Halo epistemic report

Type: agentic-system-analyses/types/agentic-system-epistemic-report.md

Source-and-claim boundary

The question is how Halo turns captured executions into findings that can affect later harness behavior, and what checks license that reliance. Scope, external exclusions and source identity: see boundary and its Source register. SRC-1 supplies implementation, doctrine/design and reported operation, not an inspected intervention comparison. The external coding actor, harness deployment and provider internals remain outside the frozen partial loop.

Knowledge and improvement claims: see EPI-CLM-halo-loop, EPI-CLM-benchmark-improvement and RT-CLM-trace-only. The first two are newly read source claims; the last has a source-supported capability counterexample in RT-RTE-repository-inspection. No supersession is needed: the runtime already retains that mismatch.

Coverage

“Direct” means source text inspected for this member. “Supplied” means the runtime record supplies the mechanism and load-bearing passage. Neither means observed execution.

Entry point or operation	Source path	Coverage and record, or remaining limit
CLI dispatch and exposed tool factory	pyproject.toml, halo_cli/main.py, engine/tools/subagent_tool_factory.py	Direct registration/dispatch reads; RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis, RT-RTE-subagent-call. Registered trace overview/query/count/view/search, context lookup, synthesis, optional Python, code/Git and child invocation were checked against runtime.
Hooks and alternate engine surfaces	engine/, halo_cli/	Scoped hook search found a Git-environment comment, not another analysis hook dispatcher. Supplied API convergence in RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis; this is not a claim about dependency callbacks or desktop-wide hooks.
Raw views, count and rendered synthesis input	engine/traces/trace_store.py, engine/tools/synthesis_tool.py	Direct consequential methods; EPI-RTE-trace-projection, EPI-RTE-count-traces, RT-RTE-trace-synthesis. Full query/filter/index validation not audited; exact counts remain conditional on their inputs and predicates.
Sidecar reuse/rebuild	engine/traces/trace_index_builder.py	Direct admission, fingerprint and parsing ranges; EPI-RTE-index-reuse. Full accumulator semantics uninspected.
Completion	engine/tools/final_answer_tool.py	Direct entire tool; EPI-RTE-answer-finalization. Bridge fallback and consequential completion consumer supplied by RT-RTE-desktop-analysis.
Context recovery and compaction	engine/agents/agent_context.py, engine/tools/agent_context_tools.py, engine/agents/prompt_templates.py	Direct atomic compaction admission, original-item lookup and prompts; terminal trigger and retry cleanup supplied by RT-RTE-checkpoint-emission and RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis.
Optional repository and executable analysis	engine/code/, engine/git/, engine/sandbox/	Supplied RT-RTE-repository-inspection, RT-RTE-sandbox-python; direct registration check. Arbitrary model-supplied program content not individuated: its truth-apt results are not determinable in advance.
Desktop export, storage, report and handoff	app/src/server/halo/exporter.ts, app/src/server/halo/storage.ts, app/src/server/halo/report.ts, app/src/desktop/commands.ts	Direct export mapper; supplied RT-RTE-desktop-analysis, RT-RTE-report-handoff. Provider-specific import mappings and common upsert paths not independently audited here; no end-to-end fidelity verdict.
Verification and remeasurement procedure	skills/claude/SKILL.md, README.md	Direct claim and verification ranges; RT-RTE-report-handoff, new claim records below. Procedure is not an executed acceptance decision.
AppWorld evaluation	demo/appworld/src/appworld/evaluator.py	Direct task evaluator and TestTracker success; EPI-RTE-task-evaluation. Task-specific evaluation modules, bundled task data and full metric aggregation not inspected; benchmark completeness and reproducibility unestablished.
Engine smoke evaluators	tests/e2e/test_engine_e2e.py	Searched assertions: final flags, tool invocation, deltas and sandbox exit/output. Available definitions, not test results; no diagnosis-truth conclusion follows. Other suites and CI definitions uninspected.
Halo production-machinery update	app/src/server/halo/engine.ts	Supplied RT-RTE-engine-install; importability gate is distinct from diagnostic truth.
Source-native run artifacts and demo trace producers	halo-telemetry-run-legacy.jsonl, demo/	Artifacts/producers not traced to individual findings here; no observed acquisition, diagnosis, acceptance or benchmark causality is asserted.

Relevant uninspected import mapping, task modules, tests and trace artifacts prevent a system-complete negative about every possible evaluator or accepted claim. Missing execution evidence prevents assertions that an implemented route operated. Missing paired interventions prevents attribution of benchmark gains to Halo, its decomposition, or a particular diagnosis. Missing provider internals prevents a parameter-learning conclusion beyond the inspected inference callers.

Epistemic-object inventory

Object ID	Candidate truth-apt content or none	Claimed role	Evidence source ID and local anchor	Gap/limit
EPI-OBJ-span-record	Captured events, status and payload assertions	see record	SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_store.py	Capture truth, omitted events and import fidelity not authenticated
EPI-OBJ-trace-count	Number of indexed traces satisfying selected filters	see record	SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_store.py	Conditional on index and predicate semantics, not a task-success count
EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer	Findings about selected traces/code; possible causal hypotheses	see record	SRC-1, engine/tools/final_answer_tool.py	No concrete answer inspected; semantic relation remains indeterminate
EPI-OBJ-synthesis-summary	Model-authored statements about rendered traces	see record	SRC-1, engine/tools/synthesis_tool.py	Summary and compaction are distinct consumers; this object is synthesis only
EPI-OBJ-compaction-summary	Claimed preservation of item facts	see record	SRC-1, engine/agents/agent_context.py	Successful inference does not check fidelity
EPI-OBJ-test-tracker	Task-specific pass/fail and success proposition	see record	SRC-1, demo/appworld/src/appworld/evaluator.py	Does not individuate or validate Halo's causal explanations
RT-CMP-root-agent, RT-CMP-subagent, RT-CMP-synthesis-model, RT-CMP-compaction-model	Not determinable from accessible parameters	see records	SRC-1, engine/engine_config.py; supplied records	Remote numerical state is not a localized inspectable proposition; inference wiring is assessable independently

Authority-route ledger

These are route/property assessments, not observed candidate states. Fields owned by the declaring records are cited rather than recopied. Relation classifications refer to the named edge only. In particular, an unchanged answer admitted for display has no content change even if its earlier generation was indeterminate.

Route ID	Route function	Architectural status	Object/candidate ID	Content/update relation	Transition or check target	Evaluator/condition and domain	Activation and timing	Possible or observed result	Implemented force	Epistemic authority and scope	Operational authority: behavior permitted, blocked, or changed	Behavioral-authority path: consumer, channel, force, horizon	Evidence source ID and local anchor	Claim IDs or none	Mismatch marker or none	Gap/limit
EPI-RTE-trace-projection	content transformation	implemented	EPI-OBJ-span-record	truth-apt transformation: non-ampliative reshaping	Selected raw evidence to bounded view	see record	Requested tool call	Payload removal, prefix markers or metadata rendering	Enforcing selection of model-visible evidence	Preserves displayed fields, not full evidence or source truth	Narrows evidence available to inference	Calling model; tool text; informational; current invocation	SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_store.py	none	none	Oversized render can say spans: 0 without explaining omission
EPI-RTE-count-traces	content transformation	implemented	EPI-OBJ-trace-count	truth-apt transformation: entailed derivation	Cardinality of selected index rows	see record	Model-selected count call	Integer total	Informational	Cardinality under actual filter/index premises only	Supplies numerical evidence to later reasoning	Calling model; typed tool result; advisory; current analysis	SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_store.py	none	none	No independently warranted premises for real-world success frequency
RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis, RT-RTE-subagent-call	content transformation	implemented	EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer	truth-apt transformation: indeterminate	Evidence and question to diagnosis	see records	Open request and delegated calls	Candidate findings and possible hypotheses	Model-directed investigation	Candidate generation only; entailment and non-entailment not established for an unseen answer	Chooses subsequent tools or returns answer	Parent/root model; transcript/tool result; advisory; analysis episode	SRC-1, engine/tools/subagent_tool_factory.py	EPI-CLM-halo-loop	none	Intention to generalize is not tested generalization
RT-RTE-trace-synthesis	content transformation	implemented	EPI-OBJ-synthesis-summary	truth-apt transformation: indeterminate	Rendered traces to plain text	see record	Selected IDs/focus	Model summary	Returned without semantic gate	No acceptance or complete raw-trace warrant	Supplies compressed evidence to caller	Calling model; tool summary; advisory; analysis episode	SRC-1, engine/tools/synthesis_tool.py	none	none	Could reshape, derive or conjecture; actual content needed to decide
EPI-RTE-answer-finalization	disposition/acceptance	implemented	EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer	no content change	Terminal answer submission, not truth	see record	Root final_answer	Acknowledgement and termination	Permissive/enforcing protocol completion	No epistemic acceptance criterion	Stops root loop, exposes final answer	SDK/mapper; structured tool channel; enforcing; run termination	SRC-1, engine/tools/final_answer_tool.py	EPI-CLM-halo-loop	none	Disposition here is operational, not evidence-consuming acceptance
RT-RTE-desktop-analysis	disposition/acceptance	implemented	EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer	no content change	Bridge answer eligible for completed state	see record	Terminal bridge selection	Final answer or last-assistant fallback	Software completion admission	Non-empty text licenses completion, not correctness	Completed answer can be retained and reported	Queue; bridge event; permissive; run/turn lifetime	SRC-1, app/scripts/halo-local-runner.py	none	none	Counterexample to treating completed as a truth check
RT-RTE-desktop-analysis	retention	implemented	EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer	no content change	Answer to durable turn/report	see record	Queue persistence	Retained conversation and report	Retention without per-answer human approval	No added warrant	Enables report and follow-up input	Storage/report builder; saved role/content; informational; later sessions	SRC-1, app/src/server/halo/storage.ts	none	none	Retention is not lifecycle integration after acceptance
RT-RTE-desktop-analysis	operational admission/selection/consumption	implemented	EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer	no content change	Earlier turns to follow-up context	see record	Later question	Prior user and non-empty assistant turns	Software context admission	Conversation continuity only	Earlier candidate findings can influence later analysis	Follow-up model; message history; advisory; later run turns	SRC-1, app/src/server/halo/storage.ts	none	none	Tool/child evidence is not replayed with the answer
RT-RTE-checkpoint-emission	content transformation	implemented	EPI-OBJ-compaction-summary	truth-apt transformation: indeterminate	Original item to compressed rendering	see record	Successful root with checkpoint flag	Summaries or unchanged failed units	Context replacement on successful calls	Preservation requested, not checked	Changes potential replay context	Host checkpoint consumer; rendered messages; permissive; later resume if supplied	SRC-1, engine/agents/agent_context.py	none	none	Ordinary CLI/desktop does not activate this path; no inspected resume
EPI-RTE-index-reuse	lineage/freshness/recovery	implemented	EPI-OBJ-span-record	no content change	Index eligibility relative to source stat/schema	see record	Before analysis	Reuse or rebuild	Enforcing cache selection	Stat agreement, not source endorsement or content identity	Chooses offsets/metadata later queries use	TraceStore; sidecar rows; enforcing selection; run startup	SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_index_builder.py	none	none	Same-size, same-mtime content change can evade this predicate
EPI-RTE-task-evaluation	check/evidence production	implemented	EPI-OBJ-test-tracker	truth-apt transformation: entailed derivation	Task output databases/answer against task-specific criteria	see record	Explicit evaluate_task	Pass/fail records and saved report	Reports evidence, does not automatically admit a patch	Criterion satisfaction in that task, conditional on evaluator/data fidelity	Provides outcome input to manual improvement loop	Evaluation/report reader; report and return; advisory; experiment	SRC-1, demo/appworld/src/appworld/evaluator.py	EPI-CLM-benchmark-improvement	none	Does not test the proposed failure mechanism or isolate Halo effect
RT-RTE-report-handoff	operational admission/selection/consumption	implemented	EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer	no content change	Report offered to coding actor	see record	User confirms tool request	Path-bearing instruction	Advisory/directive, user-gated initiation	No truth license from launch confirmation	Invites external code edits	External coding actor; report path and request; advisory; later coding session	SRC-1, app/src/desktop/commands.ts	EPI-CLM-halo-loop	none	Actual read/edit/deployment unobserved and outside boundary
RT-RTE-report-handoff	disposition/acceptance	doctrine only	EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer	no content change	Verified hypothesis/edit against eval delta and error frequency	see record	Prescribed verify/edit/remeasure cycle	Ship or return to diagnosis	Procedural policy only	Bounded outcome comparison if performed; not mechanism truth	Coding actor is told to ship or revise	Coding actor; skill text; advisory; improvement rounds	SRC-1, skills/claude/SKILL.md	EPI-CLM-benchmark-improvement	none	No inspected evidence-consuming acceptance instance or integration follows
RT-RTE-engine-install	operational admission/selection/consumption	implemented	none: machinery update	non-truth-apt policy/content update: executable engine/dependencies	Install/import success	see record	Host setup/update	Installed/error state	Admits machinery by command/import success	Importability only	Later bridge runs changed checkout	Host queue; install path; enforcing; subsequent analyses	SRC-1, app/src/server/halo/engine.ts	none	none	Not trace-responsive policy adaptation or evidence of better diagnosis

Retry cleanup removes incomplete tool tails but cannot retract emitted output: see RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis. That is protocol recovery, not withdrawal of a refuted proposition. Original-item lookup returns the calling context's stored item including original content: SRC-1, engine/tools/agent_context_tools.py. It restores access, not warrant. Code/Git and Python routes remain separate evidence-producing possibilities: see RT-RTE-repository-inspection and RT-RTE-sandbox-python. A successful Python exit licenses execution completion only; the program and premises determine any further truth claim.

System-claim versus route comparison

Claim ID	Claimed operation or warrant	Claim source ID/anchor and evidence layer	Doctrine/design support	Implemented route IDs	Observed-run support	Causal support and design limits	Supported conclusion	Mismatch/unknown
EPI-CLM-halo-loop	see record	SRC-1, README.md; doctrine/design	Trace diagnosis, report, external coding and redeployment loop	RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis, RT-RTE-report-handoff	None inspected	No closed-loop execution or comparison	Diagnosis and handoff are wired; external improvement is a methodology	“Recursively self-improving” cannot establish autonomous or exercised Halo self-improvement
EPI-CLM-benchmark-improvement	see record	SRC-1, README.md; reported operation	Skill prescribes independent verification and remeasurement	EPI-RTE-task-evaluation, RT-RTE-report-handoff	No underlying paired runs inspected	Reported dev/test_normal comparison does not isolate the engine, a component or mechanism	Source reports gains and trace verification; evaluator wiring could measure task outcomes	Reported verification is not independently retained acceptance evidence in this report
RT-CLM-trace-only	see record	SRC-1, skills/claude/SKILL.md; doctrine/design	Verify before acting remains sound procedural intent	RT-RTE-repository-inspection	None inspected	Optional grants contradict blanket inability to inspect code	Trace-only applies to an ungranted configuration, not all shipped engine invocations	Capability mismatch already recorded by runtime
RT-CLM-delegation-policy	see record	SRC-1, engine/agents/prompt_templates.py; doctrine/design	Delegate exploration and synthesize findings	RT-RTE-subagent-call	None inspected	No comparison isolating decomposition benefit	Fresh-context delegation is available	Root leaf tools remain; instruction is not enforced isolation of investigation

Bounded conclusion

Halo has implemented routes for importing trace evidence, exposing bounded views, computing trace-relative aggregates, generating model findings, and retaining and reusing answers. Import/source warrant is unknown: the visible desktop export retains IDs and status but remaps attributes; neither that mapping nor the trace producer authenticates the asserted events. Bounded views deliberately degrade completeness. Synthesis can lose even the explanation for omitted spans. See EPI-RTE-trace-projection and EPI-OBJ-span-record.

A count is a limited entailed derivation from selected index rows, not proof of task success or an explanation of failures. Model diagnosis, synthesis and compaction are separate truth-apt generation edges whose actual preservation, entailment or ampliation cannot be classified without content. Novelty is not inferred from a model call. Final-answer acknowledgement, desktop non-empty completion and successful summary calls grant operational use, not evidence-consuming epistemic acceptance. See EPI-RTE-count-traces, EPI-RTE-answer-finalization, RT-RTE-desktop-analysis, RT-RTE-checkpoint-emission.

The consequential reliance paths differ. Follow-ups admit earlier findings through role/content history without the underlying tool context. Handoff invites a separate coding actor to act on a retained report after user confirmation. The skill explicitly inserts repo verification before editing and comparative evaluation before shipping. These are meaningful proposed checks, not an observed accepted ampliative claim or lifecycle integration after acceptance. AppWorld's evaluator is a real programmatic counterexample to “only models ever evaluate anything”: its target is task-output criterion satisfaction, not Halo's causal account. Outcome success cannot establish why an edit worked or that it transfers. See EPI-RTE-task-evaluation and RT-RTE-report-handoff.

The runtime's independently bounded theory-builder conditions, learning, reflection and autonomy assessments remain in RT-RTE-report-handoff; nothing here upgrades them from method prescription to operation. Localized method text and available external editing do not demonstrate retained criticism shaping a next round. Model-parameter updates are not established by any inspected inference caller; provider internals remain uninspected, and this does not negate other retained-context learning paths. Engine installation changes machinery without trace-responsive evaluation. The self-improvement boundary is Halo, horizon subsequent diagnosis sessions, objective improved trace-grounded diagnosis: no inspected route establishes an evidence-shaped organizational update followed by causally dependent later operation. Reported external harness gains therefore remain independent of an exercised Halo self-improvement claim. No system-wide epistemic score or universal negative follows.

Shared records

Operative objects

EPI-OBJ-span-record

Label: SpanRecord evidence views

Source-native identity: SpanRecord and its bounded tool projections. Symbolic event metadata and natural-language payloads are stored in JSONL, loaded into Python records and returned as tool data. Distinct from runtime's model components; no supplied operative-object counterpart. Closest route: RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis. This object describes the acquired evidence, not the diagnosis machinery. SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_store.py, app/src/server/halo/exporter.ts. Export preserves span/trace IDs and status while adding normalized aliases; conflicting source aliases can be overwritten by later literal keys. That limits lineage fidelity, not necessarily event truth.

"input.value": row.input ?? row.input_messages, "llm.model_name": row.llm_model_name, "llm.provider": row.llm_provider, "openinference.span.kind": row.observation_kind, "output.value": row.output ?? row.output_messages, --- app/src/server/halo/exporter.ts

EPI-OBJ-trace-count

Label: TraceCountResult total

Source-native identity: TraceCountResult.total. Symbolic integer in Python and serialized tool output; transient current-run evidence, not an accepted persistent theory. No supplied operative-object counterpart; closest route RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis. Evidence and exact derivation are in EPI-RTE-count-traces.

EPI-OBJ-diagnostic-answer

Label: FinalAnswerArguments answer

Source-native identity: FinalAnswerArguments.answer and downstream selected answer text. Natural language carried by structured tool arguments, output messages and desktop turn/report storage. No supplied operative-object counterpart; closest routes RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis, RT-RTE-desktop-analysis. The text may assert facts about behavior or code, but no particular answer or proposition was inspected. Evidence: SRC-1, engine/tools/final_answer_tool.py, plus those supplied records' persistence passages.

answer: str --- engine/tools/final_answer_tool.py:15-15

EPI-OBJ-synthesis-summary

Label: SynthesizeTracesResult summary

Source-native identity: SynthesizeTracesResult.summary. Natural-language text held in a Python result and current-run tool history. No supplied operative-object counterpart; closest route RT-RTE-trace-synthesis. Distinct from the remote model component and from compaction summaries: it describes selected trace renderings to the calling agent. Evidence: SRC-1, engine/tools/synthesis_tool.py.

summary = (response.choices[0].message.content or "").strip() return SynthesizeTracesResult(summary=summary) --- engine/tools/synthesis_tool.py

EPI-OBJ-compaction-summary

Label: AgentContextItem compaction summary

Source-native identity: AgentContextItem.compaction_summary. Natural-language text in context objects, optionally rendered into a checkpoint; original fields remain locally reachable. No supplied operative-object counterpart; closest route RT-RTE-checkpoint-emission, whose replacement quote supplies evidence. This differs from synthesis by input, trigger and later replay consumer. SRC-1, engine/agents/agent_context.py. Atomic admission tests exception-free summarizer returns, not proposition preservation.

if isinstance(result, Exception): # Compaction is an optimization — a failed summarization call # (after its own retries) must never take down the run, and must # not partially compact a tool turn. Leave the whole unit # uncompacted; the next turn's pass retries it. --- engine/agents/agent_context.py

The comment's next-turn wording does not supersede the runner's terminal-only trigger. The model instruction is a preservation request, not a checked invariant:

You summarize a single conversation item for storage. Preserve tool names, argument shapes, and key result facts that future reasoning might need. Return a short plain-text summary — no JSON wrapping, no surrounding prose. --- engine/agents/prompt_templates.py

EPI-OBJ-test-tracker

Label: TestTracker evaluation results

Source-native identity: AppWorld TestTracker passes/failures, success and report. Symbolic criteria/results plus natural-language report, in Python and optionally disk Markdown. No supplied operative-object counterpart; closest RT-RTE-report-handoff prescribes outcome measurement but does not declare this evaluator object. SRC-1, demo/appworld/src/appworld/evaluator.py; route passage below supplies invocation evidence.

@property def success(self) -> bool: return self.pass_count == self.num_tests --- demo/appworld/src/appworld/evaluator.py

Routes

EPI-RTE-trace-projection

Label: Bounded trace projection

Part of: RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis

The container's diagnostic route includes tool-driven evidence access; this part owns deterministic projection only. Code transforms selected parsed spans into bounded records or rendered metadata for the calling model/synthesis. SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_store.py. The view's lossy projection changes available evidence, not acceptance. For concrete input abcdef with cap 3, the string branch returns abc... [HALO truncated: original 6 chars]. This source deduction requires no target execution. It retains the prefix and explicitly removes def; it cannot support an inference about omitted content. render_trace further selects metadata, excluding payload assertions regardless of cap.

• implementation conclusion status: wired
• operation conclusion status: uninspected
• Immediate return: Bounded span fields, omission marker or metadata text.
• Later read-back: inapplicable — this projection does not persist changed material; downstream context/report routes own retention.
• Delegated visibility: Calling agent receives its requested view; synthesis receives rendered metadata rather than full raw payloads.
• Selection predicate: Trace/span IDs, attribute caps, noisy-key predicate, total response budget and rendering field whitelist.
• Invalidation or expiry: Fresh projection from current store per request; no epistemic withdrawal state.
• Activation or effect: Code limits model-visible evidence; model reliance and output effects unobserved.
• Evidence limits: No authenticated source truth or completeness follows; oversized omission is consequential to synthesis.

return f"{value[:cap_chars]}... [HALO truncated: original {len(value)} chars]" --- engine/traces/trace_store.py

view = self.view_trace(trace_id) lines: list[str] = [f"trace_id: {trace_id}", f"spans: {len(view.spans)}"] --- engine/traces/trace_store.py

The oversized empty-span witness is supplied by RT-RTE-trace-synthesis. Together these passages establish that an oversized view renders spans: 0, not the original span count or its omission explanation.

EPI-RTE-count-traces

Label: Indexed trace count

Part of: RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis

This is the deterministic count-tool part, not the container's model inference. The calling model proposes filters; code chooses matching rows and returns their length. The target/domain is indexed rows satisfying the implemented predicate, not successful real-world tasks. Open diagnostic mode; no expected-answer oracle. The model can revise filters or disregard the count; no human approval or acceptance gate intervenes. SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_store.py.

• implementation conclusion status: wired
• operation conclusion status: uninspected
• Immediate return: TraceCountResult with integer total.
• Later read-back: inapplicable — count tool does not write retained material; ordinary current-run delivery alone is not read-back.
• Delegated visibility: Root and children have this leaf tool; result is visible only in the requesting context unless relayed.
• Selection predicate: Caller filters passed to _apply_filters.
• Invalidation or expiry: Recomputed on request over the loaded index.
• Activation or effect: Supplies a numerical proposition for interpretation, not automatic candidate acceptance.
• Evidence limits: Full filter and accumulator semantics not audited here; premises conditional. A count of two selected rows yields total 2 by len, not a new empirical generalization.

return TraceCountResult(total=len(self._apply_filters(filters))) --- engine/traces/trace_store.py

EPI-RTE-answer-finalization

Label: Root answer acknowledgement

Part of: RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis

This part is the terminal tool's acknowledgement, not answer generation. Root model proposes final text; software accepts the structured submission and SDK stop policy terminates. Target/domain is protocol completion, with no evidence-consuming truth test or answer oracle. Open diagnostic mode. Human can cancel/reject outside this acknowledgement but does not approve each answer before emission. The tool deliberately discards arguments; correction or rollback of a proposition is not implemented by this function. SRC-1, engine/tools/final_answer_tool.py; downstream mapping/stop and fallback are supplied by RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis and RT-RTE-desktop-analysis.

• implementation conclusion status: wired
• operation conclusion status: uninspected
• Immediate return: FinalAnswerResult acknowledgement.
• Later read-back: inapplicable — acknowledgement does not persist or replay content; desktop route owns that path.
• Delegated visibility: Root-only tool; children return plain messages.
• Selection predicate: Root final_answer dispatch with structured answer argument.
• Invalidation or expiry: Stops current root run; no truth-retraction or expiry rule.
• Activation or effect: Ends analysis and exposes answer to downstream consumers.
• Evidence limits: Final flag and acknowledgement establish no correctness, completeness or acceptance against an epistemic criterion.

del tool_context, arguments return FinalAnswerResult() --- engine/tools/final_answer_tool.py

EPI-RTE-index-reuse

Label: Sidecar freshness admission

Part of: RT-RTE-trace-diagnosis

Startup code admits a derived index or rebuilds it. The target is source/index stat-and-schema compatibility, not the truth of trace claims. Software decides; no content proposal or human per-index approval. This is recovery/selection of derived data, not knowledge acceptance. SRC-1, engine/traces/trace_index_builder.py.

• implementation conclusion status: wired
• operation conclusion status: uninspected
• Immediate return: Reused or rebuilt index path.
• Later read-back: Subsequent runs can select the sidecar if source size, mtime and schema still agree.
• Delegated visibility: Root/children query the common store built from admitted rows, not freshness metadata as an epistemic endorsement.
• Selection predicate: Both files exist and metadata schema_version, source_size and source_mtime_ns match current inputs.
• Invalidation or expiry: Predicate mismatch triggers rebuild; source mutation preserving size/mtime is not detected by this predicate. Invalid metadata parsing can raise rather than silently rebuild.
• Activation or effect: Selects offsets and derived metadata for subsequent evidence queries; actual execution unobserved.
• Evidence limits: Not a cryptographic content check, capture authentication or approval; complete accumulator and concurrent mutation behavior uninspected.

if index_path.exists() and meta_path.exists(): existing = TraceIndexMeta.model_validate_json(meta_path.read_text()) if ( existing.schema_version == config.schema_version and existing.source_size == current_size and existing.source_mtime_ns == current_mtime_ns ): return index_path --- engine/traces/trace_index_builder.py

EPI-RTE-task-evaluation

Label: AppWorld task evaluation

No supplied route counterpart after comparison: RT-RTE-report-handoff prescribes remeasurement, while this distinct shipped program evaluates task outputs and returns a tracker. It is not a material part of that desktop handoff. The evaluator loads a named task, its start state and saved task-output databases, then calls the task ground-truth evaluation module with public/private data and expected answer. Target/domain: task-specific assertions over those outputs. Reference provider: bundled task ground truth; encoding fidelity and task-specific evaluator completeness remain uninspected. Caller chooses task/experiment, code invokes evaluation, task module judges criteria; no universal Halo diagnosis oracle. This supports bounded experiments, not automatic patch admission. SRC-1, demo/appworld/src/appworld/evaluator.py.

• implementation conclusion status: wired
• operation conclusion status: uninspected
• Immediate return: TestTracker of passes/failures; optional saved report and version file.
• Later read-back: Saved report is available to an experimenter; no inspected automatic patch-selection consumer reads it. The skill prescribes evaluation comparison separately.
• Delegated visibility: Evaluation module receives reference data, main_user, model collection pair and ground_truth_answer, not a Halo diagnosis transcript.
• Selection predicate: Named task/experiment and task ground-truth evaluation module; db_version mismatch rejects evaluation startup.
• Invalidation or expiry: Re-evaluation reads selected outputs; saved reports can be rewritten. No harness-patch rollback is implemented by this evaluator.
• Activation or effect: Produces criterion-relative outcome evidence. A shipping decision remains a separate prescribed external operation, not force implemented here.
• Evidence limits: Specific task modules and metric aggregation not inspected; success cannot validate diagnosis mechanism, counterfactual benefit or transfer.

evaluation_module.evaluate( test=test_tracker, public_data=ground_truth.public_data, private_data=ground_truth.private_data, main_user=main_user, models=models, ground_truth_answer=ground_truth.answer, ) --- demo/appworld/src/appworld/evaluator.py

Claims

EPI-CLM-halo-loop

Label: Recursive harness improvement methodology

Claimed operation: trace analysis produces common-failure findings for external coding and repeated deployment. SRC-1, README.md, doctrine/design. Distinct from RT-CLM-trace-only and RT-CLM-delegation-policy: those concern tool grants/policy, not the advertised improvement loop. Closest implemented route: RT-RTE-report-handoff.

HALO is a methodology for building recursively self-improving agent harnesses using RLMs. This repository contains: --- README.md

1. The engine decomposes the traces to understand common failure modes across harness executions and produces a report with its findings.
2. This report is fed into a coding agent like Cursor or Claude Code to generate and apply a set of changes to your harness.
3. The harness is then re-deployed, more traces are gathered, and the cycle repeats. --- README.md

EPI-CLM-benchmark-improvement

Label: Reported benchmark and verification gains

Claimed operation/warrant: harness-only improvements, source-trace verification and held-out split comparison. SRC-1, README.md, reported operation; statements are attributed, not independently observed. No supplied claim counterpart; closest RT-RTE-report-handoff describes the prescribed procedure rather than these result claims.

HALO is consistently capable of driving improvements on benchmarks, solely by optimizing the harness. --- README.md

The feedback from HALO Engine surfaced failures in the harnesses such as hallucinated tool calls, redundant arguments in tools, refusal loops, and semantic correctness issues. Each issue mapped cleanly to a direct prompt edit. HALO’s claims were independently verified from the source trace files with the findings holding up under scrutiny. --- README.md

The peak improvements over baseline were substantial for both models. For Gemini 3 Flash, dev SGC went from 36.8% to 52.6% (+15.8 points) and test_normal SGC went from 37.5% to 48.2% (+10.7 points). For Sonnet 4.6, dev SGC went from 73.7% to 89.5% (+15.8 points) and test_normal SGC went from 62.5% to 73.2% (+10.7 points). --- README.md