ROUND15 actual packet.14/30complete. Meteredtimeout/retry scenario.
R15-MR-01 — Uncertain Spend Must Stay Uncertain
Before dispatch, reserve the request’s maximum authorized allowance locally. The request receives a local operation ID, but that ID is bookkeeping unless the provider independently supports verified idempotency.
If the request times out after possible provider execution:
- mark it Outcome unknown;
- retain its reservation;
- retain the originating chapter/life/request context;
- commit no generated content or gameplay consequence;
- do not automatically dispatch a fallback or release the allowance.
Show a receipt:
Generation status: unresolved
Reserved allowance: [amount]
Provider charge: not yet confirmed
Game state changed: no
Retry available: pending reconciliation
If the player presses Retry while remaining unreserved allowance is insufficient, block a new billable dispatch. Do not pretend the uncertain first request failed merely to enable another charge.
Offer, in order: Check status/reconcile, continue with the authored non-generation path, or cancel waiting and continue without this generation. Canceling the wait does not assert that an external provider charge never occurred and does not immediately free an uncertain reservation unless reconciliation/support policy establishes that safely.
Most importantly, the purchased chapter's authored completion path remains available. Optional generation exhaustion, unresolved billing, or insufficient allowance cannot trap the player before the paid arc's ending.
After reconciliation, issue a precise final record distinguishing reserved, actually charged where knowable, released/refunded allowance, provider status, generated output acceptance, and game-state effect. A late result cannot mutate state automatically.
Strongest failure: conservative reservations prevent duplicate spend but effectively hold the player's allowance hostage indefinitely.
Smallest test: mock success-before-timeout, definite failure, unknown execution, late success, duplicate Retry, insufficient balance, and never-resolving status. Verify no second dispatch without authority, no premature release, no late mutation, accurate receipts, and successful authored chapter completion in every billing-failure case.
Round 15 preparation — not a performed review
F-R15-01: later metered operation lifecycle: estimate, reserve bounded maximum, dispatch authorized operation identity, receive durable result, reconcile actual charge, release only verified unused reservation. Timeout becomes unknown, not failure/refund. Do not resend costly generation as a new operation without resolving old result or explicit additional authorized allowance.
Bound whole job including transcription, reasoning, media generation, retries, storage/egress if billed. Provider idempotency may not exist; a client operation ID alone doesn't prevent vendor charge duplication. If cannot enforce hard ceiling, offer bounded provider-native quantity or disclose uncertainty and do not promise hard currency cap.
Stop before dispatch when insufficient allowance. If job already spent cost, no false refund from cancel. Preserve completed output/state locally when allowed and offer retry later or supported nonmetered continuation. Paid story should not strand at essential gate because optional companion tokens ran out. A render can remain incomplete without trapping game memory or purchased chapter.
Show a small truthful receipt: requested work, status, spent/held/available, result location or unresolved next step. Avoid exposing raw billing internals in normal play; make detail inspectable. No endless spinner, automatic balance topup, or repeated unknown spend. Reconciliation bounded by retry/time policy and escalates durable unresolved record rather than silent loop.
Test provider accepted thenconnectiondrop, duplicatecallback, cancelinflight, two simultaneous jobs competing allowance, staleestimate, partialoutput, restart, provider down. Assert no oversubscription of reservations, doubleapplication, lost usable result or falsefullyrefunded claim. Real billing/guarantees need live adapter verification later; mock math alone not proof.
Godz 2 Response [internal record ID omitted] Godz2:R15-01 — An uncertain request keeps its reservation
Before dispatch, reserve the enforceable maximum for the approved operation, including separately billed stages where applicable. After timeout, retain that reservation: the provider may have executed and charged even though no usable response arrived.
With insufficient unreserved allowance, Retry must not dispatch another billable request. It may check the original request’s status only through a supported reconciliation mechanism within existing authorization. A client request ID prevents local duplication; it does not establish provider-side idempotency. Reusing it permits safe resubmission only when the provider’s verified contract actually supports that behavior.
Show a precise status receipt:
“No response received. This request may have incurred a charge. Its allowance remains reserved; available allowance is insufficient for a new request. No new generation request was sent.”
Retain committed game facts and the request’s accounting identity. Preserve draft input only under the player’s retention choice.
Reconcile verified outcomes separately: completed response and known cost; confirmed nonexecution; or unresolved execution/billing. Settle the actual charge and release only the verified remainder. If uncertainty persists, offer support review under disclosed terms. Any operator-funded goodwill credit is a separate adjustment, not a declaration that the original charge disappeared.
Offer Continue with authored content, inspect existing records, or wait for reconciliation. Optional generation cannot gate the purchased chapter’s resolution. Later, a separately approved new request requires sufficient allowance and disclosure that the original may still be charged.
Strongest failure: timeout silently becomes “free retry,” or a billing hold becomes a story paywall.
Proposed test: simulate provider execution followed by lost response, repeated Retry, insufficient balance and delayed settlement. Verify no unauthorized redispatch, premature release, duplicate settlement or game mutation; then complete the authored chapter without generation. Mocks cannot prove real vendor billing behavior.
Godz 4 Response [internal record ID omitted]
Round 15 — Uncertain Execution Keeps Its Reservation
Godz4:R15-01 — Timeout means unresolved, not refunded.
Before dispatch, reserve the request's declared maximum allowance from the player's available service balance. Record the request identity, reserved amount, service category, originating life, and status before external execution begins.
If the provider times out after execution may have occurred:
- Keep the reservation held/unresolved.
- Preserve the player's prompt/request and any already committed game state separately.
- Do not record generated output or canonical consequences that were never successfully received and validated.
- Do not describe the request as failed/refunded merely because the client timed out.
If the player presses Retry while remaining unreserved allowance is insufficient, block a new billable dispatch:
“The previous request may still have used its reserved allowance. Its final cost isn't known yet, so another paid request can't start from this balance.”
Offer three non-billable paths: continue with the authored chapter, use an available scripted/local-supported fallback that does not change the purchased resolution, or wait/check reconciliation. The purchased chapter must remain finishable without another generation purchase.
Retrying with the same client operation ID does not guarantee provider idempotency. Only reuse/reconcile remotely when the provider's verified behavior supports it; otherwise another dispatch is a potentially separate charge requiring sufficient authority.
After reconciliation, record a receipt containing reserved limit, actual known charge where available, released remainder, provider/request reference when legitimately available, status, and unresolved/estimated fields explicitly labeled.
Strongest failure: timeout releases the hold, Retry spends the same allowance again, then the original provider charge arrives later.
Smallest test: mock success-with-lost-response, definite pre-dispatch failure, uncertain timeout, delayed charge, insufficient balance, and duplicate Retry. Verify reservations never disappear while uncertain, no unauthorized second dispatch occurs, and every case can still reach the authored chapter ending without paid generation.
Godz3 actual peercritique F-R15-02: replace draft label above with actual contribution now. Accept Godz2 operator-funded goodwill separate from vendor charge. Godz4 wait/check isn't necessarily nonbillable: provider polling may cost quota/money, bound under existing authority or use local status. GodzI 'game state changed:no' must be request-specific; prior committed actions survive. No blanketdiscard recoveredoutput because costuncertain: validate+retain usable output under permission, keep acceptance/game mutation separate. R11 promptretention opt-in; Godz4 preserveprompt always overbroad. Holds cannot silently persist forever: set bounded reconciliation window, user-facing escalation/adjustment policy, preserve honest unknown vendor liability. Distinguish prepaid product allowance from BYOK external provider bill. User allowance restoration can be operator-funded while vendor cost unresolved; book adjustment separately and don't authorize extra vendor spend without fresh reserve.