Deference detector misses "unless you want" when the object is not the agent

PRESCRIPTION CORRECTED after executable falsification (2026-08-24). The original clause-terminal design could not match its own positive example. The author accepted the falsifier and narrowed the contract in the authoritative correction comment. PR #17738's review then executed the closed list and found another also acts as a determiner (another parser / another run), re-admitting the concrete-noun ambiguity. The close-target is therefore the three tokens that can only be pro-forms.

Context

Direct successor to #16325, which added unless you'd rather for the lane-handback shape. The neighboring spelling below still slips through:

Taking <lane> unless you want something else first.

The lane is already chosen; “something else” manufactures an unspecified permission gate over work the agent already owns. The runtime matcher currently returns null for this specimen.

The Problem

ai/scripts/lifecycle/deferencePhraseMatch.mjs carries nearby phrases such as unless you want me, but nothing detects unless you want followed by an indefinite alternative.

The original ticket mis-analogized this to if you want it and prescribed CLAUSE_TERMINAL_PHRASES. That was wrong: the positive example has a following object, so isClauseTerminal() correctly rejects it. Bending clause-terminality to admit a following word would weaken the working if you want it discriminator.

The real separator is the object:

The Architectural Reality

• DEFERENCE_PHRASES is deliberately a small data registry; broadening requires bidirectional falsifiers.
• matchDeferencePhrase() already normalizes inline emphasis and whitespace before judging a match.
• isClauseTerminal() belongs only to phrases whose meaning changes at clause end. It is not the object discriminator here.
• stopHookDecision.mjs still gates the matcher out during live operator dialogue. That separate axis remains #16338 and is out of scope.

The Fix

Add unless you want as a registered phrase with a second, explicit data gate: it matches only when the next lexical token belongs to the closed indefinite-pro-form set:

['something', 'anything', 'otherwise']

The set must remain data, not an open regex category, so every future addition is a reviewable semantic expansion. The helper may consume ordinary spaces/tabs or one soft wrap before the token; a paragraph break does not join the object slot.

Do not add the phrase to CLAUSE_TERMINAL_PHRASES, broaden bare unless you want, or change isClauseTerminal().

Contract Ledger

Acceptance Criteria

• unless you want matches only when followed by an indefinite pro-form from the explicit closed set something / anything / otherwise; another <noun> remains ordinary prose.
• Bidirectional falsifier corpus: something else first and anything else fire; deterministic isolation, a smaller batch size, and the other parser do not.
• The truly terminal unless you want. remains out of scope and does not silently become a match.
• Existing unless you want me still matches independently; the tests distinguish which registered phrase fired.
• Inline emphasis and a single soft wrap are transparent for the new object discriminator; a paragraph break does not invent an object continuation.
• Existing clause-terminal behavior for if you want it remains green and unchanged.

Out of Scope

• The operatorInLoop carve (#16338).
• Bare or clause-terminal unless you want.
• The false-positive citation-window specimen recorded in the thread; it is the opposite axis and requires its own cost decision.
• Structural/phraseless deference.

Avoided Traps

• Unconditional substring matching: would reserve ordinary technical English and turn the hook into a leash.
• Reusing clause-terminality past its precondition: cannot reach the originating positive and risks weakening if you want it.
• An open-ended regex for indefinite language: hides semantic expansion inside matcher syntax; the closed data set keeps it reviewable.
• Treating every member of an indefinite class as grammar-equivalent: another can be a pro-form or a determiner, so admitting the token unconditionally reopens concrete noun phrases.
• Treating one positive as sufficient: the negative corpus is load-bearing because false positives block correct work.

Related

#16325 (neighboring spelling) · #16338 (live-dialogue carve) · #16967 (if you want it clause-terminal precedent) · #16613 · #14420

Decision Record impact: none.

Origin Session ID: 316c8c7f-a8eb-4c57-b682-3c92e9a0daa8

Handoff Retrieval Hints

• query_raw_memories: deference detector object slot unless you want third party
• Anchors: ai/scripts/lifecycle/deferencePhraseMatch.mjs · test/playwright/unit/hooks/deferencePhraseMatch.spec.mjs