.claude-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
 	"name": "inference-arbitrage",
-	"version": "0.7.0",
+	"version": "0.7.1",
 	"description": "Audits a Claude Code plugin's definitions and usage transcripts to find steps that should be a deterministic script instead of raw LLM inference, and files the well-evidenced ones as issues on the target repo.",
 	"author": {
 		"name": "oleks"

bin/filing-plan

@@ -85,10 +85,29 @@ def marker(candidate_id):
 
 
 def marker_re(candidate_id):
-    """Tolerates whitespace drift inside the comment, nothing else. The id
-    itself must match exactly — a fuzzy id match would let two genuinely
-    different candidates collapse onto one issue."""
-    return re.compile(r"<!--\s*ia-candidate:\s*" + re.escape(candidate_id) + r"\s*-->")
+    """Tolerates whitespace drift inside the comment, and tolerates the
+    HTML-comment wrapper (`<!-- -->`) being absent entirely, nothing else. The
+    id itself must match exactly — a fuzzy id match would let two genuinely
+    different candidates collapse onto one issue.
+
+    The bare form (no `<!-- -->`) is a backward-compatibility case, not the
+    contract: kotkan/claude-plugin-inference-arbitrage#23 found that issues
+    filed on 2026-07-29 (oleks/claude-plugin-cluster#56, #57) lost the wrapper
+    somewhere between `filing-plan`'s render and the Gitea write — the
+    template and this script always render the wrapped form (see `marker()`
+    below and references/issue-template.md). Matching the bare line here is
+    purely so a *later* audit still recognizes those already-filed issues and
+    doesn't duplicate-file them; it does not license filing new issues without
+    the wrapper.
+    """
+    wrapped = r"<!--\s*ia-candidate:\s*" + re.escape(candidate_id) + r"\s*-->"
+    # End-of-line anchored (not \b): candidate_id contains "/" and "-", so a
+    # word-boundary check would treat "…label-derivation" as a match inside
+    # "…label-derivation-longer" (the "n"/"-" transition IS a \b). Anchoring
+    # to end-of-line (re.MULTILINE) instead requires an exact id, matching
+    # what marker() actually renders as the line's sole content.
+    bare = r"^ia-candidate:\s*" + re.escape(candidate_id) + r"[ \t]*$"
+    return re.compile(wrapped + "|" + bare, re.MULTILINE)
 
 
 def find_existing(candidate_id, issues):

references/issue-template.md

@@ -38,6 +38,26 @@ edited by hand on a filed issue. Removing it from an issue causes the next audit
 to file a duplicate — which the spec names as the single most likely way for
 this plugin to become hated.
 
+**Known failure mode (kotkan/claude-plugin-inference-arbitrage#23).** Two
+issues filed on 2026-07-29 (oleks/claude-plugin-cluster#56, #57) reached Gitea
+with the `<!-- -->` wrapper stripped — the body opened with the bare text
+`ia-candidate: <id>` instead. `bin/filing-plan` always *renders* the wrapped
+form (verified: a direct `issue_write` probe with a literal `<!-- -->` in the
+body round-trips through the Gitea MCP write path unchanged, so the API/MCP
+layer is not the cause). The loss happens on the **relay hop** —
+`Agent(anxious:issuer-agent)` composing the actual Gitea call from the prompt
+it's handed — because an HTML comment is, by design, invisible when the prompt
+text is read as markdown; an agent relaying "what the issue should say" rather
+than pasting the string byte-for-byte can drop a line it never visually saw.
+That is why `skills/offload-audit/SKILL.md` §5d now fences the rendered body
+in the delegation prompt instead of inlining it as bare markdown — a fenced
+block reads as literal text, not as renderable markup, to the relaying agent.
+`bin/filing-plan`'s `find_existing()` also now matches the bare, unwrapped
+form as a backward-compatibility fallback, so issues already filed without the
+wrapper (like cluster#56/#57) are still found — but that fallback exists only
+to avoid duplicate-filing on *already-broken* issues, not as a second
+acceptable format going forward.
+
 ## issue-title
 
 A proposal. `issuer` may rewrite it.

skills/offload-audit/SKILL.md

@@ -261,14 +261,31 @@ rendered. **Execute the plan verbatim — do not rewrite a body, and never turn
 
 One `Agent` call per action (or one call carrying all of them):
 
-```text
+**The body MUST be embedded inside its own fenced code block in the prompt, not
+inlined as bare markdown.** kotkan/claude-plugin-inference-arbitrage#23 found
+that two issues filed this way (oleks/claude-plugin-cluster#56, #57) reached
+Gitea with the leading `<!-- ia-candidate: ... -->` marker's HTML-comment
+wrapper stripped. The write path itself was verified clean (a literal `<!--
+-->` round-trips through the Gitea MCP write unchanged); the loss happens on
+the relay hop, because an HTML comment is invisible when its surrounding text
+is read as markdown — `issuer-agent` can only paste a line byte-for-byte if it
+was actually shown one, not markdown that silently ate it. A fenced block
+(` ``` `) forces the body to be read and relayed as literal text.
+
+````text
 Agent(subagent_type="anxious:issuer-agent", prompt=...)
   # for action == "file"
   "File this on <owner/repo>. It is an inference-arbitrage audit finding.
    Proposed title: <proposed_title>   (yours to rewrite per your taxonomy)
-   Body — file VERBATIM, the first line is an idempotency marker that a later
-   audit searches for and MUST NOT be altered or reformatted:
+   Body — copy the fenced block below byte-for-byte as the issue body. Do not
+   retype, paraphrase, reformat, or 'clean up' it — the first line is an
+   idempotency marker (an HTML comment, `<!-- ia-candidate: ... -->`) that a
+   later audit's marker search depends on, and it renders invisible on Gitea
+   by design, so you will not visually see it in the rendered issue — that is
+   expected, do not treat it as accidental syntax to strip:
+   ```
    <body>
+   ```
    Labels: 'token-offload' is required — create it on this repo if absent
    (colour #8b5cf6, 'A step paying for inference where a deterministic script
    would do'). Add the four-axis taxonomy labels and any milestone per your own
@@ -278,11 +295,15 @@ Agent(subagent_type="anxious:issuer-agent", prompt=...)
 
   # for action == "comment"
   "Add this comment to <issue>, an existing inference-arbitrage finding being
-   re-measured. Do not open a new issue. Post the body VERBATIM (the first line
-   is an idempotency marker). If the issue is closed, use your judgement about
-   reopening; the audit does not require it.
-   <body>"
-```
+   re-measured. Do not open a new issue. Copy the fenced block below
+   byte-for-byte as the comment body — do not retype or reformat it, the first
+   line is an invisible-by-design HTML-comment idempotency marker (see the
+   'file' case above for why). If the issue is closed, use your judgement
+   about reopening; the audit does not require it.
+   ```
+   <body>
+   ```"
+````
 
 `issuer` owns repo, final title, labels beyond `token-offload`, and milestone.
 You own the body.

tests/filing.test.sh

@@ -112,6 +112,43 @@ check "found via the comment" "$(q "$tmp/plan3.json" "d['actions'][0]['action']"
 check "closed state surfaced for issuer" \
 	"$(q "$tmp/plan3.json" "d['actions'][0]['issue_state']")" "closed"
 
+echo "== kotkan/claude-plugin-inference-arbitrage#23: a marker that lost its"
+echo "   HTML-comment wrapper on write (oleks/claude-plugin-cluster#56, #57)"
+echo "   is still found — backward compat, not a second accepted format =="
+python3 - "$tmp/plan1.json" "$tmp/bare.json" <<'PY'
+import json, sys
+plan = json.load(open(sys.argv[1]))
+filed = next(a for a in plan["actions"] if a["action"] == "file")
+# Same body, but the first line has lost its "<!-- " / " -->" wrapper — the
+# exact shape observed on the live tracker.
+bare_body = filed["body"].replace(
+    "<!-- ia-candidate: fixture-plugin/skill-a/label-derivation -->",
+    "ia-candidate: fixture-plugin/skill-a/label-derivation",
+)
+json.dump([{"number": 56, "state": "closed", "title": filed["proposed_title"],
+            "body": bare_body, "comments": []}], open(sys.argv[2], "w"))
+PY
+plan "$tmp/bare.json" "$tmp/plan-bare.json"
+check "bare marker still found, no duplicate filed" \
+	"$(q "$tmp/plan-bare.json" "d['summary']['to_file']")" "0"
+check "recognized as a comment on the existing issue" \
+	"$(q "$tmp/plan-bare.json" "d['actions'][0]['action']")" "comment"
+check "on issue 56, matching the observed failure" \
+	"$(q "$tmp/plan-bare.json" "d['actions'][0]['issue_number']")" "56"
+
+echo "== a bare marker for a DIFFERENT id still does not false-match =="
+python3 - "$tmp/bare.json" "$tmp/bare-other.json" <<'PY'
+import json, sys
+issues = json.load(open(sys.argv[1]))
+issues[0]["body"] = issues[0]["body"].replace(
+    "fixture-plugin/skill-a/label-derivation", "fixture-plugin/skill-a/label-derivation-longer",
+)
+json.dump(issues, open(sys.argv[2], "w"))
+PY
+plan "$tmp/bare-other.json" "$tmp/plan-bare-other.json"
+check "different id (even as a prefix) still files fresh" \
+	"$(q "$tmp/plan-bare-other.json" "d['summary']['to_file']")" "1"
+
 echo "== real Gitea API shapes parse, and a DIFFERENT id does not false-match =="
 plan tests/fixtures/gitea-issues.json "$tmp/plan4.json"
 check "unrelated markers -> files" "$(q "$tmp/plan4.json" "d['summary']['to_file']")" "1"