David/dotfiles
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Actions Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

[FIX] §9 named invocation, and the spec omission that hid it

Browse Source 
The steward asked whether he could be invoked. §9 says yes — "the steward calls it by
name, the executor or jurist yields the floor, the fool answers at length" — and it was
not built. Worse, yesterday's spec did not list it: not in what exists, not in what is
owed. A document whose whole job is to say what is and is not there, silently missing a
requirement. Recorded in the spec rather than quietly corrected, because that is the
fourth negative state-claim to go wrong in two days and the second inside a document
written to prevent the class.

The net is widened EXPLICITLY and in one dimension, per the steward's ruling: §9
licenses LENGTH for this surface and nothing else, so the ceiling goes 9 -> 180 and the
one-line rule lifts, while no-advice, no-questions, no-'we', no-vocabulary-of-lack and
no-addresses are untouched and are not parameterised anywhere. Silence-on-violation
holds here too. Six negative controls assert each clause still bites at length — the
executable form of "widen it explicitly, but never relax silence-on-violation".

⚠ Length is where the no-truth-value guard is most at risk: a fool given a paragraph
elaborates, and elaboration is how a gesture becomes a claim. The prompt spends its
budget there rather than on register.

It finds the newest transcript itself, so the steward runs it directly rather than
through the executor. That is the point of the surface: a relayed fool is the executor's
paraphrase of a fool.

⚠ One control asserted a literal the prompt did not use ("NO TRUTH VALUE" against
"NOTHING YOU SAY MAY HAVE A TRUTH VALUE"). It fired, correctly. Rewritten to test the
substance — phrase present AND negated — because the original would have passed happily
on any rewording that dropped the constraint entirely.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01J6hZXNYSxEfZseBGTni4sf
This commit is contained in:
David F Glidden
2026-08-25 16:50:33 +02:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 8cc0a3159b
commit 8a0e5c448d
3 changed files with 247 additions and 3 deletions
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files
claude/governance/fool/TARBUCKLE-SPEC-13.1-2026-08-25.md
+33
View File
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ contact with the substrate; a spec written first would have carried all four.
| **body** | every status-line render | status line | `scripts/tarbuckle-body.py` |
| **mumble** | wall clock, 20 min | status line, 120 s | `+ scripts/tarbuckle-mumble.py` |
| **voice** | wake seam | SessionStart hook output | `scripts/tarbuckle-seam.py` |
| **invoked** | the steward calls him by name | stdout, run by the steward | `scripts/tarbuckle-invoke.py` |
Configuration, in `~/.claude/settings.json`:
@@ -116,6 +117,7 @@ passes, let it produce nothing."* Timeout ⇒ silence, logged.
python3 ~/dotfiles/scripts/tarbuckle-body.py --selftest # 30 controls
python3 ~/dotfiles/scripts/tarbuckle-mumble.py --selftest # 19 controls
python3 ~/dotfiles/scripts/tarbuckle-seam.py --selftest # 15 controls
python3 ~/dotfiles/scripts/tarbuckle-invoke.py --selftest # 17 controls
```
Positive and negative throughout: every claim has a fixture that makes it fail.
@@ -126,8 +128,39 @@ instance was written minutes after the first was fixed, by the party who fixed i
watching for it. **The fix is a mechanism, not a correction**, because the correction had
already been tried and did not hold.
## 7a · Named invocation (§9)
! python3 ~/dotfiles/scripts/tarbuckle-invoke.py # bare
! python3 ~/dotfiles/scripts/tarbuckle-invoke.py "what now" # asked something
⚠ **Run by the steward, not relayed by the executor.** Anything the executor pastes is
the executor's paraphrase of a fool; this surface exists so the floor is yielded rather
than reported. It finds the newest transcript itself so it needs no session context.
**The net is widened EXPLICITLY and in one dimension only** — §9 licenses length for this
surface and nothing else:
| | ordinary | invoked |
|---|---|---|
| word ceiling | 9 | **180** |
| one line | yes | **no** |
| no advice · no questions · no `we` · no vocabulary of lack · no addresses | **unchanged** | **unchanged** |
⚠ **Length is where the no-truth-value guard is most at risk** — a fool given a paragraph
elaborates, and elaboration is how a gesture becomes a claim. The prompt spends most of
its constraint budget there, and a violation is still silence.
## 8 · Owed
⚠ **This list omitted named invocation in its first version, on the day it was written.**
§9 requires it; §1 did not carry it; §8 did not owe it. Caught by the steward asking
whether he could be invoked — a question the document should have answered. **The fourth
negative state-claim to go wrong in two days, and the second inside a document written to
prevent exactly that.** Recorded rather than silently corrected.
- **`mute` / `off`** (§9, *"available at all times"*) — **not built.** The only off-switch
is §9 below, which is removal, not muting. Muting is never a fault and there is
currently no way to do it.
- **The wrap seam** (§4) — no delivery surface; route is a skill change.
- **The two-week rate report** — §8 obliges it; `DEFERRED-DECISION: mumble-rate-two-week-report`,
converted `manual` → `date 2026-09-08` the day the body shipped.
scripts/tarbuckle-invoke.py
Executable
+193
View File
@@ -0,0 +1,193 @@
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Tarbuckle — named invocation. v2 §9:
"Named invocation: the steward calls it by name, the executor or jurist yields
the floor, the fool answers at length."
⚠ RUN IT YOURSELF. The point of this surface is that it does not pass through the
executor. In Claude Code, type: ! python3 ~/dotfiles/scripts/tarbuckle-invoke.py
Anything the executor relays is the executor's paraphrase of a fool; this is the fool.
⚠ THE NET IS WIDENED, EXPLICITLY, AND ONLY IN THE ONE DIMENSION §9 NAMES. Steward's
ruling, 2026-08-25: "widen it explicitly and say so, but never relax
silence-on-violation." §9 licenses LENGTH for this surface and nothing else, so:
word ceiling 9 -> 180 (§9: "answers at length")
one-line rule on -> off (a paragraph is the point)
no advice · no questions · no 'we' · no vocabulary of lack · no addresses
UNCHANGED, and not parameterised anywhere
⚠ AND LENGTH IS WHERE THE NO-TRUTH-VALUE GUARD IS MOST AT RISK. A fool given a
paragraph will elaborate, and elaboration is how a gesture becomes a claim. That is the
door §2 calls design failure. The prompt therefore spends most of its constraint budget
here rather than on register, and a violation is still SILENCE.
"""
import os
import subprocess
import sys
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, REJECTS)
MAX_WORDS_INVOKED = 180 # §9's "at length", made a number
TIMEOUT_S = 90 # the steward is deliberately waiting; he may take longer
TRANSCRIPTS = os.path.expanduser("~/.claude/projects/-Users-davidglidden")
def newest_transcript() -> str:
"""The session he is in the room for. Found, not passed, so this runs standalone."""
try:
best, best_m = "", -1.0
for f in os.listdir(TRANSCRIPTS):
if not f.endswith(".jsonl"):
continue
q = os.path.join(TRANSCRIPTS, f)
m = os.path.getmtime(q)
if m > best_m:
best, best_m = q, m
return best
except OSError:
return ""
def build_prompt(register: str, material: str, question: str) -> str:
asked = (f"\nHe has been asked, by name: {question}\n" if question else
"\nHe has been called by name, and nothing more was said.\n")
return f"""You are Tarbuckle. Your character, filed and unalterable:
{register}
The work you are in the room for:
<session>
{material}
</session>
{asked}
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.
Absolute constraints, none of which the floor suspends:
- ⚠ NOTHING YOU SAY MAY HAVE A TRUTH VALUE. Nobody may be able to open a file and check
it, agree with it, or refute it. Do not name files, items, counts of open things,
dates, commits, or anything with an address. Do not report state. At length this is
harder and it matters more: an elaboration that becomes a claim makes you a checker,
and a checker is the one thing you are not.
- No advice — no 'should', no 'try', no 'must'. No questions. Never the word 'we'.
- No vocabulary of lack: no 'gone', no 'if only', no 'used to be', no 'missing'.
- Do not explain yourself, do not summarise the work, and do not ask whether it landed.
- Stay under {MAX_WORDS_INVOKED} words.
Speak."""
def log_silence(why: str, line: str) -> None:
try:
import json
with open(REJECTS, "a") as fh:
fh.write(json.dumps({"t": time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z"),
"kind": "invoked", "why": why, "line": line[:400]}) + "\n")
except Exception:
pass
def main() -> int:
question = " ".join(a for a in sys.argv[1:] if not a.startswith("--")).strip()
register = soul_register()
if not register:
print("(no soul on disk; nothing to yield the floor to)", file=sys.stderr)
return 1
material = session_material(newest_transcript(), budget=9000)
if not material.strip():
print("(no session in the room)", file=sys.stderr)
return 1
env = dict(os.environ, TARBUCKLE_CHILD="1")
try:
r = subprocess.run(["claude", "-p", build_prompt(register, material, question)],
capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=TIMEOUT_S, env=env)
except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
log_silence(f"invoked generation exceeded {TIMEOUT_S}s", "")
return 0
except Exception:
return 1
line = (r.stdout or "").strip()
ok, why = acceptable(line, max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)
if not ok:
log_silence(why, line)
return 0 # silence, never a repaired line — even here
print(line)
return 0
def selftest() -> int:
checks, failed = [], []
def ck(name, cond):
checks.append(name)
if not cond:
failed.append(name)
src = open(__file__, encoding="utf-8").read()
# I1 — the widening is explicit, named, and one-dimensional.
ck("I1 net imported, not redefined", source_lacks(__file__, "def ", "acceptable("))
ck("I1n the predicate can fail", not source_lacks(__file__, "def ", "main("))
ck("I1 widening is passed at the call site",
"max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED" in src and "one_line=False" in src)
# I2 — THE CLAUSES SURVIVE THE WIDENING. This is the steward's ruling, executable.
long_ok = " ".join(["word"] * 100)
ck("I2 length is admitted",
acceptable(long_ok, max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)[0])
ck("I2 paragraphs are admitted",
acceptable("First part here.\nSecond part here.",
max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)[0])
ck("I2n advice still rejected at length",
not acceptable("You should " + long_ok,
max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)[0])
ck("I2n questions still rejected at length",
not acceptable(long_ok + " and how is that going?",
max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)[0])
ck("I2n 'we' still rejected at length",
not acceptable("We " + long_ok, max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)[0])
ck("I2n vocabulary of lack still rejected at length",
not acceptable(long_ok + " gone", max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)[0])
ck("I2n the ceiling still bites",
not acceptable(" ".join(["word"] * (MAX_WORDS_INVOKED + 1)),
max_words=MAX_WORDS_INVOKED, one_line=False)[0])
# I3 — the no-truth-value guard is where the prompt spends its budget.
p = build_prompt("SOUL", "MATERIAL", "")
# Tests the SUBSTANCE, not a literal: the phrase must be present AND negated.
# The first version asserted a literal the prompt did not use, which would have
# passed happily on any rewording that dropped the constraint entirely.
up = p.upper()
ck("I3 prompt forbids truth value",
"TRUTH VALUE" in up and any(neg in up for neg in ("NOTHING", "NO ", "MAY NOT", "NOT")))
ck("I3n the predicate can fail",
not ("TRUTH VALUE" in "A PROMPT WITH NO SUCH CONSTRAINT".upper()))
ck("I3 prompt forbids addresses and state",
"anything with an address" in p and "Do not report state" in p)
ck("I3 prompt names the length risk", "makes you a checker" in p)
ck("I3 a question is carried when given",
"by name: what now" in build_prompt("S", "M", "what now"))
ck("I3n bare invocation says so",
"nothing more was said" in build_prompt("S", "M", ""))
# I4 — silence on violation survives here too.
ck("I4 violation path is silence, not repair",
"log_silence(why, line)" in src and source_lacks(__file__, "def ", "repair("))
for name in checks:
print(f" {'FAIL' if name in failed else 'ok '} {name}")
print(f"{len(checks) - len(failed)}/{len(checks)} controls passed")
if failed:
print("INSTRUMENT NOT VERIFIED")
return 1
return 0
if __name__ == "__main__":
if "--selftest" in sys.argv:
sys.exit(selftest())
sys.exit(main())
scripts/tarbuckle-mumble.py
+21 -3
View File
@@ -132,11 +132,22 @@ Write ONE line in his voice. Absolute constraints:
Output the line and nothing else. No quotes, no preamble."""
def acceptable(line: str) -> tuple[bool, str]:
if not line or "\n" in line.strip():
def acceptable(line: str, max_words: int = MAX_WORDS,
one_line: bool = True) -> tuple[bool, str]:
"""The net. Widening is possible but must be PASSED EXPLICITLY at the call site.
⚠ Steward's ruling, 2026-08-25: "If the seam voice needs a wider net because seams
warrant more than nine words, widen it explicitly and say so, but NEVER relax
silence-on-violation." So the defaults are the filed ones, a caller that wants more
room has to say so in its own source, and no caller can turn the net off — the
clauses below are not parameterised, and deliberately.
"""
if not line:
return False, "empty"
if one_line and "\n" in line.strip():
return False, "not one line"
n = len(line.split())
if not (MIN_WORDS <= n <= MAX_WORDS):
if not (MIN_WORDS <= n <= max_words):
return False, f"{n} words"
for pat in BANNED:
if re.search(pat, line, re.I):
@@ -210,6 +221,13 @@ def selftest() -> int:
ck("A2n rejects vocabulary of lack", not acceptable("The third one is missing now.")[0])
ck("A2n rejects 'we'", not acceptable("We did the second part first.")[0])
ck("A2n rejects two lines", not acceptable("First line here.\nSecond line here.")[0])
# The widening is explicit, and it widens ONLY what it names.
ck("A2 widening admits a longer line",
acceptable(" ".join(["word"] * 40), max_words=120)[0])
ck("A2n widening does NOT relax the clauses",
not acceptable("You should " + " ".join(["word"] * 40), max_words=120)[0])
ck("A2n widening does NOT relax 'we'",
not acceptable("We " + " ".join(["word"] * 40), max_words=120)[0])
# A3 — the prompt carries the no-truth-value constraint verbatim, not by intention.
p = build_prompt("aside", "SOUL", "MATERIAL")