Claude Sonnet 5.5 (effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking off) on Answer 8 questions from 12 conflicting dated sources with correct citations

AClaude Sonnet 5.5default · thinking off · Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p) · cloud · 2026-10-16 · by @bobsiopener

Trust 80%Fully autonomoussuccess · first trySupersededCompare

Estimated cost: $0.05
Wall time: 17s
Human step-ins: 0
Outcome: Pass

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Superseded. This run was rescored on 2026-10-28 and replaced by a newer run. It no longer counts toward rankings, use-case tables or the data export; it is kept here for the record.

Exact prompt

# Task: answer questions from conflicting internal sources (as of 2026-10-15) `sources/` contains 12 dated documents about Voltaris's Kestrel Valley plant. They conflict. Prefer approved/official and newer documents; corrections override what they correct; drafts, rumors and unverified posts are not facts. Answer in `answers.json`: {"q1": {"answer": "...", "sources": ["<filename>", ...]}, ...}. Put the single most authoritative file FIRST in sources. - q1: Current planned annual capacity in GWh (number only) - q2: Current planned investment in EUR billion (number only) - q3: Current planned production start (e.g. "Q1 2028") - q4: Planned headcount at full ramp (integer) - q5: Primary cathode supplier (company name) - q6: Separator supplier (company name) - q7: Is the CEO leaving before launch, according to the best evidence? ("yes"/"no") - q8: What must be operational before production start under the water permit? (short phrase) Also write `brief.md` (≤200 words) summarising the current plan and flagging which sources were superseded or unreliable. No network.

Answer eight questions about a company's planned battery plant using twelve dated internal documents that contradict each other. Corrections override what they correct, approved minutes beat drafts, and rumors are not facts. Each answer must cite the single most authoritative file first. 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. At least 7 of 8 answers correct (normalised: the expected value must appear in the given answer, ignoring case/punctuation/commas). 2. For at least 7 of 8 questions the FIRST file in 'sources' must be the authoritative source file. 3. brief.md must exist, be 1–200 words, and must not state the rumoured/draft figures (the unapproved capacity values or the rumoured headcount) unless explicitly labelled as rumour/draft/unverified/rejected/not approved.

Setup notes: Use Case Scout batch 3 case c07-conflicting-sources (offline fixture). Prepared with batch3/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/key.json`. Tools: Read/Write/Edit/Glob/Grep/Bash, web disabled. Single run, no retries. Rescored 2026-10-16 with Scout's fixed scorer (see usecase-scout/AUDIT-batches1-5-2026-10-17.md). The original score was fail, and the model's output is unchanged. Rubric change 2026-10-17: one check was moved to unscored_flags. See usecase-scout/AUDIT-batches1-5-2026-10-17.md. Claude Code's own reported cost for claude-sonnet-5.5: $0.054661. Score: pass. 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: $0.05
Wall time: 17s
Human step-ins: 0
Turns: 3

Model usage
Model	Input tok	Output tok	Cost
AClaude Sonnet 5.5anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking off	58,639	1,670	$0.05

Reproduce this run

Use the use case prompt on the use case page.
Same setup: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5, effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking off) via Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p), cloud.
It counts as a success only if it meets every success criterion: 1. At least 7 of 8 answers correct (normalised: the expected value must appear in the given answer, ignoring case/punctuation/commas). 2. For at least 7 of 8 questions the FIRST file in 'sources' must be the authoritative source file. 3. brief.md must exist, be 1–200 words, and must not state the rumoured/draft figures (the unapproved capacity values or the rumoured headcount) unless explicitly labelled as rumour/draft/unverified/rejected/not approved.
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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Informational checks (not scored)

Reported with the run for context. They do not affect the score, the outcome or the rankings.

Brief doesn't restate superseded figures (strict check) (passed): Not stated in task.md, so it's informational only and not scored (moved out of the rubric on 2026-10-17). (none)

Automated checks

Trust 80% comes from these checks (how Trust % works).

Run date is not in the future : passed
Model is in the dated pricing table : passed
Cost recomputed from tokens matches : passed
Cached tokens are consistent : passed
Output throughput is plausible : passed
Autonomy matches step-ins : passed
Step-ins do not exceed turns : passed
Retries agree with first-try result : passed
Evidence log SHA-256 matches : passed
Evidence log is substantial : passed

Evidence log

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  "result": "I've written `answers.json` and `brief.md` in the working directory. I read all 12 sources and didn't run any other checks.\n\n| Question | Answer | Basis |\n|---|---|---|\n| q1 Capacity | 16 GWh | Approved board minutes of 2026-04-14, reaffirmed 2026-09-29 |\n| q2 Investment | EUR 2.1 billion | Same April board minutes |\n| q3 Production start | Q4 2027 | Engineering update of 2026-07-08 (delay for permitting) |\n| q4 Headcount | 1,650 | COO-approved HR plan of 2026-06-10 |\n| q5 Cathode supplier | Norvik Materials | The 2026-05-22 correction retracts the Lumen Chem report; Lumen Chem is only secondary |\n| q6 Separator supplier | Polyfin AB | Approved board minutes of 2026-09-29 |\n| q7 CEO leaving? | no | The 2026-08-12 interview, where the CEO says they're staying through launch; the \"CEO is leaving\" claim comes only from the unverified forum post |\n| q8 Water permit condition | Closed-loop cooling | Official permit notice of 2026-07-30 |\n\nThe superseded and unreliable sources are:\n- **Press release (2026-03-02):** superseded on capacity, investment, start date and jobs.\n- **Forum post (2026-03-05):** unverified rumor.\n- **News article (2026-05-20):** retracted by the correction.\n- **Supplier memo (2026-05-02):** outdated on the separator, which was still \"TBD\".\n- **Draft budget (2026-09-01):** never approved, and rejected on 2026-09-29.",
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