feat(trekresearch): add Phase 4.5 dimension discovery and amend Independence rule

agents/research-orchestrator.md

@@ -7,12 +7,20 @@ tools: ["Read", "Glob", "Grep", "Write", "Edit", "Bash"]
 ---
 
 <!-- Phase mapping: orchestrator → command
+     Corrected in v5.10: every row below was off by one, and the old last row
+     pointed at a ninth command phase that does not exist — the command ends
+     at Phase 8.
      Orchestrator Phase 1   = Command Phase 4  (Agent group selection)
-     Orchestrator Phase 2   = Command Phase 5  (Parallel research)
+     Orchestrator Phase 2   = Command Phase 4  (Parallel research — same
-     Orchestrator Phase 3   = Command Phase 6  (Targeted follow-ups)
+                                                command phase; the orchestrator
-     Orchestrator Phase 4   = Command Phase 7  (Triangulation)
+                                                splits selection from launch)
-     Orchestrator Phase 5   = Command Phase 8  (Synthesis + write brief)
+     (no orchestrator phase)= Command Phase 4.5 (Dimension discovery,
-     Orchestrator Phase 6   = Command Phase 9  (Completion)
+                                                high effort only — v5.10)
+     Orchestrator Phase 3   = Command Phase 5  (Targeted follow-ups; bounded
+                                                conversation loop at high effort)
+     Orchestrator Phase 4   = Command Phase 6  (Triangulation)
+     Orchestrator Phase 5   = Command Phase 7  (Synthesis + write brief)
+     Orchestrator Phase 6   = Command Phase 8  (Present and track / completion)
      As of v2.4.0, /trekresearch runs these phases inline in main
      context instead of spawning this agent. Keep this file as the canonical
      reference for what those phases do. -->

commands/trekresearch.md

@@ -391,6 +391,34 @@ other agents — the value of Gemini is independence.
   small = halved, medium/large = default
 - convention-scanner: medium+ codebases only (50+ files)
 
+## Phase 4.5 — Dimension discovery
+
+**Skip this phase entirely unless `phase_signal_result.effort == 'high'`.**
+
+Phase 4 retrieves more than the interview knew to ask for. This phase mines
+that surplus: findings that were **retrieved but unintegrated** — material an
+agent surfaced that no interview dimension claims.
+
+1. **Mine.** Walk the Phase-4 agent results and collect findings that map to
+   no existing dimension.
+2. **Rerank.** Order candidates by relevance to the research question **and**
+   dissimilarity to the dimensions already on the list. A candidate that
+   restates an existing dimension is not a discovery.
+3. **Augment under the existing ceiling.** Append candidates to the dimension
+   list only while the **whole** list (interview + discovered) stays at or
+   below `maxDimensions: 8` (`settings.json:16`). The ceiling is **not**
+   raised here, so the documented 3–8 dimension range stays true and the
+   README prose about it stays untouched. If the interview already produced 8
+   dimensions, this phase discovers nothing and says so.
+4. **Record the baseline.** Keep the interview-derived count as
+   `dimensions_baseline` so the discovered delta is machine-readable against
+   the final `dimensions` (Phase 8 stats).
+
+Every outbound query generated from a discovered dimension passes
+`query-privacy-gate.mjs` before it leaves the machine — see the per-turn
+protocol in Phase 5. That gate is the compensating control for the
+Independence crossing this phase makes (see Hard rules → Independence).
+
 ## Phase 5 — Targeted follow-ups
 
 Review all agent results. Identify knowledge gaps — dimensions where findings
@@ -727,6 +755,16 @@ Low effort: inline research only, no agent swarm (existing
 - **Sources required:** Every claim must cite a source. No unsourced findings.
 - **Independence:** Do not pre-bias external agents with local findings or vice versa.
   Triangulate AFTER independent research.
+  **Amended (v5.10) for Phase 4.5:** dimension discovery deliberately crosses this
+  rule. Its candidate dimensions are mined from the Phase-4 result set, which
+  contains output from the five local codebase agents, so a discovered dimension
+  can carry local context into an external query. The crossing is bounded to
+  Phase 4.5 and the Phase 5 loop it feeds, it never applies to the initial
+  external swarm (which stays blind to local findings), and the compensating
+  control is `query-privacy-gate.mjs`: every outbound query is inspected before
+  it leaves the machine, with a hard-block tier for secret-shaped strings that no
+  operator flag can override. Triangulation still happens AFTER independent
+  research.
 - **Graceful degradation:** If MCP tools are unavailable (Tavily, Gemini, MS Learn),
   proceed with available tools and note limitations in brief metadata.
 - **Cost:** Model resolution at Agent-spawn sites is a three-layer fallback:

tests/commands/trekresearch.test.mjs

@@ -166,6 +166,76 @@ test('trekresearch — High-effort behavior keeps the standard/low effort senten
   );
 });
 
+// --- Step 8: Phase 4.5 dimension discovery + Independence amendment ---
+
+const ORCHESTRATOR_FILE = join(ROOT, 'agents', 'research-orchestrator.md');
+function readOrchestrator() { return readFileSync(ORCHESTRATOR_FILE, 'utf8'); }
+
+test('trekresearch — Phase 4.5 exists between Phase 4 and Phase 5 with the effort skip-guard', () => {
+  const text = read();
+  const p45 = text.indexOf('## Phase 4.5 —');
+  assert.ok(p45 >= 0, 'Phase 4.5 heading missing');
+  const p4 = text.indexOf('## Phase 4 —');
+  const p5 = text.indexOf('## Phase 5 —');
+  assert.ok(p4 >= 0 && p5 > p45 && p45 > p4, 'Phase 4.5 must sit between Phase 4 and Phase 5');
+
+  const slice = text.slice(p45, p5);
+  assert.match(
+    slice,
+    /\*\*Skip this phase entirely unless `phase_signal_result\.effort == 'high'`\.\*\*/,
+    'Phase 4.5 must carry the bolded skip-guard in the Phase 3.5 form',
+  );
+  assert.match(slice, /query-privacy-gate\.mjs/,
+    'Phase 4.5 must name the privacy gate as its compensating control');
+  assert.match(slice, /maxDimensions: 8|maxDimensions` *: *8/,
+    'Phase 4.5 must augment under the existing maxDimensions ceiling, not raise it');
+});
+
+test('trekresearch — Independence hard rule carries an explicit Phase 4.5 amendment', () => {
+  const text = read();
+  const rulesIdx = text.indexOf('## Hard rules');
+  assert.ok(rulesIdx >= 0, 'Hard rules section missing');
+  const rules = text.slice(rulesIdx);
+  const indIdx = rules.indexOf('**Independence:**');
+  assert.ok(indIdx >= 0, 'Independence hard rule missing');
+  // Bound the rule at the next bullet so the amendment must live inside it.
+  const nextBullet = rules.indexOf('\n- **', indIdx);
+  const independence = nextBullet > indIdx ? rules.slice(indIdx, nextBullet) : rules.slice(indIdx);
+  assert.match(independence, /Amend(ed|ment)/i,
+    'Independence must be explicitly amended, not silently contradicted');
+  assert.match(independence, /Phase 4\.5/, 'the amendment must name Phase 4.5 as the crossing');
+  assert.match(independence, /query-privacy-gate\.mjs/,
+    'the amendment must name the compensating control');
+});
+
+test('trekresearch — orchestrator phase map is correct, has no Phase 9, and carries Phase 4.5', () => {
+  const doc = readOrchestrator();
+  const start = doc.indexOf('<!-- Phase mapping');
+  assert.ok(start >= 0, 'phase mapping comment missing');
+  const end = doc.indexOf('-->', start);
+  assert.ok(end > start, 'phase mapping comment not terminated');
+  const map = doc.slice(start, end);
+
+  assert.doesNotMatch(map, /Command Phase 9/,
+    'the command ends at Phase 8 — a Command Phase 9 row is a fiction');
+
+  // Six orchestrator rows, each pointing at the phase the command actually has.
+  const expected = [
+    [1, '4'],
+    [2, '4'],
+    [3, '5'],
+    [4, '6'],
+    [5, '7'],
+    [6, '8'],
+  ];
+  for (const [orch, cmd] of expected) {
+    const re = new RegExp(`Orchestrator Phase ${orch}\\s+= Command Phase ${cmd.replace('.', '\\.')}\\b`);
+    assert.match(map, re, `map row for Orchestrator Phase ${orch} must point at Command Phase ${cmd}`);
+  }
+
+  assert.match(map, /Command Phase 4\.5/, 'the map must carry the new Phase 4.5 row');
+});
+
 // --- v5.1.1 runtime SC4 + SC7 ---
 
 test('trekresearch — SC4: low-effort fixture → resolver returns {effort: low, model: sonnet}', () => {