feat(route)!: Fable rows are a hand-written override, never a route.sh outcome

The operator removed the "Fable can only be suggested after a failed Opus
5/xhigh session" policy on 2026-08-06 - it stood in the way too often. Until
now that policy was implemented as code: --opus-xhigh-failed was the ONLY
way route.sh's SELECTION chain could reach rows 5-6 (Fable), so the rubric
still enforced a policy the operator had already dropped.

Given a choice between (A) deleting the branches and the flag outright, so
the calculator's output range closes at row 4, or (C) keeping a path that
renders a Fable row on explicit instruction with rule=operator-override, the
operator chose A (AskUserQuestion) - CLAUDE.md is explicit that the rubric
stays the only deterministic lookup and a Fable choice is now always a
deviation from it, recorded in STATE as an override rather than produced
here. board.sh is untouched and still parses "Fable 5/high"/"Fable 5/xhigh"
written by hand into a board line (route-selftest.sh section 6 now pins that
half directly, since route.sh can no longer produce the strings itself).

TDD: every affected selftest check was rewritten to fail against the
unmodified route.sh first (72->68/69, confirmed red), then route.sh was
edited to match. --opus-xhigh-failed is gone outright - passing it now exits
2 like any other unknown argument, not silently accepted as a no-op.

route-selftest.sh: 73 -> 69 checks (three checks tested command shapes
row_advisor() can no longer produce; the two row-5/row-6 reachability checks
in section 1 collapsed into one "the flag is gone" check). coord 191, board
142 unaffected. Suite total 406 -> 402.

Also folds in a standalone fix already pushed this session: section 14 was
gating the wrong CLI fact (whether "claude --advisor fable" is rejected,
which row_advisor() never depends on) instead of the one it actually rests
on (whether opus/sonnet can advise a FABLE main model). Re-pointed and
verified against the installed CC 2.1.226.

Verified before committing: grepped every repo under ~/repos for a route
line carrying --opus-xhigh-failed (none - one repo has it in prose only,
not in its <!-- route: --> comment) and ran board.sh --plan/--brief over the
real tree to confirm no repo's command line broke. Sent a follow-up
coord-send to catalog superseding an earlier now-stale "406" stat-line
correction with the current 402.

skills/route/SKILL.md: usage block, "last-session record" framing, and the
closing --opus-xhigh-failed paragraph rewritten to match. CLAUDE.md, README
and CHANGELOG updated (checks 73->69, badge 406->402, new 0.21.0 entry).
Version bumped 0.20.3 -> 0.21.0 across plugin.json, package.json and all
three skill frontmatters (breaking CLI removal at 0.x -> minor, per v0.20.0
precedent).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Ap1WKHCDPcSfpjo4ds2dQX
This commit is contained in:
Kjell Tore Guttormsen 2026-08-09 22:03:05 +02:00
commit dd8f3ce042
10 changed files with 172 additions and 124 deletions

View file

@ -33,8 +33,9 @@ field() {
echo "route-selftest"
# --- 1. Every rubric row is reachable -------------------------------------
# A row that no trait combination can produce is dead policy. All six must fire.
# --- 1. Every calculator row is reachable -----------------------------------
# A row that no trait combination can produce is dead policy. All four rows
# this calculator can output must fire from traits alone.
got="$(field known strong cheap local next-cost)"
[ "$got" = "Sonnet 5/high" ]; check "row 1: known/strong/cheap/local -> Sonnet 5/high" $?
@ -48,13 +49,14 @@ got="$(field partial strong cheap local next-cost)"
got="$(field known strong cheap cross-cutting next-cost)"
[ "$got" = "Opus 5/xhigh" ]; check "row 4: scope=cross-cutting -> Opus 5/xhigh" $?
got="$("$R" --path known --verification strong --reversibility cheap --scope local \
--rationale x --opus-xhigh-failed 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^next-cost=//p')"
[ "$got" = "Fable 5/high" ]; check "row 5: opus-xhigh-failed -> Fable 5/high" $?
got="$("$R" --path undetermined --verification strong --reversibility cheap --scope local \
--rationale x --opus-xhigh-failed 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^next-cost=//p')"
[ "$got" = "Fable 5/xhigh" ]; check "row 6: failed + undetermined -> Fable 5/xhigh" $?
# Rows 5-6 (Fable) are the operator's hand-written override (policy decision
# 2026-08-06), never a rubric outcome - the calculator's output range is
# closed at row 4. The flag that used to gate them into reach is gone
# outright, not merely disarmed: a caller passing it gets the same "unknown
# argument" as any other typo.
"$R" --path known --verification strong --reversibility cheap --scope local \
--rationale x --opus-xhigh-failed >/dev/null 2>&1
[ $? -eq 2 ]; check "--opus-xhigh-failed is gone: unknown argument, not a route to Fable" $?
# --- 2. Escalation is asymmetric ------------------------------------------
# One trait escalates; a downgrade needs ALL of them. Underkill costs one
@ -77,29 +79,28 @@ got="$(field undetermined strong cheap local next-cost)"
[ "$got" = "Opus 5/high" ]; check "path=undetermined stops at row 3, not row 4" $?
# --- 3. The emitted vocabulary is CLOSED ----------------------------------
# Every one of the 3*3*3*3 trait combinations, in both history states, must
# emit one of exactly six strings. This is what structurally prevents a
# seventh spelling from ever entering circulation: not a convention, an
# enumeration. The board line's drift was possible only because the field had
# no writer with a closed range.
VOCAB="|Sonnet 5/high|Sonnet 5/xhigh|Opus 5/high|Opus 5/xhigh|Fable 5/high|Fable 5/xhigh|"
# Every one of the 3*3*3*3 trait combinations must emit one of exactly FOUR
# strings - the calculator's whole output range now that Fable is reached
# only by a hand-written operator override, never by this script. This is
# what structurally prevents a fifth spelling from ever entering circulation:
# not a convention, an enumeration. The board line's drift was possible only
# because the field had no writer with a closed range.
VOCAB="|Sonnet 5/high|Sonnet 5/xhigh|Opus 5/high|Opus 5/xhigh|"
bad=0; n=0
for p in known partial undetermined; do
for v in strong weak none; do
for r in cheap costly one-way; do
for s in local multi-file cross-cutting; do
for h in "" "--opus-xhigh-failed"; do
n=$((n+1))
out="$("$R" --path "$p" --verification "$v" --reversibility "$r" --scope "$s" \
--rationale x $h 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^next-cost=//p')"
case "$VOCAB" in *"|$out|"*) ;; *) bad=$((bad+1)); echo " out-of-vocab: $p/$v/$r/$s [$out]" ;; esac
done
n=$((n+1))
out="$("$R" --path "$p" --verification "$v" --reversibility "$r" --scope "$s" \
--rationale x 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^next-cost=//p')"
case "$VOCAB" in *"|$out|"*) ;; *) bad=$((bad+1)); echo " out-of-vocab: $p/$v/$r/$s [$out]" ;; esac
done
done
done
done
[ "$n" -eq 162 ] && [ "$bad" -eq 0 ]
check "all 162 trait combinations emit one of the 6 rubric rows" $?
[ "$n" -eq 81 ] && [ "$bad" -eq 0 ]
check "all 81 trait combinations emit one of the 4 calculator rows" $?
# --- 4. Every trait is REQUIRED -------------------------------------------
# verification carries the most signal and is the one most often left out, so
@ -161,12 +162,13 @@ for combo in "known strong cheap local" "known weak cheap local" \
cost="$(field "$1" "$2" "$3" "$4" next-cost)"
rt_case "rt-$i" "$cost"
done
for h in 5 6; do
if [ "$h" = "5" ]; then pp=known; else pp=undetermined; fi
cost="$("$R" --path "$pp" --verification strong --reversibility cheap --scope local \
--rationale x --opus-xhigh-failed 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^next-cost=//p')"
rt_case "rt-$h" "$cost"
done
# Rows 5-6 are never emitted by route.sh any more (policy decision
# 2026-08-06), but board.sh must still parse them back when the operator
# hand-writes a Fable board line - that is exactly the path that replaces the
# removed rubric outcome, so the literal strings are spliced in directly here
# rather than produced by "$R".
rt_case "rt-5" "Fable 5/high"
rt_case "rt-6" "Fable 5/xhigh"
OUT="$(CLAUDE_COORD_DIR="$MBOX" "$BOARD" --roots "$ROOT" 2>/dev/null)"
for want in "Sonnet 5/high" "Sonnet 5/xhigh" "Opus 5/high" "Opus 5/xhigh" \
@ -225,12 +227,13 @@ LINE3="$("$R" --path known --verification strong --reversibility cheap --scope l
check "'-->' in rationale cannot close the comment early" $?
# --- 8b. The last-session record ------------------------------------------
# Rows 5 and 6 are history-dependent, so without a record of how the previous
# session went they are dead policy. The record is also the cheap proxy for
# whether the routing itself is any good: systematically high corrections on
# row 1 means the cheap row is too easy to reach, systematically zero on row 4
# means escalation fires too readily. It gets a WRITER here for the same
# reason next-cost needed one - a format with only a reader drifts.
# The record is the cheap proxy for whether the routing itself is any good:
# systematically high corrections on row 1 means the cheap row is too easy to
# reach, systematically zero on row 4 means escalation fires too readily. It
# gets a WRITER here for the same reason next-cost needed one - a format with
# only a reader drifts. It is pure telemetry - it never changes what the
# calculator outputs, Fable rows included, which are unreachable through it
# entirely now.
LAST="$("$R" --path known --verification strong --reversibility cheap --scope local \
--rationale x --last-model "Opus 5" --last-effort xhigh \
--last-completed no --last-corrections 3 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^route-last=//p')"
@ -251,7 +254,7 @@ check "no route-last line when the record is omitted" "$rc"
--rationale x --last-corrections three >/dev/null 2>&1
[ $? -eq 2 ]; check "non-numeric --last-corrections exits 2" $?
# The record is read back by the NEXT session to decide --opus-xhigh-failed, so
# The record is read back by the NEXT session as evidence months from now, so
# its model and effort are compared, not just displayed. Leaving them as free
# text would rebuild the exact reader-versus-writer drift this script exists to
# kill, one field over. Both are closed sets: the row table's three model names
@ -269,15 +272,16 @@ check "no route-last line when the record is omitted" "$rc"
--last-completed yes --last-corrections 0 >/dev/null 2>&1
[ $? -eq 0 ]; check "--last-model/-effort accept every legal value" $?
# The record is telemetry and must NOT silently fire the Fable rows. Only the
# explicit flag does, because "an opus/xhigh session did not finish" also
# covers context exhaustion, an operator interrupt and a block on another repo
# - none of which mean the MODEL failed at this step. Fable runs without an
# advisor, so this auto-escalation has to stay a judgement, not an inference.
# The record is telemetry and must NOT silently change what the calculator
# outputs - a "completed=no" record describes what happened, and covers
# context exhaustion, an operator interrupt and a block on another repo just
# as much as an actual model failure. Reading it as an inference would revive
# exactly the escalation path the removed --opus-xhigh-failed flag used to
# gate deliberately.
got="$("$R" --path known --verification strong --reversibility cheap --scope local \
--rationale x --last-model "Opus 5" --last-effort xhigh --last-completed no \
--last-corrections 4 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^next-cost=//p')"
[ "$got" = "Sonnet 5/high" ]; check "a failed opus/xhigh record alone does NOT reach Fable" $?
[ "$got" = "Sonnet 5/high" ]; check "a failed-session record alone does not change the routing outcome" $?
# A record is all four fields or none. A partial one emits `corrections=` with
# nothing after it, which reads back later exactly like a measured zero.
@ -469,26 +473,12 @@ adv="$(field known strong cheap cross-cutting command)"
if printf '%s' "$adv" | grep -q -- '--advisor'; then rc=1; else rc=0; fi
check "row 4 via scope=cross-cutting at cheap stakes takes NO advisor" "$rc"
# Fable rejects every advisor (measured against 2.1.220, gated below), so both
# triggers must yield to the row. Rows 5 and 6 fire on the failure flag
# regardless of reversibility, so this combination is reachable.
adv="$("$R" --path known --verification strong --reversibility one-way --scope local \
--rationale x --opus-xhigh-failed 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^command=//p')"
if printf '%s' "$adv" | grep -q -- '--advisor'; then rc=1; else rc=0; fi
check "row 5 (Fable) takes no advisor even at one-way stakes" "$rc"
adv="$("$R" --path undetermined --verification strong --reversibility one-way --scope local \
--rationale x --opus-xhigh-failed 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^command=//p')"
if printf '%s' "$adv" | grep -q -- '--advisor'; then rc=1; else rc=0; fi
check "row 6 (Fable) takes no advisor even at one-way stakes" "$rc"
# The fallback is a real command the operator pastes under quota pressure, so
# the advisor decision has to be made per ROW, not once for the winning row.
# Row 5 falls back to row 4, which is Opus and CAN advise.
adv="$("$R" --path known --verification strong --reversibility one-way --scope local \
--rationale x --opus-xhigh-failed 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^fallback-command=//p')"
printf '%s' "$adv" | grep -q -- '--advisor opus'
check "Fable row falling back to an Opus row regains the advisor" $?
# Rows 5-6 (Fable) are unreachable through this calculator now - section 1
# pins that directly, and section 3's closed vocabulary covers every command
# this script can ever emit. There is nothing left here for "Fable takes no
# advisor" to test: that fact still holds (gated against the installed claude
# by the CLI check below), but row_advisor()'s branch for it can no longer be
# exercised through the public interface.
adv="$(field known strong one-way local fallback-command)"
printf '%s' "$adv" | grep -q -- '--advisor opus'

View file

@ -8,17 +8,31 @@
# and no writer, so its value was typed by hand every session and drifted into
# several competing spellings. Cleaning the data could not fix that.
# A writer with a CLOSED output range can: this script can only ever emit one
# of six strings, so a seventh cannot enter circulation.
# of four strings, so a fifth cannot enter circulation.
#
# THE ROW TABLE IS THE POLICY, and it is the operator's rubric verbatim -
# moved here so there is one copy rather than one per repo:
# moved here so there is one copy rather than one per repo. It has six rows;
# this calculator only ever computes four of them:
#
# 1 Sonnet 5/high reading, summarizing, docs, mechanical refactor
# 2 Sonnet 5/xhigh TDD cycle, known-root-cause bugfix, one-file change
# 3 Opus 5/high multi-file feature, architecture choice, hard debugging
# 4 Opus 5/xhigh long autonomous run, big refactor, cross-repo migration
# 5 Fable 5/high Opus 5/xhigh has ACTUALLY failed on this same step
# 6 Fable 5/xhigh open problem, no known solution path, longest horizon
# 5 Fable 5/high deliberate choice for big-picture/review/planning work
# 6 Fable 5/xhigh same, open-ended or longest horizon
#
# ROWS 5-6 ARE NEVER COMPUTED HERE. Until 2026-08-06 they fired only from an
# explicit --opus-xhigh-failed flag; that policy is REMOVED (operator
# decision), and nothing replaces it as a rubric outcome. A Fable choice is
# now always a deliberate deviation from this calculator - CLAUDE.md is
# explicit that the rubric stays the only deterministic lookup and a
# departure from it is recorded in STATE as an OVERRIDE, never produced here.
# Write "Fable 5/high" or "Fable 5/xhigh" into the board line by hand when
# that is the right call; board.sh still parses both (route-selftest.sh
# section 6 pins that half). The one fact worth carrying: a Fable session
# runs without an advisor (row_advisor() below, and gated against the
# installed claude by route-selftest.sh section 14) - informational, never a
# gate on reaching the row, since there is no longer a gate to reach.
#
# Cheapest first, so the rubric's "always name one row cheaper as the quota
# fallback" is row minus one, floored at row 1, correct by construction.
@ -40,9 +54,8 @@
# and a default would be indistinguishable from a real score when the log is
# read back to find out whether the ROUTING was wrong or the SCORING was.
#
# SELECTION - first match wins, most expensive first:
# row 6 history says Opus 5/xhigh failed here, and path=undetermined
# row 5 history says Opus 5/xhigh failed here
# SELECTION - first match wins, most expensive first. Rows 5-6 do not appear:
# they are never a trait-derived outcome (see above).
# row 4 reversibility=one-way OR scope=cross-cutting
# row 3 path=partial|undetermined OR reversibility=costly OR scope=multi-file
# row 2 verification=weak|none
@ -66,8 +79,11 @@
# rows 3-4 only at reversibility=costly|one-way. The main model is already
# Opus, so the advisor buys peer review, worth paying for when a
# mistake is not cheap to undo.
# rows 5-6 NEVER, and not as a judgement call: the CLI rejects every
# advisor for a Fable main model.
#
# Rows 5-6 never reach this logic at all - the calculator cannot select them
# (see above). Informational only: were the operator to hand-write a Fable
# command, it would carry no advisor either way, since the CLI rejects every
# advisor for a Fable main model.
#
# The two triggers barely overlap: costly forces row 3 and one-way forces row
# 4, so a Sonnet row always has reversibility=cheap. verification=none is
@ -95,18 +111,12 @@
#
# Usage:
# route.sh --path <v> --verification <v> --reversibility <v> --scope <v>
# --rationale <text> [--opus-xhigh-failed]
# --rationale <text>
#
# route.sh ... --last-model <Sonnet 5|Opus 5|Fable 5>
# --last-effort <low|medium|high|xhigh|max>
# --last-completed <yes|no> --last-corrections <n>
#
# --opus-xhigh-failed is the ONLY way rows 5 and 6 can fire, and it means one
# narrow thing: an Opus 5/xhigh session already ran at THIS SAME next step and
# did not complete it. Not "a session failed" - context exhaustion, an operator
# interrupt or a block on another repo are not this flag. It escalates to a
# model that runs without an advisor, so when in doubt, leave it off.
#
# THE LAST-SESSION RECORD (the four --last-* fields, all or none) is what makes
# any of this falsifiable. It records how the session that just ran actually
# went, so the policy can later be judged against outcomes instead of against
@ -114,9 +124,10 @@
# high counts on row 1 mean the cheap row is too easy to reach, systematically
# zero on row 4 means escalation fires too readily.
#
# All four fields are closed sets or numbers, and required together, because the
# NEXT session reads the record back to decide --opus-xhigh-failed. Every one of
# them must be MEASURED by the caller: --last-effort comes from CLAUDE_EFFORT,
# All four fields are closed sets or numbers, and required together, so the
# record reads back later as evidence rather than a guess - a partial record
# would emit an empty value indistinguishable from a real measurement. Every
# one of them must be MEASURED by the caller: --last-effort comes from CLAUDE_EFFORT,
# which Claude Code exports into every tool-use context as the session's current
# effort level. It is deliberately NOT defaulted from that variable here - a
# calculator that reads its own environment stops being deterministic from its
@ -126,18 +137,17 @@
# off the startup command they typed. Omit the record rather than guess - a
# guessed value reads back as a measurement.
#
# It is deliberately NOT wired to the Fable rows. Inferring "the model failed"
# from "the session did not finish" would fire on context exhaustion and on
# operator interrupts, which say nothing about the model. The record is
# evidence; --opus-xhigh-failed is a judgement. Keeping them apart is why the
# evidence stays worth reading.
# It is pure telemetry and never changes what the calculator outputs.
# Inferring "the model failed" from "the session did not finish" would fire on
# context exhaustion and on operator interrupts, which say nothing about the
# model - so the record stays descriptive, never a trigger.
#
# Exit 0 on a decision, 2 on any bad or missing argument. ASCII only,
# bash 3.2 safe.
set -u
export LC_ALL=C
PATH_T=""; VERIF=""; REVERS=""; SCOPE=""; RATIONALE=""; RAT_SET=0; FAILED=0
PATH_T=""; VERIF=""; REVERS=""; SCOPE=""; RATIONALE=""; RAT_SET=0
L_MODEL=""; L_EFFORT=""; L_DONE=""; L_CORR=""; L_SET=0
die() { echo "route: $1" >&2; exit 2; }
@ -152,7 +162,6 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
--reversibility) need "$@"; REVERS="$2"; shift 2 ;;
--scope) need "$@"; SCOPE="$2"; shift 2 ;;
--rationale) need "$@"; RATIONALE="$2"; RAT_SET=1; shift 2 ;;
--opus-xhigh-failed) FAILED=1; shift ;;
--last-model) need "$@"; L_MODEL="$2"; L_SET=1; shift 2 ;;
--last-effort) need "$@"; L_EFFORT="$2"; L_SET=1; shift 2 ;;
--last-completed) need "$@"; L_DONE="$2"; L_SET=1; shift 2 ;;
@ -196,7 +205,7 @@ if [ "$L_SET" -eq 1 ]; then
[ -n "$L_DONE" ] || die "--last-completed is required with a last-session record"
[ -n "$L_CORR" ] || die "--last-corrections is required with a last-session record"
# Model and effort are closed sets here, not free text. The next session READS
# this record back to decide --opus-xhigh-failed, so a drifted spelling
# this record back as evidence months from now, so a drifted spelling
# ("opus 5" for "Opus 5") rebuilds the reader-versus-writer drift this whole
# script exists to remove, one field over.
case "$L_MODEL" in
@ -217,11 +226,9 @@ if [ "$L_SET" -eq 1 ]; then
fi
# --- Selection: first match wins, most expensive first ---------------------
if [ "$FAILED" -eq 1 ] && [ "$PATH_T" = "undetermined" ]; then
ROW=6; RULE="opus-xhigh-failed + path=undetermined"
elif [ "$FAILED" -eq 1 ]; then
ROW=5; RULE="opus-xhigh-failed"
elif [ "$REVERS" = "one-way" ]; then
# Rows 5-6 (Fable) never appear: they are a hand-written operator override,
# never a trait-derived outcome (see the header note).
if [ "$REVERS" = "one-way" ]; then
ROW=4; RULE="reversibility=one-way"
elif [ "$SCOPE" = "cross-cutting" ]; then
ROW=4; RULE="scope=cross-cutting"
@ -242,12 +249,12 @@ fi
# goes in the command the operator pastes. Emitting both from one table is the
# point - two hand-maintained spellings of one decision is how they disagree.
# Aliases are gated against the installed claude by route-selftest.sh section
# 11, never assumed here.
# 11, never assumed here. Rows 5-6 have no entry: $ROW can never be 5 or 6
# (see SELECTION above), so a case arm for them would be dead code.
row_name() {
case "$1" in
1) echo "Sonnet 5/high" ;; 2) echo "Sonnet 5/xhigh" ;;
3) echo "Opus 5/high" ;; 4) echo "Opus 5/xhigh" ;;
5) echo "Fable 5/high" ;; 6) echo "Fable 5/xhigh" ;;
esac
}
row_base_cmd() {
@ -256,8 +263,6 @@ row_base_cmd() {
2) echo "claude --model sonnet --effort xhigh" ;;
3) echo "claude --model opus --effort high" ;;
4) echo "claude --model opus --effort xhigh" ;;
5) echo "claude --model fable --effort high" ;;
6) echo "claude --model fable --effort xhigh" ;;
esac
}
@ -272,14 +277,17 @@ row_base_cmd() {
# row cheaper and the cheapest rows are Sonnet.
# rows 3-4 (Opus) only at costly|one-way stakes, where the advisor is a
# peer review and being wrong is not cheap to undo.
# rows 5-6 (Fable) never. Not a judgement call: the CLI REJECTS every
# advisor for fable ("cannot be used as an advisor"), and
# opus is refused as under-capable for a fable main model.
# Gated against the installed claude by selftest 14.
#
# Rows 5-6 (Fable) never reach this function - $ROW can only be 1-4 (see
# SELECTION above). Informational only: the only advisor this script ever
# emits is opus (pinned by selftest 14's "the only advisor value ever emitted
# is opus"), and opus is refused as under-capable for a fable main model -
# measured against the installed claude, still true at CC 2.1.226 - so a
# hand-written Fable command carries no advisor either way.
#
# costly forces row 3 and one-way forces row 4, so a Sonnet row always has
# reversibility=cheap - the stakes rule can never reach rows 1-2, and the model
# rule never reaches rows 3-6. verification=none is deliberately NOT a trigger:
# rule never reaches rows 3-4. verification=none is deliberately NOT a trigger:
# beyond the stakes rule it would only add cheap-to-reverse mistakes, and it
# would put an advisor on every docs session (known/none/cheap/local).
#