spec: issue-3556 Pointers to spec sources in the AI coding session transcript

[migmartri]

Summary

The AI coding session material already lists its sources (tickets, documents, plans, images, skills) in a spec list, each pointing to a sibling material in the same attestation. The transcript also holds copies of many of these sources, so the evidence stores the same content up to three times. Inline base64 images make the session too large to show, and the secret redaction scans (and sometimes corrupts) them.

This spec makes the CLI, at push time, replace each exact copy of a spec-list source in the transcript with a small pointer to its material:

{ "type": "chainloop.replaced", "digest": "sha256:..." }

• Copies are found in file reads (digest of the file at the read path, so resized images still match) and in file writes (digest of the written content, so ticket and plan files match).
• Only exact digest matches are replaced. Everything else stays inline, the push never fails because of it, and debug output reports matched and unmatched copies per finder.
• The secret redaction skips base64 media that stays inline.
• The pointer is extensible to other content kinds later. Pasted images are left to a later spec.

We would like two reviewers to approve this spec before it merges.

Refs #3556

AI disclosure: this spec was drafted with the help of Claude Code.

🤖 Posted by Maximus bot (Claude Code) on behalf of @migmartri

[chainloop-platform]

PR validation — ✅ 3 passing

Status	Policy	Material	Messages
✅ Passed	pr-min-approvals	pr-info	-
✅ Passed	pr-description-required	pr-info	-
✅ Passed	pr-user-story-linked	pr-info	-

_{View attestation ↗}

AI Session Checks — 🟡 81% · ⚠️ 1 failing

Avg score	Sessions	Failing policies	Attribution	Files	Lines	Total Duration
🟡 81%	1	⚠️ 1	100% AI / 0% Human	1	+451 / -237	57m18s

🟡 81% — 100% AI — ⚠️ 1 policies failing

Oct 7, 2026 22:29 UTC · 57m18s · $25.79 · 672 in / 422.7k out · claude-code 2.1.293 (claude-opus-5-5)

_{View session details ↗}

Change Summary

• Drafts and iteratively revises a spec-only PR for replacing transcript copies of data.spec sources with chainloop.replaced pointers.
• Narrows scope from broader attachment handling to exact-copy replacement of already-captured sources, deferring pasted-image expansion.
• Updates the PR title, body, and review discussion around placeholder shape, material linkage, and open questions.

AI Session Overall Score

🟡 81% — Focused spec work, but planning and explanation loops kept reviewer attention warranted.

AI Session Analysis Breakdown

🟢 92% · scope-discipline

🟢 The work stayed on one spec, its PR text, and linked tickets. · High Impact

🟢 88% · alignment

🟢 AI restated the goals and then matched later scope changes. · High Impact

🟡 70% · context-and-planning

🟠 No shared plan or TODO preceded a long multi-revision spec-editing cycle. · Medium Severity

💡 For long spec revisions, write a short shared plan before opening the PR so scope changes have a stable baseline.

🟡 66% · user-trust-signal

🟢 The user kept the session collaborative while refining the design. · High Impact

🟠 The user had to re-ask the replacement rule and scope several times before the final simplification. · Medium Severity

💡 When explanations start looping, pause and ask for a one-rule restatement before continuing.

abstained · solution-quality

No notes.

abstained · verification

🟡 Verification and solution-quality are effectively N/A here because the PR only revises a design spec. · Low Severity

Missing criteria: solution-quality, verification

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File Attribution

████████████████████ 100% AI / 0% Human

Status	Attribution	File	Lines
modified	ai	docs/specs/issue-3556-session-image-placeholders.md	+451 / -237

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Policies (4, 1 failing)

Status	Policy	Material	Messages
✅ Passed	ai-config-ai-agents-allowed	ai-coding-session-383701	-
✅ Passed	ai-config-no-dangerous-commands	ai-coding-session-383701	-
⚠️ Failed	ai-config-no-secrets	ai-coding-session-383701	Secret (brave-search-api-key) detected in session content [turn=259, source=tool_result, line=1]: {"id":"PFM-7645","uuid":"1f67d917-8226-4874-a0b9-f790ad691b95","title":"AI coding session evidence is too large to show because base64 images are stored inline, some of them twice","description":"## W... Secret (brave-search-api-key) detected in session content [turn=45, source=tool_result, line=1]: {"id":"PFM-7645","uuid":"1f67d917-8226-4874-a0b9-f790ad691b95","title":"AI coding session evidence is too large to show because base64 images are stored inline, some of them twice","description":"## W... Secret (brave-search-api-key) detected in session content [turn=48, source=assistant-tool_use:Write, line=1]: {"content":"---\nkind: ticket\nuri: https://linear.app/chainloop/issue/PFM-7645\\nrole: task\ntitle: \"PFM-7645: AI coding session evidence is too large to show because base64 images are stored inline,... Secret (generic-[REDACTED:generic-password) detected in session content [turn=510, source=tool_result, line=118]: | ⚠️ Failed | ai-config-no-secrets | [ai-coding-session-383701](https://app.chainloop.dev/u/chainloop/projects/chainloop/versi... Secret (generic-password) detected in session content [turn=225, source=tool_result, line=14]: INF redacted secrets from the AI coding session before upload count=10 rules=["generic-[REDACTED:generic-password]"] Secret (generic-password) detected in session content [turn=510, source=tool_result, line=118]: | ⚠️ Failed | ai-config-no-secrets | [ai-coding-session-383701](https://app.chainloop.dev/u/chainloop/projects/chainloop/versi...
✅ Passed	ai-config-mcp-servers-allowed	ai-coding-session-383701	-

Security Checks — ✅ 5 passing

✅ secret-scan

Status	Policy	Messages
✅ Passed	secrets-detection	-

✅ sast-scan

Status	Policy	Messages
✅ Passed	owasp-top10-2025	-
✅ Passed	sast	-
✅ Passed	cwe-top25	-
✅ Passed	cwe-top26-40-cusp	-

Scans not applied (3)

Scan	Reason
vulnerability-scan	no manifest/lockfile changed
github-actions-scan	no workflow files changed
iac-scan	no IaC files changed

_{View attestation ↗}

Security context

✅ Nothing this change touches has a recorded security-fix history.

_{View in Chainloop ↗ · How this works ↗}

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