midnight-verify:verify-by-cli-execution

Verify by CLI Execution

You are verifying a Compact CLI claim by running the actual command and observing what happens. Follow these steps in order.

Critical Rule

CLI output is primary evidence. The command ran and produced this output — that's definitive for behavioral claims. Source code is secondary evidence for internal claims that can't be observed via CLI.

Using midnight-tooling Skills as Hints

You may load the midnight-tooling:compact-cli skill to understand what flags exist and how the CLI works. This is a hint only — the CLI output is your evidence, not the skill content.

Step 1: Check CLI Availability

compact --version 2>&1
compactc --version 2>&1

If both commands fail (command not found), report Inconclusive (cli unavailable) and stop:

The Compact CLI is not installed or not on PATH. Install it via
Load the `midnight-tooling:install-cli` skill for installation instructions and retry.

If only one is available, note which one and proceed — some claims are about compact specifically vs compactc.

Step 2: Determine the Test Approach

Based on the claim, choose the appropriate test:

Flag Existence

Check if a flag appears in help output:

compact compile --help 2>&1 | grep -i '<flag-name>'

If found → flag exists. If not found → flag does not exist.

Flag Behavior

Compile a minimal contract with and without the flag, compare results:

# Get language version
LANG_VER=$(compact compile --language-version 2>&1)

# Create job directory
JOB_ID=$(uuidgen | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
mkdir -p .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID

# Write minimal contract
cat > .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/test.compact << COMPACT_EOF
pragma language_version $LANG_VER;
import CompactStandardLibrary;

export circuit test(): Field {
  0
}
COMPACT_EOF

# Compile WITHOUT the flag
compact compile .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/test.compact \
  > .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/stdout-without.txt 2>&1
ls -R .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/test/build/ \
  > .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/listing-without.txt 2>&1

# Clean compiled output
rm -rf .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/test/

# Compile WITH the flag
compact compile --skip-zk .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/test.compact \
  > .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/stdout-with.txt 2>&1
ls -R .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/test/build/ \
  > .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/listing-with.txt 2>&1

Compare the two directory listings to identify what the flag changed.

Output Structure

Compile a minimal contract and inspect the build directory:

# After compilation
find .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/test/build/ -type f | sort

Compare the actual file tree against the claimed structure.

Error Messages

Feed invalid input and capture stderr:

# Write intentionally invalid contract
cat > .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/bad.compact << 'COMPACT_EOF'
<intentionally invalid code targeting the claimed error>
COMPACT_EOF

compact compile .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID/bad.compact 2>&1
echo "Exit code: $?"

Check that stderr contains the claimed error message (or doesn't, if refuting).

Exit Codes

Run the command and capture the exit code:

compact compile <args> 2>&1
echo "Exit code: $?"

Version Info

compact --version 2>&1
compact compile --language-version 2>&1
compactc --version 2>&1

Parse and compare against the claim.

CLI vs compactc

Run both and compare behavior:

# Via wrapper
compact compile <args> > stdout-compact.txt 2>&1
echo "compact exit: $?"

# Via compactc directly
compactc <args> > stdout-compactc.txt 2>&1
echo "compactc exit: $?"

# Compare
diff stdout-compact.txt stdout-compactc.txt

Step 3: Interpret and Report

Compare the actual output against the claim.

Report format:

### CLI Execution Report

**Claim:** [verbatim]

**Command(s) run:**
\`\`\`bash
[exact commands with arguments]
\`\`\`

**Exit code:** [0 / non-zero value]

**stdout:**
\`\`\`
[captured output — full, not truncated]
\`\`\`

**stderr:**
\`\`\`
[captured output — full, not truncated]
\`\`\`

**Filesystem changes:** [new files/directories created, or "N/A" if not relevant]

**Interpretation:** [Confirmed / Refuted / Inconclusive] — [explanation of how the output matches or contradicts the claim]

Step 4: Clean Up

Remove the job directory if one was created:

rm -rf .midnight-expert/verify/compact-workspace/jobs/$JOB_ID

Do NOT remove the base compact-workspace — it is shared across jobs.