feat(skills): parallelize RPI subagent lanes and limit critiques and reviews

[Allen Greaves (agreaves-ms)]

Pull Request

Description

This PR makes the RPI workflow faster and more predictable. Research, plan critique, and review can split context-heavy work into parallel subagent lanes, each run at the reasoning effort its work needs. Each request now gets at most one plan critique and one review unless the user asks for more. The seven RPI skills and the RPI Agent are also condensed so each rule has one owner.

Subagent lanes and effort

• rpi-plan-critique runs as parallel lens assessments (Coverage, Evidence, Executability, Risk, and Reconciliation for a follow-up) through a new RPI Plan Critic subagent. The critique parent verifies each candidate and owns PC-xxx IDs, severity, and the verdict.
• rpi-research and rpi-review dispatch independent helper lanes in one parallel batch and choose each lane's effort from what it must judge. RPI Reviewer must cite where each requirement it calls consistent is met.
• RPI subagents default to Claude Haiku 5.5 (copilot). A dispatch that fails because the model rejects its reasoning effort retries once at medium.
• Users can set effort= or critique-effort=, or pass subagents=none; the RPI Agent carries these choices through every phase.
• Agent validation accepts Claude Haiku 5.5 and a reasoning-effort frontmatter field (scripts/linting/model-catalog.json, scripts/linting/schemas/agent-frontmatter.schema.json).

One critique and one review per request

• Plan corrections, implementation-time plan changes, and review-driven fixes no longer start another critique or review. A follow-up critique or a new review runs only when the user asks.
• In automatic RPI Agent sessions, follow-up child loops skip the critique and review by default, and the closeout says when child changes were validated but not reviewed.

Single-owner cleanup

• rpi-research, rpi-plan, rpi-plan-critique, rpi-implement, rpi-review, rpi-walkthrough, rpi-challenger, and the RPI Agent state each rule once: SKILL.md owns always-applicable and graded rules and the closeout, and references own procedures, message shapes, and tables.
• rpi-plan-critique and rpi-review now treat the artifacts they compare as data, not instructions.
• Smaller fixes: rpi-implement again names blockers before a user question, rpi-review checks that validation evidence is current, and the RPI Agent drops an undefined "reversible-risk preference".

Merge with main

• Merged main, including the business-alignment loop from feat(skills): close business-alignment loop in RPI and Code Review #3185. Its BRD, PRD, and ADR citation rules, Business Alignment entries, and stakeholder-note closeout now sit in the single owner for each rule in rpi-plan, rpi-implement, and rpi-review.

Docs and evals

• Reference pages and the RPI guides describe lanes, effort settings, and the one-critique, one-review limit. The RPI Plan Critic reference page is generated.
• A new advisory agent-behavior stimulus covers RPI Plan Critic, and one skill-behavior stimulus now models a user-requested follow-up critique.
• .cspell.json adds executability and xhigh.

Review follow-up

• Restrict critic reads to the parent-supplied evidence set, including path/link resolution. References in a plan do not grant additional read authority.
• Give the general-purpose fallback the same explicit read-only, no-validation, no-nested-dispatch and candidate-only contract.
• Treat Needs clarification as an incomplete lens result, not an empty successful assessment.
• Qualify public effort guidance by host and dispatch-tool support.
• Add six advisory policy regressions for the existing initial-task, child-task, explicit-override and interruption-recovery rules. The remediation does not change those defaults.
• Make the existing docs link-rejection test portable on Windows using a real junction, retaining the POSIX file-link case and all rejection assertions.

Related Issue(s)

Related to #3185

Type of Change

Select all that apply:

Code & Documentation:

• Bug fix (non-breaking change fixing an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change adding functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature causing existing functionality to change)
• Documentation update

Infrastructure & Configuration:

• GitHub Actions workflow
• Linting configuration (markdown, PowerShell, etc.)
• Security configuration
• DevContainer configuration
• Dependency update

AI Artifacts:

• Reviewed contribution with hve-builder and addressed all actionable findings
• Copilot instructions (.github/instructions/*.instructions.md)
• Copilot prompt (.github/prompts/*.prompt.md)
• Copilot agent (.github/agents/*.agent.md)
• Copilot skill (.github/skills/*/SKILL.md)
• Copilot hook (.github/hooks/*/*.json)
• Eval spec added/updated for changed AI artifacts (evals/)

Note for AI Artifact Contributors:

• Agents: Research, indexing/referencing other project (using standard VS Code GitHub Copilot/MCP tools), planning, and general implementation agents likely already exist. Review .github/agents/ before creating new ones.
• Skills: Must include both bash and PowerShell scripts. See Skills.
• Model Versions: Contributions MUST target models listed in the model catalog (scripts/linting/model-catalog.json) whose provider appears in providerAllowlist and whose status is ga or preview. Run npm run lint:models to validate references.
• See Agents Not Accepted and Model Version Requirements.

Other:

• Script/automation (.ps1, .sh, .py)
• Other (please describe):

Sample Prompts (for AI Artifact Contributions)

User Request:

"Use the RPI Agent to add rate limiting to the export API. Handle it end to end."

Execution Flow:

1. Research dispatches independent RPI Researcher lanes in one parallel batch, each at the effort its question needs.
2. rpi-plan drafts the plan and runs one critique as parallel RPI Plan Critic lenses. The planner resolves Critical and High findings without starting a second critique.
3. rpi-implement follows the plan, then rpi-review runs once with parallel RPI Reviewer lanes and routes each finding. A follow-up child loop skips the critique and review unless the user asks for them.

Output Artifacts:

Research, plan, plan critique, changes log, and review record under .copilot-tracking/. The critique records each lens with its reasoning effort, for example:

| Lens          | Scope      | Reasoning effort and source | Status   | Candidates            |
|---------------|------------|-----------------------------|----------|-----------------------|
| Coverage      | P01 to P03 | low (selected)              | Complete | 2 adopted; 0 rejected |
| Executability | P01 to P03 | medium (selected)           | Complete | 1 adopted; 0 rejected |

Success Indicators:

The request produces one *-plan-critique.md and one *-review.md. Every PC-xxx and RV-xxx finding cites a location the parent verified, and the closeout names any child-loop changes that were validated but not reviewed.

For detailed contribution requirements, see:

• Common Standards: docs/contributing/ai-artifacts-common.md - Shared standards for XML blocks, markdown quality, RFC 2119, validation, and testing
• Agents: docs/contributing/custom-agents.md - Agent configurations with tools and behavior patterns
• Prompts: docs/contributing/prompts.md - Workflow-specific guidance with template variables
• Instructions: docs/contributing/instructions.md - Technology-specific standards with glob patterns
• Skills: docs/contributing/skills.md - Task execution utilities with cross-platform scripts

Testing

Current repair validation:

• npm run test:ps -- -TestPath scripts\tests\evals\Build-AgentBehaviorSpec.Tests.ps1 -Tag RpiReviewRemediation: passed, eight tests including 42 installed Vally grader examples. Other tests were not selected.
• npm run validate:docs: passed, including all 131 Jest tests and 13 Mermaid tests plus source accessibility validation.
• npm run spell-check: passed, 826 files.
• npm run validate:local: failed at strict repository-wide external-link validation after its preceding checks passed. Existing links returned EUR-Lex 202, OWASP 404, LibreOffice connection status 0 and Medium 403; no repair file introduced these links.
• npm run lint:md-links (invoked by the aggregate): failed on those existing external URLs. This strict result is not reported as a pass.
• npm run lint:md-links -- -ChangedFilesOnly -BaseBranch HEAD: passed; all repository internal links and repair-affected external links checked.
• npm run lint:md-links -- -ChangedFilesOnly -ExternalLinksAsWarnings -BaseBranch origin/main: passed using the existing PR workflow's link policy. This does not replace the strict local result.
• The 22 aggregate components after link validation were run individually. All passed after restoring each project's existing lock-pinned Ruff version and rerunning npm run lint:py. No model/project dependencies or global tool versions were changed.
• npm run plugin:sync, npm run plugin:validate, npm run docs:generate, npm run docs:generate:check, and npm run extension:prepare: passed.
• pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts\evals\Build-AgentBehaviorSpec.ps1 -WhatIf, vally lint --eval-spec evals\agent-behavior\eval.yaml, the skill-local Vally safety lint, and npm run lint:eval-grader-lineage: passed.
• git diff --check: passed for the repair delta.

The six policy scenarios provide declarative conformance coverage. No new
model-backed run, native multi-agent enforcement test, moderation run or
baseline-equivalence run was executed locally as part of this remediation.

Checklist

Required Checks

• Documentation is updated (if applicable)
• Files follow existing naming conventions
• Changes are backwards compatible (if applicable)
• Tests added for new functionality (if applicable)

AI Artifact Contributions

• Used hve-builder review mode to review contribution
• Addressed all actionable findings from the hve-builder review
• Verified contribution follows common standards and type-specific requirements

Required Local Checks

The following local-safe validation commands must pass before merging:

• Local validation aggregate: npm run validate:local
• Documentation validation (if docs changed): npm run validate:docs
• Spell checking: npm run spell-check
• Link validation: npm run lint:md-links

Security Considerations

• This PR does not contain any sensitive or NDA information
• Any new dependencies have been reviewed for security issues
• Security-related scripts follow the principle of least privilege

GHCP Membership Changes

• Added: .github/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-plan-critic.agent.md (RPI Plan Critic)
• Removed: none

npm run plugin:validate passed with the updated plugin.json.

Additional Notes

• Compatibility: the repair preserves the defaults already proposed by this PR and existing explicit requests for further critique or Review. It does not introduce another workflow-policy change or claim backwards-compatibility proof. A maintainer must confirm the applicability of that checkbox before merge.
• The RPI Agent change marks the baseline-equivalence lane as required in eval CI.
• The critic stimulus and six new lifecycle-policy regressions are advisory. They distinguish policy interpretation and grader calibration from unexecuted native orchestration.
• The maintainer explicitly accepted a limited exception for the five recorded unchanged external URLs, using the passing internal/affected-link checks, existing PR CI link policy and all other aggregate component results. The strict local aggregate and link boxes remain unchecked; this exception does not cover new link failures or code changes, and the existing URLs remain follow-up work.
• No dependency manifests, workflows, or security scripts changed.
• Unchecked human-only items (HVE Builder attestations, contribution verification, and security attestations) are left for reviewers.
• Review remediation is committed as 313713f3b99209b7ed9cc07d750b4504e603fdf0. This testing section records local evidence; hosted validation for the repair is reported separately.

[Codecov Comments Bot (codecov-commenter)]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 82.01%. Comparing base (ee3df32) to head (313713f).

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #3238      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   81.87%   82.01%   +0.14%     
==========================================
  Files         110      126      +16     
  Lines       17467    17775     +308     
  Branches        0       63      +63     
==========================================
+ Hits        14301    14579     +278     
- Misses       3166     3185      +19     
- Partials        0       11      +11     

Flag	Coverage Δ
docusaurus	90.58% <ø> (?)
pester	86.45% <ø> (-0.01%)	⬇️

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.
see 17 files with indirect coverage changes

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

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[github-actions]

Eval Execution

✅ Status: Passed — no merge-blocking failures (10 advisory assertion failure(s) present)

• Artifacts evaluated: 11
• Specs run: 11
• Assertions passed: 167
• Assertions failed (blocking): 0
• Assertions failed (advisory): 10
• Trial dips tolerated by per-stimulus aggregate: 0
• Failed specs (merge-blocking): 0

Artifact	Kind	Status	Specs	Passed	Failed (blocking)	Failed (advisory)	Trial dips (tolerated)	Input tokens / trial	Cache-read tokens / trial
rpi-agent	agent	✅ pass	1	45	0	0	0	48,918	30,796
rpi-plan-critic	agent	✅ pass	1	5	0	0	0	28,410	13,622
rpi-researcher	agent	✅ pass	1	5	0	0	0	13,598	0
rpi-reviewer	agent	✅ pass	1	5	0	0	0	13,572	0
rpi-challenger	skill	✅ pass	1	3	0	0	0	28,427	13,519
rpi-implement	skill	✅ pass	1	21	0	0	0	49,571	32,401
rpi-plan	skill	⚠️ advisory-fail	1	32	0	1	0	41,252	24,009
rpi-plan-critique	skill	✅ pass	1	15	0	0	0	29,259	13,573
rpi-research	skill	⚠️ advisory-fail	1	10	0	5	0	232,693	204,609
rpi-review	skill	⚠️ advisory-fail	1	23	0	4	0	60,171	40,048
rpi-walkthrough	skill	✅ pass	1	3	0	0	0	19,018	4,518

Legend — ✅ clean · ⚠️ advisory failures only (non-blocking) · ⏭️ skipped · ❌ merge-blocking failure

Only Failed specs (merge-blocking) gates this PR. Advisory assertion failures are signal-quality checks captured during iteration; review them, but they do not block merge and may be acceptable.

Token columns are advisory means per trial reported by the model provider. They vary between trials and never gate this PR.

[Bill Berry (WilliamBerryiii)]

Thanks for the RPI workflow improvements and the clear disclosure of the assessment limits. The comprehensive code and Responsible AI review found six Medium concerns, with no Critical or High finding established. The main source concerns are plan-controlled expansion of critic file reads, incomplete handling of Needs clarification lens returns, missing boundaries in the generic worker fallback, and an unconditional effort-default claim that conflicts with the documented Local harness limitation. Required local validation and compatibility/behavior-coverage dispositions remain open. Targeted static checks passed, but native delegation, oversight, and effort-fallback behavior was not executed. Please review the detailed findings and resolve the applicable readiness gates before merging.

Full code review, Responsible AI assessment, and validation evidence

PR 3238 Comprehensive Code Review

Reviewed at: 2026-10-17T05:00:32Z
Reviewer: code-review
Reviewed head: ac05972
Branch: feat/rpi-subagent-effort
Base: origin/main (merge-base comparison)
PR: #3238
Depth: comprehensive; scope and all six areas confirmed by the human

Verdict: approve_with_comments
Counts: 0 Critical; 0 High; 6 Medium; 0 Low

Comprehensive review of PR 3238 found six Medium issues: three critique-worker boundary/result-contract gaps, a host-support documentation mismatch, and two PR readiness gaps. No Critical or High issue was established. Responsible AI and accessibility produced no additional actionable defect; native behavioral effectiveness remains unverified.

Changed Files Overview

All 46 changed files were reviewed. Two findings concern serialized PR deliverable fields rather than source lines.

File	Changes	File risk	Findings
.cspell.json	+2 / -0	Low	0
.github/agents/hve-core/rpi-agent.agent.md	+18 / -16	High	0
.github/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-plan-critic.agent.md	+62 / -0	High	1
.github/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-researcher.agent.md	+5 / -2	High	0
.github/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-reviewer.agent.md	+8 / -6	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-challenger/SKILL.md	+8 / -6	Medium	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-challenger/references/challenge.md	+1 / -11	Medium	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-implement/SKILL.md	+13 / -11	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-implement/references/implementation.md	+9 / -21	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/SKILL.md	+32 / -30	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/references/lens-assessment.md	+61 / -0	High	2
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/templates/plan-critique.md	+9 / -1	Medium	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan/SKILL.md	+23 / -22	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan/references/planning.md	+15 / -39	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-research/SKILL.md	+14 / -16	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-research/references/research.md	+29 / -57	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-research/templates/research.md	+17 / -16	Medium	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-review/SKILL.md	+26 / -35	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-review/references/review.md	+24 / -59	High	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-review/templates/review-log.md	+2 / -2	Medium	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-walkthrough/SKILL.md	+17 / -13	Medium	0
.github/skills/rpi/rpi-walkthrough/references/walkthrough.md	+9 / -41	Medium	0
docs/reference/README.md	+2 / -2	Low	0
docs/reference/agents/README.md	+2 / -1	Low	0
docs/reference/agents/hve-core/rpi-agent.md	+10 / -7	Low	0
docs/reference/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-plan-critic.md	+54 / -0	Low	0
docs/reference/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-researcher.md	+7 / -3	Low	1
docs/reference/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-reviewer.md	+8 / -7	Low	0
docs/reference/agents/hve-core/subagents/vally-test-author.md	+2 / -2	Low	0
docs/reference/skills/rpi/rpi-implement.md	+5 / -1	Low	0
docs/reference/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique.md	+16 / -6	Low	0
docs/reference/skills/rpi/rpi-plan.md	+9 / -4	Low	0
docs/reference/skills/rpi/rpi-research.md	+5 / -2	Low	0
docs/reference/skills/rpi/rpi-review.md	+4 / -1	Low	0
docs/reference/skills/rpi/rpi-walkthrough.md	+2 / -2	Low	0
docs/rpi/README.md	+2 / -2	Low	0
docs/rpi/using-together.md	+6 / -5	Low	0
docs/rpi/why-rpi.md	+2 / -2	Low	0
evals/agent-behavior/AGENTS.yml	+5 / -1	Low	0
evals/agent-behavior/README.md	+4 / -4	Low	0
evals/agent-behavior/eval.yaml	+24 / -0	Medium	0
evals/agent-behavior/stimuli/rpi-plan-critic.yml	+26 / -0	Medium	0
evals/behavior-conformance/skill-behavior.eval.yaml	+8 / -8	Medium	0
plugin.json	+1 / -0	Low	0
scripts/linting/model-catalog.json	+8 / -1	Medium	0
scripts/linting/schemas/agent-frontmatter.schema.json	+5 / -0	Medium	0

Merged Findings

1. [Security] Constrain plan-named evidence paths before opening additional files

Severity: Medium
Category: Input Validation
Location: .github/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-plan-critic.agent.md : 39
Confidence: 8/10; conditional static finding, not a native exploit reproduction

The new critic allows a statement in the untrusted plan to authorize reading a file outside the caller-supplied evidence set, without requiring that the resolved path remain within a caller-approved read root. The dispatch template supplies plan and evidence paths but no additional permitted read roots. A crafted plan can therefore name a sibling confidential file, for example ../private/customer-export.csv, as evidence for an in-scope task. On a normal host whose read tool can access that file, the critic is permitted to open it while following this procedure, bringing unrelated confidential contents into its tool/model context. This does not require executing an embedded instruction: the attacker-controlled pathname itself satisfies the new read-expansion rule. Treating plan text as data and keeping secrets out of the final return do not validate the pathname before the read. The parent skill's prohibition on reading unsupplied artifacts is not preserved at this delegated boundary.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

2. Read the plan sections in scope and the plan sections the assignment names, such as User Decisions and Requirements or the requirement lists, locating each by ID or heading rather than reading the whole plan. Search the supplied evidence for what the lens question needs rather than reading it whole. Open a file outside the supplied set only when a statement in scope names it, and open an earlier critique only when the assignment supplies one.

Suggested fix:

2. Read the plan sections in scope and the plan sections the assignment names, locating each by ID or heading. Search the supplied evidence for what the lens question needs. A reference in the plan does not grant read authority. Open an additional referenced file only when its resolved canonical path is explicitly supplied or falls within a read root the parent explicitly approved for this assignment; reject traversal or link resolution outside that boundary. If no additional read root was supplied, report the missing evidence to the parent instead of opening the file. Open an earlier critique only when the assignment supplies one. Carry the same approved read boundary into the general-purpose fallback assignment.

2. [Functional] Handle Needs clarification as an incomplete lens result

Severity: Medium
Category: Error Handling
Location: .github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/references/lens-assessment.md : 60

The merge procedure omits a failure status that RPI Plan Critic explicitly produces. Its Flow step 1 returns Needs clarification when an assignment or required artifact cannot be identified, and its response contract lists that status separately from Partial and Blocked. For example, Coverage, Executability, and Risk can complete while Evidence returns Needs clarification because its assigned research artifact cannot be identified. That return can contain no candidate findings. The merge procedure handles Partial, Blocked, and an absent return, but not this present, unsuccessful return; candidate verification therefore supplies no replacement assessment and this branch does not mark the missing Evidence boundary Partial. This leaves a path to recording complete execution without completing a required lens. The decision-critical Blocked stop rule protects critical gaps, but does not supply the missing execution-status handling for other unassessed portions.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

4. When a lens returns `Partial`, `Blocked`, or nothing, cover the gap yourself when it is small; otherwise record the unassessed boundary and set critique execution to Partial.

Suggested fix:

4. When a lens returns `Partial`, `Blocked`, `Needs clarification`, or nothing, identify its unassessed boundary. Cover the gap yourself when it is small; otherwise record that boundary and set critique execution to Partial. Return a Blocked verdict when the missing assessment is decision-critical. Do not count an unsuccessful lens as complete or dispatch a second round.

3. [Standards] Carry the worker boundaries into the general-purpose critique fallback

Severity: Medium
Category: Delegation Contract
Location: .github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/references/lens-assessment.md : 44

The newly added fallback tells a general-purpose subagent to receive the same assignment and return candidate fields, but that assignment deliberately omits the dedicated critic's operating constraints. The preceding paragraph relies on RPI Plan Critic defining its own reading limits and return format; an unavailable named worker's body and agents: [] declaration do not establish a generic worker's dispatch contract. In particular, the fallback briefing never states its write boundary or nested-dispatch policy. This violates the loaded hve-artifact-authoring skill's Delegation Contract and the explicit requirement in .github/instructions/hve-core/hve-builder.instructions.md, Delegate Deliberately: 'Define a delegated task's inputs, write boundary, return shape, stage consumer, and nested-dispatch policy.' The result is an incomplete fallback contract for a workflow whose parent exclusively owns the critique artifact. This finding concerns the missing authored contract, not a claim that unauthorized writes or nested dispatch occurred.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

`RPI Plan Critic` runs on the model its frontmatter declares; pass a different model only when the user names one. When `RPI Plan Critic` is unavailable, give a general-purpose subagent the same assignment at the same effort, and ask it to return a status and, for each candidate, the location, a short quote, what it was checked against, the concern, a suggested severity, the smallest useful change, and its confidence.

Suggested fix:

`RPI Plan Critic` runs on the model its frontmatter declares; pass a different model only when the user names one. When `RPI Plan Critic` is unavailable, give a general-purpose subagent the same assignment at the same effort. Include this worker boundary in its dispatch: read the assigned plan sections and supplied evidence only; do not create, edit, move, or delete files, including temporary files; do not run validation, dispatch other agents, or send user-facing messages. Return candidates only; the critique parent verifies them and owns finding IDs, final severity, the verdict, and the critique artifact. Ask it to return a status and, for each candidate, the location, a short quote, what it was checked against, the concern, a suggested severity, the smallest useful change, and its confidence.

4. [Readiness] Qualify the documented default-effort guarantee by host support

Severity: Medium
Category: Documentation
Location: docs/reference/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-researcher.md : 33

The new text says frontmatter max effort applies whenever a dispatch supplies none. The same unconditional claim appears in changed docs/reference/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-reviewer.md:36. This omits a limitation expressly documented by this change: scripts/linting/schemas/agent-frontmatter.schema.json:56 says "VS Code's Local harness ignores it." The changed research and review references also allow dispatch tools without an effort parameter and require recording host-default effort. Readers therefore cannot rely on the public pages' stated max fallback across the supported entry surfaces; this matters directly to the feature's quality and effort expectations.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

Each dispatch can set the helper's reasoning effort. Its frontmatter pins Claude Haiku 5.5 at `max`, which applies when a dispatch sets none. rpi-research lowers a lane to `low` when a tool guarantees a complete result, such as a search inventory, and keeps `max` for lanes that read for meaning.

Suggested fix:

Qualify the researcher and reviewer reference pages: max is the declared fallback only on hosts that honor reasoning-effort frontmatter; the schema documents that VS Code's Local harness ignores that field. Explain that per-dispatch selection also requires tool support, and otherwise the recorded effort is host default rather than a guaranteed max or requested level. Link a shared capability note from the public effort documentation if useful.

5. [Readiness] Required local validation remains incomplete

Severity: Medium
Category: Checklist
Location: prContext.checkboxes (serialized PR context)

Three serialized entries under Required Local Checks have checked=false: "Local validation aggregate: npm run validate:local", "Documentation validation (if docs changed): npm run validate:docs", and "Link validation: npm run lint:md-links". prContext.body explicitly says these commands were not run locally, while its Required Local Checks section says they must pass before merging. The subsequently supplied parent-observed whitespace, plugin, model-reference, and asset-documentation passes are useful bounded checks, but do not establish completion of these three required commands. prContext.statusChecks="passing" supplies no individual check details proving equivalent coverage.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

[ ] Local validation aggregate: `npm run validate:local`
[ ] Documentation validation (if docs changed): `npm run validate:docs`
[ ] Link validation: `npm run lint:md-links`

Suggested fix:

Have the author run and record the three required local checks in an appropriately provisioned checkout, or obtain an explicit maintainer-approved exception that identifies replacement evidence and remaining limitations. Update the checklist only to reflect the resulting evidence; do not treat the targeted static passes as completion of the aggregates.

6. [Readiness] Resolve the required compatibility and behavior-coverage checklist items

Severity: Medium
Category: Checklist
Location: prContext.checkboxes (serialized PR context)

The Required Checks entries "Changes are backwards compatible (if applicable)" and "Tests added for new functionality (if applicable)" both have checked=false. prContext.body explains: "The compatibility box is left for reviewers to judge" and "The run limits have no dedicated eval stimuli yet, so the test-coverage box is unchecked." These are unresolved required deliverable decisions for a material default change: child work now skips critique and Review unless requested. The added critic stimulus checks a response-only ownership answer, and the modified skill stimulus checks interruption handling after an expressly requested follow-up; neither establishes the new default run limits. The limitation is disclosed accurately, but no owner or completion condition is recorded for the deferred run-limit coverage.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

[ ] Changes are backwards compatible (if applicable)
[ ] Tests added for new functionality (if applicable)

Suggested fix:

Obtain and record the maintainer's compatibility disposition for the changed defaults rather than assuming that they are non-breaking. Add focused regression scenarios for the initial run, default child skips, explicit requests for additional critique/review, and interrupted-run continuation, or record an explicitly accepted deferral with an owner and acceptance conditions. Keep declarative conformance results separate from any later native execution evidence, and update the required checklist accordingly.

Responsible AI Assessment

No separate actionable Responsible AI defect was established. This does not establish that the new workflow is behaviorally effective. The intentional one-critique/one-review policy was assessed against the retained oversight and disclosure contracts rather than treated as an automatic defect.

Assessment area	Evidence-based conclusion	Remaining assurance boundary
Human oversight and accountability	Explicit user overrides and disclosure of child changes validated but not reviewed remain present	Test actual child defaults, user-requested extra assessments, and closeout behavior
Evidence provenance and reliability	Parent-owned finding IDs, candidate verification, and cited material-consistency checks remain explicit	Test invented/contradicted quotes, uncited consistency, and effective parent source inspection
Uncertainty and negative evidence	Below-max or unknown-effort absence claims require confirmation; effort source is recorded	Exercise false negatives, medium retries, unknown host effort, and bounded absence claims
Context-limited assessment	Whole-plan Coverage is retained and incomplete lens boundaries must be recorded	Test cross-phase dependencies, split-lens false negatives, and clarification returns; see finding 2
Agent authority	Helper suggestions do not own final decisions; read-only and untrusted-content rules exist	Findings 1 and 3 identify narrower read/fallback boundary gaps
Evaluation and model suitability	Added critic stimulus is advisory and response-only	No native dispatch, review-cap, override, retry, recovery, or model-suitability result was established

Framework basis: NIST AI RMF 1.0, Govern (accountability and oversight), Map (scope and knowledge limits), Measure (representative reliability/control evaluation), and Manage (residual risks and recovery); plus the Microsoft-authored AI STRIDE overlay. These are assessment lenses, not a framework-wide conformance score. Source: https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.AI.100-1. All standards discussion is paraphrased.

EU AI Act applicability cannot be determined from this generic coding-workflow diff. Intended downstream use, jurisdiction, deployment context, and provider/deployer role are not established. No high-risk classification or legal/compliance determination is made. Official source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj.

The detailed specialist return is rai-findings.json. Accessibility also found no introduced criterion-backed barrier in the changed Markdown and conversational controls; rendered host UI and assistive-technology behavior were not tested.

Positive Changes

• Session and child-loop contracts explicitly distinguish the first task's critique and Review from later implementation and validation evidence, without automatically starting additional assessments.
• Research records helper effort provenance and requires confirmation of absence claims from below-max or unknown-effort lanes.
• Review helpers must cite where consistent requirements are met, and the parent must read supporting locations before material requirements support a conformant outcome.
• Review decisions remain append-only, with Current Disposition and orchestration state treated as recoverable projections rather than independent decision authorities.
• Parent-reported isolated-checkout checks passed for diff whitespace, plugin synchronization, model references, and changed asset documentation synchronization.
• The dedicated RPI Plan Critic has a bounded responsibility, user-invocable: false, agents: [], explicit read-only constraints, and a candidate-only return. The parent retains finding identity, final severity, and artifact ownership.
• The consolidation generally replaces repeated reference procedures with pointers to their owning SKILL.md sections while retaining skill-relative resource references and stable artifact names.
• Changed operational guidance uses stable skill and agent names rather than introducing workspace-root .github paths for distributed artifact loading.
• The critique, research, and review templates add effort provenance without replacing the existing task, marker, finding, or artifact-path conventions.
• Parent-observed static validation passed in the isolated checkout: git diff --check; plugin synchronization check with 61 agents, 53 rules, and 85 skills; model-reference validation with 65 files scanned and 7 valid references; and changed-asset documentation synchronization with 12 assets and no errors or warnings. These results support the corresponding static contracts only.
• The change brief and prContext.body describe the principal changed surfaces: parallel helper lanes, the new critic, effort selection and retry policy, session run limits, rule consolidation, documentation, evaluations, model validation, and plugin membership.
• The RPI Agent reference explicitly explains that child tasks skip critique and Review by default and that completion must disclose child changes validated but not reviewed.
• The added critic stimulus accurately labels itself response-only and not a native subagent invocation. It is advisory and checks the narrow parent-ownership contract rather than claiming native execution coverage.
• The generated evaluation addition matches the new stimulus's declared scenario. The filesystem inventory contains 65 stimulus partials, consistent with the changed evaluation README total.
• Plugin membership and reference catalogs include RPI Plan Critic. The Vally Test Author reference change is generated sidebar maintenance rather than unexplained feature scope.
• Parent-reported observed validation in the isolated checkout passed: git diff --check origin/main...HEAD; Sync-PluginManifest.ps1 -Check with 61 agents, 53 rules, and 85 skills; Test-ModelReferences.ps1 with 65 files scanned and 7 valid references; and Validate-AssetDocs.ps1 with 12 assets and no errors or warnings. These results strengthen static packaging evidence without proving model behavior.
• prContext.body clearly distinguishes author-reported local passes from work not run locally, and explicitly discloses the missing dedicated run-limit stimuli.
• Plan critique and acceptance review now explicitly treat compared artifacts and helper returns as data rather than instructions or authority claims.
• Acceptance review requires the parent to inspect cited locations before material consistent-item claims support a conformant outcome.
• Research preserves source verification and requires confirmation of absence claims from lower-effort or unknown-effort lanes.
• Dedicated helpers explicitly prohibit temporary-file writes, nested dispatch, and secret-bearing returns; final finding IDs and dispositions remain parent-owned.
• Effort fallback is limited to one retry after an unsupported-effort failure and does not itself authorize wider scope or additional tools.
• The catalog addition uses an already allowed provider, and the schema addition constrains reasoning effort to enumerated strings without relaxing additional-property rejection.
• Parent-reported isolated-checkout validation passed diff whitespace checks, plugin membership checks, model-reference validation, and changed-asset documentation synchronization. These results were not treated as behavioral security proof.
• The changed RPI Agent response contract explicitly requires saying that post-review child changes were validated but not reviewed and that the user can request another review (.github/agents/hve-core/rpi-agent.agent.md:197). The reference page repeats that distinction (docs/reference/agents/hve-core/rpi-agent.md:119), supporting COGA 7.1 on explaining outcomes and consequences.
• The revised mode explanation discloses the one-critique and one-review defaults before selection and explains the user's ability to skip or request more (.github/agents/hve-core/rpi-agent.agent.md:77). The consuming conversation contract retains contextual explanations, freeform answers, and a chat fallback, consistent with COGA 1.4, 6.1, and 7.1.
• The changed review walkthrough retains one finding per turn, freeform input, a chat fallback, and explicit meanings for skip and finish (.github/skills/rpi/rpi-review/references/review.md:155-166). These preserve understandable user control under COGA 1.4 and 7.1 and the instructional intent of WCAG 3.3.2.
• Closeout consolidation retains separate execution and readiness states, remaining-work disclosure, navigable artifact links, and a final Next Steps heading (.github/skills/rpi/rpi-implement/SKILL.md:78-83; .github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan/SKILL.md:104-108). No changed-line loss of meaningful structure, link purpose, or next-action labeling was identified against WCAG 1.3.1, 2.4.4, and 2.4.6.
• The walkthrough's consuming skill retains semantic segment headings, nearby evidence links, text independent of diagram color, and explanations before questions. The reference consolidation therefore does not introduce a demonstrated perceivability or navigation barrier.
• Human oversight remains explicit: the changed RPI Agent contract at lines 49, 77, and 117-118 explains the default cap, permits additional critique/review on user direction, and distinguishes skipped steps from failures. The cap does not itself authorize bypassing required findings or human review.
• Post-review accountability improves at .github/agents/hve-core/rpi-agent.agent.md:177,183,197: invalidated evidence cannot establish completion, child review choices retain explicit provenance, and the closeout must identify child changes validated but not reviewed and offer a new review on request. This is disclosure of a narrower assurance boundary, not a claim those changes passed independent review.
• Parent authority is concrete rather than nominal: .github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/references/lens-assessment.md:57-60 requires checking candidate quotations and supporting evidence, rejecting contradicted candidates, recording dispositions, and identifying substantial unfinished lens coverage as Partial.
• Acceptance review strengthens positive-evidence checks: .github/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-reviewer.agent.md:23,60-61 requires evidence locations for consistent items; .github/skills/rpi/rpi-review/references/review.md:62 requires the parent to read a material consistency location before it supports conformance and to assess uncited items itself.
• Negative-evidence handling explicitly recognizes helper limitations: .github/skills/rpi/rpi-research/references/research.md:205-211 treats empty search results as absence claims, requires confirmation for below-max or unknown-effort returns, and records an unsupported-effort retry as medium with its reason. The changed research template carries that check into the durable artifact.
• The new critic and changed critique/review parents expressly treat ingested artifacts and helper returns as data, preserve advisory rather than final helper authority, and separate missing evidence from demonstrated defects. Neutral assignment briefs reduce steering toward the parent's expected answer.
• Decision provenance remains recoverable: changed .github/skills/rpi/rpi-review/SKILL.md:28,31 preserves append-only participation, execution, outcome, route, and continuation decisions; changed references/review.md:140-144 makes those events authoritative over stale projections. Lens/research/review artifacts now expose effort provenance instead of silently implying a uniform configuration.

Testing Recommendations

• Exercise a mixed critique batch containing Complete, Partial, Blocked, Needs clarification, and missing returns. Verify that every unassessed lens is covered directly or recorded as incomplete, and that decision-critical gaps block the verdict without launching a second batch.
• Exercise recovery before and after each transition write, critique persistence, and review decision event. Verify that recovery reuses child identity and saved assessments rather than duplicating them.
• Exercise session defaults, explicit follow-up assessment requests, and child loops that invalidate earlier acceptance evidence. Verify current validation requirements and the validated-but-not-reviewed closeout.
• Exercise global and named-lane effort overrides, subagents=none, unsupported-effort rejection followed by one medium retry, and dispatch tools without an effort parameter. Verify actual effort provenance.
• Exercise uncited consistent review returns and below-max or unknown-effort research absence returns. Verify that the parent performs the required checks before acceptance or evidence recording.
• After correcting finding 1, inspect the constructed general-purpose fallback briefing against the repository delegation checklist, specifically its explicit read boundary, no-write boundary, nested-dispatch policy, candidate return, and parent consumer.
• Keep any subsequent contained contract check distinct from native dispatch validation; the supplied static passes do not establish runtime enforcement or behavioral adherence.
• Complete or explicitly disposition the required validate:local, validate:docs, and lint:md-links checks. Preserve command scope, result, and reviewed revision with the evidence.
• Use the existing evaluation approach for focused run-limit regression cases: initial critique/review, default child skips, explicit additional-run requests, and interrupted-run continuation. Do not equate an instruction-selection answer with observed session execution.
• When separately authorized, collect a small native-host trace showing actual parallel dispatch, supported effort selection or host-default recording, one medium retry after an unsupported-effort rejection, and the default child-skip closeout. Record host/model identity and requested versus observed settings; no unrelated runtime framework is required.
• Keep model-catalog validity, frontmatter/schema acceptance, inventory presence, declarative conformance, and native model-backed behavior as separate evidence categories.
• For rollout, retain the documented options to disable helpers or request another critique/review, and record an owner and completion condition for any accepted coverage deferral.
• With separate authorization for behavioral execution, test the critic against a plan referencing a harmless canary file outside the approved evidence root. Assert that neither the dedicated worker nor its general-purpose fallback reads that file, including through traversal or filesystem links.
• Test that in-boundary references remain usable and that unavailable or out-of-boundary evidence becomes an explicit gap rather than an expanded read scope.
• Exercise unsupported-effort fallback with mocked dispatch failures and verify that the retry preserves the original read-only, scope, and confirmation boundaries.
• Observation, not a proven behavioral defect: evals/agent-behavior/stimuli/rpi-plan-critic.yml:6-11,22-26 supplies an already-discovered omission and grades only the answer critique-parent. A system that cannot find omissions, verify candidates, respect read boundaries, or dispatch lenses can still pass. Its advisory label and explicit response-only wording are accurate. Add a controlled plan/evidence fixture that requires finding and substantiating a real gap and recording an actual parent disposition before using this stimulus as assurance of those controls.
• For the new cap paths, exercise a first task, a critique-driven structural correction, and a review-driven child. Check that defaults do not silently start extra assessments, unresolved required findings are not discarded, affected earlier checks are reconsidered, and the final explanation identifies the precise unreviewed boundary. Pair this with explicit user requests for another critique/review and with subagents=none. The changed interruption stimulus at evals/behavior-conformance/skill-behavior.eval.yaml:5880-5888 assumes authorization; its existing recovery-answer grader does not test whether authorization is required or honored.
• Challenge parent verification with an invented quotation, a genuine quotation contradicted by supplied evidence, a consistent claim without a location, and a cited location that does not satisfy the requirement. Observe source inspection and adopted/rejected/not-assessed dispositions rather than grading a statement that verification is important. Relevant introduced contracts: lens-assessment.md:57-60 and rpi-review/references/review.md:62.
• Challenge absence claims using an empty exact-pattern search that misses a semantically equivalent implementation, including a below-max lane, host-default/unknown effort, and a lane retried at medium. Check that the parent confirms only a bounded absence or records uncertainty. Include a max-effort false negative: effort level should not be treated as evidence of truth, even though the special reconfirmation rule targets lower/unknown effort.
• For context-limited completeness, use a multi-phase plan with a requirement satisfied elsewhere, a cross-phase dependency conflict, and a risk whose consequence is in a different phase. Check that whole-plan Coverage and phase-scoped lenses collectively either surface the concern or identify the exact unassessed boundary. Lens splitting and bounded reads are intentional limits; empirical failure has not been established by this review.
• Exercise unsupported reasoning effort with a controlled dispatch adapter: verify one medium retry only, the effective effort and reason in the artifact, honest treatment of a second failure, and host-default labeling when no effort parameter exists. Compare representative evidence/coverage/risk tasks under the new model configuration before claiming equivalent suitability. Catalog membership and a higher effort label do not demonstrate task performance.
• Exercise interrupted critique/review and child-transition recovery with saved canonical artifacts and stale projections. Check no duplicate child, no fabricated Pass after a missing assessment, no loss of originating finding IDs, and no reuse of acceptance evidence invalidated by child changes. Include missing/Partial lens returns and explicit human-retained decisions. These are recommendations for separately authorized parent validation; nothing was executed here.

Validation Executed

These are independent parent-observed results for the pinned reviewed head. Direct PowerShell entrypoints were used without npm dependency installation; output files were redirected under the authorized tracking root.

Command or existing validation function	Result	Scope
git diff --check origin/main...HEAD	passed	Reviewed patch
pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts\plugins\Sync-PluginManifest.ps1 -Check	passed	61 agents, 53 rules, 85 skills
pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts\linting\Test-ModelReferences.ps1 -OutputPath .copilot-tracking\reviews\code-reviews\feat-rpi-subagent-effort\model-validation-results.json	passed	65 files scanned, 7 valid references
pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts\linting\Validate-AssetDocs.ps1 -FailOnMissing -CheckSync -ChangedFilesOnly -BaseBranch origin/main -OutputPath .copilot-tracking\reviews\code-reviews\feat-rpi-subagent-effort\asset-docs-validation-results.json	passed	12 assets; zero errors/warnings
Existing Invoke-FrontmatterValidation plus Get-SchemaForFile and Test-JsonSchemaValidation functions, applied to changed Markdown	passed	38 Markdown files, 35 schema checks, zero errors/warnings; pure functions used because ordinary wrapper creates logs outside allowed tracking boundary
ConvertFrom-Json / ConvertFrom-Yaml on eight changed structured files	passed	Syntax only; no native model behavior execution

For frontmatter, the existing validation script was dot-sourced to call Invoke-FrontmatterValidation, Export-ValidationResults, Get-SchemaForFile, and Test-JsonSchemaValidation directly on the 38 changed Markdown paths. This avoids the ordinary wrapper creating logs outside the review write boundary. The script and source files were not changed.

Not run: model-backed behavior suites; native dispatch/fallback/recovery tests; npm run validate:local; npm run validate:docs; repository-wide npm run lint:md-links; rendered accessibility checks. No dependencies, browsers, model environments, services, or credentials were provisioned. Author-reported checks in the PR are separate from the independent results above.

Detailed outputs: validation-summary.json, model-validation-results.json, asset-docs-validation-results.json, frontmatter-core-results.json, frontmatter-schema-results.json, and structured-file-parse-results.json.

Recommended Actions

• Address the plan-controlled read expansion, incomplete lens-result handling, and generic fallback worker boundaries (findings 1-3).
• Qualify the public effort fallback claims for hosts that ignore the frontmatter field (finding 4).
• Have the author or maintainer resolve required local checks, compatibility applicability, and new run-limit coverage with explicit evidence or an accepted, owned exception (findings 5-6).
• Prioritize native behavioral scenarios for explicit review overrides, child closeout, candidate/consistency verification, incomplete returns, and effort fallback. Do not equate static passes or response-only answers with runtime enforcement.
• Open and edit this local report before acting. Human review and posting checkboxes remain unchecked; no external review or source changes were made.

Out-of-scope Observations

• .github/agents/hve-core/rpi-agent.agent.md: Functional correctness of phase transitions, session recovery, setting propagation, and acceptance after child changes belongs to the Functional perspective. This report assesses their packaging, documentation, and validation evidence without claiming those flows work.
• .github/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-plan-critic.agent.md: AI STRIDE review considered helper/orchestrator boundaries, attribution of decisions, and escalation authority. Exploitable prompt-injection, tool-permission, or general-purpose-fallback security defects belong to the security lane; none is asserted or duplicated here.
• .github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/references/lens-assessment.md: The candidate-only parent merge and constrained lens reads leave residual false-negative risk, but the supplied diff does not establish a concrete missed material concern in an actual assessment. This is a measurement recommendation, not an introduced defect merely because independent reassessment is intentionally limited.
• .github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan/references/planning.md: Severity-based acceptance of some Medium/Low critique advice is an explicit residual-risk policy with recorded rationale. No supplied scenario establishes that an unresolved Critical/High concern can be accepted under that new policy; no finding is raised simply for limiting revision cycles.
• .github/skills/rpi: Security trust-boundary effectiveness, accessibility, and Responsible AI oversight are assigned to other perspectives and are not graded here.
• EU AI Act applicability cannot be determined from a generic coding-assistant workflow diff alone. Intended downstream use, jurisdiction, deployment context, and provider/deployer role are not established. No high-risk classification or corresponding high-risk obligations are imposed, and this is not a legal/compliance determination. Official source: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj.
• Unchanged pre-existing issues, untracked files, the dirty original worktree, production deployment, organizational governance posture, and any security-plan baseline are outside this assessment. No whole-repository audit or baseline correlation was performed.
• docs/rpi/using-together.md: Documentation-only inconsistencies, generated-document hygiene, and accessibility were not raised as RAI findings; their assigned lanes own them. Documentation changes were considered only for user expectations about oversight and assurance.
• evals/agent-behavior/README.md: Unchanged suite descriptions, class-table inconsistencies, and pre-existing examples were not promoted into findings. Changed enrollment counts were reviewed separately from native behavioral coverage.
• prContext.linkedIssues: The serialized value is []. No story or acceptance-criteria context was supplied, so linked-issue acceptance coverage is not emitted. The body reference "Related to #3185" was treated as context only; that PR was not fetched or reviewed.
• prContext: Evaluated the serialized snapshot only: state="OPEN", mergeable="MERGEABLE", mergeStateStatus="BLOCKED", statusChecks="passing", and statusCheckDetails=[]. BLOCKED has no supplied cause and is not a separate substantive finding.
• scripts/linting/model-catalog.json: External model availability, provider assertions, and deployment-specific suitability were not independently verified. This assessment neither certifies catalog metadata nor infers that the selected model is unsuitable from absent benchmarks. Implementation/schema correctness belongs to the functional and standards lanes.
• scripts/linting/schemas/agent-frontmatter.schema.json: Host compatibility and implementation portability belong to Standards/Functional. The documentation finding is limited to the new public guarantee conflicting with the change's own documented host limitation.

Recommended Specialist Follow-up Reviews

• Responsible AI was completed in this review. Prioritize the targeted behavioral evidence listed above rather than repeating a broad framework audit.
• A standalone Security Reviewer follow-up is available if a stronger host-level read-boundary assessment is needed for finding 1. The present review did not execute a native exploit.
• No separate broad accessibility audit is recommended for this Markdown-only surface; no interactive implementation changed.

Review Coverage and Execution Limitations

All six board areas were opened and completed by the perspective sweep. Pending or unopened areas: 0. No Critical or High findings require a separate walk-through. No extra bookmark/explainer investigation was requested. Orientation and coverage are preserved in orientation-walkthrough.md, walkthrough.md, dispatch-board.md, and dispatch-manifest.json.

• All six selected perspectives completed; none skipped. Workers returned structured JSON because native file-writing tools were unavailable; the parent persisted and validated the returned artifacts.
• All six proposed findings were accepted after changed-line and exact PR-context verification; no rejected worker findings. Worker verdicts were not inherited: counts and final verdict were recalculated from accepted findings.
• No model-backed evaluation, native parallel-dispatch/effort-retry trace, browser/assistive-technology test, full npm validation aggregate, or independent model-availability verification was performed.
• The generated PR XML wrapper contains unescaped source syntax and is not parseable as XML; all 46 complete file patches were consumed and indexed as text instead. The pre-existing generator behavior was not attributed to this PR.
• The initial frontmatter-check harness reset a selection variable while dot-sourcing; the corrected pure-function invocation passed. This was not a repository defect.
• Provider merge status was BLOCKED with passing check snapshot and no supplied cause. No failed CI, conflict, or specific missing approval was inferred.
• The original dirty worktree remained untouched. No source changes, dependency installations, Git history changes, or external posting occurred.

Risk Assessment and Verdict

The accepted findings warrant comments, not a normalized request_changes verdict. This is not merge approval: required PR validation/testing dispositions remain unresolved. Intentional review limits were not classified as defects, and absent native behavior evidence was not converted into either proof of failure or proof of effectiveness.

Final normalized verdict: approve_with_comments

Disclaimer and Human Review

[!CAUTION]
Disclaimer: This agent is an assistive review tool only. It does not provide engineering sign-off, security certification, or compliance approval and does not replace qualified human code review, security review boards, or other professional reviewers. The output consists of AI-assisted findings, observations, and suggested remediations to support a reviewer's own analysis and decision-making. All code-review findings — including functional, standards, and accessibility observations — generated by this tool must be independently reviewed and validated by a qualified human reviewer before acting on them, merging changes, or treating any finding as resolved. Outputs from this tool do not constitute engineering approval, merge authorization, or compliance certification.

• Reviewed and validated by a qualified human reviewer

[Bill Berry (WilliamBerryiii)]

1. [Security] Constrain plan-named evidence paths before opening additional files

Severity: Medium
Category: Input Validation
Location: .github/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-plan-critic.agent.md : 39
Confidence: 8/10; conditional static finding, not a native exploit reproduction

The new critic allows a statement in the untrusted plan to authorize reading a file outside the caller-supplied evidence set, without requiring that the resolved path remain within a caller-approved read root. The dispatch template supplies plan and evidence paths but no additional permitted read roots. A crafted plan can therefore name a sibling confidential file, for example ../private/customer-export.csv, as evidence for an in-scope task. On a normal host whose read tool can access that file, the critic is permitted to open it while following this procedure, bringing unrelated confidential contents into its tool/model context. This does not require executing an embedded instruction: the attacker-controlled pathname itself satisfies the new read-expansion rule. Treating plan text as data and keeping secrets out of the final return do not validate the pathname before the read. The parent skill's prohibition on reading unsupplied artifacts is not preserved at this delegated boundary.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

2. Read the plan sections in scope and the plan sections the assignment names, such as User Decisions and Requirements or the requirement lists, locating each by ID or heading rather than reading the whole plan. Search the supplied evidence for what the lens question needs rather than reading it whole. Open a file outside the supplied set only when a statement in scope names it, and open an earlier critique only when the assignment supplies one.

Suggested fix:

2. Read the plan sections in scope and the plan sections the assignment names, locating each by ID or heading. Search the supplied evidence for what the lens question needs. A reference in the plan does not grant read authority. Open an additional referenced file only when its resolved canonical path is explicitly supplied or falls within a read root the parent explicitly approved for this assignment; reject traversal or link resolution outside that boundary. If no additional read root was supplied, report the missing evidence to the parent instead of opening the file. Open an earlier critique only when the assignment supplies one. Carry the same approved read boundary into the general-purpose fallback assignment.

[Bill Berry (WilliamBerryiii)]

2. [Functional] Handle Needs clarification as an incomplete lens result

Severity: Medium
Category: Error Handling
Location: .github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/references/lens-assessment.md : 60

The merge procedure omits a failure status that RPI Plan Critic explicitly produces. Its Flow step 1 returns Needs clarification when an assignment or required artifact cannot be identified, and its response contract lists that status separately from Partial and Blocked. For example, Coverage, Executability, and Risk can complete while Evidence returns Needs clarification because its assigned research artifact cannot be identified. That return can contain no candidate findings. The merge procedure handles Partial, Blocked, and an absent return, but not this present, unsuccessful return; candidate verification therefore supplies no replacement assessment and this branch does not mark the missing Evidence boundary Partial. This leaves a path to recording complete execution without completing a required lens. The decision-critical Blocked stop rule protects critical gaps, but does not supply the missing execution-status handling for other unassessed portions.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

4. When a lens returns `Partial`, `Blocked`, or nothing, cover the gap yourself when it is small; otherwise record the unassessed boundary and set critique execution to Partial.

Suggested fix:

4. When a lens returns `Partial`, `Blocked`, `Needs clarification`, or nothing, identify its unassessed boundary. Cover the gap yourself when it is small; otherwise record that boundary and set critique execution to Partial. Return a Blocked verdict when the missing assessment is decision-critical. Do not count an unsuccessful lens as complete or dispatch a second round.

[Bill Berry (WilliamBerryiii)]

3. [Standards] Carry the worker boundaries into the general-purpose critique fallback

Severity: Medium
Category: Delegation Contract
Location: .github/skills/rpi/rpi-plan-critique/references/lens-assessment.md : 44

The newly added fallback tells a general-purpose subagent to receive the same assignment and return candidate fields, but that assignment deliberately omits the dedicated critic's operating constraints. The preceding paragraph relies on RPI Plan Critic defining its own reading limits and return format; an unavailable named worker's body and agents: [] declaration do not establish a generic worker's dispatch contract. In particular, the fallback briefing never states its write boundary or nested-dispatch policy. This violates the loaded hve-artifact-authoring skill's Delegation Contract and the explicit requirement in .github/instructions/hve-core/hve-builder.instructions.md, Delegate Deliberately: 'Define a delegated task's inputs, write boundary, return shape, stage consumer, and nested-dispatch policy.' The result is an incomplete fallback contract for a workflow whose parent exclusively owns the critique artifact. This finding concerns the missing authored contract, not a claim that unauthorized writes or nested dispatch occurred.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

`RPI Plan Critic` runs on the model its frontmatter declares; pass a different model only when the user names one. When `RPI Plan Critic` is unavailable, give a general-purpose subagent the same assignment at the same effort, and ask it to return a status and, for each candidate, the location, a short quote, what it was checked against, the concern, a suggested severity, the smallest useful change, and its confidence.

Suggested fix:

`RPI Plan Critic` runs on the model its frontmatter declares; pass a different model only when the user names one. When `RPI Plan Critic` is unavailable, give a general-purpose subagent the same assignment at the same effort. Include this worker boundary in its dispatch: read the assigned plan sections and supplied evidence only; do not create, edit, move, or delete files, including temporary files; do not run validation, dispatch other agents, or send user-facing messages. Return candidates only; the critique parent verifies them and owns finding IDs, final severity, the verdict, and the critique artifact. Ask it to return a status and, for each candidate, the location, a short quote, what it was checked against, the concern, a suggested severity, the smallest useful change, and its confidence.

[Bill Berry (WilliamBerryiii)]

4. [Readiness] Qualify the documented default-effort guarantee by host support

Severity: Medium
Category: Documentation
Location: docs/reference/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-researcher.md : 33

The new text says frontmatter max effort applies whenever a dispatch supplies none. The same unconditional claim appears in changed docs/reference/agents/hve-core/subagents/rpi-reviewer.md:36. This omits a limitation expressly documented by this change: scripts/linting/schemas/agent-frontmatter.schema.json:56 says "VS Code's Local harness ignores it." The changed research and review references also allow dispatch tools without an effort parameter and require recording host-default effort. Readers therefore cannot rely on the public pages' stated max fallback across the supported entry surfaces; this matters directly to the feature's quality and effort expectations.

Current code or serialized checklist evidence:

Each dispatch can set the helper's reasoning effort. Its frontmatter pins Claude Haiku 5.5 at `max`, which applies when a dispatch sets none. rpi-research lowers a lane to `low` when a tool guarantees a complete result, such as a search inventory, and keeps `max` for lanes that read for meaning.

Suggested fix:

Qualify the researcher and reviewer reference pages: max is the declared fallback only on hosts that honor reasoning-effort frontmatter; the schema documents that VS Code's Local harness ignores that field. Explain that per-dispatch selection also requires tool support, and otherwise the recorded effort is host default rather than a guaranteed max or requested level. Link a shared capability note from the public effort documentation if useful.

[Bill Berry (WilliamBerryiii)]

Approving as backstop ... prior comments apply