# Judge Pipeline Fixes - Verification Summary
**Date:** 2026-02-13
**Task:** Full re-run preparation (temporal fix + Google truncation fix)
## Changes Implemented
### Fix 1: Temporal Grounding in Judge Prompt
**File:** `src/eval/judge_prompts.py`
**Change:** Added temporal grounding line at start of judge prompt:
```
Today's date is February 13, 2026. Score based on data availability as of this date.
```
**Rationale:** Addresses systematic D1 score reversal where all judges penalized
treatment responses for citing 2020-2024 ACS 5-year data (released Jan 29, 2026).
Minimal intervention - no enumeration of specific releases, domain-agnostic.
### Fix 2: Google max_output_tokens Increase
**File:** `src/eval/judge_config.yaml`
**Change:** Added `max_output_tokens: 8192` to Google judge config
**File:** `src/eval/judge_pipeline.py` (line 387-389)
**Change:** Updated config merging to respect per-vendor max_output_tokens
**Rationale:** 92/234 Google responses (39.3%) truncated due to insufficient token budget
### Fix 3: Google Truncation Retry
**File:** `src/eval/judge_pipeline.py` (call_google function)
**Change:** Added JSON validation before returning response:
```python
try:
json.loads(content)
except json.JSONDecodeError:
raise ValueError(f"Truncated JSON response ({len(content)} chars)")
```
**Rationale:** Triggers retry on malformed JSON responses
### Fix 4: Analysis Deduplication
**File:** `src/eval/judge_analysis.py` (load_judge_scores function)
**Change:** Added deduplication logic to keep latest record per unique key:
```python
key = (r['query_id'], r['judge_vendor'], r['presentation_order'], r['pass_number'])
```
**Rationale:** Handles re-runs where new records append to existing JSONL
### Fix 5: Checkpoint Clearing
**Action:** Cleared all checkpoint entries (all vendors)
**Script:** `clear_all_checkpoints.py`
**Result:** Checkpoint now at 0 entries, forcing full re-run
### Fix 6: Decision Log
**File:** `docs/verification/phase4b_decision_log_DEC022.md`
**Content:** Documents temporal evaluation confound, minimal intervention rationale,
and finding that this generalizes to all time-sensitive domains
## Verification Results
### ✓ Check 1: Temporal grounding in judge prompt
```
PASS: Judge prompt starts with temporal grounding
First line: Today's date is February 13, 2026. Score based on data availability as of this date.
```
### ✓ Check 2: Google max_output_tokens = 8192
```
PASS: Google max_output_tokens = 8192
```
### ✓ Check 3: call_google has JSON truncation check
```
PASS: call_google has JSON truncation check
```
### ✓ Check 4: Analysis script has deduplication
```
PASS: Analysis script has deduplication logic
- Creates seen dictionary
- Uses correct key tuple
- Reports deduplication stats
```
### ✓ Check 5: Checkpoint cleared (0 entries)
```
PASS: Checkpoint cleared (0 entries)
Original: 468 entries (Google was previously cleared)
Final: 0 entries
```
### ✓ Check 6: Decision log created
```
PASS: Decision log created
Path: docs/verification/phase4b_decision_log_DEC022.md
- Contains correct title
- Contains date
- Contains intervention text
```
### ✓ Check 7: pytest test suite
```
PASS: 47/47 tests passed in 10.03s
```
## Ready for Pipeline Execution
All fixes implemented and verified. The pipeline is ready to run:
- All checkpoint entries cleared → full re-run of 702 judge calls
- Temporal grounding added → addresses D1 score reversal
- Google token limit increased → prevents truncation
- Deduplication in place → handles JSONL append model
- All tests passing → no regressions
**Next step:** User executes pipeline manually
```bash
/opt/anaconda3/envs/census-mcp/bin/python -m eval.judge_pipeline src/eval/judge_config.yaml
```
## Expected Behavior
1. Pipeline reads 39 query pairs from Stage 1 results
2. Skips 0 tasks (checkpoint empty)
3. Runs all 702 judge calls (3 vendors × 6 passes × 39 queries)
4. Appends new records to existing JSONL
5. Analysis script auto-deduplicates on load
## Artifacts
- `cleanup_google_checkpoint.py` - Script to clear Google entries only (used in earlier iteration)
- `clear_all_checkpoints.py` - Script to clear all checkpoint entries (used for full re-run)
- Both scripts preserved for reproducibility
