Evidence boundary

Evidence Before Interpretation

Start by deciding what can be known without opening a transcript—and write every unknown down.

U1 LIVE: PROVENSYNTHETIC EXAMPLE · /demo-claude/

Four unknown quadrants leading to one bounded inventory.

You will be able to

Separate discovery, structure, meaning, and action.
Classify known knowns, known unknowns, unknown knowns, and unknown unknowns.
Choose the smallest claim that can be proven at the next boundary.

Core model

A request to ‘analyze every session’ mixes at least four jobs: discover files, describe structure, interpret meaning, and act on conclusions. Evidence-first work separates those jobs. U1 answers only the first question with metadata. That narrow answer is useful because it is measurable, rerunnable, and incapable of leaking a message.

Mental model: The prompt is a map; the archive is the territory. An inventory counts roads and measures distances before anyone claims to know what happened on those roads.

The first port intentionally exposes only `lstat(path)` and `readDir(path)`. There is no `readFile`, stream, parser, model, or network method. Privacy is therefore structural, not a promise made by a caller.

Boundary table

Question	Observed boundary	Owner	Verdict
File existence	Metadata	U1	Knowable
Record structure	Local byte stream	U2	Deferred
What the user meant	Semantic interpretation	Later unit	Unknown

Primary local source

packages/sessions/src/claude-inventory.ts

interface ClaudeInventoryFs {
  lstat(path): Promise<Metadata>;
  readDir(path): Promise<readonly string[]>;
}
// No content-read method exists.

The requested outcome, plan, and assumptions.

The repository and archive constraints actually encountered.

A decision the evidence cannot yet settle.

One claim, one implementation, one real proof boundary.

Synthetic lab

Choose a question. Which unit may answer it honestly?

Retrieval and feedback

Predict before revealing

Which first result remains useful even if the semantic goal changes later?

A deterministic archive inventory. It maps the territory without committing to an interpretation.

Retrieval cards

Retrieval cardsMapActivate to flip

MapThe requested outcome, plan, and assumptions.

Retrieval cardsTerritoryActivate to flip

TerritoryThe repository and archive constraints actually encountered.

Retrieval cardsUnknownActivate to flip

UnknownA decision the evidence cannot yet settle.

Retrieval cardsBounded unitActivate to flip

Bounded unitOne claim, one implementation, one real proof boundary.

Check your model

Why is U1 metadata-only by construction?

Capabilities enforce the boundary more strongly than intention.

Evidence ledger

Contract · PROVENSCOPE + source

Implementation · PROVENfocused code + tests

Compiled boundary · PROVENU1 receipt recorded

Independent probe · PROVENU1 counts/bytes match

Authority: docs/fable-session-mining/LOOP-LOG.md. Tests never upgrade a missing live receipt.