Spec Literal Execution Agent Skill

Spec Literal Execution — no unstated transforms

Problem

An exact-match grader rejected output.txt (score 0.0) although the agent

believed it followed every spec clause and even re-read the file.

Root cause

Spec says "one line per product with quantity > 0" and never mentions

aggregation, yet the agent inferred "product = unique product name" and

summed duplicate rows (cherry 20+2 → 22, elderberry 11+6 → 17). The grader

treats each JSON object as its own product row: CHERRY;20 and CHERRY;2

must be separate lines. The added transformation — not the arithmetic or

tooling — caused the failure.

Fix

• Apply ONLY the clauses literally present in the spec. Each input record

maps to its own output line unless the spec explicitly says otherwise.

• Never add aggregation, dedup, rounding, or case changes "for cleanliness".
• If a spec filter (e.g. qty >= 10) is the only thing removing duplicates,

apply it per row — do not aggregate first.

Evidence

• FAIL: spec-format2-1 (0.0). PASS: spec-format1-1, spec-format3-1 (1.0) —

same duplicate-shaped data; the passing runs filtered per row with no

aggregation.