Starter-code quality became a first-class reliability layer

Devlog - 2026-03-31

Overview

A major reliability realization today: starter code is not just a convenience layer. It is part of validation correctness. If starter templates are broken, the pipeline can report solver failures that are actually starter failures.

Reliability Changes

I moved starter quality into first-class validation flow with three additions.

1) Starter Syntax Remediation

Before execution, starter templates now go through syntax remediation checks so obvious template defects are caught early.

2) Any-Order Guardrails

I added any-order guardrails for outputs where ordering is not semantically important. This reduced false negatives from formatting and ordering differences that should not fail correctness.

3) Cross-Language Triple-Check

Each run now separates outcomes into three checks:

• starter integrity check
• solver correctness check
• guardrail compliance check

This gives a clean boundary between starter failures and solver failures across languages.

Why It Matters

This change tightened signal quality. When something fails now, the failure class is much clearer and easier to act on.