[lostlight530]

Current confirmed defect

At main commit 7af0513e54c63dc795b1f39ac1b9194bf16179d1, core/communication_transfer.py accepts figure-evidence with the correct source profile but non-object values for seven optional context fields, then accesses them as dictionaries in _coverage() or dict(), causing an uncaught AttributeError for e.g. upstream_research: ["malformed"] — not a typed Tool CLI failure

Bounded repair

• core/communication_transfer.py: validate the seven copied context fields as JSON objects when supplied, while preserving missing/null semantics, before downstream dict access
• tests/test_tool_cli.py: 35 malformed-field variants must yield EXECUTION_FAILED from the adapter, one CLI subprocess must return exit 1 + machine JSON + empty stderr, and a valid nullable sidecar must retain bounded transfer/non-inheritance semantics
• No historical documentation, dates, workflow, tool registry or scientific-meaning modifications

Evidence

• REMOTE_STATE_VERIFIED + STATIC_SOURCE_REVIEW: main, source, current machine contract and tests
• ISOLATED_REPRO_EXECUTED: source-equivalent minimal reproducer observed AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute 'get'
• Local full-checkout native tests: NOT_EXECUTED because connected runtime checkout unavailable
• CI at exact head 60a8dcfdf60ed8b3591cddbcb22f1dce98da80c0: EXECUTED / SUCCESS — GitHub Actions run 39868076220, job local-tool-contract, all steps successful
• python -m unittest tests.test_tool_cli -v: 9 tests OK (new malformed context and valid/null compatibility tests both OK)
• make test: success — core tests/test_all.py 10 tests, accessibility 13, Tool/Agent 14, UI 3 — all green in logs
• Python compile step and JSON/HTML catalog generation: success
• Native maintenance scanner: NOT_EXECUTED
• External scientific/acceptance/WCAG claims: NOT_EXECUTED and explicitly not inherited

Freshness and handoff

• Exact original base: 7af0513e54c63dc795b1f39ac1b9194bf16179d1
• Head: 60a8dcfdf60ed8b3591cddbcb22f1dce98da80c0
• main...head: ahead 1, behind 0, changed only the two paths above
• Keep this PR Draft, no producer merge / auto-merge / main write
• Current state: READY_FOR_MAINTAINER_REVIEW — subject to independent maintainer review and exact-head freshness gate immediately before any authorized merge