core/docs/workbench/acceptance-gates.md

CORE Workbench v1 — Acceptance Gates

These gates define when the Workbench v1 planning and implementation phases are acceptable. They intentionally privilege trust-boundary preservation over visual polish.

Planning branch gates

The planning branch is acceptable when it includes:

• ADR defining doctrine and scope
• product/UX blueprint
• implementation plan
• API contract
• data-shape contract
• UI component map
• explicit non-goals
• explicit mutation boundaries and admitted-corridor requirements
• work queue for W-026 through W-031

W-026 — Read-only API gates

Required:

• local-only API defaults to 127.0.0.1
• non-local bind requires an explicit operator flag
• typed response schemas
• route tests
• path traversal tests for artifact readers
• proposal event-log read-model tests using ProposalLog.current_state()
• unknown trace ids return 404, not placeholder success payloads
• no proposal accept/reject route outside an admitted corridor
• no corpus mutation route
• no pack mutation route
• no workflow dispatch route
• no hidden background worker
• no frontend commits
• no auth surface
• no FastAPI/uvicorn/pydantic dependency

Blockers:

• fake replay equality by comparing an artifact digest to itself
• placeholder trace-as-success responses
• parsing proposal events as proposal records
• non-local bind without explicit operator opt-in
• auth added before the local read-only boundary is accepted
• frontend, visual intro, trace drawer, or chat UI included in W-026

Acceptance command candidates:

uv run python -m pytest tests/test_workbench_schemas.py -q
uv run python -m pytest tests/test_workbench_api.py -q
uv run python -m pytest tests/test_workbench_readers.py -q

W-027 — Frontend shell gates

Required:

• TypeScript strict mode
• left navigation
• top runtime bar
• empty states for all modules
• API client shape aligned to data-shapes-v1.md
• no mutation buttons outside an admitted corridor
• no fake/mock runtime as permanent architecture

Acceptance command candidates:

npm --prefix workbench/ui run typecheck
npm --prefix workbench/ui run build

W-028 — Chat + Trace Drawer gates

Required:

• prompt/response flow
• trust badge row
• trace drawer collapsed by default
• grounding source visible
• trace hash visible when present
• mutation state visible
• raw trace behind explicit expansion

Forbidden:

• replacing user surface with telemetry surface
• hidden checkpointing beyond existing runtime behavior
• decorative thinking animation

W-029 — Proposal Queue gates

Required:

• list proposals
• filter by state
• inspect proposal detail
• display source provenance
• display replay evidence
• display proposed chain
• display suggested CLI copy command
• mutation only through admitted corridors: ADR-governed path, visible preconditions, auditable telemetry, and replay evidence before action

Forbidden:

• unadmitted accept/reject button
• workflow dispatch
• direct proposal mutation outside an admitted corridor
• corpus mutation
• pack mutation
• arbitrary file writes

W-030 — Eval Center gates

Required:

• list lanes
• display lane metadata
• run safe/read-only lanes
• show metrics
• show failures prominently
• show contemplation-quality details

Forbidden:

• sealed holdout execution without explicit sealed-eval configuration
• hidden saving of results
• mutation-capable workflow execution

W-031 — Replay Theater gates

Required:

• artifact selection
• original/replay hash comparison
• equivalence badge
• divergence display
• stable JSON viewer

Forbidden:

• non-deterministic replay display
• aesthetic animation presented as evidence

V1 release gates

The v1 workbench is releasable when an operator can:

1. start the local API,
2. open the UI,
3. see runtime status,
4. inspect a proposal and see whether an admitted corridor applies,
5. run/view contemplation-quality,
6. inspect trace/replay metadata,
7. perform a basic chat turn,
8. verify from UI copy and docs that no unadmitted ratification/mutation path exists.

Red flags

Any of these should block merge:

• UI can accept/reject proposals without an admitted corridor, visible preconditions, auditable telemetry, and replay evidence
• API exposes arbitrary path reads
• API invokes shell from user input
• frontend hardcodes fake eval/proposal data as product path
• mutation status is hidden
• replay status is shown without digest/evidence
• telemetry surfaces are confused with user-facing surfaces