arborist/tests/test_verify_json.py
russell@unturf.com 39bebe3fdb
qa(verify): Rule 9 — SUBJECT_TOKENS_ABSENT premise-parroting demote
Closes the first confirmed EVIDENCE-WARRANTED false-positive
surfaced by the 200-cycle bench-emergent run on
`steer/reply/correcter` (Ticket #000006 amend 2026-05-02b). The
model parroted three question-distinctive tokens (correcter,
steer, reply) into its claim while citing a glossary article whose
33.5K-char content contains ZERO occurrences of any of them.
Generic linguistic vocabulary (language, communication, terms,
relationships) carried Rule 5's citation-coverage check on its
own; the actual subject tokens rode along unverified.

New per-claim check `_parroted_subject_tokens_absent`: for each
resolving claim, compute the question∩claim content-token set,
then check substring presence in the union of cited evidence
spans (lower-cased, mirroring Rule 5). When ≥ threshold parroted
tokens are absent, emit `SUBJECT_TOKENS_ABSENT` and demote STRICT
→ HYBRID. Default threshold = 3 — single-token absence is often
stem-variant noise; three+ is the parrot fingerprint.

Plumbing:
- New default `DEFAULT_SUBJECT_TOKENS_ABSENT_THRESHOLD = 3`
- Both `verify_claim_lattice` and `verify_claim_lattice_json`
  gain `subject_tokens_absent_threshold` kwarg + per-claim check
  block (mirrors TITLE_MISMATCH plumbing, sits right after it
  in the rule order)
- `claim_lattice_subject_tokens_absent_threshold` policy field
  added to `DEFAULT_QUERY_POLICY` and `DEFAULT_POLICY`; folds
  into `governance_policy_hash` and (via _VERIFIER_POLICY_FIELDS)
  `verifier_policy_hash`
- All four runner/query call sites pass the policy-derived value

Live verification (cache-split cleanly via policy-hash bump):
  pre-fix cache_key 08dbd2c1… : STRICT (false positive)
  post-fix cache_key 6a519636… : UNGROUNDED

Three new unit tests in `tests/test_verify_json.py`:
- threshold-meeting parrot demotes STRICT → HYBRID
- no-op when question is None
- below-threshold absence stays STRICT

Full suite: 776 passed, 34 skipped.
2026-05-02 15:51:58 -04:00

525 lines
19 KiB
Python

"""JSON-mode claim-lattice verifier (`answer_mode="claim_lattice"`).
Pairs with grammar-constrained inference (vLLM guided_json, Claude/GPT-4
native JSON, Qwen 3.6 reasoner). The lenient pre-parser keeps the path
survivable on inference paths where the model emits non-strict JSON
(markdown fences, prose preamble, curly quotes, trailing commas).
"""
from __future__ import annotations
import json
import pytest
from aborist.qa.evidence import EvidenceObject
from aborist.qa.verify import _lenient_json_parse, verify_claim_lattice_json
# ---------------------------------------------------------------- lenient parser
def test_lenient_strict_passes_through():
obj, fixups = _lenient_json_parse('{"a": 1}')
assert obj == {"a": 1}
assert fixups == []
def test_lenient_strips_markdown_fence():
raw = '```json\n{"claims": []}\n```'
obj, fixups = _lenient_json_parse(raw)
assert obj == {"claims": []}
assert "fence" in fixups
def test_lenient_strips_unlabeled_fence():
raw = '```\n{"claims": []}\n```'
obj, fixups = _lenient_json_parse(raw)
assert obj == {"claims": []}
assert "fence" in fixups
def test_lenient_trims_preamble_and_suffix():
raw = 'Here is the JSON:\n{"claims": []}\nLet me know if you need more.'
obj, fixups = _lenient_json_parse(raw)
assert obj == {"claims": []}
assert "prose_trim" in fixups
def test_lenient_normalizes_curly_quotes():
raw = '{“claims”: []}'
obj, fixups = _lenient_json_parse(raw)
assert obj == {"claims": []}
assert "curly_quotes" in fixups
def test_lenient_fixes_trailing_comma():
raw = '{"claims": [],}'
obj, fixups = _lenient_json_parse(raw)
assert obj == {"claims": []}
assert "trailing_comma" in fixups
def test_lenient_combines_multiple_fixups():
raw = '```json\nHere:\n{“claims”: [],}\n```'
obj, fixups = _lenient_json_parse(raw)
assert obj == {"claims": []}
assert "fence" in fixups
# At least one of the inner fixups also fired.
assert any(f in fixups for f in ("curly_quotes", "trailing_comma", "prose_trim"))
def test_lenient_raises_on_truly_broken():
with pytest.raises(json.JSONDecodeError):
_lenient_json_parse("not json at all { ] [")
# ---------------------------------------------------------------- JSON verifier
def _ev(
eid: str,
span: str,
role: str = "primary_answer_source",
pointer_id: str | None = None,
title: str = "Test Doc",
) -> EvidenceObject:
"""Stub evidence object with deterministic eid for the test.
JSON-mode prompt-facing surface uses ``pointer_id`` (E1, E2, …)
since 2026-04-30; if the test wants the verifier to resolve a
citation, it must set ``pointer_id`` explicitly. ``evidence_id``
stays content-addressed for the cache/run-DAG handle.
``title`` defaults to "Test Doc" but tests using Rule 8 (title-
relevance, post-2026-05-02) should pass a title whose content
tokens overlap the claim text. Otherwise the verifier flags
TITLE_MISMATCH and demotes STRICT → HYBRID.
"""
return EvidenceObject(
evidence_id=eid,
source_root="00" * 32,
document_uri="test://doc",
title=title,
chunk_idx=0,
chunk_root="11" * 32,
offset_start=0,
offset_end=len(span),
source_role=role,
text_hash="22" * 32,
span=span,
pointer_id=pointer_id,
)
def test_verify_json_strict_when_all_claims_resolve():
evidence = [
_ev("E1f8e4c2a", "Brachiosaurus appears in the Jurassic Park film as a herbivore.", pointer_id="E1", title="Jurassic Park (film)"),
_ev("E2c9d7b3f", "Velociraptor is featured prominently throughout Jurassic Park.", pointer_id="E2", title="Jurassic Park (film)"),
]
answer = json.dumps({
"claims": [
{"text": "Brachiosaurus appears in the film", "evidence_ids": ["E1"]},
{"text": "Velociraptor is featured in the film", "evidence_ids": ["E2"]},
]
})
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "STRICT"
# Same verifier_method as the pointer variant — disambiguated downstream
# via `answer_mode` on the run-DAG and `json_fixups` on the verdict.
assert v["verifier_method"] == "claim_lattice"
assert v["n_verified"] == 2
assert v["violations"] == []
def test_verify_json_hybrid_when_some_unknown_evidence_id():
evidence = [
_ev("E1f8e4c2a", "Brachiosaurus appears in the Jurassic Park film as a herbivore.", pointer_id="E1", title="Jurassic Park (film)"),
]
answer = json.dumps({
"claims": [
{"text": "Brachiosaurus appears in the film", "evidence_ids": ["E1"]},
{"text": "Made-up claim", "evidence_ids": ["E99"]},
]
})
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "HYBRID"
assert any(vio["kind"] == "UNKNOWN_EVIDENCE_ID" for vio in v["violations"])
def test_verify_json_ungrounded_on_schema_invalid():
"""Lenient parser fails too → SCHEMA_INVALID → UNGROUNDED."""
v = verify_claim_lattice_json("not json {[", [])
assert v["audit_mode"] == "UNGROUNDED"
assert any(vio["kind"] == "SCHEMA_INVALID" for vio in v["violations"])
def test_verify_json_recovers_from_markdown_fence():
"""JSON-fenced output still parses & verifies; fence fixup logged."""
evidence = [
_ev("E1f8e4c2a", "Brachiosaurus appears in the Jurassic Park film as a herbivore.", pointer_id="E1", title="Jurassic Park (film)"),
]
answer = (
'```json\n'
'{"claims": [{"text": "Brachiosaurus appears in the film", '
'"evidence_ids": ["E1"]}]}\n'
'```'
)
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "STRICT"
assert "fence" in v["json_fixups"]
def test_verify_json_manual_quote_violation():
"""Strict no-double-quote rule — even valid JSON with double quotes
inside a claim's text field fails MANUAL_QUOTE_VIOLATION."""
evidence = [
_ev("E1f8e4c2a", "Brachiosaurus appears in the Jurassic Park film as a herbivore.", pointer_id="E1"),
]
answer = json.dumps({
"claims": [
{
"text": 'Brachiosaurus is "a herbivore" appears in the film',
"evidence_ids": ["E1"],
}
]
})
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence)
assert any(vio["kind"] == "MANUAL_QUOTE_VIOLATION" for vio in v["violations"])
assert v["audit_mode"] == "UNGROUNDED"
def test_verify_json_blocks_disallowed_source_role():
"""Evidence resolved but source_role outside the allowlist fails
SOURCE_ROLE_BLOCKED."""
evidence = [
_ev("E1f8e4c2a", "Brachiosaurus content here.", role="noisy_background_source", pointer_id="E1"),
]
answer = json.dumps({
"claims": [
{"text": "Brachiosaurus appears", "evidence_ids": ["E1"]},
]
})
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence)
assert any(vio["kind"] == "SOURCE_ROLE_BLOCKED" for vio in v["violations"])
assert v["audit_mode"] == "UNGROUNDED"
def test_claim_title_overlap_passes_when_title_shares_token():
"""Rule 8 helper: title shares ≥1 stemmed content token with claim."""
from aborist.qa.verify import _claim_title_overlap
assert _claim_title_overlap(
"Homer Simpson's boss is Mr. Burns.",
"Homer Simpson",
)
assert _claim_title_overlap(
"Brachiosaurus appears in the Jurassic Park film.",
"Jurassic Park (film)",
)
# Stem-aware: 'simpsons' (plural) collapses to 'simpson'.
assert _claim_title_overlap(
"The Simpsons family includes Homer.",
"Simpson family",
)
def test_claim_title_overlap_fails_on_qcd_for_spin_glass():
"""Rule 8 helper: spin-glass case from 2026-05-02. Claim about
spin glass cited to Quantum chromodynamics → no token overlap."""
from aborist.qa.verify import _claim_title_overlap
assert not _claim_title_overlap(
"Spin glass modeling involves the use of mathematical tensors.",
"Quantum chromodynamics",
)
def test_claim_title_overlap_vacuous_pass_on_empty():
"""Defensive: empty title or empty claim → vacuous pass."""
from aborist.qa.verify import _claim_title_overlap
assert _claim_title_overlap("Some claim here.", None)
assert _claim_title_overlap("Some claim here.", "")
assert _claim_title_overlap("", "Some Title")
def test_verify_json_title_mismatch_demotes_to_ungrounded():
"""End-to-end Rule 8: claim cited to a source with no title-token
overlap → TITLE_MISMATCH violation. When EVERY resolving claim is
title-mismatched (here only 1 claim, 1/1 mismatched), audit_mode
demotes to UNGROUNDED — the substrate has zero structural grounding
for the user's question. Earlier behavior was HYBRID; tightened
2026-05-02 after the cashback emergent case ('widescreens offer
cashback' cited to a generic Coupon article) showed n_verified=1
overclaimed when the citation was meaningless.
Span is intentionally rich with claim tokens (covers Rule 5
citation-coverage threshold) so the failure path is Rule 8
cleanly, not earlier rule rejection."""
evidence = [
# Title is QCD; claim is about spin glass modeling. Span
# contains enough claim tokens to clear Rule 5 (>=30%).
_ev(
"Eed1b6e39",
(
"Spin glasses are disordered magnetic systems. "
"The spin glass modeling literature uses tensors to "
"represent interactions between magnetic moments. "
"Tensor methods illuminate the mathematical structure."
),
pointer_id="E1",
title="Quantum chromodynamics",
),
]
answer = json.dumps({
"claims": [
{
"text": (
"Spin glass modeling involves the use of "
"mathematical tensors to represent interactions."
),
"evidence_ids": ["E1"],
}
]
})
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "UNGROUNDED", (
f"expected UNGROUNDED via all-claims TITLE_MISMATCH demote; "
f"got {v['audit_mode']} with violations "
f"{[v['kind'] for v in v['violations']]}"
)
assert any(vio["kind"] == "TITLE_MISMATCH" for vio in v["violations"])
def test_verify_json_too_many_claims_demotes_to_hybrid():
"""York-england shape: 13 claims (cap default = 12) trips
TOO_MANY_CLAIMS even when each individual claim verifies. Demotes
STRICT to HYBRID so the runaway is operator-visible."""
# Build 13 evidence objects, each with a pointer id E1..E13 and a
# span that contains the claim's full text so per-claim
# verification passes.
evidence = []
claims = []
for i in range(1, 14):
pid = f"E{i}"
eid = f"E{i:08x}c2a"
text = f"York fact number {i} is described in this span."
# Title overlaps "york" so Rule 8 passes; this test exercises
# the TOO_MANY_CLAIMS cap, not title-relevance.
evidence.append(_ev(eid, text, pointer_id=pid, title="York facts"))
claims.append({"text": text, "evidence_ids": [pid]})
answer = json.dumps({"claims": claims})
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "HYBRID", \
f"expected HYBRID (TOO_MANY_CLAIMS demote), got {v['audit_mode']}"
assert any(vio["kind"] == "TOO_MANY_CLAIMS" for vio in v["violations"])
# The cap doesn't truncate — every claim still verifies. Operator
# sees the full evidence of the runaway.
assert v["n_verified"] == 13, \
f"all 13 claims should still verify; got {v['n_verified']}"
def test_verify_json_at_cap_can_still_strict():
"""Boundary: exactly max_claims_per_answer (12) claims is acceptable
— no TOO_MANY_CLAIMS violation, and STRICT remains reachable."""
evidence = []
claims = []
for i in range(1, 13): # 12 claims, exactly at cap
pid = f"E{i}"
eid = f"E{i:08x}c2a"
text = f"York fact number {i} appears in span."
# Title shares "york" with each claim → Rule 8 passes.
evidence.append(_ev(eid, text, pointer_id=pid, title="York facts"))
claims.append({"text": text, "evidence_ids": [pid]})
answer = json.dumps({"claims": claims})
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "STRICT", \
f"12 claims should not trip the cap; got {v['audit_mode']}"
assert not any(vio["kind"] == "TOO_MANY_CLAIMS" for vio in v["violations"])
# ---------------------------------------------------------------- runner integration
def test_runner_ask_json_mode_passes_guided_json_extra_body(tmp_path):
"""`ask()` in JSON mode forwards `extra_body={"guided_json": SCHEMA}`
through the chat client. Stub captures the kwargs so we can assert."""
from typing import Iterator
from aborist.document import Document
from aborist.ingest import ingest_source
from aborist.qa import ask
from aborist.qa.client import StubClient
from aborist.qa.runner import DEFAULT_POLICY
from aborist.source import Source
from aborist.store import connect
class _FakeSource(Source):
source_type = "test"
def __init__(self, docs): self.docs = docs
def iter_documents(self) -> Iterator[Document]: yield from self.docs
db = tmp_path / "qa.db"
conn = connect(db)
try:
ingest_source(conn, _FakeSource([
Document(
uri="test://doc",
content="Cloud Strife is the protagonist. " * 30,
source_type="test",
title="Cloud",
)
]))
root = conn.execute(
"SELECT document_root FROM documents WHERE document_uri='test://doc'"
).fetchone()["document_root"]
client = StubClient(answer='{"claims":[]}')
policy = dict(DEFAULT_POLICY)
policy["answer_mode"] = "claim_lattice"
ask(
conn,
document_root=root,
question="Who is Cloud?",
client=client,
model_id="m",
policy=policy,
)
assert len(client.calls) == 1
kwargs = client.calls[0]["kwargs"]
assert "extra_body" in kwargs
assert kwargs["extra_body"] is not None
assert "guided_json" in kwargs["extra_body"]
finally:
conn.close()
# ---------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 9
# Subject-tokens-absent / premise-parroting check (Ticket #000006 amend
# 2026-05-02b). Surfaced by the 200-cycle bench-emergent finding on
# `steer/reply/correcter`: claim affirmed three question-distinctive
# tokens that appeared zero times in the cited 33.5K-char glossary,
# while generic linguistic vocabulary carried Rule 5's coverage check.
def test_verify_json_subject_tokens_absent_demotes_strict_to_hybrid():
"""Reproduces the steer/reply/correcter false-positive shape:
the claim parrots the question's distinctive subject tokens
(correcter, steer, reply) but the cited evidence contains only
generic linguistic vocabulary (language, communication, terms).
Rule 5 passes on the generic overlap; Rule 9 catches that the
question-distinctive tokens are absent and demotes."""
cited_span = (
"Sociolinguistics is the study of language in society and how "
"social factors influence communication. The exchange of meaning "
"between speakers depends on shared terms and discourse "
"relationships. Different aspects of language interact with "
"communication norms in any given community."
)
evidence = [
_ev(
"Eparrot01",
cited_span,
pointer_id="E1",
title="Glossary of language teaching terms and ideas",
),
]
answer = json.dumps({
"claims": [
{
# Three question-distinctive tokens (correcter, steer,
# reply) parroted from question into claim — but ZERO
# of these tokens appear in cited_span.
"text": (
"A correcter can be used to steer a reply by "
"identifying errors in language and communication "
"between speakers, which involves the exchange of "
"meaning across discourse relationships."
),
"evidence_ids": ["E1"],
}
]
})
question = (
"How might a correcter be used to steer a reply in a "
"conversation, and what aspects of language or communication "
"do these terms encompass?"
)
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence, question=question)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "HYBRID", (
f"expected HYBRID via SUBJECT_TOKENS_ABSENT demote; got "
f"{v['audit_mode']} with violations "
f"{[vio['kind'] for vio in v['violations']]}"
)
assert any(vio["kind"] == "SUBJECT_TOKENS_ABSENT" for vio in v["violations"])
# The parroted-but-absent tokens should be reported.
sta = next(vio for vio in v["violations"] if vio["kind"] == "SUBJECT_TOKENS_ABSENT")
absent = set(sta["absent_tokens"])
assert {"correcter", "steer", "reply"}.issubset(absent), (
f"expected correcter/steer/reply in absent_tokens; got {absent}"
)
def test_verify_json_subject_tokens_absent_no_question_skips_check():
"""No question text → Rule 9 is a no-op. STRICT stays STRICT
when every other check passes. Pins that the check requires
question text to operate."""
evidence = [
_ev(
"Enoq00001",
"Brachiosaurus appears in the Jurassic Park film as a herbivore.",
pointer_id="E1",
title="Jurassic Park (film)",
),
]
answer = json.dumps({
"claims": [
{"text": "Brachiosaurus appears in the film", "evidence_ids": ["E1"]},
]
})
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence, question=None)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "STRICT"
assert not any(vio["kind"] == "SUBJECT_TOKENS_ABSENT" for vio in v["violations"])
def test_verify_json_subject_tokens_absent_below_threshold_passes():
"""One absent parroted token → below default threshold of 3 →
no demote. Pins the threshold semantics: single-token absence
is acceptable noise, three+ is the parrot fingerprint."""
cited_span = (
"Brachiosaurus appears in the Jurassic Park film as a herbivore. "
"The dinosaurs in the film were rendered with practical effects "
"and CGI by Industrial Light and Magic."
)
evidence = [
_ev(
"Eonebelow",
cited_span,
pointer_id="E1",
title="Jurassic Park (film)",
),
]
# Question token "extinction" doesn't appear in cited; "brachiosaurus"
# and "film" do. Only 1 parroted-token absent → below threshold 3.
answer = json.dumps({
"claims": [
{
"text": (
"Brachiosaurus appears in the film alongside other "
"dinosaurs after a long extinction"
),
"evidence_ids": ["E1"],
}
]
})
question = (
"How does Brachiosaurus appear in the Jurassic Park film "
"after extinction?"
)
v = verify_claim_lattice_json(answer, evidence, question=question)
assert v["audit_mode"] == "STRICT", (
f"expected STRICT (below threshold); got {v['audit_mode']} "
f"with violations {[vio['kind'] for vio in v['violations']]}"
)