affaan-m/ECC · critical · ContractError

request crosses the dry-run boundary

Error message

{modality} request crosses the dry-run boundary

What it means

Every individual request inside a modality manifest must also obey the dry-run boundary: dry_run=true, submit=false, provider_calls int 0, provider_execution=false, and provider_call_mode='disabled'. A request violating any of these raises this ContractError.

Solutions

  1. Set provider_call_mode='disabled' plus dry_run=true, submit=false, provider_execution=false, provider_calls=0 on every request in the manifest.
  2. Audit each request object individually — the manifest may pass the boundary check while individual requests violate it.
  3. Regenerate requests from the dry-run template instead of copying from live-run configurations.
  4. Add a pre-commit or CI lint that rejects request objects with provider_call_mode != 'disabled'.

Example fix

// before
request = {"dry_run": true, "submit": false, "provider_calls": 0, "provider_execution": false, "provider_call_mode": "single"}
// after
request = {"dry_run": true, "submit": false, "provider_calls": 0, "provider_execution": false, "provider_call_mode": "disabled"}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

def request_within_boundary(req):
    return (req.get("dry_run") is True
            and req.get("submit") is False
            and type(req.get("provider_calls")) is int
            and req.get("provider_calls") == 0
            and req.get("provider_execution") is False
            and req.get("provider_call_mode") == "disabled")
assert all(request_within_boundary(r) for m in manifests for r in m["requests"])

Type guard

def is_disabled_request(req: dict) -> bool:
    return req.get("provider_call_mode") == "disabled" and req.get("dry_run") is True \
        and req.get("submit") is False and req.get("provider_execution") is False \
        and type(req.get("provider_calls")) is int and req.get("provider_calls") == 0

Try / catch

try:
    validate_manifests(manifests_dir)
except ContractError as e:
    if "request crosses the dry-run boundary" in str(e):
        sanitize_requests(manifests_dir)  # force provider_call_mode='disabled' etc.
        validate_manifests(manifests_dir)
    else:
        raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: A request entry with dry_run=false; submit=true; provider_calls=1; provider_calls missing (None fails type check); provider_execution=true; or provider_call_mode set to 'single'/'batch' instead of 'disabled'.

Common situations: Requests copied from a live-execution example; forgetting to set provider_call_mode='disabled' (it is only checked here, not on the manifest); leaving per-request overrides enabled from a prior real run; template requests carrying provider flags that the manifest-level check does not cover.

Understand the failure class

Background: Conflicting config options: "cannot be used together" — configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 162 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@8321021c54 (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/145d7af4ac8e079b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at skills/taste-application/scripts/tasteforge/contract.py:304

    if missing:
        raise ContractError(f"missing modality manifests: {sorted(missing)}")
    for modality in _REQUIRED_MODALITIES:
        payload = json.loads((manifests_dir / f"{modality}.json").read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
        if payload.get("modality") != modality or not payload.get("requests"):
            raise ContractError(f"invalid or empty {modality} manifest")
        if (payload.get("dry_run") is not True or payload.get("submit") is not False
                or type(payload.get("provider_calls")) is not int
                or payload.get("provider_calls") != 0
                or payload.get("provider_execution") is not False):
            raise ContractError(f"{modality} manifest crosses the dry-run boundary")
        for request in payload["requests"]:
            if (request.get("dry_run") is not True
                    or request.get("submit") is not False
                    or type(request.get("provider_calls")) is not int
                    or request.get("provider_calls") != 0
                    or request.get("provider_execution") is not False
                    or request.get("provider_call_mode") != "disabled"):
                raise ContractError(f"{modality} request crosses the dry-run boundary")


def validate_artifact_receipt(out_dir: str | Path, receipt: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
    """Verify that the receipt binds every emitted artifact and its provenance."""
    out_dir = Path(out_dir).resolve()
    entries = receipt.get("evidence_artifacts")
    if not isinstance(entries, list):
        raise ContractError("receipt evidence_artifacts must be a list")
    if not all(isinstance(entry, dict) for entry in entries):
        raise ContractError("receipt evidence_artifacts entries must be objects")
    known_sources: set[tuple[str, str]] = set()
    source_durations: dict[tuple[str, str], float] = {}
    for key in ("references", "evidence_files"):
        sources = receipt.get(key, [])
        if not isinstance(sources, list):
            raise ContractError(f"receipt {key} must be a list")
        for source in sources:
            if not isinstance(source, dict):

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