WFGY/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/Safety_PromptIntegrity/citation_first.md

Citation-First Prompting — Guardrails and Fix Patterns

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Citation drift is one of the most common ways LLMs lose trust.
Without cite-then-explain discipline, answers may sound fluent but detach from sources.
This page locks the workflow: every reasoning step begins from citations, not narrative.

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When to open this page

• Model produces fluent paragraphs with zero citations.
• Citations appear, but after-the-fact and unverifiable.
• References change between runs, even with same inputs.
• ΔS(question, retrieved) ≤ 0.45 but λ diverges when narrative precedes citation.
• Users complain: "Where did this answer come from?"

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Open these first

• Retrieval schema contract: data-contracts.md
• Trace alignment: retrieval-traceability.md
• Context collapse: logic-collapse.md
• Memory boundaries: memory_fences_and_state_keys.md
• Injection guard: prompt_injection.md

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Core acceptance

• Every answer starts with citations (no narrative before refs).
• Coverage ≥ 0.70 of the target section.
• ΔS(question, cited snippet) ≤ 0.45.
• λ convergent across 3 paraphrases.
• No hallucinated citations (must resolve to a retriever record).

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Fix in 60 seconds

1. Citation-first discipline

   • Always start with snippet_id, section_id, source_url.

2. Enforce schema

   • Required fields:

     { "snippet_id": "...", "section_id": "...", "source_url": "...", "offsets": [..], "tokens": N }
     

3. Reason only after citation

   • Explain or analyze after citation block.

4. Reject broken runs

   • If citation missing → abort answer, return error tip.

5. Stability probe

   • Run 3 paraphrases. If λ diverges, lock citation schema, rerun.

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Typical failure vectors → fix

Vector	Symptom	Fix
Narrative-first	Text precedes refs, unstable λ	Force cite-then-explain ordering
Fake refs	Hallucinated URLs	Schema lock + retrieval-traceability.md
Drifting refs	Different citations each run	Clamp λ with BBAM, validate ΔS ≤ 0.45
Silent fallback	Model drops refs under safety refusal	Apply SCU (symbolic constraint unlock)

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Probe prompt

You must output citations before narrative.
Schema: {snippet_id, section_id, source_url, offsets, tokens}

Rules:
1. Cite first. Explain only after citations are shown.
2. No answer if citations missing.
3. Log ΔS(question, cited snippet). Reject if ≥ 0.60.
4. λ must stay convergent across 3 paraphrases.

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🧭 Explore More

Module	Description	Link
WFGY Core	WFGY 2.0 engine is live: full symbolic reasoning architecture and math stack	View →
Problem Map 1.0	Initial 16-mode diagnostic and symbolic fix framework	View →
Problem Map 2.0	RAG-focused failure tree, modular fixes, and pipelines	View →
Semantic Clinic Index	Expanded failure catalog: prompt injection, memory bugs, logic drift	View →
Semantic Blueprint	Layer-based symbolic reasoning & semantic modulations	View →
Benchmark vs GPT-5	Stress test GPT-5 with full WFGY reasoning suite	View →
🧙‍♂️ Starter Village 🏡	New here? Lost in symbols? Click here and let the wizard guide you through	Start →

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