| name | hyperresearch-15-polish |
| description | Step 15 (final) of the hyperresearch V8 pipeline. Spawns the hyperresearch-polish-auditor subagent (TOOL-LOCKED to Read + Edit) for the final hygiene + readability pass. Strips pipeline-reference leaks, YAML frontmatter, scaffold sections, filler phrases, run-on sentences. Escalates structural mismatches rather than fabricating content. Invoked via Skill tool from the entry skill. Followed by step 16 (readability audit) which is the actual final step before ship.
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Step 15 — Polish audit
Tier gate: Runs for ALL tiers. Every report gets a polish pass regardless of tier.
Goal: final hygiene + readability pass. Tool-locked to [Read, Edit].
Recover state
Read these inputs:
research/notes/final_report_<vault_tag>.md — the patched draft from step 14 (or single-pass draft for light tier)research/query-<vault_tag>.md — canonical research query
Step 15.1 — Pre-create the polish log stub
The polish auditor has [Read, Edit] only and cannot create a new file (same tool-lock rule as the step 14 patcher). Stub it first:
echo '{"applied": [], "escalations": []}' > research/polish-log.json
Step 15.2 — Spawn the polish auditor
Spawn ONCE.
Spawn template:
subagent_type: hyperresearch-polish-auditor
prompt: |
RESEARCH QUERY (verbatim, gospel):
> {{paste research/query-<vault_tag>.md body}}
QUERY FILE: research/query-<vault_tag>.md
PIPELINE POSITION: You are step 15 (polish auditor) of the
hyperresearch V8 pipeline — the final step. Step 14 (patcher) applied
critic findings as Edit hunks. After you return, the orchestrator
runs the final integrity gate and ships. You are TOOL-LOCKED to
[Read, Edit].
YOUR INPUTS:
- draft_path: research/notes/final_report_<vault_tag>.md
- polish_log_path: research/polish-log.json (already stubbed)
The polish auditor strips:
- Pipeline reference leaks:
[I\d+] references, [[interim-*]] wiki-links pointing at workspace artifacts (NOT source notes), references to scaffold/comparisons/synthesis-plan files in prose. Citation wiki-links of the form [[<source-note-id>]] (where the target is a real source note in the vault, not an interim/scaffold workspace file) are PRESERVED when citation_style == "wikilink" — they are the citation system, not a leak. Strip wikilinks only when citation_style is "inline" or "none".
- Hygiene leaks (YAML frontmatter, scaffold sections, prompt echoes)
- Filler phrases ("It is worth noting", "Importantly", etc.)
- Redundant sentences / paragraphs that restate prior content
- Run-on sentences and over-long paragraphs (breaks into smaller units via Edit)
Step 15.3 — Handle escalations
The polish auditor ESCALATES structural mismatches (wrong format for the prompt, missing required sections, etc.) rather than fabricating content to fix them. Read the escalations in the polish log.
If the escalation names a structural issue (e.g., "user asked for a ranked list; draft is unranked prose"), you have one shot to fix it — craft the restructure yourself with hand-written Edits, then ship.
Sanity-check net length. Polish should have NEGATIVE net char delta. If the polish log shows positive net chars added, something went wrong — polish is for cutting, not expanding.
Do not apply polish edits yourself in step 15.2. The polish auditor's tool lock is the mechanism. Calling Edit directly bypasses the hygiene-check and filler-detection logic baked into the auditor's prompt. If the auditor returned empty, re-spawn it; don't do the work yourself unless step 15.3 escalations require it.
Step 15.4 — Final integrity gate
Before declaring the run complete, verify every expected pipeline artifact exists. The required set depends on the tier:
- light tier: only
research/polish-log.json is required (steps 12–14 are skipped, so no critic findings or patch log).
- full tier: require all four critic findings + patch-log + polish-log:
for f in research/critic-findings-dialectic.json \
research/critic-findings-depth.json \
research/critic-findings-width.json \
research/critic-findings-instruction.json \
research/patch-log.json \
research/polish-log.json; do
test -f "$f" || echo "MISSING: $f"
done
If any artifact is missing, the responsible step failed silently. Re-spawn the responsible agent ONCE with the missing output path as its explicit required output. If it fails a second time, write a minimal stub ({"findings":[]} for critic files, canonical empty-log schema for patch-log.json / polish-log.json) and log the failure in the run log before proceeding.
Step 15.5 — Record the run + lint gate
-
Record the run. Append to research/audit_findings.json:
{
"mode": "hyperresearch-v8",
"run_id": "<iso timestamp>",
"loci_count": <K>,
"critical_findings_applied": <int>,
"critical_findings_skipped": <int>,
"polish_escalations": <int>,
"final_word_count": <int>
}
-
Run the lint gate:
$HPR lint --rule wrapper-report --json
$HPR lint --rule locus-coverage --json
$HPR lint --rule scaffold-prompt --json
$HPR lint --rule patch-surgery --json
If any rule returns error severity issues, address them before declaring complete:
wrapper-report: scaffold leaked into the body — re-spawn the polish auditor with the specific leak flaggedlocus-coverage: a locus identified in step 4 has no interim note — a depth investigator failed silently; do not re-run, just note in the run logscaffold-prompt: scaffold's User Prompt section doesn't match the query file exactly — fix the scaffoldpatch-surgery: draft churn from step 11 → final exceeds the safety threshold — read the patch log and investigate
Step 15.6 — Ship
The final report lives at research/notes/final_report_<vault_tag>.md. The wrapper's required save path (if any) is a separate copy — handle per the wrapper contract.
Exit criterion
research/polish-log.json populated- Final integrity gate passed (or stub-filled with documented failure)
- Lint gate passed
research/notes/final_report_<vault_tag>.md is the final, shippable artifact
Next step
Return to the entry skill (hyperresearch). Invoke step 16:
Skill(skill: "hyperresearch-16-readability-audit")
Step 16 is the final step — readability audit + selective apply. Runs for ALL tiers.
