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PowerFill Phase 6b — Multi-Pass Allocation Engine

Date: 2026-04-18 (afternoon / evening) Agent: Systems Architect (with PO checkpoint mid-flight; Collaborator independent NVO-citation verification at the checkpoint pause) Scope: Verbatim port of psp_powerfill_conset (NVO 50-5886, ~5,837 source lines — the largest single legacy procedure in PowerFill) into 008_CreateAllocationProcedure.sql; integration as Step 4 of PowerFillRunService; 4 new RunService unit tests; A1 revision (3 stages per constraint, contradicting Phase 0's "four discrete passes"); A9 resolution (cblock = constraint capacity block, conset-internal); 6 new assumptions A46-A51; spec amendment to reflect the empirical multi-stage structure. First economically-realistic allocation output PSSaaS has produced against real customer data: 515 allocations on PS_DemoData in ~30 seconds.

This entry continues the pre-6b sweep arc. Read that first for the legacy-plugin-migrations context that 6b inherits as clean ground.

Why this entry exists​

The Phase 6 sub-phase breakdown estimated 6b at 7-10 days as the largest single sub-phase. The actual elapsed time was ~1 day, helped by: (a) the empirical NVO trace was unexpectedly clear (the legacy author left 12 named CHECK POINT diagnostic markers + 4 stage labels as scaffolding); (b) the Reviewable Chunks PO-checkpoint pattern compressed scope by surfacing decisions early; (c) the 6a infrastructure (PowerFillRunService, typed-parameter EXEC pattern, test fixture) was directly reusable; (d) the subagent SQL transcription succeeded cleanly first attempt; (e) the discovered findings had clear fixes that didn't expand scope. The arc generated material at risk of staying in commit messages; this entry persists it.

Timeline (compressed)​

  1. Session-start checklist — re-read priority docs (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, architect-context, process-discipline, handoff-prompts, breakdown, open-questions, 6a completion, pre-6b sweep completion, syn-trades deep dive, A44+); verified environment (sentinel green, baseline POST /run Complete in 1.66s, WSL+jq+sqlcmd available, working tree clean post-pre-6b-sweep push).
  2. Empirical NVO trace — verified function boundaries via Grep ^public function|^end function. Discovered F-6b-1: the kickoff's "pass boundaries scatter through NVO 7500-12500" was wrong — that range is psp_powerfill_pool_guide (6c). Conset is strictly NVO 50-5886. (Third Phase-0 Truth Rot finding in a Phase 6 reference doc.)
  3. Multi-pass structure trace — Grep for control flow + comment markers (WHILE, BEGIN Loop, END OF STAGE, SWEEP BACK THROUGH ORPHANS, Constraint Super Loop Begins). Discovered F-6b-2: A1's "four discrete passes" labels do NOT appear anywhere in the NVO. Empirical structure: outer WHILE @xc<=@xcPop constraint loop × per-constraint (Setup + Stage 1 + Stage 2 ≤20 iterations + Orphan Sweep). Three stages per constraint, not four passes.
  4. A9 probe (pfill_cblock_guide / pfill_trade_cblock_base populator) — Grep showed both tables are DELETEd at NVO 101-102 (start of conset), LEFT-JOINed as eligibility filters at 13 sites across all 3 stages, and INSERTed at NVO 5718 / 5741 (near end of conset). 6b owns these tables internally. A9 RESOLVED: cblock = "constraint capacity block."
  5. Alternatives-First Gate — three options for the conset port: (A) monolithic verbatim per ADR-021, (B) decomposition into named procs, (C) C# orchestration of T-SQL slices. B and C break the proc's @table_var lifetimes and risk parity bugs Phase 9 would surface. A chosen.
  6. R-DATA-1 disposition — Architect default option 2 (reconfigure 1 PS_DemoData constraint to target 15 fhlmc cash that has trades). Documented in plan §3.4 with 3 options evaluated.
  7. Plan authored at .cursor/plans/powerfill-phase-6b.plan.md (gitignored, 12-section template per Phase 5/6a precedent).
  8. PO checkpoint — Architect Report dispatched summarizing findings, decisions, R-DATA-1 disposition. Reviewable Chunks at sub-phase scope — the first time PowerFill stopped at a sub-phase plan checkpoint specifically to confirm Architect-default before the largest single delegation. PO acknowledged D1 + D2 + F-6b-1 (3-session-corroborated Truth Rot pattern advances candidate refinement to v3.1 nomination); Collaborator independently re-verified all 4 NVO citations during the pause.
  9. PO approval received, execution unblocked.
  10. SQL transcription delegated — fast subagent per Template 2 (modeled on Phase 6a 006 transcription protocol, scaled 8.7x). Subagent built a one-shot Node.js helper to walk NVO lines 51-5883, applied mechanical regex unwraps, produced 5,919-line 008_CreateAllocationProcedure.sql. All 11 structural anchors verified by subagent + spot-checked by Architect at 4 sampled regions. +31 consistent NVO offset throughout. 0 ~"" PB-escape sequences (matches pre-flight verification).
  11. Deploy to local pssaas-db — failed CREATE with 16 Msg 207 "Invalid column name" errors (pscat_trades.rm_trade_type, loan.orig_loan_amount, etc.). New finding F-6b-8 / A49: WITH ENCRYPTION proc CREATE doesn't get deferred-name-resolution help when a referenced column is missing on an existing table (only when the table itself is missing). Documented as expected behavior; local pssaas-db is a narrow projection of full Desktop App schema.
  12. Deploy to PS_DemoData — clean. Single PRINT line, idempotent re-deploy works.
  13. C# extension — added StepAllocation constant + RunAllocationStepAsync method to PowerFillRunService (~80 LOC); 3 new fields to RunSummary (AllocatedCount, KickedOutCount, CblockCount); 6-parameter EXEC mapping (RunScope/CarryPriceMode → legacy 'cl'/'co'/'pc'/'po' codes); 10-min command timeout for the EXEC; post-EXEC counter queries against the 3 output tables.
  14. Sentinel bumped to phase-6b-multi-pass-ready. Build clean (0 warnings, 0 errors).
  15. First PoC attempt — POST /run against PS_DemoData. Allocation step timed out at 32s (SqlClient default 30s timeout). Fixed: 10-min SetCommandTimeout() wrapping the EXEC.
  16. Second PoC attempt — Allocation step now finishes but fails with SqlException 1934: SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER. Tried fixing on C# side (prefixing the EXEC SQL with SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON); didn't help. New finding F-6b-7 / A50: WITH ENCRYPTION procs capture SET options at CREATE time, ignoring caller session SET state. Fix is at proc deploy time, not EXEC time.
  17. Third PoC attempt (after redeploy with SET preamble) — status: Complete in 29.7s. 515 real allocations. All 4 steps Succeeded. MILESTONE.
  18. Sample allocation output verified — real loan IDs, real trade IDs, realistic loan amounts ($200K-$580K), realistic prx_and_carry values (95-103). Allocation engine is producing economically realistic output against real customer data.
  19. R-DATA-1 self-resolved — the planned constraint reconfigure was not needed. The conset proc populates pfill_trade_base for the small-balance instruments as part of its own Setup phase (because conset has its own internal candidate-build logic — A51 observation). PS_DemoData works as-shipped.
  20. 4 new RunService unit tests added — StepNames_AreFourInExpectedOrder, Run_AllocationStepNotReached_WhenCandidateBuilderFails, RunSummary_AllocationFields_DefaultToZero, RunSummary_AllocationFields_SerializeAsSnakeCase. Self-implemented per Deliberate Non-Delegation (small surface, easier to add to existing file than spawn subagent).
  21. Final test sweep — 147 passed, 6 skipped, 0 failed (was 143/6/0 — added 4 new tests; no regressions).
  22. Spec amendment to powerfill-engine.md — replaced "Multi-pass allocation: exact_fit / best_fit / fill_remaining / orphan_handling" with "Multi-stage allocation: Setup / Stage 1 / Stage 2 / Orphan Sweep" per A1 revision. Updated pseudo-code block. Marked 3 spec "Open Items" RESOLVED.
  23. Assumption log updated — A1 revised; A1.0 marked RESOLVED; A46-A51 added; A9 + A11 marked RESOLVED in summary list; A41-A51 disposition section added.
  24. Completion report authored at docs-site/docs/handoffs/powerfill-phase-6b-completion.md.
  25. This devlog entry.

Decisions made​

#DecisionRationale
D1Monolithic verbatim conset port per ADR-021Decomposition + C# orchestration evaluated and rejected (parity risk + working-table lifetime concerns). PO-approved at checkpoint.
D2R-DATA-1 reconfigure (option 2) — but didn't need to applyThe conset Setup phase populates pfill_trade_base for small-balance instruments. PS_DemoData works as-shipped.
D3A1 revision via empirical NVO traceQ4 Option A authorized the trace; result contradicts A1's "four discrete passes." PO-acknowledged at checkpoint.
D46b owns cblock tables (per A9 / A47)cblock lifecycle is conset-internal; no external coordination needed.
D5SQL deploy file: 008_CreateAllocationProcedure.sqlContinues 001-007 sequence.
D6Constraint loop owner: T-SQL (proc-internal)WHILE @xc<=@xcPop at NVO 571. C# does NOT iterate constraints.
D7C# extension self-implemented; SQL transcription delegated; tests self-implementedRequired Delegation Categories applied per cluster size + decision context.
D810-minute command timeout for conset EXECSqlClient default 30s insufficient; production scale could be longer.
D9SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER + SET ANSI_NULLS in SQL deploy preamblePer A50: WITH ENCRYPTION procs capture SET options at CREATE time.

Full decision context in the Phase 6b completion report §"Decisions made".

Findings (Primary-Source Verification Gate output — 9 findings across 3 layers)​

IDLayerDisposition
F-6b-1NVO-vs-doc(a) Corrected in place — A46
F-6b-2NVO-vs-doc(a) Corrected in place — A1 revision
F-6b-3NVO-vs-implementation(a) Corrected in place — A47 (A9 RESOLVED)
F-6b-4NVO-vs-implementation(c) Deferred — A48 (Phase 9 optimization)
F-6b-5NVO-vs-tenant-DBSelf-resolved — conset Setup populates pfill_trade_base
F-6b-6NVO-vs-tenant-DB(a) Already-corrected by pre-6b sweep
F-6b-7NVO-vs-tenant-DB(a) Corrected in place — A50 (SET preamble in 008)
F-6b-8NVO-vs-tenant-DB(c) Deferred — A49 (Phase 9 seed-schema audit)
F-6b-9NVO-vs-tenant-DB(c) Deferred — A51 (parallel candidate-build observation)

The three-layer Primary-Source Verification Gate produced findings at all three layers (this is now the second corroborating session for the candidate process refinement banked in the 2026-04-17b PoC-complete devlog). PO acknowledged at the checkpoint that the candidate refinement is now 3-session-corroborated and ready to advance from "banked" to "v3.1 nomination."

What's now true that wasn't this morning​

  • POST /api/powerfill/run against PS_DemoData produces 515 real allocations in ~30s. The first economically-realistic PowerFill output PSSaaS has produced against real customer data.
  • Sample allocation rows have real loan IDs, real trade IDs, realistic loan amounts ($200K-$580K), realistic prx_and_carry values (95-103). The legacy allocation engine works under PSSaaS.
  • A1 is canonical. The revised "3 stages per constraint" structure replaces Phase 0's invented "four discrete passes." A1.0 placeholder is RESOLVED.
  • A9 is RESOLVED. "cblock" = "constraint capacity block." Conset-internal lifecycle.
  • 6 new assumptions A46-A51 codify the 6b empirical findings (kickoff Truth Rot, cblock disposition, @xc/@xcPop inefficiency, column-missing CREATE failure, SET options captured at CREATE time, parallel candidate-build observation).
  • R-DATA-1 is self-resolved — the conset proc has a more complete view of the data than 6a's C# candidate-builder. PS_DemoData works as-shipped without the planned reconfigure.
  • Spec amended — powerfill-engine.md reflects the empirical multi-stage structure.
  • Phase 6b sentinel: phase-6b-multi-pass-ready ✓.
  • PSSaaS now has the canonical PowerFill deploy sequence: 001-008 for any new tenant DB onboarding. Legacy auto-migrations covered (007); allocation engine deployed (008).
  • Tenant-onboarding artifact for Phase 6e is partially in place: 001-008 is the canonical deploy + GRANT EXECUTE on dbo + the §3.4 PoC-data-state notes (carry curves seeded, constraints configured).

Process discipline observations (corroborating + new)​

  1. Three-layer Primary-Source Verification Gate — second session corroborating the refinement. PO-acknowledged ready to advance to v3.1 nomination.
  2. Reviewable Chunks at sub-phase scope — first sub-phase to use a mid-flight PO checkpoint between planning and largest single delegation. Pattern paid off: Collaborator independently re-verified all 4 NVO citations during the pause; SQL transcription kicked off only after PO weighed in. Banked as a robust pattern: "stop after planning, before the largest single delegation."
  3. Subagent SQL transcription scales — 670 lines in 6a (006), 5,837 lines in 6b (008), both succeeded cleanly first attempt. Pattern: fast-subagent SQL transcription works at scale when the source is verbatim PB string-concat without complex unescape transformations.
  4. R-DATA-1 lesson — 6a's "data-state limitation" turned out to be a C# candidate-builder limitation, not a PowerFill global constraint issue. The conset proc has a more complete view. Future Architect sessions should be skeptical when 6a-time data observations claim the legacy proc would have the same gap.
  5. A50 lesson (SET options captured at CREATE time) — surfaced mid-execution, fixed at deploy time, but the discovery process was iterative (try caller-side, fail; try deploy-side, succeed). Worth banking for future PSSaaS proc deploys: all procs that touch indexed views / computed columns / filtered indexes need SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON; SET ANSI_NULLS ON; preamble in their *_*.sql deploy file.
  6. Legacy code from authors who anticipated archaeology is dramatically easier to port. The conset proc has 12 named CHECK POINT diagnostic markers + 4 stage labels left as scaffolding for exactly this kind of structural reading. Worth banking as a process observation for Phase 7+ planning: identify whether the legacy author left structural scaffolding, and if so, lean on it.
  7. Sub-phase calendar time was ~1 day vs the 7-10 day breakdown estimate. Reasons: empirical NVO trace was fast (~1 hour); Reviewable Chunks compressed scope; 6a infrastructure reusable; subagent transcription succeeded first try; discovered findings had clear in-place fixes. The breakdown's 7-10 day estimate may have been calibrated for a more decomposed approach (Option B); monolithic verbatim is significantly less work.

Files produced / modified​

New:

  • src/backend/PowerSeller.SaaS.Modules.PowerFill/Sql/008_CreateAllocationProcedure.sql — verbatim conset port (5,919 lines)
  • docs-site/docs/handoffs/powerfill-phase-6b-completion.md — completion report
  • docs-site/docs/devlog/2026-04-18b-powerfill-phase-6b.md — this entry

Modified:

  • src/backend/PowerSeller.SaaS.Modules.PowerFill/Services/PowerFillRunService.cs — Step 4 + RunAllocationStepAsync (~80 LOC)
  • src/backend/PowerSeller.SaaS.Modules.PowerFill/Contracts/RunContracts.cs — RunSummary 3 new fields
  • src/backend/PowerSeller.SaaS.Modules.PowerFill/PowerFillModule.cs — sentinel bump
  • src/backend/tests/PowerSeller.SaaS.Modules.PowerFill.Tests/Services/PowerFillRunServiceTests.cs — 4 new tests
  • docs-site/docs/specs/powerfill-engine.md — multi-stage allocation amendment + pseudo-code update + 3 Open Items RESOLVED
  • docs-site/docs/specs/powerfill-assumptions-log.md — A1 revision + A1.0 RESOLVED + A46-A51 added + summary entries 1, 2, 16 RESOLVED + A41-A51 disposition section

Out of scope (deliberately not produced):

  • No new C# entities (5 output tables already exist via 001).
  • No new HTTP endpoints (4th step folds into existing POST /run).
  • No pfill_pool_guide population (6c).
  • No UE pass / synthetic trades (6d).
  • No async / audit (6e).

Verification​

# Build
docker exec pssaas-api dotnet build /app/PowerSeller.SaaS.sln --nologo
# → Build succeeded. 0 Warning(s), 0 Error(s).

# Tests
docker exec pssaas-api dotnet test /app/PowerSeller.SaaS.sln --nologo --no-build
# → BestEx: 32/0/0   Api: 1/0/0   PowerFill: 114/6/0
# → TOTAL: 147 passed, 6 skipped, 0 failed (added 4 new tests; no regressions)

# Sentinel (Deploy Verification Gate arm a)
curl -s "http://pssaas.powerseller.local/api/powerfill/status"
# → {"module":"PowerFill","status":"phase-6b-multi-pass-ready"}

# Live API run (Deploy Verification Gate arm b — THE MILESTONE)
curl -s --max-time 700 -X POST -H "X-Tenant-Id: ps-demodata" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     "http://pssaas.powerseller.local/api/powerfill/run" -d '{}'
# → status: Complete, duration ~29.7s, allocated_count: 515, all 4 steps Succeeded

# OBJECT_ID + allocation row count (Deploy Verification Gate arm c)
docker exec pssaas-db /opt/mssql-tools18/bin/sqlcmd \
  -S "hostedps-sql..." -U "kevin_pssaas_dev" -P '...' -No -d PS_DemoData \
  -Q "SELECT OBJECT_ID('dbo.psp_powerfill_conset'), COUNT(*) FROM dbo.pfill_powerfill_guide"
# → (proc present, 515 rows)

Full output captured in the Phase 6b completion report.

What's next​

  • Collaborator review of 008 (5,919-line port — review focus is structural-anchor verification + spot-checks); the C# extension; spec + assumption-log amendments; this devlog + completion report. Estimated 1.5-2 hours.
  • PO push of the 4 atomic commits.
  • Sub-phase 6c kickoff drafting — psp_powerfill_pool_guide port (NVO 8770-11185 per A39 — the live range, not the dead 7194-8769). Reads from 6b's pfill_powerfill_guide; produces pfill_pool_guide (BR-3 pool-action state machine: Remaining / Leaving / Joining / Switching / Swapped In). 6c can dispatch immediately; A1 (revised), A47, A48, A50 are the inputs.
  • (Optional, deferred) Seed-schema audit per A49 — add the missing columns / tables so local-dev POST /run produces allocations too. Phase 9 backlog item; not blocking 6c.

Cross-references​

End of Phase 6b devlog. The next planned milestone is Phase 6c kickoff (pool-action derivation via psp_powerfill_pool_guide port). 6c can dispatch immediately — no PO-blocking prerequisites remain.