8Dionysus/aoa-eval-apply

aoa-eval-apply

Intent

Use this skill to apply an existing eval surface after selection is clear. The output is an evidence report, not a proof promotion. When a selected local suite exposes evals/suites/<slug>.suite.json, treat that sidecar as typed source execution intent: it must be JIT-revalidated by the current owner before its exact runner may execute.

Trigger boundary

Use this skill when:

• an existing eval, validator, test, or script has already been selected
• a local or central evaluation command should be run or routed
• the user needs to know what the run proves, what failed, and what remains outside coverage
• generated outputs need to be rebuilt or checked as part of the selected eval
• a selected repo-local suite has a machine-readable execution sidecar whose freshness and runtime invocation must be applied
• the parent has classified apply, but the exact selected command, source root/ref, prerequisites, expected artifacts, or pass/fail criteria is unavailable inside the active evidence boundary; select this child only to stop with blocked_missing_input rather than substitute another command

Do not use this skill when:

• no existing eval has been selected yet; use aoa-eval-select
• the next honest move is to record missing eval pressure; use aoa-eval-local-need
• the task is to invent a new suite; use aoa-eval-design
• the command would mutate production or central proof surfaces without owner permission

Inputs

• selected eval or validation command
• repo-local route law and command prerequisites
• optional evals/suites/<slug>.suite.json sidecar plus the current owner schema/validator that classifies it as absent, invalid, stale, or ready
• exact source tree or commit when the result will be merge-, release-, or publication-bound
• expected artifacts, reports, generated outputs, and pass/fail criteria
• prior failure or regression context

Outputs

• commands run and results observed
• artifacts or reports produced
• evidence classification: passed candidate evidence, regression candidate, inconclusive, blocked, or outside coverage
• for a sidecar-backed suite: JIT state, exact invocation, environment capture, and owner-local execution receipt
• next route if failure should become an intake need or suite design

Procedure

1. if the apply route is selected but the exact selected command, source root/ref, prerequisites, expected artifacts, or pass/fail criteria is unavailable inside the active evidence boundary and no permitted packet or source read can supply it, stop with blocked_missing_input; do not relabel missing input as deferred_owner_boundary or substitute a fixture probe; request the exact selected command, source root/ref, prerequisites, expected artifacts, and pass/fail criteria as the next owner action, and never choose a fixture probe as the selected eval
2. confirm the selected eval surface, owner repo, source root, and source ref; if exact merged evidence is required, use a clean exact tree without modifying a dirty canonical checkout
3. inspect prerequisites and choose the smallest command that exercises the intended evidence surface
4. if a local suite sidecar exists, use the current owner validator to JIT-revalidate schema, canonical owner identity, paths, typed argv, and every tracked source hash; proceed only from source-contract-ready
5. inventory, readiness, dashboard, and MCP surfaces may inspect the sidecar but must not execute it
6. invoke only the validated runner.argv, runner.cwd, timeout, and accepted exit codes; do not substitute a wrapper, broader gate, or reconstructed command
7. capture interpreter, dependency inventory digest, ambient pytest plugins, config, and selected environment before interpreting the result
8. write an owner-local, private-by-default execution receipt linked to the source head and sidecar digest; keep proof and promotion authority false
9. when no sidecar exists, run the selected deterministic command with the same source, cwd, result, artifact, and proof-limit reporting discipline
10. capture outputs, generated drift, and artifact paths
11. classify what the run proves and explicitly name what it does not prove
12. if the run exposes missing coverage, route to aoa-eval-local-need; if it requires new design, route to aoa-eval-design
13. report commands, results, artifacts, source posture, environment posture, and remaining risk

Contracts

• applying an eval does not create a central verdict unless aoa-evals owns and validates that promotion
• source-contract-ready proves reviewed source shape and hashes only; runtime reproducibility remains false unless a stronger owner proves a pinned environment
• a stale or invalid sidecar blocks execution until its source owner repairs or refreshes it; live output cannot author its own tracked hashes
• inventory, MCP, and generated readiness surfaces never gain execution or receipt-publication authority from discovering a sidecar
• failed or inconclusive runs are evidence, not permission to guess
• generated drift must be resolved through owner builders
• local eval reports must stay under local repo surfaces unless central review accepts them
• missing application context inside the active evidence boundary ends as blocked_missing_input, not as command substitution or owner-boundary deferral

Risks and anti-patterns

• running a broad release gate when a focused validator is enough
• treating green tests as complete proof outside their scope
• executing a sidecar from inventory/MCP output without immediate owner JIT validation
• changing runner.argv, cwd, timeout, accepted codes, or tracked hashes at run time to make a stale contract pass
• treating an environment capture or execution receipt as reproducible runtime, central proof, or promotion
• hiding generated drift
• promoting failure observations without a reproducible command
• relabelling absent application inputs as deferred_owner_boundary
• choosing an independent fixture probe instead of requesting the exact selected command and its source context as the next owner action

Verification

• confirm the selected eval existed before running
• confirm absent application inputs stopped as blocked_missing_input without being relabelled as deferred_owner_boundary or replaced by another command
• confirm the report requests the exact selected command, source root/ref, prerequisites, expected artifacts, and pass/fail criteria as the next owner action and never chooses a fixture probe as the selected eval
• confirm source root/ref and whether the observation came from a live dirty workspace or an exact source tree
• for a sidecar-backed suite, confirm the owner validator reported ready immediately before execution and no inventory/MCP surface executed it
• confirm exact command, cwd, timeout, accepted exit codes, and result
• confirm environment capture and the private execution receipt's source-head and sidecar-digest links
• confirm artifacts and generated drift status
• confirm proof limits and next route
• confirm no central proof file was written through MCP

Technique traceability

Manifest-backed techniques:

• AOA-T-0003 from 8Dionysus/aoa-techniques at 1a7d146957108ecefc24219c7d56357c5a4a2c2c using path techniques/proof/evaluation-chain/contract-first-smoke-summary/TECHNIQUE.md and sections: Intent, Inputs, Outputs, Core procedure, Contracts, Risks, Validation
• AOA-T-0007 from 8Dionysus/aoa-techniques at 1a7d146957108ecefc24219c7d56357c5a4a2c2c using path techniques/proof/evaluation-chain/signal-first-gate-promotion/TECHNIQUE.md and sections: Intent, Inputs, Outputs, Core procedure, Contracts, Risks, Validation
• AOA-T-0096 from 8Dionysus/aoa-techniques at 1a7d146957108ecefc24219c7d56357c5a4a2c2c using path techniques/proof/owner-truth-closeout/pinned-validation-matrix-before-generated-publish/TECHNIQUE.md and sections: Intent, Inputs, Outputs, Core procedure, Contracts, Risks, Validation

Adaptation points

• repo-local command runner
• report artifact format
• generated rebuild order