[bench] config: raise the per-stage Oracle timeout to 300s

[dburks-svg]

Promotes the Oracle timeout from a machine-local override to committed config, and removes the ledger pin that is no longer needed.

Why this is a correctness fix, not a preference

At the library default of 120s the Oracle timed out on constitutionally heavy diffs. Because a timeout fails closed, it surfaced as a VETO carrying pipeline_error — the change was blocked with output that reads like a ruling but was a pipeline failure.

This happened three times while drafting the C-008 sanitation amendment and blocked it outright until the cause was diagnosed. Anyone on BENCH_PROVIDER=claude_code proposing a substantial change hits the same wall, so it belongs in the shared config rather than in one developer's settings.local.json.

Enforcement is not weakened

Bench asked this directly during review, twice. Fail-closed behavior is unchanged, and the chain has the receipt: the entry recording the 120s timeout carries verdict: VETO with pipeline_error: true. Raising the ceiling only stops a slow judge from being mistaken for a strict one.

The ledger pin comes out with it

BENCH_LEDGER_PATH existed only to keep a single chain while branches predating the privacy change still routed to ledger/. The last such branch, bench/comment-trim (merged in PR #28), has been deleted, so main is the only remaining branch and all of it resolves to .bench/.

Verified before removal: resolve_ledger_path() computes C:/Users/mstar/Bench/.bench/bench-ledger.json, identical to what the pin specified, and python -m cli verify still reports VALID with genesis 4e98fb41 unchanged.

Removing it also retires a real hazard Bench flagged when it was added: an absolute path tied to one machine would silently split writers from readers if the repo ever moved.

Testing

517 tests pass.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01HM2xLE9X1hcE3mhwffvmmR

[chatgpt-codex-connector]

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[chatgpt-codex-connector]

Extend the outer hook timeout beyond all stages

When a non-CLEAR diff makes Challenger, Defender, and Oracle each approach the new 300-second limit, the pipeline can require roughly 900 seconds before any parse retries, but the PreToolUse command still has no explicit timeout and therefore retains Claude Code's 600-second default. Claude Code can consequently cancel the entire hook before it emits a verdict or ledger receipt, so the heavy diffs this change is intended to unblock still fail at the enclosing timeout instead. The Claude Code command-hook reference documents timeout as a per-hook setting with a 600-second default; set it above the pipeline's cumulative worst-case duration when raising this per-call value.

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