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SPEC-10: Reliability Improvements

Overview

This specification defines capabilities for improving RLM reliability through confidence-weighted synthesis, execution guarantees, and circuit breakers.

Research Basis:

  • RLM Paper - notes quality variance in recursive results
  • Distributed systems reliability patterns

Dependencies

SPEC-10 (Reliability) ───► SPEC-05 (Budget Tracking)

10.1 Confidence-Weighted Synthesis

Requirements

[SPEC-10.01] The system SHALL track confidence for recursive call results.

[SPEC-10.02] RecursiveResult SHALL include:

  • content: str
  • confidence: float (0.0-1.0)
  • reasoning_trace: list[str]
  • cost: BudgetMetrics

[SPEC-10.03] The system SHALL estimate confidence based on:

  • Self-consistency (multiple samples)
  • Reasoning chain coherence
  • Tool execution success
  • Source reliability

[SPEC-10.04] The system SHALL support synthesis strategies:

  • "weighted": Weight results by confidence
  • "consensus": Only include high-confidence agreement
  • "diverse": Include disagreements for user decision

[SPEC-10.05] The default synthesis strategy SHALL be "weighted".

[SPEC-10.06] Low-confidence results (< 0.3) SHALL be flagged for review.

Acceptance Criteria

  • Confidence estimation correlates with actual accuracy
  • Weighted synthesis improves answer quality
  • Consensus strategy filters low-quality results
  • Diverse strategy presents meaningful alternatives
  • Low-confidence flagging works correctly

10.2 Execution Guarantees

Requirements

[SPEC-10.10] The system SHALL enforce hard execution boundaries.

[SPEC-10.11] ExecutionGuarantees SHALL support:

  • max_cost_usd (default: 1.0)
  • max_duration_seconds (default: 300.0)
  • max_recursive_calls (default: 20)

[SPEC-10.12] The system SHALL check guarantees before each operation.

[SPEC-10.13] When budget is exhausted, the system SHALL return GracefulDegradationPlan:

  • Partial result with explanation
  • Recommendations for user action
  • Cost/time spent summary

[SPEC-10.14] The system SHALL support guarantee override with explicit user confirmation.

[SPEC-10.15] Guarantee violations SHALL be logged with context.

Acceptance Criteria

  • Hard limits are enforced
  • Graceful degradation provides useful partial results
  • Override mechanism works with confirmation
  • 100% of executions complete within guarantees
  • Violation logging captures necessary context

10.3 Circuit Breaker for Recursive Calls

Requirements

[SPEC-10.20] The system SHALL implement circuit breaker pattern for recursive calls.

[SPEC-10.21] Circuit breaker SHALL have states:

  • CLOSED: Normal operation
  • OPEN: Failing fast, returning fallback
  • HALF_OPEN: Testing recovery

[SPEC-10.22] Circuit breaker SHALL support configurable:

  • failure_threshold (default: 3)
  • recovery_timeout (default: 60.0 seconds)

[SPEC-10.23] The system SHALL track failure count per model tier.

[SPEC-10.24] When circuit is OPEN, the system SHALL:

  • Return FallbackResult immediately
  • Log circuit breaker activation
  • Schedule recovery test

[SPEC-10.25] Recovery test SHALL:

  • Send single probe request
  • Close circuit on success
  • Extend open period on failure

[SPEC-10.26] Circuit breaker metrics SHALL be exposed for monitoring.

Acceptance Criteria

  • Circuit breaker transitions correctly between states
  • Failures trigger circuit opening at threshold
  • Recovery testing works correctly
  • Fallback results are useful
  • Metrics provide operational visibility