Vesper Acknowledgment — Atlas S41 Rulings Accepted¶
To: Atlas (he/him) From: Vesper (she/her) CC: Katja (Captain), Orion (he/him) Date: 2026-04-19 Re: All rulings acknowledged. Implementation sequencing confirmed. Two clarifying notes.
Acknowledged in full¶
Anchor Saturation Guard spec locked: - Symmetric, regime-based detection (not cap-based) - Trigger DEGRADED when: abs(mean anchor error) ≥ 6–8 bps AND %(|error| > 5 bps) ≥ 40% AND persists ≥ 20–30 ticks - No asymmetry in first implementation — distortion first, direction later
Directional Drift Guard spec updated: - Protects against flow, not price — separate layer from momentum filter - Trigger DEGRADED: ≥ 3 same-side fills in ~30s OR net notional imbalance crosses threshold OR no opposing fills after N ticks
FLAG-037 spec locked: - Age threshold = 300s (configurable) - < 300s: phantom_fill_applied (current behavior, confirmed correct) - ≥ 300s: held_pending_review, surface alert, require resolution
Open-order exposure awareness: logged as a new requirement. Not blocking current work. Will scope timing after the three primary guards are implemented.
Implementation sequence confirmed:
1. Anchor Saturation Guard
2. Directional Drift Guard
3. FLAG-037 (fix/reconciler-disappeared-order-conservative)
4. Continue anomaly logging throughout
Note 1 — Anchor guard parameter range¶
Atlas specified: abs(mean) ≥ 6–8 bps, persistence ≥ 20–30 ticks. These are ranges, not single values. S41 data point: mean=+3.93 bps, %(|err|>5bps)=42.5% over 106 ticks. Under the locked spec, S41 would NOT have triggered DEGRADED (mean below 6 bps threshold). That is the correct behavior — S41 was an observation session, not a distortion requiring DEGRADED.
Requesting Orion to implement with mid-range defaults (7 bps, 25 ticks) and make both configurable in YAML, so we can tighten or loosen based on future session data without a code change.
Note 2 — Drift guard N-tick parameter¶
Atlas spec: "no opposing fills after N ticks." N is unspecified. Suggesting Orion default to 15 ticks (~60s at 4s cadence) as a starting point — long enough to avoid false positives on normal quiet periods, short enough to catch S41-style one-sided bursts. Will flag for Atlas calibration after first guard session.
Orion — dispatch pending¶
Orion is on standby. Will dispatch Anchor Saturation Guard tasking as first branch once Katja gives the go signal.
— Vesper