RC4.2: a repeat notice instead of blocking tool calls (engine sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.2-layered)

README.md

@@ -121,6 +121,11 @@ Streaming, tool calls, JSON and structured output, reasoning controls
 (`chat_template_kwargs.enable_thinking`, `reasoning_effort`), images and short
 videos are supported.
 
+When an agent repeats the same tool call and gets the same result, the engine
+adds a repeat notice to that result and lets the model think harder on that
+turn; it no longer blocks tool calls, which had left the model narrating the
+action it meant to take ([RC4.2](results/2026-10-12-rc4/RESULT.md)).
+
 **Profiles** (`PROFILE` in `.env`):
 
 - `4x1m` (default): up to four requests with up to 1,048,576 tokens each, the
@@ -256,14 +261,15 @@ comparison videos.
 ## The engine
 
 Atlas here is [`Enntity/atlas`](https://github.com/Enntity/atlas) branch
-`sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.1-layered` at `301479a2` (tree `ac5a080b`, pinned in
+`sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.2-layered` at `dfb9c26a` (tree `89e392a3`, pinned in
 [`install/atlas-source.json`](install/atlas-source.json)), built from three
 layers:
 
 1. Atlas-Inf `main` base at `6a3d24ec`.
 2. GLM-5.3-Flash support and optimizations (`upstream/glm53-flash`, at this
-   release `upstream/glm53-flash` at `0b515eec` plus the tool-value fix
-   `ade7b012`), which we intend to propose to Atlas-Inf after review. It started as
+   release `upstream/glm53-flash-20261012-rc4.2` at `d8a55e0f`: `0b515eec`
+   plus the tool-value fix and the repeat notice), which we intend to propose
+   to Atlas-Inf after review. It started as
    Reiner Schmidt's port
    ([Mango-kid/atlas](https://github.com/Mango-kid/atlas/tree/feat/glm53-dual-spark));
    the engine's `docs/porting/GLM_5_3_FLASH.md` has the history.
@@ -273,8 +279,8 @@ layers:
 
 These are published Enntity release snapshots, separate from current
 Atlas-Inf `main`. The pinned tree is RC4's measured tree (`exp/prose-rc4` at
-`c6089633`) plus the GLM tool-value fix and four CI-only upstream commits; the
-manifest's `layers` entries record the layering.
+`c6089633`) plus the GLM tool-value fix, the repeat notice and four CI-only
+upstream commits; the manifest's `layers` entries record the layering.
 
 ## History
 

docs/INSTALL-MANUAL.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ time. Run steps 1–4 on **both** Sparks with the same `MODEL_ROOT`.
 
 | Component | Pin |
 |---|---|
-| Engine | [`Enntity/atlas`](https://github.com/Enntity/atlas) `sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.1-layered` @ `301479a2` ([`install/atlas-source.json`](../install/atlas-source.json)) |
+| Engine | [`Enntity/atlas`](https://github.com/Enntity/atlas) `sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.2-layered` @ `dfb9c26a` ([`install/atlas-source.json`](../install/atlas-source.json)) |
 | Model | [`nvidia/GLM-5.3-Flash-NVFP4`](https://huggingface.co/nvidia/GLM-5.3-Flash-NVFP4) @ `423acf37583782c51c142d145aef733d72943d93` (MIT) |
 | Drafter | [`incoai/GLM-5.3-Flash-DFlash2`](https://huggingface.co/incoai/GLM-5.3-Flash-DFlash2) @ `7d74cdd881ed7e32c31175984a67823127b66cfe` (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) |
 | Native dependencies | FlashInfer `8eccd0c1`, CUTLASS `cf064d2e`, FlashKDA ([`install/flash_kda/`](../install/flash_kda/)), Rust 1.93.1, CUDA 13.0 |

install/atlas-source.json

@@ -2,24 +2,24 @@
   "schema": "sparkglm.atlas-engine-source/v2",
   "note": "The Atlas engine is built from the public Enntity/atlas fork at this exact commit; build.sh refuses any other tree.",
   "repository": "https://github.com/Enntity/atlas.git",
-  "branch": "sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.1-layered",
-  "commit": "301479a20612c91243266a3fc7eea3100b99ad59",
-  "tree": "ac5a080b608b6cbdf420db63d76906ea450392dd",
+  "branch": "sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.2-layered",
+  "commit": "dfb9c26a95c96faa9f94c44e23343b0f2b4f9db6",
+  "tree": "89e392a3d19535bf153d4cabe5d7ffee1e378382",
   "layers": {
     "atlas_inf_main_base": "6a3d24ecb891adac1fac8edeef92de29bb6f3e15",
     "upstream_candidate": {
-      "branch": "fix/glm-tool-value-markers",
-      "commit": "ade7b01281b422d2fefb16205685aabc3d46d9f4",
-      "note": "upstream/glm53-flash at 0b515eec (upstream/glm53-flash-20261012-rc4: the RC4 engine commits on a1c9b1bc plus four CI-only fixes, none changing GB10 runtime behavior) plus the GLM tool-value fix: the envelope-stuck guard (MAX_TOOL_BODY_TOKENS = 1024) recognized parameter values only by Qwen's <parameter=...> token ids, so it cut any GLM tool call longer than about 1024 tokens (finish_reason length, no tool call); GLM's single-token <arg_value>/</arg_value> are now resolved at startup and value bodies tracked by them."
+      "branch": "upstream/glm53-flash-20261012-rc4.2",
+      "commit": "d8a55e0f3fe10374272249da66c026563ad2b1a9",
+      "note": "upstream/glm53-flash at 0b515eec (the RC4 engine commits plus four CI-only fixes) plus the GLM tool-value fix ade7b012 (tool calls longer than 1024 tokens were cut: the envelope-stuck guard knew only Qwen's parameter markers) plus d8a55e0f: when the same tool calls return the same non-error result twice or more, the latest tool result gets a <REPEAT NOTICE> and that turn the xhigh thinking rung (unless the client set a budget), and <tool_call> stays open and unbiased; the loop detector no longer hard-masks <tool_call>, which had left GLM narrating its intended action as prose."
     },
     "sparkglm_only": {
-      "commit": "301479a20612c91243266a3fc7eea3100b99ad59",
-      "note": "The seven SparkGLM-only commits re-layered on the upstream candidate: FlashKDA/native sparse-MLA prefill bridges (the first, 661a26a0, now declares the KV-shard flag its native bridge reads, which upstream dropped as unused), GB10 display-carveout KV placement (latent pools only, ATLAS_KV_CARVEOUT_ORDER), and sharded latent pools (ATLAS_GLM_KV_SHARD, opt-in through SPARKGLM_KV_SHARD) sized and placed in the carveout. Fork-only; the carveout is used only with DISPLAY_CARVEOUT=1."
+      "commit": "dfb9c26a95c96faa9f94c44e23343b0f2b4f9db6",
+      "note": "The seven SparkGLM-only commits re-layered on the upstream candidate (26812d35..dfb9c26a): FlashKDA/native sparse-MLA prefill bridges (the first, 26812d35, declares the KV-shard flag its native bridge reads, which upstream dropped as unused), GB10 display-carveout KV placement (latent pools only, ATLAS_KV_CARVEOUT_ORDER), and sharded latent pools (ATLAS_GLM_KV_SHARD, opt-in through SPARKGLM_KV_SHARD) sized and placed in the carveout. Fork-only; the carveout is used only with DISPLAY_CARVEOUT=1."
     },
     "integration": {
       "branch": "sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4-layered",
       "commit": "5c523903c886d1abf2f4bda6a0af1cdf91c28523",
-      "note": "RC4 (tree ae5e79f8, the measured exp/prose-rc4 c6089633). This pin differs from it by the tool-value fix (spark-server only) and the four CI-only upstream commits; the decode path is unchanged."
+      "note": "RC4 (tree ae5e79f8, the measured exp/prose-rc4 c6089633). This pin differs from it by two spark-server changes (the tool-value fix and the repeat notice) and four CI-only upstream commits; the decode path is unchanged. RC4.1 was sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.1-layered 301479a2."
     }
   },
   "kernel_target": "glm-5.3-flash",

results/2026-10-12-rc4/RESULT.md

@@ -4,6 +4,26 @@ The image is `846ee9e1e501`. It runs engine `5c523903` on `sparkglm/atlas-202610
 `upstream/glm53-flash-20261012-rc4` at `ad047638` plus the unchanged SparkGLM-only layer. Its tree (`ae5e79f8`) is
 identical to `exp/prose-rc4` at `c6089633`, the build measured below.
 
+## RC4.2: a repeat notice instead of blocking tool calls
+
+The pin is now engine `dfb9c26a` on `sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.2-layered` (tree `89e392a3`): RC4.1 plus one
+spark-server commit (`d8a55e0f`). The profiles and the decode path are unchanged, and so are the receipts below.
+
+- **The incident.** In production, an agent on RC4.1 ran the same `grep` three times and got the same result each
+  time. The engine's loop detector then hard-masked `<tool_call>` for the next turn. Unable to call a tool, the model
+  wrote the action it meant to take as prose and repeated the same paragraph for 756 tokens, twice within a minute.
+  The mask has been in Atlas since its May release.
+- **The fix.** From the second identical round (the same calls with the same arguments, returning the same non-error
+  result), the engine appends a `<REPEAT NOTICE>` to the latest tool result and gives that turn the `xhigh` thinking
+  rung, unless the client set an explicit budget. `<tool_call>` stays open and unbiased: no mask, no negative bias.
+  Turning the mask off alone was not enough; the model then repeated the identical call.
+- **Before and after, same reproduction** (the agent's loop replayed on the pair): RC4.1 answered with a prose
+  loop of about 4,000 tokens; RC4.2 answers with a new tool call. On the same build the long tool call returns
+  intact, the prompt-logprob hash is `246cd1331b41`, and decode speed is unchanged.
+- **Thinking harder on every turn did not help.** Raising the thinking budget for every turn from 128 to 256 tokens
+  scored 11/13 on RigMark Quality both ways, but took 4.5× as long (2,204 s against 485 s) with 22× the reasoning
+  tokens. So RC4.2 raises thinking only on the stuck turn.
+
 ## RC4.1 hotfix: long GLM tool calls
 
 The pin is now engine `301479a2` on `sparkglm/atlas-20261012-rc4.1-layered` (tree `ac5a080b`). It is RC4 plus one fix,