1:], gate_warning(out)). gate_warning(out) is [] unless platform.override is true, which never happens on Windows (A12), so on this host both assertions are exactly the old ones; on a porting host under C13 they demand exactly the one override warning instead of failing by construction. Not loosened.
  • Non-assertion fixture change: ProcessTreeTests.test_reap_lost_bounds_by_heartbeat's fake kill_tree returns "tree_kill_rc" instead of "taskkill_rc".
  • None dropped or loosened.
• Gates:
  1. uv run python -m py_compile …/gremlins.py …/tests/test_gremlins.py: exit 0.
  2. uv run plugins/spire/skills/gremlins/tests/test_gremlins.py PathTests PathMatrixTests GateTests PidTests ProcessTreeTests LockTests CliTests SubprocessTests TickTests LaunchTests.test_kill_tree LaunchTests.test_no_visible_window LaunchTests.test_detach_failed LaunchTests.test_train_spawn_continue_end_to_end: exit 0, Ran 63 tests in 15.577s, OK (no skips; test_no_visible_window ran with its positive control). The same list without GateTests passed at the seam commit (Ran 53 tests in 15.457s, OK). Extra, because the gate touches init, the dispatcher and tick_pass: InitTests WarmthTests LaunchTests.test_refusals: exit 0, Ran 32 tests in 5.025s, OK. Logs in the session scratchpad …\scratchpad\gremlins-3.2\.
  3. G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/gremlins/gremlins.py where: exit 0, one JSON line, ok: true, platform: {"name": "windows", "sys_platform": "win32", "wsl": false, "supported": true, "detach": "cim-hidden", "override": false}, no spawn key, warnings: [], binary 2.1.299 via CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH.
  4. Seam grep §3.7 (git grep -n -E "os\.name|sys\.platform|IS_WINDOWS|ctypes|_k32|taskkill|powershell|killpg|setsid|start_new_session|creationflags|cygpath|/proc" -- …/gremlins.py): markers at :267 and :734; every hit lies between them (:271, :272, :282, :286, :368–:399, :405–:444, :466–:486, :501–:544, :560–:569, :585–:596, :608–:729; sys.platform only in Platform.describe :286 and PosixPlatform.supported :615, os.name only in select_platform :729). No hit outside, in code, comments or docstrings (the two comment/docstring mentions outside were reworded: the supervisor's os.environ.clear() comment and kill_job's docstring say "tree-kill").
  5. Leftover processes (20:39, Get-CimInstance Win32_Process by command line gremlins-test-, _supervise, poscontrol, claude-stub): none.
  • No live claude calls (stub only).
• Deviations from plan:
  • The fake closed platform subclasses type(gremlins.PLATFORM), not WindowsPlatform by name: on Windows it is a WindowsPlatform subclass exactly as B1 asks; on a POSIX host it keeps POSIX path handling, so GateTests also run on WSL and the porting hosts.
  • GateTests assert the A7 wording ("not tested on linux, WSL", "fresh agents"), not §4's "Windows only" (A7 supersedes it).
  • The override opens only on the exact value 1 (§4 says "=1"); any other value is "not set".
  • PosixPlatform.supported is a property over an empty TESTED_SYS_PLATFORMS tuple instead of a literal False (§4: "lifting the gate … returns True for the tested sys.platform values"); describe() reads it (A12).
  • pid_alive is shared in Platform (range check and creation-time check) over a per-platform _running(pid); the interface method is the same, the logic is today's.
  • where.binary on an A11 refusal carries given (the refused input) besides path: null, how and error.
  • where's gate-overridden warning is a fixed constant GATE_OVERRIDE_WARNING (tests compare it exactly).
• Flagged for review:
  • GATED_COMMANDS leaves kill and expire open on a closed gate (A1 names only train/spawn/continue/rebase/tick); a porter can still stop jobs started under the override. wait and list stay open too, and _supervise is not gated (nothing reaches it on a closed gate except a job launched under the override).
  • Under the override the gremlin's own env (scrubbed) still carries SPIRE_GREMLIN_UNSUPPORTED_OK (unknown vars pass the scrub), so a supervisor's tick on a porting host pings as the orchestrator would; irrelevant on Windows. The 3.7 handoff may want to say so.
  • PathTests.test_posix_forms and the other old PathTests stay unchanged (§3.4: redundant but kept).
  • AtomicTests keeps its IS_WINDOWS check (sharing-violation retry is file-system behaviour; not one of this block's classes).
• Left for later: 3.3 (N3, N4, the kill-verification guard on kill_tree), the platform handoff text (3.7: the seam, TESTED_SYS_PLATFORMS, the override and its env-leak note above, M14), SKILL.md's Platforms section (3.5). The ! injection with a where that exits 2 on a closed platform remains untested (digest §12).
• Expected broken: nothing known. The full suite was not run (it runs once in 3.8); ScrubTests, AtomicTests, RuleTests, UsageTests and the rest of LaunchTests were not run in this block.
• Commits: 25d0358 (seam and path matrix), e9f1b06 (gate), then this note's commit.

Block 3.3 — N3, N4, kill flake

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (fresh block owner, own tools, no agents dispatched)
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 20:41:17 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 21:43:31 WEDT 2026 (date; the end is the code commit, this note followed)
• Done (digest §5 with amendment A2, A3, A4 and the C15 note):
  • N3 (gremlins.py): resolve_binary now walks BINARY_SOURCES = ("CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH", "PATH") through the new resolve_binary_via(how) (one source only; same lookup and order as before). New rerun_binary(stored, how, warnings), used by build_init_config on a re-run without --binary: a stored source --binary (or none recorded) keeps the stored path; CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH / PATH re-resolve through that source only (A4, never the other one); nothing found there keeps the stored path with the warning "could not re-resolve the claude binary through ; kept the stored path "; a different path (compared os.path.normcased) replaces it with "binary changed: → (resolved by ); existing bases keep their own binary record, new trainings use the new one". init output always carries warnings (list). The change shows in changed_fields as launch.binary.* (unchanged logic); a base keeps its own launch.binary. A vanished stored file still fails loud (claude binary not found, exit 2) when nothing re-resolves it.
  • N4: new _rebase_target_free(reg, entry) (the existing "name free or failed" rule, shared). _rebase_succeeded: when the old base is not active at finalise, NEW is created with the old base's status (superseded with the old base's superseded_by and superseded_at = this end time; retired with retired_at = this end time), the old base is left untouched (its superseded_by is not overwritten), and the job entry gets rebase_inactive_parent: "<old> was <status> when the rebase ended". _conclude adds the flag parent_inactive before the result is built, only when the rebase ended ok, the base is not active and _rebase_target_free holds (so not on the rebase_conflict early return, C15 note). Status stays ok.
  • Kill verification (A2): kill_tree's sweep takes one module-level process_table() per iteration and asks the new snapshot_survivor(p, table): dead if the table is non-empty and lacks the pid, or if the snapshot name is known, the table names the pid differently and proc_ctime(pid) is None (class (a)); otherwise record_alive decides, as before. Survivors are still terminated only from that list. KILL_VERIFY_S stays 10 (no (b) observed).
  • Tests (test_gremlins.py): LaunchTests.test_refusals' kill assertion now prints the output. InitTests: test_rerun_reresolves_execpath, test_rerun_keeps_a_binary_pin, test_rerun_without_a_source_keeps_the_stored_path (A3 first case), test_rerun_with_the_stored_file_gone_fails_loud (A3 second case), test_rerun_never_crosses_sources (A4, both directions: EXECPATH-stored with only a PATH claude → kept + warning; PATH-stored with EXECPATH set → re-resolved by PATH); helpers named_stub (a claude.cmd for PATH lookups), bare_init, rerun, path_only, stored_binary. ProcessTreeTests (fake table, module-level patches; terminate, process_tree, PLATFORM.tree_kill faked, nothing real touched): test_kill_verify_pid_reused_by_unopenable_process_is_dead (class (a)), …_pid_gone_from_a_nonempty_table_is_dead, …_same_name_unverifiable_survives, …_empty_table_keeps_the_survivor, …_unknown_snapshot_name_keeps_the_survivor, …_other_name_with_readable_ctime_is_record_alive (the four A2 cases plus two). LaunchTests.test_late_rebase_of_a_superseded_base (N4 per §5.2, plus a second rebase whose new name is taken before it ends: ok, no parent_inactive, rebase_conflict set, nothing replaced). RuleTests.test_late_rebase_of_a_retired_base (pure: the expire race, NEW retired, old untouched). The stream stub gained a gate=NAME directive (first turn waits, at most 120 s, for <stub dir>/NAME), so the late-rebase ordering is deterministic rather than timed.
• Fail-first check: the new tests run against a scratch copy of the pre-change gremlins.py (git archive HEAD of the skill dir with the new test file, under …\scratchpad\gremlins-3.3\pre\): Ran 14 tests, FAILED (failures=3, errors=6). Failing: all four new N3 behaviour tests except the A3 loud case (errors: KeyError: 'warnings'), test_init_creates_state_and_config (warnings missing), both class-(a)/gone-pid kill tests (([900051], [900051, 900051, 900051]) != ([], [])), the retired unit test (no _rebase_target_free), the N4 launch test ('parent_inactive' not found in []). Passing on the old code, as intended (guards of unchanged behaviour): test_rerun_keeps_a_binary_pin's path logic, test_rerun_with_the_stored_file_gone_fails_loud, and the four A2 "keep the survivor" cases. To see past the KeyError, the N3 tests also ran against the old code with only "warnings": [] added to init's output: Ran 6, failures=3 (test_rerun_reresolves_execpath: path stays A; …_without_a_source_…: no warning; …_never_crosses_sources: no warning); pin, loud case and the always-present key pass.
• Kill flake (§5.3): not reproduced. 16 hidden Python busy loops (gremlins33_busyload.py in …\scratchpad\gremlins-3.3\, 16 logical CPUs, pids 37364 13568 38608 18780 29236 8852 20324 33132 18960 36196 35980 3244 15556 35944 15476 38032, started 21:36:17, all confirmed running, killed by pid with taskkill /F after the runs). LaunchTests.test_refusals alone, 10 sequential runs (never two suites at once), against the pre-change helper (so a class-(a) survivor would not be hidden by the new guard) with scratch-only instrumentation in that copy's kill_tree (on survivors: table name, proc_ctime, _running, a terminate retry, and up to 30 s of follow-up liveness, to a diag file): 10 of 10 OK (19.4, 19.4, 65.6, 23.3, 20.2, 31.3, 23.3, 27.8, 20.1, 23.0 s), no diag line written, so no survivor in any of the 20 kills. Class: none observed; survivor names: none. Fix landed: only the A2 guard; KILL_VERIFY_S unchanged; nothing for (c). The reproduction took about 6 minutes of the 15-minute bound.
• Changed assertion lines (old → new; git diff 11c1085..62eef3b -- …/tests/ | grep -c '^-.*assert' = 1):
  • LaunchTests.test_refusals: self.assertTrue(self.cmd("kill", "--job", j)["ok"]) → out = self.cmd("kill", "--job", j) + self.assertTrue(out["ok"], out) (§5.3 step 1; same check, adds the message).
  • Added: InitTests.test_init_creates_state_and_config assertEqual(out["warnings"], []); every assertion of the new tests above.
  • None dropped or loosened.
• Gates:
  1. uv run python -m py_compile …/gremlins.py …/tests/test_gremlins.py: exit 0.
  2. uv run plugins/spire/skills/gremlins/tests/test_gremlins.py InitTests ProcessTreeTests RuleTests LaunchTests.test_refusals LaunchTests.test_kill_tree LaunchTests.test_expire_kills_running_jobs LaunchTests.test_late_rebase_of_a_superseded_base: exit 0, Ran 51 tests in 15.423s, OK (RuleTests because this block added a test there). Logs in …\scratchpad\gremlins-3.3\ (gate.txt, pre-run.txt, pre-mutant.txt, repro-1.txt … repro-10.txt).
  3. G-where uv run plugins/spire/skills/gremlins/gremlins.py where: exit 0, one JSON line, ok: true, platform.supported: true, override: false, warnings: [], binary 2.1.299 via CLAUDE_CODE_EXECPATH.
  4. Leftover processes (21:43, Get-CimInstance Win32_Process by command line gremlins-test-, _supervise, poscontrol, claude-stub, gremlins33_busyload): none.
  • No live claude calls (stub only).
• Deviations from plan:
  • The reproduction ran against the pre-change helper with scratch instrumentation (the brief says only "run test_refusals alone"): with the A2 guard in place a class-(a) survivor would have been dropped silently, so the classification needed the old code. The repo test file (with the printing assertion) was used as is.
  • N4 test: the ordering "train ends first" is made deterministic with a new stub directive gate=NAME instead of a stub sleep; and the test also covers the rebase_conflict path of the C15 note (a second base, B2, rebased to a name taken by a clone_base before the gate opens).
  • N4 retired branch: retired_at of NEW is this end time (§5.2 names the field, not its value; superseded_at is the end time too).
  • The test asserting "B1 untouched" compares B1's lineage fields (status, superseded_by, superseded_at): _conclude still records the rebase's first request as a hit on B1 (last_hit, ttl_s, ttl_from), as for any rebase; that is unchanged behaviour, not part of N4.
  • test_rerun_never_crosses_sources compares PATH-resolved paths os.path.normcased: on Windows shutil.which spells the extension from PATHEXT (claude.CMD). The helper compares stored and re-resolved paths the same way, so a case-only difference is no change and no warning.
• Flagged for review:
  • snapshot_survivor compares names exactly (both sides come from the same Toolhelp32 snapshot API, so they agree for one process); a POSIX /proc table gives comm, which a process can change itself (a prctl rename would count as "another name", but only with an unreadable creation time, which POSIX gives only without /proc, where the table is empty and the rule does not apply).
  • rerun_binary treats a missing binary_resolved_by (no registry written before Phase 1's field existed is expected) like a pin: kept, no warning.
  • init warnings are not written to the registry; only the call that changed the binary reports it.
  • The stub's gate waits at most 120 s and then goes on; a test that never opens its gate gets a late ok instead of a hang.
• Left for later: SKILL.md text for N3 (re-run re-resolves unless pinned), N4 (parent_inactive) and the warnings key on init (block 3.5, digest §7.1 items 3 and 7 already name them); the full suite (3.8).
• Expected broken: nothing known. The full suite was not run (it runs once in 3.8); CliTests, GateTests, TickTests, UsageTests and the rest of LaunchTests were not run in this block (a grep of the tests' key-set assertions, assertEqual(set(…), …), finds none on init output, so the new warnings key breaks no exact-shape check; the new job-entry key rebase_inactive_parent is not in LIST_JOB_KEYS or the result).
• Commits: 62eef3b (code and tests), then this note's commit.

Block 3.4a — Portable test fixes from the WSL check

• Model: claude-opus-5-5[1m] (fresh block owner, own tools, no agents dispatched)
• Start / end: Fri Oct 16 21:54:58 WEDT 2026 / Fri Oct 16 21:57:20 WEDT 2026 (date; the end is after the test commit, this note followed)
• Done (tests only, gremlins.py unchanged):
  • GateTests.test_closed_gate_on_existing_registry (WSL cause: the "gate open" init was refused on Linux, since GateTests.setUp pops SPIRE_GREMLIN_UNSUPPORTED_OK and the host is unsupported). The setup init now runs inside mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {UNSUPPORTED_OK_ENV: "1"}), so the gate is open on any host (on Windows the env is ignored, A12); a new assertion inside checks platform_gate() is None there, and one after it checks the env is gone again. Then close_gate() and every closed-gate assertion exactly as before (each of spawn, train, continue, rebase, tick: exit 2, one JSON line, error == "platform not supported", the A7 reason, platform.supported false; registry jobs == {} and unchanged; tick_pass reads no registry; list and wait still work).
  • LaunchTests.test_delta_tokens_counts_only_what_the_base_does_not_know (WSL cause: trained_at has whole seconds, so B2's rebase ending in the same second the note was written gave trained_at < mtime). Right after the large note is written, its mtime is set with os.utime to now − 30 s and B1's trained_at (via set_registry) to now − 60 s, with a new precondition assertion B1.trained_at < note mtime. So B1 predates the note (the note counts for B1), Bk (cloned at mtime + 60) still postdates it, and B2's rebase, which ends at now or later, postdates it by at least 29 s on any host speed. trained_at is read by the helper only in new_to_base (and list's copy of the field), so moving B1's is invisible to every other check in the test. Every assertion of the test is unchanged, including assertGreater(_ts(B2.trained_at), mtime) (now deterministic, not removed).
• Changed assertion lines (old → new; git diff 4d8af02..2257e89 -- …/tests/ | grep -c '^-.*assert' = 1):
  • GateTests.test_closed_gate_on_existing_registry: self.assertEqual(code, 0, out) → the same line, indented into the with block (the setup init runs under the override env).
  • Added: self.assertIsNone(gremlins.platform_gate()) (gate open during setup), self.assertNotIn(gremlins.UNSUPPORTED_OK_ENV, os.environ) (env gone before the gate closes), and in the delta test self.assertLess(gremlins._ts(self.reg()["bases"]["B1"]["trained_at"]), os.path.getmtime(note)).
  • None dropped or loosened.
• Gates:
  1. uv run python -m py_compile plugins/spire/skills/gremlins/tests/test_gremlins.py: exit 0.
  2. Windows: uv run plugins/spire/skills/gremlins/tests/test_gremlins.py GateTests LaunchTests.test_delta_tokens_counts_only_what_the_base_does_not_know: exit 0, Ran 9 tests in 4.643s, OK.
  3. WSL (MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1 wsl -d Ubuntu-20.04 -e bash -lc '… cp -r …/skills/gremlins ~/g34a && cd ~ && uv run ~/g34a/tests/test_gremlins.py GateTests LaunchTests.test_delta_tokens_counts_only_what_the_base_does_not_know; echo exit=$?; rm -rf ~/g34a'): Ran 9 tests in 1.485s, OK, exit=0 (before this block both tests failed there, suite.txt lines 234–251).
  4. Leftover processes (21:56; Windows Get-CimInstance Win32_Process by command line gremlins-test-, _supervise; WSL pgrep -af "gremlins-test-|_supervise|g34a"): none (only the query itself). No wsl --shutdown/--terminate.
  • No live claude calls (stub only).
• Deviations from plan:
  • The WSL findings file named in the brief (…\scratchpad\gremlins-wsl\findings.md) does not exist; the folder holds suite.txt, matrix-gate.txt, the where-* probes and zombie_probe.py. The two causes were taken from the brief and confirmed from suite.txt's tracebacks.
  • Fix 1 uses the override env (the brief's first option), not a fake supported platform: it keeps the host's own platform class and path handling for the init, as the WSL run of test_override already showed works.
• Flagged for review:
  • Product (not changed, per the brief): trained_at is written with timespec="seconds" (truncated), and new_to_base counts a note when mtime > trained_at. A note written in the same whole second as, but before, a training's or rebase's end therefore still counts as new to that base: a spurious delta_tokens reason right after a rebase that absorbed it. It errs towards rebasing, never towards missing a note, and needs sub-second timing to happen in real use, so I left it; a fix would be a fractional trained_at or comparing against trained_at + 1.
• Left for later: the POSIX-only failures from the WSL suite (test_kill_tree, test_refusals, test_expire_kills_running_jobs, test_rebase_counts_toward_cap: zombie root counted alive; test_lost, test_orphan_watchdog: supervisor liveness; test_timeout_and_stalled: tree size 2 < 3) go into the platform handoff, untouched here.
• Expected broken: nothing known. Only the two classes/tests above ran; the full suite runs once in 3.8.
• Commits: 2257e89 (tests), then this note's commit.