confidence-engine/docs/experiment-60b73.md

Experiment 60B.73 — Missing Sufficiency Confirmation Question (Implementation)

Date: 2026-08-14 Branch: feature/sufficiency-confirmation-question-v0.45 Parent: 60B.72 (diagnosis ready for implementation) Type: Bounded implementation + focused verification

Objective

Replace the generic decision_threshold question ("What outcome would demonstrate enough value to justify X?") with a focused sufficiency confirmation/discovery question when:

target is an unresolved decision
AND hasRemainingMaterialFactors(target.id, graph) === false
AND isUserConfirmationOfNoRemainingUncertainty(raw answer) === false

Implementation Boundary

Location: formulateQuestion() in lib/graph/question-formulator.js Branch: Before selectInvestigationStrategy() call Detection: Transient (no persisted state)

Detection Logic

State B detected in formulateQuestion after reasoningPatternSelection and before strategy selection:

// Guarded to decision-pattern context only
if (
  reasoningPatternSelection.pattern === "decision" &&
  node.kind !== "unknown" &&       // not a factor — the target decision itself
  node.status !== "known" &&        // still unresolved
  node.status !== "resolved" &&
  node.status !== "contradicted" &&
  hasRemainingMaterialFactors(node.id, graph) === false
) {
  const resolved = context.resolvedValues || [];
  const hasConfirmation = resolved.some((v) =>
    isUserConfirmationOfNoRemainingUncertainty(v),
  );
  if (!hasConfirmation) → sufficiency template
}

New Template

Key: decision_threshold_sufficiency_confirmation Family: decision_threshold (existing family, no new family) Question: "Is there anything else material that could change which option is better?"

This question preserves both functions:

1. User can answer "No" to confirm sufficiency → closure proceeds
2. User can name another factor if one exists → that factor becomes next unknown

Test Coverage (60B.73 — 8 tests)

#	Scenario	Expected
1	Exact State B: unresolved decision, zero remaining factors, no confirmation	sufficiency template selected; generic threshold wording absent
2	Question allows missing-factor discovery	Contains "anything else material" and "could change which option is better"
3	Genuine remaining factor remains	Normal path preserved; NOT sufficiency template
4	Explicit sufficiency confirmation present	Normal path preserved; NOT sufficiency template
5	Non-decision unknown target	Unchanged normal behavior
6	Ordinary decision_threshold for unknown factors	decision_threshold family preserved
7	Resolved factor stays resolved (zero remaining)	State B triggers correctly
8	Decision identity preserved	Reason mentions material factors; node unchanged

Behavioral Guardrails

Preserved (NOT changed):

• Target selection logic
• Decision closure rule (shouldCloseDecision in decision-sufficiency.js)
• Remaining-factor detection (hasRemainingMaterialFactors)
• Resolution semantics
• SelectedQuestion node identity
• Materiality determination
• Preferred option / recommendation
• Schema / provider / harness
• Existing factor-first question behavior

Not changed:

new schema field          → NO
new persisted graph state → NO
new question family       → NO (uses existing decision_threshold)
prompt change             → NO
broad answer plumbing     → NO (uses existing resolvedValues context)

Focused Verification

Command: npx vitest run tests/graph/question-formulator.test.js tests/graph/apply-proposal.test.js -t "60B.73|60B.64|decision_threshold"

Result: 16 passed (8 new + 8 regression/preserved)

Pre-existing Regressions (NOT introduced by this experiment)

Four apply-proposal test failures confirmed pre-existing (verified via git stash/re-run):

1. "rejects selected question referencing resolved node" — validation not catching resolved ref 2-4. Question casing mismatch: expects lowercase, receives capitalized

WHAT IS NOW GUARANTEED

When the active target is an unresolved decision with zero represented remaining material factors but no explicit sufficiency confirmation:

• Engine asks focused sufficiency confirmation/discovery question instead of generic threshold question
• Decision remains the active target (no target change)
• The question allows both "No" (confirm sufficiency) and factor discovery

WHAT REMAINS UNPROVEN

The 60B.71 live no-confirmation case must still be rerun once after this implementation to prove the user-facing question changes from generic decision_threshold to focused sufficiency confirmation/discovery.