docs(spec): update specification — validation gate blocks on empty validation summary

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -653,6 +653,13 @@ The format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
   delays from 15s to 2s, and reduced idle sleep from 60s to 10s for dramatically
   faster throughput.
 
+- **Specification — Validation Gate Empty-Run Guard** (#8146): Updated `docs/specification.md`
+  to document the security invariant introduced in PR #7786 (fixing issue #7508). The spec now
+  explicitly states that `ApplyValidationSummary.all_required_passed` returns `False` when no
+  validations have been run (empty summary), blocking apply. Added a prominent danger admonition
+  block, updated the validation process results section, the `final_validation_results` data
+  model description, and two milestone acceptance criteria to reflect the corrected blocking
+  behavior for empty validation summaries and no-attachment runs.
 
 ### Fixed
 

CONTRIBUTORS.md

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Below are some of the specific details of various contributions.
 * HAL 9000 has contributed the benchmark workflow separation (#9040): moved the benchmark-regression job out of the default PR workflow into a dedicated scheduled workflow, reducing median PR CI turnaround time from 99-132 minutes to under 30 minutes.
 * HAL 9000 has contributed the agent-evolution-pool-supervisor PR metadata assignment (#7888): the supervisor now automatically looks up the Type/Automation label and earliest open milestone before dispatching improvement PR creation workers, ensuring all generated improvement PRs have correct Type labels and milestone assignments.
 * HAL 9000 has contributed the decision recording hook for the Strategize phase (issue #8522): captures every decision point with question, chosen option, alternatives, confidence, rationale, and full context snapshot for replay and correction.
+* HAL 9000 has contributed automated specification maintenance, documentation updates, and bot-driven PR authorship.
 * This project was made possible thanks to considerable donation of time, money, and resources by CleverThis, Inc.
 * HAL 9000 has contributed automated bug fixes, CLI output formatting improvements, and ongoing maintenance as part of the CleverAgents automation system.
 * HAL 9000 has contributed the file edit encoding parameter fix (PR #8258 / issue #7559).

docs/specification.md

@@ -20019,6 +20019,18 @@ Apply should perform (configurable) validations before committing:
 
 Validation runs during **Execute**, not during Apply. By the time a plan reaches the Apply phase, all required validations have already passed. Apply commits the sandbox changes to the real resources and does not re-run validations.
 
+!!! danger "Security Invariant — Empty Validation Summary Blocks Apply"
+    Apply **requires** that at least one required validation was executed during the Execute phase. If no validations were run — because no validations are attached to the plan's resources, or because the validation collection step produced an empty set — the apply gate **blocks** and the plan cannot proceed to Apply.
+
+    This is an intentional security invariant (introduced in PR #7786, fixing issue #7508): apply cannot proceed without at least one validation having run. A plan with no validation attachments is treated the same as a plan with failing validations — it cannot be applied.
+
+    **Blocking conditions for the apply gate**:
+    - Any required validation returned `passed: false` (validation failure)
+    - No required validations were executed at all (empty validation summary)
+    - A plan has no validation attachments (no validations configured)
+
+    The `ApplyValidationSummary.all_required_passed` property returns `True` **only when** at least one required validation was executed AND none of the required validations failed. An empty summary always yields `False`.
+
 For full details on validation — including the Validation type system, modes, attachment scoping, failure handling, fix-then-revalidate loops, and data model — see the **Validation** section under Core Concepts.
 
 #### Apply Data Model
@@ -22757,7 +22769,8 @@ Validation is the **final step** of the Execute phase. The execution actor's wor
 2. **Collect applicable validations**: The system resolves all validations from the resource-direct, project, and plan scopes (as described in Attachment Resolution above).
 3. **Execute validations**: Each applicable validation is invoked as a standard tool call. The validation reads the sandbox state and returns its structured result. Validations may be run in parallel since they are read-only and cannot interfere with each other.
 4. **Process results**:
-   - **All required validations pass**: Execution is complete. The plan transitions to the review/Apply phase.
+   - **All required validations pass (and at least one ran)**: Execution is complete. The plan transitions to the review/Apply phase.
+   - **No required validations were executed (empty summary)**: The apply gate is blocked. This is treated equivalently to a required validation failure — the plan cannot proceed to Apply. This condition arises when no validations are attached to the plan's resources. See the security invariant note in [Validation in Apply](#validation-in-apply).
    - **Any required validation fails**: The execution actor enters the fix-then-revalidate loop (see Validation Failure Handling below).
    - **Informational validations fail**: Results are recorded in the plan's validation summary. No fix attempts are made.
 
@@ -23076,7 +23089,7 @@ The validation-related fields stored in the plan data model:
 | Field | Location | Description |
 |-------|----------|-------------|
 | `validation_summary` | `plan.execution` | Array of validation results collected during Execute. Each entry includes the validation name, mode, `passed`, `message`, `data`, execution duration, and attempt number. |
-| `final_validation_results` | `plan.apply` | Snapshot of the final validation state at the time execution completed (all required validations passing). Identical to the last state of `validation_summary` but stored separately for quick reference. |
+| `final_validation_results` | `plan.apply` | Snapshot of the final validation state at the time execution completed (all required validations passing, and at least one required validation was executed). Identical to the last state of `validation_summary` but stored separately for quick reference. A plan can only reach the Apply phase if this snapshot is non-empty and all required entries have `passed: true`. |
 | `validation_attempts` | `plan.execution` | Total number of validation invocations across all fix-then-revalidate loops. Useful for understanding how much effort was spent on validation remediation. |
 | `validation_fix_history` | `plan.execution` | Per-validation log of fix attempts. Each entry records: the validation that failed, the fix the actor applied, and whether the subsequent re-validation passed. Enables auditing of the fix-then-revalidate process. |
 
@@ -47123,7 +47136,7 @@ This section defines the ordered milestone plan for CleverAgents v3.x, mapping a
 | 6 | Hierarchical decomposition creates 4+ levels of subplans | §Subplan Architecture — Hierarchy | `plan tree` shows 4+ nesting levels for complex tasks |
 | 7 | Parallel execution scales to 10+ concurrent subplans | §Subplan Execution — Parallel | 10 subplans execute concurrently without deadlock or resource starvation |
 | 8 | Decision correction recomputes only affected subtree | §Correction Model — Selective Recomputation | Unaffected decisions preserved; only downstream decisions recomputed |
-| 9 | Validation-gated apply: required validations must pass before apply | §Validation Abstraction — Apply Gating | Apply blocked when required validation fails; informational validation does not block |
+| 9 | Validation-gated apply: required validations must pass before apply | §Validation Abstraction — Apply Gating | Apply blocked when required validation fails; apply also blocked when no validations were run (empty summary); informational validation does not block |
 | 10 | A realistic porting task completes autonomously | §Autonomy Acceptance | End-to-end task (e.g., port a Python module) completes without human intervention |
 | 11 | `agents automation-profile add/list/show` functional | §CLI Commands — automation-profile | Round-trip: add profile, list shows it, show displays details |
 | 12 | `agents plan guard` shows active guards for a plan | §CLI Commands — plan guard | Command shows denylist, budget caps, tool limits |
@@ -47135,7 +47148,7 @@ This section defines the ordered milestone plan for CleverAgents v3.x, mapping a
 - **Guard evaluation order**: Denylist checked first (fast reject), then budget caps, then tool call limits.
 - **Autonomy threshold**: `0.0` = always automatic; `1.0` = always manual; eight built-in profiles from `manual` to `full-auto`.
 - **Subtree recomputation**: Only decisions with `depends_on` edges to the corrected decision are recomputed; others preserved.
-- **Validation gating**: `required` validations block apply; `informational` validations log but do not block.
+- **Validation gating**: `required` validations block apply; an empty validation summary (no validations ran) also blocks apply; `informational` validations log but do not block.
 
 #### Definition of Done