docs(brief-11/11D): next-capability proposal — comparison + recommendation (#346)
Closes the Brief 11 sequence with a decision artifact (not a roadmap) selecting the next capability after GSM8K Phase 2 reader closure. Four candidates compared against ADR-0166's three-question test: - A. Continued GSM8K operator closure - B. Cross-domain reader generalization - C. Tool-use trace integration - D. Workbench demo hardening Recommendation: continued GSM8K operator closure, starting with the `lexicon_entry` row of the Brief 11B audit. The only candidate that passes Q1/Q2/Q3 cleanly today and has an explicit Round-3 finish line. Docs-only. No code, no test, no eval, no pack change.
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docs/decisions/BRIEF-11D-next-capability-proposal.md
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# BRIEF-11D — Next-Capability Proposal (post GSM8K reader closure)
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**Status:** Proposed (decision artifact)
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**Date:** 2026-05-27
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**Author:** Shay
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**Anchor:** [[thesis-decoding-not-generating]]
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**Parent brief:** [BRIEF-11](../handoff/BRIEF-11-phase-2-reader-closure-and-capability-snapshot.md)
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**Gating rule:** [ADR-0166 — Measurement-Capability Sequencing Discipline](./ADR-0166-measurement-capability-sequencing.md)
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---
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## Purpose
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Pick the single next capability to land after the Phase 2 reader closure pass
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(Brief 11B-step-2 + 11C snapshot). One choice. Defended. Three rejected with
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reasons. Per Brief 11 §"lead engineer has a yes/no decision artifact, not
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another sprawling roadmap."
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ADR-0166's three-question test gates every candidate:
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- **Q1** What capability does this build before measurement?
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- **Q2** What existing lane validates it? (No new lanes.)
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- **Q3** What invariant proves `wrong=0` / closure / determinism?
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---
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## Candidates
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### Candidate A — Continued GSM8K operator closure
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Extend the comprehension reader (ADR-0164) for the remaining bottleneck
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classes from `audit_brief_11.md`: `multi_quantity_composition` (8),
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`quantity_extraction` (9), `fraction_percentage_literal` (3),
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`comparatives`, rate parsing. Mechanical, per-frame work in
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`generate/comprehension/`.
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- **Q1 — Capability**: Each frame is a new composition rule on the
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existing `ComprehensionState` machine. The reader, state shape, and
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lexicon pack already exist on main; this is operator-level extension.
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- **Q2 — Lane**: `evals/gsm8k_math/train_sample/v1` (canonical, in
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place). Capability-axis G1–G5, S1 lanes act as the regression net.
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- **Q3 — Invariant**: `wrong == 0` by construction (admissibility +
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unit-proof + multi-branch-disagreement refusal stay in force).
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Determinism: frozen-dataclass state + canonical-bytes
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serialization → byte-equal trace hash on rerun. Closure: bottleneck
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audit row count strictly decreases.
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### Candidate B — Cross-domain reader generalization
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Port the incremental comprehension reader pattern to a non-math
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domain (e.g. `en_core_relations_v1` kinship statements or
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`en_core_cognition_v1` belief statements) to prove the architecture
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isn't math-overfit. Authors a sibling lexicon pack and a parallel
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state machine.
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- **Q1 — Capability**: A second reader instance, sharing the
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`ComprehensionState` abstraction but with a domain lexicon + frame
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rules. Reader machinery is generic; domain coupling is the test.
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- **Q2 — Lane**: Existing `evals/identity_divergence/` and the
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cognition-axis lanes consume relations/cognition packs today. No
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new lane required.
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- **Q3 — Invariant**: Same admissibility + refusal contract as the
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math reader; pack-level mastery report + manifest checksum +
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byte-equal trace hash. **But:** the math reader has not yet
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cleared its first capability gate (GSM8K Round-2 exit
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`correct ≥ 25`). ADR-0166 §"Forbidden work" — measurement of a
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generalization before the original capability is anchored
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produces noise, not signal.
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### Candidate C — Tool-use trace integration
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Let the engine invoke deterministic tools (calculator, unit
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canonicalizer, ratified-pack lookup) within a turn and record the
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invocation in the trace. Hardens the teaching corridor by giving
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contemplation a deterministic compute primitive.
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- **Q1 — Capability**: A typed `ToolCall` record on the turn trace,
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whitelisted to deterministic pure-function tools (no network, no
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filesystem, no LLM), with replay-equivalence guarantees.
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- **Q2 — Lane**: None of the existing canonical lanes exercise
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tool-use. `evals/long_context_cost/` and capability-axis lanes
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measure end-to-end accuracy, not intermediate compute. Adding a
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lane would violate ADR-0166. Existing teaching-corridor tests
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(`evals/identity_divergence/`, `evals/cognition/`) do not
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branch on tool presence — so they cannot distinguish
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capability-present from capability-absent.
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- **Q3 — Invariant**: `wrong == 0` extends only if every tool is
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pure and deterministic. Determinism: tool output canonicalized
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into trace hash. Closure: undefined — the set of useful tools is
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open-ended.
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### Candidate D — Workbench demo hardening
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Make the read-only operator UI (ADR-0160/0162) load-bearing for
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HITL ratification (ADR-0161), replay theater (W-031), and proposal
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queue (W-029). Moves the workbench from demo-tier to operator-tier
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infrastructure.
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- **Q1 — Capability**: Surface-level integration of
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already-shipped backend mechanisms (ratification queue,
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contemplation candidates, replay). No new operator, no new
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recognizer, no new composition rule.
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- **Q2 — Lane**: Workbench has no canonical capability lane in
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Tier 3 or capability-axis tables; it is operator-facing infra,
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not a measured capability. ADR-0166 §"Boundaries" — the rule
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governs eval lanes; UI work is out of scope for this ADR but
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also out of scope for Brief 11's "next capability" question.
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- **Q3 — Invariant**: Determinism inherited from the underlying
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ratification + replay paths. `wrong == 0` not directly
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applicable — workbench is an inspector, not an admitter. Closure:
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W-029/W-031 acceptance criteria, not capability closure.
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---
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## Recommendation
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**Recommended next: Candidate A — Continued GSM8K operator closure.**
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### Why it beats the others on lift-per-risk
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1. **Three-question test passes cleanly.** Capability exists
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(reader scaffolding on main); lane exists
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(`gsm8k_math/train_sample/v1` with a real baseline at 3/47/0
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today, the Phase 2 closure baseline after 11B-step-2); the
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invariant is mechanical (`wrong == 0` by construction +
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determinism by frozen state).
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2. **The bottleneck audit names the work.** `audit_brief_11.md`
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has already ranked the highest-leverage missing operators
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(`lexicon_entry: 9`, `multi_quantity_composition: 8`,
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`quantity_extraction: 9`). The backlog is queued, sized, and
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risk-categorized.
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3. **It is the only candidate that converges.** Phase 2 reader
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closure has an explicit exit criterion (ADR-0163 Round-3
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`correct ≥ 35`, `wrong = 0`). The work has a finish line.
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Candidates B, C, D do not — each opens new surface area.
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4. **It unblocks every other candidate.** ADR-0166 §"Forbidden
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work" rejects authoring lanes/generalizations ahead of the
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capability that produces signal. Math reader closure is the
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gate every other candidate inherits.
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### Rejection rationale
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- **B (cross-domain reader)** — Generalizing the reader before
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the math reader clears Round-2 (`correct ≥ 25`) measures a
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generalization of an unanchored capability. The cross-domain
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result would be uninterpretable: a refusal could mean either
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the pattern doesn't generalize *or* the underlying reader is
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still under-built. Defer until math reader clears Round-3.
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- **C (tool-use trace integration)** — Fails Q2 (no existing
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lane distinguishes tool-present from tool-absent) and Q3
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(closure is undefined). The mechanism is conceptually clean
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but ADR-0166 forbids building a capability whose signal would
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require a new lane to register. Revisit once a math problem
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class demonstrably refuses for reasons a calculator would
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resolve — that grounds the tool surface in real data.
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- **D (workbench demo hardening)** — UI work is not a capability
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in the ADR-0166 sense. It does not advance
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`listen → comprehend → recall → think → articulate → learn`.
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It hardens a viewing surface for mechanisms that already work.
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Worth doing when the operator workflow demands it; not the
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next *capability* commit.
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### First sub-PR scope
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**Branch:** `feat/brief-12a-lexicon-entry-closure`
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**Target:** `audit_brief_11.md` row `lexicon_entry: 9` (lowest-risk,
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highest-count, cannot create wrong admissions without also passing
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graph-completeness — per audit §"Highest-leverage backlog").
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Deliverables (single PR):
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- 9 lexicon entries added to `en_core_math_v1` with a manifest
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checksum bump and deterministic ordering.
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- Pack test pinning the 9 new lemmas + their semantic categories.
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- Reader rerun on `train_sample/v1` showing the 9 cases move
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from `unknown_word` either to admitted (preferred) or to a
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different refusal class (acceptable — surfaces the next gap).
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- `wrong == 0` preserved.
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Exit: `correct` rises by some amount ≥ 0, and the
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`unknown_word` row in the audit taxonomy strictly decreases.
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Refusal taxonomy may grow at other rows — that is real new work
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becoming visible, not regression.
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### Dependencies
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- **Blocked on:** Brief 11B-step-2 (the two in-flight closure-fix
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branches) merging to main. The audit artifact and reader
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scaffolding must be the version 11D operates against.
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- **Blocked on:** Brief 11C (capability snapshot) producing the
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post-closure baseline. The first 11D sub-PR's delta is
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measured against that baseline, not the pre-closure 3/47/0.
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- **Independent of:** Workbench work (Candidate D), tool-use
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scoping (Candidate C), and any cross-domain reader prototype
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(Candidate B). Those remain backlog.
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---
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## Definition of "decided"
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This document is a decision artifact, not a roadmap. The decision
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recorded here:
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> The next capability after GSM8K reader Phase 2 closure is
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> continued GSM8K operator closure, starting with the
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> `lexicon_entry` row of the Brief 11B audit. No new lanes. No
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> cross-domain prototype. No tool-use scoping. No workbench
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> promotion. Revisit candidates B/C/D after the math reader
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> clears ADR-0163 Round-3 (`correct ≥ 35`, `wrong = 0`).
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Reopening this decision requires either:
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1. The first 11D sub-PR fails to register signal (audit
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`unknown_word` row does not shrink), indicating the
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lexicon-entry path is not the right next step, or
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2. The math reader clears Round-3 ahead of expectation, retiring
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Candidate A and bringing B/C/D back into scope.
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---
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## Cross-references
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- [ADR-0166](./ADR-0166-measurement-capability-sequencing.md) — the
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three-question test this document answers four times.
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- [ADR-0164](./ADR-0164-incremental-comprehension-reader.md) — the
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architecture this recommendation extends.
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- [BRIEF-11](../handoff/BRIEF-11-phase-2-reader-closure-and-capability-snapshot.md)
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§"Failure modes to avoid §3" — eval surface inflation; this
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document declines to inflate it.
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- `evals/gsm8k_math/train_sample/v1/audit_brief_11.md` — the
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bottleneck table the first sub-PR attacks.
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- [SESSION-2026-05-27-tier3-sequencing](./SESSION-2026-05-27-tier3-sequencing.md)
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— the narrative grounding for "capability before measurement,
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measurement before expansion."
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