Defense-in-depth against the "tell me all there is to know about X"
runaway shape. Bench finding (2026-04-30 york-england, n=3): JSON mode
emitted 26-59 claim-pointer pairs of which only 2-4 verified — model
treats encyclopedic prompts as a license to spam claims from training.
The atomic-claim prompt rule (b5925c8) cut typical runs to ~10 claims,
but a structural ceiling makes the failure shape operator-visible
regardless of per-claim verification.
Cap: 12. Admits typical entity-list questions (5-7 dinosaurs, simpsons
+ pets) while flagging the runaway. Plumbed through both verifiers
(pointer + JSON) via claim_lattice_max_claims_per_answer policy knob;
folds into governance_policy_hash on change.
Behavior: cap doesn't truncate — every claim still verifies so the
operator sees full evidence of the runaway. The TOO_MANY_CLAIMS
violation demotes STRICT → HYBRID via the existing violation-check
path; UNGROUNDED if no claims verified.
Tests: test_verify_json_too_many_claims_demotes_to_hybrid (13 claims
all verifying → HYBRID), test_verify_json_at_cap_can_still_strict
(12 claims at the cap → STRICT, no violation), and pointer-mode
mirror test_too_many_claims_demotes_pointer_mode_to_hybrid.
russell@unturf.com
5051f9538f