## Post-Release Assessment — 3.54.0

### 1. Coherence Measurement
- **Baseline:** 3.53.0 — alpha A, beta A, gamma A
- **This release:** 3.54.0 — alpha A, beta A, gamma A
- **Delta:** alpha held (six kata scripts each prove exactly what their header claims; doctor three-way Status is internally consistent; help always-list is correctly scoped). beta improved at the system-coherence margin (the kernel command chain now has a CI-enforced structural proof; doctor output, help output, kata headers, and CI gate all agree on the fresh-hub contract — previously only the code was authoritative). gamma held at A (1 review round, 0 D/C findings; γ+β collapse per §1.4 minimum-configuration clause noted in release artifacts).
- **Coherence contract closed?** Yes. The bare-binary pipeline (help → init → status → doctor → build → install) cannot silently regress — every PR proves it end-to-end. `cn doctor` reports pending fresh-hub artifacts informationally (`○`) rather than fatally (`✗`), closing the prior gap where the kata couldn't tolerate legitimate lifecycle state without hand-crafted exceptions.

### 2. Encoding Lag

| Issue | Title | Type | Design | Impl | Lag |
|-------|-------|------|--------|------|-----|
| #192 | Runtime kernel rewrite (Go) | feature | converged | Phase 4 complete, Phase 5 remains | low |
| #237 | Tier 2 runtime/package kata (`cnos.kata`) | feature | converged | not started | new |
| #238 | Release bootstrap / compatibility smoke | process | converged | not started | new |
| #216 | Migrate non-bootstrap commands to packages | feature | converged | Phase 4 unblocked | growing |
| #193 | Orchestrator llm step execution | feature | converged | not started | growing |
| #186 | Package restructuring (lean cnos.core) | feature | converged | not started | growing |
| #218 | cnos.transport.git (Rust provider) | feature | converged | not started | growing |
| #190 | Agent web surface | feature | design exists | not started | growing |
| #189 | Native change proposals + reviews | feature | design exists | not started | growing |
| #230 | cn deps restore version upgrade skip | feature | design exists | not started | low |
| #199 | Stacked post-release assessments (3.39+3.40) | process | converged | not started | growing |

**MCI/MCA balance:** **Freeze MCI held** — 6 issues still at "growing" lag (#216, #193, #186, #218, #190, #189). Two new kata follow-ups (#237, #238) added this cycle but are immediate siblings of the closed gap, not new design frontier.
**Rationale:** This cycle's MCA (#236 Tier 1 kata) reduced gap rather than grew it — exactly what 3.53.0's assessment prescribed. Continue: #237 Tier 2 kata is a natural next slice of the same verification-infrastructure thread; #192 Phase 5 or #216 remain the highest-leverage code-level moves. No new substantial design docs until growing-lag count drops below 3.

### 3. Process Learning
**What went wrong:**
- Tag push blocked by sandbox environment (403 on refs/tags/). Same constraint as 3.52.0 and 3.53.0. Release commit is on main (`970fe99e`) but lightweight tag `3.54.0` could not be pushed via `git push origin 3.54.0` or `git push origin HEAD:refs/tags/3.54.0`. No GitHub MCP tool creates tag refs — `create_branch` is refs/heads only. External tag push required for release CI to trigger.
- γ+β collapse required on a substantial (not small-change) cycle because no independent γ agent was dispatched. The CDD skill (§1.4) permits this as the two-agent-minimum configuration under operator override, but it is the weaker path — γ and β share the same author-adjacent view of the diff and may miss the same incoherence.

**What went right:**
- The PR's own Go preconditions (help always-list, doctor three-way Status) were scoped tightly to what the ACs required. Nothing in the Go diff was speculative — each change was a precondition for a specific kata assertion (§2.2.14.G: degraded paths visible and testable).
- The 05→06 kata coupling is documented in the dependent script's header rather than baked into `run-all.sh` as an invisible ordering constraint. Isolated 06 runs fail fast with a clear message. This is the right shape for kata dependencies — explicit in the artifact, not in the runner.
- The three-tier kata model (Tier 1 here, Tier 2 in `cnos.kata`, Tier 3 in `cnos.cdd.kata`) assigns each failure class a clear home, which the previous flat suite did not. Future kata additions have a decision procedure.

**Skill patches:** None applied this cycle.

**Active skill re-evaluation:**
- **cdd (this skill):** §1.4 two-agent-minimum clause fired for real on a substantial cycle. Clause behaved correctly — operator override was explicit, collapse was declared in review + release + assessment artifacts. A2 potential improvement: the clause could require the collapse declaration to appear in the CHANGELOG ledger row, not just the release artifacts, so the γ-shared-author signal is visible to future readers scanning only the ledger. Not urgent; file if the pattern recurs.
- **review:** §7.1 "posted as comment (shared identity)" convention held. The PR review lives at https://github.com/usurobor/cnos/pull/239#issuecomment-4247505214 — preserved in issue comments rather than native review state. Adequate.
- **release:** §2.6 lightweight-tag convention followed. Environmental tag-push block is the third consecutive cycle with this failure — not a skill gap, but adequate cause to file a process issue about the release-environment contract (sandbox lacks tag-ref push permission; external operator must finalize).

**CDD improvement disposition:** No skill patch. Two cross-cycle patterns tracked:
1. Tag-push environmental block (3 cycles running: 3.52.0, 3.53.0, 3.54.0). Document-only — not a CDD rule gap, but the release skill should mention the external-push fallback more prominently if this persists.
2. γ+β collapse under two-agent-minimum is now exercised. Next cycle should default back to two distinct agents when available.

### 4. Review Quality
**PRs this cycle:** 1 (PR #239)
**Avg review rounds:** 1.0 (target ≤2 code, within spec)
**Superseded PRs:** 0 (target 0)
**Finding breakdown:** 0 D / 0 C / 0 B / 0 A = 0 total findings
**Mechanical ratio:** n/a (0 findings — sample-size minimum not met per the mechanical-ratio threshold rule)
**Action:** none

### 4a. CDD Self-Coherence
- **CDD alpha:** 3/4 — Code, tests, CHANGELOG, RELEASE.md all present. Tag push blocked (environmental, not a process gap). No separate SELF-COHERENCE.md (L5/L6 cycle, PR body carries the trace narratively).
- **CDD beta:** 4/4 — Issue #236 contract, PR #239 body, code, CHANGELOG row, RELEASE.md, and this assessment all agree. KATAS.md tier model matches the script directory structure. Architecture check §2.2.14 passed all 7 questions (G improved).
- **CDD gamma:** 3/4 — 1 review round (within target), 0 superseded PRs. γ+β collapse is the weakness: without an independent γ, the "reviewer caught nothing blocking" signal is degraded. In a dyad configuration the signal would have been stronger. Not a process bug — operator override was explicit and the two-agent-minimum clause covers this case — but it is the weaker path on this axis.
- **Weakest axis:** gamma (shared-identity review; environmental tag push).
- **Action:** next cycle default to distinct α and γ agents when available.

### 5. Production Verification

**Scenario:** `scripts/kata/run-all.sh` runs end-to-end against a fresh `cn` binary and a new hub.
**Before this release:** `scripts/kata/` contained a flat mix of pre- and post-package kata with misleading headers (e.g. `01-boot.sh` mentioned `cn deps restore` but never ran it); no CI gate; regressions in the kernel chain caught manually or not at all.
**After this release:** Six Tier 1 kata, each with a header that matches the assertion body; `run-all.sh` stops on first failure; CI `kata-tier1` job runs the suite on every PR. `cn doctor` exits 0 on a freshly-`init`-ed + `setup`-ed hub (previously exited non-zero due to legitimately-pending artifacts).
**How to verify:**
1. `cd src/go && go build -o ../../cn ./cmd/cn && export PATH="$PWD/../..:$PATH"`
2. `scripts/kata/run-all.sh` — expect all 6 kata green, final line `KATA SUITE: all passed`.
3. In the CI workflow run for any PR against main, expect `kata-tier1` in the check list with status `success`.
**Result:** Verified in CI on PR #239 head commit `f234a1d0` — all 6 checks green (`go`, `kata-tier1`, I1, I2, notify×2). Tier 1 gate is live on main.

### 6. CDD Closeout

| Step | Artifact | Skills loaded | Decision |
|------|----------|--------------|----------|
| 11 Observe | PR #239 diff, CI state (6/6 green), issue #236 contract | review, cdd | All 6 ACs met; γ+β collapse declared per operator override |
| 12 Assess | POST-RELEASE-ASSESSMENT.md (this file) | post-release | No skill patches. Two cross-cycle patterns tracked (tag push, γ+β collapse). |
| 13 Close | Issue #236 closed by PR merge; PR #239 merged (f01ab72b); release commit 970fe99e; tag 3.54.0 pending external push | cdd | Cycle closed at the repo layer; release CI will trigger once tag is externally pushed. |

### 6a. Invariants Check

| Constraint | Touched? | Status |
|---|---|---|
| T-002 cli/ dispatch boundary | yes | preserved — cmd_doctor.go and cmd_help.go remain thin wrappers; CI dispatch-boundary grep stays green |
| T-003 Go kernel, stdlib only | yes | preserved — no new dependencies |
| T-004 source/artifact/installed explicit | no | n/a |
| INV-003 distinct surfaces (commands/skills/orchestrators/providers) | no | n/a — tier separation in help output preserves the distinction |
| INV-004 kernel owns precedence | no | n/a |

### 7. Next Move
**Next MCA:** #237 Tier 2 runtime/package kata (`cnos.kata`) — natural continuation of the verification-infrastructure thread this cycle opened.
**Alternative higher-leverage:** #192 Phase 5 (runtime contract in Go) or #216 (migrate non-bootstrap commands to packages) — both code-level and unblocked.
**Owner:** to be assigned (distinct α agent next cycle; default back to two-agent dyad)
**Branch:** pending branch creation
**First AC (if #237):** runtime kata prove command dispatch + roundtrip + doctor-broken + self-describe AFTER at least one package is installed.
**MCI frozen until shipped?** Yes.
**Rationale:** Growing-lag count unchanged at 6, still above freeze threshold. Ship implementation before new designs.

**Closure evidence (CDD §10):**
- Immediate outputs executed: partial
  - Review posted as PR comment (issuecomment-4247505214)
  - PR #239 squash-merged to main (f01ab72b)
  - Issue #236 closed by merge
  - Release commit 970fe99e on main
  - CHANGELOG ledger row + detailed section added
  - RELEASE.md written
  - POST-RELEASE-ASSESSMENT.md written (this file)
- Deferred outputs committed: yes
  - Tag `3.54.0` creation deferred — sandbox 403 on refs/tags/ push; operator to push externally so release CI triggers. Third consecutive cycle with this environmental block.
  - Daily reflection + adhoc thread (Hub Memory, §8) — deferred; no hub memory repo access from this sandbox.

**Immediate fixes** (executed in this session):
- None needed — zero findings above A-level.

### 8. Hub Memory
- **Daily reflection:** deferred — no hub memory repo access in this session.
- **Adhoc thread(s) updated:** deferred — no hub memory repo access in this session. Candidate thread when written: "γ+β collapse on a substantial cycle (PR #239, 3.54.0) — operator override invoked the two-agent-minimum clause; independent-review signal was degraded on the gamma axis; watch for recurrence."
