test-driver/research/concepts/fitness-map.md

Concept ↔ Implementation Fitness Map

Updated: 2026-08-22 (TD-WP-0002-T04)

Traces each important concept to the implementation, experiment and evidence that support it. Unsupported entries are the point of this map — a concept with no implementation and no evidence is not a gap to be embarrassed about, it is the current honest state, and hiding it defeats the map's purpose.

Support levels follow TestDriverImprovementLoop.md §13: C0 Idea · C1 Hypothesis · C2 Experimentally Supported · C3 Practically Validated · C4 Architectural Invariant

Current state

The deterministic kernel exists (T04) and its guarantees are covered by unit tests. Levels have not moved. A passing unit test is not an experiment: it shows the code does what its author intended, not that the concept holds under the mutations it claims to survive. Levels rise when E-001/E-002/E-003 produce evidence, not before. The implementation column below moves; the level column does not. The initial classifications in §13 of the Improvement Loop (Actor Isolation C2, Independent Oracles C2) are corrected downward here: they were aspirational, not evidenced.

Concept	Level	Implementation	Experiment	Evidence	Open question
C-use-case	C1	intent.py	—	—	Is a use case expressible without leaking mechanics?
C-actor-isolation	C1	world.py	E-001	—	Isolation is asserted by construction; unverified.
C-semantic-action	C1	actions.py	E-001	—	Does identity survive restructuring better than a recorded sequence? (H-001)
C-oracle-independence	C1	runner.py, oracles.py	E-001, E-003	—	Independence of components ≠ independence of belief. (H-004)
C-evidence-pack	C1	evidence.py	—	—	What is the minimum sufficient for replay?
C-observation-channel	C1	lab/minimal.py	—	—	D-07 — required of every system under test. Adoption cost unknown.
C-adaptation	C1	— (T08)	E-001	—	(H-002)
C-classification	C1	— (T08)	E-001, E-003	—	Decision table is total on paper; unexercised.
C-crystallization	C1	— (T09)	E-002	—	(H-003)
C-intent-provenance	C1	provenance.py	E-003	—	Constrains provenance, not quality. Accepted residual.
C-lineage	C0	—	—	—	Parent pointer only in the spike.
C-energy	C0	energy.py, capture only	—	—	Dormant by decision. (H-005)
C-temperature	C0	—	—	—	Deferred. No implementation planned in TD-WP-0002.
C-confidence	C0	—	—	—	Deferred.
C-campaign	C0	—	—	—	Deferred.
C-metabolism	C0	—	—	—	Deferred. Depends on C-energy.
C-retirement	C0	—	—	—	Deferred. Depends on C-energy.
C-security-mutation	C1	—	E-003	—	Catalogue exists; no derivation mechanism.

Orphan check

Conceptual orphans — concepts with no planned implementation in TD-WP-0002: C-temperature, C-confidence, C-campaign, C-metabolism, C-retirement.

All five are deferred by explicit decision, not oversight. They are the group most at risk of being built because they are easy and satisfying, and never validated. They are revisited at T10, where the question is not "when do we build these" but "does the evidence justify keeping them in the model at all".

Implementation orphans — none. Every module in src/testdriver/ traces to a concept above. energy.py is the one to watch: it exists solely to capture events for a dormant hypothesis, and if T10 finds no use for the history it should be removed rather than kept out of sentiment.