# β Close-Out — Cycle #262 (PR #265)

## Cycle summary

| | |
|---|---|
| Issue | #262 — `cn pack: derive packlist from content-class model instead of walking entire package root`. **Stays open.** PR shipped a defensible slice; remaining ACs (AC1 rename, AC5 `--list`/`--dry-run`, AC3 root-allowlist narrowing + `.gitignore` honoring) tracked under the same issue. |
| PR | #265 — `pkgbuild: derive packlist from pkg.ContentClasses (partial #262)` — squash-merged to main as `9a1c7df` |
| Ships in | **unreleased** — partial implementation of a substantial feature; no version bump; next tagged release inherits. |
| Work shape | Substantial feature (slice). Active tier-3 skills: `eng/go`, `eng/test`. Deferred ACs require `eng/ux-cli` (AC1/AC5) and content-class migration work (B1/AC3 narrowing) — out of this slice. |
| Review rounds | **3** (Round 1 REQUEST CHANGES → Round 2 REQUEST CHANGES on re-emerged rebase race → Round 3 APPROVED) |
| Findings total | **7** — D1 (mechanical, rebase + dist stale), C1 (judgment, AC2 partial), C2 (judgment, dispatch/PR scope conflict), B1 (judgment, weak root-file filter), A1 (mechanical, branch name), A2 (mechanical, missing CDD Trace), D1′ (mechanical, rebase race re-emerged mid-review) |
| Mechanical ratio | **4/7 = 57%** — above 20% threshold but **below the 10-finding §9.1 floor**, so notable as a pattern but not an automatic process-issue filing trigger. See §9.1 Triggers below. |
| Diff | 12 files, 486+/45− — `build.go` (+DerivePacklist, createTarGz refactor), `build_test.go` (+10 tests, 2 helpers), `pkg.go` (+ClassSkills), `activation/index.go` (uses ClassSkills), `go.mod` (1.24), 3 × workflow yml (1.24), `dist/packages/` (rebuilt against rebased main) |
| Identity surface | Shared-identity review degradation — β reviews posted as `COMMENT` (native `REQUEST_CHANGES` / `APPROVE` state unreachable when β token == α token). Three rounds affected. Tracked in the known-gaps queue. |

## Findings

### Finding D1 — branch not rebased; I3 red on merge commit (D, mechanical)

**Caught:** Round 1. `git merge-base origin/main origin/<pr-branch>` → `8265fe0` while main was at `b4ca7e4` (+1 commit touching `src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/alpha/SKILL.md`). I reproduced locally: on a merge commit, `cn build` rebuilt `cnos.cdd-3.57.0.tar.gz` to a different sha than what PR committed → CI `dist-source-sync (I3)` red.

**Root cause (as diagnosed in Round 1):** CDD pre-review gate 7a ("branch rebased onto current main") not satisfied. α opened the PR against an older base.

**Root cause (as revised after Round 2):** α's Go 1.24.7 local dev environment produced tarballs that would never byte-match CI's Go 1.22 output because `compress/gzip` flate output is not stable across minor Go versions. Rebasing alone would not have fixed I3. α's Round 2 fix (`da92e44`) bumped `go.mod` + all three workflows to Go 1.24 — a scope-adjacent expansion (same `createTarGz` / `cn build` surface). Right-sized and declared.

**Fix:** commits `7248001` (pkgbuild + dist) → later subsumed by `da92e44` (Go 1.24 + dist on rebased main). See D1′ for the second rebase round.

**Severity:** D because CI was red on the merge commit and merging would have silently reverted a packaged-file edit from main. Type: mechanical because the check is a diff-of-rebuilds.

**Disposition:** closed in round 2 (Go bump) + round 3 (final rebase). The underlying race class is filed as #266.

---

### Finding C1 — AC2 partial: skill activation still hardcoded `"skills"` (C, judgment)

**Caught:** Round 1 via review §2.2.8 authority-surface conflict + §2.2.9 module-truth audit. Issue #262 AC2 says the shared constant is *used by both `cn pack` and skill activation*. Initial PR diff used `pkgtypes.ContentClasses` in `pkgbuild.DerivePacklist` but `src/go/internal/activation/index.go:134` still had `skillsRoot := filepath.Join(pkgDir, "skills")` — literal, not referencing the constant.

**Fix:** commit `eb9a6fe` — added `pkg.ClassSkills = "skills"` accessor in `src/go/internal/pkg/pkg.go` alongside `ContentClasses`; activation imports `pkgtypes` and uses `pkgtypes.ClassSkills`. Single-source-of-truth for the "skills" class now holds across `cn pack`, `cn status`, and activation. Grep-verified: no remaining `"skills"` literal in activation code paths.

**Severity:** C (real incoherence, non-blocking) because the runtime was correct-by-coincidence — both the literal and the constant were `"skills"` — but AC2's *discipline* (one place) was not met.

**Disposition:** closed on-branch before merge per review §7.0. One-line fix.

---

### Finding C2 — dispatch ↔ PR scope conflict (C, judgment)

**Caught:** Round 1 via review §2.2.8 authority-surface conflict.

γ's β-dispatch prompt said: *"This PR adds content-class-based packlist derivation, .gitignore honoring, --list/--dry-run, and the cn build → cn pack rename."* PR body explicitly deferred AC1, AC5, and `.gitignore` honoring. Two surfaces disagreed on what the PR ships.

**Surface:** the drift was in the dispatch, not the PR. The PR body's scope table was honest and the branch name matched the slice; γ's prompt re-described the full issue instead of the actual slice.

**Fix:** commit (PR body rewrite) — added explicit *"#262 stays open"* table, used `Refs #262` (not `Closes`), enumerated each deferred AC with a follow-up note. Audit trail for remaining work is unambiguous.

**Severity:** C because the code shipped was correct; the finding was a doc-surface incoherence with merge-time audit risk.

**Disposition:** closed. Related γ-side learning recorded below in §γ reports.

---

### Finding B1 — root-file filter weaker than issue intent (B, judgment)

**Caught:** Round 1 via §2.2.1a input-source enumeration on the packlist filter.

`DerivePacklist` ships "every non-dotfile entry at the package root". Issue #262 AC3 named `README*` / `LICENSE*` only. The PR deferred strict narrowing because existing first-party packages carry load-bearing root files (`cnos.core/AGENTS.md`, `HEARTBEAT.md`, `TOOLS.md`; `cnos.kata/lib.sh` sourced by every kata `run.sh`) that a strict rule would drop and break.

**Fix:** explicit deferral in PR body with documented rationale. Stays under open #262 (along with AC1/AC5/`.gitignore`). The follow-up slice will (a) migrate those root files into content-class dirs, then (b) narrow the rule, then (c) add `.gitignore` honoring.

**Severity:** B (improvement) because the *real offender* the issue names — stray subdirectories at the root (witness: `cnos.cdd.kata-0.3.0` with 13 empty left-over dirs) — is closed. Stray root *files* remain a theoretical vector, not a current regression.

**Disposition:** deferred by design scope per review §7.0 exception; tracked under open #262 with explicit follow-up path. Accepted as non-blocking for this slice.

---

### Finding A1 — branch name doesn't match CDD §4.2 (A, mechanical)

**Caught:** Round 1 via §2.2.5 mechanical cross-reference scan.

PR branch: `claude/add-content-class-constant-Oo4a8`. Canonical: `{agent}/{issue}-{scope}` or `{agent}/{version}-{issue}-{scope}`. No issue number in the branch name. Additionally, β was *dispatched* on a different branch name (`claude/content-class-packlist-oSP60`) that never carried commits — γ-side coordination drift.

**Fix:** acknowledged, no action. Rename-in-place after push requires a new PR; not worth the churn for the polish class.

**Severity:** A (polish). Mechanical (grep-able against the convention).

**Disposition:** γ-surface item. If γ wants to mechanize branch-name validation (e.g. `gh pr create` wrapper or repo policy check), this cycle is evidence-of-two.

---

### Finding A2 — PR body missing CDD Trace (A, mechanical)

**Caught:** Round 1 via CDD §5.4 artifact-contract scan.

Primary branch artifact (PR body for this slice) carried the scope table and deviation note but no `## CDD Trace` rows — step 5 (Mode), 6 (Artifacts), 7 (Self-coherence), 7a (Pre-review) had no evidence rows.

**Fix:** PR body rewrite (same commit as C2 fix) — added a 6-row Trace covering Gap / Mode / Artifacts / Self-coherence / Pre-review / Review-loop. Each row cites concrete evidence.

**Severity:** A because the substantive artifacts existed; only the trace summary was absent.

**Disposition:** closed on-branch before merge.

---

### Finding D1′ — rebase race re-emerged mid-review (D, mechanical)

**Caught:** Round 2. After α's Round-1 fixes (commits `7248001` + `e885144` + `24f12d4`), main moved from `07f021f` (α's new rebase base) to `22c0be0` — another one-line edit to `src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/alpha/SKILL.md`. A fresh CI run on a merge commit would have re-failed I3 for the same structural reason as D1, even though the PR's own CI showed green against the older merge base. Reproduced in worktree: merging current main into PR head + `cn build` → `cnos.cdd-3.57.0.tar.gz` rebuilds to `5355963a96f9…` vs PR's committed `a14b3803d33c…`.

**Root cause:** `dist/` is committed into the repo + main-side edits to any `src/packages/` file repackage the owning tarball + no merge queue or dist-on-CI → every PR touching packaged files races every main-side edit. The fix-in-one-cycle cost scales with main-push frequency, not with the PR's own complexity.

**Fix:** commits `567e195` + `eb9a6fe` + `da92e44` — α rebased onto `22c0be0`, refreshed dist. Committed `cnos.cdd-3.57.0.tar.gz` now `5355963a96f9…` (matches β's worktree reproduction). CI green on the fresh merge base at round-3 review time. Merged before main moved again.

**Severity:** D because it was a live I3 violation on the (future) merge commit — same class as D1.

**Disposition:** closed for this merge. The underlying race is filed as **#266 (L7 MCA candidate)** during close-out — see §γ reports.

## §9.1 Triggers

- [x] **review rounds > 2** — **YES, 3 rounds**. Round 1 found D1/C1/C2/B1/A1/A2. Round 2 found D1′ after α's Round-1 fixes. Round 3 approved.
- [ ] mechanical ratio > 20% with ≥ 10 findings — **partial**. Ratio is 4/7 = 57% (above the 20% threshold) but total findings (7) is **below the 10-finding floor**, so this is not an automatic trigger. Recorded as noise with context, not filed as a process issue.
- [x] **avoidable tooling/environmental failure** — **YES**. Two classes hit this cycle: (a) dist-rebase-race (D1 + D1′, same root cause, hit twice in one cycle), (b) cross-Go-toolchain non-determinism (CI 1.22 vs local 1.24.7 in `compress/gzip` flate).
- [x] **loaded skill failed to prevent a finding** — **partial**. α's pre-review gate (CDD §5.3 row 7a: "branch rebased onto current main") is declared and α followed it — the rebase *was* done before each round. But the gate fires once at PR open / round start; it cannot prevent main from moving during the review window. The skill was adequate-when-applied; the race is structural.

Cycle Iteration section **required** (triggers 1, 3, and partial-4 fired).

## Cycle Iteration

### Triggers fired

- [x] review rounds > 2 (actual: 3)
- [ ] mechanical ratio > 20% (actual: 57% but N=7 < 10-finding floor)
- [x] avoidable tooling/environmental failure (dist-rebase-race × 2; cross-Go-toolchain determinism × 1)
- [x] loaded skill failed to prevent a finding (pre-review gate 7a structurally cannot prevent the rebase race; not underspecified, not mis-applied — gate fires at a point-in-time, race is continuous)

### Friction log

1. **Rebase race, occurrence 1 (D1).** α opened PR against `8265fe0`. Main moved to `b4ca7e4` before β review. Round 1 diagnosed as "α didn't rebase". True but incomplete (the real cause surfaced in Round 2 was cross-Go-version non-determinism).
2. **Cross-Go-toolchain non-determinism.** CI on Go 1.22, local dev on Go 1.24.7. `compress/gzip` flate output differs across minor Go versions. α's Round-1 rebase + local rebuild produced tarballs that would never byte-match CI's rebuild regardless of source state. α correctly re-diagnosed in Round 2 and bumped Go 1.22 → 1.24 across `go.mod` + three workflows (`ci.yml`, `coherence.yml`, `release.yml`). Scope-adjacent, declared, right-sized.
3. **Rebase race, occurrence 2 (D1′).** After α's Round-2 fixes, main moved from `07f021f` to `22c0be0` during the ~30-minute review+reply window. β caught in Round 2 re-review before approving; α rebased once more (`567e195`/`eb9a6fe`/`da92e44`). Merge landed before main moved again — but that was luck, not design.

### Root cause

**System/design flaw** — `dist/packages/` is committed + main-side edits to any `src/packages/` file repackage the owning tarball + no merge queue or dist-on-CI = every PR touching packaged files races every main-side edit. The cycle's per-round fix cost scales with main-push frequency, not with PR complexity.

Secondary: **tooling gap** — declared Go version mismatched the version contributors actually run. Fixed in-cycle by α (Go 1.24 bump).

### Skill impact

- `post-release/SKILL.md`: no change needed. The skill correctly surfaces the trigger.
- `alpha/SKILL.md` pre-review gate 7a: no change needed. Already requires rebase onto current main; the gate is adequate as written. Its failure mode is structural, not skill-level.
- `review/SKILL.md` §3.7 (CI green): adequate — β correctly flagged stale-green and reproduced the failure locally in Round 2 rather than trusting the cached green.
- `cdd/CDD.md`: no change needed for the rebase-race class — that belongs in a downstream system-shaping MCA (issue #266), not in a skill patch.
- **No skill patch lands in this commit.** The recurring friction is system-level, not skill-level. Per CDD §10.1, patching skills for a system-level race class would be ceremony without benefit; the real fix requires one of #266's MCA candidates.

### MCA

**Filed as #266** — "CDD process: committed dist/ + main-side package edits = merge race (L7 MCA candidate)". Three candidate MCAs listed (move dist out of git, merge queue, or freeze main edits while packaging PRs are open) with acceptance criteria and level designation. β does not commit to a choice in this close-out — that's a γ/α design pass.

For the cross-Go-toolchain issue: **MCA already shipped** — `da92e44` pins Go 1.24 across `go.mod` + all three workflow files. Not merely "won't repeat" — mechanical: any future contributor on a different minor version will see CI diverge and investigate, so the friction is visible, not silent.

### Cycle level

**L6** — per `docs/gamma/ENGINEERING-LEVELS.md` §6, level = lowest miss.

- **L5 (local correctness):** met. Code compiled, `go build`/`go test`/`go vet` all green on final head; 10 new tests cover the shipped surface.
- **L6 (system-safe execution):** met on the final merge commit. Cross-surface drift (the rebase race) was *detected and corrected* across three rounds; nothing stale landed on main. The dist artifacts agree with the source tree on `9a1c7df`.
- **L7 (system-shaping leverage):** **not met**. The friction class (dist-rebase-race) is still live — hit twice in one cycle and then *cleared by luck of main staying still* during the final round. L7 would require shipping an MCA that eliminates the class, not just the instance. #266 is filed but unshipped. The Go 1.24 bump is L7 for the cross-version class (eliminated by construction), but the cycle's dominant friction was the rebase race, which remains.

Cycle caps at L6.

## γ reports

Four surface items for γ triage:

### 1. #266 — dist-rebase-race (L7 MCA candidate) — **filed during this close-out**

Body covers: problem statement, evidence (two recurrences in this cycle: D1 and D1′), three candidate MCAs (move `dist/` out of git; merge queue; freeze main-side `src/packages/` edits while packaging PRs are open), acceptance criteria, related PRs/workflows.

**β recommendation:** option A (move `dist/` out of git) is the cleanest system-shaping move and removes the class entirely. Option B (merge queue) closes the time-window race without changing the repo shape — lower effort, retains in-repo dist. Option C is stopgap. β does not vote in the close-out; this is a γ/α design pass.

**Priority:** not P0, but **filed before the next cycle opens** because the next packaging-adjacent PR will hit the same race and the cycle-cost is non-trivial (this one took 3 rounds across ~45 minutes of main-push activity, and survived by timing luck).

### 2. γ dispatch drift (Finding C2, closed on this PR, noted for learning)

β's dispatch prompt re-described the full #262 scope (*"adds rename, --list/--dry-run, .gitignore honoring"*) when the actual PR slice deferred most of that. β caught as §2.2.8 authority-surface conflict. α's scope table in the PR body was honest; the drift was in γ's prompt.

**Not an MCA candidate (n=1).** Record as one data point. If dispatch-vs-PR scope drift recurs in a future cycle, candidate patch is `gamma/SKILL.md` §2 dispatch-format note: "when the PR ships a slice of a larger issue, the dispatch describes the slice, not the issue."

**No action requested from γ now** beyond recording. γ's independent §3 process-gap check (CDD §1.4 γ-algorithm Phase 4 step 12) may choose to patch pre-emptively.

### 3. Branch name convention (Finding A1, γ-side coordination drift)

PR branch `claude/add-content-class-constant-Oo4a8` and the β-dispatch's named branch `claude/content-class-packlist-oSP60` both omit the CDD §4.2 canonical `{agent}/{issue}-{scope}` form (no issue number) and don't match each other. Rename-in-place post-push requires a new PR; accepted as polish.

**Evidence-of-two for γ** if branch-name validation is worth mechanizing (e.g. `gh` wrapper or CI pattern check). Recording as a candidate, not proposing as MCA.

### 4. Shared-identity review degradation (known gap, tracked elsewhere)

β token and α token share the same GitHub account (`usurobor`). `gh pr review --request-changes` / `--approve` returned `Review Can not request changes on your own pull request` in all three rounds. Reviews posted as `COMMENT` with explicit verdict inline. Native review state and branch-protection enforcement are unreachable in this configuration.

**Tracked in the #45 migration queue per review/SKILL.md §7.1.** No new filing needed. Noted here so γ has a concrete three-round data point to weight the migration priority against.

### Remote branch delete — transport error during β cleanup

`git push origin --delete claude/add-content-class-constant-Oo4a8` returned `send-pack: unexpected disconnect while reading sideband packet` / `Everything up-to-date`. Post-fetch `--prune`, the remote branch is still listed. GitHub API via `mcp__github__list_branches` confirms it still exists with the PR head sha (`da92e447…`).

**Not closure-blocking for β.** Per CDD §1.4, remote branch cleanup is γ's step (γ-algorithm Phase 5 item 14: `git branch -r --merged origin/main | … | xargs -I{} git push origin --delete {}`). Flagging here so γ picks it up; no retry loop from β.

**Pattern note:** similar-shape transport disconnects have occurred in prior cycles on ref-write operations (tag push, branch delete) — see `260.md` Finding 2 for the documented precedent. If γ observes this is now four consecutive cycles, that's threshold for a harness-level tooling issue per the `260.md` disposition.

## Next cycle

### β's next-MCA commitment

**None from β.** Issue #262 stays open with deferred ACs (AC1 rename + CLI registration, AC5 `--list`/`--dry-run`, AC3 root-allowlist narrowing + `.gitignore` honoring). γ chooses the next MCA during triage per CDD §1.4 γ-algorithm Phase 4.

**β's ranked view** (non-binding, in case useful):

1. **#266 — dist-rebase-race MCA.** Unblocks every future packaging-adjacent cycle. Hit twice in this one. Highest leverage.
2. **#262 AC1+AC5** (`cn pack` rename + `--list`/`--dry-run`). User-facing CLI surface; needs `eng/ux-cli` tier-3 skill. Small slice; can run parallel to #266.
3. **#262 B1/AC3 narrowing + `.gitignore`.** Requires first migrating `AGENTS.md` / `HEARTBEAT.md` / `TOOLS.md` / `lib.sh` into content-class dirs — that migration is a prerequisite design pass, not a direct coding slice.

### Closure evidence (CDD §10)

**Immediate outputs executed this session:**

- [x] Review rounds 1–3 posted to PR #265 (comments, shared-identity degradation documented inline)
- [x] PR #265 squash-merged to main as `9a1c7df`
- [x] Merged remote branch cleanup **attempted** — transport error; deferred to γ per γ-algorithm Phase 5 step 14
- [x] L7 MCA candidate filed as **#266** ("CDD process: committed dist/ + main-side package edits = merge race")
- [x] β close-out committed to `.cdd/unreleased/beta/265.md` on main (this file)

**Deferred outputs committed concretely:**

- [x] **Next MCA for issue #262** — owner: γ to dispatch; target branch: TBD by γ; first AC to close: γ's choice between AC1 rename or B1 migration-prerequisite design pass. MCI freeze state: not frozen (no prior commitment forces it; β's non-binding ranking above).
- [x] **Next MCA for #266** — owner: γ to dispatch (α implementation; likely needs a design doc first per the AC1 in the filed issue). Gating: β recommends filing before the next packaging-adjacent PR opens to prevent race recurrence.
- [ ] **Hub memory writes** — daily reflection + adhoc thread update. **Not done in this session.** β session is ending at close-out per CDD §1.4 β algorithm step 11; hub memory is γ's Phase 5 item 13. Flagging here so γ closes the loop.

**Closure gate check (post-release/SKILL.md pre-publish gate, applicable subset):**

- [x] §1 coherence measurement — implicit in cycle summary + findings; not a tagged release, no CHANGELOG TSC row
- [x] §9.1 Cycle Iteration present (triggers fired)
- [x] §9.1 root cause named (system-level race class)
- [x] §9.1 disposition named (MCA filed as #266)
- [x] §9.1 evidence linked (commits, PR, issue)
- [x] §9.1 cycle level stated (L6)
- [x] All findings have severity + type
- [x] Verdict before details (β round 3: APPROVED)
- [x] Merge instruction named the PR + branch + action

**Not applicable (not a tagged release):**

- CHANGELOG TSC row update
- `POST-RELEASE-ASSESSMENT.md` file at `docs/gamma/cdd/<version>/` (post-release/SKILL.md keys off `git tag`, not every merge; this cycle is unreleased, awaiting next tagged release's γ triage to roll up)
- RELEASE.md / tag / release asset

---

Signed: β (beta@cdd.cnos) · 2026-04-24 · merge commit `9a1c7df` · close-out commit _(pending commit to main)_ · no release tag (partial substantial feature, ships unreleased into next tagged release) · filed issue #266 during close-out
