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0.28–0.30 — the history a subject keeps, and what a retry returns

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0.28–0.30 — the history a subject keeps, and what a retry returns | ESSSource ess/6 models enum subject history and input eligibility beside an independently arranged failure. Source ess/7 declares that a retry returns the original command's result. Conformance suites compare actual subject values and actual retained responses. 0.30.0 shipped the agent plugin from this repository for one release.ESSfield-noteessfield-noteadopterdevelopertry-spec-driven-developmentresearch

Source-owned field note · website/blog/2026-09-25-1200-what-a-retry-returns.md · revision b89faaa411bd

Three releases. Two of them move a claim a conformance suite used to make about a subject's shape into a comparison of the values an implementation actually produced, and each costs a source format version — ess/6 and ess/7, both described in the version history.

The history a subject keeps​

ess/6 (0.28.0) models bounded enum subject history with explicit silent preservation, and input eligibility beside an independently arranged external cause. Conformance synthesis observes history separately from lifecycle, so two histories that end in the same state stay distinct.

Suite formats 10 and 11 add no-error assertions and actual subject snapshots. The Rust, Go and TypeScript runners reject a missing, duplicated or changed subject instead of accepting a row that merely has the right shape. Documents in older formats keep them and refuse the new vocabulary.

What a retry returns​

ess/7 (0.29.0) declares command-local replays: a retry returns the originating success's typed result and preserves its original subject. An effect-free named error can cover the remaining finite subject states.

Suites 12 and 13 capture the original result, input, actor and identity before an unforced retry, and Rust and generated Go compare the exact typed response and a fresh complete observation of the subject. TypeScript and browser readers refuse these suites before any callback runs, and Decimal and Binary64 response positions remain unsupported. ess-diff/6 records replay origins.

The generated witness covers an immediate retry. Persistence, restart and retries against a later head remain acceptance the adopter owns.

The plugin, for one release​

0.30.0 shipped the ESS agent plugin from this repository at the binary's version, with ess skill printing its skills. The next release moves it to beyond10x/agentplugins beside every other plugin and removes ess skill.