experiment: validate regression B after normalization

docs/current-handoff.md

@@ -173,3 +173,7 @@ Isolated the answer-resolution step using one fixed target (preference/trade-off
 ### Experiment 56A Summary — Regression B Proposal Validation Enum Mismatch
 
 The first implementation pass added proposal-level `answerMeaning` with a pre-mutation compatibility guard. Deterministic regression tests A-D passed, but live Ollama runs showed Regression B failing at `proposal_validation` before the pre-mutation guard could execute. Experiment 56A traced this to a schema mismatch: Qwen returned `supportCategory: "conditional_qualification"` while the production Zod schema only accepts `conditional_tradeoff` among five values. The value survives normalization unchanged (normalize step handles node kind aliases, not supportCategory). The failure is at Zod validation — a proposal-contract issue, not a guard failure. **Hypothesis confirmed.** No fix was attempted. Branch: `feature/reasoning-fidelity-v0.8`. First file to inspect when resuming: `lib/graph/schema.js` line 165 (Zod enum for supportCategory) or the experiment record at `docs/experiment-56a.md`. Status pending Rob's review.
+
+### Experiment 56B Summary — Regression B Live Run After Normalisation
+
+Commit `36faf70` added normalization for `conditional_qualification → conditional_tradeoff`, but a live Regression B run returned a *different* variant: `supportCategory: "conditional_preference"`. The existing normalisation map does not cover this value. Two independent Zod errors occurred: (1) `conditional_preference` not in the supportCategory enum, and (2) `resolutionGuidance` was free-text instead of an enum value. **Run-to-run model variation confirmed** — the same fixed input produced `conditional_qualification` in Ex 56A and `conditional_preference` in Ex 56B. The pre-mutation guard remains unreachable because proposal_validation rejects first. Failure classification: `FAIL — normalization / proposal contract`. Branch: `feature/reasoning-fidelity-v0.8`. File to inspect when resuming: `docs/experiment-56b.md`. Status pending Rob's review.

docs/experiment-56b.md

@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+# Experiment 56B — Regression B Live Run After Normalisation
+
+**Date:** 2026-08-09  
+**Branch:** `feature/reasoning-fidelity-v0.8`  
+**Status:** observation complete, no fix attempted
+
+## Hypothesis
+
+Regression B passes proposal validation after the normalisation added in commit `36faf70`, reaches the pre-mutation guard in `applyValidatedProposal()`, and preserves its conditional meaning through the graph outcome.
+
+## Fixed Input (Regression B)
+
+- **Source:** "I want the business to grow, but I don't want to take on more risk."
+- **Answer:** "I'd normally avoid more risk, but for the right opportunity I might accept some."
+- **Graph state:** Single unknown node `n-risk-constraint` (status: unknown)
+- **Previous question:** "Is avoiding additional risk a hard constraint or a preference/trade-off?"
+
+## Configuration
+
+- **Ollama endpoint:** `http://192.168.1.111:11434` (from `.env.local`)
+- **Model:** `qwen-claude:latest`
+
+## Observations
+
+### 1. Raw answerMeaning
+
+Inferred from Zod rejection errors (the model did not produce a validated proposal):
+
+- `supportCategory`: `"conditional_preference"`
+- `resolutionGuidance`: `"Identify and quantify the threshold conditions that trigger risk acceptance."` (free-text string, not an enum value)
+
+### 2. Raw supportCategory at schema boundary
+
+**Observed value:** `conditional_preference`
+
+### 3. Normalised supportCategory
+
+**Result:** Unchanged — `conditional_preference`
+
+The normalisation map in `update-proposal.js` line 15 contains only:
+
+```js
+const ANSWER_SUPPORT_CATEGORY_ALIASES = {
+  conditional_qualification: "conditional_tradeoff",
+};
+```
+
+It does **not** handle `conditional_preference`. The value passes through normalization untouched to Zod validation.
+
+### 4. Proposal validation result
+
+**FAILED — two errors:**
+
+1. **supportCategory:** `"conditional_preference"` is not in the Zod enum (`relative_priority_only | conditional_tradeoff | uncertain | explicit_hard_constraint | other`)
+2. **resolutionGuidance:** Free-text string `"Identify and quantify the threshold conditions that trigger risk acceptance."` is not in the Zod enum (`must_remain_unresolved | may_resolve | must_resolve`)
+
+### 5. applyValidatedProposal reached?
+
+**NO.** The failure occurs at `proposal_validation` stage, before the pre-mutation guard in `applyValidatedProposal()` can execute.
+
+### 6. Guard result
+
+Not applicable — never reached.
+
+### 7. Resolution/update intent
+
+The model's free-text `resolutionGuidance` (`"Identify and quantify the threshold conditions that trigger risk acceptance."`) indicates it was attempting to produce conditional-resolution guidance, but failed the enum contract entirely.
+
+### 8. Final graph state
+
+**No mutation.** The proposal was rejected at validation; the SituationGraph remains unchanged (still contains `n-risk-constraint` with status `unknown`).
+
+## Additional Finding — Run-to-Run Model Variation
+
+Experiment 56A observed `supportCategory: "conditional_qualification"`. Experiment 56B observed `supportCategory: "conditional_preference"`. The same fixed input and model produce different category strings across runs. This means the normalisation map is incomplete by definition — no finite alias list can cover all possible model-generated variants.
+
+The two observations confirm the same root cause (model returns a non-enum supportCategory string) but with different values, reinforcing that this is an instability in the model's output contract compliance.
+
+## Result
+
+**FAIL — normalization / proposal contract**
+
+The hypothesis is not confirmed. Regression B fails at `proposal_validation` for the same class of defect as Experiment 56A (non-enum supportCategory), but with a *different* invalid value (`conditional_preference` instead of `conditional_qualification`). The existing normalisation map does not cover this variant.
+
+## What This Established
+
+1. Run-to-run model variation confirmed: `conditional_qualification` → `conditional_preference`.
+2. The normalisation alias list (`ANSWER_SUPPORT_CATEGORY_ALIASES`) is insufficient — it only covers one of at least two observed variants.
+3. The pre-mutation guard in `applyValidatedProposal()` remains unreachable because proposal_validation rejects first.
+4. Even if the normalisation map were extended to cover `conditional_preference → conditional_tradeoff`, the `resolutionGuidance` field also failed (free-text instead of enum), indicating a second independent compliance gap.
+
+## What Remains Untested
+
+- Cases A, C, D, E, F
+- Whether the model will consistently return one variant vs the other under repeated identical input
+- The pre-mutation guard behaviour once a proposal successfully passes validation
+- Downstream graph mutation consequences
+- Other models' compliance with the answerMeaning output contract
+
+## Production reasoning code changed: NO
+## Temporary instrumentation removed: YES
+## Documentation updated: experiment-56b.md, current-handoff.md
+## Git status: clean (pending commit)