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Claude Opus 5.5 (effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on) on Implement a reader/writer for a documented chunked binary container (LEB128 lengths, CRC-32, zlib chunks, critical vs ancillary)

AClaude Opus 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
$0.23
Wall time
55s
Human step-ins
0
Outcome
Pass

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Summary

Exact prompt

# Task: implement the CHNK container format Implement `read(buf)` and `write(...)` in `chnk.py` exactly as documented in `FORMAT.md` (including every error case and its `.offset`). Keep the `FormatError(msg, offset)` class. Python standard library only (`zlib` is fine). No network.

Every error path has an exact expected byte offset; minimal-varint and 5-byte limits, CRC over type+payload, META ordering, PNG-style critical/ancillary rule and byte-exact writer output are each tested. 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. All 12 hidden unittest cases pass: basic read, no-CRC + META merge, ancillary skipping, multi-byte varints, header errors, truncation offsets, type errors, varint errors, CRC mismatches, semantic errors, byte-exact writer output, 120 random read(write()) round-trips.

Setup notes: Use Case Scout batch 6 case f10-chunked-binary-format (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. Claude Code's own reported cost for claude-opus-5.5: $0.227198. Score: 12/12. 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
$0.23
Wall time
55s
Human step-ins
0
Turns
5
Model usage
ModelInput tokOutput tokCost
AClaude Opus 5.5anthropic/claude-opus-5.5effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on104,1895,477$0.23

Reproduce this run

  1. Use the use case prompt on the use case page.
  2. Same setup: Claude Opus 5.5 (anthropic/claude-opus-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. All 12 hidden unittest cases pass: basic read, no-CRC + META merge, ancillary skipping, multi-byte varints, header errors, truncation offsets, type errors, varint errors, CRC mismatches, semantic errors, byte-exact writer output, 120 random read(write()) round-trips.
  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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   "server_tool_use": {
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  "permission_denials": [],
  "terminal_reason": "completed",
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  "result": "I've implemented `read` and `write` in `chnk.py`, kept `FormatError(msg, offset)` unchanged, and used only the standard library (`zlib`). I tested it with a throwaway script (`/tmp/t_chnk.py`, not in the work dir). Write-then-read gives back the same meta and data for every combination of CRC on/off, compression on/off, and empty, one-byte and multi-chunk data. Every error case in `FORMAT.md` raises with the offset it specifies.\n\n**Reader:**\n- **Header errors:** a bad magic, including input shorter than 4 bytes, reports offset 0. A missing or unsupported version reports 4, and missing flags or reserved flag bits set report 5.\n- **Errors inside a chunk** report the offset of that chunk's type field. This covers bad type bytes, a cut-off or invalid length, a cut-off payload or CRC, a CRC mismatch, bad META, META after data, an unknown critical chunk, bad zlib data, and an `END ` chunk with non-zero length.\n- **Check order:** the CRC is checked before the chunk's contents are interpreted, so ancillary chunks also get their CRC verified before being skipped.\n- **Missing `END `** reports the input length when the input stops cleanly between chunks. If it stops partway through a chunk, that's reported as truncation at the chunk's offset.\n- **Bytes after `END `** report the offset of the first byte after the `END ` chunk.\n\n**Writer:** it follows the spec as written.\n\n**Where the spec was silent, I chose:**\n1. **Empty META payload:** read as no entries rather than a bad line. The writer never produces one, so this only matters for files from other writers. It's a one-line change in `_parse_meta` if you want the stricter reading.\n2. **Strict zlib checks:** a `DATZ` chunk whose compressed stream is incomplete, or has extra bytes after the end of the stream, counts as bad zlib data. By default `zlib` would quietly ignore the extra bytes.\n3. **Writer input checks:** `write` raises `ValueError` for input that can't be stored safely:\n   - `chunk_size` of 0 or less;\n   - a META key that is empty or contains `=` or a newline;\n   - a META value that contains a newline;\n   - a chunk too long for a 5-byte length field.\n\n   Without these checks, `write` would produce files that read back wrong or not at all.",
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  "uuid": "[REDACTED]",
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  "time_to_request_ms": 248,
  "first_content_frame_ms": 1624,
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 }
]

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