Files
deepseek-harness/docs/rfc/implemented/testing/2026-06-20-remove-redundant-snapshot-log-goldens.md
T
Tianyi Cui 4209e4af3f test(snapshot): use session.jsonl as the only session-log artifact (drop session.golden.jsonl)
Model-driving ACP snapshot scenarios shipped both session.jsonl (the
replay fixture) and session.golden.jsonl (the expected re-persisted log).
For recorded scenarios the normalized fixture and golden were byte-identical
— pure duplication. Remove session.golden.jsonl entirely: every model
scenario now has at most one committed session-log artifact, session.jsonl,
which doubles as the replay source AND the expected produced log.

The snapshot test compares the replay run's persisted log against the
session.jsonl fixture, normalizing BOTH sides — but each against its OWN
volatile values, not a shared context. A raw harvested fixture bakes in the
recording run's session id / cwd / timestamps, distinct from the live replay
run's; since normalizeSessionLog scrubs cwd by exact string match, the
fixture must be normalized against its own header (new fixtureContext helper)
or its stale recorded cwd would leak unscrubbed and the compare would fail.
The session side uses a normalized-string toEqual, NOT toMatchFileSnapshot,
so a run never overwrites the fixture.

Authored override scenarios (error-finish, cancel) now hold their expected
produced log in session.jsonl. Verified llm-replay ignores the fixture for
model chunks when an override exists: loadReplayScript() returns the override
array and never reads config.file, so committing the full expected log there
does not affect replay behavior.

The required-fixture guard is now per-kind: every scenario needs input.json +
stdout.golden.jsonl; model scenarios need session.jsonl; authored ones
additionally need replay.override.json. Updates the ACP-snapshot-tests RFC to
the reduced fixture set and moves the proposing RFC proposed -> implemented.
2026-06-21 10:36:57 +08:00

4.1 KiB

RFC: Use session.jsonl as the only snapshot session-log artifact

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

Problem

Model-driving ACP snapshot scenarios ship both session.jsonl and session.golden.jsonl. For normal recorded scenarios, session.jsonl is the replay fixture harvested from a real run, and the replay test normalizes the newly persisted log and compares it to session.golden.jsonl. In the current fixtures, the normalized recorded log and normalized golden are identical for the ordinary recorded scenarios.

Authored override scenarios (error-finish, cancel) currently use replay.override.json to drive model behavior and keep session.jsonl as a minimal dummy fixture, while session.golden.jsonl holds the expected persisted log. The override file is a JSON array of ReplayEntry objects: { "kind": "chunks", "chunks": StreamChunk[] }, { "kind": "throw", "chunks": StreamChunk[], "message": string, "code": string, "status"?: number }, or { "kind": "hang" }. That split is also unnecessary: when an override sidecar exists, llm-replay replaces the derived script and does not need session.jsonl for model chunks, so session.jsonl can still be the expected session-log artifact for the scenario.

Proposal

Remove the session.golden.jsonl concept entirely. Every scenario has at most one committed session-log artifact, session.jsonl:

  • For recorded scenarios, session.jsonl remains the raw harvested log. Replay still derives model chunks from it, and the snapshot test compares the replay run's normalized persisted log against normalized session.jsonl.
  • For authored override scenarios, replay.override.json drives model behavior and session.jsonl holds the expected produced session log. The replay adapter ignores the fixture for model chunks when the override exists, so the same file can be the expected log without affecting replay behavior.
  • For no-model scenarios, session.jsonl can stay as the minimal fixture needed to boot llm-replay; no session-log comparison is needed unless the scenario creates a persisted session.

Stdout goldens remain unchanged; they are the editor-facing projection and are not redundant with the session fixture.

Acceptance criteria

  • session.golden.jsonl disappears from the snapshot harness, fixtures, orphan guards, and docs.
  • The snapshot test derives the expected session log from session.jsonl for every model scenario.
  • Authored sidecar scenarios commit their expected produced log in session.jsonl; replay.override.json remains the model-behavior override.
  • Orphan-fixture guards understand which files are required by scenario kind.
  • The ACP snapshot tests RFC is updated to describe the reduced fixture set.

What we give up

Reviewers lose one artifact name that made the expected persisted log visually separate from the replay fixture. The stdout golden still protects the editor transcript, and comparing replay output to session.jsonl preserves the loop/persistence regression check without duplicating files.

Implementation note

The comparison normalizes BOTH sides, but each against its OWN volatile values, not a shared context. A raw harvested session.jsonl bakes in the recording run's session id, cwd, and timestamps; the replay run produces fresh ones. normalizeSessionLog scrubs cwd by exact string match, so normalizing the fixture against the replay run's cwd would leave the recorded cwd in the header unscrubbed and the compare would fail. The harness therefore derives the fixture's normalize context from its OWN header line ({ type:'session', id, cwd }) — fixtureContext() in acp.snapshot.ts — so both sides scrub to the same {{sessionId}}/{{cwd}} tokens. An authored fixture copied from the old golden already carries the normalized header (id:'{{sessionId}}', cwd:'{{cwd}}'), which yields those tokens as the volatile values and scrubs idempotently. The session-log side uses a plain normalized-string toEqual, NOT toMatchFileSnapshot, so a run never overwrites the fixture.