Hillclimb

Use for sustained iterative improvement, not one isolated defect. Ground the
path with how, choose a representative workload that
reproduces the complaint, one metric and direction, and a stop condition with
minimum attempts or independent confirmation. If no workload reproduces the
problem, fix the measurement before changing code.

Build a harness that distinguishes target and easier cases. Freeze its command,
inputs, sampling, and noise rule. Record baseline and passing correctness gates
before edits. Use show-me-your-work for an
append-only attempt log: hypothesis, change, baseline, result, noise, tests,
verdict. Preserve each failed attempt's evidence.

One attempt tests one mechanism. Give writers isolated ownership or use a
single writer. Root reviews the actual diff, runs the frozen measurement and
regression gate, and keeps an attempt only if improvement clears the noise
threshold while correctness holds. Otherwise undo only that attempt's own
changes; never reset unrelated worktree edits. Finish the check before the
next attempt. Combining near misses requires a new measured attempt.

When results plateau, revisit the architecture and try a distinct hypothesis
within budget. Stop at the declared predicate or a documented cost boundary;
do not relax the metric to manufacture success. Report baseline, final metric,
delta, attempts kept/rejected, retained changes, log path, and next plausible
idea. Opening a pull request requires its own user authorization.