fix(detect): A11 must not flag cat/head/tail under bypass-permissions - #88
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In bypass-permissions mode the system prompt tells the assistant to prefer Bash — "read files with cat, head, or sed -n ... rather than using the dedicated Read, Edit, or Write tools". A11's cat-instead-of-read arm therefore reports the instructed behaviour as friction on every such session, and it does so repeatedly, which is exactly the input C6 reads as a prose rule that failed and escalates into "propose a mechanical gate". The existing scratch/log exemption is the same concern, one case narrower. The harness stamps permissionMode on the user turn carrying it, and the mode can be switched on mid-session, so bypass_permissions_from() returns the turn it starts at rather than a boolean; turns before that stay ordinary. Only the cat arm is suppressed. grep/sed/awk on a structured file stays a finding under every mode — data-tools is about using the wrong parser, not about which tool opens the file. The C6 dependency pass gets the same argument. Without that it recomputes A11 with the default None and escalates on precisely the findings the reported pass withheld. Three tests, and _run_all now mirrors main()'s dispatch — with the old harness the suppression test failed while the code was correct, because the harness called the signal with the default. Probed by neutering only the guard: exactly the two suppression tests fail, the grep-still-fires test does not. On the session that prompted this, A11 drops from two cat_instead_of_read to none, with the one genuine structured_file_misuse retained. Assisted-by: claude-code:claude-opus-5 Agent-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Mf63edGvCVRQz6mwF8gxcC Agent-Host: 32116e Signed-off-by: Sebastian Mendel <info@sebastianmendel.de>
📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughThe detector now identifies the first transcript event with Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to The PR correctly narrows cat/head/tail suppression to bypass-permission sessions while preserving structured-file misuse detection, but the modified detector remains substantially over-complex and should receive a focused refactoring follow-up. 🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1❌ Failed checks (1 warning)
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
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In `@skills/retro/scripts/detect-mechanical.py`:
- Line 1225: Refactor signal_wrong_tool_choice so it only handles bypass
ordering and dispatch, extracting the structured-file scan and the cat/head/tail
scan into focused helper functions. Preserve the existing detection behavior,
inputs, outputs, and bypass semantics while reducing the main function’s
cognitive complexity below the allowed threshold.
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skills/retro/scripts/detect-mechanical.pytests/test_detect_mechanical.py
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SonarCloud reports cognitive complexity 47 against a limit of 15 on signal_wrong_tool_choice (python:S3776). Most of it predates this branch — the function held 81 lines and 18 branch nodes before the bypass guard added seven and two — but the guard sits between the two arms, so the ordering that decides which arm a permission mode suppresses was buried in the middle of a long body. _a11_structured_file_misuse and _a11_cat_instead_of_read each return at most one finding or None; signal_wrong_tool_choice keeps the loop, the short-circuit and the bypass guard, which is now three readable lines. Per-function branch nodes go 20 to 8 / 6 / 6. Behaviour is unchanged, including the one-finding-per-call rule that both arms enforce and whose reason (it feeds the C6 tally) now sits in each helper's docstring. All 65 tests pass, the in-position probe still holds — neutering only the guard fails exactly the two suppression tests — and the detector returns the identical finding set on the session transcript that prompted the branch. Assisted-by: claude-code:claude-opus-5 Agent-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Mf63edGvCVRQz6mwF8gxcC Agent-Host: 32116e Signed-off-by: Sebastian Mendel <info@sebastianmendel.de>
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Self-review: 29cb0c3 The review this pull request demands is unsatisfiable (Copilot quota wall or repeated bot failures on this head). Per the documented fallback, the diff on this head was reviewed by the PR author; this comment is the on-the-record attestation the merge gate reads back. It stops matching on the next push. |
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Summary
In bypass-permissions mode the system prompt instructs the assistant to prefer Bash — "read files with cat, head, or sed -n … rather than using the dedicated Read, Edit, or Write tools". A11's
cat_instead_of_readarm reports that instructed behaviour as friction, on every such session, and repeatedly — which is the input C6 reads as a prose rule that failed, escalating to "propose a mechanical gate". The comment aboveA11_CAT_EXEMPT_PATH_REalready names this exact hazard for scratch and log paths; this is the same concern, one case wider.Found while running
/retroon a bypass-mode session: two of the threecat-family findings were the harness doing what it was told.What changed
bypass_permissions_from(events)returns the index of the first turn stampedpermissionMode: "bypassPermissions", orNone. A turn index rather than a boolean because the mode can be switched on mid-session — turns before it stay ordinary and still fire.Only the
cat/head/tailarm is suppressed. Misuse 1 stays live under every mode:data-toolsis about using the wrong parser on a structured file, not about which tool opens it, and bypass mode licensescat, nevergrepon JSON.The C6 dependency pass receives the same argument. Without it, C6 recomputes A11 with the default
Noneand escalates on exactly the findings the reported pass had withheld — the failure mode the code comment warns about, reintroduced through the back door.A second commit splits the two arms into
_a11_structured_file_misuseand_a11_cat_instead_of_read, each returning one finding orNone, leavingsignal_wrong_tool_choicewith the loop, the short-circuit and the guard. That came from review (python:S3776, cognitive complexity 47 against a limit of 15). The complexity is mostly pre-existing — 81 lines and 18 branch nodes onmain, to which the guard added seven and two — and the Sonar quality gate on this PR isOK, the issue open but not blocking. Worth doing regardless, because the guard sits between the arms: the ordering that decides which arm a permission mode suppresses was buried mid-body. Branch nodes per function go 20 → 8 / 6 / 6.Verification
grepon JSON still fires under bypass.if False:), exactly the two suppression tests fail and thegreptest does not. The first version of the test did not have this property —_run_allcalled the signal with the default argument, so the test failed while the code was right._run_allnow mirrorsmain()'s dispatch, which is the actual fix to the harness.cat_instead_of_readto none, the one genuinestructured_file_misuseretained.ruff format --checkandruff checkclean.Scope
The detector and its tests. No other signal, no SKILL.md, no reference, no CHANGELOG.