# IFA Cycle Log — γ

Artifact: [Inheritance for Agents](INHERITANCE-FOR-AGENTS.md)

Cycle date: 2026-04-27

Roles: α (producer), β (judge), γ (cycle observer)

Skill governing the cycle: write

Companion: [IFA-cycle-log-dyad.md](IFA-cycle-log-dyad.md) — α/β internal record of the cycle.

Status: Cycle Locks. Artifact Converged.

Observation condition: Cold.

## Coherence Delta

The cycle achieved a structural delta by moving from an initial draft crippled by a false evidence boundary to a fully supported structural essay. This delta is verified by mapping β's findings directly to α's structural repairs:

- **Round 1:** The cycle was paused by β due to a critical Cold-Author Drift failure. α claimed the JFA artifacts were unavailable and constructed a narrowed thesis. β successfully fetched the artifacts, held the boundary, and refused the under-derived claim.

- **Round 2 Repair Mapping:**
  - Finding 1 (Evidence Boundary): α removed the false unavailability claim from Sections 4 and 6, and removed the narrowed-thesis hedge.
  - Finding 2 (Composition Claim): α expanded Section 6 to show two explicit composition steps (CFA → EFA, then EFA → JFA), with the inherited constraints named and located in the next cycle's behavior at lines 87 and 89.
  - Finding 3 (JFA Disclaimer): α converted JFA's case capture and terminal debt failures from disclaimed examples into supporting evidence at lines 69–73.
  - Finding 4 (Temporal Claim): α replaced the underived temporal phrase ("while the decision is still reversible") with an artifact-lock boundary supported by the cycle logs.

## Role Separation & Integrity

Role separation held entirely. β explicitly named contract gaps without rewriting the draft. While α's repair resulted in Sections 1, 4, and 6 gaining substantial new material, this was not a boundary bleed. β's findings explicitly required α to re-derive the thesis with the newly mandated JFA evidence in scope. α kept the repair strictly within this mandate, pulling JFA evidence into load-bearing positions rather than patching phrasing gaps. β's final approval was grounded in direct verification of cross-cycle claims against the primary artifacts, confirming α's specific derivations held true to the source.

## IFA-Specific Risks Evaluated

The dyad successfully navigated the specific risks inherent to a cycle writing about cycles:

- **The Self-Referential Trap: Avoided.** The artifact correctly excluded its own cycle as evidence for its claims; this log uses the cycle as evidence for the cycle's coherence, which is the role-appropriate use.

- **The Triumph Oscillation: Avoided.** While the draft utilizes round-count acceleration as evidence, α correctly framed it as inspectable evidence of inheritance. β verified that the disclaimer ("not proof that every future cycle will converge faster") defanged the strong reading and kept the register structural.

- **Cold-Author Drift: Caught and repaired.** α's initial failure to utilize available JFA artifacts was a strict failure of the contract. β's refusal to accept the artifact's absence forced the necessary derivation.

## Inherited Failure Modes (Added for Future Cycles)

Per doctrine, the following cross-cycle failure modes are now named and added to the inherited list as contestable constraints for future cycles:

1. **Soft Inheritance:** Pretending to inherit a prior commitment while softening its phrasing at the point of pressure (e.g., converting a structural constraint into a general preference). This effectively removes the constraint while maintaining the appearance of compliance.

2. **Cold-Author Evidence Refusal:** Assuming inherited artifacts are unavailable or unneeded without verifying access, leading to an under-derivation of available structural claims.

## IFA-Specific Cycle Lessons (Not Inherited)

- **Single-Step Composition Claim:** β correctly flagged that true composition requires at least two steps to prove the accumulation of inherited constraints. This is a material-specific failure mode of essays making composition claims, and is recorded here for the archive rather than as a binding constraint on unrelated future cycles.
