manual_slop/conductor/tracks/metadata_ssdl_defusing_20260624/plan.md

Campaign Plan: metadata_ssdl_defusing_20260624

3-child campaign executed sequentially with budget gates. The umbrella plan is intentionally minimal — each child has its own plan. The umbrella tracks the campaign-wide coordination only.

Phase 1: Child 1 — Nil Sentinel (metadata_nil_sentinel_20260624)

Focus: Establish the sentinel fallback path. Independent of children 2 and 3.

• Task 1.1: Tier 2 ships child 1 per its own plan.md.
  • See conductor/tracks/metadata_nil_sentinel_20260624/plan.md for the 3-5 tasks.
• Task 1.2: Run the budget gate.
  • uv run python -c "..." to compute the new effective-codepaths number for Metadata.
  • If drop ≥ 10% vs 4.01e22 baseline, proceed to Phase 2.
  • If drop < 10%, PAUSE and report to user.
• Task 1.3: Re-run the full batched test suite.
  • uv run python scripts/run_tests_batched.py → all 11 tiers PASS.
• Task 1.4: Capture the post-child-1 measurement in docs/reports/campaign_measurements_20260624.md (campaign-wide log).

Phase 2: Child 2 — Generational Handle (metadata_generational_handle_20260624)

Focus: Wrap Metadata in (index, generation). BLOCKED_BY Phase 1 (the sentinel is the generation-mismatch fallback).

• Task 2.1: Tier 2 ships child 2 per its own plan.md.
• Task 2.2: Run the budget gate.
  • Re-measure effective-codepaths.
  • If drop ≥ 20% vs post-child-1 measurement, proceed to Phase 3.
  • If drop < 20%, PAUSE and report.
• Task 2.3: Re-run the full batched test suite.
• Task 2.4: Append the post-child-2 measurement to the campaign log.

Phase 3: Child 3 — Field Cache (metadata_field_cache_20260624)

Focus: Add the cache keyed by handle. BLOCKED_BY Phase 2 (the handle provides the stable cache key).

• Task 3.1: Tier 2 ships child 3 per its own plan.md.
• Task 3.2: Run the budget gate.
  • Re-measure effective-codepaths.
  • If drop ≥ 30% vs post-child-2 measurement, proceed to Phase 4.
  • If drop < 30%, PAUSE and report.
• Task 3.3: Re-run the full batched test suite.
• Task 3.4: Append the post-child-3 measurement to the campaign log.

Phase 4: End-of-Campaign Report

Focus: Quantify the cumulative effect.

• Task 4.1: Write docs/reports/TRACK_COMPLETION_metadata_ssdl_defusing_20260624.md.
  • 3 measurements (post-child-1, -2, -3) + the 4.01e22 baseline.
  • Total reduction.
  • The 3 SSDL primitives' locations in src/.
  • Links to each child's TRACK_COMPLETION.
  • Verdict: did the campaign meet its goal? (Y/N + evidence)
• Task 4.2: Update this track's state.toml to status = "completed", current_phase = "complete", all 4 phases completed.
• Task 4.3: Update conductor/tracks.md to add the campaign row + the 3 child rows.

Budget Gate Quick Reference

Child	Expected drop	If drop < threshold, PAUSE and report
1: Nil Sentinel	≥ 10%	Pause; investigate why the 6 nil-checks didn't reduce branch count
2: Generational Handle	≥ 20%	Pause; investigate why lifetime branches didn't collapse
3: Field Cache	≥ 30%	Pause; investigate why cache lookup didn't reduce branch count

The thresholds are conservative estimates. Actual drops may be much larger (the heuristic's 4.01e22 is a worst-case upper bound; real numbers may be smaller by orders of magnitude once the techniques are applied).

Commit Log (Expected, Campaign-Wide)

Commit	Description
(from child 1)	feat(metadata): NIL_METADATA sentinel + 6 nil-check migrations
(from child 1)	test(metadata): behavioral test for nil sentinel
(from child 1)	conductor(state): metadata_nil_sentinel_20260624 SHIPPED
(from child 2)	feat(metadata): generational handle registry
(from child 2)	test(metadata): behavioral test for handle lookup
(from child 2)	conductor(state): metadata_generational_handle_20260624 SHIPPED
(from child 3)	feat(metadata): MetadataFieldCache keyed by handle
(from child 3)	test(metadata): behavioral test for cache hit/miss
(from child 3)	conductor(state): metadata_field_cache_20260624 SHIPPED
(campaign)	docs(reports): TRACK_COMPLETION for metadata_ssdl_defusing_20260624
(campaign)	conductor(state): metadata_ssdl_defusing_20260624 SHIPPED
(campaign)	conductor(tracks): add campaign + 3 child rows

Plus per-task plan-update commits per the workflow.

Verification Commands (run at end of Phase 4)

# VC1: all 3 children SHIPPED
cat conductor/tracks/metadata_nil_sentinel_20260624/state.toml | grep status
cat conductor/tracks/metadata_generational_handle_20260624/state.toml | grep status
cat conductor/tracks/metadata_field_cache_20260624/state.toml | grep status

# VC2: end-of-campaign report
cat docs/reports/TRACK_COMPLETION_metadata_ssdl_defusing_20260624.md

# VC3: full test suite
uv run python scripts/run_tests_batched.py

# VC4: 4 audit gates
uv run python scripts/audit_weak_types.py --strict
uv run python scripts/generate_type_registry.py --check
uv run python scripts/audit_main_thread_imports.py
uv run python scripts/audit_no_models_config_io.py

# VC5: no new top-level src/ files
git diff master..HEAD --stat -- 'src/*.py' | grep -E '\bsrc/[a-z_]+\.py\b' | sort -u

# VC6: behavioral tests
uv run pytest tests/test_metadata_nil_sentinel.py tests/test_metadata_generational_handle.py tests/test_metadata_field_cache.py -v