fix(adaptive): refuse a declared value pasted into an ask

crates/adaptive/src/intake/recipe.rs

@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ Return JSON:
 - `declared`: the workflow's inputs — anything the goal supplies as data (a
   repository, a topic, an id), so the plan works for the NEXT goal of its
   kind with different values. `inputs` supplies this run's value for every
-  required one. Declared values are attached to ask steps automatically.
+  required one. Declared values are attached to ask steps automatically —
+  NEVER also paste a value into an ask: a pasted value makes the plan
+  single-use, so it cannot be kept for future goals, and it is refused.
 - The LAST step's output is the run's answer: make it the step that produces
   the deliverable.
 
@@ -96,6 +98,17 @@ pub fn lower(answer: &Value) -> Result<(WorkflowGraph, Map<String, Value>, Strin
     let declared = parse_declared(answer);
     let inputs = answer["inputs"].as_object().cloned().unwrap_or_default();
 
+    // A declared value pasted into an ask defeats the declaration: the
+    // lowering attaches the value anyway, so the paste is redundant now and
+    // poisonous later — selected for a different value, the prompt would
+    // carry BOTH, and the keep gate would rightly refuse to file the plan.
+    // Refused here, where the feedback round can fix it, rather than
+    // discovered as an unkeepable graph after a satisfied run.
+    let pasted = pasted_values(&steps, &declared, &inputs);
+    if !pasted.is_empty() {
+        return Err(IntakeError::Invalid(pasted.join("; ")));
+    }
+
     let mut nodes = vec![Node {
         id: "start".into(),
         kind: NodeKind::Trigger,
@@ -166,6 +179,38 @@ pub fn lower(answer: &Value) -> Result<(WorkflowGraph, Map<String, Value>, Strin
     Ok((graph, inputs, why))
 }
 
+/// Ask steps that restate a declared value instead of relying on the
+/// attachment. Only distinctive values count — refusing a plan because an
+/// ask contains the word "on" would block perfectly reusable recipes — and
+/// only DECLARED inputs: undeclared entries are trimmed by the author gate
+/// and never attached, so their values in an ask are just prose.
+fn pasted_values(
+    steps: &[Step],
+    declared: &[(String, String, bool)],
+    inputs: &Map<String, Value>,
+) -> Vec<String> {
+    let mut problems = Vec::new();
+    for step in steps {
+        let Action::Ask { prompt, .. } = &step.action else {
+            continue;
+        };
+        for (name, _, _) in declared {
+            let Some(value) = inputs.get(name).and_then(Value::as_str).map(str::trim) else {
+                continue;
+            };
+            if crate::reuse::distinctive(value) && prompt.contains(value) {
+                problems.push(format!(
+                    "step `{}` pastes the value of input `{name}` into its ask — remove \
+                     it; declared values are attached automatically, and a pasted value \
+                     makes the plan single-use",
+                    step.id
+                ));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    problems
+}
+
 /// The generated prompt expression for an ask step.
 ///
 /// A jq program the model never sees: the instruction as a quoted literal,

crates/adaptive/src/intake/recipe_tests.rs

@@ -109,6 +109,67 @@ fn every_structural_problem_is_reported_at_once_with_the_fix() {
     }
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn a_declared_value_pasted_into_an_ask_is_refused_with_the_remedy() {
+    // Observed on a live host: the author declared `topic` AND wrote
+    // "about the topic 'warm caches'" in the ask. The lowering attaches the
+    // value anyway, so the paste is redundant now — and poisonous later:
+    // selected for a different topic, the prompt carries both, and the keep
+    // gate rightly refuses to file the plan. Caught here, the feedback
+    // round fixes it before anything runs.
+    let recipe = json!({
+        "why": "poem",
+        "declared": [{ "name": "topic", "description": "", "required": true }],
+        "inputs": { "topic": "warm caches" },
+        "steps": [
+            { "id": "write", "ask": "Write a two-line poem about the topic 'warm caches'." }
+        ]
+    });
+    let err = lower(&recipe).expect_err("refused").to_string();
+    assert!(err.contains("pastes the value"), "{err}");
+    assert!(err.contains("attached automatically"), "{err}");
+
+    // The same plan without the paste is exactly what should be written.
+    let clean = json!({
+        "why": "poem",
+        "declared": [{ "name": "topic", "description": "", "required": true }],
+        "inputs": { "topic": "warm caches" },
+        "steps": [
+            { "id": "write", "ask": "Write a two-line poem about the given topic." }
+        ]
+    });
+    lower(&clean).expect("keepable");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn an_undeclared_input_value_in_an_ask_is_not_a_paste() {
+    // Undeclared entries never attach to an ask — the author gate trims
+    // them — so their values appearing in prose prove nothing about reuse.
+    let recipe = json!({
+        "why": "poem",
+        "inputs": { "stray": "warm caches" },
+        "steps": [
+            { "id": "write", "ask": "Write a two-line poem about warm caches." }
+        ]
+    });
+    lower(&recipe).expect("not a paste — nothing declared");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn an_indistinct_input_value_in_an_ask_is_not_a_paste() {
+    // "on" appears in half of all prose; refusing on it would block
+    // perfectly reusable plans. Only distinctive values count.
+    let recipe = json!({
+        "why": "toggle",
+        "declared": [{ "name": "mode", "description": "", "required": true }],
+        "inputs": { "mode": "on" },
+        "steps": [
+            { "id": "flip", "ask": "Turn the feature on if the mode input says so." }
+        ]
+    });
+    lower(&recipe).expect("not a paste");
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn a_reply_with_no_steps_says_what_to_return() {
     let err = lower(&json!({ "why": "empty" }))

crates/adaptive/src/reuse.rs

@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ const DISTINCTIVE_CHARS: [char; 6] = ['/', '.', ':', '@', '_', '-'];
 /// port name on every edge in the graph. Treating those as pasted would refuse
 /// to keep perfectly reusable procedures, and a gate that fires on noise is one
 /// nobody trusts.
-fn distinctive(value: &str) -> bool {
+pub(crate) fn distinctive(value: &str) -> bool {
     let length = value.chars().count();
     // A digit only counts alongside some length: `"1"` proves nothing and, via
     // the substring test, would match any config containing that character —

crates/adaptive/tests/driver.rs

@@ -406,9 +406,15 @@ async fn a_graph_that_was_authored_and_worked_becomes_a_stored_procedure() {
 async fn a_graph_that_pasted_its_inputs_is_not_kept() {
     // Same run, same success — but the goal's specifics are welded into a
     // step, so it matches one task and never another. No model is asked.
+    //
+    // The paste sits in a `run` script, not an ask: the intake gate refuses
+    // ask-pastes outright now, and this test is about the layer BEHIND it —
+    // keep's own refusal, which still guards every path intake cannot see.
     let mut baked = parameterised();
-    baked["steps"][0]["ask"] =
-        json!("Review the open pull requests on acme/thing and summarise them.");
+    baked["steps"] = json!([
+        { "id": "review", "run": "gh pr list -R acme/thing" },
+        { "id": "report", "ask": "Summarise the review output.", "reads": ["review"] }
+    ]);
 
     let llm = succeeding(baked, true);
     let caps = Capabilities {