fix(discovery): state a research run that accepts no claim

plugins/discovery/.claude-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "discovery",
-  "version": "0.28.3",
+  "version": "0.28.4",
   "description": "Discovery before changes: explore the local codebase, run multi-source external research, and reconstruct why a past decision was made from evidence outside the code. Each dispatches a subagent by default so the reading stays out of the main thread, with source tiers, falsification, recency gates and a coverage ledger, and persists EXPLORE.md / RESEARCH.md / INTENT.md handoff artifacts. A research sweep workflow (/discovery:research-sweep) backs deep research with adversarial claim verification.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Melodic Software",

plugins/discovery/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,22 @@
 # Changelog: discovery plugin
 
+## [0.28.4] - 2026-10-04
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **A research run that accepts no claim now says so (#5833).** Outcome-gate rows 7 and 12 apply to
+  accepted claims only, so an artifact that listed every claim as a Gap passed them and read like an
+  answer. Row 4 now also applies to accepted claims only, so it no longer contradicts the Gap route.
+  New verifier-owned row 14 checks that the index's `accepted:` count matches the accepted claims.
+  The count leaves out claims listed under Gaps and claims left unresolved in Conflicts, so a run
+  that rejects every claim through Conflicts also counts zero. At `accepted: 0`, the Summary must
+  open with `Inconclusive: no claim accepted.`; with that line, a run that settles nothing passes
+  as inconclusive. The verifier now grades rows 4, 7, 12 and 14, and the researcher sets
+  `accepted:` in its final write. On the N-topic path the synthesized root index now goes to the
+  verifier for all four rows, not criterion 12 alone, so row 14 also runs on it. Three eval cases
+  cover an artifact whose every claim is a Gap, one whose every claim is an unresolved Conflicts
+  entry, and a count that includes a Gap claim.
+
 ## [0.28.3] - 2026-10-03
 
 ### Changed

plugins/discovery/agents/research-verifier.md

@@ -15,8 +15,10 @@ history, and everything you need arrives in your dispatch prompt or sits on disk
 
 - **Target**: the `RESEARCH.md` path the parent's acceptance gate printed as `index=`. Grade that
   file and the sidecars and fetch log beside it, nothing else. A research index you find anywhere
-  else is some other run's artifact.
-- **Rows**: the outcome-gate row numbers to grade, currently 4, 7 and 12. The row text lives in the
+  else is some other run's artifact. A synthesized slice-root index is the one exception: the
+  sub-slice indexes it synthesizes, inside the same slice, are the record its carried claims and
+  qualifiers came from, so read those too and grade only the root.
+- **Rows**: the outcome-gate row numbers to grade, currently 4, 7, 12 and 14. The row text lives in the
   outcome gate table of
   [`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/research/SKILL.md`](${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/research/SKILL.md);
   Read that table and grade each named row as it is written there. Do not grade from a paraphrase in
@@ -40,6 +42,15 @@ MEDIUM or LOW and listed in the Gaps section is not an accepted claim, so it doe
 A quote found at its link settles only that the quote exists; it does not show the claim follows
 from it, which is the question row 12 asks.
 
+Rows 4, 7 and 12 hold vacuously when no claim is accepted, so row 14 is what grades that case.
+Count the claims that stand accepted once you have graded them, each one neither listed under Gaps
+nor left unresolved in Conflicts, and compare the count with the index frontmatter's `accepted:`.
+A claim recorded under Conflicts in place of acceptance, such as a row 12 failure filed there, is
+not accepted; one whose Conflicts entry resolves in its favor is. A missing field or a different
+number fails row 14. At zero, row 14 passes only when the Summary opens with
+`Inconclusive: no claim accepted.` and names the Gaps or Conflicts that blocked one; a
+zero-accepted artifact that reads as an answer fails it.
+
 A claim at `HIGH (single source)` has no corroborator to count, so row 4 turns on its
 `single_source:` reason. Judge that reason against the definition in
 [`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/research/context/discipline.md`](${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/research/context/discipline.md),
@@ -83,6 +94,7 @@ rows:
   "4": pass                 # pass | fail: <claim id and one line>
   "7": pass
   "12": pass
+  "14": pass
 verification_line: "verification: pass (research-verifier, <YYYY-MM-DD>)"
 open_questions: []
 ```

plugins/discovery/agents/researcher.md

@@ -255,23 +255,27 @@ Write the artifact in stages:
 2. Write each `RESEARCH-<section>.md` sidecar as its section settles, and update its row in the
    index.
 3. The final write, after the outcome gate below, replaces the marker line with
-   `Run status: complete`. Nothing earlier does. The parent's gate refuses an index still carrying
-   the marker, which is how a stop at the limit reaches the parent even when no payload does.
+   `Run status: complete` and sets the frontmatter's `accepted:` count, which counts the
+   claims in neither Gaps nor an unresolved Conflicts entry. Nothing earlier does. The parent's gate
+   refuses an index still carrying the marker, which is how a stop at the limit reaches the parent
+   even when no payload does.
 
 A by-value `RESEARCH.md` body carries `Run status: complete`, because by-value means the work
 finished; the parent writes it and grades it like any other.
 
 ## The outcome gate is split: you do not grade all of it
 
-Run the skill's outcome gate against your own artifacts before the final write. Three criteria are
+Run the skill's outcome gate against your own artifacts before the final write. Four criteria are
 **not yours to render a verdict on**, because grading them means judging the quality of your own
 choices, and you are the context that made them:
 
-- the criterion requiring ≥2 **independent** corroborators per claim (a floor below criterion 7),
+- the criterion requiring ≥2 **independent** corroborators per accepted claim (a floor below criterion 7),
   or a `single source` reason that holds for a first-party content claim,
 - the criterion requiring every accepted claim to be HIGH confidence, `HIGH (single source)`
-  included, and
-- the criterion requiring every accepted claim to follow jointly from its cited sources.
+  included,
+- the criterion requiring every accepted claim to follow jointly from its cited sources, and
+- the criterion requiring the index's `accepted:` count to match the accepted claims, with a
+  zero stated as inconclusive, because the accepted set is final only once the other three hold.
 
 The gate's Owner column is the authority; where this list and that column differ, the column wins.
 Assemble the evidence those criteria need, since per-claim source URLs with their tier, publishing
@@ -302,7 +306,7 @@ applicability: pass         # pass | fail, mirrors check-source-applicability.py
 verification: pending       # never anything else; you render no verdict on your own confidence
 verification_request:
   target: <the same path as artifact: above>
-  criterion: "independent corroboration with every single-publisher claim labeled and not accepted, HIGH confidence, and joint-inference validity per accepted claim"
+  criterion: "independent corroboration with every single-publisher claim labeled and not accepted, HIGH confidence, and joint-inference validity per accepted claim, and an accepted-claim count that states a zero"
   worker: fresh-context subagent
 gate_owed: "the full post-dispatch acceptance gate, not only check-dispatch-artifact.sh, check-coverage-complete.sh and check-source-applicability.py: it also owes the discovery:research-verifier dispatch and project fit. Source: the discovery plugin's skills/research/SKILL.md 'Post-dispatch acceptance gate' and reference/parent-contract.md 'Running the acceptance gate'"
 open_questions:

plugins/discovery/reference/parent-contract.md

@@ -541,7 +541,7 @@ environment variable, so it is a cost defect in a worker definition.
 
 ### The verdict lane pins `opus` at `effort: high`
 
-*Decision.* `research-verifier` grades outcome-gate rows 4, 7 and 12, the rows the producer may
+*Decision.* `research-verifier` grades outcome-gate rows 4, 7, 12 and 14, the rows the producer may
 not grade, so it is a verdict lane and pins `model: opus` and `effort: high`; `explorer`,
 mechanical preparation, stays on `sonnet` at `effort: medium`. *Pointer:*
 [docs/plugin-philosophy.md](../../../docs/plugin-philosophy.md), "Model tiers" (the verdict rule

plugins/discovery/scripts/contract.test.sh

@@ -534,20 +534,20 @@ assert_present 'an improvised header costs criteria 12 and 13 their evidence too
   'skills/research/SKILL.md' 'costs criteria 4, 6, 9, 12 and 13 their evidence'
 assert_present 'the carry-forward line lists the new header fields' \
   'skills/research/SKILL.md' 'Carry this much into the read:.*measures.*inference.*qualifiers'
-assert_present 'the fan-out obligation sends the synthesis to a criterion-12 verifier' \
-  'skills/research/context/dispatch.md' '^\*\*The synthesis .*fresh verifier for criterion 12'
+assert_present 'the fan-out obligation sends the synthesis to a verifier on every verifier-owned row' \
+  'skills/research/context/dispatch.md' '^\*\*The synthesis .*fresh verifier for every verifier-owned row\*\* \(currently rows 4, 7, 12 and 14\)'
 assert_present 'the synthesis verifier also checks claims the synthesis adds' \
   'skills/research/context/dispatch.md' 'a claim the synthesis adds'
-assert_present 'the SKILL.md fan-out paragraph points at the synthesis criterion-12 check' \
-  'skills/research/SKILL.md' '^ +\*\*Fanning out over N topics.*verifier for criterion 12'
-assert_present 'the verifier is briefed on rows 4, 7 and 12 by number' \
-  'skills/research/context/dispatch.md' 'rows 4, 7 and 12'
+assert_present 'the SKILL.md fan-out paragraph sends the synthesis to the verifier-owned rows' \
+  'skills/research/SKILL.md' '^ +\*\*Fanning out over N topics.*fresh verifier for the verifier-owned rows'
+assert_present 'the verifier is briefed on rows 4, 7, 12 and 14 by number' \
+  'skills/research/context/dispatch.md' 'rows 4, 7, 12 and 14'
 assert_present 'the verifier brief overrides the payload criterion string' \
   'skills/research/context/dispatch.md' 'verification_request\.criterion'
 assert_present 'gotchas name criterion 12 among the verifier rows' \
   'skills/research/context/gotchas.md' 'Criteria 4, 7 and 12'
-assert_present 'evals name criterion 12 among the verifier rows' \
-  'skills/research/evals/evals.json' 'criteria 4, 7 or 12'
+assert_present 'evals name criteria 12 and 14 among the verifier rows' \
+  'skills/research/evals/evals.json' 'criteria 4, 7, 12 or 14'
 assert_present 'evals grade a verbatim quote attached to a claim it does not support' \
   'skills/research/evals/evals.json' 'verbatim-quote-is-not-joint-inference'
 status_words="$(grep -rnE -- 'CONFLICTED|UNSUPPORTED|CONFIRMED' "$PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/research" 2>/dev/null)"
@@ -561,16 +561,16 @@ assert_absent 'no stale two-row verifier count' \
   '([Cc]riteri(a|on)|rows) 4 (and|or) 7([^,0-9]|$)|[Tt]wo criteria are'
 assert_present 'the gate states the Owner column governs over any other enumeration' \
   'skills/research/SKILL.md' 'Owner column governs over any enumeration'
-assert_present 'researcher withholds three criteria' \
-  'agents/researcher.md' 'Three criteria are'
+assert_present 'researcher withholds four criteria' \
+  'agents/researcher.md' 'Four criteria are'
 assert_present 'researcher lists joint inference as a withheld criterion' \
   'agents/researcher.md' '^- the criterion requiring every accepted claim to follow jointly'
 assert_present 'researcher verification request names joint-inference validity' \
   'agents/researcher.md' '^  criterion: ".*joint-inference validity'
 assert_present 'research-deep lists joint inference among the verifier rows' \
-  'skills/research-deep/SKILL.md' 'verifier-owned rows \(independent corroboration, HIGH confidence, joint inference\)'
-assert_present 'research-deep points at the synthesis criterion-12 check' \
-  'skills/research-deep/SKILL.md' 'synthesized root index also goes to a fresh verifier for criterion 12'
+  'skills/research-deep/SKILL.md' 'verifier-owned rows \(independent corroboration, HIGH confidence, joint inference, the accepted-claim count\)'
+assert_present 'research-deep sends the synthesis to the verifier on every verifier-owned row' \
+  'skills/research-deep/SKILL.md' 'synthesized root index also goes to a fresh verifier for every verifier-owned row, the accepted-claim count included'
 assert_present 'row 12 has one pass bar: the primary measures the variable and population' \
   'skills/research/SKILL.md' "^\| 12 \|.*the claim's primary source measures the claim's variable and population"
 assert_present 'a non-measuring corroborator is recorded, not counted' \
@@ -1136,7 +1136,7 @@ assert_present 'the Phase 1 gap list names criterion 7' \
 assert_present 'each claim can carry subject_pool' \
   'skills/research/context/artifact-shape.md' '^ {4}subject_pool: '
 assert_present 'the researcher names criterion 7 beside the corroborator floor' \
-  'agents/researcher.md' '^- the criterion requiring ≥2 \*\*independent\*\* corroborators per claim.*criterion 7'
+  'agents/researcher.md' '^- the criterion requiring ≥2 \*\*independent\*\* corroborators per accepted claim.*criterion 7'
 assert_present 'the researcher verification request names single-publisher labeling' \
   'agents/researcher.md' '^  criterion: ".*single-publisher'
 for field in pool subject_pool; do
@@ -1160,6 +1160,72 @@ assert_present 'how to invoke gives the worktree-isolation reason' \
 assert_present 'research-deep fan-out says a sub-slice is not named git' \
   'skills/research-deep/SKILL.md' 'Do not name a sub-slice `git`'
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 22. A run with zero accepted claims says so (#5833)
+#
+# Rows 4, 7 and 12 are quantified over accepted claims, so an artifact whose
+# every claim is a Gap passed all three vacuously and read like an answer.
+# Row 14 makes the count part of the artifact: `accepted:` in the index, and
+# at zero an inconclusive line, which passes rather than fails.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+assert_present 'gate row 4 is quantified over accepted claims' \
+  'skills/research/SKILL.md' '^\| 4 \| Every accepted claim has ≥2 INDEPENDENT'
+assert_absent 'no gate row 4 quantified over every claim' \
+  '^\| 4 \| Every claim has'
+assert_present 'gate row 14 grades the accepted count and the inconclusive line, owned by the verifier' \
+  'skills/research/SKILL.md' '^\| 14 \|.*`accepted:`.*`Inconclusive: no claim accepted\.`.*A zero with that line passes.*\| \*\*verifier\*\* \|'
+assert_present 'the verifier dispatch block names row 14' \
+  'skills/research/SKILL.md' '^ +Rows: 4, 7, 12, 14"$'
+assert_present 'the Summary opens with the inconclusive line at zero accepted' \
+  'skills/research/SKILL.md' '^1\. \*\*Summary\*\*.*`Inconclusive: no claim accepted\.`'
+assert_present 'the index frontmatter carries accepted:' \
+  'skills/research/context/artifact-shape.md' '^\*\*`accepted:` is the number of accepted claims\*\*'
+assert_present 'the verifier names row 14 among its rows' \
+  'agents/research-verifier.md' 'currently 4, 7, 12 and 14'
+assert_present 'the verifier return block carries row 14' \
+  'agents/research-verifier.md' '^  "14": pass'
+assert_present 'the verifier grades a zero-accepted artifact under row 14' \
+  'agents/research-verifier.md' 'Rows 4, 7 and 12 hold vacuously when no claim is accepted'
+assert_present 'the researcher sets accepted: in its final write' \
+  'agents/researcher.md' 'sets the frontmatter.s `accepted:` count'
+assert_present 'the parent contract names row 14 among the verifier rows' \
+  'reference/parent-contract.md' 'rows 4, 7, 12 and 14'
+assert_absent 'no stale three-row verifier count' \
+  'on (rows|criteria) 4, 7 and 12[ .]|currently (rows )?4, 7 and 12|outcome-gate rows 4, 7 and 12|criteria 4, 7 or 12;|Three criteria are|Rows: 4, 7, 12"'
+assert_present 'evals cover an artifact whose every claim is a Gap' \
+  'skills/research/evals/evals.json' '"name": "every-claim-a-gap-is-stated-inconclusive"'
+assert_present 'evals cover a count that includes a Gap claim' \
+  'skills/research/evals/evals.json' '"name": "accepted-count-excludes-gap-claims"'
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 23. Conflicts and the synthesis both reach row 14 (#5833 review)
+#
+# A rejected claim may be recorded only under Conflicts (row 12's Gap-or-
+# Conflicts route, a refuted engine finding), so a count that excluded only
+# Gaps stayed nonzero when every claim took that route. And a synthesized root
+# index went to its verifier for criterion 12 alone, so row 14 never ran on it.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+assert_present 'gate row 14 excludes Gap claims and unresolved Conflicts claims from the count' \
+  'skills/research/SKILL.md' '^\| 14 \| The index.s `accepted:` counts the claims neither in Gaps nor unresolved in Conflicts;'
+assert_present 'artifact-shape counts a Conflicts claim only when the entry resolves in its favor' \
+  'skills/research/context/artifact-shape.md' 'A claim recorded under Conflicts counts only when its entry resolves in the claim.s favor'
+assert_present 'the verifier excludes unresolved Conflicts claims from the count it compares' \
+  'agents/research-verifier.md' 'nor left unresolved in Conflicts'
+assert_present 'the researcher counts neither Gap nor unresolved Conflicts claims' \
+  'agents/researcher.md' 'claims in neither Gaps nor an unresolved Conflicts entry'
+assert_absent 'no accepted count defined by the Gaps section alone' \
+  'counts the claims not listed under Gaps|evidence table presents that the Gaps section does not list'
+assert_present 'evals cover an artifact whose every claim is rejected under Conflicts' \
+  'skills/research/evals/evals.json' '"name": "every-claim-in-conflicts-is-stated-inconclusive"'
+assert_present 'the synthesis verifier counts the root index under row 14' \
+  'skills/research/context/dispatch.md' 'Row 14 counts the synthesized index.s own accepted claims'
+assert_present 'the verifier reads the sub-slice indexes a synthesized root names' \
+  'agents/research-verifier.md' 'A synthesized slice-root index is the one exception'
+assert_present 'research-deep evals send the synthesized root to rows 4, 7, 12 and 14' \
+  'skills/research-deep/evals/evals.json' 'synthesized slice-root RESEARCH.md goes to a fresh verifier on rows 4, 7, 12 and 14'
+assert_absent 'no synthesis verifier briefed on criterion 12 alone' \
+  'verifier for criterion 12'
+
 printf '\n'
 if [[ "$fails" -eq 0 ]]; then
   printf 'All contract assertions passed.\n'