Prove It

When to use

• The user asserts certainty: “always”, “never”, “guaranteed”, “optimal”, “cannot fail”, “no downside”, “100%”.

• The user asks for a devil’s advocate or proof.

• The claim feels too clean for the domain.

Round cadence (mandatory)

• Definition: one "turn" means one assistant reply.

• Default: continuous (no approvals). Run rounds 1-10 plus Oracle synthesis in the current assistant turn. Do not rely on a future assistant turn for default behavior.

• Hard completion gate: a default continuous reply is incomplete unless it contains rounds 1-10 in order, one distinct Round Ledger + Knowledge Delta block for each round, and an Oracle synthesis block after round 10.

• Fail closed: if you notice you have emitted only round 1 or are about to conclude early, do not finalize; continue immediately with rounds 2-10 in the same reply.

• In default mode, after each round, publish:

• Round Ledger

• Knowledge Delta

• Round integrity is mandatory:

• Execute rounds 1-10 in numeric order, with one distinct gauntlet focus per round.

• Emit a separate Round Ledger + Knowledge Delta block for every round; do not merge multiple rounds into one pseudo-round or summarize "rounds 2-9" together.

• Do not treat prior prose as implicitly satisfying skipped rounds unless the user explicitly asks to continue from a known checkpoint.

• Early disproof does not end the gauntlet: if round 1 already falsifies the original claim, continue rounds 2-9 against the strongest surviving refined claim, then publish Oracle synthesis.

• If confidence remains low after Oracle synthesis, continue with additional rounds (11+) in the same reply when feasible, then publish an updated Oracle synthesis.

• Do not ask for permission to continue. In default mode, do not wait for "next" between rounds. Pause only when you must ask the user a question or the user says "stop".

• Step mode (explicit): if the user asks to "pause" / "step" / "one round at a time", run one round then wait for "next".

• Turn autoloop (explicit): if the user asks for "autoloop" / "one round per turn", run exactly one gauntlet round per assistant turn and continue on the next turn until Oracle synthesis.

• Full auto mode (explicit): "full auto" / "fast mode" is an alias for the default continuous behavior.

• Keep it compact: prefer terse bullets and phrase-level evidence so the full gauntlet fits in one reply.

Mode invocation

Mode Default? How to invoke Cadence

Continuous yes (no phrase) / "continuous" / "don't stop" / "exhaust all rounds" rounds 1-10 + Oracle in one turn; publish Round Ledger + Knowledge Delta after each round

Step mode no "step mode" / "pause each round" / "pause" / "step" / "one round at a time" 1 round/turn; wait for "next"

Turn autoloop no "autoloop" / "one round per turn" 1 round/turn; continue on the next turn until Oracle

Full auto no "full auto" / "fast mode" alias for Continuous

Quick start

• Restate the claim and its scope.

• Default to continuous. If the user explicitly requests "step mode" or "turn autoloop", use that instead.

• Run rounds 1-10 plus Oracle synthesis in the same reply, publishing a distinct Round Ledger + Knowledge Delta block after each round.

• Do not emit a top-level verdict, conclusion, or stop point before round 10; any interim refinement stays inside the round blocks.

• Treat "continuous", "don't stop", and "exhaust all rounds" as the default continuous mode.

• If confidence remains low, run additional rounds (11+) and publish an updated Oracle synthesis.

Ten-round gauntlet

• Counterexamples: smallest concrete break.

• Logic traps: missing quantifiers/premises.

• Boundary cases: zero/one/max/empty/extreme scale.

• Adversarial inputs: worst-case distributions/abuse.

• Alternative paradigms: different model flips the conclusion.

• Operational constraints: latency/cost/compliance/availability.

• Probabilistic uncertainty: variance, tail risk, sampling bias.

• Comparative baselines: “better than what?”, which metric?

• Meta-test: fastest disproof experiment.

• Oracle synthesis: tightest surviving claim with boundaries. If confidence is still low, repeat rounds 1-9 as needed, then re-run Oracle synthesis.

Round self-prompt bank (pick exactly 1)

Internal self-prompts for selecting round focus. Do not ask the user unless blocked.

• Counterexamples: What is the smallest input that breaks this?

• Logic traps: What unstated assumption must hold?

• Boundary cases: Which boundary is most likely in real use?

• Adversarial: What does worst-case input look like?

• Alternative paradigm: What objective makes the opposite true?

• Operational: Which dependency/policy is a hard stop?

• Uncertainty: What distribution shift flips the result?

• Baseline: Better than what, on which metric?

• Meta-test: What experiment would change your mind fastest?

• Oracle: What explicit boundaries keep this honest?

Core artifacts

Argument map

Claim: Premises:

• P1:
• P2: Hidden assumptions:
• A1: Weak links:
• W1: Disproof tests:
• T1: Refined claim:

Round Ledger (update every round)

Round: <1-10 (or 11+)> Focus: Claim scope: New evidence: New counterexample: Remaining gaps: Next round:

Knowledge Delta (publish every round)

• New:
• Updated:
• Invalidated:

Claim boundary table

Next-tests plan

Domain packs

Performance

Use when the claim is about speed, latency, throughput, or resources.

• Clarify: median vs tail latency vs throughput.

• Identify workload shape (spiky vs steady) and bottleneck resource.

Product

Use when the claim is about user impact, adoption, or behavior.

• Clarify user segment and success metric.

• State the baseline/counterfactual.

• Name the likely unintended behavior/tradeoff.

Oracle synthesis template (round 10 / as needed)

Original claim: Refined claim: Boundaries:

• Valid when:
• Invalid when: Confidence trail:
• Evidence:
• Gaps: Next tests:
• ...

Deliverable format (per turn)

• Round number + focus.

• Round Ledger + Knowledge Delta.

• At most one question for the user (only when blocked).

• In default continuous mode, run rounds 1-10 + Oracle synthesis in the same reply, with one distinct per-round block per round.

• In step mode, run one round and wait for "next".

• In turn autoloop, run one round in that turn and continue to the next round on the next turn.

• In full auto (or "fast mode"), follow the same behavior as default continuous mode.

Continuous-mode completion checklist

• Present Round 1 through Round 10 in numeric order.

• Include exactly one Round Ledger and one Knowledge Delta section inside each round block.

• Place Oracle synthesis after round 10, not before.

• A reply missing any of the above is invalid for continuous mode and must be continued before finalizing.

Activation cues

• "always" / "never" / "guaranteed" / "optimal" / "cannot fail" / "no downside" / "100%"

• "prove it" / "devil's advocate" / "stress test" / "rigor"