Per fox: while iterating on retrieval/verifier knobs, a flag on the
query itself is more useful than a separate verb. One step reset:
change a knob, re-query, see fresh result.
Surface:
aborist query --burn ...
make query Q="..." BURN=1
make query-dry Q="..." BURN=1 (works on dry-run too)
Behavior in `aborist.qa.query.query()`:
- New `burn_existing: bool = False` parameter on query().
- After computing primary cache_key (per the active dedup mode) but
BEFORE the cache lookup, if burn_existing: DELETE the live row that
matches the primary cache_key & write one providence_burn audit
event with reason "query --burn (test-ergonomic mid-query bust)".
- The lookup then misses → fresh inference runs. Result reports
`burned_existing: 0|1` so the caller sees whether anything got
busted.
- The equivalence-class fallback cache_key is deliberately NOT
touched: prior alt-mode records stay as historic witnesses.
Tests (3): cache populates → cache hits → BURN=1 forces fresh
inference; --burn writes a providence_burn audit event; first-time
query with --burn is a clean no-op (burned_existing=0). 356 passed,
1 skipped.
Complementary to `aborist burn-kindergarten` (mass reset) — this is
the surgical version. Both are local-only by design; for cross-peer
invalidation use `make falsify` and let mesh sync broadcast.
russell@unturf.com
e668a8355f