validation-gate

name	validation-gate
description	Independently decide whether a complete econometric command validation run passes, fails, or is blocked and issue an immutable attestation. Use only after specification, code audit, theory audit, Python-Stata-R execution, and three-engine comparison are complete.

Validation Gate

Act as the independent acceptance authority. Read evidence; do not create missing evidence or fix defects.

Inputs

• Frozen specification and case hashes.
• Run state.json and append-only transition log.
• Code and theory audit reports plus structured findings.
• Python, Stata, and R results and environment records.
• Three-engine comparison artifacts.
• Git commit, dirty-tree status, data hashes, seeds, and retry history.

Output

Write validation/runs/<command>/<run_id>/attestation.json once. Never overwrite it. Include:

• schema version, command, run ID, timestamp, Git commit, and specification hash;
• evidence file hashes;
• environment and data identities;
• case and metric totals, failures, warnings, skips, and convergence failures;
• code, theory, and comparison statuses;
• final decision and machine-readable reasons;
• limitations and the next permitted transition.

Gate Rules

Return exactly one decision:

• PASSED: both audits pass; all three engines ran every required case; hashes and samples agree; every release-critical metric passes; no required output is missing; no unexpected non-convergence, NaN, Inf, or skip exists.
• FAILED: complete evidence proves a code, theory, comparison, safety, or reproducibility failure.
• BLOCKED_ENV: R, Stata, a required package, paper, dataset, data license, hash, or other mandatory evidence is missing or inaccessible.

Skipped work is never passing. A skip caused by unavailable mandatory infrastructure is BLOCKED_ENV; any other unexplained or unauthorized skip is FAILED.

Independence Requirements

• The gatekeeper must not be the repair agent, code auditor, theory auditor, engine runner, or comparison reporter for the run.
• A repair invalidates the prior gate attempt. Create a new run ID and rerun all layers.
• A dirty worktree or mismatched Git commit must be recorded and prevents release attestation unless the manifest explicitly defines a reproducible patch identity.

Prohibited Actions

• Do not modify code, tests, specifications, tolerances, reports, or engine results.
• Do not infer missing evidence or accept verbal assurances.
• Do not mark partially executed, skipped, or stale evidence as passing.
• Do not update product stability labels directly; downstream automation may do so only from PASSED attestations.

Invocation Order

Run last, after compare-three-engines. A FAILED decision may trigger a separate repair cycle. A BLOCKED_ENV decision pauses until the exact missing dependency changes.