mind: record the autofit all-ones ell_comps bug as shipped

complete/2026/08/autofit-mock-all-ones-ell-comps.md

@@ -0,0 +1,305 @@
+# autofit-mock-all-ones-ell-comps
+
+- shipped: 2026-08-13
+- repos:
+  - PyAutoFit
+  - PyAutoGalaxy
+- PRs:
+  - PyAutoFit#1471 `aea9a40` — fill mock sample placeholders from prior medians
+  - PyAutoGalaxy#569 `ee0f471` — let `MockResult` accept and forward `samples_summary`
+  - PyAutoMind#184 `3cd074e` — correct the prompt's root-cause theory
+
+## Summary
+
+PyAutoFit's mock scaffolding filled every parameter with a blanket `1.0`, which
+is an invalid `ell_comps` for any elliptical profile (magnitude must be below 1;
+`(1.0, 1.0)` is 1.414). Replaced with each prior's median via a shared
+`prior_median_kwargs(model)` helper, and widened `ag.m.MockResult` so callers can
+actually supply their own summary.
+
+The reported symptom — 7 aggregator integration scripts failing across
+`autogalaxy_workspace_test` and `autolens_workspace_test` — was **already gone**
+before this task started. It had been fixed workspace-side on 2026-08-10 18:54
+(`autogalaxy_workspace_test` #104, `autolens_workspace_test` #256), hours after
+Heart run 31356506626 sampled it. The ticket was filed against stale evidence.
+What shipped here is the library defect those commits worked around.
+
+## Root cause
+
+`af.m.MockResult.__init__` falls back to building its own summary when the caller
+passes a `model` but no `samples_summary`:
+
+```python
+samples_summary=samples_summary or MockSamplesSummary(model=model or ModelMapper())
+```
+
+and `MockSamplesSummary.__init__` filled it with `{path: 1.0 for path in self.model.paths}`.
+That dict backs both `max_log_likelihood_sample` and `median_pdf_sample`, so
+reading `Result.instance` on such a result raised.
+
+The crash fires inside `search.fit(...)`, at `mock_search.py:82`
+(`if self.result.instance is None`) — **not** in the aggregator, and with no
+database round-trip involved.
+
+## Traps — read these before re-treading
+
+Three claims in the original prompt were wrong. They are recorded because each
+one is a plausible-looking dead end someone will re-derive:
+
+- **"The path runs through serialization into the database and back out through
+  the aggregator."** No. The exception precedes `af.Aggregator.from_database`.
+- **"`_fit_fast` evaluates at `[prior.mean ...]`, which is 0.0 for `ell_comps` —
+  valid."** The *vector* is valid. The crash is on the next line, building an
+  instance from the **summary**.
+- **"`MockSamplesSummary.default()` uses an empty `Collection()`, so `_kwargs` is
+  `{}`."** True, and that is why the search-side summary is a dead end — but the
+  reaching path is `MockResult`'s fallback `MockSamplesSummary(model=model)`, a
+  different construction site.
+
+The original prompt's **"DISPROVEN — do not re-tread"** note about
+`parameter_list_with_physical_ell_comps` **stands**: `model.all_paths` and
+`model.unique_prior_paths` (used by `Sample.from_lists`) are both sorted by prior
+id, so the helper's index alignment is correct. Do not "fix" it.
+
+Also: the exception type is `ModelParameterException`, not `ValueError`.
+
+## Second defect found along the way
+
+`ag.m.MockResult` subclassed `af.m.MockResult` but omitted `samples_summary` from
+its signature, so `ag.m.MockResult(..., samples_summary=...)` raised `TypeError`.
+Callers could not avoid the bad fallback through it at all — which is why the
+workspace fix had to switch to `af.m.MockResult`. `al.m.MockResult` **is** this
+same class (re-exported by PyAutoLens, not a second subclass), so one change
+covered both.
+
+## How it was isolated
+
+Two controlled variants against library `main`, which separate the two
+independent causes:
+
+| Variant | Script parameters | `samples_summary` passed? | Result |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Original (pre-fix) | `prior_count * [1.0]`, `* [10.0]` | no | fails `(1.0, 1.0)` — the reported symptom |
+| A | `prior_count * [1.0]`, `* [10.0]` | yes | fails `(10.0, 10.0)` — script's own fill |
+| B | physical (`ell_comps` → 0.1) | no | fails `(1.0, 1.0)` — **library defect alone** |
+| Current `main` | physical | yes | passes |
+
+Variant B is the decisive one: with physically-valid fixture values the library
+fallback still produces the exact reported value, proving the defect is real and
+independent of the workspace fixtures.
+
+## Validation
+
+| Suite | With fix | Baseline | Verdict |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| PyAutoFit `test_autofit` | 1698 passed, 1 failed | 1694 passed, 1 failed | +4 new tests, no regression |
+| PyAutoGalaxy `test_autogalaxy` | 1081 passed, 0 failed | same | clean |
+| PyAutoLens `test_autolens` | 518 passed, 1 failed | same | no regression |
+| All 7 reported scripts | 7/7 pass | 7/7 pass | clean |
+
+Both residual failures are pre-existing and unrelated, and reproduce without the
+change: `graphical/functionality/test_messages.py::test_beta` and
+`potential_correction/test_iterative_interferometer.py::test__solve_joint_optimization__identity_damping_finite`.
+
+CI ran the unittest matrix on Python 3.12 and 3.13; both green.
+
+## Regression cover
+
+`test_autofit/non_linear/samples/test_mock_placeholders.py` — 4 tests built on a
+guard class mirroring the `ell_comps` constraint, so the regression is covered
+inside PyAutoFit with no `autogalaxy` dependency. Verified to fail 3/4 against
+unpatched code.
+
+## Reproducing the full stack from a cloud session
+
+The original prompt claimed the autogalaxy stack "could not be installed" in a
+cloud session and that reproduction needed a local environment. **It can be**, and
+this whole task was done that way:
+
+```bash
+python3.12 -m venv venv && ./venv/bin/pip install autolens   # pulls the dependency closure
+./venv/bin/pip uninstall -y autofit autogalaxy autoarray autonerves autolens
+export PYTHONPATH=<PyAutoFit>:<PyAutoGalaxy>:<PyAutoArray>:<PyAutoNerves>:<PyAutoLens>
+export PYAUTO_SKIP_WORKSPACE_VERSION_CHECK=1
+cd autogalaxy_workspace_test/scripts/misc/aggregator && python ellipse.py
+```
+
+Install the released stack first for its dependency closure, then shadow the
+libraries with source checkouts via `PYTHONPATH`. The `PYTHONPATH` route (rather
+than `pip install -e`) matters: an editable install is refused on Python 3.11
+because `autonerves` now requires `>=3.12`. To reproduce the original failure,
+check out `autogalaxy_workspace_test` at `40beb30^`.
+
+## Sizing note
+
+Filed as `medium`; the Bug Agent scored it **too-large (17)** on a 3-repo
+library+workspace coordination. Both were wrong once the workspace half turned
+out to be already shipped — the actual change was **small**: one helper, three
+call sites, one signature.
+
+## Not done
+
+Optional tidiness: having `MockSearch` inherit `samples_summary` from a passed-in
+`result` rather than silently defaulting to `MockSamplesSummary.default()`. No
+longer a correctness issue after this fix, and it touches ~55 `MockSearch` call
+sites, so it belongs in its own behaviour-preserving change.
+
+## Original prompt
+
+# 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.

complete/index.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Token-light navigation over the finished-work records (schema:
 only then grep a dated bucket. Curators: edit the band between the CURATED
 markers; everything below GENERATED is rebuilt.
 
-973 records across 7 buckets.
+974 records across 7 buckets.
 
 <!-- CURATED:START -->
 ## Highlights
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ _(curate hard-won records here — survives regeneration.)_
 - [autoarray-adapt-images-precondition](2026/08/autoarray-adapt-images-precondition.md)
 - [autoarray-input-validation-guards](2026/08/autoarray-input-validation-guards.md)
 - [autocti-util-dataset-export](2026/08/autocti-util-dataset-export.md) — no GitHub issue — worked directly from the draft prompt in a cloud session on explicit human instruction; the …
+- [autofit-mock-all-ones-ell-comps](2026/08/autofit-mock-all-ones-ell-comps.md)
 - [autogalaxy-assistant](2026/08/autogalaxy-assistant.md) — epic; human to close
 - [autogalaxy-profile-validation-guards](2026/08/autogalaxy-profile-validation-guards.md)
 - [autohands-firewall-allowlist](2026/08/autohands-firewall-allowlist.md) — auto-closed by the merge

dashboard.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ 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/`) | 136 |
+| [Backlog](#backlog) (`draft/`) | 135 |
 
 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)
 
@@ -95,10 +95,10 @@ Scoped but not started; some are not yet prompt files. Full detail in [`planned.
 
 ## Backlog
 
-**136** filed prompts, not started. Each section is sorted most-pickable first (priority, then size).
+**135** filed prompts, not started. Each section is sorted most-pickable first (priority, then size).
 
 <details>
-<summary><b>bug</b> — 40</summary>
+<summary><b>bug</b> — 39</summary>
 
 - [pre_build stages untracked files, publishing uncommitted human work](draft/bug/pyautohands/pre_build_stages_untracked_wip.md) — pyautohands · small · 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
@@ -111,7 +111,6 @@ Scoped but not started; some are not yet prompt files. Full detail in [`planned.
 - [Fix release-profile numerical inversion failures](draft/bug/health_fixes/numerical_inversion_failures.md) — health_fixes · too-large · supervised · high
 - [Fix release result/sample parameter-path regressions](draft/bug/health_fixes/samples_parameter_paths.md) — health_fixes · too-large · supervised · high
 - [`pixel_scales` given as an `int` (or `np.float64`) is never widened](draft/bug/autoarray/pixel_scales_int_not_widened_to_tuple.md) — autoarray · small · supervised · medium
-- [PyAutoFit `MockResult` fills every parameter with 1.0, which is an](draft/bug/autofit/mock_all_ones_parameters_break_ell_comps_guard.md) — autofit · small · supervised · medium
 - [Heart script_timing baselines are orphaned by path moves and filled](draft/bug/pyautoheart/script_timing_baselines_orphaned_and_window_filled.md) — pyautoheart · small · supervised · medium
 - [jax_grad scripts fail assertions locally that PASS in CI](draft/bug/autolens_workspace_test/jax_grad_local_assertions_fail_but_pass_in_ci.md) — autolens_workspace_test · medium · supervised · medium
 - [ConstantZeroth regularization is broken twice over — dead code presenting](draft/bug/autoarray/constant_zeroth_broken_dead_code.md) — autoarray · small · supervised · normal