Agent Recovery Guide

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UNOFFICIAL/EXPERIMENTAL

Use this when a verifier fails or the repo looks stale. Prefer the narrowest repair that matches the failure.

General Pattern

  1. Read the first failure, not the last one.
  2. Identify the owner: manual Markdown, generated data, generated site, proof receipt, command-surface lint, or live evidence.
  3. Regenerate only the owned surface.
  4. Re-run the matching verifier.
  5. Run git diff --check.

Common Failures

FailureMeaningRecovery
Markdown file is in an unexpected locationdocs:verify does not know the directory.Add the directory pattern to scripts/verify-doc-map.mjs only if the location is intentional; then assign every new doc a role in docs/README.md.
docs/README.md does not assign a roleA top-level manual doc is not in the doc map.Add a row for the file in docs/README.md, then run npm run docs:verify.
Broken markdown linkA Markdown link target does not exist from that file's directory.Fix the link target or move the file intentionally; then run npm run docs:verify.
tests/npm-script-catalog.* is stalepackage.json scripts changed.Run npm run npm-scripts:catalog, then npm run npm-scripts:catalog:verify.
site/... is staleGenerated public site output does not match the generator and data.Only if website work was requested: run HELM_EXPT_SITE_GENERATED_AT="$(cat site/generated-at.txt)" npm run site:generate, then npm run site:verify and npm run site:ux:verify.
data/README.md is stale or CSV index staleGenerated data index does not match data/.Run npm run data:index, then npm run data:index:verify.
helm-render-intents output is staleRender-intent YAML/CSV/JSON no longer matches matrix or lifecycle data.Run npm run helm-render-intents, then npm run helm-render-intents:verify.
Matrix output is staleThe master matrix no longer matches source data.Run npm run master-matrix, then npm run master-matrix:verify.
Command-surface verifier rejects an exampleA doc uses stale cub syntax or planned syntax without saying it is planned.Fix the example or mark planned/future syntax clearly; re-run the command-surface verifier.
git diff --check reports trailing whitespaceA generated or manual file has whitespace errors.Fix the source generator if many generated files are affected; fix the manual file directly if only manual docs changed.

When Not To Regenerate

Do not regenerate a broad surface just because it is nearby. Examples:

Live-Lane Recovery

If a live run fails:

  1. Preserve logs and receipts under the run directory.
  2. Check whether the failure is a target prerequisite, remote image, runtime health, controller health, model gap, or infrastructure block.
  3. Use the generated rerun/action surfaces before retrying:
    • data/live-parity-rerun-plan/summary.md
    • data/target-prerequisite-actions/summary.md
    • data/model-prereq-resolution/summary.md
    • data/live-run-blocks/summary.md
  4. Do not edit prose to turn a row green.

Escalate To The Broad Gate

Run npm run verify after focused checks pass when: