PyAutoLabs · Jammy2211 · Aug 13, 2026 · Aug 12, 2026
diff --git a/dashboard.md b/dashboard.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # PyAutoMind task dashboard
 
-<!-- generated by `pyauto-brain intake dashboard --apply` on 2026-08-11 — regenerate, do not hand-edit -->
+<!-- generated by `pyauto-brain intake dashboard --apply` on 2026-08-12 — regenerate, do not hand-edit -->
 
 Every task the Mind is holding, on one page: what is in flight, what is parked, and the whole backlog to pick from. Pick a line, then run `/start_dev <prompt-path>` to start it.
 
@@ -11,16 +11,17 @@ Tasks only — the organism's health lives with the Heart (`/health`), not here.
 | [In flight](#in-flight) (`active/`) | 8 |
 | [Parked](#parked) (`parked.md`) | 6 |
 | [Planned](#planned) (`planned.md`) | 7 |
-| [Backlog](#backlog) (`draft/`) | 135 |
+| [Backlog](#backlog) (`draft/`) | 136 |
 
 Live on GitHub: [open issues](https://github.com/search?q=org%3APyAutoLabs+is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen&type=issues) · [open pull requests](https://github.com/search?q=org%3APyAutoLabs+is%3Apr+is%3Aopen&type=prs)
 
 ## Start here
 
-**Highest priority** (filed as `high`) — showing 12 of 30
+**Highest priority** (filed as `high`) — showing 12 of 31
 
 - [pre_build stages untracked files, publishing uncommitted human work](draft/bug/pyautohands/pre_build_stages_untracked_wip.md) — pyautohands · small · supervised · high
 - [TRIAGE: needs manual review before routing](draft/triage/jax_zero_contour.md) — medium · safe · high
+- [PyAutoFit mock scaffolding fills every parameter with 1.0, which is](draft/bug/autofit/mock_all_ones_parameters_break_ell_comps_guard.md) — autofit · medium · supervised · high
 - [PyAutoLens RTD docs: three-regime restructure (multi_galaxy / group / cluster)](draft/docs/autolens/docs_three_regime_restructure.md) — autolens · medium · supervised · high
 - [Optimize pixelized Prodigy settings on the laptop GPU](draft/research/autolens_workspace_developer/pixelized_prodigy_laptop_gpu_phase_2_settings.md) — autolens_workspace_developer · medium · human-required · high
 - [Release does not sync __version__ stamps and workspace pins back](draft/bug/pyautobuild/release_version_sync_back_to_main.md) — pyautobuild · medium · supervised · high
@@ -30,7 +31,6 @@ Live on GitHub: [open issues](https://github.com/search?q=org%3APyAutoLabs+is%3A
 - [multi_galaxy package: new regime package in autolens_workspace](draft/docs/autolens/multi_galaxy_package.md) — autolens · large · supervised · high
 - [Tune the JAX multi-start optimizers into a standard option (MGE](draft/experiment/autolens_profiling/jax_optimizer_settings_tuning.md) — autolens_profiling · large · supervised · high
 - [Profile and speed up JAX likelihood-function compile times (all use](draft/feature/autolens_profiling/jax_compile_time_profiling.md) — autolens_profiling · large · supervised · high
-- [Optimize MultiStartProdigy for pixelized meshes on the laptop GPU](draft/research/autolens_workspace_developer/pixelized_prodigy_laptop_gpu.md) — autolens_workspace_developer · large · human-required · high
 
 **Quick wins** (small enough, and safe enough to run unattended)
 
@@ -95,12 +95,13 @@ Scoped but not started; some are not yet prompt files. Full detail in [`planned.
 
 ## Backlog
 
-**135** filed prompts, not started. Each section is sorted most-pickable first (priority, then size).
+**136** filed prompts, not started. Each section is sorted most-pickable first (priority, then size).
 
 <details>
-<summary><b>bug</b> — 39</summary>
+<summary><b>bug</b> — 40</summary>
 
 - [pre_build stages untracked files, publishing uncommitted human work](draft/bug/pyautohands/pre_build_stages_untracked_wip.md) — pyautohands · small · supervised · high
+- [PyAutoFit mock scaffolding fills every parameter with 1.0, which is](draft/bug/autofit/mock_all_ones_parameters_break_ell_comps_guard.md) — autofit · medium · supervised · high
 - [Release does not sync __version__ stamps and workspace pins back](draft/bug/pyautobuild/release_version_sync_back_to_main.md) — pyautobuild · medium · supervised · high
 - [EP hierarchical parent-scale collapse: cure the basin, or document the](draft/bug/autofit/ep_scale_collapse_basin_cure_or_caveat.md) — autofit · too-large · human-required · high
 - [`NFWTruncatedSph.potential_2d_from`: MGE potential fails `grad(psi)=alpha` self-consistency](draft/bug/autogalaxy/nfw_truncated_potential_accuracy.md) — autogalaxy · too-large · supervised · high

diff --git a/draft/bug/autofit/mock_all_ones_parameters_break_ell_comps_guard.md b/draft/bug/autofit/mock_all_ones_parameters_break_ell_comps_guard.md
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+# PyAutoFit mock scaffolding fills every parameter with 1.0, which is now an invalid `ell_comps`
+
+Type: bug
+Target: PyAutoFit
+Repos:
+- PyAutoFit
+- autogalaxy_workspace_test
+- autolens_workspace_test
+Difficulty: medium
+Autonomy: supervised
+Priority: high
+Status: formalised — NOT started. Root cause is narrowed to PyAutoFit's mock
+        helpers but the exact call site is **not** pinned; see "What is not yet
+        known". Requires an environment that can run the full autogalaxy stack.
+
+## Symptom
+
+Seven aggregator integration scripts across the two `*_workspace_test` repos fail
+with the same exception:
+
+    ValueError: ell_comps must satisfy ell_comps[0]**2 + ell_comps[1]**2 < 1;
+    got (1.0, 1.0), whose magnitude is np.float64(1.4142135623730951)
+
+Observed in PyAutoHeart Workspace Smoke run 31356506626 (2026-08-10), legs
+`autogalaxy_test / misc` and `autolens_test / misc`.
+
+Failing scripts (all `scripts/misc/aggregator/`):
+
+- `autogalaxy_workspace_test`: `ellipse.py`, `fit_imaging.py`,
+  `fit_interferometer.py`, `galaxies.py`
+- `autolens_workspace_test`: `tracer.py`, `fit_imaging.py`,
+  `fit_interferometer.py`
+
+## Why this is a real bug and not a bad shipped value
+
+The guard is correct and correctly placed. `validate_ell_comps` sits on
+`EllProfile`, the single base every elliptical profile inherits (`ag.Ellipse`
+included), and enforces `f = sqrt(e_y**2 + e_x**2) < 1` because the axis ratio is
+`q = (1 - f) / (1 + f)` — at `f >= 1` the ellipse degenerates to `q <= 0` and has
+no geometric meaning. `(1.0, 1.0)` gives `f = 1.414`, `q = -0.17`. Nothing should
+ever construct a profile with it.
+
+This is **not** the same failure as the sampler-draw legs (`guides`, etc.), which
+were fixed by PyAutoGalaxy#568 making `ModelParameterException` a
+`FitException` so searches resample. That fix does not help here: the aggregator
+rebuilds instances from stored samples outside any likelihood call, so there is no
+resample path to take.
+
+## Evidence
+
+1. **The value is a hardcoded fill, not a sampled value.** It prints as plain
+   `(1.0, 1.0)` — Python floats. The genuine sampler-draw failures in the same run
+   print as `np.float64(-0.7446446619131553)`. Different provenance.
+
+2. **Two places in PyAutoFit hardcode exactly this shape:**
+   - `autofit/non_linear/mock/mock_samples.py` — `MockSamples.default_sample_list`
+     builds `kwargs={path: 1.0 for path in self.model.paths}`.
+   - `autofit/non_linear/mock/mock_samples_summary.py` — `MockSamplesSummary.__init__`
+     sets `self._kwargs = {path: 1.0 for path in self.model.paths}`, which backs
+     both `max_log_likelihood_sample` and `median_pdf_sample`.
+
+   A blanket `1.0` is a safe placeholder for most parameters and an invalid value
+   for any `ell_comps`. `_make_samples` in `mock_search.py` already does the right
+   thing (`prior.value_for(0.5)`), so the fix idiom exists in the same package.
+
+3. **All 7 scripts construct `MockSearch` identically and never pass
+   `samples_summary`:**
+
+   ```python
+   search = ag.m.MockSearch(
+       samples=samples,
+       result=af.m.MockResult(model=model, samples=samples,
+                              samples_summary=samples.summary()),
+   )
+   ```
+
+   `MockSearch.__init__` therefore falls back to `MockSamplesSummary.default()`.
+   Whether that asymmetry (a real model in `MockResult`, a default summary on the
+   search) is the trigger or a red herring is the open question.
+
+## Hypothesis already tested and DISPROVEN — do not re-tread
+
+The obvious suspect is the helper copy-pasted into all 7 scripts:
+
+```python
+def parameter_list_with_physical_ell_comps(value):
+    parameter_list = model.prior_count * [value]
+    for index, path_tuple in enumerate(model.all_paths):
+        if "ell_comps" in path_tuple[0]:
+            parameter_list[index] = 0.1
+    return parameter_list
+```
+
+It looks broken — `all_paths` returns a tuple of `Path`s per prior and
+`Path = Tuple[str, ...]`, so `path_tuple[0]` is a path tuple and `in` is
+exact-element membership, which would not match a leaf named `ell_comps_0`.
+
+**It is not broken.** `ell_comps` has a tuple default, so PyAutoFit builds a
+`TuplePrior` attribute named `ell_comps`, and the path is
+`('ellipses', '0', 'ell_comps', 'ell_comps_0')` — it contains a bare `'ell_comps'`
+element, so the check matches. Reproduced by rebuilding `ellipse.py`'s exact model
+(two `Ellipse` models with fixed `major_axis`, plus the nested multipole
+collection) against installed autofit and running the real helper:
+
+```
+[2] ('ellipses', '0', 'ell_comps', 'ell_comps_0')   -> 0.1
+[3] ('ellipses', '0', 'ell_comps', 'ell_comps_1')   -> 0.1
+ellipses[0].ell_comps = (0.1, 0.1)
+```
+
+Index alignment is also fine: `all_paths` and `instance_from_vector`
+(`prior_tuples_ordered_by_id`) both order by prior id. **Changing this helper is a
+no-op — do not "fix" it.**
+
+## What is not yet known
+
+Which call site actually feeds the all-ones instance to the aggregator. Two
+candidates were checked and neither fits cleanly:
+
+- `MockSamplesSummary.default()` uses an empty `Collection()`, so its `_kwargs`
+  is `{}`, not a dict of 1.0s.
+- `MockSearch._fit_fast` evaluates at `[prior.mean for prior in
+  model.priors_ordered_by_id]`, which is `0.0` for `ell_comps` — valid.
+
+So the path runs through serialization into the database and back out through the
+aggregator, which is where it needs to be traced.
+
+## Suggested approach
+
+1. Run one failing script (`autogalaxy_workspace_test/scripts/misc/aggregator/ellipse.py`)
+   against the full stack with a breakpoint or traceback on the guard, and record
+   the actual construction stack. **This needs a real autogalaxy environment** —
+   it could not be done from a cloud session (autoarray/jax/numba would not
+   install there).
+2. Fix at the PyAutoFit mock layer: replace the blanket `{path: 1.0 ...}` with
+   prior-median values (`{path: prior.value_for(0.5) for path, prior in
+   model.path_priors_tuples}`), matching `_make_samples`.
+3. Mind the blast radius: `MockSamples`, `MockSamplesSummary` and `MockSearch`
+   have roughly 55 call sites inside PyAutoFit alone, plus the PyAutoGalaxy and
+   PyAutoLens suites. Run all three suites, not just PyAutoFit's.
+4. Consider whether `MockSearch` should inherit the `samples_summary` from a
+   passed-in `result` rather than silently defaulting.
+
+## Notes
+
+- Do not relax or move the `ell_comps` guard. It is correct.
+- Do not chase the `workspace-validation-report` artifact from a cloud session
+  (blocked at the egress proxy). Per-job logs via the Actions API carry the same
+  failures.
+- Sibling work already shipped: the one genuinely unphysical shipped literal,
+  `ell_comps=(0.5, 0.9)` in HowToGalaxy `tutorial_3_fitting`, was corrected
+  separately. An AST scan of 454 `ell_comps` literals across
+  autogalaxy_workspace, autolens_workspace, HowToGalaxy, HowToLens and both
+  `*_workspace_test` repos found no other violating literal, so this ticket is
+  the whole remaining `ell_comps` surface.
+- PyAutoHeart#27 is a different family (release-profile timeouts and a JAX
+  exception, 2026-07-06); it is not related.