[FIX] He was reciting his own examples, not watching the session — steward caught it

Measured before agreeing: three of five recent outputs were near-verbatim lifts from the
seven sample lines the soul carries. "Somebody's going to inherit that and think it was
easy" and "It'll outlast you, not by much" are not observations; they are the prompt
being handed back.

⚠ THIS REINTRODUCED PRECISELY WHAT AMENDMENT 6 RULED OUT. Type-only canned strings were
rejected there because they "make a mood ring — atmosphere within a fortnight", and the
material was settled as the live session for that reason. The implementation then let
canned strings back in through the one door nobody was watching: the illustrative
examples inside the register itself. The doctrine was right and the wiring undid it.

Two fixes, because a prompt instruction alone is a promise. The prompts now mark the
samples as illustrations of REGISTER, NOT VOCABULARY, and add the operative test — if
the line would suit any other session equally well, it is wrong. And a mechanical net:
echoes_soul() rejects a 4-word run shared with any sample line, or a 6-word run shared
with the soul's prose. Checked against samples rather than the whole soul at n=4 because
the soul's prose shares ordinary 4-grams with ordinary English, and a net firing on those
would silence him for speaking normally.

Fixtures are the REAL measured lifts, not invented ones, with two of his own lines as
negative controls.

⚠ This TIGHTENS the net; silence-on-violation is untouched and still absolute.

Verified after: he now speaks about this session, including about this very defect.

body 32 · mumble 32 · seam 15 · invoke 21 · wrap 21.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01J6hZXNYSxEfZseBGTni4sf

scripts/tarbuckle-invoke.py

@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ import time
 
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
 from tarbuckle_mumble_shim import (acceptable, soul_register, session_material,  # noqa: E402
-                                   source_lacks, muted, log_event, REJECTS)
+                                   source_lacks, muted, log_event,  # noqa: E402
+                                   echoes_soul, REJECTS)
 
 MAX_WORDS_INVOKED = 180          # §9's "at length", made a number
 TIMEOUT_S = 90                   # the steward is deliberately waiting; he may take longer
@@ -64,6 +65,11 @@ The work you are in the room for:
 {material}
 </session>
 {asked}
+⚠ THE SAMPLE LINES ABOVE ARE ILLUSTRATIONS OF REGISTER, NOT VOCABULARY. Do not reuse
+them, any phrase from them, or their subject matter — no thumbs, no handles, no blades
+unless the session is about them. Everything you say must come from the session above.
+If it would suit any other session equally well, it is wrong.
+
 You have been given the floor. Answer at length — this is the exception to your one line,
 and the only one. Speak as yourself, not about yourself.
 
@@ -115,6 +121,8 @@ def main() -> int:
         return 1
     line = (r.stdout or "").strip()
     ok, why = acceptable(line, max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)
+    if ok and echoes_soul(line, register):
+        ok, why = False, f"recited the soul: {echoes_soul(line, register)!r}"
     if not ok:
         log_silence(why, line)
         log_event("invoke", "silent")

scripts/tarbuckle-mumble.py

@@ -90,6 +90,40 @@ def muted() -> str:
         return ""
 
 
+def _grams(text: str, n: int) -> set:
+    w = re.findall(r"[a-z']+", text.lower())
+    return {" ".join(w[i:i + n]) for i in range(len(w) - n + 1)}
+
+
+def echoes_soul(line: str, soul: str) -> str:
+    """'' if the line is his own; otherwise the phrase he recycled.
+
+    ⚠ EARNED 2026-08-25, BY THE STEWARD NOTICING. The soul carries seven illustrative
+    sample lines, the prompt embeds the soul verbatim, and the model handed them back:
+    three of five measured outputs were near-verbatim lifts. A fool reciting his own
+    examples is not watching the session at all — and AMENDMENT 6 already ruled that
+    canned strings keyed to nothing "make a mood ring, atmosphere within a fortnight".
+    The implementation reintroduced exactly what the doctrine rejected, through the one
+    door nobody was watching: the examples.
+
+    Two thresholds, because the failure has two shapes. A 4-word run against the SAMPLE
+    LINES catches direct recital; a 6-word run against the whole soul catches longer
+    lifts out of the prose. Checked against the samples rather than the whole soul at
+    n=4 because the soul's prose shares ordinary 4-grams with ordinary English, and a
+    net that fires on those would silence him for speaking normally.
+
+    ⚠ This TIGHTENS the net. Silence-on-violation is unchanged and still absolute.
+    """
+    samples = re.findall(r"^- '(.+?)'$", soul, re.M)
+    lg4 = _grams(line, 4)
+    for sm in samples:
+        hit = lg4 & _grams(sm, 4)
+        if hit:
+            return sorted(hit)[0]
+    hit6 = _grams(line, 6) & _grams(soul, 6)
+    return sorted(hit6)[0] if hit6 else ""
+
+
 def source_lacks(path: str, *parts: str) -> bool:
     """True if the joined needle does NOT appear in `path`.
 
@@ -164,6 +198,10 @@ Here is the tail of the session he is in the room for:
 {weight}
 
 Write ONE line in his voice. Absolute constraints:
+- ⚠ THE SAMPLE LINES ABOVE ARE ILLUSTRATIONS OF HIS REGISTER, NOT HIS VOCABULARY. Do
+  not reuse them, or any phrase from them, or their subject matter. They show how he
+  sounds. What he says must come from the session above and nowhere else. If your line
+  would work equally well pasted into any other session, it is wrong.
 - Between {MIN_WORDS} and {MAX_WORDS} words. One clause. Present tense. Flat, no lift.
 - IT MUST HAVE NO TRUTH VALUE. Nobody must be able to open a file and check it, agree
   with it, or refute it. Put two things next to each other so a shape shows. Do not
@@ -217,6 +255,10 @@ def main() -> int:
         return 1
     line = (r.stdout or "").strip().strip('"').strip()
     ok, why = acceptable(line)
+    if ok:
+        echo = echoes_soul(line, register)
+        if echo:
+            ok, why = False, f"recited the soul: {echo!r}"
     if not ok:
         try:
             with open(REJECTS, "a") as fh:
@@ -309,6 +351,16 @@ def selftest() -> int:
     ck("A6 log_event takes no content",
        log_event.__code__.co_argcount == 2
        and set(log_event.__code__.co_varnames[:2]) == {"surface", "outcome"})
+    # A7 — the recital net, with the real measured lifts as fixtures.
+    _soul = soul_register() or ""
+    ck("A7 catches a verbatim sample",
+       bool(echoes_soul("Somebody's going to inherit this and think it was easy.", _soul)))
+    ck("A7 catches a second measured lift",
+       bool(echoes_soul("You've been holding it that way since you were nineteen.", _soul)))
+    ck("A7n passes a line that is his own",
+       not echoes_soul("Second surface you've found for the same voice.", _soul))
+    ck("A7n passes an ordinary short observation",
+       not echoes_soul("Third one that's held together with a name.", _soul))
     ck("A6n it cannot be handed a line",
        "line" not in log_event.__code__.co_varnames)
     ck("A4n the predicate can fail",

scripts/tarbuckle-seam.py

@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
 # reimplementing is the "one canonical source" rule applied to a constraint: a second
 # copy of `acceptable()` is a second, quietly divergent standard.
 from tarbuckle_mumble_shim import (acceptable, soul_register, session_material,  # noqa: E402
-                                   source_lacks, muted, log_event, REJECTS)
+                                   source_lacks, muted, log_event,  # noqa: E402
+                                   echoes_soul, REJECTS)
 
 LAST_TICK = os.path.expanduser("~/.claude/state/tarbuckle-last-tick")
 SEAM_TIMEOUT_S = 15
@@ -68,6 +69,9 @@ He has just walked in on this, already in progress:
 </session>
 
 Write ONE line in his voice, on arriving. Absolute constraints:
+- ⚠ THE SAMPLE LINES ABOVE ARE ILLUSTRATIONS OF REGISTER, NOT VOCABULARY. Do not reuse
+  them, any phrase from them, or their subject matter. What he says must come from the
+  session above. If the line would suit any other session equally, it is wrong.
 - Between 3 and 9 words. One clause. Present tense. Flat, no lift.
 - IT MUST HAVE NO TRUTH VALUE. Nobody must be able to open a file and check it, agree
   with it, or refute it. Put two things next to each other so a shape shows.
@@ -129,6 +133,8 @@ def main() -> int:
         return 0
     line = (r.stdout or "").strip().strip('"').strip()
     ok, why = acceptable(line)
+    if ok and echoes_soul(line, register):
+        ok, why = False, f"recited the soul: {echoes_soul(line, register)!r}"
     if not ok:
         log_silence(why, line)
         log_event("seam", "silent")

scripts/tarbuckle-wrap.py

@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ import time
 
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
 from tarbuckle_mumble_shim import (acceptable, soul_register, session_material,  # noqa: E402
-                                   source_lacks, muted, log_event, REJECTS)
+                                   source_lacks, muted, log_event,  # noqa: E402
+                                   echoes_soul, REJECTS)
 
 FIRED = os.path.expanduser("~/.claude/state/tarbuckle-wrap-fired")
 TIMEOUT_S = 15
@@ -116,6 +117,9 @@ The work he has been in the room for is being put down for the day:
 </session>
 
 Write ONE line in his voice, as it is being put down. Absolute constraints:
+- ⚠ THE SAMPLE LINES ABOVE ARE ILLUSTRATIONS OF REGISTER, NOT VOCABULARY. Do not reuse
+  them, any phrase from them, or their subject matter. What he says must come from the
+  session above. If the line would suit any other session equally, it is wrong.
 - Between 3 and 9 words. One clause. Present tense. Flat, no lift.
 - IT MUST HAVE NO TRUTH VALUE. Nobody may open a file and check it, agree with it, or
   refute it. Put two things next to each other so a shape shows.
@@ -169,6 +173,8 @@ def main() -> int:
         return 0
     line = (r.stdout or "").strip().strip('"').strip()
     ok, why = acceptable(line)
+    if ok and echoes_soul(line, register):
+        ok, why = False, f"recited the soul: {echoes_soul(line, register)!r}"
     if not ok:
         log_silence(why, line)
         log_event("wrap", "silent")