Storage contract assessment gates

Score each gate 0 missing/incorrect, 1 partial or prompted, 2 independently correct with evidence, 3 justified transfer with limitations. Every gate must reach 2; no average overrides a failed requirement.

• ST1 — Record contract: trace lengths, byte order, bounds, checksum coverage, empty values and deletes.
• ST2 — Recovery: predict prefix states and distinguish incomplete tails from recognized corruption; explain ambiguous length damage.
• ST3 — Implementation: own starter passes supplied tests and independent cases; original disk adapter and offset index are demonstrated with restart evidence.
• ST4 — Compaction: prove state preservation for the full-history model and exhibit a partial-compaction tombstone resurrection counterexample.
• ST5 — Publication and cost: provide a replacement crash matrix, platform assumptions, offset rebuild evidence and separately defined amplification measurements; do not claim power-loss safety from reopen tests.
• ST6 — Retained transfer: after 48 hours, solve a fresh recovery/compaction case without solutions and explain what changes when replication or old snapshots retain versions.

Budget 6–8 hours for assessment and repairs; passive waiting is excluded. Keep first attempt, evidence paths, score, assistance declaration and fresh retest. Automated checks do not establish independence. Original B+ tree, LSM, Bloom-filter and query-plan requirements still apply. Use calibration after attempting.