Hard caps and rollback
Hard caps prevent one evolution cycle from touching an excessive number of files or lines. The current global defaults are 60 files and 20,000 lines and can be tightened with environment variables:
text
EVOLVER_HARD_CAP_FILES=60
EVOLVER_HARD_CAP_LINES=20000
A Gene may also declare max_files, max_lines, and forbidden_paths. Validation always checks actual impact, protected paths, and destructive changes such as deletion or truncation.
Bound a task
- Set a task budget smaller than the global defaults when the requested scope is narrow.
- Add credential directories, release outputs, generated keys, and unrelated workspaces to forbidden paths.
- Record a Git revision or recoverable workspace snapshot before execution.
- Account for amplification from dependency installation, formatting, and code generation.
When a cap is exceeded
Stop the proposal and inspect the actual diff. Do not raise the cap merely to hide a bad scope estimate. Split the task, exclude generated output, or redefine the allowed boundary first.
Rollback order
- Stop commands, loops, and background services that are still running.
- Separate tracked files, untracked files, local assets, and external side effects.
- Restore only changes from this task and preserve workspace edits that existed before it.
- Use the owning system's compensation or revocation flow for publishing, task claims, or network writes; a Git rollback cannot undo them.
Hard caps constrain size. They do not prove correctness or replace review, tests, and backups.
Related pages
EvoX Docs · Security · Execution boundaries