# audit-cma — Milestone close: Cross-model authoring-form test

**Date:** 2026-05-12
**Milestone:** Cross-model authoring-form test (cma.1 + cma.2 + cma.3)
**Status:** Closed, clean (after two `[low]` tidy fixes)

## Architect drift review

`ailang-architect` reported `drift_found` with two items over
`44c6e56..HEAD`:

- `[low]` `docs/journals/INDEX.md` — commit `90512d5` ("brainstorm
  Step 7.5 re-dispatch on any post-PASS spec edit") removed the
  corresponding P1 todo from roadmap.md but did not add an INDEX
  mirror. CLAUDE.md's roadmap convention requires a one-line mirror
  in the journals when a roadmap entry is removed.
- `[low]` `experiments/.../README.md` — the "Total 8 passed" sentence
  inherited from the cma.2 plan understates the actual harness
  test sweep (13 passed across `--lib` unit + 4 integration suites).
  Surface cosmetic; flagged in cma.3 known-debt.

Both items confined to record-keeping, neither blocks milestone
close. Architect recommendation: carry on as planned.

## Tidy fixes (boss-direct, inline)

1. **INDEX backfill for `90512d5`.** Added a single-line entry in
   `docs/journals/INDEX.md` pointing at the commit and noting that
   no per-iter journal accompanies it (a small skill-discipline
   tweak rather than an iter). The format mirrors existing entries
   so future agents can navigate from INDEX to the commit history
   without reconstructing.

2. **README test-count correction.** The five-suite layout under
   `experiments/2026-05-12-cross-model-authoring/README.md`'s
   "Running the harness" section now lists all five suites
   explicitly (inline `--lib` unit tests for strip_locations, plus
   the four integration files) and reports the correct total
   (13 passed).

Both edits are ≤30 LOC and require no design judgement (CLAUDE.md
"trivial mechanical edits" carve-out); no planner+implement
dispatch needed.

## Bench-regression check

`bench/check.py && bench/compile_check.py && bench/cross_lang.py`:

- `check.py`: exit 0; **63 metrics; 0 regressed, 5 improved beyond
  tolerance, 58 stable**.
- `compile_check.py`: exit 0; 24 metrics; 0 regressed, 0 improved
  beyond tolerance, 24 stable.
- `cross_lang.py`: exit 0; 25 metrics; 0 regressed, 0 improved
  beyond tolerance, 25 stable.

All three exit-code gates green. The five improvements on
`check.py` cluster on `latency.explicit_at_rc` (p99 -36.5%, p99_9
-41.8%, max -41.7%, p99_over_median -38.0%) plus
`throughput.bench_list_sum.gc_over_bump` -8.7%.

**Decision: no baseline update (carry-on).** Rationale:

- The cma milestone touched no in-workspace crate. Every line of
  code change lives under `experiments/2026-05-12-cross-model-authoring/`
  which is out of the root Cargo workspace by design. No mechanism
  in the milestone could plausibly improve runtime latency or
  GC-over-bump throughput.
- The improvements therefore reflect either (a) runtime variance
  / scheduler / clang version drift between the prior audit-rt
  baseline measurement and now, or (b) genuine system-level
  improvement uncorrelated with the milestone.
- Ratifying an unexplained improvement would lock it into the
  baseline and lose the ability to detect a future regression
  back to the prior level. Better to leave the baseline pristine;
  if the improvement holds across the next two or three audits,
  the next audit can ratify with confidence.
- This is the audit-rt pattern carried forward: don't ratify what
  the milestone didn't intentionally move.

## Spec acceptance criteria — final check

Reviewing the parent spec `docs/specs/2026-05-12-cross-model-authoring-form-test.md`
§"Acceptance criteria" against landed work:

1. ✓ Directory `experiments/2026-05-12-cross-model-authoring/`
   exists with all four sub-components (master/, render/, harness/,
   runs/) plus top-level README. (cma.1 + cma.2)
2. ✓ `master/spec.md` is vollumfänglich; `spec_completeness.rs`
   gate green; 34/34 AST variants covered by the curated subset.
   (cma.1)
3. ✓ Both `rendered/json.md` and `rendered/ailx.md` are checked
   in; all `render/` tests green. (cma.1)
4. ✓ `harness/` builds, passes 13/13 tests including the
   mock_full_run end-to-end. (cma.2)
5. ✓ Four task definitions + reference solutions exist; the
   `verify_references` integration test confirms each reaches
   green through the real ail+clang pipeline locally. (cma.2)
6. ✓ Live run executed against IONOS (Qwen3-Coder-Next,
   temperature=0, top_p=1, max-turns=5) and recorded under
   `runs/2026-05-12-df7531/` with RUN_STATUS=ok, full per-turn raw
   artefacts for all eight (cohort × task) combinations,
   scores.csv, and summary.md. (cma.3)
7. ✓ DESIGN.md §"Decision 6" gained an "Empirical addendum
   (2026-05-12)" subsection — 27 lines, model id + run date +
   per-cohort means table + illustrative t3 contrast + explicit
   scope note deferring the universal claim to a multi-subject
   expansion. (cma.3)
8. ✓ Journal entry `2026-05-12-iter-cma.3.md` linked from
   INDEX.md summarises the data point. (cma.3)
9. ✓ Roadmap P2 entry removed; P3 entry "Multi-subject expansion
   (cross-model authoring-form follow-up)" added pointing at the
   run as baseline. (cma.3)

All nine criteria green.

## Outcome

Milestone closed clean after the two record-keeping tidies above.
The cross-model authoring-form test ships its harness, four MVP
tasks with verified reference solutions, a single-subject baseline
dataset, and a calibrated DESIGN.md addendum. The next step
(P3 roadmap: multi-subject expansion) is queued but not started.
