Record sibling inheritance review findings
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docs/roadmap/remediation.md
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# Sibling Inheritance Review Findings
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Reviewed implementation commits `78d4b59` through `2ca1f80` against the
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[feature roadmap](named-inheritance.md), [implementation plan](implementation.md),
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and the user's agreed sibling lookup, enclosing-first expansion, presence, and
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provenance decisions. Both findings below require remediation. No implementation
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fixes are included in this review.
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## 1. Preserve immutable enclosing snapshots during nested resolution
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Priority: P2 — incorrect historical explanation despite correct final values.
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Locations: [retained operation templates](../../internal/engine/inheritance.go)
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(lines 230–235), [nested mutation](../../internal/engine/inheritance_walk.go)
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(lines 107–109), and [explanation replay](../../internal/engine/inheritance_explain.go)
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(lines 26–38).
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`inheritanceOperation.parent` and `.effective` refer to the same node trees that
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the destination walker later modifies. Replacing nested `entry.Value` pointers
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therefore changes already-recorded enclosing snapshots. Their origin indexes
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still describe the earlier template, so historical values and origins can disagree.
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Replaying an enclosing transfer prematurely installs already-resolved nested values
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and loses the nested control input that should explain those values.
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Reproduction: load this configuration through the public loading path (a
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`map[string]any` configuration suffices):
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```yaml
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presets:
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base:
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settings:
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primary: {width: 10}
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secondary: {extends: primary}
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custom:
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extends: base
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settings:
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primary: {width: 20}
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```
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The final child width is correctly `20`. However:
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- `Explain(/presets/custom/settings/secondary/width)` reports its only
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inheritance value transition as `20` to `20`, without showing its introduction.
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- `Explain(/presets/custom/settings/secondary/extends)` returns two structural
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events with both before and after absent. It never shows the inherited
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`primary` reference before consumption.
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- Explaining the enclosing child shows fully resolved nested values in its
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enclosing transfer, before the nested operations that supposedly produce them.
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These observations were reproduced with temporary engine tests invoking `Load`
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and `Inspection.Explain`; the temporary tests were removed after the review.
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This violates the agreed inspectable derivation and enclosing-before-nested
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history, not a request for additional historical guarantees.
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Required correction:
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- Keep retained parent/effective templates immutable while destination-local
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traversal proceeds. Use detached working structure or copy-on-write ownership
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as appropriate, preserving shared evidence without a snapshot per leaf.
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- Keep each operation's values and origins at the same structural point.
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- Replay inherited control arrival/consumption and nested value introduction
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explicitly, with metadata and explanation agreeing.
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- Preserve existing retained-history accounting for any additional owned nodes.
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Acceptance: add regressions using this nested example that assert meaningful
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before/after values and consumed control history, not only the final result or
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absence of `ChangeDecoding`. Cover a further enclosing chain and compare leaf
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and container explanations. Existing ownership, redaction, and budget tests must
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continue to pass.
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## 2. Remove whole-document budget rescans per sibling scope
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Priority: P2 — avoidable superlinear expansion work.
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Location: [per-scope global lower-bound check](../../internal/engine/inheritance_walk.go)
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(line 95).
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Every resolved scope invokes `inheritanceLowerBoundWithin(*w.root, ...)`, traversing
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the complete current document again. With N independent constant-sized sibling
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scopes, input, output, and retained relationship evidence are all O(N), but this
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check alone performs O(N²) visits. Its temporary traversal stacks also create
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unnecessary allocation growth. This is independent of legitimate large inherited
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output and of key-sorting costs.
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A temporary benchmark generated N independent root entries, each containing
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`a: {x: v}` and `b: {extends: a}`, and invoked `expandInheritanceTree`. Allocation
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measurements were approximately 5.8 MB/op at 256 scopes, 14.1 MB/op at 512, and
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49.5 MB/op at 1,024. Timing was noisy and is not proposed as a gate; the repeated
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global traversal establishes the complexity defect directly. Existing benchmarks
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concentrate on shared parents/chains rather than this independent-scope shape.
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Required correction:
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- Maintain a document-level logical node total using old/new scope counts, or
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equivalent incremental accounting, rather than rescanning unrelated branches.
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- Keep early bounded expansion and the existing final node/depth verification;
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do not weaken the existing budgets or add a new cap to work around the cost.
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- Include an independent-scope benchmark alongside current shapes and inspect
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growth relative to output/evidence size. Do not add timing thresholds.
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Acceptance: show that independent-scope accounting no longer revisits the whole
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document per scope; retain at/beyond-budget tests and the existing value/origin
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semantics. Benchmark evidence should demonstrate the removed allocation/work
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growth without asserting an unconditional O(N) public guarantee.
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## Validation and contract review
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- `./scripts/check.sh` passed on Linux.
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- `go test -race ./...` passed on Linux.
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- Temporary diagnostic tests and the independent-scope benchmark reproduced the
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findings; no probe files remain in the repository.
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- No clear additional public prohibition, strengthened security guarantee, or
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release gate was found. Reserved `extends`, sibling-only lookup, null cancellation,
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invalid root/list-element references, inherited explicitness, and preservation
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of version ownership reflect the agreed design. The performance correction
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should preserve existing limits rather than introduce stricter ones.
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