CB-WP-0007 T01+T03: window the metric, budget it, cap meta at 25%

Scope cut first, on the maintainer's decision after a spend review: the
project is 38% product / 62% loop-meta, cost per response is 2.9x worse
than its best window, and INTENT stage 0 still lacks a CLI player and
bots. CB-WP-0005 and CB-WP-0006 cost ~$74 — 31% of all spend — for zero
measured efficiency gain. T02 and T04 are cancelled unstarted.

T01: SH-1/SH-2/SH-3 now report over the window since the last commit, and
the cumulative figure is retained but labelled "history, NOT the metric".
The prediction held decisively — window 655,744 mean context against
cumulative 255,307, a 2.6x gap against a 20% refutation threshold. A
cumulative mean over 1,094 responses cannot detect a worsening trend
because the history outvotes the present.

T03: `make shape-budget`, modelled on CB-01/CB-02. Soft thresholds are the
existing SessionShape targets; hard is 1.5x, set before the next
measurement per §Step 4. Deliberately not in `make all` — failing the
build on context would block committing, and committing is what closes the
attribution window and is the natural point to compact, so a gate that
blocks the remedy is a trap. It fires HARD on its first run: 656,574
against a 300,000 ceiling.

InnerLoop v1.5 establishes the soft 25% meta budget. Workplans declare
kind: product|meta|mixed and `make status` reports the share; mixed splits
50/50 and says so. Soft on purpose — a task already started may be
finished, because stopping mid-task to satisfy a ratio wastes the work.
What it forbids is opening new meta work above the line. A pass that
exceeds it must say so in its evidence and name the product work
displaced.

First reading: 68% OVER, of $74.22 attributed. Product reads $0.00 because
the only product workplan, CB-WP-0001, predates qualified task ids and its
bare T## labels collide across passes — stated in the output rather than
papered over.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Makefile

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ TOOLS := $(REPO)/tools
 # Every cargo recipe runs at the repo root; the shell does not persist cd.
 IN_REPO := cd $(REPO) &&
 
-.PHONY: check test sim bench bench-test coverage dep-weight cost cost-test cost-pin cost-budget cost-mix loop-lint self-tests env-test task-done status facts-check facts-gen mutation-check size-metrics runtime-metrics build-time am6 replay-test loc all
+.PHONY: check test sim bench bench-test coverage dep-weight cost cost-test cost-pin cost-budget shape-budget cost-mix loop-lint self-tests env-test task-done status facts-check facts-gen mutation-check size-metrics runtime-metrics build-time am6 replay-test loc all
 
 ## fmt + clippy (deny warnings) + HashMap deny-lint
 check:
@@ -140,6 +140,13 @@ task-done:
 	@test -n "$(T)" || { echo "usage: make task-done T=CB-WP-0004-T02" >&2; exit 2; }
 	$(PY) $(TOOLS)/task-done.py $(T) $(ARGS)
 
+# CB-WP-0007 T03 / InnerLoop v1.5: session shape for the window since the
+# last commit. Deliberately NOT in `make all` — failing the build on
+# context would block committing, and committing is the natural point to
+# compact. A gate that blocks the remedy is a trap.
+shape-budget: cost-test
+	$(PY) $(TOOLS)/cb-cost.py --shape-budget
+
 # CB-01/CB-02: live spend since the last commit.
 cost-budget: cost-test
 	$(PY) $(TOOLS)/cb-cost.py --budget

specs/InnerLoop.md

@@ -1,6 +1,31 @@
 # The Inner Loop — Assimilate and Surpass
 
-Status: **v1.4** — corrected from CB-WP-0005 (assertion coverage) on
+Status: **v1.5** — corrected from CB-WP-0007 (session shape) on
+2026-08-01. Change from v1.4: a **soft 25% meta budget** (below), after a
+spend review found the project 38% product / 62% loop-meta with cost per
+response degraded 2.9x from its best window.
+
+> **Meta budget — soft, 25% of spend per pass.** Work on the loop's own
+> instruments and process is capped at a quarter of a pass. Measured by
+> `make status` from each workplan's `kind:` frontmatter
+> (`product` | `meta` | `mixed`).
+>
+> **Soft on purpose.** A task already started may be finished — stopping
+> mid-task to satisfy a ratio wastes the work and leaves the tree in a
+> worse state than either finishing or never starting. What the budget
+> forbids is *opening* new meta work above the line.
+>
+> A pass that exceeds it **says so in its evidence file and names the
+> product work displaced**. That is the whole enforcement: this is a
+> reporting budget, not a gate, for the same reason the session-shape
+> budget is (CB-RES-0005 §4) — it constrains judgment, not artifacts.
+>
+> *(v1.5, from the CB-WP-0007 spend review: CB-WP-0005 and CB-WP-0006 cost
+> ~$74, 31% of all spend, for zero measured efficiency gain. Their return
+> was correctness of claims, which is real and is not optimization. The
+> budget exists so that distinction has to be made out loud.)*
+
+v1.4 — corrected from CB-WP-0005 (assertion coverage) on
 2026-07-31. Change from v1.3: where a claim rests on numbers, the
 adversarial reviewer must read the assertion behind each quoted number and
 **mutate it** — re-running the command that prints a number is not

tools/cb-cost.py

@@ -396,7 +396,8 @@ def collect(slug, pin_ref=None, since_ref=None):
     for r in responses:
         r["cost"] = price_of(prices, r["model"], r["toks"], r["timestamp"])
 
-    attribute(responses, commit_index(pin))
+    commits = commit_index(pin)
+    attribute(responses, commits)
 
     by_task = collections.defaultdict(float)
     # T02: per-task token detail, so a task close can report *measured*
@@ -454,9 +455,28 @@ def collect(slug, pin_ref=None, since_ref=None):
     mech = [r for r in responses
             if set(r.get("categories") or []) & MECHANICAL]
 
+    # The window the SH-* targets compare against: responses since the
+    # last commit when unpinned, or the whole pinned range when pinned
+    # (a pin is already a window someone chose deliberately).
+    if pin or since:
+        window_responses, window_label = responses, "the pinned/--since range"
+    else:
+        last = commits[-1][0] if commits else ""
+        window_responses = [r for r in responses if last and r["timestamp"] > last]
+        window_label = "since the last commit"
+
     sub = sum(r["cost"] or 0 for r in responses if r["subagent"])
     return {
         "session_shape": session_shape(responses),
+        # CB-WP-0007 T01. SH-1/SH-2 as a cumulative mean over every
+        # response ever recorded cannot detect a worsening trend: the
+        # history outvotes the present. CB-WP-0006 ran at 503,464 mean
+        # context and the cumulative figure still printed 206,952.
+        # Both are reported; only the window is the metric.
+        "session_shape_window": session_shape(window_responses)
+        if window_responses else None,
+        "window_responses": len(window_responses),
+        "window_label": window_label,
         "tool_mix": {
             "turns": dict(mix_turns),
             "cost": dict(mix_cost),
@@ -550,16 +570,33 @@ def render(rep, by_task=False, composition=False):
               f"{mix['mechanical_turns']:>5} turns  ${mix['mechanical_cost']:>8,.2f}"
               f"  = {100*mix['mechanical_cost']/(rep['total'] or 1):.0f}% of pass")
 
+    def _shape_lines(sh, indent="    "):
+        print(f"{indent}SH-1 mean context   {sh['SH-1_mean_context']:>12,.0f} tok  "
+              f"[{'ok ' if sh['SH-1_mean_context']<=200_000 else 'FAIL'} target 200,000]")
+        print(f"{indent}SH-2 p90 context    {sh['SH-2_p90_context']:>12,.0f} tok  "
+              f"[{'ok ' if sh['SH-2_p90_context']<=300_000 else 'FAIL'} target 300,000]")
+        print(f"{indent}SH-3 batching rate  {100*sh['SH-3_batching_rate']:>11.1f}%   "
+              f"[{'ok ' if sh['SH-3_batching_rate']>=0.20 else 'FAIL'} target 20.0%]")
+        print(f"{indent}     {sh['tool_calls']} tool calls in "
+              f"{sh['responses_with_tools']} responses; "
+              f"{sh['calls_in_batched_turns']} in batched turns")
+
+    win = rep.get("session_shape_window")
+    print(f"\n  session shape (specs/SessionShape.md) — window: "
+          f"{rep.get('window_label', '?')}")
+    if win:
+        print(f"    THE METRIC — {rep['window_responses']} response(s)")
+        _shape_lines(win)
+    else:
+        print("    THE METRIC — no responses in the window "
+              "(nothing since the last commit)")
+
     sh = rep["session_shape"]
-    print("\n  session shape (specs/SessionShape.md)")
+    print(f"\n    history, {rep['responses']} responses — context only, NOT the "
-    print(f"    SH-1 mean context   {sh['SH-1_mean_context']:>12,.0f} tok  "
+          f"metric.")
-          f"[{'ok ' if sh['SH-1_mean_context']<=200_000 else 'FAIL'} target 200,000]")
+    print("    A cumulative mean cannot detect a worsening trend; the history")
-    print(f"    SH-2 p90 context    {sh['SH-2_p90_context']:>12,.0f} tok  "
+    print("    outvotes the present (CB-RES-0005 §1).")
-          f"[{'ok ' if sh['SH-2_p90_context']<=300_000 else 'FAIL'} target 300,000]")
+    _shape_lines(sh)
-    print(f"    SH-3 batching rate  {100*sh['SH-3_batching_rate']:>11.1f}%   "
-          f"[{'ok ' if sh['SH-3_batching_rate']>=0.20 else 'FAIL'} target 20.0%]")
-    print(f"         {sh['tool_calls']} tool calls in {sh['responses_with_tools']} responses; "
-          f"{sh['calls_in_batched_turns']} in batched turns")
 
     if rep["unpriced"]:
         print(f"\n  UNPRICED ({len(rep['unpriced'])} responses, model not in sheet):")
@@ -690,6 +727,63 @@ def self_test():
     return 0 if ok else 1
 
 
+# CB-WP-0007 T03 / CB-RES-0005 D2. Soft = the SessionShape target; hard is
+# 1.5x, set here BEFORE the next measurement per InnerLoop §Step 4.
+# Reported, never in `make all`: failing the build on context would block
+# committing, and committing is what closes the attribution window and is
+# the natural point to compact. A gate that blocks the remedy is a trap.
+SHAPE_SOFT = {"SH-1": 200_000, "SH-2": 300_000}
+SHAPE_HARD = {"SH-1": 300_000, "SH-2": 450_000}
+
+
+def shape_budget(slug):
+    """SH-* for the window since the last commit, with soft/hard verdicts."""
+    try:
+        rep = collect(slug, None)
+    except Abort as e:
+        print(f"ABORT — {e}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+    win = rep.get("session_shape_window")
+    head = subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "-C", REPO, "log", "-1", "--format=%h %s"],
+        capture_output=True, text=True, check=True).stdout.strip()
+
+    print("session-shape budget — the window since the last commit")
+    print(f"  last commit   {head}")
+    # Positive control: a budget that reports ok because it measured
+    # nothing is the harness-does-nothing shape, in a reporting tool.
+    if not win or rep["window_responses"] == 0:
+        print("  no responses since the last commit — nothing to report",
+              file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+    print(f"  window        {rep['window_responses']} response(s)")
+
+    breach = 0
+    for key, label, val in (
+        ("SH-1", "mean context", win["SH-1_mean_context"]),
+        ("SH-2", "p90 context ", win["SH-2_p90_context"]),
+    ):
+        soft, hard = SHAPE_SOFT[key], SHAPE_HARD[key]
+        mark = "ok  " if val <= soft else ("SOFT" if val <= hard else "HARD")
+        print(f"  {key} {label} {val:>10,.0f} tok  [{mark}]  "
+              f"soft {soft:,} / hard {hard:,}")
+        breach = max(breach, 0 if val <= soft else (1 if val <= hard else 2))
+    rate = win["SH-3_batching_rate"]
+    print(f"  SH-3 batching     {100*rate:>9.1f}%   "
+          f"[{'ok  ' if rate >= 0.20 else 'SOFT'}]  floor 20.0%")
+
+    if breach >= 2:
+        print("\n  HARD — compact before continuing. Context this size costs "
+              "~10x per turn\n  against a compacted session "
+              "(specs/SessionShape.md §2).", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+    if breach == 1:
+        print("\n  SOFT — over target. Compaction is the remedy and it is free.")
+    else:
+        print("\n  within budget")
+    return 0
+
+
 def budget(slug, soft, hard):
     """Live cost budget (specs/CostAccounting.md §7).
 
@@ -734,6 +828,8 @@ def main():
     ap.add_argument("--composition", action="store_true")
     ap.add_argument("--session-shape", action="store_true",
                     help="SH-1..SH-3 (always shown in the default report)")
+    ap.add_argument("--shape-budget", action="store_true",
+                    help="SH-1/SH-2/SH-3 for the window since the last commit")
     ap.add_argument("--budget", action="store_true",
                     help="CB-01/CB-02: spend since the last commit, live")
     ap.add_argument("--soft", type=float, default=10.00)
@@ -745,6 +841,8 @@ def main():
     if args.self_test:
         return self_test()
 
+    if args.shape_budget:
+        return shape_budget(args.slug)
     if args.budget:
         return budget(args.slug, args.soft, args.hard)
 

tools/status.py

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ def parse_workplan(path):
         m = re.search(rf'^{key}:\s*"?(.*?)"?\s*$', text, re.M)
         return m.group(1) if m else None
 
+    kind = fm("kind") or "untagged"
     tasks = []
     for m in re.finditer(r"```task\n(.*?)```", text, re.S):
         body = m.group(1)
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ def parse_workplan(path):
             return mm.group(1) if mm else None
 
         tasks.append((f("id"), f("status"), f("priority")))
-    return fm("id"), fm("title"), fm("status"), tasks
+    return fm("id"), fm("title"), fm("status"), tasks, kind
 
 
 def workplans():
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ def workplans():
 
 def next_task(plans):
     """First todo task of the first non-done workplan, with its heading."""
-    for wid, _title, status, tasks in plans:
+    for wid, _title, status, tasks, _kind in plans:
         if status == "done":
             continue
         for tid, tstatus, prio in tasks:
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ def report():
           + (f"  ({len(dirty)} uncommitted)" if dirty else "  (clean)"))
 
     print("\n  workplans")
-    for wid, title, status, tasks in plans:
+    for wid, title, status, tasks, _kind in plans:
         done = sum(1 for _, s, _ in tasks if s == "done")
         if status == "done" and done == len(tasks):
             print(f"    {wid}  {status:<12} {done}/{len(tasks)}")
@@ -161,6 +162,34 @@ def report():
     except Exception as e:
         print(f"    UNAVAILABLE — {e}")
 
+    # InnerLoop v1.5 — soft 25% meta budget. Reported, never gated.
+    try:
+        _, _, mod = cost_lines()
+        rep = mod.collect("-home-worsch-clay-borg", None)
+        detail = rep["by_task_detail"]
+        by_kind = {"product": 0.0, "meta": 0.0, "mixed": 0.0}
+        attributed = 0.0
+        for wid, _t, _s, tasks, kind in plans:
+            for tid, _ts, _p in tasks:
+                d = detail.get(tid)
+                if d and kind in by_kind:
+                    by_kind[kind] += d["cost"]
+                    attributed += d["cost"]
+        if attributed > 0:
+            # `mixed` splits evenly; stated rather than hidden.
+            meta = by_kind["meta"] + by_kind["mixed"] / 2
+            share = 100 * meta / attributed
+            mark = "ok  " if share <= 25 else "OVER"
+            print(f"\n  meta budget  [{mark}] {share:.0f}% of "
+                  f"${attributed:,.2f} attributed  (soft 25%, InnerLoop v1.5)")
+            print(f"    product ${by_kind['product']:,.2f}  "
+                  f"meta ${by_kind['meta']:,.2f}  "
+                  f"mixed ${by_kind['mixed']:,.2f} (split 50/50)")
+            print("    NOTE: attributed tasks only — early workplans used bare")
+            print("          T## ids that collide across passes and are excluded.")
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"\n  meta budget  UNAVAILABLE — {e}")
+
     print("\n  fast gates")
     code, out = run_tool("loop-lint.py")
     last = out.splitlines()[-1] if out else "?"
@@ -209,18 +238,18 @@ def self_test():
         fh.write(sample)
         tmp = fh.name
     try:
-        wid, title, status, tasks = parse_workplan(tmp)
+        wid, title, status, tasks, _kind = parse_workplan(tmp)
         check("workplan frontmatter parses", (wid, title, status)
               == ("CB-WP-0009", "Sample", "in_progress"), f"{wid} {status}")
         check("both task blocks parse with status and priority",
               tasks == [("CB-WP-0009-T01", "done", "high"),
                         ("CB-WP-0009-T02", "todo", "medium")])
         check("next task is the first todo, not the first task",
-              next_task([(wid, title, status, tasks)])
+              next_task([(wid, title, status, tasks, "meta")])
               == ("CB-WP-0009", "CB-WP-0009-T02", "medium"))
         check("a fully-done workplan yields no next task",
               next_task([("X", "t", "done",
-                          [("X-T01", "done", "high")])]) is None)
+                          [("X-T01", "done", "high")], "meta")]) is None)
     finally:
         os.unlink(tmp)
 
@@ -232,9 +261,14 @@ def self_test():
           sum(len(t) for *_, t in plans) >= 20,
           f"{sum(len(t) for *_, t in plans)} task(s)")
     check("every real workplan has an id and a status",
-          all(w and s for w, _, s, _ in plans))
+          all(w and s for w, _, s, _, _ in plans))
+    # InnerLoop v1.5: the meta budget needs every workplan classified, or
+    # the ratio is computed over an unknown denominator.
+    check("every workplan declares kind: product|meta|mixed",
+          all(k in ("product", "meta", "mixed") for *_, k in plans),
+          ", ".join(f"{w}={k}" for w, *_, k in plans))
     check("every real task has an id and a status",
-          all(i and s for *_, ts in plans for i, s, _ in ts))
+          all(i and s for _, _, _, ts, _ in plans for i, s, _ in ts))
 
     # A heading must be one line. The first version used a dot-all match
     # and returned the prose of the preceding task as the heading.

workplans/CB-WP-0001-inner-loop.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 id: CB-WP-0001
+kind: product
 title: "Establish the assimilate-and-surpass inner loop via the GROUND game kernel"
 status: done
 state_hub_workstream_id: "a1b434dc-b1c6-46b5-bbd9-80a4e6b7620f"

workplans/CB-WP-0002-cost-accounting.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 id: CB-WP-0002
+kind: meta
 title: "Make agentic cost measurable, so D2 claims are falsifiable"
 status: done
 state_hub_workstream_id: "b7c22f69-fbe9-48df-9619-007db79ae338"

workplans/CB-WP-0003-loop-hardening.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 id: CB-WP-0003
+kind: meta
 title: "Harden the inner loop: executable rules, session economics, dead policy"
 status: done
 state_hub_workstream_id: "39d61dc0-870d-45c1-a595-bcf91f289dce"

workplans/CB-WP-0004-mechanical-work.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 id: CB-WP-0004
+kind: meta
 title: "Move mechanical turns off the token budget, and prove it worked"
 status: done
 state_hub_workstream_id: "6880ac78-d817-41b9-b267-f12ff9deea28"

workplans/CB-WP-0005-assertion-coverage.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 id: CB-WP-0005
+kind: meta
 title: "Make the instruments count assertions, then fix what they expose"
 status: done
 state_hub_workstream_id: "0b95a1e3-7780-43d0-81e9-072ef7978734"

workplans/CB-WP-0006-instrument-the-table.md

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 ---
 id: CB-WP-0006
+kind: mixed
 title: "Instrument the acceptance table, then implement what it exposes"
 status: done
 state_hub_workstream_id: "8a6327cc-fd5c-4e2c-a29b-b437c27d1e71"

workplans/CB-WP-0007-session-shape.md

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 ---
 id: CB-WP-0007
+kind: meta
 title: "Make session shape measurable in the window that matters, then enforce it"
-status: proposed
+status: in_progress
 state_hub_workstream_id: "bee19b76-fb60-4dcf-94d0-9242b43e0e42"
 ---
 
@@ -33,6 +34,24 @@ Per InnerLoop §Step 4, no target moves in the commit that measures it —
 and CB-RES-0005 D3 states that up front, because all three targets are
 currently unmet by wide margins and the temptation is obvious.
 
+## Scope cut, 2026-08-01 (maintainer decision)
+
+A spend review before starting found the project **38% product / 62%
+loop-meta**, with cost per response degraded 2.9× from its best window and
+INTENT stage 0 still missing a CLI player and bots. CB-WP-0005 and
+CB-WP-0006 cost **~$74 — 31% of all spend — for zero measured efficiency
+gain** (their return was correctness of claims, which is real but is not
+optimization).
+
+So this workplan is **cut to T01 and T03**, the two tasks that attack the
+2.9× regression directly. **T02 and T04 are cancelled**, not deferred —
+SH-4 trend reporting and the batching trial are more instrument work, and
+the instrument-failure taxonomy is not converging. T06 becomes the
+project-level retrospective the maintainer asked for.
+
+**A soft 25% meta budget is established here** (T03), because the review's
+finding needs a standing number, not a memory.
+
 ## Phase A — measure the right window
 
 ## Task: window the session-shape metrics
@@ -58,11 +77,16 @@ target compares against.
 **Refuted if** it lands within 20% of the cumulative number, in which case
 the aggregation was not the problem and this pass should re-plan.
 
-## Task: SH-4 — a windowed trend the instrument can see
+## Task: SH-4 — a windowed trend the instrument can see (CANCELLED)
+
+> **Cancelled unstarted 2026-08-01.** More instrument work, against a
+> review finding that instrument work has stopped paying. The ceiling T03
+> adds catches a bad pass; a trend line would catch a slow slide, which is
+> a real gap — recorded as open, not built.
 
 ```task
 id: CB-WP-0007-T02
-status: todo
+status: cancel
 priority: medium
 state_hub_task_id: "1d5a32ef-4086-4021-b874-24ed2160c4dd"
 ```
@@ -119,11 +143,17 @@ Carries `--self-test`. Its positive control is the one this project keeps
 needing: a budget that reports `ok` because it measured nothing must
 abort instead.
 
-## Task: batch deliberately, and report what the rate reaches
+## Task: batch deliberately, and report what the rate reaches (CANCELLED)
+
+> **Cancelled unstarted 2026-08-01.** `SessionShape.md` §4 already puts
+> the ceiling at **$2–4 on a $93 pass** — the cheapest of the three
+> metrics to move and the least valuable. Spending a task on it while
+> stage 0 lacks a CLI player is the misallocation the review found.
+> SH-3 remains measured, unmet at 0.0%, and unfalsified.
 
 ```task
 id: CB-WP-0007-T04
-status: todo
+status: cancel
 priority: medium
 state_hub_task_id: "c284db6f-2e16-40fb-be8b-83ae5391c058"
 ```
@@ -154,7 +184,10 @@ priority: high
 state_hub_task_id: "2f78b272-e1f9-4530-bc8c-3a9d82833546"
 ```
 
-Commit `evidence/CB-EV-0006-session-shape.md`. Four tests, all reported:
+Commit `evidence/CB-EV-0006-session-shape.md`. **Reduced with the scope
+cut** — tests 1, 2 and 4 remain; test 3 (SH-3) is cancelled with T04.
+
+Four tests, all reported:
 
 1. **Does the windowed metric differ from cumulative?** Against T01's
    prediction; refuted if within 20%.