The setup corrupts both format.json and xl.meta, but xl.meta corruption is detectable at runtime — so mc admin info on the running pod immediately shows data1=corrupt, data3=corrupt. Every agent (10/10) runs this command early, gets the unambiguous answer, and ignores the monitoring artifacts entirely. The diagnostic puzzle provides zero signal.

The fix has three parts, all low-effort changes to setup.sh:

1. Fix the corruption method — corrupt only format.json (not xl.meta), using valid JSON with wrong disk UUIDs (not random bytes). This blocks both mc admin info and filesystem inspection on the running pod.
2. Make the monitoring classifier confidently wrong — point it at data1+data4 (truth is data1+data3), creating a false consensus trap that agents must see through after restart.

Task: Cross-Service PVC Snapshot Orchestration | UUID: 59932490-21ef-4882-81c1-64a2052d8db1 | Version: 25

V25 mean score is 0.458 with grader bugs in AC2 and AC5 accounting for most failures. Once those are fixed, scores will likely rise above the 0.70 threshold. AC6 — currently 0/8 pass, also due to a grader bug — is the natural place to add genuine difficulty to compensate.

The current AC6 compares latest data timestamps across restored databases and checks they're within 30 seconds. This is nearly redundant with AC3 (which already validates snapshot timing) and fails today only because of the same MongoDB readiness bug as AC5. Once that's fixed, AC6 becomes a near-freebie, since the 30-second threshold is too generous to distinguish quiesced from unquiesced snapshots.

Review feedback for Redis Cluster Slot Migration Deadlock (f925de8b, v70). The author asserted that the reviewer bot's findings about undisclosed requirements were false and did not impact the solution. We re-examined the grader, the environment, and all 10 eval transcripts.

A full task review with per-check breakdown and score analysis is also available.

Task: Ephemeral Debug Containers (a9b57469-d16d-4430-9d32-dcb2caea6be4)

Reverting task.yaml to v11 style will help (agreed), but the Gitea issue itself is also a factor. Right now it's a complete specification in a single document -- exact image destination, exact tool list, exact role name, exact ServiceAccount, exact permissions, exact LimitRange values, and exact guidance on how to handle legacy RBAC. Once the agent reads it, the task becomes a checklist with nothing left to discover or infer.

All 8 v13 eval runs follow an identical arc with zero strategic divergence: read task.yaml -> find Gitea issue -> ls /opt/apk-cache -> find Kaniko in Harbor -> build -> RBAC -> done.

Task: 4c070240-661d-44f3-b056-a612f8fc7804 (ephemeral-environments) Analyzed version: v110 (8 completed biggie-nebula runs) Current state: 97.9% average score (7× perfect 1.0, 1× 0.833) Target: <70% pass rate

v2 note: This revision is based on analysis of the actual v110 task files and full evaluation transcripts. The prior version (v1) was based solely on Discord thread context and contained incorrect assumptions about the pre-built image.

Base version: v46 (a6b6b25b-fbdf-4830-bd13-258c6bfd9948, downloaded 2026-02-19) Patch target: Make the task approvable per apex-arena acceptance criteria Approach: Minimal changes on top of v46; prefer author's implementation where both address the same issue satisfactorily

Task UUID: a6b6b25b-fbdf-4830-bd13-258c6bfd9948

Base version: v44 (author's most recent upload)

Patch applies to: all four task files (grader.py, task.yaml, setup.sh, solution.sh)

Dockerfile: unchanged