[trissim]

Stacked on #3566 (base work/checkout-caller--P883). This returns --ci-inputs to the debt ratchet so #3566's two workflow lines can pass it again. #3606 took it away.

Summary: 1 commit, 4 files, +54/-33. One static stack clone deleted. mypy on the three touched tool files goes from 4 errors to 3, and no file grows.

What changed

• AgentCommsProject.clients: ClientSources is the one place that knows where the compared revisions' stack clients come from.
  • The default ClientSources() clones the head's declared stack once (StackClient.revision, cached).
  • MaterializedClients reads CI's per-side cuts.
• AgentCommsProject.from_arguments(root, commands) reads --ci-inputs DIR into MaterializedClients.read(...). It hands the remaining argv to audit.ratchet.main. Without the flag, behaviour matches main.
• ClientTypeErrors.parts(repo: AgentCommsProject, ...) asks repo.clients per compared side. Clients still only run when src/agent_comms/ changed, unless requires_clients() says otherwise (MaterializedClients returns True, because a companion repo can change while Core doesn't).
• tools/debt_ratchet.py still only names the project: AgentCommsProject.from_arguments(Path.cwd(), commands).
• Two tests still imported the deleted debt_ratchet.ClientTypeErrors / compare, so they were already broken at a7ab81e. They now build AgentCommsProject(checkout, clients=...) and call audit.ratchet.compare.

Deleted

• ClientTypeErrors.clients: a static clone, about 15 lines. ClientSources.at → StackClient.revision already does the same thing. Its no-any-return mypy error goes with it.
• Unused imports atexit. InstallCommands and StackSources stay because from_arguments uses them.

Two Side families (debt, named)

The ratchet passes audit.ratchet.Side, but ClientSources.at / MaterializedClients.cuts are keyed by agent_comms.head_review.Side. Both declare ref(base, head).

They can't be made one family in this PR, for two reasons:

• The audit's Family registers every subclass by snake_case name, so head_review.BaseSide(audit.ratchet.BaseSide) clashes on "base".
• head_review is on the CLI import path, and importing pinned_audit there costs about 125 ms per CLI call.

ClientTypeErrors.cut therefore picks the materialized cut whose own ref(base, head) selects the same revision as the compared side. It never pairs them by name.

The owner fix belongs in refactor-audit (OpenHCSDev/refactor-audit):

1. Family lets a member extend another root's member under the same name.
2. head_review's sides become those members.
3. The ref-matching in cut gets deleted.

mypy, base a7ab81e vs head

Run as mypy --follow-imports=silent tools/agent_comms_project.py tools/debt_ratchet.py tools/module_layers.py with PYTHONPATH=src:tools.

file	base	head
tools/debt_ratchet.py	1	1
tools/agent_comms_project.py	3	2
tools/module_layers.py	0	0

Probes, not tests

• from_arguments with no flag gives ClientSources and passes through ['--root','src','--base','a','--head','b'].
• A stub ClientSources shows cut(BaseSide) → the head_review BaseSide cut, and cut(HeadSide) → HeadSide.
• With only README.md changed, parts returns ().

Not run: pytest and the ratchet. The root runs tests/test_integration.py::test_real_client_checker_compares_the_matched_tuple_in_its_one_interpreter and tests/test_module_layers_clients.py together with #3566.

Assumed: CI passes --ci-inputs "$RUNNER_TEMP/paired-sources" to tools/debt_ratchet.py in #3566's workflow, as it did before a974c0f.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01RnH6dS2Kmg1WxNnAc78YHA

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