Repository source: docs/plans/effort_estimation_trial/effort_estimation_trial_debug_log.md
Effort estimation trial debug log
2026-10-19T00:35:08Z — Step 2 feature description
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step2_feature_description.md, Delivery scope and Completion boundary: naming the allowed documentation files and handoff condition separates trial setup from six separately approved feature implementations and later outcome analysis. Retain these requirements.docs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, Railspike Debug Mode, Project default: established enabled state from the consuming project's marker presence and recorded that snapshot in the artifact. Retain; the unrelated railspike-dev project's state was not substituted.AGENTS.md, Railspike, anddocs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, Planning Artifacts: created the Step 2 artifact without drafting Step 3, creating a feature branch, committing plans or starting the ledger implementation. Retain approval boundaries for this work spanning sessions.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Inapplicable instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step2_feature_description.md, Shared component inventory: application UI/API enumeration is not applicable to this documentation-only setup. Existing backlog, planning and evidence surfaces are identified instead; retain the underlying reuse requirement.
Uncertain assessments
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step2_feature_description.md, concise one-page deliverable: preserving the trial lifecycle and keeping setup acceptance separate from later feature delivery needs more detail than a minimal feature description. The artifact combines user flow and success criteria and leaves candidate selection and staged execution to later approved work; no broader conclusion about the length limit follows.
2026-10-19T02:16:06Z — Step 2 review revision
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, Plan review and Key Rules: the existing artifact and debug log establish an unapproved Step 2, so the resumption reviews that artifact before proceeding to Step 3. Retain the explicit approval boundary.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step2_feature_description.md, Completion boundary: checking source availability exposed a broken external reference link. Corrected it and specified restoration and hash verification when references are unavailable; retain recovery requirements for documentation work.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Inapplicable instructions
Shared application UI/API inventory remains inapplicable to this documentation-only setup; existing study and planning surfaces are reused.
Uncertain assessments
No supported findings.
2026-10-19T02:16:50Z — Step 1 reverse assessment
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step1_solution_assessment.md, Structure and Review and revision: comparing three approaches makes the existing Step 2 draft a candidate direction rather than an assumed decision. Preserved the current request verbatim and identified the inferred trial context separately. Retain these requirements.docs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, Plan review and Enhancement Requests: recorded the requested return to Step 1 and updated Step 2 navigation/status without replacing its substantive scope or treating the request as approval. Retain the approval and request records.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Inapplicable instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step1_solution_assessment.md, Next, prohibition on creating Step 2 before approval: Step 2 already existed before this requested reverse assessment. Preserved it as an unapproved draft; no new Step 2 deliverable was drafted.
Uncertain assessments
No supported findings.
2026-10-19T02:27:59Z — Step 1 feedback-led revision
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step1_solution_assessment.md, Review and revision: revisiting tradeoffs after concrete feedback replaced a size quota with a sampling preference and exposed inherited-score bias. Retain the revision requirement.docs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, Enhancement Requests: recorded authorization to revise separately from approval to advance; Step 2 remains an existing unapproved draft requiring later reconciliation. Retain this distinction.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Uncertain assessments
The historical feedback summary does not establish remaining implementation work. Candidate status and feasibility remain setup checks, not findings of this Step 1 revision.
2026-10-19T02:30:25Z — Step 2 reconciliation after Step 1 approval
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step2_feature_description.md, Core requirements and Completion boundary: propagated the approved feedback source, non-quota sampling policy and inherited-score distinction into setup acceptance, rather than leaving them only in Step 1. Retain these requirements.docs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, Plan review and approval gates: recorded explicit Step 1 approval and preserved the separate Step 2 gate; no candidate ledger or Step 3 was created. Retain step-specific approvals.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Inapplicable instructions
Application UI/API inventory: this remains documentation-only setup, reusing feedback and planning records. No application surface is introduced.
Uncertain assessments
No supported findings.
2026-10-19T02:31:25Z — User feedback: confusion during Step 1 revision
The user reported momentary confusion when rereading Step 2 after Step 1 had been rewritten but before Step 2 had been reconciled. They had lost the pending-update distinction from their conversational context, so the older Step 2 content was particularly confusing.
The user suggested that Step 2 could have carried a conspicuous note explaining that Step 1 had changed and Step 2 was awaiting reconciliation. Its existing draft/status language did not sufficiently preserve that context for this reading. This is a suggestion for clearer cross-step status communication, not authorization to change workflow instructions.
Disposition: Feedback recorded only, as requested. No further plan or workflow changes requested now.
2026-10-19T02:35:22Z — Step 3 development plan and user checklist
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_before.md, approval and request reconciliation: recorded explicit Step 2 approval plus the user's acceptance of cross-cycle bookkeeping before drafting. Retain this boundary.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_do.md, Completion Contract and stage dependencies: separated setup from later feature delivery and final study review; provenance precedes rating and durable handoff follows selection. Retain these constraints.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_after.md, approval gate: delivered an uncommitted plan and checklist without starting setup implementation. Links and required stage fields were checked. Retain explicit approval.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Inapplicable instructions
Runtime, UI, database and deployment verification are inapplicable to this documentation-only setup; source provenance, document integrity and authorized scope checks apply.
Uncertain assessments
The one-page guideline competes with the explicitly requested durable cross-cycle checklist. The checklist is retained alongside the three-stage plan for resumption; consider distinguishing plan-body brevity from user-requested handoff material.
2026-10-19T02:36:43Z — User clarification: separate personal checklist
The user clarified that the requested checklist should cover actions specifically for them and be saved as a separate file. The previous checklist mixed user reviews with agent bookkeeping and was embedded in Step 3. Created a separate maintainer checklist focused on decisions, approvals and applicable acceptance checks; replaced the embedded checklist with a link and recorded the explicitly authorized documentation addition. No setup implementation or feature work was started.
2026-10-19T02:47:03Z — Step 2 revision for per-step estimation
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, Enhancement Requests: host-guidance integration expands the approved setup file boundary, so the revision returns to Step 2 while retaining Step 1's feedback-led direction. No host instructions or implementation were changed. Retain scope-specific renewed approval.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step2_feature_description.md, Completion boundary: added checkpoint semantics and document walkthrough acceptance so normal-use integration has a reviewable outcome. Retain documentation-specific verification.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
User-feedback follow-through
The user's earlier confusion about an updated earlier step and unreconciled later step informed prominent status banners on both Step 2 and Step 3 and an updated personal checklist. Step 3's substantive stages are intentionally unchanged until Step 2 is approved; that fact is now explicit at the top of the artifact.
Uncertain assessments
Per-step judgments can expose changing understanding but do not themselves measure prediction accuracy or actual labor. Step 4 closeout is labeled retrospective, and unavailable historical checkpoints must remain missing rather than be backfilled as prospective estimates.
2026-10-19T02:49:13Z — Step 3 reconciliation for host integration
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_before.md, approval reconciliation: restored explicit renewed Step 2 approval before revising the stale development plan. Retain this gate.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_do.md, Completion Contract and verification: added host entrypoint integration and the four approved walkthrough cases, while retaining documentation-only boundaries and separate feature approvals. Retain these requirements.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_after.md, review and handoff: checked links and all required fields across four stages; no implementation or commits. Retain verification and Step 3 approval.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Inapplicable instructions
Runtime, UI and deployment checks remain inapplicable to this documentation-only setup. Document walkthroughs establish instruction consistency, not demonstrated model compliance in future sessions.
Uncertain assessments
The reconciled plan exceeds a compact printed page to retain four stages' mandatory fields and approved recovery cases. Whether the one-page target can accommodate these requirements without losing reviewable scope remains uncertain.
User-feedback follow-through
Replaced the stale-plan warning with an explicit current-status banner and updated the separate personal checklist in the same revision, so the user need not recover approval state from conversation.
2026-10-19T02:58:24Z — User preference: remove resolved caution banners
The user requested removal of caution/status banners once the plans are reconciled. Removed the resolved current-status banners from Steps 2 and 3. Retained approval history and the pending Step 3 approval in ordinary document text.
Preference for future revisions: Use prominent notices while a dependent plan is stale or awaiting reconciliation; remove those temporary notices once reconciliation is complete. Do not retain a resolved caution banner as a permanent status header. This complements the earlier request to make temporarily unreconciled plans clear.
Disposition: Completed as requested; no scope, approval state or workflow instructions changed.
2026-10-19T03:00:41Z — Step 2 revision for direct vendored edits
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, Enhancement Requests: the user explicitly requested vendored changes, replacing the previously approved host-only boundary. Revised the allowed file scope and retained the separate Step 3 implementation gate. Retain explicit scope records.docs/railspike/CONTRIBUTING.md, product instruction changes and development-record boundary: plan keeps generic instructions in the vendored product and study records in the host project. The user explicitly authorized this local vendored exercise; later upstream roll-up remains separate. Retain separation of reusable instructions and project evidence.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
User-feedback follow-through
Added temporary revision/stale notices to Steps 2 and 3 and updated the personal checklist. Remove notices once the plans are reconciled, as requested previously.
Uncertain assessments
Future subtree updates may interact with the local instruction patch. The proposed project-reference update will record divergence; this revision does not perform or preapprove upstream integration.
2026-10-19T03:10:00Z — Step 3 reconciliation for vendored integration
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_before.md, approval reconciliation: recorded explicit renewed Step 2 approval and replaced the former host-only Stage 3 with the approved vendored contract and hooks. Retain the file-scope gate.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_do.md, Completion Contract and stage verification: preserved generic/project-specific separation, added local-divergence documentation and checks for unaffected non-study cycles. Retain scope and verification fields.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step3_development_plan_after.md, handoff: links and required stage fields checked; implementation still awaits Step 3 approval. Retain explicit implementation gate.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Inapplicable instructions
Runtime and deployment checks remain inapplicable to documentation-only changes.
Uncertain assessments
The plan retains four stages and exceeds a compact printed page to preserve required stage fields and approved recovery checks; the earlier brevity concern remains.
User-feedback follow-through
Removed temporary caution notices from both plans after reconciliation, as requested. Updated the personal checklist in the same change. No vendored instructions, application files or Git commits were changed.
2026-10-19T03:25:48Z — Completed Step 4
Necessary/useful instructions
docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step4_implementation_before.md, Planning Docs Commit Gate: organized approved Steps 1–3 and debug history under the feature folder, kept the auxiliary personal checklist out of the initial commit, and created the summary only afterward. Retain the explicit planning-commit boundary.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step4_implementation_do.md, Stage Boundary Protocol: preserved provenance before candidate rating, saved intake before source screening, and committed each stage plus summary before the next. The E03 scope/score revision remains traceable instead of replacing the initial estimate. Retain sequential evidence checkpoints.docs/railspike/docs/workflow/step4_implementation_after.md, Final Verification Checklist: verified 72 concrete links, three frozen source hashes, authorized-file scope, whitespace and the one-planning-plus-four-stage commit structure. Retain documentation-proportional checks.docs/railspike/RAILSPIKE.md, experimental checkpoint contract added in this cycle: the static walkthroughs distinguish total projections from retrospective assessment, skipped/missing scores, selection state and scope approvals. Retain these distinctions; real-use effectiveness remains to be studied.
Redundant/unnecessary instructions
No supported findings.
Inapplicable instructions
Runtime, UI, deployment and migration verification are inapplicable to this documentation-only setup. Candidate mobile/iPhone acceptance is explicitly future work; static source screening does not establish those user outcomes.
Uncertain assessments
Synthetic document walkthroughs check consistency and discoverability, not whether future agents comply or whether the scores predict comfortable fit. Six real accepted outcomes and maintainer judgments remain pending.
The proposed batch lacks near-ceiling scopes. This follows the approved usefulness-first policy, but later analysis must not claim calibration of the ceiling from this batch alone.
Commit and handoff evidence
Planning:
89ae9c13; Stage 1:e8548e75; Stage 2:17222a5d; Stage 3:3954ae89; Stage 4:612ad589. Each stage commit contains its implementation-summary update. The final stage includes the separate maintainer checklist.Branch:
feat/effort-estimation-trial. Final pre-log working tree was clean. No application, AGENTS.md, provenance identifiers, upstream publishing, subtree sync, merge or deployment changes.The initially modified
todo.txtwas read but never edited or staged by this work; it no longer appeared modified at later status checks.Setup complete; 0/6 accepted study outcomes. Next action is maintainer review of R1 and the six proposals, then selection and separate feature approvals.