# HANDOFF -- Audit Method Engine (Evaluator E2)

**Phase:** 6 -- skill-creator-max
**Skill slug:** audit-method-engine
**Library side:** Evaluator (silo-isolated from RAM)
**Status:** ASSEMBLED

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## 1. What was built

Complete skill directory at:
`evaluator/skills/audit-method-engine/`

- `SKILL.md` -- identity, mission, preconditions, six phases (A-F), interface table, discipline.
- `references/MULTI_LEVEL_AUDIT_DOCTRINE.md` -- three-level non-substitution, per-frame claim/source/methodology criteria shortlist, cross-level tension handling.
- `references/MODE_SELECTION_RULES.md` -- artifact-check default, four replication triggers, bounded-scope discipline, 30% replication-rate ceiling, escalation mid-run.
- `references/RULE_CHECKER_ANTI_PATTERNS.md` -- seven anti-patterns with symptom / cause / anti-example / resistance protocol; seven-step Phase F failure audit.
- `templates/AUDIT_ARTIFACT.md` -- canonical output schema for Phase E assembly and Evaluator Search Ledger render.

References and template are load-bearing for different phases. Only `FRAME_CRITERION_CATALOG.md` (public -- read, not owned here) is cited cross-skill.

## 2. Multi-level audit confirmation (LOAD-BEARING)

The three audit levels are non-substitutable and are preserved across all artifacts:

- Per-claim audit (D.1), per-source audit (D.2), per-methodology audit (D.3) -- each with distinct audit-object, distinct criteria-family, distinct sub-artifact.
- Cross-level tensions (D.4) are first-class findings, NOT resolutions.
- The AUDIT_ARTIFACT template enforces three distinct findings arrays plus a cross_level_tensions array; `composite_verdict_present` is hard-coded to `false`; `uncollapsed` is hard-coded to `true`.
- Phase F failure-audit step 5 (level-distinctness check) flags sparse levels for possible incompleteness.

## 3. Mode selection confirmation

- Default = artifact-check.
- Four explicit replication triggers: frame-level-defect-suspected, prior-catch-rate-floor-breached (E9 signal via Frame Registry), RAM-ledger-incomplete-on-frame-critical-step, high-stakes-claim-uninferable-from-artifact.
- Every replication declares bounded-question + source-set + stop-condition BEFORE starting.
- >30% replication-rate self-flags to E6 Audit Charter Lock + E9 Self-Audit Resistance Monitor.
- Replication runs in the loaded Evaluator frame, never in RAM's frame.

## 4. Rule-checker-degeneration resistance

- Every finding MUST cite a catalog-ID from public `FRAME_CRITERION_CATALOG.md`. Findings without criterion-IDs are classified as rule-checks and must be converted or deleted.
- Subjective reasonableness is explicitly NOT evidence (Anti-Sycophancy rule, section 5 of RULE_CHECKER_ANTI_PATTERNS.md).
- Frame-capture protocol: finding citing RAM's-frame criteria (GRADE-*, Admiralty-*, CERQual-*, RoB-2-*) halts the level and forces frame-pack refresh.

## 5. Interface contracts honored

- IN: Frame Host (E3), Frame Divergence Gate (E8) HARD-GATE, Audit Charter Lock (E6), Frame Registry (read-only).
- OUT: Blind-Spot Mapper (E5), Independent Scoring Layer (E4), Evaluator Search Ledger (four record kinds: audit-query, audit-finding, audit-null, audit-refusal).
- NONE: RAM direct -- E7 Reopen Authority Enforcer owns the cross-silo reopen pipe.

Zero-overlap with RAM silo preserved: no path prefixed `ram/`, no read of any `state/ram/` artifact, no write to any RAM ledger. All references use the sibling `../../references/audit-doctrine/` path inside the Evaluator silo.

## 6. Flags and open items for downstream phases

- **Role-divider interlock (REAL-AC frame x RAM_S03).** E2's preconditions depend on E8 having verified role-divider acknowledgment. E2 itself does not re-verify; it reads the Frame Registry `role_divider.verdict` field. Downstream (Phase 7 orchestration) must guarantee that E8's seal logic correctly marks `REQUIRED_AND_MISSING_REFUSE` when the divider is absent.
- **Chilisa-Indigenous frame (seventh frame).** Treated as a first-class loaded frame in criterion families (CHILISA-CL-*, CHILISA-SRC-*, CHILISA-MTH-*). Frame pack at `evaluator/references/frame-methodology-packs/chilisa-indigenous/` must exist at runtime or E2 refuses. Phase 4 Frame Host HANDOFF owns the pack-presence guarantee.
- **30% replication-rate signal semantics.** The threshold is a SIGNAL to E6/E9 -- not an auto-halt. If either the Charter Lock workflow or the Resistance Monitor workflow changes the semantics (e.g., to an auto-halt), MODE_SELECTION_RULES section 7 requires update.
- **Catalog co-ownership.** `FRAME_CRITERION_CATALOG.md` is public (cited by E2 + E4 + E5). Versioning and IDs must remain stable across all three skills. Any addition/renumbering is a multi-skill coordinated change.
- **Render authority.** E4 Independent Scoring Layer owns Evaluator Search Ledger render. E2 writes records but never renders. AUDIT_ARTIFACT template is the in-memory shape, NOT the final rendered output.

## 7. Discipline recap (RECENCY)

Multi-level audit is LOAD-BEARING. Frame is loaded, not chosen. Mode choice is per-question and logged. Procedural correctness check alone = FAILURE. Subjective reasonableness is NOT evidence. Replication scope is bounded; E6 enforces. Findings are not collapsed. Refusals are honest. Double hyphens in prose. **Multi-level audit is LOAD-BEARING.**
