Verifier: bind absent and relocated scoped base inputs without inventing an empty agent surface

[pengfei-threemoonslab]

Selected execution — 2026-09-24

Days 1–5 design is in PR #869, docs/research/application-days1-5/comparison-design.md. Bind independent base/head scopes and exact compared trees; distinguish Git-proven path absence, unconfigured existing app, relocation and unread input. A rename alone is not agent identity. Preserve reviewed-subject requirements for verifier/qualification; generated advisory extraction cannot satisfy them. Implementation and the fixed #1975/#1977 acceptance remain open for Weeks 2–3. Selected milestone 13.

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The earlier advisory-release deferral below is historical. This issue is now selected for the application proof milestone; its implementation is not yet complete.

First advisory release scope — 2026-09-11

Owner decision: adoption > completeness; make v1.0 ready with repository-independent work, then expand adoption. Historical scoped tool-source inputs are deferred while the host workflow is made ready. The partial red test is not an implementation or a passing result.

Removed from the selected v1.0 milestone; kept open and deferred, not resolved. #643/#644/#645/#646 define current product acceptance; #572 preserves the historical qualified no-go and #648 owns the actual publication contract. The prior evidence and acceptance below remain a record of the deferred work, not newly satisfied conditions.

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Problem

Found while implementing #564. The miner's missing-base-directory return hides an engine input-contract gap: a committed verifier comparison uses one repository-relative config_relative for both trees. A real PR-added manifest can already produce a terminal result with base_status=missing_manifest, but that does not prove an evaluated empty agent surface. A renamed scoped project has no separately bound base-manifest path.

Evidence

At main ded4be37f, cli/verify/orchestrator.py materializes the base tree and reads base_tree_dir / config_relative; absence returns missing_manifest. --diff-from can consume a separately produced old-scope report, but marks diff_from_provided rather than an independently scanned base and lacks the normal base subject/config join. The qualification scorer requires a successful, tree-bound base run. Neither workaround may be represented as that evidence.

The unchanged fixed public history supplies both concrete cases:

• Travel planning agent demo built with ADK and Google Maps MCP google/adk-recipes#1975 adds python/agents/travel-panner-google-maps-mcp between ca6776f841dc19f8c0ec1400b46f34a7e7cc41cd and 4f8c74236398c5255180de8ae6bef935d4840409.
• Fix typo in travel planner folder name. google/adk-recipes#1977 has four Git-observed R100 file renames to python/agents/travel-planner-google-maps-mcp, from that head to 964b975ee158a01e9f61fa52d432b49ed4a396d4.

Those observations establish paths and file identities, not reviewed business authority or whole-agent identity. #564 will preserve them in a typed unsupported-input obligation instead of copying head sources into base or fabricating a verifier catch.

Required design and implementation

Define how the existing verifier plan/receipt binds independent base and head scoped inputs. A renamed scope needs the real base source path, head path and their evidence; an absent path needs an explicit, reviewed comparison subject with a precise absence claim. Absence of a manifest must never by itself mean absence of tools or runtime authority. Keep genuine PR-added manifests and all trust-root changes visible.

Prefer a bounded extension of existing manifest/diff/verification identities rather than a parallel verdict engine. State how this affects base status, capability coverage, qualification eligibility and report compatibility before implementing. Preserve fail-closed behavior until the input can actually be supported.

Acceptance

• Real PR-added manifests continue through the existing terminal verifier route with their trust-root delta intact.
• Renamed scopes bind original base/head trees and their actual input locations; partial/ambiguous renames cannot silently choose an agent identity.
• A new scope distinguishes a Git-proven absent path from an unconfigured existing surface and an unreadable tree; no head inventory is manufactured at base.
• Plan, receipt, report and qualification consumers agree on the new subject/status semantics without weakening successful-base or policy requirements.
• Fixed #1975/#1977 refs and new/rename/unrelated-deletion fixtures demonstrate truthful evidence or precise refusal.
• Cold-start and reviewed-scope measurements remain separate; no relabeling, invented effect/authority/binding declaration or scan fallback is used as a successful PR catch.

Sequencing

Split from #564 as its existing implementation direction requires; defer this newly discovered contract work under the user's instruction. Coordinate #563's reviewed scope, #559's exact-byte scorer, #569's compatibility freeze and #572's release decision. A typed miner obligation does not satisfy the historical catch bars or qualify v1.0. No milestone or release eligibility is granted by filing this issue.

[pengfei-threemoonslab]

Selecting this existing P1 after #596 for the core input-contract work needed by #563 and #515. The current source still has one manifest location for both trees; a synthetic relocated-project CLI regression now exits 2 because --base-config is unsupported. This does not change #515's outstanding default-diff requirement.

Implementation contract before production edits:

• Add an explicit Git-root-relative verify --base-config alongside head --config, requiring an explicit --base. Omission keeps the same-path behavior. Do not infer project/agent identity from Git rename similarity, and reject incompatible preview/no-base/supplied-report combinations.
• Bind the selected base manifest location and its observed Git tree/blob or precise absence in existing plan input options. The head manifest remains the existing config blob. Existing plan/request/receipt identities bind this comparison; worker validation must reconfirm it. Rerun commands retain the original base path.
• Preserve existing base_status: only an actual successful base scan is succeeded. missing_manifest additionally distinguishes an absent project directory from an existing directory without the requested manifest; unreadable/unsafe inputs remain failures. These path observations assert no empty tool inventory, deployment identity or business authority.
• Keep base effective-policy comparison and all actual trust-root edits visible, including a relocation that also weakens CI. Neither a missing manifest nor a new CLI flag clears capability/dependency coverage gaps.
• No automatic historical manifest overlay is introduced. Fixed ADK #1975/#1977 source trees without committed reviewed manifests receive precise evidence/refusal; they are not successful qualification catches. The exact-byte scorer retains its successful-base, policy and provenance requirements. Cold-start and reviewed-scope evidence remain separate.
• Use existing JSON/receipt surfaces, add paired new/rename/unrelated-deletion and unsafe-path fixtures, and document compatibility. verification prepare/worker remain decision-free; they may bind/validate a subject but cannot manufacture a successful base scan.

#640 separately retains the cal-1 entrypoint/extension-binding uncertainty; path binding here cannot settle it. No labels or declarations are changed to make a historical case pass.

[pengfei-threemoonslab]

Days 1–5 design is in PR #869, docs/research/application-days1-5/comparison-design.md. Bind independent base/head scopes and exact compared trees; distinguish Git-proven path absence, unconfigured existing app, relocation and unread input. A rename alone is not agent identity. Preserve reviewed-subject requirements for verifier/qualification; generated advisory extraction cannot satisfy them. Implementation and the fixed #1975/#1977 acceptance remain open for Weeks 2–3. Selected milestone 13.