@tangle-network/agent-bench 0.3.5 → 0.3.7

package/src/swe-arena/outer-loop.mts

@@ -0,0 +1,2145 @@
+/**
+ * Round-4 outer loop — agent-runtime's `improve()` in the OPTIMIZER SEAT,
+ * proposing code changes to the loops pi supervisor, evaluated by this typed
+ * swe-arena harness. Replaces the human/Claude-driven rounds 1-3 recorded in
+ * supervisor-lab `.evolve/state.json`.
+ *
+ *   tsx src/swe-arena/outer-loop.mts <config.json>            # SPENDS: fires arms + judges
+ *   tsx src/swe-arena/outer-loop.mts --write-config <path>    # emit the default round-4 config
+ *   tsx src/swe-arena/outer-loop.mts --calibration-smoke [supRunDir] [--analysts N] [--model M]
+ *
+ * One `runRound()` = one `improve()` call with `surface: 'code'`:
+ *
+ *  (a) DIAGNOSE — the `analyzeGeneration` seam runs the blind diagnosis
+ *      ensemble (diagnosis-ensemble.ts) over the PREVIOUS round's failure
+ *      artifacts (round-3 SUP4 run dirs seeded via config) plus every fresh
+ *      arm run this round produced, and UNIONS the fused findings with
+ *      `rawTraceDistiller` path-context so the coding agent also greps the raw
+ *      traces itself (`rawTraceContext: true` names the mechanism; an explicit
+ *      `analyzeGeneration` wins, so the distiller is composed in directly).
+ *  (b) PROPOSE — `improvementDriver` + a change-space-constrained
+ *      `agenticGenerator` edit an isolated git worktree of loops. The DECLARED
+ *      CHANGE-SPACE is enforced twice: in the generator's verifier (feedback →
+ *      next shot) and fail-closed in the dispatch below (an out-of-space
+ *      candidate never reaches a model token).
+ *  (c) EVALUATE — each candidate surface is a loops commit; the dispatch adds
+ *      a detached eval worktree at that commit, points the supervisor arm's
+ *      extension path at it (armProvenance records the commit), runs the
+ *      3-instance improvement set through arms.ts + the serialized official
+ *      judge. Score = resolved count; cost guard = wall ratio vs baseline.
+ *  (d) ACCEPT/REJECT — keep-if-better per protocol_v2. The loop NEVER ships:
+ *      `budget.holdout: 'deferred'` makes the lib dispatch zero holdout
+ *      cells, force `hold`, and omit `lift` — the pre-registered 6-instance
+ *      holdout costs real money and runs only in a separate, operator-
+ *      approved run. The would-be-KEEP operator brief is computed post-run
+ *      from campaign cells; every candidate + verdict persists as staircase
+ *      rows in `<roundsDir>/gen-<N>.jsonl`.
+ *
+ * BASELINE: the gate's only denominator is the stored premeasured baseline
+ * artifact ({surfaceHash, campaign}) that the lib validates (surface hash,
+ * seed, reps, split digest, coverage) before skipping the baseline campaign.
+ * A missing artifact = the bootstrap run: the baseline is measured
+ * (cache-resumable) and the artifact written for every later run.
+ * capabilities.mts fails loud on a stale substrate install that would
+ * silently drop the passthrough.
+ *
+ * SCORING SOURCE: operator-brief evidence + staircase rows derive from the
+ * LIB's campaign cells (`improve()` result campaigns in memory; the per-cell
+ * `cached-result.json` caches on disk survive resume) — see cell-evidence.mts.
+ * The in-process RoundRecorder is dispatch-time only: fail-closed
+ * change-space enforcement + candidate diff writing. It is NOT a scoring
+ * source — that recorder role mislabeled a resumed run's baseline
+ * (r4-mroh3rkt) because cached cells replay without dispatching.
+ *
+ * Immutable per protocol_v2 (enforced, not advisory): judge + verify scripts,
+ * task prompts, model ids, budgets. `assertFrozenArm` pins the arm to the
+ * round-3 values; the serialized judge enforces its own 1800s floor; the
+ * change space keeps candidates inside extensions/pi/** and the three named
+ * src files (plus the `.improve/` raw-trace diagnosis artifact the agentic
+ * generator's evidence gate requires).
+ */
+
+import { appendFile, mkdir, readFile, rm, symlink, unlink, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { existsSync } from 'node:fs'
+import process from 'node:process'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from 'node:url'
+import {
+  agenticGenerator,
+  improve,
+  rawTraceDistiller,
+  type CandidateGenerator,
+  type Verifier,
+} from '@tangle-network/agent-runtime'
+import { runLocalHarness } from '@tangle-network/agent-runtime/mcp'
+import { makeFinding } from '@tangle-network/agent-eval'
+import {
+  FsLabeledScenarioStore,
+  surfaceHash,
+  type CampaignResult,
+  type CodeSurface,
+  type DispatchContext,
+  type JudgeConfig,
+  type MutableSurface,
+  type PremeasuredOptimizationBaseline,
+  type Scenario,
+} from '@tangle-network/agent-eval/campaign'
+import type { CostLedgerHandle } from '@tangle-network/agent-eval'
+import { createSweBenchAdapter } from '../benchmarks/swe-bench.ts'
+import {
+  baselineDriftWarnings,
+  cellsFromCampaign,
+  gateEvidenceFromCells,
+  instanceVerdictsFromCells,
+  loadCampaignCells,
+  perInstanceFromCells,
+  replicateCoverageComplete,
+  replicateRunsFromCells,
+  resolvedInstanceCount,
+  sumWallSFromCells,
+  decideVerdict,
+  type R4Artifact,
+  type StaircasePerInstance,
+  type StaircaseVerdict,
+} from './cell-evidence.mts'
+import { assertSubstratePassthroughs } from './capabilities.mts'
+import {
+  loadExcludes,
+  runSupervisorArm,
+  type SecretsEnv,
+  type SupervisorArmSpec,
+  type SupervisorArmResult,
+} from './arms.ts'
+import { gatesForArmKind, waitForCapacity, ZAI_CODING_ENDPOINT } from './capacity.ts'
+import {
+  defaultAnalysts,
+  fusedToAnalystFindings,
+  runDiagnosisEnsemble,
+  surfacesPlacementRegex,
+  type AnalystSpec,
+  type SupRunArtifacts,
+} from './diagnosis-ensemble.ts'
+import {
+  defaultProposers,
+  fanOutLoopsGenerator,
+  proposerShotHooks,
+  type PrefilterConfig,
+  type PrefilterKill,
+  type ProposerSpec,
+  type SmokeRunner,
+  type SmokeVerdict,
+} from './proposer-fanout.mts'
+import { installProcessSignalAbort, run, runOk } from './proc.ts'
+import { loadInstanceImages } from './run-experiment.mts'
+import {
+  createSerializedJudge,
+  JUDGE_TIMEOUT_FLOOR_MS,
+  type SerializedJudge,
+} from './serialized-judge.ts'
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// The DECLARED CHANGE-SPACE (protocol_v2). Pure + unit-tested.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export interface ChangeSpace {
+  /** Directory prefixes (repo-relative, trailing '/') where edits are allowed. */
+  prefixes: string[]
+  /** Exact repo-relative files where edits are allowed. */
+  files: string[]
+  /** Non-code artifact prefixes allowed to change (the agentic generator's
+   *  raw-trace evidence gate REQUIRES `.improve/raw-trace-diagnosis.md`, which
+   *  finalize commits — evidence metadata, not supervisor code). */
+  metadataPrefixes: string[]
+}
+
+export const LOOPS_CHANGE_SPACE: ChangeSpace = {
+  prefixes: ['extensions/pi/'],
+  files: ['src/worker-evidence.ts', 'src/best-effort.ts', 'src/worker-clone.ts'],
+  metadataPrefixes: ['.improve/'],
+}
+
+/** Normalize a repo-relative path; `null` = un-normalizable (always a violation). */
+export function normalizeRepoPath(p: string): string | null {
+  let s = p.trim().replace(/\\/g, '/')
+  if (s.startsWith('"') && s.endsWith('"') && s.length >= 2) {
+    // git quotes paths containing spaces/specials; minimal unquote.
+    s = s.slice(1, -1).replace(/\\"/g, '"')
+  }
+  while (s.startsWith('./')) s = s.slice(2)
+  if (s.length === 0) return null
+  if (s.startsWith('/')) return null // absolute — never a repo-relative candidate path
+  const segments = s.split('/')
+  if (segments.some((seg) => seg === '..' || seg === '')) return null // traversal / '//' — fail closed
+  return s
+}
+
+/** Paths that fall OUTSIDE the declared change-space (empty ⇒ compliant). */
+export function changeSpaceViolations(paths: string[], space: ChangeSpace = LOOPS_CHANGE_SPACE): string[] {
+  const violations: string[] = []
+  for (const raw of paths) {
+    const p = normalizeRepoPath(raw)
+    if (p === null) {
+      violations.push(raw)
+      continue
+    }
+    const allowed =
+      space.files.includes(p) ||
+      space.prefixes.some((pre) => p.startsWith(pre)) ||
+      space.metadataPrefixes.some((pre) => p.startsWith(pre))
+    if (!allowed) violations.push(p)
+  }
+  return violations
+}
+
+/** Changed paths from `git status --porcelain=v1 --untracked-files=all`.
+ *  Renames contribute BOTH sides (removing an out-of-space file is a change). */
+export function porcelainChangedPaths(stdout: string): string[] {
+  const paths: string[] = []
+  for (const line of stdout.split('\n')) {
+    if (line.trim().length === 0) continue
+    const entry = line.slice(3)
+    const arrow = entry.indexOf(' -> ')
+    if (arrow !== -1) {
+      paths.push(entry.slice(0, arrow).trim(), entry.slice(arrow + 4).trim())
+    } else {
+      paths.push(entry.trim())
+    }
+  }
+  return paths.filter((p) => p.length > 0)
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Dispatch clocks. The campaign's dispatchTimeoutMs races the ENTIRE dispatch
+// — including the endpoint capacity-gate wait — so a legitimate multi-hour
+// capacity hold was billed to the cell's work budget (measured: a 58-min gate
+// hold pushed the astropy baseline cell over the 7200s clock and the whole
+// candidate became 'rejected-incomplete'). Fix: the cell's REAL work clock
+// (`runWithPostGateClock`) starts only after the gates clear, and the campaign
+// clock is widened to cover worst-case gate holds so it can never fire during
+// a legitimate wait. Both clocks still fail loud — a hung arm is bounded by
+// dispatchTimeoutMs post-gate, and the widened campaign clock is the backstop.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Supervisor arms gate on BOTH endpoints (worker z.ai path + brain router path). */
+export const SUPERVISOR_GATE_COUNT = 2
+
+/** capacity.ts's default waitCeilingMs (orchestrate.sh: 300 min/gate). */
+export const DEFAULT_GATE_WAIT_CEILING_MS = 300 * 60_000
+
+/** Extra time for process/worktree cleanup after the post-gate clock aborts.
+ * Judge time is budgeted separately because one verdict may require two full
+ * attempts. The campaign must not abandon either attempt or cleanup. */
+export const DISPATCH_CLEANUP_GRACE_MS = 5 * 60_000
+
+/** The widened ceiling handed to the campaign: per-cell work budget PLUS the
+ *  worst-case capacity-gate holds (gates run sequentially, each with its own
+ *  ceiling). The campaign clock starts at dispatch entry — before the gates —
+ *  so it must cover them; `waitForCapacity` itself fails the cell at each
+ *  gate's own ceiling, so total cell time stays bounded. */
+export function campaignDispatchCeilingMs(
+  config: Pick<OuterLoopConfig, 'dispatchTimeoutMs' | 'gateWaitCeilingMs' | 'judgeTimeoutMs'>,
+  gateCount = SUPERVISOR_GATE_COUNT,
+): number {
+  const judgeSettlementMs = config.judgeTimeoutMs ?? JUDGE_TIMEOUT_FLOOR_MS
+  return (
+    config.dispatchTimeoutMs +
+    gateCount * (config.gateWaitCeilingMs ?? DEFAULT_GATE_WAIT_CEILING_MS) +
+    2 * judgeSettlementMs +
+    DISPATCH_CLEANUP_GRACE_MS
+  )
+}
+
+/** Run `work` under `timeoutMs`, with the clock started AFTER `awaitGates`
+ *  resolves — a capacity hold is never billed to the cell's work budget.
+ *  Gate failures (no capacity within a gate's own ceiling) still reject. */
+export async function runWithPostGateClock<T>(opts: {
+  awaitGates: (signal?: AbortSignal) => Promise<void>
+  work: (signal: AbortSignal) => Promise<T>
+  timeoutMs: number
+  label?: string
+  /** Caller cancellation remains active during both capacity waiting and work. */
+  signal?: AbortSignal
+}): Promise<T> {
+  opts.signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  await opts.awaitGates(opts.signal)
+  opts.signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  const abort = new AbortController()
+  const linked = linkAbortSignals([abort.signal, ...(opts.signal ? [opts.signal] : [])])
+  let timer: NodeJS.Timeout | undefined
+  let timedOut = false
+  const timeoutError = new Error(
+    `post-gate dispatch exceeded ${opts.timeoutMs}ms${opts.label ? ` (${opts.label})` : ''} — failed loud, gate wait unbilled`,
+  )
+  try {
+    if (opts.timeoutMs > 0) {
+      timer = setTimeout(() => {
+        timedOut = true
+        abort.abort(timeoutError)
+      }, opts.timeoutMs)
+      timer.unref?.()
+    }
+    const result = await opts.work(linked.signal)
+    if (timedOut) throw timeoutError
+    opts.signal?.throwIfAborted()
+    return result
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (timedOut && err !== timeoutError) {
+      const cleanupFailure = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)
+      throw new Error(`${timeoutError.message}; cleanup failed: ${cleanupFailure}`, { cause: err })
+    }
+    if (timedOut) throw timeoutError
+    if (opts.signal?.aborted) {
+      if (err !== opts.signal.reason) {
+        const cleanupFailure = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)
+        const interrupted = opts.signal.reason instanceof Error
+          ? opts.signal.reason.message
+          : String(opts.signal.reason ?? 'caller aborted')
+        throw new Error(`${interrupted}; cleanup failed: ${cleanupFailure}`, { cause: err })
+      }
+      throw opts.signal.reason
+    }
+    throw err
+  } finally {
+    if (timer) clearTimeout(timer)
+    linked.dispose()
+  }
+}
+
+function linkAbortSignals(signals: AbortSignal[]): { signal: AbortSignal; dispose: () => void } {
+  const controller = new AbortController()
+  const listeners = new Map<AbortSignal, () => void>()
+  for (const signal of signals) {
+    const onAbort = () => controller.abort(signal.reason)
+    listeners.set(signal, onAbort)
+    if (signal.aborted) {
+      onAbort()
+      break
+    }
+    signal.addEventListener('abort', onAbort, { once: true })
+  }
+  return {
+    signal: controller.signal,
+    dispose: () => {
+      for (const [signal, listener] of listeners) signal.removeEventListener('abort', listener)
+    },
+  }
+}
+
+function withParentCancellation<T extends CandidateGenerator>(generator: T, signal?: AbortSignal): T {
+  if (!signal) return generator
+  return {
+    ...generator,
+    async generate(args) {
+      signal.throwIfAborted()
+      const linked = linkAbortSignals([args.signal, signal])
+      try {
+        const result = await generator.generate({ ...args, signal: linked.signal })
+        signal.throwIfAborted()
+        return result
+      } finally {
+        linked.dispose()
+      }
+    },
+  } as T
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Scoring primitives — replicate semantics, the pinned baseline, and the
+// protocol_v2 verdict — live in cell-evidence.mts (pure over lib campaign
+// cells). Re-exported here so existing consumers/tests keep one import home.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export {
+  baselineDriftWarnings,
+  cellsFromCampaign,
+  decideVerdict,
+  gateEvidenceFromCells,
+  instanceVerdictsFromCells,
+  loadCampaignCells,
+  loadCandidateCellGroups,
+  perInstanceFromCells,
+  replicateCoverageComplete,
+  replicateRunsFromCells,
+  resolvedInstanceCount,
+  sumWallSFromCells,
+  type EvidenceCell,
+  type R4Artifact,
+  type ReplicateRun,
+  type StaircasePerInstance,
+  type StaircaseVerdict,
+} from './cell-evidence.mts'
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Launch guards. (a) The arms + judge + proposer all die confusingly hours in
+// when the two API keys are absent (the launcher forgot dotenvx) — refuse at
+// t=0 instead. (b) Two outer-loops sharing an outDir corrupt the campaign
+// runDir and the arm-run caches — a pid-file lock with a staleness check makes
+// the race impossible.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export const REQUIRED_LAUNCH_ENV = ['TANGLE_API_KEY', 'ZAI_API_KEY'] as const
+
+export function assertLaunchEnv(env: Record<string, string | undefined> = process.env): void {
+  const missing = REQUIRED_LAUNCH_ENV.filter((k) => !env[k] || env[k]!.trim().length === 0)
+  if (missing.length > 0) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `outer-loop: ${missing.join(' + ')} absent from env — launch through dotenvx (dotenvx run -f agent-state.env -f tangle-router.env -- ...)`,
+    )
+  }
+}
+
+/** True when `pid` is a live process (EPERM = alive but not ours — still live). */
+export function isPidAlive(pid: number): boolean {
+  try {
+    process.kill(pid, 0)
+    return true
+  } catch (err) {
+    return (err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === 'EPERM'
+  }
+}
+
+export const INSTANCE_LOCK_FILENAME = 'outer-loop.pid'
+
+export interface InstanceLock {
+  path: string
+  release: () => Promise<void>
+}
+
+/** Single-instance pid-file lock in `outDir`. `wx` creation is the atomic
+ *  claim; an existing file is honored only while its pid is alive (a crashed
+ *  loop's stale lock — dead pid or garbage — is reclaimed). Pid reuse can in
+ *  principle false-positive a stale lock as live; that fails SAFE (refuses to
+ *  start) and clears on the next reboot cycle. */
+export async function acquireInstanceLock(outDir: string, pid: number = process.pid): Promise<InstanceLock> {
+  await mkdir(outDir, { recursive: true })
+  const lockPath = join(outDir, INSTANCE_LOCK_FILENAME)
+  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 2; attempt++) {
+    try {
+      await writeFile(lockPath, `${pid}\n`, { flag: 'wx' })
+      return {
+        path: lockPath,
+        release: async () => {
+          const raw = (await readFile(lockPath, 'utf8').catch(() => '')).trim()
+          if (raw === String(pid)) await unlink(lockPath).catch(() => {})
+        },
+      }
+    } catch (err) {
+      if ((err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code !== 'EEXIST') throw err
+      const raw = (await readFile(lockPath, 'utf8').catch(() => '')).trim()
+      const holder = Number.parseInt(raw, 10)
+      if (Number.isInteger(holder) && holder > 0 && holder !== pid && isPidAlive(holder)) {
+        throw new Error(
+          `outer-loop: another outer-loop (pid ${holder}) holds ${lockPath} — single-instance lock, refusing to race`,
+        )
+      }
+      await unlink(lockPath).catch(() => {}) // stale: dead pid or garbage content
+    }
+  }
+  throw new Error(`outer-loop: could not acquire ${lockPath} after clearing a stale lock`)
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Staircase rows — accepted successors + rejected dots, one JSONL row each.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export const STAIRCASE_SCHEMA = 'swe-arena.staircase.v1'
+
+export interface StaircaseRow {
+  schema: typeof STAIRCASE_SCHEMA
+  round: number
+  generation: number
+  runId: string
+  at: string
+  /** Candidate surface hash (agent-eval surface identity). */
+  candidate: string
+  candidateCommit: string | null
+  /** Incumbent surface hash the candidate mutated. */
+  parent: string
+  parentResolvedCount: number
+  label?: string
+  rationale?: string
+  changedFiles: string[]
+  changeSpaceViolations: string[]
+  perInstance: StaircasePerInstance[]
+  resolvedCount: number
+  coverageComplete: boolean
+  wallS: number
+  baselineWallS: number
+  costRatio: number | null
+  costGuardRatio: number
+  /** Whether runOptimization's internal keep-if-better advanced the incumbent
+   *  to this candidate (composite-only rule; may diverge from `verdict` when
+   *  the protocol cost guard rejects a gaining candidate — divergence is the
+   *  signal, so both are recorded). */
+  internallyPromoted: boolean
+  verdict: StaircaseVerdict
+  /** Present only on `rejected-prefilter` dots: which pre-filter stage killed
+   *  the candidate and why (e.g. `smoke: pallets__flask-5014 unresolved`). */
+  killReason?: string
+  holdout: 'operator-approval-required' | 'not-run'
+  armProvenance: { repo: string; commit: string } | null
+  diffPath: string | null
+  diffSha256: string | null
+}
+
+const STAIRCASE_VERDICTS: ReadonlySet<string> = new Set([
+  'accepted',
+  'rejected-no-gain',
+  'rejected-cost',
+  'rejected-out-of-space',
+  'rejected-incomplete',
+  'rejected-prefilter',
+])
+
+/** Parse + validate one staircase JSONL row. Throws on schema drift. */
+export function parseStaircaseRow(line: string): StaircaseRow {
+  const row = JSON.parse(line) as StaircaseRow
+  if (row.schema !== STAIRCASE_SCHEMA) throw new Error(`staircase row: unknown schema ${JSON.stringify(row.schema)}`)
+  for (const field of ['round', 'generation', 'resolvedCount', 'parentResolvedCount', 'wallS', 'baselineWallS', 'costGuardRatio'] as const) {
+    if (typeof row[field] !== 'number') throw new Error(`staircase row: ${field} must be a number`)
+  }
+  for (const field of ['runId', 'at', 'candidate', 'parent'] as const) {
+    if (typeof row[field] !== 'string' || row[field].length === 0) throw new Error(`staircase row: ${field} must be a non-empty string`)
+  }
+  if (!Array.isArray(row.perInstance)) throw new Error('staircase row: perInstance must be an array')
+  if (!Array.isArray(row.changedFiles) || !Array.isArray(row.changeSpaceViolations)) {
+    throw new Error('staircase row: changedFiles/changeSpaceViolations must be arrays')
+  }
+  if (!STAIRCASE_VERDICTS.has(row.verdict)) throw new Error(`staircase row: unknown verdict ${JSON.stringify(row.verdict)}`)
+  if (typeof row.coverageComplete !== 'boolean' || typeof row.internallyPromoted !== 'boolean') {
+    throw new Error('staircase row: coverageComplete/internallyPromoted must be booleans')
+  }
+  if (row.costRatio !== null && typeof row.costRatio !== 'number') throw new Error('staircase row: costRatio must be number|null')
+  return row
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Config.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Round 1-3 artifact home (this session's scratchpad). Config-overridable —
+ *  a future round supplies its own artifact roots. */
+export const DEFAULT_HH_SCRATCHPAD =
+  '/tmp/claude-1000/-home-drew-code-supervisor-lab/f06fd156-042a-4ef9-bd88-f2ec7f52b90c/scratchpad/hh'
+
+export interface SeedArtifactRun {
+  iid: string
+  arm: string
+  dir: string
+  patchPath?: string
+  /** Official-judge outcome for the seed run (round-3 values pinned in config). */
+  resolved: boolean | null
+}
+
+export interface FrozenArmParams {
+  workerModel: string
+  driverModel: string
+  budget: number
+  maxSandboxes: number
+  maxUsd: number
+  maxDepth: number
+  timeoutMs: number
+  envKnobs?: Record<string, string>
+}
+
+/** The round-3 (SUP4) arm — protocol_v2 immutables. */
+export const FROZEN_ARM: FrozenArmParams = {
+  workerModel: 'zai-coding-plan/glm-5.2',
+  driverModel: 'glm-5.2',
+  budget: 40,
+  maxSandboxes: 4,
+  maxUsd: 8,
+  maxDepth: 3,
+  timeoutMs: 2_800_000,
+}
+
+export interface OuterLoopConfig {
+  round: number
+  /** Improvement set — the arena `improve()` trains on. */
+  instances: string[]
+  /** Pre-registered holdout. RECORDED here so the flag + operator instruction
+   *  are self-contained; this driver NEVER runs them. */
+  holdoutInstances: string[]
+  loopsRepo: string
+  loopsBaseRef: string
+  armName: string
+  arm: FrozenArmParams
+  verifyDir: string
+  outDir: string
+  /** Staircase home, e.g. /home/drew/code/supervisor-lab/.evolve/rounds. */
+  roundsDir: string
+  secretsDir: string
+  envFiles: string[]
+  instanceImagesPath?: string
+  judgeTimeoutMs?: number
+  gateWaitCeilingMs?: number
+  capacityModel?: string
+  generations: number
+  populationSize: number
+  /** Replicate cells per (candidate × instance). Default 1. Instances count as
+   *  resolved only when ALL replicates resolve (see resolvedInstanceCount) —
+   *  single-rep scoring flips instance outcomes run-to-run. */
+  repsPerInstance?: number
+  /** Stored `PremeasuredOptimizationBaseline` JSON ({surfaceHash, campaign})
+   *  from a prior run's baseline campaign — REQUIRED, the gate's only
+   *  denominator. The LIB validates the artifact (surface hash, seed, reps,
+   *  split digest, coverage) before skipping the baseline campaign, so a
+   *  wrong artifact fails loud at t≈0. BOOTSTRAP: when the file does not
+   *  exist yet, this run MEASURES the baseline (cache-resumable) and WRITES
+   *  the artifact here for every later run to consume. */
+  premeasuredBaselinePath: string
+  /** DEPTH for the agentic generator — forwarded as
+   *  budget.maxImprovementShots; the LIB owns the dial (capabilities.mts
+   *  fails loud on a substrate that would drop it). */
+  maxShots: number
+  proposerHarness: 'claude' | 'codex' | 'opencode'
+  proposerTimeoutMs: number
+  /** GEN-3 proposer fan-out: N proposers author candidates CONCURRENTLY, each
+   *  an AgentProfile-pinned harness invocation (see proposer-fanout.mts).
+   *  When set, `populationSize` MUST equal `proposers.length` (one candidate
+   *  slot per proposer — enforced at launch). Unset = the legacy
+   *  single-author generator (`proposerHarness` + bare invocation). */
+  proposers?: ProposerSpec[]
+  /** GEN-3 cheap pre-filter: per candidate, change-space + tsc (the authoring
+   *  verifier) plus ONE smoke arm cell before any full-evaluation spend.
+   *  Killed candidates become `rejected-prefilter` staircase dots. */
+  prefilter?: PrefilterConfig
+  /** Replicates per holdout instance in the operator-approved certification
+   *  run (holdout-certify.mts). Default 2 — the gen-2 winner failed 3/6 vs
+   *  4/6 on a 1-rep holdout with exactly one discordant cell, a known
+   *  single-rep noise class. */
+  holdoutRepsPerInstance?: number
+  /** SAME-PROTOCOL parent measurement the certification bar compares against:
+   *  an explicit {iid -> AND-verdict} map measured under the identical
+   *  reps/fail-closed protocol, or 'measure' — the incumbent runs the same
+   *  2-rep holdout first in the certification run. */
+  holdoutBaseline?: Record<string, boolean> | 'measure'
+  /** Router model ids for the blind diagnosis ensemble (config, never a
+   *  hardcoded unrouted model). */
+  analystModels: string[]
+  /** Previous round's failure artifacts, diagnosed before generation 0. */
+  seedArtifactRuns: SeedArtifactRun[]
+  costGuardRatio: number
+  dispatchTimeoutMs: number
+}
+
+export function assertFrozenArm(arm: FrozenArmParams): void {
+  const drift: string[] = []
+  for (const key of ['workerModel', 'driverModel', 'budget', 'maxSandboxes', 'maxUsd', 'maxDepth'] as const) {
+    if (arm[key] !== FROZEN_ARM[key]) drift.push(`${key}: ${JSON.stringify(arm[key])} != ${JSON.stringify(FROZEN_ARM[key])}`)
+  }
+  if (drift.length > 0) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `protocol_v2 violation: arm params are immutable (round-3 frozen values) — ${drift.join('; ')}`,
+    )
+  }
+}
+
+/** Committed per-instance verify scripts (fixtures/verify/<iid>.sh) — the
+ *  durable home; the experiment's scratchpad copy did not survive a reboot. */
+export const FIXTURES_VERIFY_DIR = fileURLToPath(new URL('./fixtures/verify', import.meta.url))
+
+export function defaultRound4Config(
+  hh = DEFAULT_HH_SCRATCHPAD,
+  opts: { outDirName?: string } = {},
+): OuterLoopConfig {
+  const round3 = [
+    { iid: 'astropy__astropy-13033', resolved: false },
+    { iid: 'django__django-11532', resolved: false },
+    { iid: 'matplotlib__matplotlib-20826', resolved: true },
+  ]
+  return {
+    round: 4,
+    instances: round3.map((r) => r.iid),
+    holdoutInstances: [
+      'astropy__astropy-14182',
+      'django__django-12774',
+      'django__django-14140',
+      'scikit-learn__scikit-learn-14894',
+      'sympy__sympy-20438',
+      'pytest-dev__pytest-7236',
+    ],
+    loopsRepo: '/home/drew/code/loops',
+    loopsBaseRef: 'feat/supervisor-evidence-flow',
+    armName: 'R4',
+    arm: { ...FROZEN_ARM },
+    verifyDir: FIXTURES_VERIFY_DIR,
+    outDir: join(hh, opts.outDirName ?? 'r4'),
+    roundsDir: '/home/drew/code/supervisor-lab/.evolve/rounds',
+    secretsDir: '/home/drew/company/devops/secrets',
+    envFiles: ['agent-state.env', 'tangle-router.env'],
+    generations: 1,
+    populationSize: 2,
+    repsPerInstance: 2,
+    // The reps-confirmed baseline artifact (gen-1 measured: astropy F/F,
+    // django T/F → F fail-closed, matplotlib T/T = 1/3) lives here once the
+    // bootstrap run writes it; the lib validates it on every consumption.
+    premeasuredBaselinePath: join(hh, 'r4', 'premeasured-baseline.json'),
+    maxShots: 3,
+    proposerHarness: 'claude',
+    // Per author SHOT (agenticGenerator timeoutMs). 20 min timed out 3× under
+    // degraded capacity in gen-1 ("author shot timed out") — doubled to 40 min.
+    proposerTimeoutMs: 2_400_000,
+    analystModels: ['glm-5.2', 'glm-5.2', 'glm-5.2'],
+    seedArtifactRuns: round3.map((r) => ({
+      iid: r.iid,
+      arm: 'SUP4',
+      dir: join(hh, 'runs', r.iid, 'SUP4'),
+      patchPath: join(hh, 'patches', `${r.iid}.sup4.patch`),
+      resolved: r.resolved,
+    })),
+    costGuardRatio: 1.2,
+    dispatchTimeoutMs: 7_200_000,
+  }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// GEN-3 configuration — proposer fan-out + pre-filter + the widened
+// improvement set + the 2-rep holdout protocol.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** The gen-3 improvement set: the round-3 trio plus the three BOTH-FAIL
+ *  instances from the original head-to-head (solo glm-5.2 ALSO failed them —
+ *  any resolution beats solo, not just the parent). All six carry committed,
+ *  dual-calibrated verify fixtures (repro base-fail/gold-pass + gold
+ *  official-resolved). */
+export const GEN3_IMPROVEMENT_SET = [
+  'astropy__astropy-13033',
+  'django__django-11532',
+  'matplotlib__matplotlib-20826',
+  'pydata__xarray-4687',
+  'pytest-dev__pytest-6197',
+  'sphinx-doc__sphinx-9658',
+] as const
+
+/** Never-registered spare pool, pre-named in case a gen-3 instance has to be
+ *  replaced (calibration regression, image loss). */
+export const GEN3_SPARE_POOL = [
+  'sympy__sympy-17318',
+  'scikit-learn__scikit-learn-14087',
+  'astropy__astropy-14508',
+] as const
+
+/** Resolve the pre-filter smoke instance. 'cheapest-of-set' picks the
+ *  improvement-set instance with the smallest summed baseline wall seconds
+ *  (from the premeasured artifact's cells); with no baseline measurement yet
+ *  it falls back to the first instance. An explicit iid passes through. */
+export function resolveSmokeInstance(
+  smokeInstance: string,
+  instances: readonly string[],
+  baselineCells: import('./cell-evidence.mts').EvidenceCell[] | null,
+): string {
+  if (smokeInstance !== 'cheapest-of-set') return smokeInstance
+  if (instances.length === 0) throw new Error('resolveSmokeInstance: empty improvement set')
+  if (baselineCells === null || baselineCells.length === 0) return instances[0]!
+  const wall = new Map<string, number>()
+  for (const cell of baselineCells) {
+    if (cell.artifact === null || cell.artifact.kind !== 'swe-arm') continue
+    wall.set(cell.scenarioId, (wall.get(cell.scenarioId) ?? 0) + cell.artifact.wallS)
+  }
+  let best: string | null = null
+  let bestWall = Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY
+  for (const iid of instances) {
+    const w = wall.get(iid)
+    if (w !== undefined && w < bestWall) {
+      best = iid
+      bestWall = w
+    }
+  }
+  return best ?? instances[0]!
+}
+
+/**
+ * The gen-3 config: protocol round 4 continues (frozen arm, same holdout
+ * registry, same roundsDir staircase) with the gen-3 machinery on:
+ *
+ *  - THREE parallel proposers (all claude, bare default-author profile) that
+ *    differ by diagnosis slice/lens — fan-out diversity without unproven
+ *    harness seats; `populationSize` = `proposers.length`.
+ *  - Pre-filter enabled at the mechanism bar on the cheapest-of-set smoke
+ *    instance ('pallets__flask-5014' becomes the designated smoke once its
+ *    verify fixture is authored + calibrated; it has none committed yet).
+ *  - The 6-instance improvement set. The premeasured-baseline artifact path
+ *    is NEW (gen3/): the lib validates a premeasured campaign against the
+ *    FULL scenario split digest, so the 3-instance round-4 artifact cannot
+ *    seed a 6-instance split — the first gen-3 run is the bootstrap that
+ *    measures all six (cache-resumable) and writes the artifact; the three
+ *    new instances are thereby measured on the first round.
+ *  - Holdout protocol pinned at 2 reps, parent measured under the SAME
+ *    protocol ('measure'), operator valve unchanged (holdout: 'deferred').
+ */
+export function defaultGen3Config(
+  hh = DEFAULT_HH_SCRATCHPAD,
+  opts: { outDirName?: string } = {},
+): OuterLoopConfig {
+  const base = defaultRound4Config(hh, opts)
+  const outDirName = opts.outDirName ?? 'gen3'
+  const proposers: ProposerSpec[] = [
+    { name: 'default-author', profile: 'default-author.profile.json', harness: 'claude' },
+    {
+      name: 'mechanics-author',
+      profile: 'default-author.profile.json',
+      harness: 'claude',
+      diagnosisSlice: 'mechanics',
+      lens: 'Focus on MECHANICS: worker lifecycle, sandbox/clone contracts, settlement and delivery paths. Prefer code-path fixes over prompt wording.',
+    },
+    {
+      name: 'prompts-author',
+      profile: 'default-author.profile.json',
+      harness: 'claude',
+      diagnosisSlice: 'prompts',
+      lens: 'Focus on PROMPTS: worker/brain instruction wording, placement guidance, self-check discipline. Prefer prompt/instruction changes over code-path rewrites.',
+    },
+  ]
+  return {
+    ...base,
+    instances: [...GEN3_IMPROVEMENT_SET],
+    outDir: join(hh, outDirName),
+    premeasuredBaselinePath: join(hh, outDirName, 'premeasured-baseline.json'),
+    populationSize: proposers.length,
+    proposers,
+    prefilter: { enabled: true, smokeInstance: 'cheapest-of-set', requireResolved: false },
+    holdoutRepsPerInstance: 2,
+    holdoutBaseline: 'measure',
+  }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Round recorder — dispatch-time change-space fail-closed + diff writing ONLY.
+// NOT a scoring source: scoring reads the lib's campaign cells
+// (cell-evidence.mts). The prior recorder role — accumulating per-instance
+// results keyed by dispatch order — mislabeled a resumed run's baseline
+// (r4-mroh3rkt: cached cells replay without dispatching, so "first dispatched
+// surface" was a CANDIDATE and the summary published its cells as
+// "baseline 0/3" while the measured baseline was 1/3).
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+interface CandidateRecord {
+  surfaceKey: string
+  commit: string
+  baseCommit: string
+  tag: string
+  changedFiles: string[]
+  violations: string[]
+  diffPath: string | null
+  diffSha256: string | null
+  /** Dispatch-time forensics: which loops checkout ran the arm. Null for a
+   *  candidate whose cells were all replayed from cache (never dispatched
+   *  in this process). */
+  armProvenance: { repo: string; commit: string } | null
+}
+
+class RoundRecorder {
+  readonly byKey = new Map<string, CandidateRecord>()
+  constructor(
+    private readonly loopsRepo: string,
+    private readonly candidatesDir: string,
+  ) {}
+
+  byCommit(commit: string): CandidateRecord | undefined {
+    for (const rec of this.byKey.values()) if (rec.commit === commit) return rec
+    return undefined
+  }
+
+  /** Describe a candidate surface: changed files, change-space violations, and
+   *  the written diff. Idempotent and callable POST-RUN too (candidate commits
+   *  survive in the loops object store after worktree cleanup), so resumed
+   *  candidates that never dispatched here still get full staircase rows. */
+  async ensure(surface: CodeSurface): Promise<CandidateRecord> {
+    const key = surfaceHash(surface)
+    const existing = this.byKey.get(key)
+    if (existing) return existing
+    const names = await runOk('git', [
+      '-C', this.loopsRepo,
+      'diff', '--name-only', surface.baseCommit, surface.candidateCommit,
+    ])
+    const changedFiles = names.stdout.split('\n').map((s) => s.trim()).filter(Boolean)
+    const violations = changeSpaceViolations(changedFiles)
+    const tag = surface.candidateCommit.slice(0, 10)
+    let diffPath: string | null = null
+    if (surface.candidateCommit !== surface.baseCommit) {
+      const diff = await runOk('git', ['-C', this.loopsRepo, 'diff', surface.baseCommit, surface.candidateCommit])
+      await mkdir(this.candidatesDir, { recursive: true })
+      diffPath = join(this.candidatesDir, `${tag}.patch`)
+      await writeFile(diffPath, diff.stdout)
+    }
+    const rec: CandidateRecord = {
+      surfaceKey: key,
+      commit: surface.candidateCommit,
+      baseCommit: surface.baseCommit,
+      tag,
+      changedFiles,
+      violations,
+      diffPath,
+      diffSha256: surface.patch.sha256,
+      armProvenance: null,
+    }
+    this.byKey.set(key, rec)
+    return rec
+  }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Eval worktrees — a candidate commit gets its own loops checkout so the
+// candidate worktree managed by the improvement driver stays PRISTINE (its
+// finalize-time verification rejects any extra file, node_modules included).
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export async function addEvalWorktree(
+  loopsRepo: string,
+  commit: string,
+  dest: string,
+  signal?: AbortSignal,
+): Promise<void> {
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  await run('git', ['-C', loopsRepo, 'worktree', 'remove', '--force', '--', dest], { timeoutMs: 60_000, signal })
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  await rm(dest, { recursive: true, force: true })
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  await run('git', ['-C', loopsRepo, 'worktree', 'prune'], { timeoutMs: 60_000, signal })
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  await runOk('git', ['-C', loopsRepo, 'worktree', 'add', '--detach', dest, commit], { timeoutMs: 60_000, signal })
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  // The loops driver needs deps; a worktree has none. Shared install is safe:
+  // arms never write into the loops checkout (state goes to ws/.loops + runDir).
+  await symlink(join(loopsRepo, 'node_modules'), join(dest, 'node_modules'), 'dir')
+}
+
+export async function removeEvalWorktree(loopsRepo: string, dest: string): Promise<void> {
+  await unlink(join(dest, 'node_modules')).catch(() => {})
+  const res = await run('git', ['-C', loopsRepo, 'worktree', 'remove', '--force', '--', dest], { timeoutMs: 60_000 })
+  if (res.code !== 0) {
+    await rm(dest, { recursive: true, force: true })
+    await run('git', ['-C', loopsRepo, 'worktree', 'prune'], { timeoutMs: 60_000 })
+  }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// The constrained proposer: agenticGenerator + change-space verifier + the
+// round-4 task prompt. `improve(surface:'code')` requires the generator via
+// `code.generator` so the runtime owns candidate-worktree cleanup.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Mirrors the agentic generator's raw-trace evidence contract — the exact
+ *  artifact path its gate checks for. */
+export const RAW_TRACE_DIAGNOSIS_PATH = '.improve/raw-trace-diagnosis.md'
+
+export function changeSpaceInstruction(space: ChangeSpace = LOOPS_CHANGE_SPACE): string {
+  return [
+    'DECLARED CHANGE-SPACE (hard constraint, enforced by an automated gate):',
+    `- You may ONLY edit files under: ${space.prefixes.map((p) => `${p}**`).join(', ')}`,
+    `- and these exact files: ${space.files.join(', ')}`,
+    `- plus the diagnosis artifact ${RAW_TRACE_DIAGNOSIS_PATH}.`,
+    '- Everything else is IMMUTABLE for this experiment: the official judge, the per-instance verify scripts,',
+    '  task prompts, model ids, and budgets live outside your reach and candidates whose diff touches any',
+    '  other path are REJECTED before they are ever evaluated.',
+  ].join('\n')
+}
+
+export function round4BuildPrompt(args: { report: unknown; findings: Array<Record<string, unknown>> }): string {
+  const lines: string[] = [
+    'You are the optimizer of the "loops" pi SUPERVISOR — an agent that plans, spawns sandboxed coding',
+    'workers, and settles a delivered patch for SWE-bench Verified instances (glm-5.2 in both seats, frozen).',
+    'Round-3 state: the supervisor resolves 1/3 of its improvement set (matplotlib resolved; astropy + django',
+    'deliver self-verify-passing patches the OFFICIAL maintainer test suite still rejects).',
+    '',
+    'GOAL: raise the official resolved count on the improvement set WITHOUT raising cost/arm by more than 20%.',
+    'Make the smallest coherent change to the supervisor implementation that addresses the diagnosis below,',
+    'then stop. Do not commit — leave changes in the working tree.',
+    '',
+    changeSpaceInstruction(),
+    '',
+    'Diagnosis findings (blind multi-analyst ensemble + raw-trace context):',
+  ]
+  for (const f of args.findings) {
+    const severity = typeof f.severity === 'string' ? f.severity : 'info'
+    const subject = typeof f.subject === 'string' ? ` [${f.subject}]` : ''
+    const claim = typeof f.claim === 'string' ? f.claim : JSON.stringify(f)
+    lines.push(`- (${severity})${subject} ${claim}`)
+    if (typeof f.recommended_action === 'string') lines.push(`    → ${f.recommended_action}`)
+  }
+  const hasRawTrace = args.findings.some(
+    (f) => f.analyst_id === 'raw-trace-distiller' || f.area === 'raw-trace-context',
+  )
+  if (hasRawTrace) {
+    lines.push(
+      '',
+      'Raw trace evidence requirement:',
+      '- Inspect at least one raw trace path named above before editing.',
+      `- Write ${RAW_TRACE_DIAGNOSIS_PATH} in this worktree.`,
+      '- Include the exact trace path(s) inspected, the failure mechanism, and the code change made.',
+      '- A candidate without this file, or with only this file changed, is discarded.',
+    )
+  }
+  return lines.join('\n')
+}
+
+/** Purge gitignored artifacts from a candidate worktree with `git clean -Xdff`.
+ *
+ *  The proposer agent may run a dependency install inside its worktree to
+ *  verify its own change (measured: round-4 gen-0 cand-1 left a real pnpm
+ *  `node_modules/` — 38k paths — after editing loops.ts). Ignored paths are
+ *  invisible to the change-space check (`git status` honors .gitignore), but
+ *  the improvement driver's finalize-time surface verification rejects ANY
+ *  extra path, ignored included (`ls-files --others --ignored`), killing the
+ *  whole run. `-X` deletes only ignored paths, so tracked edits and untracked
+ *  non-ignored deliverables (e.g. .improve/raw-trace-diagnosis.md) survive;
+ *  the doubled `-f` clears nested git dirs some packages ship. */
+export async function purgeIgnoredArtifacts(
+  worktreePath: string,
+  signal?: AbortSignal,
+): Promise<void> {
+  await runOk('git', ['-C', worktreePath, 'clean', '-Xdff'], {
+    ...(signal ? { signal } : {}),
+  })
+}
+
+/** Verifier run after each generator shot: ignored-dirt purge first (the
+ *  finalize precondition), then change-space compliance (cheap,
+ *  feedback-rich), then `tsc --noEmit` with the main repo's
+ *  node_modules linked in TEMPORARILY (the link must not survive — the
+ *  driver's finalize-time surface verification rejects any extra path). */
+export function loopsCandidateVerifier(loopsRepo: string): Verifier {
+  return async (worktreePath: string, signal?: AbortSignal) => {
+    signal?.throwIfAborted()
+    await purgeIgnoredArtifacts(worktreePath, signal)
+    signal?.throwIfAborted()
+    const status = await runOk(
+      'git',
+      ['-C', worktreePath, 'status', '--porcelain=v1', '--untracked-files=all'],
+      { ...(signal ? { signal } : {}) },
+    )
+    signal?.throwIfAborted()
+    const violations = changeSpaceViolations(porcelainChangedPaths(status.stdout))
+    if (violations.length > 0) {
+      return {
+        ok: false,
+        feedback:
+          `CHANGE-SPACE VIOLATION — these paths are outside the declared change-space:\n` +
+          violations.map((v) => `  - ${v}`).join('\n') +
+          `\n${changeSpaceInstruction()}\nRevert or relocate those edits (git checkout -- <path> / rm for untracked).`,
+      }
+    }
+    const nm = join(worktreePath, 'node_modules')
+    let linked = false
+    signal?.throwIfAborted()
+    if (!existsSync(nm)) {
+      await symlink(join(loopsRepo, 'node_modules'), nm, 'dir')
+      linked = true
+    }
+    try {
+      const tsc = join(loopsRepo, 'node_modules', '.bin', 'tsc')
+      const res = await run(tsc, ['--noEmit'], {
+        cwd: worktreePath,
+        timeoutMs: 300_000,
+        ...(signal ? { signal } : {}),
+      })
+      signal?.throwIfAborted()
+      if (res.code !== 0) {
+        return {
+          ok: false,
+          feedback: `tsc --noEmit failed (rc=${res.code}${res.timedOut ? ', timeout' : ''}):\n${(res.stdout + res.stderr).slice(0, 4000)}`,
+        }
+      }
+      return { ok: true }
+    } finally {
+      if (linked) await unlink(nm).catch(() => {})
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+/** Ambient auth vars that hijack the claude CLI away from its claude.ai login.
+ *  The run is launched under dotenvx, and agent-state.env injects an
+ *  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY meant for other tooling; the claude CLI prefers env-key
+ *  auth over the logged-in account and exits 1 immediately when that key's org
+ *  is over its usage cap (reproduced 2026-07-20: `claude -p` under the run env
+ *  → rc=1, "API Error: 400 You have reached your specified API usage limits";
+ *  same command with these vars unset → rc=0). The author shot must run on the
+ *  CLI's own login, so the leaked auth is stripped for the shot subprocess
+ *  only — the rest of the run keeps its env untouched. */
+const CLAUDE_AMBIENT_AUTH_VARS = ['ANTHROPIC_API_KEY', 'ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN', 'ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL'] as const
+
+export function proposerShotEnv(harness: OuterLoopConfig['proposerHarness']): NodeJS.ProcessEnv {
+  const env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = { ...process.env }
+  if (harness === 'claude') {
+    for (const name of CLAUDE_AMBIENT_AUTH_VARS) delete env[name]
+  }
+  return env
+}
+
+export function constrainedLoopsGenerator(config: OuterLoopConfig): CandidateGenerator {
+  const shotDir = join(config.outDir, 'proposer-shots')
+  // The run-wide CostLedger the current generate() call rides — captured so
+  // onShotCompleted can settle each shot's spend into it. maxConcurrency is 1
+  // and shots run inside generate(), so a single slot cannot interleave.
+  let activeLedger: CostLedgerHandle | undefined
+  let activePhase: string | undefined
+  const inner = agenticGenerator({
+    harness: config.proposerHarness,
+    timeoutMs: config.proposerTimeoutMs,
+    buildPrompt: (args) =>
+      round4BuildPrompt(args as unknown as { report: unknown; findings: Array<Record<string, unknown>> }),
+    verify: loopsCandidateVerifier(config.loopsRepo),
+    runHarness: (options) => runLocalHarness({ ...options, env: proposerShotEnv(config.proposerHarness) }),
+    // Three runs died as "author shot exited with code 1" with the shot's
+    // stderr lost (nothing wires receipt persistence by default). Persist every
+    // attempted shot — receipt plus bounded stream tails — so the NEXT failure
+    // names its cause from disk. Shared implementation with the gen-3 fan-out
+    // authors (proposer-fanout.mts): receipt persistence + spend settlement
+    // into the run ledger for the claude/opencode paths whose shots would
+    // otherwise read $0.
+    onShotCompleted: proposerShotHooks({
+      shotDir,
+      harness: config.proposerHarness,
+      ledger: () => activeLedger,
+      phase: () => activePhase,
+    }),
+  })
+  return {
+    kind: `round4-constrained:${inner.kind}`,
+    proposesWithoutFindings: true,
+    generate: (args) => {
+      activeLedger = args.costLedger
+      activePhase = args.costPhase
+      // args.maxShots is the LIB's dial (budget.maxImprovementShots → the
+      // improvement driver); capabilities.mts guarantees it is threaded.
+      return inner.generate(args)
+    },
+  }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// runRound. (The evaluated R4Artifact type lives in cell-evidence.mts with
+// the scoring that consumes it.)
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Ledger model id for the dockerized official judge's $0 receipts. */
+export const OFFICIAL_JUDGE_MODEL = 'swe-bench-official-judge'
+
+function asCodeSurface(surface: MutableSurface): CodeSurface {
+  if (typeof surface !== 'object' || surface === null || surface.kind !== 'code') {
+    throw new Error('outer-loop: expected a CodeSurface (improve surface:"code" contract)')
+  }
+  return surface
+}
+
+const log = (msg: string): void => console.log(`[${new Date().toISOString().slice(11, 19)}] ${msg}`)
+
+export async function runRound(config: OuterLoopConfig, signal?: AbortSignal): Promise<void> {
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  assertFrozenArm(config.arm)
+  if (config.instances.length === 0) throw new Error('outer-loop: empty improvement set')
+  const overlap = config.instances.filter((i) => config.holdoutInstances.includes(i))
+  if (overlap.length > 0) {
+    throw new Error(`outer-loop: improvement set leaks into the pre-registered holdout: ${overlap.join(', ')}`)
+  }
+  const reps = config.repsPerInstance ?? 1
+  if (!Number.isInteger(reps) || reps < 1) {
+    throw new Error(`outer-loop: repsPerInstance must be a positive integer, got ${JSON.stringify(config.repsPerInstance)}`)
+  }
+  if (config.proposers !== undefined) {
+    if (config.proposers.length === 0) throw new Error('outer-loop: config.proposers must not be empty when set')
+    if (config.proposers.length !== config.populationSize) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `outer-loop: populationSize ${config.populationSize} != proposers.length ${config.proposers.length} — ` +
+          'the fan-out assigns exactly one candidate slot per proposer',
+      )
+    }
+  }
+  // Stale-install guard: the resolved substrate must thread the passthroughs
+  // this run depends on. Fails loud — a silent drop would re-spend the
+  // premeasured baseline and pin the depth dial (see capabilities.mts).
+  assertSubstratePassthroughs(log)
+
+  // The gate's only denominator: a stored prior baseline campaign the LIB
+  // validates (surface hash, seed, reps, split digest, coverage) before
+  // skipping the baseline campaign. A missing artifact = the BOOTSTRAP run —
+  // the baseline is measured (cache-resumable) and the artifact written at
+  // the end of this run.
+  if (typeof config.premeasuredBaselinePath !== 'string' || config.premeasuredBaselinePath.length === 0) {
+    throw new Error('outer-loop: config.premeasuredBaselinePath is required (the bootstrap run writes the artifact there)')
+  }
+  let premeasured: PremeasuredOptimizationBaseline<R4Artifact, Scenario> | undefined
+  if (existsSync(config.premeasuredBaselinePath)) {
+    premeasured = JSON.parse(
+      await readFile(config.premeasuredBaselinePath, 'utf8'),
+    ) as PremeasuredOptimizationBaseline<R4Artifact, Scenario>
+    if (!premeasured || typeof premeasured.surfaceHash !== 'string' || !premeasured.campaign) {
+      throw new Error(`premeasuredBaselinePath: ${config.premeasuredBaselinePath} is not a {surfaceHash, campaign} record`)
+    }
+    log(`premeasured baseline: ${config.premeasuredBaselinePath} (surface ${premeasured.surfaceHash})`)
+  } else {
+    log(
+      `premeasured baseline artifact missing at ${config.premeasuredBaselinePath} — BOOTSTRAP run: ` +
+        'the baseline campaign will be measured (cache-resumable) and the artifact written there for later runs',
+    )
+  }
+
+  const secrets: SecretsEnv = { secretsDir: config.secretsDir, envFiles: config.envFiles }
+  const excludes = await loadExcludes()
+  const images = await loadInstanceImages(config.instanceImagesPath)
+  const adapter = createSweBenchAdapter()
+  // The pre-filter's smoke instance may sit outside the improvement set (e.g.
+  // a designated cheap instance) — it needs the same problem/image/verify
+  // validation and rides the same loaded-task map.
+  const smokeIid =
+    config.proposers !== undefined && config.prefilter?.enabled
+      ? resolveSmokeInstance(
+          config.prefilter.smokeInstance,
+          config.instances,
+          premeasured ? cellsFromCampaign(premeasured.campaign) : null,
+        )
+      : null
+  const taskIds = [...new Set([...config.instances, ...(smokeIid !== null ? [smokeIid] : [])])]
+  const tasks = await adapter.loadTasks({ ids: taskIds, split: 'test' })
+  const problemById = new Map<string, string>()
+  for (const iid of taskIds) {
+    const task = tasks.find((t) => t.id === iid)
+    if (!task) throw new Error(`outer-loop: ${iid} not found in SWE-bench_Verified`)
+    const problem = String(task.metadata?.problem_statement ?? '')
+    if (!problem) throw new Error(`outer-loop: ${iid} has an empty problem_statement`)
+    if (!images[iid]) throw new Error(`outer-loop: ${iid} has no image mapping`)
+    const verifyScript = join(config.verifyDir, `${iid}.sh`)
+    if (!existsSync(verifyScript)) throw new Error(`outer-loop: missing verify script ${verifyScript}`)
+    problemById.set(iid, problem)
+  }
+  if (smokeIid !== null) log(`prefilter smoke instance: ${smokeIid}`)
+
+  const judge: SerializedJudge = createSerializedJudge(
+    config.judgeTimeoutMs !== undefined ? { timeoutMs: config.judgeTimeoutMs } : {},
+  )
+  const runId = `r${config.round}-${Date.now().toString(36)}`
+  await mkdir(config.outDir, { recursive: true })
+  await mkdir(config.roundsDir, { recursive: true })
+  const recorder = new RoundRecorder(config.loopsRepo, join(config.outDir, 'candidates'))
+  const analysts: AnalystSpec[] = config.analystModels.map((model, i) => ({ id: `${model}#${i + 1}`, model }))
+
+  const sweScenarios: Scenario[] = config.instances.map((iid) => ({ id: iid, kind: 'swe-instance' }))
+
+  // Capacity gates on BOTH paths the supervisor arm rides (worker + router).
+  // Shared by every arm dispatch — the improvement cells AND the pre-filter
+  // smoke cell. A cell's WORK clock (config.dispatchTimeoutMs) starts only
+  // after these clear — a capacity hold is never billed to the work budget.
+  const awaitGates = async (gateSignal: AbortSignal | undefined = signal): Promise<void> => {
+    for (const gate of gatesForArmKind('supervisor', secrets, {
+      ...(config.gateWaitCeilingMs !== undefined ? { waitCeilingMs: config.gateWaitCeilingMs } : {}),
+      ...(config.capacityModel !== undefined ? { model: config.capacityModel } : {}),
+      onStatus: log,
+    })) {
+      if (!(await waitForCapacity(gate, gateSignal))) throw new Error(`no capacity on ${gate.name} within ceiling`)
+    }
+  }
+
+  // ── the pre-filter smoke runner: ONE supervisor arm cell + official judge
+  // on the smoke instance, run against the proposer's scratch worktree BEFORE
+  // any full-evaluation spend. A crashed smoke KILLS the candidate (recorded
+  // in the kill reason) rather than the round — the pre-filter is allowed to
+  // be strict; a survivor still faces the full gate. ────────────────────
+  const smokeRunner: SmokeRunner | undefined =
+    smokeIid === null
+      ? undefined
+      : async ({ scratchPath, generation, proposer, costLedger }): Promise<SmokeVerdict> => {
+          const iid = smokeIid
+          const requireResolved = config.prefilter?.requireResolved === true
+          const entry = images[iid]!
+          const armOutDir = join(config.outDir, 'prefilter-smoke', `gen${generation}-${proposer.name}`)
+          const nm = join(scratchPath, 'node_modules')
+          let linked = false
+          const t0 = Date.now()
+          try {
+            if (!existsSync(nm)) {
+              await symlink(join(config.loopsRepo, 'node_modules'), nm, 'dir')
+              linked = true
+            }
+            const work = async (signal: AbortSignal): Promise<{ armRes: SupervisorArmResult; resolved: boolean | null }> => {
+              const spec: SupervisorArmSpec = {
+                kind: 'supervisor',
+                name: config.armName,
+                workerModel: config.arm.workerModel,
+                driverModel: config.arm.driverModel,
+                budget: config.arm.budget,
+                maxSandboxes: config.arm.maxSandboxes,
+                maxUsd: config.arm.maxUsd,
+                maxDepth: config.arm.maxDepth,
+                ...(config.arm.envKnobs ? { envKnobs: config.arm.envKnobs } : {}),
+                loopsRepo: scratchPath,
+                extensionPath: join(scratchPath, 'extensions', 'pi', 'loops.ts'),
+                timeoutMs: config.arm.timeoutMs,
+              }
+              log(`>>> prefilter smoke ${proposer.name} ${iid} gen=${generation}`)
+              const armRes = await runSupervisorArm(spec, {
+                instanceId: iid,
+                image: entry.image,
+                baseCommit: entry.base_commit,
+                problemStatement: problemById.get(iid)!,
+                verifyCmd: `bash ${join(config.verifyDir, `${iid}.sh`)}`,
+                outDir: armOutDir,
+                secrets,
+                excludes,
+                signal,
+              })
+              if (signal.aborted) throw signal.reason
+              const verdict = await judge.judge(
+                iid,
+                armRes.patchPath,
+                `prefilter-g${generation}-${proposer.name}`,
+                signal,
+              )
+              return { armRes, resolved: verdict.resolved }
+            }
+            const runWork = (): Promise<{ armRes: SupervisorArmResult; resolved: boolean | null }> =>
+              runWithPostGateClock({
+                awaitGates,
+                work,
+                timeoutMs: config.dispatchTimeoutMs,
+                label: `prefilter smoke ${proposer.name} ${iid}`,
+                signal,
+              })
+            let outcome: { armRes: SupervisorArmResult; resolved: boolean | null }
+            if (costLedger) {
+              // The smoke's real arm spend reaches the run ledger like any cell.
+              const paid = await costLedger.runPaidCall({
+                channel: 'agent',
+                phase: 'search.prefilter',
+                actor: `prefilter-smoke:${iid}:g${generation}:${proposer.name}`,
+                model: config.arm.workerModel,
+                execute: runWork,
+                receipt: ({ armRes }) => {
+                  const spend = armRes.recoveredSpend
+                  const usageKnown = (spend?.workerTokIn ?? null) !== null || (spend?.workerTokOut ?? null) !== null
+                  return {
+                    model: config.arm.workerModel,
+                    inputTokens: spend?.workerTokIn ?? 0,
+                    outputTokens: spend?.workerTokOut ?? 0,
+                    ...(usageKnown ? {} : { usageUnknown: true }),
+                    ...(armRes.spentUsd !== null ? { actualCostUsd: armRes.spentUsd } : {}),
+                  }
+                },
+              })
+              if (!paid.succeeded) throw paid.error
+              outcome = paid.value
+            } else {
+              outcome = await runWork()
+            }
+            const wallS = Math.round((Date.now() - t0) / 1000)
+            const patchDelivered = outcome.armRes.patch_lines > 0
+            const conclusive = outcome.resolved !== null
+            const pass = requireResolved ? outcome.resolved === true : patchDelivered && conclusive
+            const verdictLine =
+              `smoke ${iid}: resolved=${outcome.resolved} patch_lines=${outcome.armRes.patch_lines} ` +
+              `verify_pass=${outcome.armRes.verify_pass} wall_s=${outcome.armRes.wall_s}`
+            const result: SmokeVerdict = {
+              iid,
+              pass,
+              reason: pass
+                ? verdictLine
+                : `${verdictLine} — below the ${requireResolved ? 'resolved' : 'mechanism (patch + conclusive judge)'} bar`,
+              resolved: outcome.resolved,
+              patchLines: outcome.armRes.patch_lines,
+              wallS,
+            }
+            await mkdir(armOutDir, { recursive: true })
+            await writeFile(join(armOutDir, 'smoke.json'), JSON.stringify(result, null, 2))
+            return result
+          } catch (cause) {
+            if (signal?.aborted) throw signal.reason
+            const wallS = Math.round((Date.now() - t0) / 1000)
+            const result: SmokeVerdict = {
+              iid,
+              pass: false,
+              reason: `smoke errored: ${(cause as Error).message}`,
+              resolved: null,
+              patchLines: 0,
+              wallS,
+            }
+            await mkdir(armOutDir, { recursive: true })
+            await writeFile(join(armOutDir, 'smoke.json'), JSON.stringify(result, null, 2)).catch(() => {})
+            return result
+          } finally {
+            if (linked) await unlink(nm).catch(() => {})
+          }
+        }
+
+  // ── dispatch: one (surface × scenario) cell ──────────────────────────
+  const agent = async (surface: MutableSurface, scenario: Scenario, ctx: DispatchContext): Promise<R4Artifact> => {
+    const cs = asCodeSurface(surface)
+    const rec = await recorder.ensure(cs)
+
+    const iid = scenario.id
+    // FAIL-CLOSED change-space enforcement: an out-of-space candidate must
+    // never reach a model token or a docker container. The thrown cell is the
+    // record (the lib stores it with `error` set — no side bookkeeping).
+    if (rec.violations.length > 0) {
+      throw new Error(`change-space violation (${rec.violations.length} path(s)): ${rec.violations.join(', ')}`)
+    }
+
+    const runCell = async (signal: AbortSignal): Promise<R4Artifact> => {
+      const entry = images[iid]!
+      const evalWt = join(config.outDir, 'eval-wt', `${rec.tag}-${iid}-r${ctx.rep}`)
+      const armOutDir = join(config.outDir, 'arm-runs', rec.tag, `rep-${ctx.rep}`)
+      try {
+        await addEvalWorktree(config.loopsRepo, cs.candidateCommit, evalWt, signal)
+        const spec: SupervisorArmSpec = {
+          kind: 'supervisor',
+          name: config.armName,
+          workerModel: config.arm.workerModel,
+          driverModel: config.arm.driverModel,
+          budget: config.arm.budget,
+          maxSandboxes: config.arm.maxSandboxes,
+          maxUsd: config.arm.maxUsd,
+          maxDepth: config.arm.maxDepth,
+          ...(config.arm.envKnobs ? { envKnobs: config.arm.envKnobs } : {}),
+          loopsRepo: evalWt,
+          extensionPath: join(evalWt, 'extensions', 'pi', 'loops.ts'),
+          timeoutMs: config.arm.timeoutMs,
+        }
+        log(`>>> ${config.armName} ${rec.tag} ${iid} rep=${ctx.rep}`)
+        const armRes: SupervisorArmResult = await runSupervisorArm(spec, {
+          instanceId: iid,
+          image: entry.image,
+          baseCommit: entry.base_commit,
+          problemStatement: problemById.get(iid)!,
+          verifyCmd: `bash ${join(config.verifyDir, `${iid}.sh`)}`,
+          outDir: armOutDir,
+          secrets,
+          excludes,
+          signal,
+        })
+        if (signal.aborted) throw signal.reason
+        const runDir = join(armOutDir, 'runs', iid, config.armName)
+        const { ws: _ws, ...armSummary } = armRes
+        await writeFile(join(runDir, 'result.json'), JSON.stringify(armSummary, null, 1))
+
+        // The official judge is a docker test-suite run — real wall time, zero
+        // LLM spend. Its OWN paid call (channel 'judge', $0 actual) keeps the
+        // run's spend tree attributing judge work per cell without inventing a
+        // token cost; the wall lands on the artifact + judge.json.
+        const judgeT0 = Date.now()
+        const judgePaid = await ctx.cost.runPaidCall({
+          channel: 'judge',
+          actor: `official-judge:${iid}#r${ctx.rep}`,
+          model: OFFICIAL_JUDGE_MODEL,
+          execute: () => {
+            if (signal.aborted) throw signal.reason
+            return judge.judge(iid, armRes.patchPath, `${config.armName}-${rec.tag}`, signal)
+          },
+          receipt: () => ({ model: OFFICIAL_JUDGE_MODEL, inputTokens: 0, outputTokens: 0, actualCostUsd: 0 }),
+        })
+        if (!judgePaid.succeeded) throw judgePaid.error
+        const verdict = judgePaid.value
+        const judgeWallS = Math.round((Date.now() - judgeT0) / 1000)
+        await writeFile(join(runDir, 'judge.json'), JSON.stringify({ ...verdict, wallS: judgeWallS }, null, 1))
+        log(`${config.armName} ${rec.tag} ${iid} judged: resolved=${verdict.resolved} (attempts=${verdict.attempts})`)
+
+        const spend = armRes.recoveredSpend
+        const recovered =
+          armRes.spentTokens === null && (spend?.workerTokSqlite ?? null) === null
+            ? null
+            : (armRes.spentTokens ?? 0) + (spend?.workerTokSqlite ?? 0)
+        rec.armProvenance = { repo: armRes.provenance.repo, commit: armRes.provenance.commit }
+        await appendFile(
+          join(config.outDir, 'progress.jsonl'),
+          JSON.stringify({
+            at: new Date().toISOString(),
+            runId,
+            candidate: rec.tag,
+            iid,
+            rep: ctx.rep,
+            runDir,
+            resolved: verdict.resolved,
+            verify_pass: armRes.verify_pass,
+            wall_s: armRes.wall_s,
+            spentTokens: armRes.spentTokens,
+            spentUsd: armRes.spentUsd,
+            recoveredTokens: recovered,
+          }) + '\n',
+        )
+        await ctx.artifacts.writeJson('arm-summary.json', { runDir, patchPath: armRes.patchPath, verdict })
+
+        if (verdict.resolved === null) {
+          // Inconclusive judge (double flake / infra) — the cell must FAIL, not
+          // score a fabricated boolean; the candidate becomes coverage-incomplete.
+          throw new Error(`inconclusive judge verdict for ${iid} (${verdict.error ?? 'unknown'})`)
+        }
+        return {
+          kind: 'swe-arm',
+          iid,
+          commit: cs.candidateCommit,
+          resolved: verdict.resolved,
+          verifyPass: armRes.verify_pass,
+          patchLines: armRes.patch_lines,
+          wallS: armRes.wall_s,
+          spentTokens: armRes.spentTokens,
+          spentUsd: armRes.spentUsd,
+          recoveredTokens: recovered,
+          workerTokIn: spend?.workerTokIn ?? null,
+          workerTokOut: spend?.workerTokOut ?? null,
+          judgeAttempts: verdict.attempts ?? null,
+          judgeWallS,
+          runDir,
+          patchPath: armRes.patchPath,
+        }
+      } finally {
+        await removeEvalWorktree(config.loopsRepo, evalWt)
+      }
+    }
+
+    // The arm's real spend reaches the LIB's CostLedger here: one agent-channel
+    // paid call per cell whose receipt carries the recovered worker-session
+    // token split (opencode sqlite join) and the runtime spend-tree dollars
+    // (state.json spentUsd). run-campaign commits it into cell.costUsd /
+    // cell.tokenUsage + durable cost-ledger.jsonl receipts — the stub/$0
+    // rounds this replaces.
+    const paid = await ctx.cost.runPaidCall<R4Artifact>({
+      actor: `${config.armName}:${rec.tag}:${iid}#r${ctx.rep}`,
+      model: config.arm.workerModel,
+      execute: () =>
+        runWithPostGateClock({
+          awaitGates,
+          work: runCell,
+          timeoutMs: config.dispatchTimeoutMs,
+          label: `${config.armName} ${rec.tag} ${iid} r${ctx.rep}`,
+          signal,
+        }),
+      receipt: (artifact) => {
+        if (artifact.kind !== 'swe-arm') throw new Error('swe cell produced a non-arm artifact')
+        const usageKnown = artifact.workerTokIn !== null || artifact.workerTokOut !== null
+        return {
+          model: config.arm.workerModel,
+          inputTokens: artifact.workerTokIn ?? 0,
+          outputTokens: artifact.workerTokOut ?? 0,
+          ...(usageKnown ? {} : { usageUnknown: true }),
+          // The runtime spend-tree usd is the measured bill; without it the
+          // receipt stays honestly unpriced (costUnknown) rather than $0.
+          ...(artifact.spentUsd !== null ? { actualCostUsd: artifact.spentUsd } : {}),
+        }
+      },
+    })
+    if (!paid.succeeded) throw paid.error
+    return paid.value
+  }
+
+  // ── judge config: a deterministic READ of the official verdict the dispatch
+  // already obtained under the serialized-judge lock. ───────────────────
+  const judgeConfig: JudgeConfig<R4Artifact, Scenario> = {
+    name: 'swe-arena-official-judge',
+    dimensions: [{ key: 'resolved', description: 'official SWE-bench judge verdict' }],
+    score: ({ artifact }) => {
+      const v = artifact.resolved ? 1 : 0
+      return {
+        composite: v,
+        dimensions: { resolved: v },
+        notes: `official judge: ${artifact.iid} resolved=${artifact.resolved} (verify_pass=${artifact.verifyPass}, patch_lines=${artifact.patchLines}, wall_s=${artifact.wallS})`,
+      }
+    },
+  }
+
+  // ── diagnosis at the analyzeGeneration seam ──────────────────────────
+  const rawTrace = rawTraceDistiller<Scenario, R4Artifact>({ fallbackFindings: [] })
+  const steeringFinding = makeFinding({
+    analyst_id: 'round4-protocol',
+    severity: 'high',
+    area: 'constraint',
+    confidence: 1,
+    claim:
+      'Declared change-space: ONLY extensions/pi/** and src/{worker-evidence,best-effort,worker-clone}.ts may change ' +
+      '(plus the .improve/ diagnosis artifact). Judge, verify scripts, task prompts, model ids and budgets are immutable.',
+    recommended_action: 'Keep every edit inside the change-space; out-of-space candidate diffs are rejected before evaluation.',
+    evidence_refs: [],
+  })
+  const analyzeGeneration = async (input: {
+    generation: number
+    runDir: string
+    candidates: Array<{ surfaceHash: string; composite: number; campaign: unknown }>
+    history: unknown[]
+  }): Promise<unknown[]> => {
+    signal?.throwIfAborted()
+    const runs: SupRunArtifacts[] = []
+    if (input.generation === -1) {
+      for (const seed of config.seedArtifactRuns) {
+        if (!existsSync(seed.dir)) {
+          // A wiped scratchpad (host reboot) must not feed EMPTY bundles to the
+          // analysts as if they were real artifacts — skip loudly.
+          log(`seed artifact dir missing — skipped from diagnosis: ${seed.dir}`)
+          continue
+        }
+        runs.push({
+          iid: seed.iid,
+          arm: seed.arm,
+          dir: seed.dir,
+          ...(seed.patchPath ? { patchPath: seed.patchPath } : {}),
+          judge: { resolved: seed.resolved, note: 'previous round (seeded)' },
+        })
+      }
+    }
+    // Candidate failure artifacts come from the LIB's campaign cells (the
+    // artifacts name their own runDir/patch) — resume-replayed cells included,
+    // which the old recorder-based lookup silently dropped.
+    const worstFirst = [...input.candidates].sort((a, b) => a.composite - b.composite).slice(0, 4)
+    for (const cand of worstFirst) {
+      const cells = cellsFromCampaign(cand.campaign as CampaignResult<R4Artifact, Scenario>)
+      for (const cell of cells) {
+        const a = cell.artifact
+        if (a === null || a.kind !== 'swe-arm' || !a.runDir) continue
+        runs.push({
+          iid: a.iid,
+          arm: config.armName,
+          dir: a.runDir,
+          ...(a.patchPath ? { patchPath: a.patchPath } : {}),
+          judge: { resolved: cell.error ? null : a.resolved },
+        })
+      }
+    }
+    let ensembleFindings: unknown[] = []
+    if (runs.length > 0) {
+      try {
+        const scratch = join(config.outDir, 'diagnosis', `gen-${input.generation}`)
+        const ensemble = await runDiagnosisEnsemble({
+          analysts,
+          runs,
+          secrets,
+          scratchDir: scratch,
+          onStatus: log,
+          signal,
+        })
+        signal?.throwIfAborted()
+        await writeFile(
+          join(config.outDir, 'diagnosis', `gen-${input.generation}.json`),
+          JSON.stringify({ reports: ensemble.reports, fused: ensemble.fused }, null, 2),
+        )
+        ensembleFindings = fusedToAnalystFindings(ensemble.fused, {
+          dirs: [...new Set(runs.map((r) => r.dir))],
+          totalAnalysts: analysts.length,
+        })
+      } catch (cause) {
+        if (signal?.aborted) throw signal.reason
+        // A dead router must not kill the round: the raw-trace context below
+        // still grounds the proposer; the failure is logged, never silent.
+        log(`diagnosis ensemble FAILED for gen ${input.generation}: ${(cause as Error).message}`)
+      }
+    }
+    signal?.throwIfAborted()
+    const rawFindings = (await rawTrace(input as Parameters<typeof rawTrace>[0])) as unknown[]
+    signal?.throwIfAborted()
+    return [steeringFinding, ...ensembleFindings, ...rawFindings]
+  }
+
+  // ── protocol_v2: NEVER ships from inside the loop. `budget.holdout:
+  // 'deferred'` makes the LIB dispatch zero holdout cells, force `hold`, omit
+  // `lift`, and record `holdout: 'deferred'` in the provenance record; the
+  // pre-registered holdout run happens later, with operator approval. The
+  // would-be-KEEP operator brief is computed post-run from campaign cells
+  // (see the summary below). ───────────────────────────────────────────
+  const holdoutReps = config.holdoutRepsPerInstance ?? 2
+  const holdoutInstruction =
+    `holdout (${config.holdoutInstances.length} pre-registered instances: ${config.holdoutInstances.join(', ')}) ` +
+    `was NOT run — operator approval required. To certify a would-be KEEP under the ${holdoutReps}-rep ` +
+    'fail-closed protocol (same-protocol parent comparison): ' +
+    'tsx src/swe-arena/holdout-certify.mts <config.json> --candidate <winner-loops-commit>'
+  const improveRunDir = join(config.outDir, 'improve-run')
+
+  // ── generator: the gen-3 proposer fan-out (parallel AgentProfile-pinned
+  // authors + pre-filter) when `proposers` is configured; the legacy
+  // single-author generator otherwise. ─────────────────────────────────
+  const fanout =
+    config.proposers !== undefined
+      ? fanOutLoopsGenerator(config, { ...(smokeRunner ? { smokeRunner } : {}), log })
+      : null
+  const generator = withParentCancellation(fanout ?? constrainedLoopsGenerator(config), signal)
+
+  // ── the improve() call: the optimizer seat ───────────────────────────
+  // Typed from improve()'s own parameter: the monorepo hoists two
+  // agent-interface majors, so a nominal import can resolve to the wrong one.
+  const profile = { name: 'loops-pi-supervisor' } as Parameters<typeof improve>[0]
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+  log(`round ${config.round} runId=${runId}: improve(surface:'code') over ${config.loopsRepo}@${config.loopsBaseRef}`)
+  const result = await improve<Scenario, R4Artifact>(profile, [], {
+    surface: 'code',
+    // analyzeGeneration wins over this flag; the composite above embeds
+    // rawTraceDistiller directly so the raw-trace mechanism stays active.
+    rawTraceContext: true,
+    analyzeGeneration,
+    code: {
+      repoRoot: config.loopsRepo,
+      baseRef: config.loopsBaseRef,
+      worktreeDir: join(config.outDir, 'loops-worktrees'),
+      generator,
+    },
+    scenarios: sweScenarios,
+    judge: judgeConfig,
+    agent,
+    budget: {
+      generations: config.generations,
+      populationSize: config.populationSize,
+      maxConcurrency: 1,
+      reps,
+      maxImprovementShots: config.maxShots,
+      // Deferred with no reserved set: ALL improvement-set scenarios train;
+      // the held-out comparison lives in the separate operator-approved run.
+      holdout: 'deferred',
+    },
+    // TRAINING RECORDER: every scored (artifact, judge score) lands in the
+    // lib's labeled-scenario store as a JSONL corpus under outDir (growth is
+    // outDir-scoped; a handful of cells per round). Records carry the default
+    // 'unverified' trust — corpus-grade, NOT gold-eligible, which is right
+    // until an operator-confirmed holdout verdict upgrades them.
+    labeledStore: new FsLabeledScenarioStore({ root: join(config.outDir, 'labeled-store') }),
+    captureSource: 'eval-run',
+    // Arm/judge/proposer spend reaches the campaign meter through real paid
+    // calls (worker receipt per swe cell, $0 judge receipts, imported
+    // proposer-shot receipts). 'warn' not 'assert': the official judge's $0
+    // receipts are correct-by-design and must not kill the round as "stubs".
+    expectUsage: 'warn',
+    // Widened: covers worst-case capacity-gate holds; the REAL per-cell work
+    // clock (config.dispatchTimeoutMs) starts post-gate inside the dispatch.
+    dispatchTimeoutMs: campaignDispatchCeilingMs(config),
+    runDir: improveRunDir,
+    ...(premeasured ? { premeasuredBaseline: premeasured } : {}),
+  })
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+
+  // ── staircase rows + round summary — scored from the LIB's campaign cells
+  // (baselineCampaign + per-generation candidate campaigns), which replay
+  // correctly attributed on resume. The recorder only contributes the
+  // dispatch-time diff/change-space description (recomputed post-run via
+  // ensure() for candidates that were replayed, never dispatched here). ────
+  try {
+    const loop = result.raw.raw
+    const baselineCells = cellsFromCampaign(loop.baselineCampaign)
+    const baselineWallS = sumWallSFromCells(baselineCells)
+    const measuredBaselineCount = resolvedInstanceCount(
+      replicateRunsFromCells(baselineCells),
+      config.instances,
+      reps,
+    )
+    const campaignBySurface = new Map<string, CampaignResult<R4Artifact, Scenario>>()
+    for (const gen of loop.generations) {
+      for (const s of gen.surfaces) campaignBySurface.set(s.surfaceHash, s.campaign)
+    }
+    const resolvedCountOf = (campaign: CampaignResult<R4Artifact, Scenario>): number =>
+      resolvedInstanceCount(replicateRunsFromCells(cellsFromCampaign(campaign)), config.instances, reps)
+
+    // BASELINE-DRIFT: a resumed runDir can still hold baseline cells cached by
+    // an OLDER (pre-artifact) run. When they contradict the lib-validated
+    // premeasured artifact, log loud — the artifact rules, never silently.
+    if (premeasured) {
+      const cachedBaseline = await loadCampaignCells(join(improveRunDir, 'baseline'))
+      if (cachedBaseline.length > 0) {
+        const expected = instanceVerdictsFromCells(baselineCells, config.instances, reps)
+        for (const w of baselineDriftWarnings(
+          expected,
+          replicateRunsFromCells(cachedBaseline),
+          config.instances,
+          reps,
+        )) {
+          log(`BASELINE-DRIFT: ${w}`)
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    for (let g = 0; g < loop.generations.length; g++) {
+      const gen = loop.generations[g]!
+      const rows: StaircaseRow[] = []
+      for (const cand of gen.record.candidates) {
+        const surface = gen.surfaces.find((s) => s.surfaceHash === cand.surfaceHash)?.surface
+        const cs = surface && typeof surface === 'object' && surface.kind === 'code' ? surface : null
+        const desc = cs ? await recorder.ensure(cs) : undefined
+        const campaign = campaignBySurface.get(cand.surfaceHash)
+        const cells = campaign ? cellsFromCampaign(campaign) : []
+        const runs = replicateRunsFromCells(cells)
+        const perInstance = perInstanceFromCells(cells)
+        const candResolved = resolvedInstanceCount(runs, config.instances, reps)
+        const wallS = sumWallSFromCells(cells)
+        const coverageComplete =
+          cand.eligibleForPromotion === true && replicateCoverageComplete(runs, config.instances, reps)
+        const costRatio = baselineWallS > 0 ? wallS / baselineWallS : null
+        // Parent's AND-resolved count. A parent hash with no candidate
+        // campaign IS the baseline incumbent — its count comes from the
+        // baseline campaign (the lib-validated premeasured artifact, or the
+        // bootstrap run's measurement; both survive resume, no dispatch-order
+        // guess).
+        const parentCampaign = cand.parentSurfaceHash
+          ? campaignBySurface.get(cand.parentSurfaceHash)
+          : undefined
+        const parentResolvedCount =
+          parentCampaign !== undefined ? resolvedCountOf(parentCampaign) : measuredBaselineCount
+        const violations = desc?.violations ?? []
+        rows.push({
+          schema: STAIRCASE_SCHEMA,
+          round: config.round,
+          generation: g,
+          runId,
+          at: new Date().toISOString(),
+          candidate: cand.surfaceHash,
+          candidateCommit: cs?.candidateCommit ?? null,
+          parent: cand.parentSurfaceHash ?? 'baseline',
+          parentResolvedCount,
+          ...(cand.label ? { label: cand.label } : {}),
+          ...(cand.rationale ? { rationale: cand.rationale } : {}),
+          changedFiles: desc?.changedFiles ?? [],
+          changeSpaceViolations: violations,
+          perInstance,
+          resolvedCount: candResolved,
+          coverageComplete,
+          wallS,
+          baselineWallS,
+          costRatio,
+          costGuardRatio: config.costGuardRatio,
+          internallyPromoted: gen.record.promoted.includes(cand.surfaceHash),
+          verdict: decideVerdict({
+            violations,
+            coverageComplete,
+            resolvedCount: candResolved,
+            parentResolvedCount,
+            costRatio,
+            costGuardRatio: config.costGuardRatio,
+          }),
+          holdout: 'operator-approval-required',
+          armProvenance: desc?.armProvenance ?? null,
+          diffPath: desc?.diffPath ?? null,
+          diffSha256: desc?.diffSha256 ?? null,
+        })
+      }
+      const genFile = join(config.roundsDir, `gen-${g}.jsonl`)
+      for (const row of rows) await appendFile(genFile, JSON.stringify(row) + '\n')
+      log(`staircase: ${rows.length} row(s) → ${genFile} (${rows.map((r) => r.verdict).join(', ')})`)
+    }
+
+    // Pre-filter kills: candidates the fan-out killed BEFORE evaluation never
+    // became surfaces (zero arm cells), so the loop has no row for them —
+    // each becomes an explicit `rejected-prefilter` staircase dot with its
+    // kill reason and forensics patch.
+    if (fanout) {
+      const kills = fanout.drainPrefilterKills()
+      for (const kill of kills) {
+        const row: StaircaseRow = {
+          schema: STAIRCASE_SCHEMA,
+          round: config.round,
+          generation: kill.generation,
+          runId,
+          at: new Date().toISOString(),
+          candidate: `prefilter-kill:${kill.diffSha256?.slice('sha256:'.length, 'sha256:'.length + 12) ?? kill.proposer}`,
+          candidateCommit: null,
+          parent: premeasured?.surfaceHash ?? 'baseline',
+          parentResolvedCount: measuredBaselineCount,
+          label: kill.proposer,
+          rationale: `prefilter kill at stage '${kill.stage}' (${kill.harness})`,
+          changedFiles: [],
+          changeSpaceViolations: kill.stage === 'change-space' ? [kill.reason] : [],
+          perInstance: [],
+          resolvedCount: 0,
+          coverageComplete: false,
+          wallS: kill.smoke?.wallS ?? 0,
+          baselineWallS,
+          costRatio: null,
+          costGuardRatio: config.costGuardRatio,
+          internallyPromoted: false,
+          verdict: 'rejected-prefilter',
+          killReason: `${kill.stage}: ${kill.reason}`,
+          holdout: 'operator-approval-required',
+          armProvenance: null,
+          diffPath: kill.patchPath,
+          diffSha256: kill.diffSha256,
+        }
+        const genFile = join(config.roundsDir, `gen-${kill.generation}.jsonl`)
+        await appendFile(genFile, JSON.stringify(row) + '\n')
+        log(`staircase: prefilter kill dot (${kill.proposer}, ${kill.stage}) → ${genFile}`)
+      }
+    }
+
+    const winnerSurface = result.raw.winner.surface
+    const winnerCs =
+      typeof winnerSurface === 'object' && winnerSurface !== null && winnerSurface.kind === 'code'
+        ? winnerSurface
+        : null
+    const winnerRec = winnerCs ? await recorder.ensure(winnerCs) : undefined
+    let winnerPatch: string | null = null
+    if (winnerRec?.diffPath) {
+      winnerPatch = join(config.outDir, 'winner.patch')
+      await writeFile(winnerPatch, await readFile(winnerRec.diffPath, 'utf8'))
+    }
+
+    // BOOTSTRAP: persist this run's measured baseline campaign as the
+    // premeasured artifact every later run consumes (and the lib re-validates
+    // by surface hash / seed / reps / split digest). The baseline surface
+    // hash comes from the Pareto frontier's generation −1 entry — the lib's
+    // own record of the baseline measurement.
+    if (!premeasured) {
+      const baselineHash = loop.paretoFrontier.find((p) => p.generation === -1)?.surfaceHash
+      if (baselineHash === undefined) {
+        log('bootstrap: no generation −1 Pareto entry — premeasured baseline artifact NOT written')
+      } else {
+        const artifact: PremeasuredOptimizationBaseline<R4Artifact, Scenario> = {
+          surfaceHash: baselineHash,
+          campaign: loop.baselineCampaign,
+        }
+        await writeFile(config.premeasuredBaselinePath, JSON.stringify(artifact, null, 1))
+        log(`bootstrap: premeasured baseline artifact → ${config.premeasuredBaselinePath} (surface ${baselineHash})`)
+      }
+    }
+
+    // The would-be-KEEP operator brief: winner vs baseline on the improvement
+    // set, from campaign cells. The lib's deferred-holdout gate always holds;
+    // this evidence tells the operator whether the pre-registered holdout run
+    // is worth approving.
+    const winnerHash = winnerCs ? surfaceHash(winnerCs) : null
+    const winnerCampaign = winnerHash !== null ? campaignBySurface.get(winnerHash) : undefined
+    const improvementSet =
+      winnerCampaign !== undefined && winnerRec !== undefined
+        ? gateEvidenceFromCells({
+            winnerCells: cellsFromCampaign(winnerCampaign),
+            baselineCells,
+            violations: winnerRec.violations,
+            iids: config.instances,
+            reps,
+            costGuardRatio: config.costGuardRatio,
+          })
+        : null
+    const wouldKeep = improvementSet !== null && improvementSet.verdict === 'accepted'
+    if (improvementSet) {
+      log(
+        `improvement set: winner ${improvementSet.candResolved}/${config.instances.length} vs baseline ` +
+          `${improvementSet.baseResolved}/${config.instances.length}; wall ${improvementSet.candWallS}s vs ` +
+          `${improvementSet.baseWallS}s (ratio ${improvementSet.costRatio === null ? 'n/a' : improvementSet.costRatio.toFixed(2)}, ` +
+          `guard ${config.costGuardRatio}); protocol verdict: ${improvementSet.verdict}${wouldKeep ? ' (WOULD-BE KEEP)' : ''}`,
+      )
+    } else {
+      log('improvement set: winner == baseline (no candidate campaign) — nothing to promote')
+    }
+
+    const summary = {
+      schema: 'swe-arena.round-summary.v2',
+      round: config.round,
+      runId,
+      at: new Date().toISOString(),
+      loops: { repo: config.loopsRepo, baseRef: config.loopsBaseRef },
+      // The gate's denominator: the lib-validated premeasured artifact, or
+      // this bootstrap run's freshly measured (and persisted) campaign.
+      baseline: {
+        resolvedCount: measuredBaselineCount,
+        wallS: baselineWallS,
+        perInstance: perInstanceFromCells(baselineCells),
+        premeasured: premeasured !== undefined,
+        artifactPath: config.premeasuredBaselinePath,
+        ...(premeasured ? { surfaceHash: premeasured.surfaceHash } : {}),
+      },
+      winner: winnerCs
+        ? {
+            surfaceHash: winnerHash,
+            commit: winnerCs.candidateCommit,
+            label: result.raw.winner.label ?? null,
+            rationale: result.raw.winner.rationale ?? null,
+            patch: winnerPatch,
+          }
+        : null,
+      // The lib's verdict + reasons: deferred holdout forces `hold` with zero
+      // holdout cells dispatched and no fabricated lift.
+      gateDecision: result.decision,
+      gateReasons: loop.gateResult.reasons,
+      // Improvement-set (search-split) evidence — NOT a held-out measurement.
+      improvementSet: improvementSet === null ? null : { ...improvementSet, wouldKeep },
+      // Honest run-wide spend from the lib's CostLedger: per-channel rollups
+      // (agent = arm cells, judge = official-judge calls, driver = proposer
+      // shots), token totals, and accounting-completeness flags.
+      cost: {
+        totalCostUsd: result.raw.totalCostUsd,
+        inputTokens: result.raw.cost.inputTokens,
+        outputTokens: result.raw.cost.outputTokens,
+        byChannel: result.raw.cost.byChannel,
+        fullyPriced: result.raw.cost.fullyPriced,
+        usageComplete: result.raw.cost.usageComplete,
+        accountingComplete: result.raw.cost.accountingComplete,
+        incompleteReasons: result.raw.cost.incompleteReasons,
+        receipts: result.raw.receipts.length,
+      },
+      holdout: {
+        instances: config.holdoutInstances,
+        mode: 'deferred',
+        status: 'operator-approval-required',
+        // The certification protocol the operator run must use — 2-rep
+        // fail-closed with a same-protocol parent (gen-2 postmortem).
+        protocol: {
+          repsPerInstance: holdoutReps,
+          resolvedRule: 'all-reps',
+          parentBaseline: config.holdoutBaseline ?? 'measure',
+        },
+        instruction: holdoutInstruction,
+      },
+    }
+    const summaryPath = join(config.roundsDir, `round${config.round}-summary-${runId}.json`)
+    await writeFile(summaryPath, JSON.stringify(summary, null, 2))
+    log(`round summary → ${summaryPath}`)
+    log(`gate: ${result.decision} — ${loop.gateResult.reasons[0] ?? ''}`)
+  } finally {
+    await result.dispose()
+  }
+  signal?.throwIfAborted()
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Calibration smoke — the ensemble over the REAL round-2 django SUP2 run
+// (known truth: the worker authored a LOCAL idna helper inside the mail module
+// while the gold fix adds punycode() in django/utils/encoding.py — a fix
+// PLACEMENT failure). Cheap (a few k tokens/analyst); grades whether each
+// blind analyst independently surfaces placement.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export interface SmokeArgs {
+  supRunDir?: string
+  patchPath?: string
+  analysts?: number
+  model?: string
+  /** 'router' (default) or 'zai' — the z.ai coding endpoint is the proven
+   *  fallback when router.tangle.tools 524-storms (a measured infra class). */
+  endpoint?: 'router' | 'zai'
+  /** Transport retries per analyst. Default 4 in the smoke (storms pass). */
+  retries?: number
+  secrets?: SecretsEnv
+  scratchDir?: string
+}
+
+export async function calibrationSmoke(args: SmokeArgs = {}): Promise<{
+  perAnalyst: Array<{ analystId: string; ok: boolean; surfacesPlacement: boolean; findings: number; error?: string }>
+  fusedTop: string[]
+}> {
+  const supRunDir = args.supRunDir ?? join(DEFAULT_HH_SCRATCHPAD, 'runs', 'django__django-11532', 'SUP2')
+  const patchPath = args.patchPath ?? join(DEFAULT_HH_SCRATCHPAD, 'patches', 'django__django-11532.sup2.patch')
+  const secrets: SecretsEnv = args.secrets ?? {
+    secretsDir: '/home/drew/company/devops/secrets',
+    envFiles: ['agent-state.env', 'tangle-router.env'],
+  }
+  const scratchDir = args.scratchDir ?? join(supRunDir, '..', '..', '..', 'r4', 'calibration-smoke')
+  const analysts: AnalystSpec[] = defaultAnalysts(args.analysts ?? 3, args.model ?? 'glm-5.2').map((s) =>
+    args.endpoint === 'zai' ? { ...s, url: ZAI_CODING_ENDPOINT, apiKeyEnv: 'ZAI_API_KEY' } : s,
+  )
+  const runs: SupRunArtifacts[] = [
+    {
+      iid: 'django__django-11532',
+      arm: 'SUP2',
+      dir: supRunDir,
+      ...(existsSync(patchPath) ? { patchPath } : {}),
+      judge: { resolved: false, note: 'round-2 official judge: unresolved while the self-verify passed' },
+    },
+  ]
+  const ensemble = await runDiagnosisEnsemble({
+    analysts,
+    runs,
+    secrets,
+    scratchDir,
+    retriesPerAnalyst: args.retries ?? 4,
+    retryDelayMs: 15_000,
+    onStatus: log,
+  })
+  const placement = surfacesPlacementRegex()
+  const perAnalyst = ensemble.reports.map((r) => ({
+    analystId: r.analystId,
+    ok: r.ok,
+    surfacesPlacement: r.findings.some((f) =>
+      placement.test(`${f.failure_class} ${f.evidence_quote} ${f.proposed_direction}`),
+    ),
+    findings: r.findings.length,
+    ...(r.error ? { error: r.error } : {}),
+  }))
+  console.log('\n=== CALIBRATION SMOKE (django__django-11532 SUP2, truth = fix placement) ===')
+  console.log(`bundle: ${ensemble.bundleChars} chars; analysts: ${analysts.map((a) => a.model).join(', ')}`)
+  for (const r of ensemble.reports) {
+    const grade = perAnalyst.find((p) => p.analystId === r.analystId)!
+    console.log(`\n--- ${r.analystId} ok=${r.ok} placement-surfaced=${grade.surfacesPlacement}${r.error ? ` error=${r.error}` : ''}` +
+      (r.tokens ? ` tokens(in=${r.tokens.input},out=${r.tokens.output})` : ''))
+    for (const f of r.findings) {
+      console.log(`  [${f.confidence.toFixed(2)}] ${f.failure_class} → ${f.proposed_direction.slice(0, 160)}`)
+      if (f.evidence_quote) console.log(`      evidence: ${f.evidence_quote.slice(0, 160)}`)
+    }
+  }
+  console.log('\n--- fused (agreement-ranked) ---')
+  for (const f of ensemble.fused) {
+    console.log(
+      `  agreement=${f.agreement}${f.competingHypothesis ? ' [competing hypothesis]' : ''} conf=${f.meanConfidence.toFixed(2)} — ${f.failure_class}`,
+    )
+  }
+  const outPath = join(scratchDir, 'calibration-smoke.json')
+  await mkdir(scratchDir, { recursive: true })
+  await writeFile(outPath, JSON.stringify({ perAnalyst, ensemble }, null, 2))
+  console.log(`\nfull output → ${outPath}`)
+  return { perAnalyst, fusedTop: ensemble.fused.map((f) => f.failure_class) }
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// CLI.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+const isMain = process.argv[1] !== undefined && import.meta.url === pathToFileURL(process.argv[1]).href
+
+if (isMain) {
+  const argv = process.argv.slice(2)
+  // Config execution owns long-lived workers and therefore needs cooperative
+  // cleanup. Utility modes keep the terminal's default signal behavior because
+  // their analyst APIs do not yet accept AbortSignal; installing a handler there
+  // would swallow Ctrl-C while the model call continued.
+  const interrupt = argv[0] && !argv[0].startsWith('--')
+    ? installProcessSignalAbort('outer-loop')
+    : undefined
+  try {
+    const flag = (name: string): string | undefined => {
+      const i = argv.indexOf(name)
+      return i !== -1 ? argv[i + 1] : undefined
+    }
+    if (argv[0] === '--write-config') {
+      const path = argv[1]
+      if (!path || path.startsWith('--')) {
+        console.error('usage: outer-loop.mts --write-config <path> [--out-name <dirname>] [--gen3]')
+        process.exit(2)
+      }
+      const outDirName = flag('--out-name')
+      const gen3 = argv.includes('--gen3')
+      const make = gen3 ? defaultGen3Config : defaultRound4Config
+      await writeFile(
+        path,
+        JSON.stringify(make(undefined, outDirName ? { outDirName } : {}), null, 2) + '\n',
+      )
+      console.log(`default ${gen3 ? 'gen-3' : 'round-4'} config → ${path}`)
+    } else if (argv[0] === '--calibration-smoke') {
+      const dir = argv[1] && !argv[1].startsWith('--') ? argv[1] : undefined
+      const n = flag('--analysts')
+      const model = flag('--model')
+      const endpoint = flag('--endpoint')
+      const retries = flag('--retries')
+      if (endpoint !== undefined && endpoint !== 'router' && endpoint !== 'zai') {
+        console.error(`--endpoint must be 'router' or 'zai', got ${JSON.stringify(endpoint)}`)
+        process.exit(2)
+      }
+      await calibrationSmoke({
+        ...(dir ? { supRunDir: dir } : {}),
+        ...(n ? { analysts: Number(n) } : {}),
+        ...(model ? { model } : {}),
+        ...(endpoint ? { endpoint } : {}),
+        ...(retries ? { retries: Number(retries) } : {}),
+      })
+    } else if (argv[0] && !argv[0].startsWith('--')) {
+      const config = JSON.parse(await readFile(argv[0], 'utf8')) as OuterLoopConfig
+      // Launch guards BEFORE any spend: keys present (dotenvx forgotten = hours
+      // of confusing downstream failures) and exactly one loop per outDir.
+      assertLaunchEnv()
+      interrupt!.signal.throwIfAborted()
+      const lock = await acquireInstanceLock(config.outDir)
+      try {
+        await runRound(config, interrupt!.signal)
+      } finally {
+        await lock.release()
+      }
+    } else {
+      console.error(
+        'usage: tsx src/swe-arena/outer-loop.mts <config.json>            # SPENDS: arms + judges + proposer\n' +
+          '       tsx src/swe-arena/outer-loop.mts --write-config <path> [--out-name <dirname>] [--gen3]\n' +
+          '       tsx src/swe-arena/outer-loop.mts --calibration-smoke [supRunDir] [--analysts N] [--model M] [--endpoint router|zai] [--retries N]',
+      )
+      process.exit(2)
+    }
+  } catch (cause) {
+    if (!interrupt?.signal.aborted) throw cause
+    const detail = cause instanceof Error ? cause.message : String(cause)
+    console.error(`outer-loop stopped after cleanup: ${detail}`)
+  } finally {
+    interrupt?.dispose()
+  }
+}