Create-Images Operator Log

An owner decision pulled the last of the disclosure machinery out of svg-generator.mjs. No spec read, no metadata block, no ACTIVE_DISCLOSURE state. The --disclosure-spec flag is swallowed with a note so a stale caller never breaks. The generator now reads nothing outside its own repository. Two hardening fixes stayed: realpath entry-point detection, and unknown-flag rejection after a stray flag once became the output filename. Suite 7/7.

An owner decision removed Tier-1 check SVG-T1-009 and the --require-disclosure flag. SVG checks fell back to nine, so the lab's nine-check schema matched again with no lab change. loadDisclosureSpec now returns null instead of throwing. A missing, unreadable or invalid spec yields a plain unmarked SVG, so generation can never fail on provenance state. Tier-1 suite 9/9, generator 11/11.

Phase B of the disclosure gate under an owner decision. svg-generator.mjs emits one IPTC DigitalSourceType block as the first child of every SVG. Values come from a control-plane spec held in the lab. New Tier-1 check SVG-T1-009 requires any present metadata to match the spec exactly, and legacy assets still pass. The existing strip mandate IMG-T1-005 would have deleted it, so stripping now preserves the disclosure namespaces. 14 new regressions across both suites.

IMG-T1-006 was reconciled with the live publishFromJson() contract. Hero validation now demands a lowercase slug and the exact basename hero-{slug}.svg, so a hero from a different article fails. Every SVG uses the documented 50KB cap and non-SVG assets keep the older dated rule. The validator also stopped advertising a --fix mode that did not exist. Eight regressions added, and both live heroes pass 9/9.

Hero generation splits into two capability lanes, and the provider is a swappable detail. structural-svg is the stable default for system and architecture heroes. editorial-raster evokes a feeling and never states facts. It stays documented and not stable until the R01 provenance wiring lands. A new heroLane field carries the choice. Gates RAS-001 to RAS-006 run only on the raster lane.

The Swiss spec-sheet register became the canonical system for structured body figures. 03-TEMPLATES/spec-sheet.md holds eight templates, from spec-flow through spec-diagram. Routing changed with it. Structured figures emit visualType html component data. Bespoke diagrams use SVG line art inside spec chrome, and the legacy A to N SVGs are fallback only. One register per figure and a 680px mobile check are both blocking gates.

Brand tokens were reconciled against the live hendry.ai design system and svg-generator.mjs. The generator already emitted Instrument Serif, which the spec never mentioned. Mono went from JetBrains to IBM Plex Mono across three files and the golden SVG. The accent hex moved from #410EB7 to #534AB7, including inside validate_tier1.py. Two reference hexes stay flagged until the live CMS confirms them. Tracking files caught up from v4.1.0.

The impeccable skill was vendored into the engine as 01-RULES/impeccable.md. It names six design-law bans: side-stripe accents, hero-metric trios, identical card grids, gradients, captions that restate the figure, and em dashes. An AI-slop test sits alongside them. Exit gate IMP-001 to IMP-006 enforces the set. Flow, stack, hub and two-panel patterns route to HTML components with CSS-grid arrows. Freehand SVG is reserved for bespoke illustration.

Hero spec reworked for 760px article body render width. ViewBox stays 1200x675 (OG-image ready) but all font, stroke, and clearance minimums tuned for 0.633x downscale. Articles render hero SVGs at 760px wide — previous minimums (28/20/18px) were unreadable at actual display size. New minimums: titles 38px+, headings 26px+, body 22px+, absolute floor 18px. Primitive library added (P1-P8): Content Box, Schema Card, Document Icon, Flow Arrow, Browser Frame, Database Cylinder, Stat Callout, Dashed Connection. Golden example: hero-zone-architecture.svg. Sub-18px text banned. Hardcoded hex banned — all colors via design tokens.

Major version upgrade. Now SVG-only and model-agnostic — removed all multi-model tool-routing code. Two distinct visual systems: hero SVGs (freeform compositions, solid fills, inverted text) vs body SVGs (programmatic generation via a dedicated generator script, tinted surfaces, dark text). Programmatic generator provides 6 inline templates (flow, comparison, timeline, stat, barChart, grid) with JSON schema input — agent describes data, generator produces consistent SVGs. All SVG templates migrated to CSS custom properties for theme adaptability. Hero spec rebuilt: 5 composition patterns (A-E), codified visual tokens, consolidated from 4 files into one. Exit gate simplified to 8 checks. Deprecated all model-specific guideline files and the tool selection matrix.

Major version upgrade. Input changed from HTML VIP div blocks to headless CMS article visuals array and hero fields. Output via CMS API instead of HTML figure replacement. Exit gate updated: '0 VIP entries in fields' replaces '0 VIP divs in HTML'. All SVG generation rules preserved — templates A-N, geometry, brand colors, font rules, perception rules, 9 exit gate checks all unchanged. Only the input/output contract changed.

Three structural fixes for recurring SVG alignment errors. (1) Proportional text spacing formula replaces fixed lookup table — clamp(16, round(box_height/(num_lines+2)), 28) scales with box height instead of using hardcoded values per line count. (2) EG-009 arrow breathing arithmetic — every arrow must show math in an SVG comment before placement. 9 exit gates (was 8). (3) Mandatory arithmetic comments for all boxes and arrows — forces the agent to compute coordinates before writing them. Visual self-review loop added as Step 4.5: agent renders SVGs in preview server and inspects screenshots before presenting to user. Arrows with arithmetic comments were correct on first attempt — most effective alignment rule so far.

Create-Images can now receive structured feedback from Create-Compiler. The Feedback Receiving Protocol processes Tier 0 reverse manifest entries at session start (before Step 1). Each entry adds or strengthens a validation rule in the image engine. Misroute detection rejects Tier 1 and Tier 2 entries (those belong to Create-Articles). This completes the feedback loop: Compiler detects an SVG issue, classifies it as Tier 0 (preventable), writes a reverse manifest, and Create-Images absorbs the new rule on its next run.

Two versions hardening SVG output quality. Rule 11 (Inline Centering, v2.0.20): every SVG must include inline centering styles (display: block; margin: 0 auto). The recurring left-alignment bug appeared across multiple templates and hero images. Solved permanently by making centering a structural requirement with an exit gate check. Exit Gate added: 6 checks (EG-001 to EG-006) that must pass before any SVG is emitted. Text Centering Enforcement (v2.0.21): mandatory centering formula with arithmetic self-check.

When an article had existing inline SVGs from a previous draft, the agent skipped hero SVG generation entirely. Existing inline SVGs do not satisfy the hero requirement. Added a mandatory Image Scan Summary at Step 1 that forces explicit enumeration: hero VIP found or not, inline VIPs counted, hero status explicitly tracked as NEEDS GENERATION or ALREADY SVG.

First-pass hero SVGs consistently failed on layout and centering. After 12+ iteration cycles across 3 hero images in one session, codified the fixes as rules. Rule 8 (Fill the Frame): content must span 85%+ width and 75%+ height. Rule 9 (Center Everything): global and local centering with tight tolerance. Rule 10 (Edge-Based Arrows): calculate from illustration edges, not stage centers.

Template H figures were left-aligned with the article body text. Content starts at x=2 and text at x=30 inside the SVG. Inline styles were applied to four elements: the figure, the SVG, the source line and the caption. Each element carries its own alignment rather than inheriting it. The whole block lands on one left edge.

Hero VIPs always get a generated SVG now. Routing no longer chooses between the deterministic path and a generative one. The generative image prompt is still written into the output, kept as an optional manual artifact. The tool selection matrix was updated to match. One default, one escape hatch, and no per-run decision.

v2.0.8 moved source attribution out of SVGs into HTML. v2.0.14 moved it back for left-aligned templates (D, F, H, J, L) where HTML alignment broke. Meanwhile, Template A was enlarged to 900×267 and needed a font scale rule: wider viewBox means visually smaller text unless you compensate. Formula: scale_factor = viewBox_width / 540.

LLMs place SVG elements at mathematically correct coordinates, but the visual output looks wrong. Opacity 0.1 on cream backgrounds is invisible. An element at y=100 with 14px font has a visual footprint extending to y=92. Arrows using gap/2 math visually crowd source shapes. Built 7 core perception rules: visibility floor (minimum opacity by element type), clearance principle (visual footprint extends beyond coordinates), arrow breathing room, connection integrity (lines must touch shape edges), grid-text separation, proportional weight hierarchy, and context-aware contrast modes for inline vs hero SVGs.

Six versions in one day bringing 14 SVG templates from lab-tested to production-ready. ViewBox heights standardised (12px padding rule). Arrow spacing formula locked (space_unit = gap / 4). VIP ID passthrough for Create-Compiler matching. Source lines moved to HTML (later reversed for some templates). Timeline enlarged twice (600 to 700 to 900px). Template I–L added for featured timelines.

Four fixes landed together on 3 February 2026. A viewBox height formula replaced the ad hoc numbers. Arrow spacing became an explicit rule and text length got written guidelines. The golden example was corrected too, which matters because later templates are checked against it. All four are corrections to existing templates.

PAT-017 got a font size auto-fix. ViewBox scaling compensation came with it, so a resized frame does not shrink text below the floor. The image-prompt guidelines picked up one rule: no hex codes in prompts. A hex code in the prompt renders as literal text inside the image rather than as a colour. It came out of a rendered failure.

Create-Images exists because Create-Articles hit 84K tokens. Absorbed 14 SVG templates, PAT-010/015/016 validation, and tool routing from Create-Articles. Tool stack validated: Claude SVG for diagrams (exact brand colours, deterministic), Gemini for conceptual illustrations (best creative output), Grok Aurora for human figures (best prompt adherence). DALL-E dropped after testing. Result: 37,399 tokens standalone.

The first Tier-1 validation script landed on 31 January 2026, the same day the engine's foundation shipped. It is Python with Pillow. The checks are mechanical. Open the image, measure it, pass or fail, with no model asked for a judgement. A deterministic floor arrived before any of the graded checks, which is the right order.

Three versions tightening the boundary between Create-Images and its neighbours. VIP Prompt Fidelity (v2.0.23, EG-008): the exit gate now extracts named visual elements from VIP prompt text (arrows, arcs, labels, nodes) and verifies corresponding SVG elements exist. Triggered by a missing return arrow that the prompt explicitly requested. Exit gate at 8 checks. Rule Health Check (v2.0.24): cross-engine pipeline version sync with Create-Articles v7.9.35 and Create-Compiler v1.3.3. PAT-017 ID collision documented (same ID, different checks in two engines). Handoff Alignment (v2.0.25): source attribution standardised to HTML everywhere per contract v1.2. VIP data-vip-id required in all integration flows.