# Effect-prose documentation-honesty tidy — Implementation Plan

> **Parent:** no spec — this is a **tidy iteration** (documentation
> drift correction). Scope authority is the `docs/roadmap.md` P2
> `[~] [todo]` "DESIGN.md effect-prose is fiction" (split out
> 2026-05-16 from the retired effect-op-arg-modes bundle). Facts
> triple-verified by three prior `ailang-grounding-check` PASSes;
> exact byte sites mapped by `ailang-plan-recon` 2026-05-16.
>
> **For agentic workers:** REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: use `skills/implement`
> to run this plan. Steps use `- [ ]` checkboxes.

**Goal:** Make three false effect-system claims in the project's
documentation true, in lockstep with their two satellite mentions,
guarded by one new doc-presence pin. No language, checker, or
codegen change.

**Architecture:** Pure documentation edits across four files
(`docs/DESIGN.md`, `crates/ailang-core/src/ast.rs` doc-comment,
`crates/ailang-core/specs/form_a.md`, `crates/ail/src/main.rs`
internal CONTRACT string) plus one new regression pin
(`crates/ailang-core/tests/effect_doc_honesty_pin.rs`). Recon
confirmed no existing drift/coverage test scans the effect-prose
region, so the only RED risk is the new pin, by construction; it is
authored first (TDD: RED before the corrections, GREEN after).

**Tech Stack:** `ailang-core` (doc-comment + form_a.md + the new
integration test), `ail` (main.rs CONTRACT string), `docs/DESIGN.md`.

---

## Files this plan creates or modifies

- Create: `crates/ailang-core/tests/effect_doc_honesty_pin.rs` — one
  test asserting corrected strings present + false strings absent
  across the four edited files.
- Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md:171-173` — Decision 3 effect-row + Diverge
  claims.
- Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md:2722` — "What is not (yet) supported"
  Diverge fragment.
- Modify: `crates/ailang-core/src/ast.rs:438-439` — `Term::Do`
  doc-comment.
- Modify: `crates/ailang-core/specs/form_a.md:226` and `:356-358` —
  the two Diverge mentions.
- Modify: `crates/ail/src/main.rs:288-290` — merge-prose CONTRACT
  effect-annotation example.

---

## Task 1: The doc-presence pin (RED first)

**Files:**
- Create: `crates/ailang-core/tests/effect_doc_honesty_pin.rs`

- [ ] **Step 1: Write the pin**

Robust-substring strategy (single-line fragments only — no
cross-line-wrap matches; the iter-revert journal documented that a
wrap-spanning grep fragment silently mismatches). Each of the four
files is read at runtime via `CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR`-relative paths
(the pattern the F1/F4 sibling `design_schema_drift.rs:434-449`
uses).

```rust
//! Regression pin: the effect-system documentation must stay true.
//!
//! Three load-bearing effect claims were fiction until the
//! 2026-05-16 effect-doc-honesty tidy: a non-existent
//! row-polymorphic effect row, `Diverge` advertised as a wired-up
//! built-in op (zero code in any crate), and a `Term::Do`
//! doc-comment naming a non-existent link-time effect-handler
//! table. This pin fails if any of the fiction strings reappears
//! or any corrected anchor is dropped.

use std::fs;

fn read(rel: &str) -> String {
    let p = concat!(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/../../");
    fs::read_to_string(format!("{p}{rel}"))
        .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("read {rel}: {e}"))
}

#[test]
fn design_md_effect_prose_is_true() {
    let d = read("docs/DESIGN.md");
    // fiction absent
    assert!(!d.contains("row-polymorphic"),
        "DESIGN.md: the effect row is NOT row-polymorphic (no EffectRow / row var exists)");
    assert!(!d.contains("`IO` and `Diverge` (for infinite"),
        "DESIGN.md: `Diverge` is not a wired-up MVP effect");
    assert!(!d.contains("the built-in IO and Diverge ops"),
        "DESIGN.md §What-is-not-supported: there is no built-in Diverge op");
    // corrected anchors present
    assert!(d.contains("flat, unordered, closed set of effect names"),
        "DESIGN.md Decision 3 must describe the real (flat set-equality) effect model");
    assert!(d.contains("`Diverge` (for non-termination) is reserved"),
        "DESIGN.md Decision 3 must state Diverge is reserved/unimplemented");
}

#[test]
fn term_do_doc_comment_is_true() {
    let a = read("crates/ailang-core/src/ast.rs");
    assert!(!a.contains("resolved against the effect-handler table at link time"),
        "ast.rs Term::Do: there is no effect-handler table and no link-time resolution");
    assert!(a.contains("resolved at typecheck against `Env::effect_ops`"),
        "ast.rs Term::Do doc must describe the real resolution mechanism");
}

#[test]
fn form_a_spec_effect_names_are_true() {
    let f = read("crates/ailang-core/specs/form_a.md");
    assert!(!f.contains("`Diverge` for `diverge/*`"),
        "form_a.md: there is no `diverge/*` op namespace");
    assert!(!f.contains("currently `IO` and `Diverge`"),
        "form_a.md: `Diverge` is reserved, not a currently-usable effect");
    assert!(f.contains("The only built-in effect op is `io/print_str`"),
        "form_a.md rule 3 must name the real single built-in effect op");
}

#[test]
fn merge_prose_contract_example_is_true() {
    let m = read("crates/ail/src/main.rs");
    assert!(!m.contains("`(effects Diverge)`"),
        "main.rs CONTRACT: do not use a non-existent effect as the example");
}
```

- [ ] **Step 2: Run — expect RED**

Run: `cargo test --workspace -p ailang-core --test effect_doc_honesty_pin`
Expected: FAIL — `design_md_effect_prose_is_true` (and the others)
panic on the still-present fiction strings / still-absent corrected
anchors.

---

## Task 2: `docs/DESIGN.md` corrections

**Files:**
- Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md:170-173`, `docs/DESIGN.md:2722`

- [ ] **Step 1: Decision 3 (lines 170-173)**

Replace exactly:

```
The default is total, pure functions. Effects are declared as a set in the
function type: `(Int) -> Int ![IO]`. The effect set is row-polymorphic
(`![IO | r]`). In the MVP only the effects `IO` and `Diverge` (for infinite
loops) are wired up.
```

with:

```
The default is total, pure functions. Effects are declared as a set in the
function type: `(Int) -> Int ![IO]`. The effect set is a flat, unordered,
closed set of effect names, unified by set-equality — there is no effect
row variable; a signature lists exactly the effects its body may perform.
In the MVP only the effect `IO` is wired up (its sole op is `io/print_str`).
`Diverge` (for non-termination) is reserved as an effect name but is
unimplemented — no op, no codegen, no checker injection — in the same
sense Decision 4 reserves refinements.
```

(Lines 168-169 header/blank and 175-176 stay untouched.)

- [ ] **Step 2: "What is not (yet) supported" (line 2722)**

Replace exactly:

```
- No effect handlers — only the built-in IO and Diverge ops.
```

with:

```
- No effect handlers — only the built-in `IO` op (`io/print_str`).
  `Diverge` is a reserved effect name with no op and no codegen.
```

- [ ] **Step 3: Run the pin — `design_md_effect_prose_is_true` GREEN**

Run: `cargo test --workspace -p ailang-core --test effect_doc_honesty_pin design_md_effect_prose_is_true`
Expected: PASS.

---

## Task 3: `crates/ailang-core/src/ast.rs` `Term::Do` doc-comment

**Files:**
- Modify: `crates/ailang-core/src/ast.rs:438-439`

- [ ] **Step 1: Replace the two doc lines**

Replace exactly:

```
    /// Effect operation invocation (e.g. `do print "hi"`). The `op` is
    /// resolved against the effect-handler table at link time.
```

with:

```
    /// Effect operation invocation (e.g. `do io/print_str "hi"`). The
    /// `op` is resolved at typecheck against `Env::effect_ops` (an
    /// `IndexMap<String, EffectOpSig>`) and lowered by a literal
    /// `match` in codegen (`lower_effect_op`); there is no
    /// effect-handler table and no link-time resolution.
```

(Lines 440-441 — blank `///` and the Iter 14e cross-ref — and the
`Do { ... }` variant body 442-447 stay untouched.)

- [ ] **Step 2: Run the pin — `term_do_doc_comment_is_true` GREEN**

Run: `cargo test --workspace -p ailang-core --test effect_doc_honesty_pin term_do_doc_comment_is_true`
Expected: PASS.

---

## Task 4: `crates/ailang-core/specs/form_a.md` Diverge mentions

**Files:**
- Modify: `crates/ailang-core/specs/form_a.md:226`, `:356-358`

- [ ] **Step 1: Line 226 (valid-effect-name enumeration)**

Replace exactly:

```
`EFFECT-NAME` is a bare identifier — currently `IO` and `Diverge`.
```

with:

```
`EFFECT-NAME` is a bare identifier. The only effect with a built-in
op today is `IO` (op `io/print_str`); `Diverge` is a reserved name
(no op, unimplemented).
```

(Line 227 "Effects are a set; order is irrelevant." stays — and is
now corroborated by the DESIGN.md set-equality wording.)

- [ ] **Step 2: Lines 356-358 (rule 3 op→effect mapping)**

Replace exactly:

```
3. **Effects on side-effecting fns.** A function whose body uses `(do ...)`
   MUST list every effect operation's effect in its `(effects ...)`
   clause. `IO` for `io/print_*`; `Diverge` for `diverge/*`.
```

with:

```
3. **Effects on side-effecting fns.** A function whose body uses `(do ...)`
   MUST list every effect operation's effect in its `(effects ...)`
   clause. The only built-in effect op is `io/print_str`, whose
   effect is `IO`.
```

- [ ] **Step 3: Run the pin — `form_a_spec_effect_names_are_true` GREEN**

Run: `cargo test --workspace -p ailang-core --test effect_doc_honesty_pin form_a_spec_effect_names_are_true`
Expected: PASS.

---

## Task 5: `crates/ail/src/main.rs` merge-prose CONTRACT example

**Files:**
- Modify: `crates/ail/src/main.rs:288-290`

- [ ] **Step 1: Replace the effect-annotation bullet**

Replace exactly:

```
  - Effect annotations on return types (`(effects IO)`,
    `(effects Diverge)`). Prose shows these as `with IO` etc.; if
    uncertain, keep what the original had.
```

with:

```
  - Effect annotations on return types (e.g. `(effects IO)`).
    Prose shows these as `with IO` etc.; if uncertain, keep what
    the original had.
```

- [ ] **Step 2: Run the pin — `merge_prose_contract_example_is_true` GREEN**

Run: `cargo test --workspace -p ail --test effect_doc_honesty_pin merge_prose_contract_example_is_true`

(Note: the pin is an `ailang-core` integration test; run the whole
pin here.)

Run: `cargo test --workspace -p ailang-core --test effect_doc_honesty_pin`
Expected: PASS (all four tests).

---

## Task 6: Full verification

- [ ] **Step 1: Whole pin GREEN**

Run: `cargo test --workspace -p ailang-core --test effect_doc_honesty_pin`
Expected: PASS — 4/4.

- [ ] **Step 2: No collateral drift**

Run: `cargo test --workspace`
Expected: PASS — the prior green count + 4 new pin tests; in
particular `design_schema_drift.rs`, `spec_drift.rs`,
`schema_coverage.rs` stay green (recon confirmed none scans the
effect-prose region; this step proves it empirically).

- [ ] **Step 3: Build sanity (no behavioural change)**

Run: `cargo build --workspace`
Expected: clean. No codegen / checker code was touched — `ail check`
/ `ail run` behaviour is byte-unchanged by construction (doc-comment
+ markdown + an internal guidance string only).

---

## Self-review (planner Step 5, inline)

1. **Scope coverage:** every roadmap-`[todo]` clause (a)/(b)/(c) +
   form_a.md ×2 + main.rs + guard test has a task. ✓
2. **Placeholder scan:** no "TBD"/"TODO"/"similar to"/"appropriate";
   every code-changing step carries exact before→after text. ✓
3. **Type/string consistency:** the pin's asserted corrected
   substrings (`"flat, unordered, closed set of effect names"`,
   `` "`Diverge` (for non-termination) is reserved" ``,
   `"resolved at typecheck against `Env::effect_ops`"`,
   `"The only built-in effect op is `io/print_str`"`) appear
   verbatim in the Task 2/3/4 replacement bodies; the asserted
   absent substrings (`"row-polymorphic"`,
   `"the built-in IO and Diverge ops"`,
   `"resolved against the effect-handler table at link time"`,
   `` "`Diverge` for `diverge/*`" ``, `"currently `IO` and `Diverge`"`,
   `` "`(effects Diverge)`" ``) are exactly the strings removed.
   Cross-checked task-by-task. ✓
4. **Step granularity:** every step is one edit or one command,
   2-5 min. ✓
5. **No commit steps.** ✓ (Boss commits the whole tidy.)
6. **Line-wrap robustness:** every pin substring is single-line
   (no `\n`-spanning fragment) — the documented iter-revert
   grep-wrap failure mode is avoided. ✓