Bounded Improvement

When a behavior target needs improvement, the user needs bounded search that preserves intent, budget, protected checks, and reviewable changes. Using the cautilus improve CLI command and the cautilus-agent skill, a user can improve a selected behavior target while preserving held-out evidence and revision artifacts.

A user starts improvement from explicit claim, eval, and target packets rather than an open-ended retry loop.

The current improvement evidence is attached to explicit improve input, proposal, search result, and revision artifact examples rather than to an open-ended retry loop. The latest selected improve evidence is shown here instead of rerunning expensive improve work during every report check.

Show the selected improve route and the packet examples that bound it.
jq -n --slurpfile evidence .cautilus/claims/evidence-optimize-held-out-route-2026-05-03.json --slurpfile input fixtures/improve/example-input.json '{bundleId: $evidence[0].bundleId, evidenceStatus: $evidence[0].decision.evidenceStatus, improvementTarget: $input[0].improvementTarget, intent: $input[0].intentProfile.summary, reportRecommendation: $input[0].report.recommendation, budget: $input[0].improver.budget}'
pathjson_pathequals
.cautilus/claims/evidence-optimize-held-out-route-2026-05-03.json
schemaVersion
cautilus.claim_evidence_bundle.v1
.cautilus/claims/evidence-optimize-held-out-route-2026-05-03.json
decision.evidenceStatus
satisfied
fixtures/improve/example-input.json
schemaVersion
cautilus.improve_inputs.v1

A user can improve behavior while preserving protected checks, held-out evidence, and explicit budget.

The selected on-demand evidence proves a bounded route that carries held-out results into search input and evaluates candidate mutations through eval-test backed held-out and full-gate checks.

Show the protected improve behaviors proven by the latest selected evidence bundle.
jq '[.commandEvidence[] | {command, protectedBehaviors: .observed.protectedBehaviors}]' .cautilus/claims/evidence-optimize-held-out-route-2026-05-03.json
pathjson_pathincludes
.cautilus/claims/evidence-optimize-held-out-route-2026-05-03.json
commandEvidence[0].observed.protectedBehaviors[1]
held-out
.cautilus/claims/evidence-optimize-held-out-route-2026-05-03.json
commandEvidence[0].observed.protectedBehaviors[2]
eval-test
.cautilus/claims/evidence-optimize-held-out-route-2026-05-03.json
summary
bounded optimize route

A user gets a reviewable revision artifact before applying a change.

Improvement produces a proposal and revision artifact that preserve source files, stop conditions, prioritized evidence, and follow-up checks.

Show the proposal and revision fields a reviewer can reopen before applying a change.
jq -n --slurpfile proposal fixtures/improve/example-proposal.json --slurpfile revision fixtures/improve/example-revision-artifact.json '{proposal: {schemaVersion: $proposal[0].schemaVersion, decision: $proposal[0].decision, prioritizedEvidence: [$proposal[0].prioritizedEvidence[] | {source, key, severity}], suggestedChanges: [$proposal[0].suggestedChanges[] | {id, changeKind, target}]}, revision: {schemaVersion: $revision[0].schemaVersion, stopConditions: $revision[0].stopConditions, followUpChecks: $revision[0].followUpChecks}}'
pathjson_pathequalsexists
fixtures/improve/example-proposal.json
schemaVersion
cautilus.improve_proposal.v1
fixtures/improve/example-revision-artifact.json
schemaVersion
cautilus.revision_artifact.v1
fixtures/improve/example-revision-artifact.json
stopConditions
yes
fixtures/improve/example-revision-artifact.json
followUpChecks
yes