# 🚨 Escalation Log

Blocked-WP entries per the anti-guessing rule (AGENTS.md sec. 4). An agent stops and writes an entry here — then waits for a principal decision — when any of these occur:

1. A gate fails after **two** documented assumption iterations (each iteration = a recorded ASSUMPTIONS.md revision plus a re-run).
2. Answering a question would require a denylisted source. Never resolve an ambiguity by looking at the reference implementation.
3. A WP's roadmap spec conflicts with the technical specification, or the specification conflicts with the papers.
4. A change would require altering a frozen golden.
5. A run would exceed 4 GPU-hours and is not already marked [PRINCIPAL].

Escalation is success, not failure: this log plus the assumption register is the research output a from-code port could never produce.

## 🧾 Entry template

```markdown
## <date> — WP-<NNN> <slug>

- **Symptom**:
- **Hypotheses tried** (with ASSUMPTIONS.md revision ids):
- **Sources consulted** (allowlisted only):
- **Decision requested**:
- **Resolution** (filled by the principal):
```

## 📌 Entries

## 2026-09-03 — WP-154b the composition centre moves a frozen golden

- **Symptom**: [WP-154b](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-154b/) changes `AffineParams.matrix`'s composition centre from `(W/2, H/2)` to `((W-1)/2, (H-1)/2)`, the convention `fuse-augmentations` composes about. `goldens/frozen/0.6/aug_invariants.json` — a pure-code frozen golden written by the v0.6.0 release commit `22739e1` — pins five metrics the change moves past their tolerance: `affine_image_mean` 0.5565 → 0.5542 (tol 0.002), `affine_bbox_coord_sum` 121.3428 → 121.9856 (tol 0.05), `affine_polygon_area` 276.7792 → 277.6373 (tol 0.5), `fused_image_mean` 0.5529 → 0.5506 (tol 0.002), `fused_bbox_coord_sum` 91.0071 → 91.4892 (tol 0.05). Every hook, every one of 2543 unit tests and the other 35 goldens are green; the three residual pytest failures (`scripts/_tests/test_check_goldens.py::test_real_goldens_pass`, `::test_main_exit_code_zero_on_real_goldens`, the `check_all` doctest) all assert "every real golden passes" and resolve with this one file. This is trigger 4: the row cannot be both gate-green and frozen-golden-clean.
- **Hypotheses tried** (with ASSUMPTIONS.md revision ids): none — this is not an ambiguity to iterate on. The delta is fully traced rather than guessed: re-running `aug_invariants` with the centre reverted (and nothing else) reproduces all fifteen stored values bit-exactly, so the whole movement is the centre and there is no second cause to look for. `mixup_image_mean` (-0.0009) and `rotated_rbox_area` (-0.0001) move within tolerance from the same cause; every mirror-independent metric is unchanged, the mirror axis not being exercised by this producer.
- **Sources consulted** (allowlisted only): `docs/ENGINEERING_LOG.md` [WP-154b](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-154b/) and WP-155b scope entries, `docs/ROADMAP.md` Phase 14 preamble, AGENTS.md sec. 4 and sec. 7, the [WP-132](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-132/) and [WP-154](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-154/) removals of generator-derived frozen goldens.
- **Decision requested**: which of three, noting that the ruling covers the phase and not only this row — WP-155b plans to measure the letterbox resampling delta "against the 0.6 frozen goldens" and re-freeze what moves, and the metrics it will move (`letterbox_image_mean`, `letterbox_pad_fraction`, the fused pair) live in this same file.
    1. **Remove `goldens/frozen/0.6/aug_invariants.json`**, on the [WP-132](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-132/)/WP-154 precedent. Different in kind from that precedent: those two were generator-derived and could never again be satisfied by any code change, whereas this one is pure-code and would be satisfiable by any release that did not deliberately give up the convention. Recoverable in history; costs a real regression guard for one release.
    2. **Update its five values in place**, which sec. 7 forbids outright and which makes "current code still satisfies every value a past release pinned" mean something weaker than it does today.
    3. **Re-scope**: hold [WP-154b](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-154b/) until 0.7 is released and freeze the new convention there, leaving 0.6 untouched — which blocks every remaining Phase 14 row, all of which depend on 154b.
- **Resolution** (filled by the principal): Overriding AGENTS.md §7's standing prohibition on modifying a frozen golden, for this one file, on record — the values are updated in place rather than the file removed. `goldens/frozen/0.6/aug_invariants.json`'s seven traced metrics (the five past tolerance plus `mixup_image_mean` and `rotated_rbox_area`, both moved within tolerance from the same cause) now match the live `goldens/aug_invariants.json` exactly. Presented with the removal alternative (same mechanism as [WP-132](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-132/)/WP-154, no rule override needed) and chose the override instead.

## 2026-09-03 — WP-155 the letterbox resample moves the same frozen golden again

- **Symptom**: [WP-155](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-155/) delegates `Letterbox`'s resize-and-pad to `fuse-augmentations`, replacing an antialiased bilinear `F.interpolate` plus `F.pad` with one `grid_sample` from the source canvas to the letterboxed one. Geometry is bit-unchanged — `letterbox_pad_fraction` holds at `0.4`, every coordinate round-trip case passes, `goldens/data_checksums.json` does not move — and exactly one image-derived value moves: `letterbox_image_mean` 0.5024 → 0.4994 against a 0.002 tolerance, in the live `goldens/aug_invariants.json` and in `goldens/frozen/0.6/aug_invariants.json`. 34 of 36 goldens pass; the two failures are that one metric in those two files. This is trigger 4 again, on the same frozen file [WP-154b](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-154b/) overrode eight commits ago, whose resolution was recorded as one dated exception and explicitly not a precedent.
- **Hypotheses tried** (with ASSUMPTIONS.md revision ids): the delta is measured rather than assumed, and one alternative was tested rather than argued. Upstream's opt-in `antialias=True` was enabled and the producer re-run: the metric stays at 0.4994, the Gaussian mipmap prefilter not engaging at this producer's downscale, so recovering the old pixels is not available short of keeping the local implementation. A32 is revised in this change (non-antialiased resampling widens from the train path's deviation to the whole pipeline's filter) rather than contradicted.
- **Sources consulted** (allowlisted only): the installed `fuse_augmentations` 0.12.0.dev0 source (`affine/matrix.py`, `affine/segment.py`, `targets.py`, `factories.py`, `pipeline.py`), `docs/ENGINEERING_LOG.md` [WP-155](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-155/) and WP-155b scope entries, `docs/ASSUMPTIONS.md` A32, AGENTS.md sec. 4 and sec. 7 \[**"sec. 6.5" struck 2026-09-06**: AGENTS.md has never had a section 6.5 — it runs 1 to 8, sec. 6 is Naming hygiene and has no subsections, and `git log -S "6.5" -- AGENTS.md` returns nothing, so no revision of the file ever carried one. The entry is left otherwise as written; what cannot be left is a source list naming a document that does not exist\], and the 2026-09-03 [WP-154b](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-154b/) entry above.
- **Decision requested**: four, noting that [WP-155](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-155/) and WP-155b cannot both keep their commit boundary and a green gate — the swap moves the value, so [WP-155](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-155/) alone fails `make gate` and WP-155b alone has nothing left to measure.
    1. **Keep the row split**, accepting that [WP-155](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-155/)'s own commit fails the golden check and `main` is red between the two commits, which sec. 5 forbids.
    2. **One commit, override the frozen value again**: land the swap, the live re-freeze and `frozen/0.6/aug_invariants.json`'s `letterbox_image_mean` together. Gate green, but a second sec. 7 override on the same file, and it merges a delegation swap with a frozen move — the exact pairing \[**citation corrected 2026-09-06**, the original read "sec. 6.5", which does not exist in AGENTS.md; the standing rule carrying this content is **ADR-005's migration protocol, step 3** (`docs/DECISIONS.md`): an expectation that turns red at a swap is diagnosed, and either the integration is fixed or a separate work package argues the old value was wrong — "never both in one commit, because that combination is indistinguishable from adjusting the test until the new code passes", which `docs/CONTRIBUTING.md` states again for contributors under *A golden moved*. Identified by matching the rule to the words, not from the author's stated intent, which is not on record\] exists to prevent.
    3. **Remove `goldens/frozen/0.6/aug_invariants.json`** on the [WP-132](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-132/)/WP-154 precedent, no rule override — at the cost of all fifteen of that file's metrics, fourteen of which are still satisfiable.
    4. **Narrow [WP-155](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-155/)** to the keep mask and the letterbox geometry, keeping `_resize_pad` local and antialiased so nothing moves — leaving two resample implementations in the tree and deferring the delegation to 0.7's freeze.
- **Resolution** (filled by the principal): Option 2. Overriding sec. 7 a second time, on record: `letterbox_image_mean` becomes 0.4994 in both the live and the frozen copy, and [WP-155](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-155/) and WP-155b land as one commit. Presented with option 3 (removal, no override needed) and option 4 (no pixel moves at all) and chose the override. Two dated exceptions now stand on this file; neither is a standing waiver, and the next frozen-golden case is a fresh decision rather than one this precedent settles.

## 2026-09-04 — WP-159 the release cannot satisfy ADR-005's first condition

- **Symptom**: [WP-159](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-159/)'s fourth clause promotes `fuse-augmentations` from a development pin to a runtime dependency "under the four conditions ADR-005 records". Condition 1 requires real SemVer releases to PyPI. Measured against PyPI's own JSON API: the latest `fuse-augmentations` there is `0.10.0.dev0`, there is no 0.11 or 0.12 at all, and every one of the eleven releases is a `.dev0` pre-release. The capability floor Phase 14 stands on is the commit `a5a276a`, which is unreleased. `pyproject.toml` already recorded half of this before the row opened — PyPI forbids re-uploading the `0.10.0.dev0` version string, so a bare version pin cannot reach the needed code.
- **What changed the shape of the question**: ADR-005's stated fallback is that "a refusal returns the dependency story to a SHA pin, which keeps the augmentation stack local rather than making it unpublishable". That was written while the stack was still local. It has moved: `src/lucid_yolo/data/{affine,augment,letterbox,mosaic,rotated_aug}.py` all import `fuse_augmentations` at module level, so `lucid_yolo.data` — and `predict`, through `letterbox` — cannot import without it, while the package sat only in the `dev` group. Refusing promotion therefore no longer returns anything; it leaves a distribution that fails on import for anyone installing without that group. `scripts/release_guard.py` checks the tag, the changelog section and the gate, and has no notion of dependency tiers, so nothing automated would have caught it.
- **Sources consulted** (allowlisted only): PyPI's JSON API for `fuse-augmentations`, `pyproject.toml` `[project].dependencies` and `[dependency-groups].dev`, `.github/workflows/release.yml`, `scripts/release_guard.py`, `docs/DECISIONS.md` ADR-005 and D19, and the module-level imports listed above, all read at `f285af5`.
- **Decision requested**: four.
    1. **Hold [WP-159](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-159/)** until `fuse` cuts 0.12 to PyPI, then land the row whole with a `>=0.12,<0.13` ceiling — the only path satisfying all four conditions as written, at the cost of an unbounded wait on a separate session and a broken-without-`dev` install in the meantime.
    2. **Promote to a runtime git pin and accept the distribution is unpublishable**: conditions 2, 3 and 4 met, condition 1 knowingly failed, on the grounds that publication is itself an unmade `[PRINCIPAL]` decision `release.yml` deliberately omits.
    3. **Split the row**: land 0.7.0 as the version bump, the changelog close and the `0.7` freeze, and defer the promotion to a new row gated on the PyPI release, documenting the exposure rather than fixing it.
    4. **Stop**, leaving [WP-159](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-159/) untouched alongside the four contributor-admission rows already blocked on principal preconditions.
- **Resolution** (filled by the principal): Option 2. The runtime pin lands as a direct reference and the distribution is unpublishable to PyPI until a 0.12 exists there; recorded as D20. This is a decision about *this* dependency at *this* moment, not a general waiver of ADR-005 condition 1 — a second package arriving in the same state is a fresh decision.

## 2026-09-15 — WP-177 the keypoint OKS golden moves outside its stored band

- **Symptom**: [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) batches equal-shape MuSGD matrices (PR #3, `38b30ac`). `make gate` is 50/50 offline-green; `make gate-gpu` is 54/55 — `goldens/gpu/overfit_micro_kp.json`'s `train_oks_ap` is frozen at `0.574728` with tolerance `0.05` (band `0.524728`–`0.624728`), and the patched run measures `0.691134`, `0.1164` above the band ceiling. A same-L4 ABBA control isolates the cause to this patch alone: unchanged `f8de2e2` scores `0.5315, 0.5315`; this patch scores `0.6911, 0.6911` — deterministic and repeated, not run noise. This is trigger 4: closing [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) as specified requires either altering the frozen golden or accepting a value outside it, and `docs/ROADMAP.md` row 177's own DoD ("`make gate` and `make gate-gpu` green") is consequently unmet — its status stays `🔄`.
- **Hypotheses tried** (with ASSUMPTIONS.md revision ids): none opened — the PR's own multi-seed *baseline* sweep (unpatched code) already shows the stored band is seed-sensitive: seed 0 `0.5315` (inside band), seed 1 `0.595869` (inside), seed 2 `0.408795` (**outside** the same `0.574728 ± 0.05` band, on code that has not changed). That is evidence the band's reliability is separate from this PR's correctness, not a hypothesis to iterate — no seed-1/seed-2 run of the *patched* code exists yet, so whether the patch shifts the trajectory or only widens it under the same seed noise is undetermined either way.
- **Sources consulted** (allowlisted only): PR #3 body and its measurement section; `/oss:review` report `.reports/review/2026-09-15T18-47-30Z/review-report.md` (`[blocking] HIGH — keypoint OKS AP golden shift unresolved`, corroborated independently by solution-architect, challenger and Codex, with a documented sw-engineer dissent); `goldens/gpu/overfit_micro_kp.json`; `docs/ROADMAP.md` row 177; `docs/ENGINEERING_LOG.md` [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) entry.
- **Decision requested**: three, per the review's shared unblock path (solution-architect and challenger independently proposed the same GPU experiment) plus the sw-engineer dissent as a fourth framing of the same underlying gap:
    1. **Run the patched code at seeds 1 and 2 on GPU** before deciding anything else. Lands inside the sampled baseline cloud (`0.409`–`0.596`) → the band itself is miscalibrated (single-seed), fix the band under option 3 and merge; lands systematically higher at all three seeds → the batched path shifts the trajectory rather than moving within float-scheduling noise, and needs a mechanism explanation before merge. Requires L4 GPU access this workflow does not have.
    2. **Accept `0.691134` outside the frozen band now**, per sec. 7's sanctioned override route: `python scripts/freeze_goldens.py --reseal` after this entry is answered — same mechanism as the two 2026-09-03 `aug_invariants.json` overrides above. A short-horizon overfit metric moving up is not evidence of quality gain (both PR body and review agree on this), so accepting the movement is a statement about gate calibration, not about the change being good.
    3. **Re-freeze `overfit_micro_kp.json` on a multi-seed band** (sw-engineer's dissent) — derive the tolerance from observed multi-seed spread rather than a single fixed seed, since the *unpatched* baseline already escapes the current band at seed 2. Fixes the measuring instrument independent of whether [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/)'s patch is accepted, at the cost of leaving [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) open until the new band exists.
- **Resolution** (filled by the principal): _pending — awaiting decision; [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) stays `🔄` in `docs/ROADMAP.md` until answered._

## 2026-09-19 — WP-183 the keypoint and oriented accelerator goldens move outside their bands

- **Symptom**: [WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/) scores the box terms densely over every anchor instead of gathering the positives (loss-identical per step: the masked form is kept as an oracle in the tests and the dense form matches it to `1e-6` on values and gradients; the CPU step golden holds). `make gate` is 50/50; `make gate-gpu` on an A100-40GB (venv torch 2.14.0+cu130) is 53/55 — `goldens/gpu/overfit_micro_kp.json` `train_oks_ap` measures `0.491935` against the band `0.574728 ± 0.05`, and `goldens/gpu/overfit_micro_obb.json` `train_rotated_map50` measures `0.908802` against `0.964928 ± 0.05`; detection, segmentation and `shapes_regression_det` pass on the same dense loss. A same-machine per-commit control attributes the move: pre-WP baseline `30aea93` scores `0.5696 / 0.9783` (both in band); WP-182 `channels_last` alone `0.5486 / 0.9388` (in band, a `−0.021 / −0.040` move from a layout change that alters no arithmetic); [WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/) `0.4919 / 0.9088` (out); WP-184 with the flag off repeats [WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/) to four decimals. Deterministic on the machine, repeated across two rounds. This is trigger 4.
- **Hypotheses tried** (with ASSUMPTIONS.md revision ids): none opened. The per-step arithmetic is proven identical; what differs on the accelerator is the order of a sum over `B × A` terms carrying exact zeros against a sum over the `P` positives — a `~1e-7` relative difference per step that a 100-epoch overfit on 100 images amplifies into a different endpoint. WP-182's own `−0.040` on obb from a pure kernel-selection change, and the [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) entry above (unpatched code at seeds 0, 1, 2: `0.5315`, `0.5959`, `0.4088` — the last outside the same band), put both moves inside the spread this metric shows on code that has not changed. A single seed per commit cannot separate that from a bias; det/seg/shapes passing on the same `_box_losses` is the evidence against one.
- **Sources consulted** (allowlisted only): `.plans/closed/results_compile-gate_run{2,3}.ipynb` (the two rounds' outputs); the [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) entry above and its seed sweep; `goldens/gpu/overfit_micro_{kp,obb}.json`; `scripts/overfit_micro.py` (`clamped_tolerance`); `docs/ENGINEERING_LOG.md` [WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/).
- **Decision requested**: (1) a three-seed control, baseline against [WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/), on both tasks, before deciding (about two A100-hours); (2) reseal both goldens on the current tree at the measured values — a statement about gate calibration on this machine, not about [WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/); (3) re-freeze on a multi-seed band (the [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) entry's option 3), which would resolve both entries at once. Reverting [WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/) is not offered: it is what lets the training step trace as one graph (WP-184), and it is loss-identical per step.
- **Resolution** (filled by the principal, 2026-09-19): Option 2. `goldens/gpu/overfit_micro_kp.json` is resealed at `0.491935 ± 0.05` and `goldens/gpu/overfit_micro_obb.json` at `0.908802 ± 0.008802` — the oriented tolerance is `clamped_tolerance`'s `min(0.05, score − 0.9)`, so that band is now as narrow as the score's headroom above its floor, and the next environmental move on obb will be reported rather than absorbed. Recorded as WP-186. The [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) entry stays pending on its own question; this resolution does not answer it.
- **Follow-up (2026-09-20, Colab rounds 4–5, same A100)**: the three-seed control the entry asked for was run afterwards, per commit — baseline `30aea93`, WP-182 `16f4101`, HEAD `37f3ce5` ([WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/) plus the compile flag off) — at seeds 0, 1, 2. Keypoints `train_oks_ap`: baseline `0.5696 / 0.6187 / 0.5331`, WP-182 `0.5486 / 0.7259 / 0.5858`, HEAD `0.4919 / 0.5668 / 0.5715`; oriented `train_rotated_map50`: baseline `0.9783 / 0.9690 / 0.9696`, WP-182 `0.9388 / 0.9628 / 0.9544`, HEAD `0.9088 / 0.9379 / 0.9670`. The oriented move that looked monotone at HEAD (3 of 3 seeds down, mean `−0.034`) belongs to WP-182 (`−0.020`, 3 of 3) and not to [WP-183](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-183/) (`−0.014`, 2 of 3, seed 2 up) — a memory-layout change that alters no arithmetic produces the same signature as the loss rewrite, which is the control that says the signature is trajectory chaos rather than a bias. Keypoints span `0.49`–`0.73` across the nine runs; the two 3-of-3 sign results out of four comparisons, one per WP, are what a null with `p = 0.125` each expects. Reading: no evidence of a systematic move on either WP; the reseal stands as calibration; the band widths (`± 0.05` inside a `± 0.12` process, `± 0.0088` inside `± 0.03`) are the [WP-177](https://borda.github.io/lucid-YOLO/work_packages/wp-177/) entry's question and remain with it. Notebooks `results/compile_gate.ipynb`, `results/compile_gate_round5.ipynb`.