claude-memory: /init-then-prune eval fixture — static bloated CLAUDE.md graded against expected audit findings

[kyle-sexton]

Context

Implementation deliverable of course lane 9 (#2911; decision locked 2026-08-17, user-confirmed). The course's "Trying Out Pruning" lesson suggests generating a bloated memory file with /init and grading the pruning pass; the lane adopted it as an eval fixture against claude-memory:audit's existing eval suite (plugins/claude-memory/skills/audit/evals/evals.json, prompt/files/expectations shape). A static fixture was chosen over live /init generation for determinism. Decision rows: docs/upstream/aihero-steering-lanes.md (lane 9).

Proposed work

• Author a static bloated-CLAUDE.md fixture in the shape /init produces (file-by-file codebase description, restated defaults, derivable content) and add it to the eval's files
• Grade against expected findings — at minimum C1 (length/budget), C2 (derivable content), C5 (codebase-description flagging, honoring the C5 navigation carve-out once claude-memory: patch audit criteria for navigation pointers — C5 carve-out, C7 stale-highway note, C3 nested CLAUDE.md + @-mention rows, design-smell remediation #2987 lands)
• Wire as a regression gate on audit judgment quality alongside the suite's existing cases
• Version bump + CHANGELOG entry for claude-memory

Acceptance criteria

• Static fixture committed and referenced from evals.json
• Expected-findings expectations cover C1/C2/C5 at minimum
• Eval suite passes with the new case included
• Version bump + CHANGELOG entry land for claude-memory

References

• docs/upstream/aihero-steering-lanes.md — lane 9 decision rows
• plugins/claude-memory/skills/audit/evals/evals.json
• Issue claude-memory: aihero course lane 9: steering-surface validations (navigation pointers, harness claims, auto-memory, /init-then-prune eval) #2911 (lane 9 specification); claude-memory: patch audit criteria for navigation pointers — C5 carve-out, C7 stale-highway note, C3 nested CLAUDE.md + @-mention rows, design-smell remediation #2987 (criteria patch this fixture's C5 expectations must honor)

Metadata

Field	Value
Category	unspecified
Area	claude-memory, evals
Ecosystem	unspecified

[kyle-sexton]

Claimed — working this now on branch claude/pocock-steering-course-00zkvd (restarted from origin/main @ b3e7af72) per the session's per-item pipeline. Auto-confirmed selection: the invocation named #2989 directly as the next unblocked queue item (unblocked by #2987 / PR #3009, merged).

Plan: author a static /init-shaped bloated CLAUDE.md fixture under skills/audit/evals/fixtures/, add an eval case grading it against expected findings (C1 length/budget, C2 derivable content, C5 codebase-description flagging honoring the merged navigation-pointer carve-out), run the eval suite, version bump + CHANGELOG for claude-memory.

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