Different agents have different value functions on the same providence
records. Today aborist bakes one canonicalization policy into
governance_policy_hash and calls it universal. This adds two knobs that
let agents express their preference without breaking provenance.
- aborist/qa/keys.py: `canonical_question(q, mode=...)` and
`question_hash(q, mode=...)` accept "strict" (NFC + ws-collapse only;
every variant gets its own hash) or "equivalence_class" (default —
additionally lowercase + trailing-punct strip + article strip).
New constants: QUESTION_DEDUP_MODES, FIDELITY_MODES, defaults.
- aborist/qa/query.py + aborist/qa/runner.py: each call computes the
primary cache_key under policy["question_dedup"]. New `fidelity`
parameter:
"strict" only primary cache_key checked
"equivalence_class" primary first; if miss AND alternate mode
produces a different cache_key, try alternate
Cross-silo fallback works because _ckey_for_mode rewrites
policy["question_dedup"] to the alternate mode before computing
governance_policy_hash — so the fallback ckey matches what an agent
under that mode would have written. Lookups can find each other's
records when fidelity permits. Result dict gains `lookup_path` ∈
{"strict", "equivalence_class", "strict_fallback",
"equivalence_class_fallback", "miss"}.
- aborist/cli.py: `--question-dedup` and `--fidelity` flags on the
`query` subcommand. Human render annotates cache_hit lines that
came from a fallback ckey ("cached via equivalence_class_fallback").
- tests/test_query.py: three new regressions
* strict-policy + strict-fidelity: variants get distinct cache_keys
* cross-silo fallback: strict-policy reads eq-class-policy records
via fidelity=equivalence_class
* strict-fidelity refuses fallback (audit-grade): cache miss even
when the alternate silo has a hit
- CLAUDE.md: dedup-mode and fidelity convention bullets updated.
This is V1 + V2 of the substrate move sketched in conversation: write
policy determines which silo a record lives in; read fidelity determines
how loosely an agent walks across silos. Records stay exactly-keyed
(provenance hard); routing is per-agent (preference soft). Same
verifier_no_diagnostics discipline holds — no soft signal enters the
hard chain.
442 tests pass.
russell@unturf.com
aefc032749