deepseek-harness/docs/rfc/implemented/simplification/2026-06-20-collapse-trace-only-session-events.md

RFC: Fold trace-only session facts into load-bearing events

Status: implemented (proposed and accepted 2026-06-20)

Problem

The session event vocabulary includes first-class events that are not part of replayable conversation history and have little or no production consumption. usage is already present as a model stream chunk before the loop also appends a separate usage event. error duplicates the turn/end { kind: 'error', message, code } reason for loop failures; ACP settlement reads the turn-end reason, ACP rendering ignores the error event, and deriveMessages() skips it.

These events make the canonical transcript look more useful as telemetry than it currently is. They add event variants, invariants, tests, snapshots, and persistence cases, but they are not load-bearing as separate records. The facts they carry can still be useful: token usage should remain available for accounting, and an error's step number should not silently disappear. The simplification is to fold those facts into nearby events consumers already must understand, not to record less information.

Proposal

Remove standalone trace-only events only where their information can be preserved without a parallel record:

• Fold successful-step usage into the matching assistant/message, e.g. assistant/message { turn, step, content, usage? }, so the assembled model output and its accounting travel together.
• For a failed or aborted step that has usage but no assistant/message, carry the usage on the terminal turn reason or another load-bearing failure record in the same turn. The implementing design must prove no usage chunk that is currently persisted becomes unrepresented.
• Fold the step number from the standalone error event into turn/end.reason for kind: 'error', e.g. { kind: 'error', step, message, code? }. turn/end is the durable turn outcome ACP and resume already consume.
• Keep agent/error and logging for live diagnostics; do not add a second session-log error record after turn/end.

If analytics become real, add a projection helper or a dedicated telemetry store with its own retention policy. The user conversation log should contain what is needed to render, resume, audit, and account for the interaction without requiring consumers to reconcile duplicate trace rows.

Acceptance criteria

• SessionEventMap drops standalone usage and error only after their fields are represented on load-bearing session events.
• The loop no longer appends a separate usage event for a usage chunk.
• The loop records durable failures through turn/end { kind: 'error', step, message, code? } or an equivalent no-information-loss shape and reports live diagnostics through agent/error.
• ACP snapshots and persistence tests stop asserting trace-only lines.
• Documentation explains exactly where token usage and operational errors are observed.
• Recorded fixtures are refreshed for the new event shape; the session format version stays pinned at 0 (unstable/pre-release) and backends reject any non-0 stored log per the pre-release format policy.

What we give up

A consumer can no longer filter the canonical log for standalone usage or step-level error rows. It must read those facts from the assistant/failure events that carry them. That is a reasonable simplification only if the implementing PR proves the same facts remain present; otherwise the standalone events should stay.

Implementation note

Shipped as proposed, with one scope refinement (per AGENTS.md "RFCs are proposals, not golden truth"):

• Empty-content assistant/message hosts usage with no data loss. The proof the proposal demanded (no persisted usage chunk becomes unrepresented) lands on the max-tokens path: a step cut off with usage but empty content (e.g. only a dropped tool call) previously emitted a standalone usage. It now records an empty-content assistant/message { content: [], usage }. To keep that from injecting a spurious content-less assistant turn into the provider transcript, deriveMessages() skips empty-content assistant/message events. A regression test asserts usage stays represented AND derived history is uncorrupted.

Format version. The persisted SessionEventMap shape changed (usage folded onto assistant/message, standalone usage/error removed, step on turn/end.reason.error). The session log uses the pinned-0 "unstable / pre-release" format stance (one of the two stances AGENTS.md § pre-release sanctions): SESSION_FORMAT_VERSION stays 0 and absorbs this and every other pre-release shape change without a monotonic bump — bumping on each tweak would dress up an unstable format as a sequence of stable boundaries that mean nothing yet. The constant is centralized in dsh-session and read by both write sites and the coordinator's load-time check, which rejects any non-0 log (no migration — there is no persisted user data to preserve; a real monotonic policy begins at the first tagged release). turn/end.reason.error.step is required for newly-written logs.

Usage is now observed on assistant/message.usage; an operational error's step on turn/end.reason for kind: 'error'. agent/error + logging are unchanged for live diagnostics.