aced-builder-spec

name	aced-builder-spec
description	Partial Skill: invoke by name only — the ACED Builder bar at the spec gate — the agent-configuration contract criteria. Loaded by the ACED spec-producer to self-align and by the spec-judge to grade. Not triggered by users directly.
user-invocable	false
metadata	{"actor":"builder","gate":"spec","compose":"union"}

ACED Builder-Spec Governance — the agent-config contract bar

The Builder bar at the spec gate, specialized for agent-configuration artifact-types (skill, subagent, command, agents-section). It unions onto sdd:builder-spec-governance — the generic testability/coverage bar still applies; this adds what makes an agent-config .feature a complete, simulable contract. One merged bar loaded by both faces — the ACED spec-producer (aced-scenario-writer) reads it forward, the cold spec-judge (aced-spec-validator) reads it backward. producer ≠ judge holds at the agent level.

Fit gate — load first

Load aced:aced-fit and read the subject's declared **Fit:** tier before applying the bar. Two criteria below are conditional on tier; a missing **Fit:** declaration is a CONTENT_GAP (never default to strong); a wrong-squad subject is recused, not graded (aced:aced-fit).

The bar (per scenario, against the .feature)

• Trigger context (scenarios that assert firing). Every firing scenario carries a concrete trigger situation — who the user is, what they said, the state of the tree/files. A firing scenario that uses a vague stand-in ("a file", "some input", "a skill") where the value matters for simulation fails. A partial-fit subject has no firing scenarios, so this does not bind.
• Rule coverage (all tiers). Every major rule/step in the subject has at least one behavior scenario. A rule with zero scenarios fails.
• Trigger balance (strong only). For a strong-fit subject, both should-trigger scenarios and near-miss should-not-trigger scenarios are present (same domain keywords, different intent) — not only obviously-irrelevant negatives; a strong suite with no near-miss fails. For a partial-fit subject (a mechanical procedure with no activation decision), near-miss is N/A — its absence is not a failure.
• Edge coverage (all tiers). At least three edge-case or must-not-do guard scenarios. A must-not-do guard is a boolean Then asserting the agent does not do the prohibited action.
• Boolean form (untagged scenarios). Every Then in an untagged scenario is a boolean assertion; a rubric, threshold, or score leaked into an untagged Then fails.
• Rubric-structure (@rubric scenarios). Graded behavior is authored as a @rubric scenario with the rubric inline (named dimensions + per-dimension max + one threshold + a collapsing Then), per sdd:suite-format-governance. A malformed @rubric fails before scoring; a well-formed one passes rubric-structure (its rubric lingo is the sanctioned form). Structure passing is not acceptance — the scenario is still checked for discrimination below. The rubric is spec-owned and frozen with the scenario — the impl-judge runs it, it does not author it.
• Selection (all tiers; every @rubric dimension — checked before discrimination). A @rubric is a compensatory model: strength on one dimension pays for weakness on another, so a criterion belongs in the sum only if it is — you must accept that trade (per 's substitutability test). A criterion nobody would trade belongs in a boolean , not the sum. Agent-config binds further grounds on which a criterion is untradeable rather than by trade judgment. They are — a dimension fails selection on either, and neither is a precondition for the other.

References

• aced:aced-fit — the fit classifier this bar loads to make trigger-context / trigger-balance conditional.
• sdd:suite-format-governance — the miss test, the wrong-subject table, the three anti-patterns, the substitutability test, and the pairwise-consistency rule this bar specializes.
• design/decisions/0002-boundary-vs-surface-more.md, design/test-levels.md — the boolean-smuggling tell and the SDD #280 reconciliation (same-object, not same-criterion) the Selection bullet encodes.