Implements the three efficiency findings from the #310 pipeline
measurement (refs #35): ~691k subagent tokens / ~3.5 h for a
deliberately small cycle, with recon duplication as the single
biggest obligatory per-cycle cost.
1. Cycle recon (pipeline.md § Cycle recon; specify, planner,
brainstorm, boss, plan-recon): recon fan-out is budgeted per
cycle, not per phase. One full plan-recon dispatch — normally
specify Step 1, in a new pre-spec sources/recon_scope carrier
form — serves both the spec's concrete code shapes and the
plan's file-map. planner Step 2 becomes reuse-first (freshness /
quotability / coverage conditions) with narrowly-bounded delta
dispatches (new Delta dispatch contract in plan-recon.md);
broad Explore-type grounding sweeps are banned in every mode.
Field evidence: 151k (Explore) + 99k (plan-recon) with ~40 %
overlap in one bounded cycle.
2. Fieldtest probe tier (fieldtest, fieldtester, pipeline.md,
agent-template.md § model rule 2): a cycle whose user-visible
delta is a single narrow axis dispatches the per-cycle
fieldtest at tier: probe — 1-2 examples on exactly that axis,
~200-word report, explicit model:sonnet dispatch override (no
dispatch-level effort override exists; frontmatter effort
applies). Probe is a tier, not a skip; the milestone fieldtest
always runs full tier on the frontmatter model, keeping the
milestone-close gate's >=2-example floor unconditional.
3. Assumption economy (specify Step 3 + self-review item 6):
grounding-check cost scales with the spec's assumption count,
so specs state current-behaviour claims only where the change
relies on them (the gate's own falsity test), demote
context-only mentions to ledger citations, and keep iteration
scope tight — fewer restatements, never fewer reliances. The
gate itself is unchanged.
Design reviewed pre-implementation (opus plan review); diff
adversarially verified by a 3-lens review workflow (consistency,
operability, cross-reference), confirmed findings folded in.
refs #35
claude
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