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ADR-0009: Require decomposed Result Pseudocode with cited execution evidence

  • Status: Accepted (prototype; feature-gated per RS-10). Amended by the Result standard (contracts/standards/RESULT_STANDARD.md):
  • mechanically derived requirement IDs and reconciliation of every requirement are retired (RS-02, RS-03);
  • the previous turn's result record is no longer chained forward: a follow-up turn receives the previous request and result as labelled reference only (RS-09).
  • Date: 2026-09-18
  • Parent decision: ADR-0005
  • Related requirements: TRD-0003: Result Pseudocode Decomposition Standard (upstream document, not included in this repository)
  • Related decisions: ADR-0003, ADR-0004, ADR-0008, ADR-0016
  • Implementation, clause status and evidence: IMPL-0006

Context

Multi-turn builds showed a continuity failure across task epochs. - Execution never saw the source. Phase projections had removed the source material, so execution conditioned only on pseudocode summaries, and revision turns invented interfaces for code they had never seen. - Byte-exact chaining was not enough. Passing the previous deliverable byte for byte stopped the invented interfaces, but did not stop goal drift or fabricated test expectations. - Summaries are a weak link. They are the only representation dense enough to survive phase boundaries, but a summary written from memory is itself where hallucination enters.

Decision

EXECUTE emits, alongside the native deliverable, a structured result record (Result IR) that is:

  • Evidence-cited. Claims about files, status and open defects cite artifacts that resolve inside the workspace, and quoted observations must match them verbatim. Invented paths or quotes are mechanical findings.
  • Mechanically validated by the host, in shape and citations, before the result is published. Persistent failures are recorded and scored, never masked.
  • Structured, not narrated. The record is schema-shaped data, carried apart from the deliverable text. Free-text narration alone does not conform.

Consequences

Positive

  • Evidence and existence travel together: fabricated evidence becomes mechanically invalid rather than merely implausible.
  • Validation is host-owned and independent of the model.

Negative

  • Generation cost per turn increases.
  • Citations add context on large projects, so a size policy is needed.

Alternatives considered

Byte-exact chaining only

Implemented first, and kept as the substrate. It removes invented interfaces but not goal drift.

Free-text Result Pseudocode (ADR-0005 unmodified)

Rejected. Prose decompositions cannot be audited.

Host-side cumulative project merge

Deferred. Merging partial deliverables is sound but heuristic-laden.