Audit-ledger R7, implementing docs/handoff/curriculum-license-loop-2026-07/
E1-R7-ASSERTION-SPEC.md. `ChatRuntime.chat` seals a TurnEvent before the
surface authority is known; `CognitiveTurnPipeline` back-stamps the resolved
surface and canonical trace_hash onto `turn_log[-1]` after `chat` returns. So
the in-memory log ended up correct and the DURABLE stream carried the
pre-override record — the thing that persists was the wrong one.
Mechanism, per the spec's M1-M3:
- M1 — stage an INDEX into `turn_log`, never the TurnEvent. The flush re-reads
the log, so every back-stamp is picked up by construction and the staged
record cannot go stale. Capturing the event object would be the original
defect with extra steps.
- M2 — `attach_telemetry_sink` does NOT flush a staged turn event, the
opposite of what it correctly does for `_pending_reboot_payload`. The reboot
payload is final when buffered; a staged turn event is mid-flight. Flushing
on attach would silently restore the defect.
- M3 — deferral is opt-in. The pipeline wraps the runtime rather than the
reverse, so the runtime cannot detect whether a pipeline will run. A runtime
used directly (eval and demo paths) emits inline, byte-identically and at
the same moment as before.
The `finally` at the serve boundary is load-bearing (I5): a pipeline that
raises after `chat` returns must still flush, or an error path silently
swallows a telemetry record — worse than the staleness being fixed.
TWO CORRECTIONS TO MY OWN SPEC, reported rather than quietly absorbed:
1. I2 bullet 3 and I3 assert on an emitted `trace_hash`. There is no such
field — `chat/telemetry.py` never serializes `TurnEvent.trace_hash`, so the
sink never carried a trace_hash, stale or otherwise. R7 repairs the SURFACE
only. Pinned by `test_trace_hash_is_not_in_the_wire_format_at_all` so the
claim cannot be re-asserted; the replay-not-recomputation ruling is kept on
the object that does carry the hash.
2. The surface divergence is unreachable under the DEFAULT config:
`finalize_turn_surface` is a no-op on all 36 turns probed, because the
runtime's own surface already wins the resolver. It fires under
`realizer_grounded_authority` — 24 divergences over 84 turns. A test on the
default config would have passed while proving nothing, exactly as the spec
warned, so the fixture pins that flag and asserts the pre-fix divergence
exists before asserting it is gone.
[Verification]: in-worktree on canonical CPython 3.12.13 with `uv sync
--locked`: smoke 591 (569 + 22), deductive 291 (unchanged). All seven existing
sink test files pass UNCHANGED (80 tests). warmed_session_consistency
telemetry_consistency_rate = 1.0. Mutation-checked all three mechanisms:
staging the event instead of the index -> 3 I2 tests red; flushing on attach ->
the M2 test red; dropping the `finally` -> the I5 test red. Registered in
`smoke` and `cognition`.
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