Research Run Ledger

Research Run Ledger

Record a command as a run.started/run.finished pair in a JSONL hash chain. Capture stdout and stderr into exclusive artifacts that are never overwritten. Version 1.1.3 writes new schema-1.1 events and retains read compatibility with complete 1.1.2, 1.1.1, 1.1.0, and 1.0.0 run pairs.

Safety boundary

Treat this Skill as a recorder, not a permission system. Before invoking it:

• confirm that the user authorized the command and its external effects;
• apply the project's download, license, and untrusted-input safety protocol;
• avoid commands that print credentials because stdout/stderr are preserved;
• declare every material input and expected output that matters to the result.

The runner refuses obvious token, password, authorization, or cookie values in argv and explicit environment assignments. It starts child processes with a minimal environment allowlist and never writes environment values to the manifest. These checks reduce accidental disclosure; they do not replace credential management or command review.

Record one run

Use an explicit argv vector after --. Never reconstruct it as a quoted shell string.

python3 scripts/run_ledger.py run \
  --manifest /absolute/run/manifest.jsonl \
  --artifact-dir /absolute/run/logs \
  --manifest-parent-identity 16777232:123456 \
  --artifact-directory-identity 16777232:123457 \
  --run-id RUN-OCR-001 \
  --cwd /absolute/project \
  --input /absolute/data/source.png \
  --output /absolute/results/ocr.json \
  -- python3 /absolute/tools/ocr.py \
  --input /absolute/data/source.png \
  --output /absolute/results/ocr.json

For a preflight-to-run handoff, create the empty artifact directory with mode 0700, record its POSIX device/inode and the device/inode of manifest.parent, then pass both guards shown above. A guarded directory must be owned by the current user and must not be group- or other-writable; the artifact directory must be exactly 0700. A mismatch stops before the lock, manifest, or logs are created. Version 1.1.3 requires the two guards both-or-neither. Unguarded calls remain supported, but do not establish cross-process continuity with an earlier preflight.

The runner opens the manifest parent and artifact directory as pinned directory descriptors, rechecks their pathname identities, and creates the lock, manifest, and logs relative to those descriptors with no-follow/exclusive semantics. New 1.1.3 run.started events record the expected and observed identities in publication_boundaries. If the platform lacks directory-relative open/stat/mkdir/unlink, O_DIRECTORY, or O_NOFOLLOW, the run stops before publication. Cleanup is also identity-checked immediately before unlink; an already observed same-name replacement for the lock, empty manifest, or reserved logs is left untouched. POSIX name-based unlink cannot eliminate a same-user replacement inside the final stat-to-unlink instruction window, so use this Skill only with pinned, non-payload-directed child programs in a user-private workspace.

Supply repeatable --input and --output flags. Inputs must exist and be regular files. --output means that the run's final bytes are a fixed snapshot: later verify --check-files requires exact hash and size equality. Outputs may be new or existing regular files, but an input and output may not be the same path. The Skill records an existing output's pre-run snapshot; it does not grant permission to overwrite it. At finish it also rechecks every input's local device/inode. Replacing an input with an identical-byte inode, or making an output alias either the start or finish input identity, records integrity_failed. A 1.1.3 start stores each input's identity_before; its finish stores the bound before and after identities plus identity_status. The verifier derives replacement and recorded input/output identity-alias violations rather than trusting only a summary string.

For a JSONL ledger or another file that is intentionally extended by later recorded runs, declare it with repeatable --append-output instead:

python3 scripts/run_ledger.py run \
  --manifest /absolute/run/manifest.jsonl \
  --artifact-dir /absolute/run/logs \
  --run-id RUN-PROVENANCE-002 \
  --cwd /absolute/project \
  --append-output /absolute/run/provenance.jsonl \
  -- python3 /absolute/tools/register.py \
  --ledger /absolute/run/provenance.jsonl

An append-only output may be created, remain unchanged, or grow. If it already exists, its old byte prefix and runtime file identity must survive the command. The next run must start from the preceding recorded checkpoint; unrecorded growth blocks the run before run.started. Never use --append-output merely because an ordinary output might change later.

Use --env KEY=VALUE only for non-sensitive, reproducibility-relevant settings. Prefer files or approved credential helpers for authentication. Environment values are passed to the process but only key names are logged.

For an ordinary run, the wrapper returns the command's exit code. A nonzero command still produces a complete finish event and log artifacts. A recorder or launch error returns 2. If a declared input changes or a declared output is missing after execution, the finish event is integrity_failed and the wrapper returns 3, even when the child process returned zero. Do not reinterpret that result as a successful research run.

Before run.started and before launching the child, the writer constructs a pessimistic finish-event size envelope from the bound paths and fixed collection budgets. It then reserves two event slots and enough total manifest bytes for the exact start plus a maximum-size finish. If the envelope, pair slots, or pair bytes do not fit, it returns 2 without running the command. Post-run records retain the start-bound paths, so a symlink or ancestor-path replacement cannot expand or redirect the finish record.

Verify a run ledger

python3 scripts/run_ledger.py verify \
  --manifest /absolute/run/manifest.jsonl

This rejects an empty or structurally incomplete ledger with exit 2 and checks the JSONL hash chain, event ordering, start/finish pairing, required payloads, and the current stdout/stderr artifact existence and hashes. Add --check-files when current input and output paths should still satisfy their contracts. Snapshot outputs and inputs require exact equality. Append-only outputs are grouped by path: every recorded checkpoint must be a byte prefix of the next, and the current file must exactly equal the latest checkpoint. This rejects truncation, old-region edits, prepends, skipped intermediate states, and unrecorded tails.

Schema 1.0 outputs retain exact snapshot semantics. For a known legacy path that was in fact appended by multiple recorded runs, use an explicit verifier-only compatibility policy:

python3 scripts/run_ledger.py verify \
  --manifest /absolute/run/manifest.jsonl \
  --check-files \
  --legacy-append-output /absolute/run/provenance.jsonl

The report labels this legacy-verifier-override with legacy-byte-prefix-only assurance. It does not claim the old run declared append intent and cannot exempt changed inputs, outputs missing at their recorded finish, discontinuous checkpoints, or unrecorded current growth.

Stop on any integrity error or mismatch. At the run's start and finish observation points, inputs, snapshot outputs, append-only outputs, the manifest, and current log artifacts must not be the same file, including resolved-path and hardlink aliases. Later verify checks recorded bytes, not continued inode identity: an archival relink with identical bytes may still pass and must not be described as proof that roles remain physically separate. Do not append to a tampered manifest, reuse a run ID, reuse log artifact names, remove a lock whose writer may still be active, or replace an artifact to make verification pass. Create a new run after resolving the cause.

The loader is bounded line-streaming: it never joins the complete manifest in memory. It applies fixed 16 MiB total-manifest, 1 MiB per-event, 4,096-event, nesting, node, structural-token, integer-token and float-token budgets before accepting events. It requires strict UTF-8, exact event/payload keys, and rejects duplicate keys, booleans in integer fields, and non-finite numbers. A budget, syntax, non-UTC timestamp, or chronology failure is a malformed-ledger stop, never a successful or merely mismatched run. Timestamps must use Z; event recorded_at values are nondecreasing and each pair obeys started_at <= start recorded_at <= ended_at <= finish recorded_at.

Before resolving paths or creating artifacts, run also enforces fixed count and aggregate UTF-8 budgets: argv 512/256 KiB, inputs 256/128 KiB, snapshot outputs 256/128 KiB, append outputs 256/128 KiB, and explicit environment items 128/128 KiB.

Read references/run-manifest-contract.md when integrating the event schema or interpreting verifier exit codes and proof boundaries.

Handoff

Return the manifest path, run_id, start and finish event hashes, process exit code, stdout/stderr artifact paths and hashes, declared output hashes, append-transition result and policy source when applicable, and verification result. Label missing outputs, changed inputs, prefix violations, replacements, launch failures, and nonzero exits explicitly; never reinterpret them as successful research results.