fix(validator): validate all MUST items in session logs, not just hardcoded subset

[rjmurillo-bot]

Summary

Session validator silently ignores MUST items not in a hardcoded allowlist. This fix validates ALL items with level == "MUST" and adds evidence-contradiction detection.

Specification References

Type	Reference	Description
Issue	Fixes #1028	fix: session validator silently ignores MUST items not in hardcoded allowlist

Changes

• Renamed SESSION_START_MUST_ITEMS / SESSION_END_MUST_ITEMS to SESSION_START_REQUIRED_ITEMS / SESSION_END_REQUIRED_ITEMS to clarify they are the minimum required set
• Extracted validate_checklist_section() that iterates over ALL items with level == "MUST" or "MUST NOT", not just the hardcoded subset
• Added CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS regex to detect evidence like "not available", "SKIPPED", "N/A", "deferred", "pending", "TODO", "TBD" paired with complete: true
• Added 15 new tests covering unknown MUST items, SHOULD items, non-dict items, and 9 parametrized contradiction patterns

Type of Change

• Bug fix (non-breaking change fixing an issue)

Testing

• Tests added/updated
• Manual testing completed

Agent Review

Security Review

• No security-critical changes in this PR

Other Agent Reviews

• QA verified test coverage

Checklist

• Code follows project style guidelines
• Self-review completed
• No new warnings introduced

Related Issues

Fixes #1028

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✅ Pass: Memory Validation

No memories with citations found.

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📊 Validation Details

• Total memories checked: 0
• Valid: 0
• Stale: 0

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PR Validation Report

Note

✅ Status: PASS

Description Validation

Check	Status
Description matches diff	PASS

QA Validation

Check	Status
Code changes detected	True
QA report exists	false

⚡ Warnings

• QA report not found for code changes (recommended before merge)

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request correctly identifies a validation gap and refactors the logic to check all MUST items in a session log, not just a hardcoded subset. The introduction of contradiction detection for evidence is also a valuable improvement. However, the new implementation has a critical flaw where it fails to report an error if a required checklist item is missing entirely, which undermines the goal of robust validation and violates the principle of propagating errors in critical operations. I've provided a suggestion to fix this.

[github-actions]

Spec-to-Implementation Validation

Tip

✅ Final Verdict: PASS

What is Spec Validation?

This validation ensures your implementation matches the specifications:

• Requirements Traceability: Verifies PR changes map to spec requirements
• Implementation Completeness: Checks all requirements are addressed

Validation Summary

Check	Verdict	Status
Requirements Traceability	PARTIAL	⚠️
Implementation Completeness	PASS	✅

Spec References

Type	References
Specs	None
Issues	1028

Requirements Traceability Details

Requirements Coverage Matrix

Requirement	Description	Status	Evidence
AC-1	Validator checks all MUST-level items in session logs, not just a hardcoded subset	COVERED	validate_checklist_section() lines 176-186 iterates over all items with level == "MUST" or "MUST NOT"
AC-2	New MUST items added to session logs are automatically validated	COVERED	Lines 178-182 dynamically discover items with MUST level; test test_unknown_must_item_incomplete_causes_error verifies usageMandatoryRead
AC-3	Evidence-contradiction warnings for Complete: true with skip/waiver patterns	COVERED	CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS regex line 67-69; detection at lines 151-156; 9 parametrized tests in TestEvidenceContradiction
AC-4	Existing session logs in the repository still pass validation (or failures are triaged)	NOT_COVERED	No evidence of validation run against existing session logs in .agents/sessions/

Summary

• Total Requirements: 4
• Covered: 3 (75%)
• Partially Covered: 0 (0%)
• Not Covered: 1 (25%)

Gaps

1. AC-4 Regression Testing: The acceptance criteria requires that existing session logs pass validation or failures are triaged. The PR does not include evidence that the validator was run against session logs in .agents/sessions/ to verify backward compatibility.

[!WARNING]
VERDICT: PARTIAL
3 of 4 acceptance criteria are fully covered by implementation and tests. AC-4 (backward compatibility verification) lacks evidence that existing session logs were tested. The implementation is correct, but the PR should include validation output from running against existing sessions.

Implementation Completeness Details

Now I have enough context to evaluate the implementation against the acceptance criteria.

Acceptance Criteria Checklist

• Criterion 1: Validator checks all MUST-level items in session logs, not just a hardcoded subset - SATISFIED

  • Evidence: validate_checklist_section() at lines 159-186 iterates over ALL items with level == "MUST" or "MUST NOT" via lines 178-182, adding them to items_to_check

• Criterion 2: New MUST items added to session logs are automatically validated - SATISFIED

  • Evidence: Lines 178-182 dynamically discover items with level in ("MUST", "MUST NOT") regardless of whether they're in the required set. Test test_unknown_must_item_incomplete_causes_error at lines 289-301 validates this with usageMandatoryRead

• Criterion 3: Evidence-contradiction warnings for Complete: true with skip/waiver patterns - SATISFIED

  • Evidence: CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS regex at lines 67-69 and detection logic at lines 151-156. Nine parametrized test cases at lines 347-376 cover "not available", "SKIPPED", "N/A", "deferred", "will validate", "will run", "TODO", "pending", "TBD"

• Criterion 4: Existing session logs in the repository still pass validation (or failures are triaged) - SATISFIED

  • Evidence: PR description states "Manual testing completed" and the changes preserve backward compatibility by keeping the required items sets unchanged (renamed from SESSION_START_MUST_ITEMS to SESSION_START_REQUIRED_ITEMS)

Missing Functionality

None identified. All acceptance criteria are addressed.

Edge Cases Not Covered

1. Case sensitivity of contradiction patterns: The regex uses (?i) for case-insensitivity but test coverage only explicitly tests "N/A" as mixed case
2. Empty string evidence: Not explicitly tested for contradiction detection (though valid evidence would pass)
3. Non-string evidence values: Lines 151 check isinstance(evidence, str) which handles this, but no explicit test

Implementation Quality

• Completeness: 100% of acceptance criteria satisfied
• Quality: Clean separation of concerns between "minimum required items" and "items to validate". Test coverage is comprehensive with 15 new tests including parametrized contradiction patterns.

[!TIP]
VERDICT: PASS
Implementation satisfies all four acceptance criteria from Issue #1028. The validate_checklist_section() function dynamically validates ALL MUST-level items, not just the hardcoded subset. Evidence-contradiction detection is implemented with 9 pattern variations tested.

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Run Details

Property	Value
Run ID	22425052492
Triggered by	pull_request on 1328/merge

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AI Quality Gate Review

Tip

✅ Final Verdict: PASS

Walkthrough

This PR was reviewed by six AI agents in parallel, analyzing different aspects of the changes:

• Security Agent: Scans for vulnerabilities, secrets exposure, and security anti-patterns
• QA Agent: Evaluates test coverage, error handling, and code quality
• Analyst Agent: Assesses code quality, impact analysis, and maintainability
• Architect Agent: Reviews design patterns, system boundaries, and architectural concerns
• DevOps Agent: Evaluates CI/CD, build pipelines, and infrastructure changes
• Roadmap Agent: Assesses strategic alignment, feature scope, and user value

Review Summary

Agent	Verdict	Category	Status
Security	PASS	N/A	✅
QA	PASS	N/A	✅
Analyst	PASS	N/A	✅
Architect	PASS	N/A	✅
DevOps	PASS	N/A	✅
Roadmap	PASS	N/A	✅

💡 Quick Access: Click on individual agent jobs (e.g., "🔒 security Review", "🧪 qa Review") in the workflow run to see detailed findings and step summaries.

Security Review Details

PR #1328 Security Review complete.

PR Type: CODE

Changed files: scripts/validate_session_json.py (Python) and tests/test_validate_session_json.py (Python test)

Security Analysis

Findings

Severity	Category	Finding	Location	CWE
None	-	No security issues identified	-	-

Analysis Summary

1. No Injection Risks: The changes involve pure data validation logic. No shell commands, SQL, or external process calls are introduced. The regex CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS operates on trusted internal data (session log evidence strings) not user input from untrusted sources.

2. No Secret Exposure: No credentials, API keys, or sensitive data patterns detected.

3. No Path Traversal: The script already imports validate_safe_path from scripts.utils.path_validation (line 30). No new file path handling introduced.

4. Input Validation Enhanced: The PR improves validation by checking ALL items with level == "MUST" rather than a hardcoded subset. This is a security improvement for session integrity.

5. No Deserialization Issues: JSON parsing uses standard json module with no custom object hooks.

6. Test Coverage: 15 new tests added covering edge cases including non-dict items, unknown MUST items, and contradiction patterns.

Recommendations

None required.

Verdict

VERDICT: PASS
MESSAGE: Validation logic enhancement with no security-relevant attack surface. Pure Python data validation without external calls, file operations on untrusted paths, or credential handling.

QA Review Details

Based on my review of the PR changes and pre-executed test results, here is my QA verdict:

---

VERDICT: PASS
MESSAGE: Comprehensive test coverage for new validation logic with all 4499 tests passing.

PR TYPE: CODE
FILES: 
- CODE: scripts/validate_session_json.py
- CODE: tests/test_validate_session_json.py

EVIDENCE:
- Tests found: 15 new tests for 2 new functions (validate_checklist_section, CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS)
- Test execution: PASS - 4499 passed, 3 skipped, 5 warnings in 28.82s
- Edge cases: Covered - unknown MUST items, SHOULD items, non-dict items, missing required items, 9 contradiction patterns
- Error handling: Tested - incomplete MUST items, missing evidence, MUST NOT violations, missing required items
- Blocking issues: 0

---

Test Coverage Assessment

Area	Status	Evidence	Files Checked
Unit tests	Adequate	TestChecklistSectionValidation (5 tests), TestEvidenceContradiction (3 tests + 9 parametrized)	validate_session_json.py
Edge cases	Covered	non_dict_items_ignored, unknown_must_item, should_items_not_checked	validate_checklist_section()
Error paths	Tested	missing_required_item_causes_error, unknown_must_item_incomplete_causes_error	result.errors assertions
Assertions	Present	15+ assertions across new tests	test_validate_session_json.py:305-433

Quality Concerns

Severity	Issue	Location	Evidence	Required Fix
None	-	-	-	-

Regression Risk Assessment

• Risk Level: Low - Changes are additive validation logic
• Affected Components: scripts/validate_session_json.py (session validation only)
• Breaking Changes: None - existing valid sessions remain valid; previously-ignored invalid MUST items now correctly flagged
• Required Testing: Verified via parametrized contradiction tests and existing integration tests

Positive Findings

1. Core fix properly tested: test_unknown_must_item_incomplete_causes_error directly validates issue fix: session validator silently ignores MUST items not in hardcoded allowlist #1028 fix
2. Helper functions: _make_complete_start_section() and _make_complete_end_section() ensure tests check full required item sets
3. Parametrized coverage: 9 contradiction patterns tested via @pytest.mark.parametrize
4. Negative tests present: SHOULD items not causing errors, legitimate evidence not triggering false positives
5. Existing tests updated: Integration tests now use complete sections, preventing false failures

Analyst Review Details

---

Analysis: PR #1328 - Session Validator MUST Item Fix

Code Quality Score

Criterion	Score (1-5)	Notes
Readability	5	Clear function names, good docstrings, logical flow
Maintainability	5	Extracted validate_checklist_section reduces duplication
Consistency	5	Follows existing patterns (case-insensitive helpers, ValidationResult)
Simplicity	5	Minimal code to solve the problem without over-engineering

Overall: 5/5

Impact Assessment

• Scope: Module-wide (validator script only)
• Risk Level: Low
• Affected Components: scripts/validate_session_json.py, existing session logs

Findings

Priority	Category	Finding	Location
Low	Style	Helper functions defined between imports and class definitions	test_validate_session_json.py:38-57

Detailed Analysis

Bug Fix Correctness: The fix addresses issue #1028 correctly. Previous code only validated items in hardcoded SESSION_START_MUST_ITEMS and SESSION_END_MUST_ITEMS sets, silently ignoring other items with level == "MUST". The new validate_checklist_section() iterates over ALL items in section data and validates any with level MUST or MUST NOT.

Evidence Contradiction Detection: Adding CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS regex catches common waivers ("SKIPPED", "N/A", "pending", "TODO") paired with complete: true. This produces warnings, not errors, which is appropriate severity.

Test Coverage: 15 new tests added covering:

• Unknown MUST items (not in required set) being validated
• SHOULD items not triggering MUST errors
• Missing required items
• Non-dict items being safely ignored
• 9 parametrized contradiction patterns
• Legitimate evidence not triggering false positives

Rename Clarity: Renaming SESSION_START_MUST_ITEMS to SESSION_START_REQUIRED_ITEMS clarifies the semantic difference: these are the minimum items that must exist, not the only items validated.

Backward Compatibility: The fix is backward compatible. Tests updated to use helper functions _make_complete_start_section() and _make_complete_end_section() that construct valid sections, ensuring existing session logs with all required items will still pass.

Recommendations

1. No blocking issues identified.

Verdict

VERDICT: PASS
MESSAGE: Targeted bug fix with comprehensive test coverage. No architectural concerns.

Architect Review Details

Let me check the validation types module and existing session validation design review for context.

Now I have enough context to complete the architectural review. The changes are a bug fix to the session validator that makes it validate ALL MUST items dynamically rather than only checking a hardcoded subset.

Design Quality Assessment

Aspect	Rating (1-5)	Notes
Pattern Adherence	5	Single Responsibility, DRY - extracted validate_checklist_section() reuses validate_must_item()
Boundary Respect	5	Changes confined to validation module; no cross-cutting concerns affected
Coupling	5	No new dependencies; ValidationResult dataclass reused appropriately
Cohesion	5	New function handles one concern: iterate all MUST items in a section
Extensibility	5	Dynamic discovery of MUST items future-proofs against new checklist items

Overall Design Score: 5/5

Architectural Concerns

Severity	Concern	Location	Recommendation
None	-	-	-

Breaking Change Assessment

• Breaking Changes: No
• Impact Scope: None
• Migration Required: No
• Migration Path: N/A - behavior is additive (validates more items, not fewer)

The change is backward compatible. Existing session logs that passed before will pass now. Session logs with incomplete MUST items that were previously silently ignored will now fail validation, which is the correct behavior.

Technical Debt Analysis

• Debt Added: None
• Debt Reduced: Medium (eliminates silent validation gaps; dynamic discovery removes need to maintain hardcoded lists)
• Net Impact: Improved

The rename from SESSION_START_MUST_ITEMS to SESSION_START_REQUIRED_ITEMS clarifies semantics: these are the minimum required items, not all MUST items. The dynamic iteration pattern in validate_checklist_section() discovers additional MUST items at runtime.

ADR Assessment

• ADR Required: No
• Decisions Identified: None - this is a bug fix, not an architectural change
• Existing ADR: ADR-035 (Exit Code Standardization) already governs validator exit codes
• Recommendation: N/A

The contradiction detection pattern (CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS) is a validation enhancement, not an architectural decision. It adds defensive checks for evidence quality.

Recommendations

1. The test helper functions _make_complete_start_section() and _make_complete_end_section() reduce test duplication. Consider moving to conftest.py if reused across multiple test modules.

Verdict

VERDICT: PASS
MESSAGE: Bug fix with clean extraction of validate_checklist_section(). Dynamic MUST item discovery eliminates silent validation gaps. No breaking changes or architectural concerns.

DevOps Review Details

I've reviewed the PR and the workflow that depends on this script. Here's my DevOps analysis:

---

DevOps Review: PR #1328

PR Scope Detection

Category	Files Changed	Review Scope
SCRIPT	scripts/validate_session_json.py	Script quality review
CODE	tests/test_validate_session_json.py	Build impact only

Pipeline Impact Assessment

Area	Impact	Notes
Build	None	No build system changes
Test	Low	Test file changes only affect test execution
Deploy	None	No deployment changes
Cost	None	No CI resource changes

CI/CD Quality Checks

Check	Status	Location
Python syntax valid	✅	scripts/validate_session_json.py
Script used in CI	✅	.github/workflows/ai-session-protocol.yml:206,218
Exit code behavior preserved	✅	No changes to exit code logic
Backward compatible	✅	Existing constants renamed but functionality extended

Findings

Severity	Category	Finding	Location	Fix
Low	Best Practice	Test helper functions added without underscore prefix convention	tests/test_validate_session_json.py:38-52	Functions _make_complete_start_section and _make_complete_end_section correctly use underscore prefix

Workflow Integration Analysis

The validate_session_json.py script is called by ai-session-protocol.yml:

• Line 206: JSON validation path
• Line 218: Legacy markdown validation path

Changes are backward compatible:

1. Exit codes unchanged (0=success, 1=failure, 2=unexpected)
2. Function signatures unchanged
3. Renamed constants are internal (frozenset rename from SESSION_START_MUST_ITEMS to SESSION_START_REQUIRED_ITEMS)
4. New validate_checklist_section() extends validation, does not break existing behavior

Recommendations

1. The script correctly uses module-level compiled regex (CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS) for performance
2. Test helpers follow Python convention with underscore prefix

Verdict

VERDICT: PASS
MESSAGE: Script changes extend validation without breaking CI/CD integration. Exit codes and calling interface unchanged.

Roadmap Review Details

Based on my review of the PR and roadmap context, here is my strategic alignment assessment:

---

Strategic Alignment Assessment

Criterion	Rating	Notes
Aligns with project goals	High	Session protocol compliance is foundational infrastructure
Priority appropriate	High	Bug fix addressing silent validation failures
User value clear	High	Prevents false-positive validation passes
Investment justified	High	Small change, 15 tests added, prevents protocol drift

Feature Completeness

• Scope Assessment: Right-sized
• Ship Ready: Yes
• MVP Complete: Yes
• Enhancement Opportunities: None identified

Impact Analysis

Dimension	Assessment	Notes
User Value	High	Catches MUST items that were silently ignored
Business Impact	High	Session protocol is a MUST gate; silent failures erode trust
Technical Leverage	Medium	Reusable contradiction detection pattern
Competitive Position	Neutral	Internal tooling improvement

Concerns

Priority	Concern	Recommendation
Low	Contradiction patterns may need tuning	Monitor for false positives in production

Recommendations

1. Ship as-is. This is a correctness fix for core validation infrastructure.
2. The evidence contradiction detection is a valuable addition that prevents protocol gaming.
3. Test coverage is thorough with 15 new tests covering edge cases.

Verdict

VERDICT: PASS
MESSAGE: Bug fix strengthens session protocol enforcement. Right-sized change with comprehensive tests. Aligns with foundational infrastructure quality.

---

Run Details

Property	Value
Run ID	22426199651
Triggered by	pull_request on 1328/merge
Commit	12958066fff6e50e1cf1937d0f80979f2f4500be

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Replaces hardcoded MUST allowlists with minimum required item sets, adds CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS to detect evidence contradicting claimed completion, consolidates checklist validation into validate_checklist_section, and updates session start/end validation to use the new checklist flow. validate_must_item emits evidence-contradiction warnings.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Validation logic scripts/validate_session_json.py	Renamed session MUST allowlists to SESSION_START_REQUIRED_ITEMS/SESSION_END_REQUIRED_ITEMS; added CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS; introduced validate_checklist_section() to unify checklist validation; validate_session_start/validate_session_end delegate to it; validate_must_item adds contradiction detection and warnings; removed duplicated per-item iteration.
Tests tests/test_validate_session_json.py	Updated imports to expose CONTRADICTION_PATTERNS, SESSION_START_REQUIRED_ITEMS, SESSION_END_REQUIRED_ITEMS, and validate_checklist_section; added tests for unknown MUST items, non-dict entries, checklist validation, and parametrized evidence-contradiction cases; simplified some monkeypatch calls.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~20 minutes

Suggested reviewers

• rjmurillo

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	Title follows conventional commit format with 'fix:' prefix and clearly describes the main change: validating all MUST items instead of a hardcoded subset.
Description check	✅ Passed	Description directly relates to the changeset, explaining the bug fix, what was renamed, new functions added, contradiction detection, and test coverage.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	PR fully addresses #1028 requirements: iterates all MUST items instead of hardcoded subset [#1028], adds evidence-contradiction detection [#1028], renames constants for clarity [#1028], and includes 15 new tests [#1028].
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes focus on the validator fix: renaming constants, adding checklist validation logic, introducing contradiction patterns, and related test updates. No unrelated changes detected.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.

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• Commit unit tests in branch feat/1028-session-validator-must-items

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[rjmurillo]

Velocity Accelerator: 2 Opportunities Detected

TODO in scripts/validate_session_json.py: |pending|TBD)\b"

• Type: todo_followup
• Priority: medium
• Suggested Agent: task-decomposer
• Found TODO comment in merged PR fix(validator): validate all MUST items in session logs, not just hardcoded subset #1328:
  File: scripts/validate_session_json.py
  Comment: |pending|TBD)\b"

TODO in tests/test_validate_session_json.py: ",

• Type: todo_followup
• Priority: medium
• Suggested Agent: task-decomposer
• Found TODO comment in merged PR fix(validator): validate all MUST items in session logs, not just hardcoded subset #1328:
  File: tests/test_validate_session_json.py
  Comment: ",