Evaluate Presets

Overview

Systematically test all hat collection presets using shell scripts. Direct CLI invocation—no meta-orchestration complexity.

When to Use

•Testing preset configurations after changes
•Auditing the preset library for quality
•Validating new presets work correctly
•After modifying hat routing logic

Quick Start

Evaluate a single preset:

bash

./tools/evaluate-preset.sh tdd-red-green claude

Evaluate all presets:

bash

./tools/evaluate-all-presets.sh claude

Arguments:

•First arg: preset name (without .yml extension)
•Second arg: backend (claude or kiro, defaults to claude)

Bash Tool Configuration

IMPORTANT: When invoking these scripts via the Bash tool, use these settings:

•Single preset evaluation: Use timeout: 600000 (10 minutes max) and run_in_background: true
•All presets evaluation: Use timeout: 600000 (10 minutes max) and run_in_background: true

Since preset evaluations can run for hours (especially the full suite), always run in background mode and use the TaskOutput tool to check progress periodically.

Example invocation pattern:

code

Bash tool with:
  command: "./tools/evaluate-preset.sh tdd-red-green claude"
  timeout: 600000
  run_in_background: true

After launching, use TaskOutput with block: false to check status without waiting for completion.

What the Scripts Do

`evaluate-preset.sh`

•Loads test task from tools/preset-test-tasks.yml (if yq available)
•Creates merged config with evaluation settings
•Runs Ralph with --record-session for metrics capture
•Captures output logs, exit codes, and timing
•Extracts metrics: iterations, hats activated, events published

Output structure:

code

.eval/
├── logs/<preset>/<timestamp>/
│   ├── output.log          # Full stdout/stderr
│   ├── session.jsonl       # Recorded session
│   ├── metrics.json        # Extracted metrics
│   ├── environment.json    # Runtime environment
│   └── merged-config.yml   # Config used
└── logs/<preset>/latest -> <timestamp>

`evaluate-all-presets.sh`

Runs all 12 presets sequentially and generates a summary:

code

.eval/results/<suite-id>/
├── SUMMARY.md              # Markdown report
├── <preset>.json           # Per-preset metrics
└── latest -> <suite-id>

Presets Under Evaluation

Preset	Test Task
`tdd-red-green`	Add `is_palindrome()` function
`adversarial-review`	Review user input handler for security
`socratic-learning`	Understand `HatRegistry`
`spec-driven`	Specify and implement `StringUtils::truncate()`
`mob-programming`	Implement a `Stack` data structure
`scientific-method`	Debug failing mock test assertion
`code-archaeology`	Understand history of `config.rs`
`performance-optimization`	Profile hat matching
`api-design`	Design a `Cache` trait
`documentation-first`	Document `RateLimiter`
`incident-response`	Respond to "tests failing in CI"
`migration-safety`	Plan v1 to v2 config migration

Interpreting Results

Exit codes from evaluate-preset.sh:

•0 — Success (LOOP_COMPLETE reached)
•124 — Timeout (preset hung or took too long)
•Other — Failure (check output.log)

Metrics in metrics.json:

•iterations — How many event loop cycles
•hats_activated — Which hats were triggered
•events_published — Total events emitted
•completed — Whether completion promise was reached

Hat Routing Performance

Critical: Validate that hats get fresh context per Tenet #1 ("Fresh Context Is Reliability").

What Good Looks Like

Each hat should execute in its own iteration:

code

Iter 1: Ralph → publishes starting event → STOPS
Iter 2: Hat A → does work → publishes next event → STOPS
Iter 3: Hat B → does work → publishes next event → STOPS
Iter 4: Hat C → does work → LOOP_COMPLETE

Red Flags (Same-Iteration Hat Switching)

BAD: Multiple hat personas in one iteration:

code

Iter 2: Ralph does Blue Team + Red Team + Fixer work
        ^^^ All in one bloated context!

How to Check

1. Count iterations vs events in session.jsonl:

bash

# Count iterations
grep -c "_meta.loop_start\|ITERATION" .eval/logs/<preset>/latest/output.log

# Count events published
grep -c "bus.publish" .eval/logs/<preset>/latest/session.jsonl

Expected: iterations ≈ events published (one event per iteration) Bad sign: 2-3 iterations but 5+ events (all work in single iteration)

2. Check for same-iteration hat switching in output.log:

bash

grep -E "ITERATION|Now I need to perform|Let me put on|I'll switch to" \
    .eval/logs/<preset>/latest/output.log

Red flag: Hat-switching phrases WITHOUT an ITERATION separator between them.

3. Check event timestamps in session.jsonl:

bash

cat .eval/logs/<preset>/latest/session.jsonl | jq -r '.ts'

Red flag: Multiple events with identical timestamps (published in same iteration).

Routing Performance Triage

Pattern	Diagnosis	Action
iterations ≈ events	✅ Good	Hat routing working
iterations << events	⚠️ Same-iteration switching	Check prompt has STOP instruction
iterations >> events	⚠️ Recovery loops	Agent not publishing required events
0 events	❌ Broken	Events not being read from JSONL

Root Cause Checklist

If hat routing is broken:

•
Check workflow prompt in hatless_ralph.rs:
- •Does it say "CRITICAL: STOP after publishing"?
- •Is the DELEGATE section clear about yielding control?
•
Check hat instructions propagation:
- •Does HatInfo include instructions field?
- •Are instructions rendered in the ## HATS section?
•
Check events context:
- •Is build_prompt(context) using the context parameter?
- •Does prompt include ## PENDING EVENTS section?

Autonomous Fix Workflow

After evaluation, delegate fixes to subagents:

Step 1: Triage Results

Read .eval/results/latest/SUMMARY.md and identify:

•❌ FAIL → Create code tasks for fixes
•⏱️ TIMEOUT → Investigate infinite loops
•⚠️ PARTIAL → Check for edge cases

Step 2: Dispatch Task Creation

For each issue, spawn a Task agent:

code

"Use /code-task-generator to create a task for fixing: [issue from evaluation]
Output to: tasks/preset-fixes/"

Step 3: Dispatch Implementation

For each created task:

code

"Use /code-assist to implement: tasks/preset-fixes/[task-file].code-task.md
Mode: auto"

Step 4: Re-evaluate

bash

./tools/evaluate-preset.sh <fixed-preset> claude

Prerequisites

•yq (optional): For loading test tasks from YAML. Install: brew install yq
•Cargo: Must be able to build Ralph

Related Files

•tools/evaluate-preset.sh — Single preset evaluation
•tools/evaluate-all-presets.sh — Full suite evaluation
•tools/preset-test-tasks.yml — Test task definitions
•tools/preset-evaluation-findings.md — Manual findings doc
•presets/ — The preset collection being evaluated