P1 Spec Research Policy

Phase 1 Research Policy

Core Principles

• AskUserQuestion-First: Resolve every ambiguity, design choice, or scope decision via AskUserQuestion BEFORE proceeding. Never assume — a wrong assumption cascades to all later phases.
• Structured Interview (before spec parsing): Interview the user first — one question per message covering goal, scope, constraints, priority trade-offs, verification strategy, and dependencies (full interview protocol owned by the goal-clarifier agent). Record answers in docs/phase-1-research/design-intent.md; resolve ambiguous spec language with the user's stated intent, never agent assumptions.
• Approach Comparison for Open Items: When the spec allows multiple implementation paths, present a per-OPEN comparison table (Approach | Pros | Cons | Area Est. | Latency Est. | Recommendation) and let the user select via AskUserQuestion. Record choice + rationale in open-requirements.json resolution_rationale.
• Incremental Requirement Approval: Seek approval in stages — interface/IO → functional (per block) → performance → open items — so users correct misinterpretations before they propagate. Finalize iron-requirements.json only after all stages are approved.
• Domain-Consult-First: Invoke domain-consult for algorithms, standards, coding tools, and HW trade-offs — never research in isolation. Experts provide knowledge; spec-analyst captures it as structured artifacts.
• Propose, Do Not Decide: Present algorithm/tool candidates with trade-offs; the user makes final selections. Architecture-level decisions (pipeline, partitioning, memory hierarchy) belong to Phase 2 — Phase 1 surveys and recommends.
• Exhaustive Tree Exploration: Spawn maximum parallel agents to explore every feasible solution path before committing. Skip ONLY if the user specifies exact algorithm + architecture (even then, explore at least 2 variants for validation).

Spec Refinement Criteria

AskUserQuestion MUST cover these areas (skip items already provided by user):

• Target codec, profile, level (e.g., H.264 High Profile Level 4.1)
• Target resolution and framerate (e.g., 1080p@60fps, 4K@30fps)
• Encoder, decoder, or both
• Interface protocol (AXI4, AXI4-Lite, APB, custom)
• Clock frequency target and process node (ASIC vs FPGA)
• Feature scope restrictions (e.g., "TQ only", "intra-only")
• Priority trade-off preference (throughput vs area vs power vs quality)

3-Round Chief Review Protocol

Mandatory 3 rounds, coordinated by rtl-architect (domain-agnostic default). If a domain chief exists (e.g., vcodec-chief-standard-expert for video-codec domain), invoke both rtl-architect AND domain chief for domain-specific validation:

• Round 1: Cross-block data flow completeness, dependencies, performance constraints, fixed-point constraints, cross-block issues, [AMBIGUITY]/[CONFLICT] status Save: reviews/phase-1-research/research-review-r1.md
• Round 2: Convergence assessment. Rebuttal: spec-analyst accepts/rejects each Round 1 finding with rationale. Even if converged, proceed to Round 3 Save: reviews/phase-1-research/research-review-r2.md
• Round 3: Mandatory final quality pass. Remaining gaps → escalate via AskUserQuestion Save: reviews/phase-1-research/research-review-r3.md

Review criteria per round:

1. Data flow: inputs/outputs defined at every block boundary
2. Dependencies: which block produces/consumes what data
3. Performance: throughput, latency, bandwidth as specific numbers
4. Fixed-point: bit widths, rounding modes per block
5. Cross-block issues: RDOQ↔Entropy dependency, ME↔MC pipeline, etc.
6. Ambiguities: all resolved or promoted to [ARCHITECTURE_DECISION]

User may override round count: "set iterations to N" → N rounds (minimum 1).

Iron/Open Requirement Taxonomy

Phase 1 produces TWO requirement files instead of a single requirements.json:

• docs/phase-1-research/iron-requirements.json — settled functional (REQ-F-NNN) and performance (REQ-P-NNN) requirements, authority = 1, binding for ALL downstream phases.
• docs/phase-1-research/open-requirements.json — research topics (OPEN-1-NNN) that Phase 2 must investigate and resolve into architecture decisions.

Per-item field schemas for both files are owned by the spec-analyst agent prompt. This policy owns only the classification and verification rules below.

Classification Rules

• Functional/performance requirements with clear, measurable acceptance_criteria → iron
• Architecture/implementation choices needing further investigation → open
• Items with ambiguity score > 0.5 → CANNOT become iron until clarified
• A requirement cannot become iron until its ambiguity score passes (reproducibility check)

Iron/Open Classification Verification

After iron/open files are produced, verify:

FAIL conditions (must fix before exit):

• acceptance_criteria contains vague terms ("should support", "adequate", "sufficient")
• open item missing evaluation_criteria
• open item has candidates.length ≤ 1
• iron item missing violation_policy

WARN conditions (log and proceed):

• iron ratio < 30% (most items pushed to open — weakens Phase 1 value)
• open item related_iron is empty
• CONDITIONAL PASS ambiguity axis linked to an iron-classified REQ

Port Naming Conventions (io_definition.json)

• Inputs: i_ prefix (e.g., i_data, i_valid) — NOT suffix _i
• Outputs: o_ prefix (e.g., o_result, o_ready) — NOT suffix _o
• Bidirectional: io_ prefix (e.g., io_sda)
• Clocks: clk (single domain) or {domain}_clk (e.g., sys_clk) — NOT clk_i
• Resets: rst_n (single domain) or {domain}_rst_n (e.g., sys_rst_n) — NOT rst_ni
• Single clock domain defaults to sys_clk / sys_rst_n

Self-Verification Format

Save to reviews/phase-1-research/research-review.md:

# Phase 1 Review: Research Completeness
- Date: YYYY-MM-DD
- Reviewer: spec-analyst
- Upper Spec: specs/
- Verdict: PASS | FAIL

## Feature Coverage Checklist
| Spec Section | Requirement ID | Status |

## Findings
### [severity] Finding-N: ...

## Verdict
PASS | FAIL: [reason]

Spec Feature Completeness Audit (MANDATORY — Step 7.5c / team T12b-T12c)

The extractor MUST NOT grade its own completeness: an extraction blind spot also biases the self-counted denominator (5-of-10 modes self-reports 5/5). The completeness verdict comes from an independent census + mechanical diff:

1. Independent feature census (clean context): spawn spec-analyst in FEATURE CENSUS MODE. It reads ONLY original spec sources (specs/**, docs/phase-1-research/goal.md, domain knowledge files) and MUST NOT read iron-requirements.json, open-requirements.json, or any prior Phase 1 analysis. Enumerate EVERY spec-defined item — expand mode/format tables item-by-item (e.g., each intra prediction mode, encoding mode, color format, block size is one entry). Write docs/phase-1-research/spec-feature-inventory.json:

   { "features": [ { "feature_id": "FEAT-001", "name": "...", "kind": "mode|format|algorithm|capability|constraint",
                     "source": { "document": "...", "section": "..." } } ] }
   

2. Mechanical diff (different agent): spawn rtl-architect to map every FEAT-* to REQ/OPEN IDs in iron ∪ open requirements. Per-feature status:

   • EXTRACTED — mapped to at least one REQ/OPEN id
   • EXCLUDED_BY_SCOPE — user-approved exclusion, ADR reference recorded
   • MISSING — no mapping and no approval

3. Gap escalation: any MISSING feature → MUST ask user via AskUserQuestion:

   • "Spec defines N features; requirements cover M. Omitting K features may reduce [quality metric]. Approve omission?"
   • Approved → status EXCLUDED_BY_SCOPE + ADR with rationale and impact estimate
   • Not approved → add REQ-F-* to iron-requirements.json as MUST_IMPLEMENT, re-run diff

4. Documentation: save docs/phase-1-research/feature-coverage.md:

   | Feature | Spec Source | REQ/OPEN IDs | Status |
   |---------|-------------|--------------|--------|
   | Intra mode DC | §8.3.1 | REQ-F-012 | EXTRACTED |
   | Intra mode planar | §8.3.2 | — (ADR-007) | EXCLUDED_BY_SCOPE |
   

   plus totals: features / extracted / excluded_by_scope / missing.

5. Gate: PASS iff missing == 0 (every feature EXTRACTED or EXCLUDED_BY_SCOPE). FAIL blocks Phase 1 completion (feature-coverage-audited completion criterion).

6. Downstream contract: spec-feature-inventory.json is the authoritative spec-item denominator for later phases; EXCLUDED_BY_SCOPE records let downstream gates distinguish user-approved scope reduction from silent extraction loss.

7. Reference model cross-check (Phase 2+, when refC or an external golden exists): compare the inventory against model implementation — "enum declared but function not implemented" → COVERAGE_GAP warning.

Escalation & Stop Conditions

• Spec document not found → report to user, halt
• Conflicting requirements between experts → flag conflict in domain-analysis.md, ask user
• Chief not converged after 3 rounds → escalate remaining gaps to user with specific questions
• Sub-domain expert returns [DOMAIN_UNCERTAINTY] → AskUserQuestion before proceeding

Ambiguity Score Protocol

Every Phase 1 completion MUST include an ambiguity assessment:

1. spec-analyst produces Ambiguity_Assessment with per-axis scores
2. Ambiguity Gate enforced by both orchestrators:
   • p1-research-orchestrator: Step 7.5
   • p1-research-team-orchestrator: Step 3.5
3. Score is recorded in docs/phase-1-research/ambiguity-assessment.md
4. Phase 2 entry reads this score — if > 0.3, phase 2 reviewers prioritize clarifying those axes

This is inspired by Ouroboros's AmbiguityScorer pattern:

• Goal Ambiguity (40%): Is the design objective ambiguous? (0.0=clear, 1.0=ambiguous)
• Constraint Ambiguity (30%): Are timing/area/power/protocol constraints missing? (0.0=explicit, 1.0=missing)
• AC Ambiguity (30%): Are acceptance criteria untestable? (0.0=testable, 1.0=untestable)

Scoring: ambiguity_score = weighted_average(goal, constraint, ac) — higher = worse

• ≤ 0.3: PASS — proceed to Phase 2
• 0.3–0.5: CONDITIONAL PASS — log warnings, Phase 2 reviewers focus on flagged axes
• > 0.5: BLOCK — resolve top ambiguities via AskUserQuestion before proceeding

Adversarial Interpretation Gate (Steps 7.6-7.9)

After ambiguity gate (Step 7.5a) and iron/open verification (Step 7.5b) pass, run adversarial reinterpretation to surface ambiguities the initial analysis missed.

Protocol (summary — Task-level orchestration owned by p1-research-orchestrator Steps 7.6-7.9)

1. 7.6 Challenge: adversarial spec-analyst (clean context) challenges iron-requirements.json by source.section (not REQ ID); types: REINTERPRETATION (alternative reading) and OMISSION (zero-REQ spec feature vs spec-feature-inventory.json → original_interpretation="NOT_EXTRACTED", severity HIGH). Output .rat/scratch/stability/phase-1/challenge-report.json (schema: skills/p1-spec-research/templates/challenge-report-schema.json; max 30 per pass).
2. 7.7 User resolution: HIGH individually via AskUserQuestion; MEDIUM batched if >10; LOW auto-documented. User may mark challenges NOT_GENUINE.
3. 7.8 Re-run: spec-analyst re-analyzes with accumulated clarifications → all 4 canonical artifacts (iron/open requirements, io_definition, timing_constraints) + self-validation.
4. 7.9 Gate check: compute Gate Metric below + save reviews/phase-1-research/stability-report.md.

Gate Metric

genuine = (HIGH + MEDIUM challenges) - NOT_GENUINE
resolved = RESOLVED + DOCUMENTED
resolution_ratio = resolved / genuine   (if genuine == 0: pass)
gate_pass = (all HIGH resolved) AND (resolution_ratio ≥ 0.8)

Gate failure: list unresolved HIGH challenges, loop back to Step 7.7 (max 1 re-loop). After 2nd failure: escalate to user with full divergence report.

Dual Gate Arbitration (Ambiguity Score + Adversarial Gate)

Rule: Either gate can block; neither can unblock the other.

Severity Classification

Boundary rule: alternative interpretation would cause different RTL module → HIGH. Same module but different parameters → MEDIUM. Same module, same parameters → LOW.

Pathological Patterns

• Zero challenges on >15 requirements → re-run with stronger adversarial framing

• 50% items at HIGH severity → spec fundamentally under-specified, escalate

• Challenge budget exceeded (>30) → rank by severity, return top 30

Final Checklist

• docs/phase-1-research/iron-requirements.json exists and is valid JSON
• docs/phase-1-research/open-requirements.json exists and is valid JSON
• Every requirement has unique "id": "REQ-NNN" field
• docs/phase-1-research/io_definition.json exists and is valid JSON
• io_definition.json port names use i_/o_/io_ prefix (NOT suffix)
• io_definition.json clocks use {domain}_clk, resets use {domain}_rst_n
• docs/phase-1-research/timing_constraints.json exists with per-block timing targets (rough estimates)
• docs/phase-1-research/domain-analysis.md exists with cross-block dependency matrix and per-block timing targets
• No unresolved requirement conflicts
• Review coordinator (rtl-architect, or domain chief if available) declared Architecture-Ready (or gaps escalated)
• Self-verification verdict produced (PASS or REVIEW_NEEDED)
• Spec feature count vs iron-requirements.json + open-requirements.json count documented
• docs/phase-1-research/spec-feature-inventory.json produced by independent census (clean context, no generated Phase 1 requirement artifact access)
• docs/phase-1-research/feature-coverage.md saved with zero MISSING features (all EXTRACTED or EXCLUDED_BY_SCOPE with ADR)
• reviews/phase-1-research/research-review.md saved (consolidated)
• Per-round review artifacts saved: research-review-r1.md, r2.md, r3.md
• docs/phase-1-research/solution-tree.json exists (structured JSON)
• docs/phase-1-research/candidate-comparison.md exists
• docs/phase-1-research/selected-approach.md exists
• docs/phase-1-research/literature-survey.md exists
• Tree exploration used maximum parallel agents (8-20 leaf + cross-cutting)
• domain-consult invoked at least once
• Algorithm/tool candidates presented with trade-offs (NOT pre-selected)
• AskUserQuestion used at every ambiguity point (no unresolved assumptions)
• docs/phase-1-research/ambiguity-assessment.md saved with per-axis scores and overall ambiguity_score
• Ambiguity Gate passed (score ≤ 0.3 for PASS, 0.3–0.5 for CONDITIONAL PASS)
• Adversarial reinterpretation completed (Step 7.6)
• All HIGH challenges resolved or escalated
• resolution_ratio ≥ 0.8 (adversarial gate PASS)
• reviews/phase-1-research/stability-report.md saved
• Every iron requirement has measurable acceptance_criteria (no vague terms)
• Every iron requirement has "violation_policy": "user_escalation"
• Every open item has ≥ 2 candidates and evaluation_criteria
• File-level target_phase specified in open-requirements.json
• Iron/open classification verification passed (no FAIL conditions)