bench/judge_code.py — drop-in alternative to bench/judge.py with the
same Verdict shape & closed verdict vocabulary (CG/W/F/A/JE) but zero
quota cost: composes verifier + NLI + abstention + specificity into a
fixed-order pipeline. fox 2026-05-19: 'data first, judging later' —
this is the data-collection arm; LLM-based judging (Opus batched
needle-haystack, or Grok credit-card) is a separate downstream
concern that operates on the residue this judge cannot classify
deterministically.
Pipeline (first hit decides):
1. empty / no-gold guards
2. explicit abstention phrases (lexical regex)
3. NLI contradiction (arborist.qa.nli.shadow_check) — strongest
signal: gold contradicts the claim → WRONG
4. lexical verifier (arborist.qa.verify.verify_quotes) →
STRICT → CORRECT_GROUNDED
HYBRID + NLI entail >= 0.55 → CORRECT_GROUNDED
UNGROUNDED + specifics-not-in-gold → FABRICATED
UNGROUNDED + no specifics → ABSTAINED
HYBRID without NLI corroboration → JUDGE_ERROR (residue
for an LLM judge)
Threshold note: _CODE_JUDGE_THETA_ENTAIL_CORROBORATE=0.55 is distinct
from the NLI manifest's entailment_block_veto=0.9. The manifest's
threshold is calibrated for OVERRIDING a STRICT lexical signal with
negative evidence — high bar. The corroboration use here is the
opposite direction: additive positive evidence on an already-positive
anchor — moderate bar appropriate. Self-test case 1 measures NLI
entail=0.769 (clearly entailed, clear margin above 0.55).
Specificity for FABRICATED layers three scanners:
- verifier's multi-word proper-noun extractor (Higgs Boson, ...)
- local single-word capitalised-token scanner (Napoleon, Mars, ...)
deliberately separate because the verifier's gate is conservative
by design (multi-word only)
- numerics (years, dates, large counts, money)
Self-test: same 4 fixtures as bench/judge.py:self_test() so the two
instruments can be cross-checked when fox re-fires the Opus judge on
the residue later. Result: 4/4 INSTRUMENT TRUSTWORTHY.
tests/test_judge_code.py — pulls the contract into make test
(18 cases): module identifiers pinned, dataclass shape parity,
empty / no-gold guards, parametrised abstention phrases, specificity
layer behaviour, the canonical 4-case self-test, batch helper, and
graceful NLI-unavailable degradation. 18/18 pass.
Pre-existing known limitation, documented in the docstring: terse
correct answers ('In 1945.' against gold containing '1945') route to
ABSTAINED because the verifier's span extractor needs prose shape;
NLI sees no clause-level overlap at very short claims. The conservative
ABSTAINED label is correct deferral; tuning this is a calibration
question for real bench data, not the instrument's contract.
No callers touched yet — control_sweep.py & control_ab.py still
import the disabled Opus judge. Wiring this in is a separate ticket
move per fox's data-first sequencing.
russell@unturf.com
f6a822ed8a