Example Ralph Review transcript

A scrubbed example of a Ralph Review pass over a small Python feature — adding a retry wrapper around an HTTP client. Branch: solo/issue-42-http-retry. Issue: "Add configurable retries to the OrderClient HTTP calls".

The three tiers ran in sequence with the controller /ralph-review command. Output below is condensed — real transcripts are longer.

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User invocation

> /ralph-review

Controller — Tier 1 dispatch

Main agent dispatches haiku-reviewer against the current branch diff.

Tier 1 — Haiku RESULT

## RESULT
mcp_graph_available: yes
verdict: fail
files_touched:
  - src/clients/order_client.py
  - src/clients/retry.py
  - tests/test_retry.py
findings:
  - path: src/clients/retry.py
    line: 34
    claim: debug print statement left in
    evidence: "print(f'retrying {attempt} of {max_retries}')"
  - path: src/clients/order_client.py
    line: 78
    claim: magic number in code (max_retries=3)
    evidence: "self._retry_wrapper(max_retries=3) — should be in config"
scope_gaps: none

Main agent applies fixes:

• Remove the print() (commit a3f12e9)
• Move max_retries=3 to config/clients.yaml under order_client.max_retries, read via config.get('order_client.max_retries') (commit b84c5d1)
• Run tests, all pass.

Loop restarts from Tier 1 (restart-on-fail, not continue-with-flag).

Tier 1 — Haiku RESULT (2nd iteration)

## RESULT
mcp_graph_available: yes
verdict: pass
files_touched:
  - src/clients/order_client.py
  - src/clients/retry.py
  - tests/test_retry.py
  - config/clients.yaml
findings: []
scope_gaps: none

<promise>HAIKU_PASS</promise>

Tier 2 — Sonnet RESULT

## RESULT
mcp_graph_available: yes
verdict: fail
files_touched:
  - src/clients/order_client.py
  - src/clients/retry.py
findings:
  - path: src/clients/retry.py
    line: 22
    claim: exception swallowed without logging
    evidence: "except requests.RequestException: pass  # silent fallback — no log, no metric"
  - path: tests/test_retry.py
    line: 51
    claim: mock accepts **kwargs — does not prove propagation
    evidence: "mock_call.assert_called()  # should be assert_called_with(max_retries=3)"
scope_gaps: none

Main agent applies fixes:

• Replace the silent except with a structured log + a retries_exhausted counter metric (commit c19f7a2)
• Update test to assert mock_call.call_args.kwargs['max_retries'] == 3 (commit d55b908)
• Run full test suite.

Loop restarts from Tier 1.

Tier 1 — Haiku RESULT (3rd iteration)

verdict: pass
findings: []

<promise>HAIKU_PASS</promise>

Tier 2 — Sonnet RESULT (2nd iteration)

verdict: pass
findings: []

<promise>SONNET_PASS</promise>

Tier 3 — Opus RESULT

## RESULT
mcp_graph_available: yes
verdict: pass
files_touched:
  - src/clients/order_client.py
  - src/clients/retry.py
  - tests/test_retry.py
  - config/clients.yaml
findings: []
scope_gaps: none
governance_drift: none_detected
  - Tier A box "Add retry wrapper" closed at commit b84c5d1 — interleaves with phase 1 commits
  - Tier A box "Move max_retries to config" closed at commit b84c5d1 — same phase window
  - Tier B box "Fix Everything applied" closed at end — acceptable
spot_check:
  - graph_result: callers_of(_retry_wrapper) returned 1 caller
  - source_read: src/clients/order_client.py:78 — confirmed single call site
factual_claims: none added in this diff

<promise>OPUS_PASS</promise>

Controller — final output

<promise>RALPH_PASS</promise>

Three tiers passed. Two restart cycles (Tier 1 × 2 iterations, Tier 2 × 1 iteration).
Total findings fixed: 4.
Branch ready for merge.

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What this transcript demonstrates

• Restart-on-fail: Tier 2 found issues after Tier 1 already passed. Loop went back to Tier 1, not to "Tier 3 with a flag".
• Cross-boundary contract: the **kwargs-swallowing mock was caught at Tier 2 — surface tier doesn't trace call-args assertions.
• Governance cadence: Opus tier classified the three checkbox closures correctly (two Tier A interleaved, one Tier B batched).
• Graph spot-check: Opus used graph to list callers, then read the source to confirm — never trusted the graph alone.
• Silent fallback caught late: the swallowed exception was invisible at surface; Tier 2 traced the exception path to find it.