Test-pruning campaign

Campaign mode prunes one subsystem's whole test surface in one PR: one core area such as packages/eve/src/execution , one tier slice such as the dev server scenario suites, or one package such as packages/eve code . The value bar, retention bar, candidate evidence, and validation in [SKILL.md](SKILL

Test-pruning campaign

Campaign mode prunes one subsystem's whole test surface in one PR: one core area such as packages/eve/src/execution, one tier slice such as the dev-server scenario suites, or one package such as packages/eve-code. The value bar, retention bar, candidate evidence, and validation in SKILL.md apply to every lane. This file adds the order of work and the lessons of a full campaign. Each step ends on its completion criterion; do not start the next step early.

1. Baseline

Record the subsystem's test and support line counts, every test file's pass/fail state, and per-file and per-test durations (JSON reporter) at a pinned main SHA. Keep baseline failures in their own list: they are often real product bugs, not stale tests.

Done when every in-scope test file has a recorded baseline result.

2. Lanes and inventory

Split the surface into lanes along production owner boundaries, not file prefixes. For example: session entry, workflow tools, tasks, client streaming, dev-server host, compiler, and build output. Include the subsystem's cases at shared core boundaries, its scenario suites, and its e2e/ fixture evals.

Done when every test file and e2e eval the subsystem owns belongs to exactly one lane.

3. Read-only ledger per lane

Give each lane to its own read-only agent. The agent reads every assigned test in full, including parameter tables. It also reads the production owners and their entry points, callers, history, and CI routing. Each test declaration goes into a written ledger with one mark. An it.each is one declaration unless its rows need different marks; then mark each row.

• R: retain, naming the contract and the bug it catches; a retained test that only moves to a better-named file or a cheaper tier stays R with the move noted;
• F: retain the contract but repair the assertion, such as a vacuous negative that passes when only one of several items is missing;
• C: consolidate, naming the owner that absorbs the assertion first: a sibling table case, a stronger boundary suite, or the shared owner in another package;
• D: delete, naming the proof that remains, or why no contract exists.

Judge a test by its assertions, not its name. A test named for terminating a child can assert only that the child never completed.

Done when every declaration in the lane has a mark and an evidence line.

4. Layer plan per lane

Treat the per-test ledger as input, not as the edit list. A second read-only pass, starting from the ledger, looks for the redundant layer: for example, an older scenario suite whose every case was later re-covered, more strongly, by newer chaos or connection suites. Name the keeper suite for each contract. Prefer the real transport boundary with a fake network over a mocked collaborator, and the cheapest tier that still reaches that boundary. Correct any ledger errors this pass finds.

Done when each lane plan names its retired files, its keeper per contract, the assertions to carry into keepers, and the test-only production seams unlocked.

5. Cutover

Edit lane by lane. Serialize changes to shared harnesses and support files (packages/eve/test/scenarios/dev-server-harness.ts, packages/eve/test/scenarios/dev-server-descriptors.ts, packages/eve/test/_helpers/, packages/eve/src/internal/testing/) through one owner. With each lane, remove the test-only production seams it unlocks: injection parameters, getters, reset exports, and indirection layers. Update CI routing when suites move tiers. Shrink pnpm guard:invariants baselines when files disappear; baselines may only shrink. Put durable test-ownership rules in the relevant AGENTS.md, drawn from mistakes this campaign actually found.

Done when every lane plan is applied and each lane's keepers pass.

6. Preservation review

Before claiming completion, have independent reviewers compare deleted coverage against the keepers, one reviewer per boundary group. They look for contracts that lost their only proof. They also look for new assertions that cannot fail, such as a rejection row the production code never reaches.

For each restored contract, make one deliberate mutation of the production owner and confirm the keeper goes red. Then restore the source byte for byte.

Done when every reported gap is restored or rejected with source evidence, and every restored contract has a caught mutation.

7. Product defects

A baseline failure that survives into a keeper is a bug report. Fix it at its owner as a separate commit with a changeset, and prove it through the real user flow, with a control run that reverts the fix and shows the old behavior. Record unrelated product discrepancies you find as follow-ups instead of fixing them in the campaign.

Done when each repaired defect has a failing control and a passing candidate on the same harness.

8. Reconcile and hand off

Campaigns outlive many main commits. Merge main rather than rebasing a long, many-commit campaign. When main modified a file the campaign deleted, keep the deletion. Port the new contract into the keeper instead, and confirm every new regression main added still has a home. Rerun the whole subsystem suite on the merged head.

Expect review tooling to see a truncated file list on a diff this large.

Hand off with the SKILL.md report, plus:

• baseline and final test/support line counts, with production counted separately;
• baseline and final tier wall times;
• lanes, retired layers, and keepers;
• preservation gaps found and their mutations;
• product defects with control and candidate proof.