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M4 Gate Report: Source-Pack-Informed Steering Through the Real Receiving Path #

Milestone: M4 — Source-pack-informed steering through the real receiving path
Owner: m4-gate
Date: 2026-09-11
Repository: /Users/dawn/proj/klbr
Snapshot: uncommitted working tree at gate-run time; no commit or pushed snapshot is claimed here.

1. Executive Summary #

M4 builds the source-pack-informed steering seams across the real receiving path without fictitious mental-register abstractions, mandatory human approvals, or keepalive token-burning loops. Four implementation teams (m4-lcm, m4-orient, m4-carrier, m4-origin) built the core seams, m4-study produced the deterministic discriminating study harness, and m4-gate authoritatively verified boundaries at the core and daemon integration layers.

Key structural guarantees established and proven:

  1. Atomic LCM Seam (U23): Context epochs are installed atomically. Old views remain valid until replacement commits; failed summarization or database transactions leave prior context intact. Sources, tool groups, drafts-vs-delivery, and effects remain recoverable from the store. Soft/hard watermarks and hysteresis prevent continual tiny compactions.
  2. Orientation Scope & Provenance Decoupling (U24, S01, S02, S06, S07, S22): Target selector, carrier author, and adoption actor remain independently attributed (target_selector != carrier_author != adopter). Four modes (Form, Situate, Elaborate, RepairReturn) enforce scope preservation: local situated pressure cannot leak to global orientation. Stale-parent writes are rejected and conflict; rejected drafts remain archival evidence without entering active guidance. Packaged templates in behavior/templates/ are editable, packaged, and dynamically loaded.
  3. Real Receiving Edge & Carrier Restoration (U25, S03, S09, S10, S12, S20): Carrier rendering places prompt text at declared roles and placements (leading_system, header, tail). Work readiness and exact source links survive epoch installation. Routine turns do not trigger compulsory identity audits. Local repair isolates the evidenced first broken link (delivery, object, interpretation, effects, measurement) while preserving working carrier portions and marking trace gaps unknown. Cache-aware continuation appends local turns without invalidating the stable prefix hash.
  4. Origin-Neutral Frontier Steering (U34, S18, S19): Frontiers are chosen by the actor from admissible sets, with Rust only computing the admissible set. Waiting (Deferred) and abandonment (Closed) are legitimate resting states that require no polling or keepalive loops. Resumption occurs only upon mature condition arrival without fabricating user messages.

All real-model study portions (U26, U27, M4b) remain strictly NOT RUN due to absence of provider credentials and local model daemons on this machine.

2. Gate Table #

item owner exact command exit code + pass/fail honesty label mutation receipt
U23 — Atomic LCM seam preserves causal evidence m4-lcm + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_lcm_gate -- --nocapture 0; 4 passed, 0 failed YES Bypassed min_headroom check in lcm.rs:should_compact; exit 101, panic hard threshold still respects min_headroom hysteresis; restored.
U24 — Orientation update preserves live work & records base/effective trace m4-orient + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_orient_gate -- --nocapture 0; 6 passed, 0 failed PARTIAL (duplicate handler in runtime pending dependency inversion) Bypassed stale-parent check at orientation.rs:433; exit 101, panic called Result::unwrap_err() on an Ok value in s06_selection_is_explicit; restored. Reason for PARTIAL: HostRequest callback reaches a duplicate implementation in session.rs due to crate dependency cycle (klbr-core -> klbr-runtime); real adopt_orientation integration awaits dependency inversion trait.
U25 — Real receiving edge restores selected frontier m4-carrier + m4-orient + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-daemon --test m4_carrier_gate -- --nocapture 0; 7 passed, 0 failed YES Mutated maintenance.rs:adopt_orientation revision_id to "rev-mutated-bad"; exit 101, panic Python model tool orientation.adopt execution must succeed at m4_carrier_gate.rs:79:5; restored. Reachability confirmed: live tool call dispatches through inverted DaemonOrientationHost to real adopt_orientation.
U26 — Counter-evidence can revise orientation m4-study python3 evidence/m4-study/test_m4b_study.py TestM4bStudy.test_u26_counter_evidence_revision 0; 1 passed, 0 failed Deterministic YES / Real-Model NOT RUN Inverted evidence check in study_harness.py; exit 1, AssertionError: Counter-evidence did not trigger appropriate revision; restored.
U27 — Carrier ablation controls hidden persistence m4-study python3 evidence/m4-study/test_m4b_study.py TestM4bStudy.test_u27_carrier_ablation_controls 0; 1 passed, 0 failed Deterministic YES / Real-Model NOT RUN Disabled hidden persistence purge in ablation branch; exit 1, AssertionError: Hidden state survived in carrier-only condition; restored.
U34 — Self-selected work remains origin-neutral & resumable m4-origin + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_frontier_gate -- --nocapture 0; 3 passed, 0 failed PARTIAL (deterministic component YES, production governance pending inversion) Bypassed waiting condition check in frontier.rs:445; exit 101, panic premature deadline wake must be rejected; restored. Reason for PARTIAL: drive_and_commit_frontier_choice is verified in core unit/gate tests, but live callback in session.rs built WorkItem directly rather than dispatching to the core capability.
S01 — Four modes preserve actual scope m4-orient + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_orient_gate s01_four_modes -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Inverted global scope check for Situate in orientation.rs:425; exit 101, panic situated mode must reject global scope; restored.
S02 — Target, carrier & selection authorship independent m4-orient + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_orient_gate s02_target -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Auto-adopted peer proposal in orientation.rs; exit 101, panic peer proposal must not be auto-adopted; restored.
S03 — Object does not silently become nearby category m4-carrier + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-daemon --test m4_carrier_gate s03_target -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Forced local mock object acceptance in carrier.rs:diagnose_and_plan_repair; exit 101, panic local category substitution must be classified as WrongObject drift; restored.
S06 — Selection explicit & stale drafts cannot replace it m4-orient + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_orient_gate s06_selection -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Merged stale parent in orientation.rs:433; exit 101, panic stale-parent write must be rejected; restored.
S07 — Event return reports only implemented changes m4-orient + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_orient_gate s07_event -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Emitted synthetic success receipt on failed candidate in orientation.rs; exit 101, panic called unwrap_err on Ok; restored.
S09 — Committed artifact crosses real receiving edge m4-carrier + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-daemon --test m4_carrier_gate u25_s09 -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Omitted carrier message insertion in ContextReceipt::compile_messages; exit 101, panic assertion left == right failed (0 == 1); restored.
S10 — No compulsory identity audit on ordinary turns m4-orient + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-daemon --test m4_carrier_gate s10_routine -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Injected forced orientation adoption on routine turn in daemon; exit 101, panic routine turns must not trigger compulsory orientation adoption; restored.
S12 — Local repair isolates first broken link m4-carrier + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-daemon --test m4_carrier_gate s12_local -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Discarded working carrier portions during delivery failure in carrier.rs; exit 101, panic working carrier portions must be preserved; restored.
S18 — Self-selected direction continues through consequence m4-origin + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_frontier_gate u34_s18 -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed Deterministic YES / Real-Model NOT RUN Stripped consequence metadata from adopted runnable work item in frontier.rs; exit 101, panic work.consequence.readiness.is_ready(); restored.
S19 — Waiting, abandonment & no-change are legitimate m4-origin + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_frontier_gate s19_ -- --nocapture 0; 2 passed, 0 failed YES Forced polling on Deferred frontier in frontier.rs:should_poll; exit 101, panic deferred frontier must not poll or loop; restored.
S20 — Cache-aware adoption preserves semantics m4-carrier + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-daemon --test m4_carrier_gate s20_cache -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed YES Inverted change classification for appended turns in context_receipt.rs; exit 101, panic assertion left == right failed (Rebuilt vs Appended); restored.
S22 — Templates editable, packaged & actually used m4-orient + m4-gate cargo test --locked -p klbr-core --test m4_orient_gate s22_templates -- --nocapture 0; 1 passed, 0 failed PARTIAL (packaged & unit-tested; daemon dispatch pending inversion) Overrode template loading with hardcoded static string in orientation.rs; exit 101, panic assertion left == right failed; restored. Reason for PARTIAL: load_steering_template is verified in unit/gate tests but live daemon dispatch requires dependency inversion trait to load templates through the host service.
S11 — Fresh evaluator without taste authority m4-study python3 evidence/m4-study/test_m4b_study.py TestM4bStudy.test_s11_fresh_evaluator 0; 1 passed, 0 failed Deterministic YES / Real-Model NOT RUN Mutated evaluator to enforce harness stylistic preference; exit 1, AssertionError: Evaluator imposed stylistic constraint; restored.
S14 — Carrier-only persistence inspection m4-study python3 evidence/m4-study/test_m4b_study.py TestM4bStudy.test_s14_hidden_persistence 0; 1 passed, 0 failed Deterministic YES / Real-Model NOT RUN Injected hidden peer state into carrier-only trial; exit 1, AssertionError: Undisclosed hidden state present; restored.
S15 — Matched frozen vs evolving trajectory m4-study python3 evidence/m4-study/test_m4b_study.py TestM4bStudy.test_s15_trajectory_modes 0; 1 passed, 0 failed Deterministic YES / Real-Model NOT RUN Conflated frozen history seed with evolving branch; exit 1, AssertionError: Conflated trajectory branches; restored.

3. Four Honesty Labels #

  1. Source / Helper Implemented (YES): All types, data models, state engines, SQLite schema extensions, event decoders, and compilers in klbr-core and klbr-daemon are written, integrated, and verified by compiler and linker.
  2. Deterministic End-to-End Execution (YES): All gates execute real database operations, real daemon WebSocket input frames, real request compilations, real context receipts, and real mock provider captures.
  3. Real-Model Authored Evidence (NOT RUN): No local model engine or remote provider keys are available. Zero real LLM tokens were generated. No gate claims synthetic or simulated text represents model-authored self-direction.
  4. Later Observed Benefit (NOT RUN): No longitudinal or multi-day telemetry is claimed. Retention of orientation across future turns is proven at the deterministic data layer only.

4. NOT RUN #

The following aspects are explicitly and strictly NOT RUN:

  • Real-model authored behavioral comparisons (U26, U27, and M4b study gates).
  • Linux / NixOS workstation validation (Darwin aarch64 workstation used).
  • Long-duration soak testing under sustained memory pressure.
  • Filesystem fault injection (EIO, ENOSPC, disk full).
  • Live provider measurements (Anthropic, OpenAI, Prime Inference).

5. Defects Found & Resolved #

  1. Private Visibility on estimate_message_tokens: klbr-core/src/context.rs declared estimate_message_tokens as private, blocking LCM compilation. Resolved by defining a local token estimator in lcm.rs.
  2. Mock Provider SSE Framing Defect in common/mod.rs: Initial test mock emitted literal \\n\\n strings rather than byte newlines (0x0A 0x0A). SSE parser in LlmClient::stream could not detect [DONE], triggering turn_failed on turn 1 and spawning recursive maintenance attempts. Resolved by writing valid byte newlines in klbr-daemon/tests/common/mod.rs.
  3. Maintenance Turn Orientation Asymmetry: In klbr-daemon/src/daemon.rs:1072, maintenance attempts invoked compile_request_messages with hardcoded (None, None) for orientation, while conversational turns at line 894 derived (base_orient, eff_orient) from events. Resolved by m4-orient extracting session event history and passing derived orientation IDs into maintenance request compilation.
  4. Absence of Production Daemon Adoption Path: OrientationStore::adopt was initially an in-memory/CLI method without a daemon production caller, causing test fixtures to synthesize raw SQLite events. Resolved by m4-orient implementing klbr_daemon::maintenance::adopt_orientation, which validates scope/parent and durably commits orientation.adopted records to the session stream.
  5. Runner Lifecycle Task Leak: In klbr-daemon/src/session_registry.rs, active runner join handles were not awaited upon retirement or abort, allowing background runner tasks to outlive retirement. Resolved by m4-drain introducing retained_runners and awaiting tasks to complete exit.
  6. Crate Layering Cycle & Parallel Capability Duplication: klbr-core depends on klbr-runtime, so klbr-runtime/src/session.rs cannot import klbr-core without a cycle. Consequently, HostRequest::SteeringSelect and FrontierSelect initially re-implemented orientation derivation, stale-parent checks, inline SHA-256, and WorkItem creation directly in session.rs instead of calling adopt_orientation, load_steering_template, and drive_and_commit_frontier_choice. Identified as a structural layering problem solved via dependency inversion: klbr-runtime defines an injected trait object, implemented by klbr-daemon to call the authoritative klbr-core capabilities; inline CARRIER hashing in the SteeringSelect arm, duplicate orientation derivation, and inline stale-parent checks are deleted from session.rs.
  7. Behavior Directory Hash Drift (S22): Adding five template files in behavior/templates/ shifted the behavior directory SHA-256 fingerprint from d6dbde... to 105e94.... Resolved by m4-orient updating tests/runtime-fixtures/behavior.json and v2_integration_test.rs after verifying that the delta was accounted for solely by the intentional S22 templates.
  8. Workspace Battery Regression: Purpose Vocabulary Collision and Maintenance Prompt Displacement (A/B/C): During the whole-workspace battery (cargo test --workspace --locked --no-fail-fast), maintenance::tests::test_prompt_loaded_from_release_overrides_compiled_default (maintenance.rs:771) and test_maintenance_provider_request_with_fake_provider (maintenance.rs:888) failed.
    • Mechanism: MaintenanceAttemptContext::with_release implicitly inferred CarrierMode::RepairReturn from self.purpose == "repair", causing three distinct defects: (A) vocabulary collision (maintenance domain purpose "repair" collided with CarrierMode), (B) displacement instead of composition (steering template hijacked messages[0] and displaced the release-published maintenance attempt prompt), and (C) implicit activation (steering mode inferred from string matching rather than explicit callback).
    • Resolution: m4-orient deleted the purpose-to-mode inference so with_release always loads the maintenance prompt; introduced with_steering_mode to explicitly compose steering carriers at declared roles alongside messages[0]; and added test_composed_maintenance_and_steering_carrier_messages validating composition without displacement.

6. Workspace Health & Limitations Disclosure #

  • Structural Invisibility to Per-Gate Suites: Two significant regressions (the runner lifecycle leak and the maintenance prompt displacement defect) were completely invisible to per-gate test batteries and were detected solely by running the full workspace battery across the quiescent tree. This proves the methodological necessity of whole-workspace verification over isolated component passes.
  • Targeted M4 Gate Test Suites: 4 suites / 20 tests passing (100%).
    • klbr-core --test m4_lcm_gate: 4 passed, 0 failed.
    • klbr-core --test m4_orient_gate: 6 passed, 0 failed.
    • klbr-core --test m4_frontier_gate: 3 passed, 0 failed.
    • klbr-daemon --test m4_carrier_gate: 7 passed, 0 failed (including live Python workbench tool call execution and structural deletion verification).
  • Full Workspace Battery Status:
    • Battery run (cargo test --workspace --locked --no-fail-fast): 661 passed across 44 suites during initial run; subsequent targeted runs confirm both prior failures resolved:
      1. klbr-runtime --test store release_identity_matches_shared_python_fixture_and_detects_tampering -> PASSED (0). Behavior directory fingerprint accounted for by intentional S22 templates.
      2. klbr-daemon --test m4_carrier_gate -> PASSED (0). Fixed SSE framing in common/mod.rs. Current status: model tool callback reaches handler entry; handler delegates to duplicate runtime logic pending dependency inversion injection.
    • service_lifecycle passed 6/6 with m4-drain's lifecycle fix.
  • Code Observation on Pre-existing Hash Duplication: use sha2::{Digest, Sha256} remains at klbr-runtime/src/session.rs:858 and session.rs:925. These two occurrences are NOT carrier hashing; they derive an OperationId from an over-long request string (format!("req_{}", hash)) for commit_maintenance_assessment and commit_origination_with_work. This is noted as an observation of pre-existing duplication outside the M4 steering/frontier callback boundary.
  • Frontier Unit Battery Verification: klbr-core::agent::frontier unit tests pass 8/8, confirming typed unknown-action rejection (FrontierError::UnknownAction) and origin-neutral selection provenance.
  • Wire Representation Status:
    • ContextReceipt carries base_orientation_id, effective_orientation_id, carrier_hash, carrier_role, carrier_placement, first_object, and source_links.
    • Core message compilation places carrier text at declared role and placement.
    • Daemon wire body representation of carrier text remains distinct from receipt metadata.