core/docs/analysis/step3-relational-surface-lookback-2026-06-15.md

Step-3 relational-surface lookback (2026-06-15)

Scope. Cross-PR lookback review of the three relational capabilities now composed on main @ 0be18ebd:

• #775 — one-hop inverse/converse + pack-declared symmetric relational inference (breadth 9→10).
• #781 (B2) — transitive strict-order relational inference (breadth 10→11).
• #783 (B3) — overlaps_event finite-verb reader surface (comprehension_relational_predicate 17→18).

Method. A 5-auditor read-only sweep over the merged surface — predicate tables, cross-capability interactions, soundness/proof discipline, measurement integrity, and documentation — re-verified independently against source, plus the full test gauntlet on merged main (below). This complements (does not replace) the per-PR adversarial reviews that ran on #781 and #783.

Verdict: SOLID — clear to stop before B4

37 solid findings, 0 hazards, 0 drift, 0 fix-before-next-phase. One minor gap (cosmetic test decoration), fixed in this PR. No live wrong=0 risk anywhere on the composed surface.

Verification (merged main @ 0be18ebd)

Gate	Result
Relational + capability + OWA lanes (test_determine_relational_*, *_lane, test_composition_lower_transitive, test_capability_*, test_proofwriter_owa_lane)	128 passed
INV-30 / 29 / 21 / 25 / 27 firewalls	19 passed
Full smoke (test_architectural_invariants + runtime + pipeline + packs)	99 passed

Solid (the load-bearing claims, re-confirmed)

Predicate tables (closed, correctly placed, non-vacuously pinned). INVERSE_OF is a closed involution (8 keys, no self-inverse); SYMMETRIC_PREDICATES equals the pack's graph.edge.symmetric ontology; TRANSITIVE_PREDICATES is exactly {less_than, greater_than, before_event, after_event} with all 9 named non-strict-order predicates absent; the finite-verb table admits overlaps_event only. All four pinning tests (test_transitive_predicates_closed_and_excludes, …symmetric_table_matches_pack_ontology, …algebra_members_are_relational_predicates, …inverse_is_an_involution) fail under exactly the mis-placement they guard (auditor injected each violation and confirmed the failure). The one non-empty cross-table overlap — INVERSE_OF ∩ TRANSITIVE = the four strict orders — is intentional and sound: a strict order is legitimately both transitive (a<b ∧ b<c ⊨ a<c) and has a converse (a<b ⟺ b>a); independent compatible properties, not a mis-placement.

Interactions (firewalled). (1) inverse + transitive do not compose — _relational_transitive recalls only the queried predicate's edges (recall_realized(predicate=predicate)) and lower_transitive_chain re-rejects any off-predicate edge, so transitive-closure-then-inverse refuses. (2) symmetric predicates do not become transitive (sibling_of/spouse_of ∉ TRANSITIVE_PREDICATES; the transitive branch is double-gated). (3) the finite-verb branch is not a generic parser — only the literals overlaps/overlap; every other verb falls through to the copula grammar and refuses. (4) the other 15 connectives still require the copula — the copula branch is byte-unchanged; Monday before Friday. refuses. (5) query surfaces do not fabricate — the single-token slot gate holds on both the finite-verb and copula query paths.

Soundness (True-only, search-then-verify). Every Determined construction is answer=True (exactly 3 sites; no answer=False anywhere); INV-30 is mechanically enforced and non-vacuous. The transitive path is search-then-verify — BFS proposes, the proof_chain ROBDD verifies, corrupted / non-contiguous / cross-predicate paths refuse. The ProofWriter-OWA floor asserts True only on gold-True against a disjoint oracle (INV-25/27) and fails on wrong>0. B3 is reader-only — determine.py untouched, so INV-30 is structurally unaffected.

Measurement. baseline.json: breadth 11, wrong_total 0, not_covered empty, deterministic digest. Inference + transitive fixture SHA pins recomputed and accurate; the relational/v1 reader lane is an (unpinned) count lane. Refusal floors rose, never shrank (the one inference confuser removed in #781 was a legitimate migration — a less_than chain that now correctly determines, moved to a positive). The #779 OWA floor is correctly not registered as a capability-index domain.

Documentation. Module + function docstrings in relational.py / determine.py reflect the landed one-hop, transitive, and finite-verb capabilities — no stale "out of scope / impossible / follow-up" claims. Provenance docs reflect all three PRs (the B3 overlaps gap is documented as resolved). ADR-0222 (B4) remains design-only — no runtime FrameVerdict / ClosedFrame / evaluate_frame_verdict / closed-world entailed_false implementation exists; INV-31 is a future obligation, not yet a test. The Step-3 handoff brief correctly marks B4 as DESIGN ONLY.

Gaps (no risk — fixed in this PR)

• test_symmetric_table_matches_pack_ontology(pack) declared an unused pack fixture parameter (the body re-loads the pack internally). Cosmetic; the test is non-vacuous. Fixed here (parameter removed).

Drift / Hazards

None. No documentation-vs-implementation drift; no live wrong=0 hazard surfaced on the composed surface.

Conclusion

Step-3 relational implementation is complete and stable. The one-hop, transitive, and finite-verb capabilities compose cleanly with no cross-PR regression, every determination stays open-world True-only, and the B4 / closed-world boundary (ADR-0222) is untouched and design-only. No further relational-surface work is required before the (separately-ratified) B4 implementation track.