---
cycle: 365
role: beta
issue: "https://github.com/usurobor/cnos/issues/365"
date: "2026-05-15"
merge_sha: "cbb8848b"
verdict_sha: "8810e4a5"
sections:
  planned: [Review Summary, Implementation Assessment, Technical Review, Process Observations, Release Notes]
  completed: [Review Summary, Implementation Assessment, Technical Review, Process Observations, Release Notes]
---

# β Close-out — #365

## Review Summary

**Verdict:** APPROVED at R2 (after R1 REQUEST CHANGES on F1).
**Merge:** `cbb8848bc774d2c549ff04f4b0b021b6428ca308` — `--no-ff` merge of `cycle/365` into `main` with `Closes #365`. Author `beta@cdd.cnos`, pushed to `origin/main`.
**Cycle SHA at R2 verdict:** `8810e4a5` (β R2 verdict append, on top of γ's F1 fix `c3a48741`, on top of δ's recovery commit `35e93c09`, on top of α's last self-coherence commit `d5561963`).
**Base SHA:** `16aaef89` (`release: 3.76.0`) — `origin/main` was static across the entire cycle. R1 and R2 both re-fetched synchronously per `beta/SKILL.md` Role Rule 1 §re-fetch; SHA recorded in each round header.

The cycle ships a single-line cutoff bump in `cn-cdd-verify` (`is_legacy_version`'s comparison from `minor < 65` → `minor < 77`), three new boundary tests (29 → 39 assertions in `test-cn-cdd-verify.sh`), a comment-block rewrite at the helper that names the cutoff explicitly, a `CHANGELOG.md ## Unreleased` bullet, a pure-rename of test fixtures from `3.75.0` → `3.78.0` so the strict-side fixture sits post-cutoff, plus the standard γ/α/β CDD artifacts. R1 found one B-tier ci-status issue (F1, pre-existing red I4 lychee link unrelated to α's #365 surface); γ resolved it on the cycle branch as `c3a48741` (cherry-pick of σ's `76fb7780`). R2 confirmed Build green on the new head and merged.

## Implementation Assessment

α's chosen approach was the simpler of two γ-scaffolded options: one cutoff bump in one helper, rather than a per-artifact era-policy refactor. The KISS choice is defensible — the per-artifact policy would have been the only way to preserve "v3.74 strict" (since v3.74.0 cycle 327 has all required artifacts, the semantic shift to "v3.74 legacy" is invisible today), but every other behavior the issue actually names is preserved by the simpler shape, and the helper retains its one-reason-to-change posture.

Three craft observations worth recording:

1. **Comment / code coherence in one diff.** α didn't just bump the cutoff — the comment block above `is_legacy_version` was rewritten in the same commit (`1b7e77a1`) to name the new cutoff (v3.77.0), the specific artifacts covered, and the rationale ("not required when those cycles shipped"). The previous comment named `v3.65.0 (epoch threshold)` and `3.74.0`, which would have been stale within minutes of the bump. Pairing the comment update with the code change in the same commit prevents the "I forgot to update the comment" failure mode that AC4 was scaffolded to catch.

2. **Boundary tests as a pair, not a triple.** Tests 11/12/13 form a 3-cycle boundary: v3.75.0 missing artifact → warn (test 11), v3.76.0 missing CDD-Trace → warn (test 12), v3.77.0 missing close-outs → fail (test 13). The pair pattern (positive/negative either side of the cutoff) is the right shape for a regression pin: any future cutoff drift that breaks either side fires test 13, and the assertion line is short enough to be honest about what it pins. Test 13's three assertions (exit-1, `❌ alpha-closeout.md`, `❌ gamma-closeout.md`) match the wire-format users see on real failures, not a synthetic substring.

3. **Test fixture relocated, not invented.** The `incomplete-triadic` fixture at `3.75.0/200/` was the prior strict-path proof; α renamed (R100) it to `3.78.0/200/` rather than creating a new post-cutoff fixture. This keeps `test-fixtures.sh` invariant (the test still names the existence of the fixture path, not the version literal) while moving the proof's era to a still-strict era. Renaming the existing fixture rather than fork-and-modify keeps the diff readable and the fixture set small.

α's §Debt is bounded and useful: item 1 names the validator's still-emitted `expected .cdd/unreleased/$issue_num/` message even for released cycles (β observation N1 — pre-existing A-tier polish, not introduced by #365); item 2 names the `## CDD Trace` vs `## CDD-Trace` slug-drift between `alpha/SKILL.md` and the validator's grep, which α resolved within #365 scope by using the validator-compatible space form (β observation N3 — future cycle worth opening for γ at PRA).

## Technical Review

| Check | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Contract integrity (β-review §2.0.0) | 11/11 pass |
| AC coverage (β-review §2.0) | 6/6 Met (AC1 "in part" wording — job-level I6 green, Build-overall flipped at R2 once F1 resolved) |
| Named doc updates | `cn-cdd-verify` + `test-cn-cdd-verify.sh` + `CHANGELOG.md` + fixture rename + γ-authored `c3a48741` to `.cdd/releases/3.75.0/360/beta-closeout.md:54` |
| γ artifact gate (3.11b on this cycle) | pass — `gamma-scaffold.md` commit `4fa0bd05` |
| Honest-claim (3.13) | α's three quoted measurements (`cn-cdd-verify --all` 281/0/147, `test-cn-cdd-verify.sh` 39/39, baseline 87/426) all reproduced; caller-path claims (`build.yml:269`, `test-fixtures.sh:272`) verified by grep; peer enumeration (single cutoff site) verified |
| Architecture (review/architecture/SKILL.md) | 7/7 pass (validator-script surface; one reason to change preserved; degraded path = warn path, tested both sides) |
| CI gate (rule 3.10) | green at R2 — `Build` `conclusion=success` on review SHA `c3a48741` (run `25908336816`); all 9 jobs green including I4 (resolved F1) and I6 (the target this cycle aimed at) |
| Pre-merge gate (β/SKILL.md) | R2 rows 1–4 all pass; merge tree clean, no conflicts; `cn-cdd-verify --all` on merge tree → `282 passed, 0 failed, 136 warnings (418 total)`; `test-cn-cdd-verify.sh` on merge tree → `39 passed, 0 failed` |

## Process Observations

1. **F1 fix authorship preserved β independence.** R1's F1 (pre-existing I4 lychee stale link in `.cdd/releases/3.75.0/360/beta-closeout.md:54`) is interesting because the broken file is from cycle 360 (v3.75.0), not from α's #365 surface. R1's recommendation explicitly named γ-files-a-tracking-issue (path b) and on-cycle-branch fix (path a) as alternatives. The disposition that actually shipped was path a, with γ as author (cherry-pick of σ's `76fb7780` as `c3a48741`). This preserves β/SKILL.md Role Rule 1 ("β does not author the fix it judges") — γ landed the fix, not β — and also preserves the right authorship by content: α had no business authoring a fix to a cycle-360 artifact unrelated to #365's implementation surface. The rule's spirit (separate the reviewer from the author of the patched surface) was honored even though the fix-author was γ rather than α.

2. **Pre-existing red CI was not a phantom blocker.** F1's classification mattered: the I4 failure was *real* (the link was actually broken) and *pre-existing* (Build red on `origin/main@16aaef89`, the base SHA). Rule 3.5 (no phantom blockers) does not apply here — phantom means "red on grounds unrelated to the change *and* not actually broken in any way that matters." Rule 3.10 (CI-green-on-review-SHA) is binding regardless of whether the red is pre-existing. β's R1 correctly named this as a hard gate, not a phantom-dismissable nuisance: a real-broken-link on main is the kind of thing that surfaces in the cycle that next pushes a SHA past it, and that cycle is the right place to fix it. Naming F1 prevented "approve and let it linger" — and the fix shipped the same R2 turn.

3. **R1 → R2 latency was one git fetch.** The R1 → R2 boundary was unusually fast: γ landed the fix on cycle/365 in the gap between R1 and the R2 dispatch, so R2's work was verification (CI re-run, merge-test re-run, identity-and-freshness checks), not re-review of changed implementation surface. α's #365 implementation surface did not change between R1 and R2 — only `.cdd/releases/3.75.0/360/beta-closeout.md` did. R2 explicitly recorded this in §Findings disposition so γ's PRA can audit that the R1 findings carry over cleanly (N1, N2, N3 remained as observations; F1 closed; no new findings introduced). The cycle's R-round count is honest: R1 RC + R2 APPROVED = two rounds, both committed to `beta-review.md` via the append-only manifest discipline.

## Release Notes

- **Surface changed:** `src/packages/cnos.cdd/commands/cdd-verify/cn-cdd-verify` (cutoff `minor < 65` → `minor < 77` + comment block rewrite + two warn-string updates; 23 lines).
- **Test surface:** `src/packages/cnos.cdd/commands/cdd-verify/test-cn-cdd-verify.sh` (+133 lines, three new boundary tests, two new fixture writers; assertion count 29 → 39).
- **Fixture relocation:** `src/packages/cnos.cdd/commands/cdd-verify/test/fixtures/incomplete-triadic/.cdd/releases/{3.75.0 ⇒ 3.78.0}/200/` (pure path rename, no content change; relocates the strict-path proof to a post-cutoff era).
- **Operational effect:** CI's I6 job is now green on every branch (no longer blocks any push). v3.75.0 / v3.76.0 era cycles missing `alpha-closeout.md` / `gamma-closeout.md` / `## CDD Trace` warn instead of fail. v3.77.0+ remains strict. `.cdd/unreleased/{N}/` remains strict at all eras.
- **Doc surface:** `CHANGELOG.md` `## Unreleased` bullet referencing #365, the cutoff change, the comment/code drift repair, and the strict/warn split.
- **Incidental fix:** `.cdd/releases/3.75.0/360/beta-closeout.md:54` link path corrected from `../../../src/...` to `../../../../src/...` (resolves to repo-root `src/packages/cnos.cdd/skills/cdd/beta/SKILL.md`); shipped as part of this cycle to clear pre-existing I4 red on `origin/main@16aaef89`.
- **Non-goals respected:** no retro-authoring of v3.75/v3.76 close-outs, no change to current-era requirements, no rewrite of exception flow.
- **Follow-ups (γ PRA candidates):** N1 (validator's `.cdd/unreleased/` text emitted for released-cycle warnings — A-tier polish, pre-existing); N3 (`## CDD Trace` vs `## CDD-Trace` slug drift between `alpha/SKILL.md` and validator grep — bounded but worth a future small cycle); N2 (v3.74.0 semantic shift from strict → legacy with no observable behavior change today).
