Normalize process rewrite sources

examples/ablation/diagnostics/agent_loop_deepseek_auto_rewrites_20260702.md

@@ -22,7 +22,34 @@
 | 91711 | no | yes | turn 1 / call 1 |
 | 237373 | no | yes | turn 1 / call 1 |
 
+## 50-Query Follow-Up
+
+After merging the wider `deep_search` evidence controls and auto-run rewrites, a fresh DeepSeek 50-query run reached `25/50`, up from the prior `23/50`.
+
+| Metric | Prior 50-query run | Post rewrite run |
+| --- | ---: | ---: |
+| Reach | 23/50 | 25/50 |
+| Mean turns | 4.14 | 4.00 |
+| Mean tool calls | 5.78 | 6.08 |
+| Mean first relevant turn | 1.70 | 1.16 |
+| Empty tool calls | 11 | 9 |
+
+Net new hits:
+
+- `1101278` - do prince harry and william have last names
+- `293992` - how many product lines does coca cola have
+- `208145` - how bicycle tire tubes are sized
+- `14151` - age requirements for name change
+- `91711` - child psychiatrist salary 2016
+
+Regressed in this live run:
+
+- `178627` - effects of detox juice cleanse
+- `45924` - average temperatures las vegas by month
+- `208494` - how big do newfypoo's get
+
+The live run also exposed a follow-up issue: DeepSeek sometimes appends a process word to the source phrase, e.g. `how is soil created from rocks weathering`. A source-cleanup rule strips trailing process words such as `weathering` before producing rewrites. With that cleanup, `237373` again reaches the gold document at turn 1 / call 1 in a targeted live smoke.
+
 ## Interpretation
 
 Prompt-visible hints alone were not enough: DeepSeek often generated nearby but non-gold rewrites. Running the deterministic rewrite hints inside `deep_search` removes that planning variance for cheap, bounded patterns such as dropping noisy numeric years and rewriting "created from" process questions into answer-shaped phrases.
-

src/synaptic/agent_tools.py

@@ -55,6 +55,18 @@
     r"(?P<verb>created|made|formed|produced)\s+from\s+(?P<source>.+)",
     re.IGNORECASE,
 )
+_PROCESS_TRAILING_WORDS = {
+    "breakdown",
+    "created",
+    "formation",
+    "formed",
+    "forming",
+    "made",
+    "process",
+    "processes",
+    "produced",
+    "weathering",
+}
 
 
 # --- Shared result shape ---
@@ -168,8 +180,7 @@ def add(candidate: str, reason: str) -> None:
     process = _PROCESS_FROM_RE.search(query)
     if process:
         subject = process.group("subject")
-        source = process.group("source")
-        source_singular = source[:-1] if source.lower().endswith("s") else source
+        source_singular = _normalise_process_source(process.group("source"))
         add(
             f"making {subject} {source_singular} pieces",
             "process questions often use answer-text verbs like making/forming rather than created",
@@ -182,6 +193,18 @@ def add(candidate: str, reason: str) -> None:
     return hints[:3]
 
 
+def _normalise_process_source(source: str) -> str:
+    tokens = source.strip(" ?.!").split()
+    while len(tokens) > 1 and tokens[-1].lower() in _PROCESS_TRAILING_WORDS:
+        tokens.pop()
+    if not tokens:
+        return ""
+    last = tokens[-1]
+    if last.lower().endswith("s") and not last.lower().endswith("ss"):
+        tokens[-1] = last[:-1]
+    return " ".join(tokens)
+
+
 def _node_to_summary(
     node: Node,
     *,

tests/test_agent_tools.py

@@ -214,6 +214,22 @@ def test_query_rewrite_hints_process_from_question():
     assert "small pieces of rock form soil" in queries
 
 
+def test_query_rewrite_hints_strip_trailing_process_words():
+    hints = _query_rewrite_hints("how is soil created from rocks weathering process")
+    queries = [h.args["query"] for h in hints]
+
+    assert "making soil rock pieces" in queries
+    assert "making soil rocks weathering process pieces" not in queries
+
+
+def test_query_rewrite_hints_preserve_non_plural_ss_source():
+    hints = _query_rewrite_hints("how is policy created from class")
+    queries = [h.args["query"] for h in hints]
+
+    assert "making policy class pieces" in queries
+    assert "making policy clas pieces" not in queries
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 class TestSearchTool:
     async def test_search_returns_evidence(self):