boost-skill-cli 1.0.339__tar.gz → 1.0.340__tar.gz

{boost_skill_cli-1.0.339/boost_skill_cli.egg-info → boost_skill_cli-1.0.340}/PKG-INFO

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Metadata-Version: 2.4
 Name: boost-skill-cli
-Version: 1.0.339
+Version: 1.0.340
 Summary: boost — Homebrew for AI coding skills
 Author: Jonathan Reyes
 License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

{boost_skill_cli-1.0.339 → boost_skill_cli-1.0.340}/boost_cli/_version.py

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ version_tuple: tuple[int | str, ...]
 commit_id: str | None
 __commit_id__: str | None
 
-__version__ = version = '1.0.339'
-__version_tuple__ = version_tuple = (1, 0, 339)
+__version__ = version = '1.0.340'
+__version_tuple__ = version_tuple = (1, 0, 340)
 
 __commit_id__ = commit_id = None

{boost_skill_cli-1.0.339 → boost_skill_cli-1.0.340}/boost_cli/commands/configuration.py

@@ -816,7 +816,15 @@ REGISTRY = mcp.Registry()
 def _tool_search(args: dict):
     query = str(args.get("query", ""))
     rag.ensure()  # build the full-content index on first use (BM25 by default)
-    rag_result = rag.search(query, limit=10)
+    # smart=True is stated, not inherited. It is `rag.search`'s default, so this
+    # path was spending an LLM call per search by accident of a signature —
+    # while the CLI makes the user ask for it with `--smart`. Measured on the
+    # 91-query golden set, the rerank moves hit@1 from 0.791 to 0.945, and an
+    # agent acts on the top result rather than scanning ten, so it is the one
+    # caller for whom the seconds are clearly worth it. Written down here so
+    # the asymmetry with the CLI is a decision someone can revisit, not a
+    # default nobody chose. It degrades on its own when no AI is configured.
+    rag_result = rag.search(query, limit=10, smart=True)
     if rag_result is not None:  # full-content index is built
         hits, _ranker = rag_result
         if not hits:
@@ -953,8 +961,10 @@ REGISTRY.register(
     "in front of you has a name you could say out loud — \"set up code "
     "review\", \"add commit conventions\", \"debug flaky tests\" — and before "
     "writing a skill, subagent, slash-command or rule from scratch. Read-only, "
-    "no side effects, installs nothing. Returning nothing relevant is a fine "
-    "answer: it means build it yourself.",
+    "no side effects, installs nothing. Takes a few seconds because it ranks "
+    "the matches with an LLM, which is what makes the top result worth acting "
+    "on. Returning nothing relevant is a fine answer: it means build it "
+    "yourself.",
     {"type": "object",
      "properties": {"query": {"type": "string",
                               "description": "what the skill should do (a task, "

{boost_skill_cli-1.0.339 → boost_skill_cli-1.0.340}/boost_cli/core/mcp.py

@@ -113,8 +113,11 @@ INSTRUCTIONS = (
     "review\", \"add commit conventions\", \"write a migration\", \"debug "
     "flaky tests\" — someone has probably already written it down. Call "
     "boost_list for what is installed on this machine and boost_search for "
-    "what exists. Both are read-only, take about a second, and install "
-    "nothing.\n"
+    "what exists. Both are read-only and install nothing. boost_list is "
+    "instant. boost_search takes a few seconds: it retrieves, then ranks them "
+    "with an LLM, which is worth it because you act on the top result — "
+    "measured, that ranking puts the right skill first 95% of the time "
+    "against 79% without it.\n"
     "\n"
     "Finding nothing is a good outcome, not a wasted call: it tells you to "
     "build it yourself, now knowing that nothing already covers it. Finding "

{boost_skill_cli-1.0.339 → boost_skill_cli-1.0.340/boost_skill_cli.egg-info}/PKG-INFO

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Metadata-Version: 2.4
 Name: boost-skill-cli
-Version: 1.0.339
+Version: 1.0.340
 Summary: boost — Homebrew for AI coding skills
 Author: Jonathan Reyes
 License: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

{boost_skill_cli-1.0.339 → boost_skill_cli-1.0.340}/boost_skill_cli.egg-info/SOURCES.txt

@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ docs/roadmap/items/mcp-launch-objc-fork-safety.md
 docs/roadmap/items/mcp-one-benefit-nameable-task.md
 docs/roadmap/items/mcp-register-names-server-before-env.md
 docs/roadmap/items/mcp-search-before-reinventing.md
+docs/roadmap/items/mcp-search-cost-was-understated.md
 docs/roadmap/items/mcp-servers-ignore-install-scope.md
 docs/roadmap/items/mcp-startup-self-harden-fork-safety.md
 docs/roadmap/items/memoize-config-load-in-process.md

boost_skill_cli-1.0.340/docs/roadmap/items/mcp-search-cost-was-understated.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+---
+id: mcp-search-cost-was-understated
+board: code
+section: dx
+status: inflight
+category: Interop · Adoption
+complexity: S
+impact: Medium
+wow: 2
+note: the instructions claimed a second; it is twelve
+order: 76
+owner: loop/mcp-true-cost
+pr: 
+title: The MCP instructions understated what a search costs by 100x
+---
+<a href="#mcp-one-benefit-nameable-task">The nameable-task rewrite</a> gave the MCP
+server a stated cost, on the reasoning that an unknown-price call with an unknown hit
+rate gets skipped. That reasoning still holds. The number was wrong: <em>"Both are
+read-only, take about a second, and install nothing."</em> Measured against the real
+path, <code>boost_list</code> is instant but <code>boost_search</code> runs
+<b>11.7&ndash;17.0&nbsp;s</b> (median ~12) against <b>0.10&nbsp;s</b> with the rerank
+off &mdash; because <code>rag.search</code> defaults <code>smart=True</code> and the MCP
+tool called it bare, so every agent search spends an LLM call while the CLI makes a
+human ask with <code>--smart</code>.
+<b>Ship the cost, not a smaller one.</b> The fix is not to hide the latency: the rerank
+is the largest measured quality lever in the retrieval stack. On the 91-query golden set
+it moves <code>hit@1</code> from <b>0.791 to 0.945</b> &mdash; +14 net queries, against
+the ~6-query floor for <em>p</em>&lt;0.05 at this <em>n</em>. For scale, full-content
+BM25 beat the old frontmatter search by +0.077, and dense retrieval tied BM25 exactly at
+0.000. An agent acts on the top result rather than scanning ten, so it is the caller for
+whom those seconds are most clearly worth paying. The instructions now separate the two
+tools (<code>boost_list</code> instant, <code>boost_search</code> a few seconds) and say
+what the seconds buy, because a wrong cost in the one paragraph whose job is to make the
+tool worth reaching for discredits everything around it &mdash; and an agent that
+budgeted a second gets a surprise instead of a decision.
+<b>The default is now written down.</b> <code>smart=True</code> is passed explicitly at
+the MCP call site with the measurement in a comment. It was previously inherited from
+<code>rag.search</code>'s signature, which meant the most expensive behaviour in the
+tool was an accident nobody had chosen and nobody could find. Same asymmetry as before,
+but now it is a decision someone can revisit.
+<b>What is still unmeasured:</b> the lift is over <em>raw BM25</em>, the pipeline that
+stopped shipping when RRF fusion landed. Whether it survives over the fused ranking
+needs the arm that
+<a href="#keyless-semantic-search-for-everyone">step 6</a> is already committed to.

{boost_skill_cli-1.0.339 → boost_skill_cli-1.0.340}/docs/roadmap.html

@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@
       <div class="stat"><b>16</b><span>Shipped</span></div>
       <div class="stat"><b>1</b><span>Next up</span></div>
       <div class="stat"><b>4</b><span>Planned</span></div>
-      <div class="stat"><b>190</b><span>Loop finds</span></div>
+      <div class="stat"><b>191</b><span>Loop finds</span></div>
       <!-- /ROADMAP:stats -->
     </div>
   </section>
@@ -4755,6 +4755,46 @@ with a negative assertion so the hop cannot creep back.</p>
           <span class="m">agent reflex</span>
         </div>
       </article>
+
+      <article class="cap rcard" id="mcp-search-cost-was-understated">
+        <div class="head"><span class="pill inflight">In flight</span><span class="cat">Interop · Adoption</span></div>
+        <h3>The MCP instructions understated what a search costs by 100x</h3>
+        <p><a href="#mcp-one-benefit-nameable-task">The nameable-task rewrite</a> gave the MCP
+server a stated cost, on the reasoning that an unknown-price call with an unknown hit
+rate gets skipped. That reasoning still holds. The number was wrong: <em>"Both are
+read-only, take about a second, and install nothing."</em> Measured against the real
+path, <code>boost_list</code> is instant but <code>boost_search</code> runs
+<b>11.7&ndash;17.0&nbsp;s</b> (median ~12) against <b>0.10&nbsp;s</b> with the rerank
+off &mdash; because <code>rag.search</code> defaults <code>smart=True</code> and the MCP
+tool called it bare, so every agent search spends an LLM call while the CLI makes a
+human ask with <code>--smart</code>.
+<b>Ship the cost, not a smaller one.</b> The fix is not to hide the latency: the rerank
+is the largest measured quality lever in the retrieval stack. On the 91-query golden set
+it moves <code>hit@1</code> from <b>0.791 to 0.945</b> &mdash; +14 net queries, against
+the ~6-query floor for <em>p</em>&lt;0.05 at this <em>n</em>. For scale, full-content
+BM25 beat the old frontmatter search by +0.077, and dense retrieval tied BM25 exactly at
+0.000. An agent acts on the top result rather than scanning ten, so it is the caller for
+whom those seconds are most clearly worth paying. The instructions now separate the two
+tools (<code>boost_list</code> instant, <code>boost_search</code> a few seconds) and say
+what the seconds buy, because a wrong cost in the one paragraph whose job is to make the
+tool worth reaching for discredits everything around it &mdash; and an agent that
+budgeted a second gets a surprise instead of a decision.
+<b>The default is now written down.</b> <code>smart=True</code> is passed explicitly at
+the MCP call site with the measurement in a comment. It was previously inherited from
+<code>rag.search</code>'s signature, which meant the most expensive behaviour in the
+tool was an accident nobody had chosen and nobody could find. Same asymmetry as before,
+but now it is a decision someone can revisit.
+<b>What is still unmeasured:</b> the lift is over <em>raw BM25</em>, the pipeline that
+stopped shipping when RRF fusion landed. Whether it survives over the fused ranking
+needs the arm that
+<a href="#keyless-semantic-search-for-everyone">step 6</a> is already committed to.</p>
+        <div class="meta">
+          <span class="m">Complexity <b>S</b></span>
+          <span class="m">Impact <b>Medium</b></span>
+          <span class="m">Wow <b class="wow">★★</b></span>
+          <span class="m">the instructions claimed a second; it is twelve</span>
+        </div>
+      </article>
       <!-- /ROADMAP:cards -->
 
     </div>

{boost_skill_cli-1.0.339 → boost_skill_cli-1.0.340}/tests/unit/test_mcp.py

@@ -149,6 +149,28 @@ class TestHandleRequest:
         assert "before you write a new skill" not in low
         assert "authoring" not in low
 
+    def test_instructions_do_not_understate_what_a_search_costs(self):
+        # The first version of this block said both tools "take about a second".
+        # boost_list does; boost_search does NOT -- it reranks with an LLM by
+        # default, measured at ~12s median against 0.10s without. Shipping a
+        # false cost in the text whose whole job is making the tool worth
+        # reaching for is the one lie that discredits the rest of it, and an
+        # agent that budgeted a second gets a surprise instead of a decision.
+        low = mcp.INSTRUCTIONS.lower()
+        assert "about a second" not in low
+        # State it, and state why it is worth paying rather than just warning.
+        assert "seconds" in low
+        assert "ranks them with an llm" in low or "reranks" in low
+        assert "read-only" in low          # the part that WAS true stays
+
+    def test_instructions_still_separate_the_free_tool_from_the_slow_one(self):
+        # boost_list really is instant, and collapsing the two costs into one
+        # number is what produced the wrong claim. Naming them separately is
+        # what lets an agent reach for the cheap one freely.
+        low = mcp.INSTRUCTIONS.lower()
+        assert "boost_list" in low and "boost_search" in low
+        assert "instant" in low
+
     def test_instructions_route_search_straight_to_install(self):
         # boost_info sat between search and install in the advertised flow, but
         # search already returns each hit's description — the only field that