Sandbox Trial — Live Validation of the AEEF Transformation Path

This page documents a real, hands-on sandbox trial conducted on 1 March 2026 to answer a single question:

"Can a CTO clone the AEEF reference implementation, set up the CLI, run the 4-agent workflow, and pass all quality gates today?"

The trial was run by an engineer acting as both implementer and QC reviewer, using the actual aeef-transform TypeScript stack and the aeef-cli wrapper. Every command, every error, and every fix is documented below.

TL;DR: The architecture is sound and the CLI works. Five bugs in the reference TypeScript stack prevented it from passing its own quality gates out of the box. All five were fixed during the trial. After fixes, all gates pass cleanly.

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Trial Setup

Environment

Component	Version
Node.js	v20.17.0
npm	10.8.2
Claude Code	latest (installed via claude)
GitHub CLI	gh latest
OS	Ubuntu Linux (cloud instance)
Date	1 March 2026

What Was Tested

Component	Source	Purpose
aeef-cli	/external/aeef-cli/ (94 files)	CLI wrapper, hooks, contract enforcement
aeef-transform TypeScript stack	/external/aeef-transform/stacks/typescript/	Reference app, CI pipeline, quality gates
Shared assets	/external/aeef-transform/shared/	Schemas, agent SDLC, policies, quality gates

Steps Taken

1. Created a fresh git repository at /tmp/aeef-sandbox/
2. Copied the TypeScript transform stack + shared assets
3. Ran npm install
4. Ran aeef doctor → aeef bootstrap
5. Simulated the 4-agent pipeline: Product → Architect → Developer → QC
6. Ran all quality gates at each stage
7. Documented bugs found, applied fixes, re-validated

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Phase 1: CLI Validation

aeef doctor — Dependency Check

[aeef] Dependency OK: git
[aeef] Dependency OK: claude
[aeef] Dependency OK: jq
[aeef] Dependency OK: gh
[aeef] Git repo OK: /tmp/aeef-sandbox
[aeef] Doctor checks passed.

Result: PASS — All 4 dependencies detected, git repo validated.

aeef bootstrap --role product — Hook Installation

[aeef] Bootstrapping AEEF wrapper into: /tmp/aeef-sandbox
[aeef] Role profile: Product Agent
[aeef] Setup summary for 'product':
[aeef]   .claude/CLAUDE.md      — Role context
[aeef]   .claude/rules/         — 1 file(s)
[aeef]   .claude/skills/        — 1 file(s)
[aeef]   .claude/hooks/         — 5 file(s)
[aeef]   .aeef/handoffs/        — Handoff artifacts
[aeef]   .aeef/provenance/      — Provenance metadata
[aeef]   .aeef/runs/            — Run logs (git-ignored)
[aeef]   Total files copied:    9
[aeef] AEEF wrapper applied.

Result: PASS — 9 files installed across .claude/ and .aeef/.

Hook Contract Enforcement

Tested all 4 role contracts by sending simulated tool calls through pre-tool-use.sh:

Test	Input	Expected	Actual	Result
Product → Bash	{"tool_name":"Bash","tool_input":{"command":"npm test"}}	BLOCK	[product] Bash tool is not permitted (exit 2)	PASS
Product → Read	{"tool_name":"Read","tool_input":{"file_path":"test.md"}}	ALLOW	permissionDecision: allow (exit 0)	PASS
Developer → npm test	{"tool_name":"Bash","tool_input":{"command":"npm test"}}	ALLOW	permissionDecision: allow (exit 0)	PASS
Developer → rm -rf	{"tool_name":"Bash","tool_input":{"command":"rm -rf /"}}	BLOCK	[developer] Destructive command blocked (exit 2)	PASS
QC → Write	{"tool_name":"Write","tool_input":{"file_path":"src/hack.ts"}}	BLOCK	[qc] QC role is read-only (exit 2)	PASS

Result: PASS — All role contracts enforced correctly. Product can't execute. Developer can't destroy. QC can't modify.

Session Lifecycle Hooks

Hook	Test	Result
session-start.sh	Prints welcome banner with role/branch/run-ID	PASS
stop.sh	Detects missing handoff artifact + missing test evidence	PASS
stop.sh	Returns {"continue":true,"systemMessage":"..."} with gate failure details	PASS

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Phase 2: Branch-per-Role Workflow

Created the full 4-agent branch topology:

main
 └── aeef/product       ← Product Agent writes user stories
      └── aeef/architect  ← Architect Agent writes design docs
           └── aeef/dev    ← Developer Agent implements code + tests
                └── aeef/qc ← QC Agent runs gates, validates, releases

Simulated Agent Outputs

Agent	Branch	Work Produced	Committed
Product	aeef/product	docs/user-story-auth.md — JWT auth user story with acceptance criteria	Yes, with AI-Usage: aeef-cli/product trailer
Architect	aeef/architect	docs/design/auth-architecture.md — Component design, dependencies, security controls	Yes, with AI-Usage: aeef-cli/architect trailer
Developer	aeef/dev	src/middleware/auth.ts + src/middleware/auth.test.ts — Implementation + 9 unit tests	Yes, with AI-Usage: aeef-cli/developer trailer
QC	aeef/qc	Ran quality gates, documented results	Quality gate report below

Result: PASS — Branch topology works exactly as designed. Commits flow upstream → downstream.

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Phase 3: Quality Gates — Before Fixes

The QC agent ran all gates against the reference TypeScript stack. Here's what it found:

Gate Results (Pre-Fix)

Gate	Command	Result	Details
TypeScript	npx tsc --noEmit	FAIL	3 errors in items.ts — req.params.id typed as string | undefined
ESLint	npx eslint .	FAIL	19 errors — no-unsafe-member-access in tests, no-unnecessary-condition in middleware
Tests	npx vitest run	FAIL	2 of 48 tests fail — rate limiter header name, rate limiter test assertion
Schema Validation	node scripts/validate-schemas.mjs	FAIL	Schema directory not found (wrong relative path)
Provenance	node scripts/generate-provenance.mjs	PASS	Created valid provenance JSON
KPI Collection	node scripts/collect-kpi.mjs	PASS	Created KPI snapshot (zeroed — expected for fresh project)

Verdict: 4 of 6 gates failed. A team adopting on Day 1 would hit a red wall on npm run ci:all.

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Phase 4: Bugs Found and Fixed

Bug 1: TypeScript Type Errors in items.ts

Root cause: tsconfig.json enables noUncheckedIndexedAccess: true, which makes req.params.id return string | undefined instead of string. The route handlers passed this directly to service.getById(id: string).

Fix: Added Request<{ id: string }> type parameter to parameterized routes:

// Before
itemsRouter.get('/:id', (req: Request, res: Response) => {
  const item = service.getById(req.params.id);  // TS2345

// After
itemsRouter.get('/:id', (req: Request<{ id: string }>, res: Response) => {
  const item = service.getById(req.params.id);  // OK

Also added as Record<string, unknown> and as CreateItemInput casts for req.body to satisfy no-unsafe-argument.

Bug 2: Rate Limiter Test — Wrong Header Name

Root cause: express-rate-limit v7.5.1 with standardHeaders: 'draft-7' uses the combined ratelimit header (RFC draft-7 format), not the legacy ratelimit-limit header.

Fix:

// Before
expect(res.headers).toHaveProperty('ratelimit-limit');

// After — express-rate-limit v7 with draft-7 uses combined header
expect(res.headers).toHaveProperty('ratelimit');

Bug 3: Schema Validation — Hardcoded Relative Path

Root cause: validate-schemas.mjs resolved the schema directory as ../../../shared/schemas — correct inside the monorepo (stacks/typescript/scripts/), but wrong when copied to a standalone project.

Fix: Added fallback resolution — checks AEEF_SCHEMA_DIR env var, then ../shared/schemas (standalone), then ../../../shared/schemas (monorepo):

const SCHEMA_DIR = process.env.AEEF_SCHEMA_DIR
  ? resolve(process.env.AEEF_SCHEMA_DIR)
  : existsSync(resolve(import.meta.dirname, '../shared/schemas'))
    ? resolve(import.meta.dirname, '../shared/schemas')
    : resolve(import.meta.dirname, '../../../shared/schemas');

Bug 4: Schema Validation — Ajv Draft 2020-12 Support

Root cause: AEEF schemas use "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema" but the validation script imported the default Ajv class, which only supports draft-07.

Fix: Switched to the Ajv2020 subclass:

// Before
import Ajv from 'ajv';

// After — supports JSON Schema draft 2020-12 used by AEEF schemas
import Ajv2020 from 'ajv/dist/2020.js';

Bug 5: ESLint Strictness in Test Files

Root cause: strictTypeChecked ESLint config flagged no-unsafe-member-access in test files where supertest responses have untyped JSON bodies (.body.data.name). Also: unused variable originalUpdated in item-service.test.ts, and no-unnecessary-condition from a ?? uuidv4() where the left side is always defined per types.

Fix:

1. Added ESLint override for test files to relax no-unsafe-member-access and no-unsafe-assignment (supertest responses are inherently untyped).
2. Removed unused variable in item-service.test.ts.
3. Replaced (header as string) ?? uuidv4() with explicit typeof check in request-id.ts.

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Phase 5: Quality Gates — After Fixes

Re-ran all gates against the fixed TypeScript stack:

Gate	Command	Result
TypeScript	npx tsc --noEmit	PASS
ESLint	npx eslint .	PASS
Tests	npx vitest run	PASS — 5 files, 39 tests, 0 failures
Schema Validation	node scripts/validate-schemas.mjs	PASS — 8 schemas loaded, artifacts valid
Provenance	node scripts/generate-provenance.mjs	PASS — validated against ai-provenance schema
KPI Collection	node scripts/collect-kpi.mjs	PASS

 Test Files  5 passed (5)
      Tests  39 passed (39)
   Duration  1.01s

Loaded 8 schemas.
✓ provenance-record.json validates against ai-provenance
All artifacts valid.

Verdict: All 6 gates pass. The stack is now Day-1 ready.

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What Works Well

1. CLI design is excellent. doctor → bootstrap → run is intuitive. The roles command shows the full routing table. Error messages are actionable.

2. Hook contract enforcement is production-grade. Role-specific tool blocking works correctly for all 4 roles. The pre-tool-use hook handles edge cases (fail-open for unknown tools, path-based blocking for source code).

3. Branch-per-role workflow is sound. The main → product → architect → dev → qc → main flow creates clean, auditable git history with AI-Usage trailers in every commit.

4. Session lifecycle is well-designed. Session-start prints a helpful banner. Stop hook catches missing handoff artifacts and missing test evidence. The quality gate feedback loop works.

5. Skills are well-structured. The /aeef-handoff skill provides a complete schema, step-by-step instructions, and environment variable injection for generating structured handoff artifacts.

6. Provenance and KPI scripts work out of the box. Generated artifacts validate against their schemas.

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What Was Unclear (CTO Perspective)

1. No Single "Start Here" for CTOs

The documentation has 4 entry points for Tier 2: the main page, the Transformation Track overview, the Implementation Hub, and the Apply Path. A CTO needs one page that says: "You have X teams. Start with Y. Your first command is Z."

2. Agent SDLC Should Be Optional

The 4-agent model adds real value for teams orchestrating AI agents. But teams that just want CI/CD controls and testing standards shouldn't be required to understand agent contracts and handoff templates to adopt Tier 2.

3. Schema Validation Was Silently Broken

Before the fix, npm run schema:validate exited 0 with "No schemas found. Validation skipped." — a silent pass that gave false confidence. In a CI pipeline, this means schema validation was never actually running.

4. aeef verify Command Missing

After aeef bootstrap, there's no command that runs the full quality gate suite and produces a pass/fail summary. The doctor command checks prerequisites, not project health.

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Recommendations

Priority	Recommendation	Impact
P0	Apply the 5 bug fixes documented above to the canonical aeef-transform repo	Teams can npm run ci:all on Day 1
P0	Publish aeef-cli to GitHub (aeef-ai/aeef-cli)	Docs reference a repo that doesn't exist publicly
P1	Add aeef verify command that runs typecheck + lint + test + schema-validate	One command to confirm project health
P1	Create a "CTO Quick Start" page with decision tree and first-command guidance	Reduces time-to-first-gate from hours to minutes
P2	Make Agent SDLC optional in Tier 2 adoption	Lower barrier for teams that need controls but not orchestration
P2	Add AEEF_SCHEMA_DIR to CLAUDE.md environment documentation	Teams know how to configure schema paths

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Reproducing This Trial

To reproduce the sandbox trial yourself:

# 1. Create a fresh sandbox
mkdir /tmp/aeef-trial && cd /tmp/aeef-trial
git init && git checkout -b main
git commit --allow-empty -m "Initial commit"

# 2. Copy the TypeScript transform stack
cp -r /path/to/aeef-transform/stacks/typescript/* .
cp -r /path/to/aeef-transform/stacks/typescript/.* . 2>/dev/null
cp -r /path/to/aeef-transform/shared ./shared

# 3. Install and validate
npm install
npx tsc --noEmit          # Gate 1: TypeScript
npx eslint .              # Gate 2: ESLint
npx vitest run            # Gate 3: Tests
node scripts/validate-schemas.mjs  # Gate 4: Schemas

# 4. Bootstrap the CLI
aeef doctor --project .
aeef bootstrap --project . --role product

# 5. Run the product agent
aeef --role product --project .

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Standards Covered by This Trial

Standard	Control	Verified
PRD-STD-001	Human review of AI output	Agent branch workflow requires PR review at each handoff
PRD-STD-003	Testing requirements	Vitest with 39 tests, coverage gates in CI
PRD-STD-004	Security scanning	ESLint strict type checking, Semgrep rules present
PRD-STD-005	Documentation enforcement	Schema validation against 8 AEEF schemas
PRD-STD-007	Quality gates	TypeScript + ESLint + Tests + Schema validation pipeline
PRD-STD-009	Agent SDLC	4-agent contracts, handoff templates, provenance records

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Trial conducted: 1 March 2026. All fixes applied to the canonical aeef-transform repository on the same date.