converge

Purpose

Post-implementation gap detector. Re-reads the spec, plan, and tasks as the sole source of intent, inspects the ACTUAL codebase (present state, not the diff), and classifies every intent key as implemented or gapped. Where verification asks "does it build?", converge asks "is everything the spec promised actually in the code?"

This is the skill that catches the most expensive silent failure: a P1 story's UI exists, renders, passes lint/type/build — and its backend was never written.

Called By (inbound)

• cook (L1): Phase 6.5 CONVERGE — after VERIFY, before COMMIT, for feature/greenfield chains with a requirements.md
• User: /rune converge — "did it fully implement the spec?", "check completeness", "does the code match the spec?"

Calls (outbound)

None — pure L3 verification utility. Reports gaps; cook decides what to execute.

Executable Steps

Step 1 — Build the Intent Inventory

Load intent sources (all that exist; requirements.md is mandatory — without it, STOP and report NO_SPEC):

1. .rune/features/<name>/requirements.md — extract keys: every FR-n, every US-n with priority + Independent Test, every AC-n.m (as US-n/AC-n.m), every Key Entity
2. .rune/plan-<feature>.md + phase files — Key Decisions, Coverage Summary, task list with P<phase>-T<seq> IDs
3. .rune/features/<name>/contracts/*.md — each contract: its endpoint, its Serves: story, its Consumers: list
4. .rune/features/<name>/data-model.md — entities, state transitions
5. .rune/features/<name>/quickstart.md — per-story validation steps
6. .rune/ui-spec.md ## Unwired Elements (if present) — designed placeholders that MUST NOT count as implemented

The inventory is a flat list of keys: FR-3, US-1/AC-1.2, contract:create-order, entity:Order, decision:<slug>.

Rules:

• Task IDs (P<phase>-T<seq>) and quickstart.md are EVIDENCE, not verdict keys — tasks feed the code-scope map (Step 2), quickstart steps feed pass/fail evidence for story rows. Neither gets its own verdict row
• US-n verdict is DERIVED: worst verdict among its AC-n.m rows (all ACs implemented → story implemented; any partial/missing → story inherits it). Don't independently re-assess the story
• Plan Claims vs Reality: while reading tasks, note every task marked [x] whose artifact is missing/partial in code — these go in a dedicated report section (informational; completion-gate owns claim enforcement, converge just surfaces the lie)

Step 2 — Build the Code-Scope Map

Map intent → code locations. NO full-repo read — targeted lookups only:

1. Glob every file path named in plan tasks — does it exist?
2. Grep entity names (from data-model.md) across schema/model directories
3. Grep each contract's endpoint path/route across the codebase — implementation AND callers
4. Grep component names from UI tasks — definition AND the handler symbols they bind

Step 3 — Classify Gaps

For every intent key, assign exactly one verdict:

Verdict	Meaning	Example
implemented	Code fully realizes the key	Endpoint exists, has logic, has a caller
missing	Required work absent entirely	Contract file exists, no route implements it
partial	Started but a link in the chain is dead	Button + handler exist; handler's fetch targets a route that doesn't exist
contradicts	Code diverges from a locked decision or AC	Spec says soft-delete; code hard-deletes
unrequested	Code maps to NO intent key (scope creep — surfaced, not blocked)	New admin page no story asked for

Dead-interaction trace (run for every UI element an AC references):

element → handler bound? → handler body non-trivial? → calls service/fetch?
        → target route/function EXISTS in codebase? → route touches the entity the AC names?

First broken link = partial, keyed to that element's US-n/AC-n.m. Heuristics: onClick={() => {}}, href="#" on action links, console.log-only handlers, preventDefault()-only submits, fetch('/api/...') where no route file matches — all break the chain.

Unwired Elements (declared debt) — elements listed in .rune/ui-spec.md ## Unwired Elements:

• Owner of wiring is a task/story IN THIS feature's plan → missing, keyed to that story (in-scope debt)
• Owner is external (asset-creator pass, future feature, human) → deferred-debt: report in a separate ### Deferred (declared debt) section, do NOT append a CV task, do NOT count in gap counts, does NOT block convergence.clean. Declared debt with a named owner is tracked honesty, not a convergence failure

Precedence: an element that maps to NO intent key takes the unrequested path — the dead-interaction trace runs only for AC-referenced elements.

Step 4 — Assign Severity

Severity	Condition
CRITICAL	missing or contradicts gap that blocks a P1 story's acceptance scenario or Independent Test
HIGH	partial on a P1 story, or missing/contradicts on P2
MEDIUM	Any gap on P3; unrequested code touching shared modules
LOW	unrequested isolated code; cosmetic divergence

Step 5 — Append Remediation Tasks (APPEND-ONLY)

If gaps exist, append to the ACTIVE phase file (or master plan task section if no phase file):

## Convergence (round N)
> Appended by converge — spec↔code gaps found. Do not edit rows above this section.
- [ ] CV-N.1 [CRITICAL] Implement POST /api/orders route per contract:create-order (missing) — `src/api/orders.ts`
- [ ] CV-N.2 [HIGH] Wire OrderForm submit to POST /api/orders per US-1/AC-1.1 (partial: handler fetches nonexistent route) — `src/components/OrderForm.tsx`

Task format: CV-<round>.<seq> [severity] <imperative> per <intent-key> (<gap-type>) — <file path>. Every task cites its intent key — a remediation task with no key is itself a converge violation.

Deduplication: when multiple intent keys trace to the SAME absent/broken artifact (e.g., contract:create-order missing AND US-1/AC-1.1 partial, both resolved by implementing src/api/orders.ts), emit ONE combined CV task citing all keys — CV-1.1 [CRITICAL] Implement POST /api/orders per contract:create-order + US-1/AC-1.1 (missing/partial) — src/api/orders.ts. One target file = one task; the report table still lists every key's verdict separately.

No CV tasks for unrequested findings — they are surfaced for human decision (Constraint 6), never converted to work items. No CV tasks for deferred-debt — the named owner owns it.

If ZERO gaps (missing/partial/contradicts on spec keys — deferred-debt and unrequested don't count): write nothing (task file stays byte-identical), emit convergence.clean.

Step 6 — Emit Verdict

• Gaps found → emit convergence.gaps with {feature, round, counts: {missing, partial, contradicts, unrequested}, critical: N, cv_tasks: N}
• Clean → emit convergence.clean with {feature, round, keys_checked: N}

Payload notes: counts are PER-KEY (one absent route can inflate several keys — that's fine for zero-checks, which is all cook needs); cv_tasks is the DEDUPED work-item count — consumers judging workload use cv_tasks + critical, not raw counts.

The caller (cook Phase 6.5) executes appended tasks and re-invokes converge — loop until clean, max 2 remediation rounds before escalation.

Output Format

## Convergence Report — <feature> (round N)

Intent keys checked: 23 | implemented: 19 | gaps: 4
(keys checked = spec keys only; unrequested and deferred-debt listed separately below)

| Key | Verdict | Severity | Evidence |
|-----|---------|----------|----------|
| contract:create-order | missing | CRITICAL | contracts/create-order.md exists; no route matches POST /api/orders (grep: 0 hits in src/) |
| US-1/AC-1.1 | partial | HIGH | OrderForm.tsx:42 fetch('/api/orders') → route absent |
| US-3/AC-3.1 | implemented | — | route src/api/list.ts:12, caller OrderList.tsx:8 |

### Unrequested (surfaced, no CV tasks)
- src/pages/admin-stats.tsx — maps to no story

### Deferred (declared debt, no CV tasks)
- [ ICON: sparkle ] (ui-spec Unwired Elements, owner: asset-creator)

### Plan Claims vs Reality
- P1-T2 marked [x] but POST /api/orders absent — see contract:create-order gap

Verdict: 2 gaps blocking P1 → convergence.gaps emitted, 1 task appended (CV-1.1, deduped)

Every row needs file:line evidence or a grep result count — verdicts without evidence are hallucinations.

Constraints

1. MUST treat spec/plan/contracts as the sole source of intent — never infer intent from the code itself
2. MUST inspect present codebase state, not the git diff — earlier phases may have broken older work
3. MUST give every gap an intent key, a gap-type, a severity, and file-level evidence
4. MUST append remediation tasks — never rewrite, reorder, or delete existing task content
5. MUST NOT edit source code — converge detects, fix/cook remediate
6. MUST surface unrequested code as findings, never silently delete or block on it
7. MUST report NO_SPEC and stop when no requirements.md exists — converge without a spec is vibes

Sharp Edges

Failure Mode	Severity	Mitigation
Inferring intent from code ("this helper implies a story")	CRITICAL	Intent inventory comes ONLY from Step 1 artifacts — code is evidence, never intent
Verdict without file:line or grep evidence	CRITICAL	Output format requires Evidence column — no evidence, no verdict
Rewriting the task file instead of appending	CRITICAL	HARD-GATE: append-only; zero gaps = zero writes (byte-identical file)
Marking implemented because the file exists	HIGH	Existence ≠ implementation — run the dead-interaction trace; a route with res.status(501) is partial
Counting a designed placeholder as implemented	HIGH	.rune/ui-spec.md Unwired Elements are automatically missing
Infinite converge loop (gaps never reach zero)	HIGH	Caller caps at 2 remediation rounds → Structured Escalation Report; same gap surviving 2 rounds = approach is wrong, not effort
Fixing the gap itself "since it's small"	HIGH	Converge never edits source — emit the task, let fix own the change
Scanning the whole repo (context blowout)	MEDIUM	Step 2 is targeted Glob/Grep from intent keys — not a repo read
Treating unrequested as an error to delete	MEDIUM	Scope creep is surfaced for human decision — it may be wanted, undocumented work
Declared debt (Unwired Elements, external owner) blocks convergence.clean forever	HIGH	deferred-debt class: reported, never a CV task, never blocks clean — a decorative icon must not cause a round-cap escalation
Appending CV tasks for unrequested findings	MEDIUM	Step 5: unrequested = surfaced only; converting scope creep into work items without user decision IS scope creep
Double-assessing US-n independently of its ACs	LOW	Story verdict is derived — worst of its AC rows

Done When

• Intent inventory built from requirements.md + plan + contracts (or NO_SPEC reported)
• Every intent key has a verdict with file-level evidence
• Dead-interaction trace run for every AC-referenced UI element
• Gaps appended as CV-* tasks with intent keys (or task file byte-identical when clean)
• convergence.gaps or convergence.clean emitted with counts
• Convergence Report rendered with evidence column

Returns

Artifact	Format	Location
Convergence Report	Markdown table with evidence	inline
Remediation tasks	CV-<round>.<seq> checklist (append-only)	active phase file / master plan
Signal	convergence.gaps | convergence.clean with counts	mesh

Cost Profile

~2000-5000 tokens input (spec + plan + targeted greps), ~500-1500 tokens output. Sonnet — the dead-interaction trace needs code comprehension, not just pattern matching. Runs once per feature (plus ≤2 remediation rounds).