fix(context): compute require_citations gate after max_chars budget

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -266,6 +266,10 @@ All notable changes to vouch are documented here. Format follows
   KB under `eval/fixture-kb/`, and an `eval` workflow gating retrieval changes
   (#226).
 ### Fixed
+- `build_context_pack` now evaluates the `require_citations` gate (and
+  `quality.uncited_items`) after the `max_chars` budget drops tail items, so
+  the pack is never failed for uncited claims the caller did not receive.
+  Fixes #174.
 - `parse_since` (the `--since` parser behind `vouch metrics`/`vouch audit`) now raises a clean `MetricsError` for a duration too large to represent (e.g. `--since 1000000000000d`), instead of letting an uncaught `OverflowError` traceback escape — restoring the documented "clean error, not a traceback" contract.
 - `sync_apply` now loads the sync source exactly once and passes the same `_SyncSource` instance into `sync_check`, closing a TOCTOU window where a bundle replaced on disk between the two `_load_source` calls could cause the validation and write phases to operate on different snapshots. Also eliminates redundant directory walks (KB sources) and triple tarball opens (bundle sources). Fixes #217.
 - `vault_to_kb` now passes `slug_hint=page_id` to `propose_page` so vault edit proposals target the existing page id from frontmatter instead of a slugified copy of the title (fixes #219).

src/vouch/context.py

@@ -82,11 +82,6 @@ def build_context_pack(
     budget_clipped = 0
     budget_omitted = 0
 
-    if require_citations:
-        for it in items:
-            if it.type == "claim" and not it.citations:
-                uncited.append(it.id)
-
     if max_chars is not None:
         total = sum(len(i.summary) for i in items)
         if total > max_chars:
@@ -100,6 +95,14 @@ def build_context_pack(
                 items.pop()
                 budget_omitted += 1
 
+    # Compute the citation gate over the items actually returned — after the
+    # max_chars budget has dropped tail items — so the gate never fails on (or
+    # reports in uncited_items) claims the consumer did not receive.
+    if require_citations:
+        uncited = [
+            it.id for it in items if it.type == "claim" and not it.citations
+        ]
+
     if len(items) < min_items:
         warnings.append(f"only {len(items)} items, minimum {min_items}")
         failed.append("min_items")

tests/test_context.py

@@ -38,6 +38,79 @@ def test_context_pack_has_quality_metadata(store: KBStore) -> None:
     assert pack["quality"]["ok"] is True
 
 
+def test_require_citations_only_considers_returned_items(
+    store: KBStore, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+) -> None:
+    """Regression for #174: uncited_items and the require_citations gate must
+    reference only claims still present after max_chars trimming."""
+    src = store.put_source(b"e")
+    for i in range(20):
+        store.put_claim(Claim(
+            id=f"c{i}",
+            text=f"padding claim number {i} with extra padding text",
+            evidence=[src.id],
+        ))
+    health.rebuild_index(store)
+
+    real_get_claim = store.get_claim
+
+    def get_claim_as_uncited(cid: str) -> Claim:
+        return real_get_claim(cid).model_copy(update={"evidence": []})
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(store, "get_claim", get_claim_as_uncited)
+
+    pack = context.build_context_pack(
+        store, query="padding", max_chars=80, require_citations=True,
+    )
+    returned = {it.id for it in pack.items}
+    assert pack.quality.uncited_items, "expected uncited claims to be flagged"
+    assert all(uid in returned for uid in pack.quality.uncited_items)
+
+
+def test_require_citations_ok_when_budget_drops_all_uncited(
+    store: KBStore, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+) -> None:
+    """Regression for #174: require_citations must not fail on uncited claims
+    the max_chars budget already removed from the returned pack."""
+    src = store.put_source(b"e")
+    for i in range(10):
+        store.put_claim(Claim(
+            id=f"cited{i}",
+            text=f"alpha cited claim {i}",
+            evidence=[src.id],
+        ))
+        store.put_claim(Claim(
+            id=f"uncited{i}",
+            text=f"beta uncited padding claim {i} with extra text",
+            evidence=[src.id],
+        ))
+    health.rebuild_index(store)
+
+    real_get_claim = store.get_claim
+    cited_ids = {f"cited{i}" for i in range(10)}
+
+    def get_claim_with_citation_state(cid: str) -> Claim:
+        claim = real_get_claim(cid)
+        if cid in cited_ids:
+            return claim
+        return claim.model_copy(update={"evidence": []})
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(store, "get_claim", get_claim_with_citation_state)
+
+    pack = context.build_context_pack(
+        store,
+        query="alpha",
+        limit=10,
+        max_chars=120,
+        require_citations=True,
+    )
+    returned = {it.id for it in pack.items}
+    assert returned, pack
+    assert all(cid.startswith("cited") for cid in returned), pack
+    assert pack.quality.uncited_items == []
+    assert pack.quality.ok is True
+
+
 def test_context_pack_max_chars_omits_items(store: KBStore) -> None:
     src = store.put_source(b"e")
     # Many short claims — total summary length > 100 chars.