akm-cli 0.8.0-rc1 → 0.8.0

package/dist/commands/distill.js

@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+// This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+// License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+// file, You can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
 /**
  * `akm distill <ref>` — feedback distillation into lesson proposals (#228).
  *
@@ -11,8 +14,10 @@
  * # Architectural seams
  *
  *   - **Single bounded in-tree LLM call.** Wrapped in {@link tryLlmFeature}
- *     under the `feedback_distillation` gate (v1 spec §14). The wrapper
- *     enforces the 30 s hard timeout and converts disable / throw / timeout
+ *     under the `distill` gate (v1 spec §14; 0.8.0 unified the orchestration
+ *     and LLM-call gates under `processes.distill.enabled`). The wrapper
+ *     enforces a hard timeout (default 600s / 10 min — overridable via
+ *     `opts.timeoutMs`) and converts disable / throw / timeout
  *     into a `null` return from `fn`, which we treat as a graceful
  *     "skipped" outcome (exit 0, no proposal, `distill_invoked` event with
  *     `outcome: "skipped"`).
@@ -48,43 +53,47 @@
 import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { parseAssetRef } from "../core/asset-ref";
+import { assembleAssetFromString } from "../core/asset-serialize";
 import { resolveStashDir, timestampForFilename } from "../core/common";
-import { loadConfig } from "../core/config";
+import { getDefaultLlmConfig, loadConfig } from "../core/config";
 import { ConfigError, UsageError } from "../core/errors";
 import { appendEvent, readEvents } from "../core/events";
 import { parseFrontmatter } from "../core/frontmatter";
 import { lintLessonContent } from "../core/lesson-lint";
 import { stripMarkdownFences } from "../core/markdown";
-import { createProposal } from "../core/proposals";
+import { createProposal, isProposalSkipped, listProposals, } from "../core/proposals";
 import { warnVerbose } from "../core/warn";
 import { resolveAssetPath } from "../indexer/path-resolver";
 import { chatCompletion, parseEmbeddedJsonResponse } from "../llm/client";
 import { isLlmFeatureEnabled, tryLlmFeature } from "../llm/feature-gate";
 import { assessMemoryKnowledgePromotionCandidate, deriveKnowledgeRef } from "./distill-promotion-policy";
+import { akmSearch } from "./search";
 /**
- * Build the `distill_invoked` metadata object. All optional fields are
- * included only when they carry a meaningful value — `undefined` fields are
- * omitted.
+ * Asset-ref types that `akm distill` structurally refuses as inputs.
+ *
+ * Distill *produces* lessons from non-lesson sources (memory, skill, knowledge,
+ * etc.). Calling distill on an existing `lesson:*` ref would derive
+ * `lesson:lesson-<name>-lesson-lesson` (double `-lesson` suffix) — the
+ * recursive-ref defect observed across 323 archived rejected proposals.
+ *
+ * The runtime gate inside {@link akmDistill} still refuses these inputs
+ * defensively (returning an `outcome: "skipped"` envelope with `skipReason:
+ * "recursive_lesson_input"`). This exported set is the planner-side companion:
+ * callers that schedule distill attempts (e.g. `akm improve`'s distill queue)
+ * import it so refs of these types never enter the queue in the first place.
+ *
+ * Source of truth: this set drives the gate in `akmDistill` and is consumed
+ * directly by the improve planner. Adding a new structurally-refused input
+ * type means updating this constant — the planner picks the change up for
+ * free.
+ */
+export const DISTILL_REFUSED_INPUT_TYPES = new Set(["lesson"]);
+/**
+ * Returns true when `type` is structurally refused as an input by
+ * {@link akmDistill}. See {@link DISTILL_REFUSED_INPUT_TYPES}.
  */
-function buildDistillEventMetadata(outcome, lessonRef, extras = {}) {
-    const meta = { outcome, lessonRef };
-    if (extras.proposalKind !== undefined)
-        meta.proposalKind = extras.proposalKind;
-    if (extras.proposalId !== undefined)
-        meta.proposalId = extras.proposalId;
-    if (extras.proposalRef !== undefined)
-        meta.proposalRef = extras.proposalRef;
-    if (extras.score !== undefined)
-        meta.score = extras.score;
-    if (extras.reason !== undefined)
-        meta.reason = extras.reason;
-    if (extras.findingKinds !== undefined)
-        meta.findingKinds = extras.findingKinds;
-    if (extras.filteredFeedbackCount !== undefined)
-        meta.filteredFeedbackCount = extras.filteredFeedbackCount;
-    if (extras.sourceRun !== undefined)
-        meta.sourceRun = extras.sourceRun;
-    return meta;
+export function isDistillRefusedInputType(type) {
+    return DISTILL_REFUSED_INPUT_TYPES.has(type);
 }
 // ── Lesson-ref derivation ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
 /** Derive the proposed lesson ref from the input ref. See module docblock. */
@@ -103,6 +112,14 @@ export function deriveLessonRef(inputRef) {
         .replace(/^-|-$/g, "");
     return `lesson:${safe}-lesson`;
 }
+// ── Content quality validators ──────────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// The actual implementations now live in `core/proposal-quality-validators.ts`
+// so the same checks run inside `runProposalValidators` on `proposal accept`.
+// We re-export the public-facing helpers here so existing imports
+// (`from "../src/commands/distill"`) continue to resolve.
+import { detectDoubleFrontmatter, isValidDescription, isValidWhenToUse } from "../core/proposal-quality-validators";
+export { detectDoubleFrontmatter, isValidDescription, isValidWhenToUse };
 // ── Prompt assembly ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 const LESSON_SYSTEM_PROMPT = [
     "You are the akm `distill` distiller.",
@@ -110,40 +127,232 @@ const LESSON_SYSTEM_PROMPT = [
     "concise *lesson* an agent should remember next time it works on this",
     "asset's domain.",
     "",
-    "Output MUST be a complete markdown file with YAML frontmatter:",
-    "  ---",
-    "  description: <one-line summary of what the lesson teaches>",
-    "  when_to_use: <one-line trigger that should make a caller apply it>",
-    "  ---",
+    "YOUR RESPONSE MUST START EXACTLY WITH `---` ON THE VERY FIRST LINE.",
+    "DO NOT output any prose, explanation, or code fences before or after.",
     "",
-    "  <lesson body, plain markdown, 1–3 short paragraphs>",
+    "Required output format — copy this structure exactly:",
+    "---",
+    "description: <one complete sentence (ending with `.`) summarising what the lesson teaches>",
+    "when_to_use: <one complete sentence describing the concrete trigger condition>",
+    "---",
     "",
-    "Both `description` and `when_to_use` MUST be non-empty single-line strings.",
-    "Output ONLY the lesson file contents — no prose, no fences, no preamble.",
+    "<lesson body — plain markdown, 1–3 short paragraphs of practical guidance>",
+    "",
+    "## description field (MANDATORY)",
+    "- A single complete sentence in present tense, 80-200 chars, NO markdown.",
+    "- Self-contained: a reviewer must understand the lesson from this field alone.",
+    '- DO NOT start with "When ", "If ", or a connector word — that belongs in when_to_use.',
+    '- DO NOT copy a section heading ("Key takeaways", "For example", "Key pitfalls").',
+    "- DO NOT begin with a numbered list marker, code fence, or markdown heading.",
+    "",
+    'GOOD: "Always validate ref existence before promoting a memory to knowledge; missing refs surface as silent 404s during accept."',
+    'BAD:  "Key pitfalls"',
+    'BAD:  "When working with the akm CLI"',
+    'BAD:  "For example, you might..."',
+    'BAD:  "1. Check the file"',
+    "",
+    "RULES:",
+    "- `when_to_use` MUST be a complete sentence describing a concrete trigger. Never write `When working with <asset-name>` — that is circular and useless.",
+    "- `description` and `when_to_use` MUST differ from each other.",
+    "- The lesson body MUST be non-empty markdown prose. Do NOT restate `description:` or `when_to_use:` inside the body (no `**description:** ...` or `**when_to_use:** ...` lines — the frontmatter is the only place those keys belong).",
+    "- Do NOT emit a second `---` fence after the opening frontmatter — there are exactly two `---` lines in the output, both belonging to the single frontmatter block at the top.",
+    "- Do NOT reproduce the source asset verbatim — distil what a caller needs to know.",
+    "- Output ONLY the lesson file. No preamble, no code fences, no trailing prose.",
 ].join("\n");
 const KNOWLEDGE_SYSTEM_PROMPT = [
     "You are the akm `distill` distiller.",
     "Given an asset and recent feedback events about it, produce a concise",
     "*knowledge* markdown document capturing the durable, reusable facts.",
     "Prefer stable guidance over narrative recap.",
-    "If you include YAML frontmatter, keep it compatible with normal knowledge",
-    "assets (for example `description`, `tags`, `sources`, `observed_at`).",
-    "Include a meaningful markdown body.",
-    "Output ONLY the knowledge file contents — no prose, no fences, no preamble.",
+    "",
+    "YOUR RESPONSE MUST START EXACTLY WITH `---` ON THE VERY FIRST LINE.",
+    "DO NOT output any prose, explanation, or code fences before or after.",
+    "",
+    "Required output format:",
+    "---",
+    "description: <one-line summary of the knowledge asset>",
+    "tags: [<tag1>, <tag2>]",
+    "---",
+    "",
+    "# <Title>",
+    "",
+    "<body — structured markdown, durable facts only>",
+    "",
+    "RULES:",
+    "- `description` MUST be a non-empty single-line string.",
+    "- Include a meaningful markdown body with a `# Title` heading.",
+    "- Output ONLY the knowledge file. No preamble, no code fences, no trailing prose.",
 ].join("\n");
+// ── Structured-output schemas (responseSchema lift) ─────────────────────────
+//
+// PR 1 of the asset-writers decision (see knowledge:projects/akm/
+// asset-writers-investigation/00-synthesis): on providers that honour
+// `response_format: json_schema`, ask the LLM for a typed JSON object and
+// re-assemble the markdown locally. The previous "emit raw markdown with
+// embedded frontmatter" path remains as a fallback for providers that ignore
+// the schema (and for the `chat` test seam, which is wired to return strings
+// today). Shape-level rejection codes — MALFORMED_FRONTMATTER_BLOCK,
+// FRONTMATTER_NOT_OBJECT, INVALID_YAML, UNBALANCED_CODE_FENCE — become
+// unreachable on the structured path. Content-quality validators
+// (isValidDescription / isValidWhenToUse) keep firing post-assembly because
+// the LLM still controls the string contents of typed fields.
+/**
+ * JSON Schema for structured lesson distillation. Mirrors the LESSON_SYSTEM_PROMPT
+ * frontmatter contract. Required: description, when_to_use, body. Optional:
+ * tags (string array) so providers that volunteer categorisation hints survive
+ * the round-trip without being rejected as additionalProperties.
+ */
+export const DISTILL_LESSON_JSON_SCHEMA = {
+    type: "object",
+    required: ["description", "when_to_use", "body"],
+    additionalProperties: false,
+    properties: {
+        description: {
+            type: "string",
+            minLength: 10,
+            description: "Single complete sentence (80-200 chars) summarising what the lesson teaches. No markdown, no leading 'When'/'If'.",
+        },
+        when_to_use: {
+            type: "string",
+            minLength: 10,
+            description: "Single complete sentence describing the concrete trigger condition for the lesson.",
+        },
+        body: {
+            type: "string",
+            minLength: 1,
+            description: "Lesson body — plain markdown, 1-3 short paragraphs of practical guidance.",
+        },
+        tags: {
+            type: "array",
+            items: { type: "string" },
+            description: "Optional tag list. Empty array is allowed; the post-processor drops it if empty.",
+        },
+    },
+};
+/**
+ * JSON Schema for structured knowledge distillation. Mirrors the
+ * KNOWLEDGE_SYSTEM_PROMPT contract. Required: description, body. Optional:
+ * tags, sources.
+ */
+export const DISTILL_KNOWLEDGE_JSON_SCHEMA = {
+    type: "object",
+    required: ["description", "body"],
+    additionalProperties: false,
+    properties: {
+        description: {
+            type: "string",
+            minLength: 1,
+            description: "One-line summary of the knowledge asset.",
+        },
+        body: {
+            type: "string",
+            minLength: 1,
+            description: "Knowledge body — structured markdown with a `# Title` heading and durable facts only.",
+        },
+        tags: {
+            type: "array",
+            items: { type: "string" },
+            description: "Optional tag list. Empty array is allowed; the post-processor drops it if empty.",
+        },
+        sources: {
+            type: "array",
+            items: { type: "string" },
+            description: "Optional list of source refs the knowledge was distilled from.",
+        },
+    },
+};
+/**
+ * Assemble a markdown asset from a structured-output payload. Returns `null`
+ * when the payload is missing required fields — the caller then falls through
+ * to the prompt-contract markdown path. We deliberately do NOT validate
+ * content quality here (isValidDescription / isValidWhenToUse run downstream
+ * on the assembled content); this helper only catches shape-level emptiness
+ * that the schema may not have rejected (e.g. a provider that ignored
+ * `minLength` but still returned the field).
+ */
+export function assembleStructuredDistillMarkdown(payload, kind) {
+    if (payload === null || typeof payload !== "object")
+        return null;
+    const description = typeof payload.description === "string" ? payload.description.trim() : "";
+    const body = typeof payload.body === "string" ? payload.body.trim() : "";
+    if (description.length === 0 || body.length === 0)
+        return null;
+    const fm = { description };
+    if (kind === "lesson") {
+        const whenToUse = typeof payload.when_to_use === "string" ? payload.when_to_use.trim() : "";
+        if (whenToUse.length === 0)
+            return null;
+        fm.when_to_use = whenToUse;
+    }
+    if (Array.isArray(payload.tags)) {
+        const tags = payload.tags.filter((t) => typeof t === "string" && t.trim().length > 0);
+        if (tags.length > 0)
+            fm.tags = tags;
+    }
+    if (kind === "knowledge" && Array.isArray(payload.sources)) {
+        const sources = payload.sources.filter((s) => typeof s === "string" && s.trim().length > 0);
+        if (sources.length > 0)
+            fm.sources = sources;
+    }
+    const fmLines = Object.entries(fm)
+        .map(([k, v]) => {
+        if (Array.isArray(v))
+            return `${k}: [${v.map((s) => JSON.stringify(s)).join(", ")}]`;
+        return `${k}: ${JSON.stringify(v)}`;
+    })
+        .join("\n");
+    return assembleAssetFromString(fmLines, body);
+}
 function validateKnowledgeContent(content, inputRef) {
+    const findings = [];
     const parsed = parseFrontmatter(content);
-    if (parsed.content.trim().length > 0)
-        return [];
-    return [
-        {
+    if (parsed.content.trim().length === 0) {
+        findings.push({
             kind: "missing-body",
             field: "body",
             message: `Distilled knowledge for ${inputRef} must include a non-empty markdown body.`,
-        },
-    ];
+        });
+    }
+    // Knowledge proposals don't strictly require a description, but if one is
+    // present it must be a real summary — not a placeholder like `---` or a
+    // truncated heading. Without this check, distill can land knowledge assets
+    // with `description: ---` (observed in the wild when the LLM has nothing
+    // meaningful to say about a session-checkpoint memory).
+    const fm = (parsed.data ?? {});
+    if (fm.description !== undefined) {
+        // Knowledge can legitimately mention the topic name in its description, so
+        // suppress the ref-restatement heuristic that's tuned for lesson assets.
+        const descCheck = isValidDescription(fm.description, inputRef, { skipRefTailCheck: true });
+        if (!descCheck.ok) {
+            findings.push({
+                kind: "invalid-description",
+                field: "description",
+                message: `Distilled knowledge for ${inputRef} has an invalid description: ${descCheck.reason}.`,
+            });
+        }
+    }
+    // Double-frontmatter pollution shows up in knowledge too — the LLM sometimes
+    // re-emits the source asset's frontmatter inside its own response, leaving
+    // two `---`-delimited blocks back-to-back.
+    const dfm = detectDoubleFrontmatter(content);
+    if (dfm) {
+        findings.push({
+            kind: dfm.kind,
+            field: "body",
+            message: `Distilled knowledge for ${inputRef}: ${dfm.message}`,
+        });
+    }
+    return findings;
 }
-/** Pure: build the user-prompt body. Exported for tests. */
+/**
+ * Pure: build the user-prompt body. Exported for tests.
+ *
+ * D-3 (#371): restructures the feedback section from raw JSON event lines into
+ * a Reflexion-style verbal contrast (`## What worked` / `## What failed`).
+ * The verbal format allows LLMs to use feedback as gradient signal rather than
+ * just metadata — capturing the +8% AlfWorld lift from arXiv:2303.11366 and
+ * the contrast-based rule-learning gain from ExpeL arXiv:2308.10144.
+ */
 export function buildDistillPrompt(input) {
     const lines = [];
     lines.push(`Asset ref: ${input.inputRef}`);
@@ -159,23 +368,128 @@ export function buildDistillPrompt(input) {
         lines.push("(asset is not currently indexed; distil from feedback signal alone)");
     }
     lines.push("");
-    lines.push("Recent feedback events (most recent last):");
     if (input.feedback.length === 0) {
-        lines.push("(no feedback events recorded — distil from the asset itself)");
+        lines.push("Recent feedback: (no feedback events recorded — distil from the asset itself)");
     }
     else {
+        // D-3 (#371): verbal contrast format for Reflexion verbal-gradient lift.
+        // Partition events into positive ("what worked") and negative ("what failed").
+        const positive = [];
+        const negative = [];
+        const neutral = [];
         for (const event of input.feedback) {
-            const meta = event.metadata ? ` ${JSON.stringify(event.metadata)}` : "";
-            lines.push(`- ${event.ts} ${event.eventType}${meta}`);
+            const meta = (event.metadata ?? {});
+            const signal = typeof meta.signal === "string" ? meta.signal : undefined;
+            const reason = typeof meta.reason === "string" ? meta.reason : "";
+            const note = typeof meta.note === "string" ? meta.note : "";
+            const detail = reason || note;
+            const line = detail ? `- ${event.ts}: ${detail}` : `- ${event.ts}: feedback received`;
+            if (signal === "positive")
+                positive.push(line);
+            else if (signal === "negative")
+                negative.push(line);
+            else
+                neutral.push(`- ${event.ts} ${event.eventType}${event.metadata ? ` ${JSON.stringify(event.metadata)}` : ""}`);
+        }
+        if (positive.length > 0 || negative.length > 0) {
+            if (positive.length > 0) {
+                lines.push("## What worked");
+                for (const l of positive)
+                    lines.push(l);
+                lines.push("");
+            }
+            if (negative.length > 0) {
+                lines.push("## What failed");
+                for (const l of negative)
+                    lines.push(l);
+                lines.push("");
+            }
+            if (neutral.length > 0) {
+                lines.push("## Other signals");
+                for (const l of neutral)
+                    lines.push(l);
+                lines.push("");
+            }
+        }
+        else {
+            // No positive/negative signals — fall back to the pre-D3 flat format for
+            // non-feedback event types (e.g. reflect_invoked, distill_invoked).
+            lines.push("Recent feedback events (most recent last):");
+            for (const event of input.feedback) {
+                const meta = event.metadata ? ` ${JSON.stringify(event.metadata)}` : "";
+                lines.push(`- ${event.ts} ${event.eventType}${meta}`);
+            }
+            lines.push("");
         }
     }
-    lines.push("");
-    lines.push(`Produce the ${input.proposalKind === "knowledge" ? "knowledge" : "lesson"} markdown file now.`);
+    if (input.rejectedProposals && input.rejectedProposals.length > 0) {
+        lines.push("");
+        lines.push("Previously rejected proposals for this ref (Reflexion context):");
+        lines.push("The following proposals were already reviewed and rejected. " +
+            "Your new proposal MUST differ meaningfully in approach, framing, or evidence.");
+        for (const rp of input.rejectedProposals) {
+            lines.push(`- Rejection reason: ${rp.reason}`);
+            if (rp.contentPreview) {
+                lines.push(`  Content preview: ${rp.contentPreview.slice(0, 200).replace(/\n/g, " ")}`);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    if (input.proposalKind === "knowledge") {
+        lines.push("Produce the knowledge markdown file now. Start your response with `---` on the first line, followed by a `description:` field whose value is a 1-sentence summary (20–400 chars). Never use placeholder values like `---`, `tbd`, `n/a`, or a single dash. If the source has nothing meaningful to summarize, do NOT produce a proposal — return an empty response instead. The frontmatter block ends with a second `---` line; do not emit any additional `---` fences in the body.");
+    }
+    else {
+        lines.push("Produce the lesson markdown file now. Start your response with `---` on the first line, followed by `description:` and `when_to_use:` fields. Both must be real one-sentence summaries (20–400 chars) — never placeholder values like `---`, `tbd`, or `n/a`. The frontmatter block ends with a second `---` line; do not emit any additional `---` fences in the body.");
+    }
     return lines.join("\n");
 }
+// ── D-4 / #390: Top-3 similar lessons retrieval ──────────────────────────────
+/**
+ * Default implementation: use akmSearch to find top-N similar lesson assets.
+ * Returns empty array when search fails or returns no results.
+ * Requires embedding configured for semantic similarity; degrades gracefully.
+ */
+async function fetchTopSimilarLessons(query, n, _stashDir) {
+    try {
+        const result = await akmSearch({
+            query,
+            type: "lesson",
+            limit: n,
+            skipLogging: true,
+            eventSource: "improve",
+        });
+        const hits = result?.hits ?? [];
+        return hits
+            .filter((h) => "path" in h && typeof h.path === "string")
+            .slice(0, n)
+            .map((h) => {
+            let content = "";
+            try {
+                if (h.path && fs.existsSync(h.path)) {
+                    content = fs.readFileSync(h.path, "utf8");
+                }
+            }
+            catch {
+                /* best-effort */
+            }
+            return { ref: h.ref, content };
+        });
+    }
+    catch {
+        return [];
+    }
+}
 // ── LLM-as-judge quality gate (P2-B) ────────────────────────────────────────
-function buildJudgePrompt(lessonContent, sourceContent) {
-    return [
+/**
+ * D-4 / #390: Build the LLM-as-judge prompt.
+ *
+ * When similarLessons are provided (top-3 by embedding similarity), they are
+ * included in the context so the judge can lower the score for near-duplicates.
+ * Voyager arXiv:2305.16291 — skill library admission requires similarity check
+ * against the existing library. A-MEM arXiv:2502.12110 — new notes are checked
+ * against existing notes before linking.
+ */
+function buildJudgePrompt(lessonContent, sourceContent, similarLessons) {
+    const lines = [
         "You are evaluating a proposed lesson asset for an akm knowledge base.",
         "",
         "Score this lesson on each criterion from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent):",
@@ -187,26 +501,51 @@ function buildJudgePrompt(lessonContent, sourceContent) {
         "```",
         sourceContent.slice(0, 2000),
         "```",
-        "",
-        "Proposed lesson content:",
-        "```",
-        lessonContent.slice(0, 1000),
-        "```",
-        "",
-        'Return ONLY valid JSON, no prose: {"score": <average score 1-5 as float>, "reason": "<one sentence>"}',
-    ].join("\n");
+    ];
+    if (similarLessons && similarLessons.length > 0) {
+        lines.push("");
+        lines.push("Existing similar lessons (top-3 by similarity). Rate lower if the proposed lesson is substantially similar to any of these:");
+        for (const sl of similarLessons) {
+            lines.push(`\nExisting lesson ref: ${sl.ref}`);
+            lines.push("```");
+            lines.push(sl.content.slice(0, 500));
+            lines.push("```");
+        }
+    }
+    lines.push("");
+    lines.push("Proposed lesson content:");
+    lines.push("```");
+    lines.push(lessonContent.slice(0, 1000));
+    lines.push("```");
+    lines.push("");
+    lines.push('Return ONLY valid JSON, no prose: {"score": <average score 1-5 as float>, "reason": "<one sentence>"}');
+    return lines.join("\n");
 }
-async function runLessonQualityJudge(config, lessonContent, sourceContent, chat) {
-    if (!config.llm) {
+/**
+ * Run the LLM-as-judge quality gate on a proposal's content.
+ *
+ * Exported so reflect.ts can apply the same gate to reflect proposals (R-5 / #374).
+ * Gated by the flag name `lesson_quality_gate` (or its alias
+ * `proposal_quality_gate`) via {@link isLlmFeatureEnabled} — which reads
+ * `profiles.improve.default.processes.distill.qualityGate.enabled` (and the
+ * corresponding `.reflect.qualityGate.enabled` for proposals).
+ *
+ * Fail-open: returns `pass: true` on timeout, parse failure, or missing LLM.
+ */
+export async function runLessonQualityJudge(config, lessonContent, sourceContent, chat, 
+/** D-4 / #390: top-3 similar existing lessons for dedup check. */
+similarLessons) {
+    const llmConfig = getDefaultLlmConfig(config);
+    if (!llmConfig) {
         return { pass: true, score: -1, reason: "no LLM configured — passing through" };
     }
-    const judgeLlmConfig = config.llm.judgeModel ? { ...config.llm, model: config.llm.judgeModel } : config.llm;
+    const judgeLlmConfig = llmConfig.judgeModel ? { ...llmConfig, model: llmConfig.judgeModel } : llmConfig;
     const JUDGE_TIMEOUT_MS = 8_000;
     try {
         const raw = await Promise.race([
             chat(judgeLlmConfig, [
                 { role: "system", content: "Return only valid JSON. No prose." },
-                { role: "user", content: buildJudgePrompt(lessonContent, sourceContent) },
+                { role: "user", content: buildJudgePrompt(lessonContent, sourceContent, similarLessons) },
             ]),
             new Promise((_, reject) => setTimeout(() => reject(new Error("judge timeout")), JUDGE_TIMEOUT_MS)),
         ]);
@@ -214,7 +553,20 @@ async function runLessonQualityJudge(config, lessonContent, sourceContent, chat)
         if (!parsed || typeof parsed.score !== "number") {
             return { pass: true, score: -1, reason: "judge parse failed — passing through" };
         }
-        return { pass: parsed.score >= 3, score: parsed.score, reason: parsed.reason ?? "" };
+        // D-5 / #388: Three-band system (MT-Bench arXiv:2306.05685 — ~±0.5 judge variance).
+        //   >= 3.5: auto-queue as pending (pass: true)
+        //   2.5–3.5: review-needed band — uncertain, escalate to human (reviewNeeded: true)
+        //   < 2.5: auto-reject (pass: false)
+        const score = parsed.score;
+        const reason = parsed.reason ?? "";
+        if (score >= 3.5) {
+            return { pass: true, score, reason };
+        }
+        if (score >= 2.5) {
+            // Uncertainty band: treat as failed for auto-queuing but flag for review.
+            return { pass: false, score, reason, reviewNeeded: true };
+        }
+        return { pass: false, score, reason };
     }
     catch {
         return { pass: true, score: -1, reason: "judge failed — passing through" };
@@ -234,15 +586,17 @@ async function runLessonQualityJudge(config, lessonContent, sourceContent, chat)
  * @param extraMeta - Optional additional metadata for the event.
  */
 function writeQualityRejection(stash, inputRef, lessonRef, content, score, reason, extraMeta = {}) {
+    // D-5 / #388: reviewNeeded flag selects "review_needed" vs "quality_rejected" outcome.
+    const outcome = extraMeta.reviewNeeded ? "review_needed" : "quality_rejected";
     const rejectDir = path.join(stash, ".akm", "distill-rejected");
     fs.mkdirSync(rejectDir, { recursive: true });
     const ts = timestampForFilename();
-    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(rejectDir, `${ts}-${lessonRef}.md`), `---\nscore: ${score}\nreason: ${reason}\n---\n\n${content}`, "utf8");
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(rejectDir, `${ts}-${lessonRef}.md`), `---\nscore: ${score}\nreason: ${reason}\noutcome: ${outcome}\n---\n\n${content}`, "utf8");
     appendEvent({
         eventType: "distill_invoked",
         ref: inputRef,
         metadata: {
-            outcome: "quality_rejected",
+            outcome,
             lessonRef,
             score,
             reason,
@@ -252,7 +606,7 @@ function writeQualityRejection(stash, inputRef, lessonRef, content, score, reaso
     return {
         schemaVersion: 1,
         ok: true,
-        outcome: "quality_rejected",
+        outcome,
         inputRef,
         lessonRef,
         score,
@@ -272,13 +626,47 @@ export async function akmDistill(options) {
         throw new UsageError("Asset ref is required. Usage: akm distill <ref>", "MISSING_REQUIRED_ARGUMENT");
     }
     // Validate the ref shape up front so a typo never reaches the LLM.
-    parseAssetRef(inputRef);
+    const parsedInputRef = parseAssetRef(inputRef);
     const targetKind = options.proposalKind ?? "lesson";
+    // Recursive-distillation guard. Distill produces *lessons* from non-lesson
+    // sources (memory, skill, knowledge, etc.). Calling distill on an existing
+    // lesson would derive `lesson:lesson-<name>-lesson-lesson` (double `-lesson`
+    // suffix) and route a "lesson of a lesson" through the proposal queue —
+    // observed in 323 reviewed archived proposals as the recursive-ref defect.
+    // Refuse the input here so the improve loop (or other callers) get a clean
+    // skipped outcome instead of producing nonsense refs.
+    //
+    // The refused-type set is exported as {@link DISTILL_REFUSED_INPUT_TYPES} so
+    // the improve planner can skip these refs before queuing distill attempts;
+    // this runtime check stays as a defensive backstop for direct callers.
+    if (isDistillRefusedInputType(parsedInputRef.type)) {
+        const skippedRef = `lesson:${parsedInputRef.name}`;
+        appendEvent({
+            eventType: "distill_invoked",
+            ref: inputRef,
+            metadata: {
+                outcome: "skipped",
+                lessonRef: skippedRef,
+                message: "distill refuses lesson inputs — lessons are the distilled form, not a source",
+                skipReason: "recursive_lesson_input",
+            },
+        });
+        return {
+            schemaVersion: 1,
+            ok: true,
+            outcome: "skipped",
+            inputRef,
+            lessonRef: skippedRef,
+            message: "Distill refuses lesson inputs — lessons are the distilled form, not a source.",
+        };
+    }
     const config = options.config ?? loadConfig();
     const stash = options.stashDir ?? resolveStashDir();
     const chat = options.chat ?? chatCompletion;
     const lookup = options.lookupFn ?? defaultLookup;
     const readEventsImpl = options.readEventsFn ?? readEvents;
+    // D-4 / #390: similar-lessons retrieval seam (test-injectable).
+    const fetchSimilarLessonsFn = options.fetchSimilarLessonsFn ?? ((query, n) => fetchTopSimilarLessons(query, n, options.stashDir));
     // Best-effort load: when the asset is not yet indexed we still proceed —
     // the LLM is asked to distil from "available signal" (feedback alone).
     let assetContent = null;
@@ -324,33 +712,161 @@ export async function akmDistill(options) {
             })),
         });
     if (promotion?.promote && promotion.content && (targetKind === "knowledge" || targetKind === "auto")) {
+        // D-1 / #369: When the destination knowledge file already exists, route
+        // through the LLM for contradiction resolution instead of silently
+        // overwriting. Follows mem0 ADD/UPDATE/DELETE/NOOP pattern (arXiv:2504.19413 §3.2)
+        // and A-MEM dynamic linking (arXiv:2502.12110).
+        let resolvedPromotionContent = promotion.content;
+        const existingKnowledgePath = await lookup(promotion.knowledgeRef);
+        const existingKnowledgeContent = existingKnowledgePath && fs.existsSync(existingKnowledgePath)
+            ? (() => {
+                try {
+                    return fs.readFileSync(existingKnowledgePath, "utf8");
+                }
+                catch {
+                    return null;
+                }
+            })()
+            : null;
+        if (existingKnowledgeContent && config && getDefaultLlmConfig(config)) {
+            // Existing content found: call LLM for contradiction-resolution merge.
+            const mergePrompt = [
+                "You are merging two versions of a knowledge document.",
+                "Existing content is already committed; new content comes from a memory distillation run.",
+                "Choose one of: ADD (combine both), UPDATE (replace existing with new), NOOP (keep existing unchanged).",
+                'Return ONLY valid JSON: {"action": "ADD"|"UPDATE"|"NOOP", "content": "<merged markdown if ADD/UPDATE, empty string if NOOP>"}',
+                "",
+                "## Existing knowledge content",
+                "```",
+                existingKnowledgeContent.slice(0, 3000),
+                "```",
+                "",
+                "## New content from distillation",
+                "```",
+                promotion.content.slice(0, 3000),
+                "```",
+            ].join("\n");
+            try {
+                const mergeLlm = getDefaultLlmConfig(config);
+                if (!mergeLlm) {
+                    throw new ConfigError("LLM is not configured for distillation merge.", "LLM_NOT_CONFIGURED");
+                }
+                const mergeResponse = await chat(mergeLlm, [
+                    { role: "system", content: "Return only valid JSON. No prose." },
+                    { role: "user", content: mergePrompt },
+                ]);
+                const mergeResult = parseEmbeddedJsonResponse(mergeResponse);
+                if (mergeResult?.action === "NOOP") {
+                    // Existing content is authoritative — no update needed.
+                    appendEvent({
+                        eventType: "distill_invoked",
+                        ref: inputRef,
+                        metadata: {
+                            outcome: "skipped",
+                            lessonRef: promotion.knowledgeRef,
+                            message: "D-1: LLM resolved destination conflict as NOOP — existing content kept",
+                        },
+                    });
+                    return {
+                        schemaVersion: 1,
+                        ok: true,
+                        outcome: "skipped",
+                        inputRef,
+                        lessonRef: promotion.knowledgeRef,
+                        message: "Existing knowledge content unchanged (contradiction resolution: NOOP)",
+                    };
+                }
+                if (mergeResult?.action && (mergeResult.action === "ADD" || mergeResult.action === "UPDATE")) {
+                    if (mergeResult.content?.trim()) {
+                        resolvedPromotionContent = mergeResult.content;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            catch {
+                // LLM merge failed — fall through with the original promotion content.
+                // The reviewer will see both versions in the proposal diff.
+            }
+        }
+        else if (existingKnowledgeContent && config && !getDefaultLlmConfig(config)) {
+            // No LLM configured: include existing content as context in the proposal
+            // so the reviewer can do the contradiction resolution manually.
+            resolvedPromotionContent = [
+                promotion.content,
+                "",
+                "---",
+                "<!-- D-1 / #369: Existing knowledge content is shown below for reviewer reference. -->",
+                "<!-- Review: decide whether to ADD (merge), UPDATE (replace), or NOOP (keep existing). -->",
+                "",
+                "## Existing content (for reviewer reference)",
+                "",
+                existingKnowledgeContent,
+            ].join("\n");
+        }
         // Apply quality gate to fast-path knowledge promotion (Risk 4 fix).
+        // D-5 / #388: Three-band system — review_needed band queues to proposal
+        // queue with review_needed outcome rather than auto-rejecting.
+        let knowledgeJudgeConfidence;
         if (isLlmFeatureEnabled(config, "lesson_quality_gate")) {
-            const judgeResult = await runLessonQualityJudge(config, promotion.content, assetContent ?? "", chat);
+            // D-4 / #390: retrieve top-3 similar lessons for dedup check in judge.
+            const similarLessons = await fetchSimilarLessonsFn(resolvedPromotionContent.slice(0, 500), 3);
+            const judgeResult = await runLessonQualityJudge(config, resolvedPromotionContent, assetContent ?? "", chat, similarLessons.length > 0 ? similarLessons : undefined);
             if (!judgeResult.pass) {
-                return writeQualityRejection(stash, inputRef, promotion.knowledgeRef, promotion.content, judgeResult.score, judgeResult.reason);
+                if (judgeResult.reviewNeeded) {
+                    // Uncertainty band (2.5–3.5): queue as review_needed instead of rejecting.
+                    return writeQualityRejection(stash, inputRef, promotion.knowledgeRef, resolvedPromotionContent, judgeResult.score, judgeResult.reason, { reviewNeeded: true });
+                }
+                return writeQualityRejection(stash, inputRef, promotion.knowledgeRef, resolvedPromotionContent, judgeResult.score, judgeResult.reason);
             }
+            // Normalize 1-5 judge score to [0, 1]. Score of -1 means pass-through
+            // (no LLM / timeout / parse failure) — leave confidence undefined so
+            // the auto-accept gate treats the proposal as unscored and skips it.
+            if (judgeResult.score > 0)
+                knowledgeJudgeConfidence = judgeResult.score / 5;
         }
-        const knowledgeParsed = parseFrontmatter(promotion.content);
-        const proposal = createProposal(stash, {
+        const knowledgeParsed = parseFrontmatter(resolvedPromotionContent);
+        const proposalResult = createProposal(stash, {
             ref: promotion.knowledgeRef,
             source: "distill",
             ...(options.sourceRun !== undefined ? { sourceRun: options.sourceRun } : {}),
             payload: {
-                content: promotion.content,
+                content: resolvedPromotionContent,
                 ...(Object.keys(knowledgeParsed.data).length > 0 ? { frontmatter: knowledgeParsed.data } : {}),
             },
+            ...(knowledgeJudgeConfidence !== undefined ? { confidence: knowledgeJudgeConfidence } : {}),
         }, options.ctx);
+        if (isProposalSkipped(proposalResult)) {
+            appendEvent({
+                eventType: "distill_invoked",
+                ref: inputRef,
+                metadata: {
+                    outcome: "skipped",
+                    lessonRef: promotion.knowledgeRef,
+                    message: proposalResult.message,
+                    skipReason: proposalResult.reason,
+                },
+            });
+            return {
+                schemaVersion: 1,
+                ok: true,
+                outcome: "skipped",
+                inputRef,
+                lessonRef: promotion.knowledgeRef,
+                message: proposalResult.message,
+            };
+        }
+        const proposal = proposalResult;
         appendEvent({
             eventType: "distill_invoked",
             ref: inputRef,
-            metadata: buildDistillEventMetadata("queued", promotion.knowledgeRef, {
+            metadata: {
+                outcome: "queued",
+                lessonRef: promotion.knowledgeRef,
                 proposalRef: promotion.knowledgeRef,
                 proposalKind: "knowledge",
                 proposalId: proposal.id,
                 ...(options.sourceRun !== undefined ? { sourceRun: options.sourceRun } : {}),
                 ...(exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount } : {}),
-            }),
+            },
         });
         return {
             schemaVersion: 1,
@@ -367,51 +883,244 @@ export async function akmDistill(options) {
     }
     const effectiveProposalKind = targetKind === "knowledge" ? "knowledge" : "lesson";
     const effectiveLessonRef = effectiveProposalKind === "knowledge" ? deriveKnowledgeRef(inputRef) : deriveLessonRef(inputRef);
-    const userPrompt = buildDistillPrompt({ inputRef, assetContent, feedback, proposalKind: effectiveProposalKind });
+    // Inject last 1–3 rejected proposals for this ref as Reflexion-style
+    // verbal-RL context so the LLM avoids regenerating refused proposals.
+    const MAX_REJECTED_PROPOSALS = 3;
+    const rejectedForRef = listProposals(stash, { ref: inputRef, status: "rejected", includeArchive: true })
+        .sort((a, b) => new Date(b.updatedAt ?? 0).getTime() - new Date(a.updatedAt ?? 0).getTime())
+        .slice(0, MAX_REJECTED_PROPOSALS)
+        .map((p) => ({
+        reason: p.review?.reason ?? "no reason given",
+        contentPreview: p.payload.content.slice(0, 500),
+    }));
+    const userPrompt = buildDistillPrompt({
+        inputRef,
+        assetContent,
+        feedback,
+        proposalKind: effectiveProposalKind,
+        ...(rejectedForRef.length > 0 ? { rejectedProposals: rejectedForRef } : {}),
+    });
     const messages = [
         { role: "system", content: effectiveProposalKind === "knowledge" ? KNOWLEDGE_SYSTEM_PROMPT : LESSON_SYSTEM_PROMPT },
         { role: "user", content: userPrompt },
     ];
-    // Single bounded LLM call. The wrapper handles the gate-check, 30 s
-    // timeout, and error fallback (returning `null`).
-    const raw = await tryLlmFeature("feedback_distillation", config, async () => {
-        if (!config.llm) {
+    // Single bounded LLM call. The wrapper handles the gate-check, 600s
+    // (10 min) default timeout, and error fallback (returning `null`).
+    //
+    // Capture the fallback reason so we can distinguish "config gate is off"
+    // (no LLM was called — operator action required) from "LLM call was made
+    // but returned no usable output" (transport/timeout/empty — observability).
+    // The previous conflated message ("disabled or the LLM call failed") gave
+    // operators no signal to act on; a 108-run audit found 100% of skipped
+    // outcomes were actually the config-gate-off branch.
+    //
+    // responseSchema lift (PR 1, asset-writers-investigation §5): on the
+    // production path (no test `chat` seam) we pass the lesson/knowledge JSON
+    // schema to `chatCompletion`. Providers with `supportsJsonSchema: true`
+    // return a typed JSON object the post-call code re-assembles into markdown,
+    // bypassing the four shape-level rejection codes the validator log catches.
+    // The test seam keeps its two-arg signature, so injected fakes still pin
+    // markdown responses verbatim and the existing assertion suite is unchanged.
+    const distillSchema = effectiveProposalKind === "knowledge" ? DISTILL_KNOWLEDGE_JSON_SCHEMA : DISTILL_LESSON_JSON_SCHEMA;
+    let fallbackReason;
+    const raw = await tryLlmFeature("distill", config, async () => {
+        const distillLlm = getDefaultLlmConfig(config);
+        if (!distillLlm) {
             // No LLM connection configured — treat as gate-disabled. Throwing
             // here lets `tryLlmFeature` route us through the "error" fallback,
             // which is the same graceful skipped path.
-            throw new ConfigError("No LLM connection configured. Set `llm.endpoint` and `llm.model` in the akm config.", "LLM_NOT_CONFIGURED");
+            throw new ConfigError("No LLM connection configured. Set `defaults.llm` and a profile under `profiles.llm`.", "LLM_NOT_CONFIGURED");
         }
-        return chat(config.llm, messages);
+        // Production path: pass the JSON schema so providers that honour
+        // `response_format: json_schema` enforce shape upstream. Providers that
+        // ignore the option fall through to the prompt-contract markdown path.
+        if (options.chat === undefined) {
+            return chatCompletion(distillLlm, messages, { responseSchema: distillSchema });
+        }
+        // Test seam: preserve the two-arg signature so existing fake `chat`
+        // functions (which return markdown strings) continue to work.
+        return chat(distillLlm, messages);
     }, null, {
         onFallback: (evt) => {
+            fallbackReason = evt.reason;
             // Log the fallback reason; the caller (raw === null path) handles
             // emitting the distill_invoked event so we don't double-emit here.
             warnVerbose(`[akm] LLM fallback for ${evt.feature}: ${evt.reason}`);
         },
     });
     if (raw === null || raw.trim() === "") {
+        // Distinguish "config gate disabled" from "LLM call failed". For the
+        // config-disabled branch, we ALSO suppress the `distill_invoked` event
+        // because no LLM work was actually invoked — emitting the event causes
+        // the planner to accumulate phantom invocations that drown out real
+        // signal.
+        if (fallbackReason === "disabled") {
+            return {
+                schemaVersion: 1,
+                ok: true,
+                outcome: "config_disabled",
+                inputRef,
+                lessonRef: effectiveLessonRef,
+                proposalRef: effectiveLessonRef,
+                proposalKind: effectiveProposalKind,
+                message: "distill is disabled in config; enable processes.distill.enabled to activate.",
+                ...(exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount, feedbackFullyFiltered } : {}),
+            };
+        }
+        // LLM was actually invoked but produced nothing usable (transport error,
+        // timeout, or empty/whitespace response). Emit the event so the failure
+        // is observable.
         appendEvent({
             eventType: "distill_invoked",
             ref: inputRef,
-            metadata: buildDistillEventMetadata("skipped", effectiveLessonRef, {
+            metadata: {
+                outcome: "llm_failed",
+                lessonRef: effectiveLessonRef,
                 proposalKind: effectiveProposalKind,
                 ...(exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount } : {}),
-            }),
+            },
         });
         return {
             schemaVersion: 1,
             ok: true,
-            outcome: "skipped",
+            outcome: "llm_failed",
             inputRef,
             lessonRef: effectiveLessonRef,
             proposalRef: effectiveLessonRef,
             proposalKind: effectiveProposalKind,
-            message: "feedback distillation is disabled or the LLM call failed; no proposal created.",
+            message: "LLM call returned no usable output (timeout, empty, or error).",
             ...(exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount, feedbackFullyFiltered } : {}),
         };
     }
-    // Strip any stray fence the LLM might have added around the markdown.
-    const content = stripMarkdownFences(raw);
+    // Structured-output path: when the provider honoured the JSON schema, `raw`
+    // is a JSON object string (not a markdown blob). Try to parse it and assemble
+    // the canonical `---\nfm\n---\n\nbody` form before falling through to the
+    // legacy markdown pipeline. Failure here (non-JSON response, missing
+    // required field, unexpected types) is non-fatal — we drop down to the
+    // markdown path which has its own auto-repair + lint pass.
+    let content;
+    const structuredCandidate = parseEmbeddedJsonResponse(raw);
+    const structuredAssembled = structuredCandidate && !Array.isArray(structuredCandidate)
+        ? assembleStructuredDistillMarkdown(structuredCandidate, effectiveProposalKind)
+        : null;
+    if (structuredAssembled !== null) {
+        content = structuredAssembled;
+    }
+    else {
+        // Strip any stray fence the LLM might have added around the markdown.
+        content = stripMarkdownFences(raw);
+    }
+    // Auto-repair missing frontmatter fields before hard-failing. Small models
+    // frequently produce a good lesson body but omit the YAML header entirely.
+    // Rather than discarding valid content, we extract description/when_to_use
+    // from the body and prepend the required frontmatter block.
+    //
+    // IMPORTANT: We do NOT synthesise placeholder strings here. If the body
+    // does not contain text that passes the post-LLM validators
+    // (`isValidDescription` / `isValidWhenToUse`), we leave the field missing
+    // and let the lesson lint reject the proposal as `validation_failed`.
+    // Emitting placeholders like `"Lesson distilled from <ref>"` or
+    // `"When working with <slug>"` is what produced the systematic broken
+    // proposals observed across 323 archived rejections.
+    if (effectiveProposalKind !== "knowledge") {
+        const parsed = parseFrontmatter(content);
+        const fm = (parsed.data ?? {});
+        const missingDesc = typeof fm.description !== "string" || !fm.description.trim();
+        const missingWtu = typeof fm.when_to_use !== "string" || !fm.when_to_use.trim();
+        if (missingDesc || missingWtu) {
+            const body = parsed.content.trim();
+            // Strip markdown formatting tokens from a line so extracted text is clean.
+            const stripMd = (l) => l
+                .replace(/\*\*([^*]+)\*\*/g, "$1")
+                .replace(/\*([^*]+)\*/g, "$1")
+                .replace(/`([^`]+)`/g, "$1")
+                .replace(/^[#*\->_]+\s*/, "")
+                .replace(/:\s*$/, "")
+                .trim();
+            // Skip lines that look like YAML field assignments (key: value) or frontmatter delimiters.
+            // These appear when the LLM leaks frontmatter content into the body, causing
+            // auto-repair to produce description: "description: Key Takeaways".
+            const isYamlLike = (l) => /^---/.test(l) || /^[a-z_]+:\s/i.test(l);
+            const bodyLines = body.split("\n").map(stripMd);
+            // Extract description: first body line that BOTH looks like prose AND
+            // passes isValidDescription. If nothing qualifies, leave the field
+            // missing — the lint pass will reject the proposal cleanly.
+            let descLine;
+            for (const l of bodyLines) {
+                if (isYamlLike(l))
+                    continue;
+                if (l.length <= 10 || l.length >= 400)
+                    continue;
+                if (isValidDescription(l, inputRef).ok) {
+                    descLine = l;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+            // Extract when_to_use: a line starting with "When" / "Use when" / "Apply when"
+            // that ALSO passes isValidWhenToUse (rejects circular fallbacks).
+            let wtuLine;
+            for (const l of bodyLines) {
+                if (!/^(when |use when|apply when)/i.test(l))
+                    continue;
+                if (l.length >= 400)
+                    continue;
+                if (isValidWhenToUse(l, inputRef).ok) {
+                    wtuLine = l;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+            const repairedFm = {
+                ...fm,
+                ...(missingDesc && descLine ? { description: descLine } : {}),
+                ...(missingWtu && wtuLine ? { when_to_use: wtuLine } : {}),
+            };
+            const fmLines = Object.entries(repairedFm)
+                .map(([k, v]) => `${k}: ${JSON.stringify(v)}`)
+                .join("\n");
+            // Only rewrite content if we actually have at least one field to write.
+            // Otherwise leave the original content for the lint pass to reject.
+            if (Object.keys(repairedFm).length > 0) {
+                content = assembleAssetFromString(fmLines, body);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    // Description ↔ when_to_use auto-swap normalization (recover ~93% of
+    // qwen-9b's `^when\b/i` rejections at zero LLM cost). When the LLM emits
+    // a conditional-framed description ("When X happens, do Y") and the
+    // when_to_use field looks like a declarative description (or is empty),
+    // the two fields are mis-fielded — exactly what `isValidDescription`'s
+    // error message says ("that pattern belongs in when_to_use"). We swap
+    // them and revalidate; the swap is committed only if BOTH fields pass
+    // their respective validators afterwards. If revalidation still fails,
+    // we fall through to the existing reject path.
+    let descriptionSwapped = 0;
+    if (effectiveProposalKind !== "knowledge") {
+        const parsedSwap = parseFrontmatter(content);
+        const fmSwap = (parsedSwap.data ?? {});
+        const descRaw = typeof fmSwap.description === "string" ? fmSwap.description.trim() : "";
+        const wtuRaw = typeof fmSwap.when_to_use === "string" ? fmSwap.when_to_use.trim() : "";
+        const descStartsConditional = /^(when|if)\b/i.test(descRaw);
+        const wtuStartsConditional = /^(when|if)\b/i.test(wtuRaw);
+        if (descStartsConditional && !wtuStartsConditional && wtuRaw.length > 0) {
+            // Try the swap and revalidate. The when_to_use validator requires the
+            // value not match `/^when working with\b/i` (the circular fallback) —
+            // a real description rarely does, so this usually passes.
+            const swappedDescCheck = isValidDescription(wtuRaw, inputRef);
+            const swappedWtuCheck = isValidWhenToUse(descRaw, inputRef);
+            if (swappedDescCheck.ok && swappedWtuCheck.ok) {
+                const swappedFm = {
+                    ...fmSwap,
+                    description: wtuRaw,
+                    when_to_use: descRaw,
+                };
+                const swappedFmLines = Object.entries(swappedFm)
+                    .map(([k, v]) => `${k}: ${JSON.stringify(v)}`)
+                    .join("\n");
+                content = assembleAssetFromString(swappedFmLines, parsedSwap.content);
+                descriptionSwapped = 1;
+            }
+        }
+    }
     // Parse + lint the lesson before creating the proposal. The lint is the
     // canonical gate for required frontmatter (v1 spec §13). On failure we
     // surface a structured error and exit non-zero — but still emit
@@ -419,15 +1128,61 @@ export async function akmDistill(options) {
     const findings = effectiveProposalKind === "knowledge"
         ? validateKnowledgeContent(content, inputRef)
         : lintLessonContent(content, `distill:${inputRef}`).findings;
+    // Additional quality validators run only on lessons. lesson-lint checks
+    // "field is present and non-empty"; these reject the systematic failure
+    // modes observed across 323 archived rejected proposals:
+    //   - description is a body fragment, section heading, or placeholder
+    //   - when_to_use is the circular "When working with <ref>" fallback
+    //   - description == when_to_use (LLM duplicated a single sentence)
+    //   - body contains a second pseudo-frontmatter block
+    if (effectiveProposalKind !== "knowledge" && findings.length === 0) {
+        const parsedQC = parseFrontmatter(content);
+        const fmQC = (parsedQC.data ?? {});
+        const descCheck = isValidDescription(fmQC.description, inputRef);
+        if (!descCheck.ok) {
+            findings.push({
+                kind: "invalid-description",
+                field: "description",
+                message: `Distilled lesson for ${inputRef} has an invalid description: ${descCheck.reason}.`,
+            });
+        }
+        const wtuCheck = isValidWhenToUse(fmQC.when_to_use, inputRef);
+        if (!wtuCheck.ok) {
+            findings.push({
+                kind: "invalid-when_to_use",
+                field: "when_to_use",
+                message: `Distilled lesson for ${inputRef} has an invalid when_to_use: ${wtuCheck.reason}.`,
+            });
+        }
+        // description and when_to_use must say different things.
+        if (descCheck.ok &&
+            wtuCheck.ok &&
+            typeof fmQC.description === "string" &&
+            typeof fmQC.when_to_use === "string" &&
+            fmQC.description.trim().toLowerCase() === fmQC.when_to_use.trim().toLowerCase()) {
+            findings.push({
+                kind: "description-equals-when_to_use",
+                field: "description",
+                message: `Distilled lesson for ${inputRef} has identical description and when_to_use.`,
+            });
+        }
+        // Double-frontmatter / pseudo-frontmatter pollution in the body.
+        const dfm = detectDoubleFrontmatter(content);
+        if (dfm) {
+            findings.push({ kind: dfm.kind, field: "body", message: `Distilled lesson for ${inputRef}: ${dfm.message}` });
+        }
+    }
     if (findings.length > 0) {
         appendEvent({
             eventType: "distill_invoked",
             ref: inputRef,
-            metadata: buildDistillEventMetadata("validation_failed", effectiveLessonRef, {
+            metadata: {
+                outcome: "validation_failed",
+                lessonRef: effectiveLessonRef,
                 proposalKind: effectiveProposalKind,
                 findingKinds: findings.map((f) => f.kind),
                 ...(exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount } : {}),
-            }),
+            },
         });
         const message = findings.map((f) => f.message).join("\n");
         throw new UsageError(`Distilled ${effectiveProposalKind} failed validation:\n${message}`, "MISSING_REQUIRED_ARGUMENT", effectiveProposalKind === "knowledge"
@@ -436,35 +1191,85 @@ export async function akmDistill(options) {
     }
     // LLM-as-judge quality gate (P2-B). Only active when the feature flag is
     // explicitly enabled. Fail-open: judge failures always pass through.
+    // D-5 / #388: Three-band system — review_needed band queues a proposal
+    // with review_needed outcome rather than auto-rejecting.
+    let lessonJudgeConfidence;
     if (isLlmFeatureEnabled(config, "lesson_quality_gate")) {
-        const judgeResult = await runLessonQualityJudge(config, content, assetContent ?? "", chat);
+        // D-4 / #390: retrieve top-3 similar lessons for dedup check in judge.
+        const similarLessons = await fetchSimilarLessonsFn(content.slice(0, 500), 3);
+        const judgeResult = await runLessonQualityJudge(config, content, assetContent ?? "", chat, similarLessons.length > 0 ? similarLessons : undefined);
         if (!judgeResult.pass) {
+            if (judgeResult.reviewNeeded) {
+                return writeQualityRejection(stash, inputRef, effectiveLessonRef, content, judgeResult.score, judgeResult.reason, {
+                    reviewNeeded: true,
+                    ...(exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount, feedbackFullyFiltered } : {}),
+                });
+            }
             return writeQualityRejection(stash, inputRef, effectiveLessonRef, content, judgeResult.score, judgeResult.reason, exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount, feedbackFullyFiltered } : {});
         }
+        // Normalize 1-5 judge score to [0, 1]. Score of -1 means pass-through
+        // (no LLM / timeout / parse failure) — leave confidence undefined so
+        // the auto-accept gate treats the proposal as unscored and skips it.
+        if (judgeResult.score > 0)
+            lessonJudgeConfidence = judgeResult.score / 5;
     }
     // Round-trip the parsed frontmatter so the proposal carries it as a
     // structured payload alongside the raw content (matches the shape used by
     // other proposal sources).
+    //
+    // D-7 / #398: Inject `sources: [inputRef]` into the LLM-path proposal
+    // frontmatter when the field is absent, providing reviewers with provenance
+    // without requiring them to open event history. A-MEM arXiv:2502.12110 —
+    // all notes carry explicit provenance links.
     const parsed = parseFrontmatter(content);
-    const proposal = createProposal(stash, {
+    const frontmatterWithSources = { ...parsed.data };
+    if (!Array.isArray(frontmatterWithSources.sources) || frontmatterWithSources.sources.length === 0) {
+        frontmatterWithSources.sources = [inputRef];
+    }
+    const proposalResult2 = createProposal(stash, {
         ref: effectiveLessonRef,
         source: "distill",
         ...(options.sourceRun !== undefined ? { sourceRun: options.sourceRun } : {}),
         payload: {
             content,
-            ...(Object.keys(parsed.data).length > 0 ? { frontmatter: parsed.data } : {}),
+            frontmatter: frontmatterWithSources,
         },
+        ...(lessonJudgeConfidence !== undefined ? { confidence: lessonJudgeConfidence } : {}),
     }, options.ctx);
+    if (isProposalSkipped(proposalResult2)) {
+        appendEvent({
+            eventType: "distill_invoked",
+            ref: inputRef,
+            metadata: {
+                outcome: "skipped",
+                lessonRef: effectiveLessonRef,
+                message: proposalResult2.message,
+                skipReason: proposalResult2.reason,
+            },
+        });
+        return {
+            schemaVersion: 1,
+            ok: true,
+            outcome: "skipped",
+            inputRef,
+            lessonRef: effectiveLessonRef,
+            message: proposalResult2.message,
+        };
+    }
+    const proposal2 = proposalResult2;
     appendEvent({
         eventType: "distill_invoked",
         ref: inputRef,
-        metadata: buildDistillEventMetadata("queued", effectiveLessonRef, {
+        metadata: {
+            outcome: "queued",
+            lessonRef: effectiveLessonRef,
             proposalRef: effectiveLessonRef,
             proposalKind: effectiveProposalKind,
-            proposalId: proposal.id,
+            proposalId: proposal2.id,
             ...(options.sourceRun !== undefined ? { sourceRun: options.sourceRun } : {}),
             ...(exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount } : {}),
-        }),
+            ...(descriptionSwapped > 0 ? { descriptionSwapped } : {}),
+        },
     });
     return {
         schemaVersion: 1,
@@ -474,9 +1279,10 @@ export async function akmDistill(options) {
         lessonRef: effectiveLessonRef,
         proposalRef: effectiveLessonRef,
         proposalKind: effectiveProposalKind,
-        proposalId: proposal.id,
-        proposal,
+        proposalId: proposal2.id,
+        proposal: proposal2,
         ...(exclusionSet.size > 0 ? { filteredFeedbackCount, feedbackFullyFiltered } : {}),
+        ...(descriptionSwapped > 0 ? { descriptionSwapped } : {}),
     };
 }
 // ── Helpers ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────