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Classifies and enforces constraints via soft vows, hard vows, and Nen Court layers.
Passed 21 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 6 of 22 without it.
and 19 more in the full report
15 fixed6 passed either way1 still failing0 broke
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
This benchmark measured an earlier version of the skill.
One of 15 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
A developer wants to add a brand new coding preference rule to the codebase. What is the mandatory starting layer for any new constraint?
| Checked | Without skill | With skill |
|---|---|---|
| Directs starting every new constraint as a Soft Vow in skill instructions or CLAUDE.md | Missed | Passed |
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
Rules that depend on willpower fail under pressure. Enforcement earns trust by making the right path the only path.
ODCV-Bench found that agents break self-imposed constraints 30-50% of the time when goals conflict. Practitioner consensus confirms: past 150 soft rules, compliance drops for ALL rules, not just the new ones.
The core insight: "settings.json is a firewall; CLAUDE.md is an employee handbook." Handbooks work for guidance. Firewalls work for enforcement. Mixing them up creates a false sense of security.
| Layer | Mechanism | Compliance | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft Vow | Skill instructions, CLAUDE.md rules | ~80% | "Write tests first", "Keep commits small" |
| Hard Vow | Hooks (PreToolUse/PostToolUse), settings.json permissions | ~100% | Block --no-verify, enforce file size limits |
| Nen Court | External validator agents checking output | Deterministic | Lint checks, test runs, constraint audits |
Soft Vows rely on model compliance. Cheap to add and easy to iterate, but unreliable under goal conflict. Use when the constraint requires judgment, violation is annoying but not dangerous, or you are still learning what the right rule is.
Hard Vows block forbidden actions before they execute via hooks and settings.json permissions. Use when the constraint is binary, violation causes real damage, or the soft vow version was violated repeatedly.
Nen Court spawns external validator agents that audit output after a phase completes. Use when the
test cases passed, vs 6 / 22 without
More skills from the same source and nearby in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.