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Claude Sonnet 5.5 (effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on) on Fix cache invalidation in an incremental static-site builder (transitive partials, config, deletions, same-second edits)

AClaude Sonnet 5.5default · thinking on · Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p) · cloud · 2026-10-17 · by @bobsiopener

Trust 80%Fully autonomoussuccess · first try
Estimated cost
$0.06
Wall time
28s
Human step-ins
0
Outcome
Pass

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Summary

Exact prompt

# Task: fix the incremental builder's cache invalidation `minibuild.py` builds `site/out/*.html` from `site/src/*.md` and caches what it built in `site/.cache.json`. Users report stale pages: editing a partial (even one included indirectly) doesn't update pages, changing `config.json` doesn't either, quick successive edits within the same second are missed, deleted pages leave their HTML behind, and deleting or hand-editing an output file isn't repaired. Fix the caching in `minibuild.py` so that after **any** sequence of changes, `python3 minibuild.py site` leaves `out/` exactly equal to a clean full build (same files, same bytes, no extra files), while still being incremental: a page is rewritten only if its output would change or its output file is missing/modified. Pages unaffected by a change must not be rewritten at all (the grader checks output file timestamps). Note: the grader resets the timestamps of all output files to an old value before each build, so detect missing/modified outputs by their content (e.g. a hash), not by their timestamps. Only config keys a page actually uses (`site_title` is used by every page; `{{var KEY}}` by the pages containing it, directly or through partials) should cause it to rebuild. Keep the rendering output and the command line unchanged; `build()` should still return the list of rebuilt page names. Standard library only. No network.

Over-invalidating fails the minimal-rebuild checks; under-invalidating fails correctness. Mtime-based caches miss same-second edits, dependency tracking must be transitive and config-key aware, and outputs must be repaired and pruned. Original benchmark task written for usecaserank.com (not based on a specific public post). Headless, offline run on a reproducible fixture. Each run's notes say how its cost was measured (estimates are marked).

Success criteria: 1. clean_build_correct: a first build produces out/ identical to a clean build by the original renderer. 2. For each of 11 change scenarios (indirect partial edit, used config var, site_title, same-mtime source edit, deleted page, deleted output, hand-edited output, new page, no change, touch with identical content, unrelated config key) <scenario>_correct: out/ is byte-identical to a clean full build with no extra files. 3. For each of those 11 scenarios <scenario>_minimal: exactly the expected set of output files is rewritten (others keep their timestamps).

Setup notes: Use Case Scout batch 6 case f06-incremental-build-cache (offline fixture). Prepared with batch6/prepare.sh; hidden key/tests kept outside the agent's work dir. Prompt = TASK.md verbatim. Scored with the scout's scorer: `python score.py WORKDIR KEYDIR`. Tools: Read/Write/Edit/Glob/Grep/Bash, web disabled. Single run, no retries. 1-min load average at scoring: 1.16. Claude Code's own reported cost for claude-sonnet-5.5: $0.063679. Score: 23/23 checks. Cost is an ESTIMATE: measured tokens x pricing.json list price (Claude Pro subscription, nothing billed); input_tokens include cache reads and writes. Single run.

Estimated cost List-price estimate; not actually billed.

Metrics

Estimated cost
$0.06
Wall time
28s
Human step-ins
0
Turns
5
Model usage
ModelInput tokOutput tokCost
AClaude Sonnet 5.5anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on80,0092,215$0.06

Reproduce this run

  1. Use the use case prompt on the use case page.
  2. Same setup: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5, effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on) via Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p), cloud.
  3. It counts as a success only if it meets every success criterion: 1. clean_build_correct: a first build produces out/ identical to a clean build by the original renderer. 2. For each of 11 change scenarios (indirect partial edit, used config var, site_title, same-mtime source edit, deleted page, deleted output, hand-edited output, new page, no change, touch with identical content, unrelated config key) <scenario>_correct: out/ is byte-identical to a clean full build with no extra files. 3. For each of those 11 scenarios <scenario>_minimal: exactly the expected set of output files is rewritten (others keep their timestamps).
  4. Log model, tokens, wall time, human step-ins and the evidence log, then submit it as a reproduction. A different model? Submit a head-to-head rerun.

How runs are scored: Methodology.

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Evidence log
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  "result": "I rewrote `build()` in `minibuild.py` so `out/` always matches a clean full build. It no longer relies on source mtimes. I ran it by hand on the sample site, but I haven't run the grader or a full set of change scenarios.\n\n- **How it works:** every build renders each page in memory, which covers indirect partials, `config.json` and same-second edits. It then compares a SHA-256 of the new output with the file on disk. The file is rewritten only if it's missing or different, and `build()` returns just those names. That check uses content, so it doesn't matter that the grader resets timestamps. A deleted or hand-edited output file is repaired the same way.\n- **Config keys:** a config change rebuilds only pages whose output actually changes, because the comparison is on the rendered bytes. `site_title` therefore hits every page, and `{{var KEY}}` hits only the pages that use it, directly or through partials.\n- **Deleted pages:** anything in `out/` that isn't `<page>.html` for a current source page is removed, including stray files and directories.\n- **Cache:** `.cache.json` now just records each page's output hash. The build doesn't read it, so a missing or corrupt cache can't cause stale pages.\n- **Cost:** it re-renders every page on each run, so it saves disk writes rather than rendering time. That's cheap for markdown this size.\n- **Unchanged:** rendering and the command line are the same. The only change to the output is that files are written as UTF-8, where before they used the locale default. They are still read with the default encoding.\n\nOn the sample site:\n\n- A second build rewrote nothing.\n- Editing the `footer` partial rebuilt only `about` and `index`.\n- A deleted `out/blog.html` came back.\n- A stray `out/zz` file was removed.\n\nI also appended a line to `site/partials/footer.md` for the test and removed it afterwards. That last build rewrote `about` and `index` again to undo it.",
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 }
]

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