fix(engine): warn and fall back for out-of-range similarityThreshold (#8862)

[RealDiligent]

Problem

Closes #8862.

normalizeSelfPlagiarismPolicy in packages/loopover-engine/src/miner-goal-spec.ts only warned when similarityThreshold was not a number. A finite numeric value outside [0, 1] (e.g. 5 or -1) passed the type check, fell through to resolveSelfPlagiarismConfig, and was then silently clamped by self-plagiarism.ts's Math.min(1, Math.max(0, value)) -- collapsing to a bound with no warning, and the field reported as present/configured.

Every sibling numeric normalizer here behaves differently: normalizePositiveInteger warns and falls back to the documented default when a value is non-finite or out of range. This normalizer was the odd one out, so a fat-fingered threshold silently changed miner behavior.

Fix

Extend the guard so a similarityThreshold that is non-finite or outside [0, 1] also warns and falls back to the default, matching the warn-and-fall-back convention of the sibling normalizers.

Test

test/unit/miner-goal-spec-parser.test.ts asserts that 5, -1, Infinity, and NaN each produce a similarityThreshold ... must be a number in [0, 1] warning and fall back to the default 0.85, while an in-range value (0.42) is still accepted verbatim with no warning. The test targets the observable warning + fallback, so it fails if the guard is reverted.

[superagent-security]

Superagent didn't find any vulnerabilities or security issues in this PR.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 93.87%. Comparing base (f32e140) to head (e193b5c).
⚠️ Report is 8 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #8994      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   90.56%   93.87%   +3.31%     
==========================================
  Files          96      807     +711     
  Lines       22490    80465   +57975     
  Branches     3884    24397   +20513     
==========================================
+ Hits        20367    75537   +55170     
- Misses       1945     3560    +1615     
- Partials      178     1368    +1190     

Flag	Coverage Δ
backend	95.16% <ø> (?)

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Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
packages/loopover-engine/src/miner-goal-spec.ts	100.00% <ø> (ø)

... and 710 files with indirect coverage changes

[loopover-orb]

Tip

✅ LoopOver review result - approve/merge recommended

_{Review updated: 2026-07-26 15:55:01 UTC}

2 files · 1 AI reviewer · no blockers · readiness 98/100 · CI green · clean

✅ Suggested Action - Approve/Merge

• safe to merge

Review summary
This is a small, correctly-targeted fix: it extends the guard in normalizeSelfPlagiarismPolicy (miner-goal-spec.ts:261-266) to also catch non-finite and out-of-range numeric similarityThreshold values, matching the warn-and-fallback convention used by normalizePositiveInteger and other sibling normalizers in this file. The fix is at the right layer (the normalizer itself, not a downstream clamp), the resolveSelfPlagiarismConfig call above it is now effectively unreachable for out-of-range numbers since the guard returns fallback first, and the added test exercises the real parseMinerGoalSpec path with 5, -1, Infinity, and NaN plus a valid in-range control case with no warning.

Nits — 3 non-blocking

• miner-goal-spec.ts:265 still calls resolveSelfPlagiarismConfig(value) before the guard runs, so for the fixed cases that work is now wasted (harmless since the guard discards the result, but worth reordering or noting it's now dead work for the out-of-range path).
• Consider moving the similarityThreshold validation before calling resolveSelfPlagiarismConfig so the wasted call is avoided for invalid values (miner-goal-spec.ts:264-266).
• The new test's loop in miner-goal-spec-parser.test.ts could also assert on `parsed.present` to confirm the spec is still marked present after fallback, consistent with other sibling-field tests in this file.

Decision drivers

• ✅ Code review — No blockers (1 reviewer)
• ✅ Gate result — Passing (No configured blocker found.)

Context & advisory signals — never blocks the verdict

Signal	Result	Evidence
Linked issue	✅ Linked	#8862
Related work	✅ No active overlap found	No same-issue or scoped active PR overlap found.
Change scope	✅ 20/20	Low review scope from cached public metadata (1 linked issue).
Validation posture	✅ 25/25	PR body includes validation/test evidence.
Contributor workload	✅ 10/10	Author activity: 305 registered-repo PR(s), 121 merged, 37 issue(s).
Contributor context	✅ Confirmed Gittensor contributor	RealDiligent; Gittensor profile; 305 PR(s), 37 issue(s).
Improvement	✅ Minor	risk: clean · value: minor · LLM: moderate

Linked issue satisfaction

Addressed
The diff extends the guard to catch non-finite or out-of-range similarityThreshold values, warns with a message matching the sibling normalizer style, and falls back to the default, exactly as requested; a new test verifies out-of-range values (5, -1, Infinity, NaN) trigger the warning and fallback while in-range values remain unaffected.

Review context

• Author: RealDiligent
• Role context: outside_contributor
• Public audience mode: oss maintainer
• Lane context: Repository is configured for direct PR review.
• Public profile languages: not available
• Official Gittensor activity: 305 PR(s), 37 issue(s).
• PR-specific overlap: none found.

Contributor next steps

• Keep the PR focused and include validation evidence before maintainer review.

Signal definitions

• Related work = same linked issue, overlapping active PRs, or title/path similarity.
• Change scope = cached public metadata such as size labels, draft state, and review-burden hints.
• Validation posture = whether the PR provides enough public validation/test evidence for maintainer review.
• Contributor workload = public contributor activity and cleanup pressure, not a repo-wide quality failure.
• Contributor context = public GitHub/Gittensor identity context; non-Gittensor status is not a blocker.

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_{🟩 Safe / merged · 🟦 Advisory · 🟨 Held for review · 🟥 Blocked / closed}

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LoopOver approves — the gate is satisfied and CI is green.