run-evals

Run Evals

HARD GATE — Define evals before implementation. Code graders = runnable verify: commands; model graders = explicit rubric with pass/fail criteria.

Process

1. Name the capability under test (one sentence).

2. Write specs/EVALS-<feature>.md with:

   • Capability evals (does it do the job?)
   • Regression evals (did we break anything?)

3. Assign grader type per eval: code (shell verify) or model (rubric).

4. Assign strictness tier per eval (graduated promotion — e45s37):

   Tier	Meaning	Promotion rule
   EXPERIMENTAL	New eval, may flake	Not gating
   USUALLY_PASSES	Stable in dev; ≥2/3 recent runs pass	Blocks BUILD only when combined with ALWAYS_PASSES suite
   ALWAYS_PASSES	Zero tolerance; required for release	Any single failure blocks BUILD and merge

   Promote: EXPERIMENTAL → USUALLY_PASSES after 3 consecutive passes; USUALLY_PASSES → ALWAYS_PASSES after 5 consecutive passes with zero flakes documented in specs/state.yaml.

5. Run evals; log results table with pass@k (e.g. 3/3 runs) and tier per eval.

6. Block BUILD phase until all ALWAYS_PASSES evals pass at agreed k. USUALLY_PASSES failures warn; EXPERIMENTAL failures log only.

Artefact

specs/verifications/eNNsYY-eval-report.md — see REFERENCE.md for template. Eval reports are stored alongside verification evidence in specs/verifications/, keyed by story ID for traceability.

Verify

→ verify: test -d specs/benchmarks && test -f specs/benchmarks/SCHEMA.md

<!-- story: e02s01 -->

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Run Evals — Reference

Strictness tiers (e45s37)

Add a tier: column to each eval row:

Tier	Gate behaviour
EXPERIMENTAL	Log only — does not block
USUALLY_PASSES	Warn on failure; blocks only when paired with failing ALWAYS_PASSES
ALWAYS_PASSES	Hard block on any failure

EVALS template

# EVALS: <feature>

## Capability
| ID | Eval | Grader | Tier | verify / rubric |
|----|------|--------|------|-----------------|
| C1 | ... | code | ALWAYS_PASSES | `verify: npm test -- <file>` |
| C2 | ... | model | USUALLY_PASSES | Rubric: [ ] criterion A [ ] criterion B |

## Regression
| ID | Eval | Grader | verify / rubric |
|----|------|--------|-----------------|
| R1 | Full suite passes | code | `verify: npm test` |

## Results
| Run | C1 | C2 | R1 | pass@k |
|-----|----|----|-----|--------|
| 1 | PASS | PASS | PASS | 3/3 |

pass@k

Run capability evals k times (default k=3). Ship when all k pass or document known flake in specs/state.yaml handoff.open_decisions.