CMP-8 — A multi-step or data-entry task offers a non-destructive exit at every step, and in-progress work is preserved or explicitly discarded on interruption — never silently lost

Fails when: a wizard/dialog with no cancel/back at some step · navigation away silently drops typed content · an interrupted flow resumes from zero with no warning at exit time · escape/close discards a draft with no confirm (ties to CMP-2's mechanics)

Requirement

Every multi-step or data-entry task offers a non-destructive way to leave at each step — a visible cancel or back, not a discovered one — and the user's in-progress work is never silently lost. On interruption (a timeout, a network loss, an accidental navigation, a browser back), the work is either preserved and resumable, or explicitly discarded with a confirmation the user chose. "The draft is gone and nobody said so" is always a fail, regardless of whether the loss was technically avoidable.

Rationale

The harness's own flow pass advertises grading "escapability, and draft safety" (.claude/skills/flow/SKILL.md:3), yet its dimension-controls list named only CMP-2 (destructive-action consequence/undo), CMP-3 (async states), A11Y-2, A11Y-11, and SLP-10 — none of which governs draft preservation or a non-destructive exit per step. This is a harness-internal audit finding: a pass claiming to grade a dimension the catalog did not cover. Corroborating evidence: that run's evaluator observed the code preserves the draft on save-error (an ADVISORY finding riding entirely on CNT-1 copy, with no control cited for the structural preservation itself), and the golden eval evals/golden/003-broadcast-message.yaml plants "draft is (saved|preserved)" copy expectations while the structural guarantee behind that copy was ungoverned. CMP-8 names the structural guarantee so it is graded directly, not inferred from copy.

Passes when

Every step of a mapped flow has a reachable, visible cancel or back affordance.
On interruption (timeout, network loss, accidental navigation), in-progress input is preserved and the user can resume where they left off, or is told plainly what happened to it.
A discard action exists as an explicit, confirmable choice — never a silent side effect of navigating away.

Fails when

A wizard or dialog has no cancel/back at some step.
Navigating away silently drops typed content with no warning.
An interrupted flow resumes from zero with no notice that earlier input is gone.
Escape or close discards a draft with no confirmation (the confirmation mechanics themselves are CMP-2's; see Deconfliction below).

CMP-8 sits close to three existing controls. Each keeps a distinct, non-overlapping clause:

CMP-2 (destructive actions, L0) keeps the destructive-action consequence/undo clause — deleting a thing, sending something irreversible. CMP-8 covers the user's in-progress work (drafts, wizard state) and the ability to leave a flow at all. The two meet at one seam: an explicit-discard confirmation ("Discard draft?") is CMP-8's surface — it is the thing CMP-8 requires exist — but its confirm mechanics (naming the object, stating the consequence, sober tone) follow CMP-2. Grade CMP-8 for whether a non-silent discard path exists; grade CMP-2 for whether that path's confirmation is built correctly.
A11Y-11 (transition focus/announcement) keeps focus movement and live-region announcement per transition. CMP-8 does not grade how an exit is announced — only that an exit and a preservation/discard behaviour exist structurally.
SLP-10 (page vs. modal) keeps the structural-container question — does a complex multi-section task get a page, not a modal. CMP-8 does not grade container choice; a page-based flow and a modal-based flow are equally in scope for "can the user leave without losing work."

Why this is judgment

A flow is not a source construct. Deciding which steps make up a flow, where it can be interrupted, and whether an affordance is reachable and visible rather than merely present all require walking the flow as a user. No static or rendered check can enumerate the steps of a task that spans components, routes, and state, so the evaluator is the enforcement rather than half of it.

Evaluator guidance

One check, two readings, both yours:

Walk the flow map and, for each step, confirm a cancel/back affordance is reachable and visible, not only discoverable via an unlabelled gesture.
Interrupt the flow at a plausible point (mid-step navigation away, a simulated timeout or network loss), and confirm the user's input is either still there on return, or the user was told plainly what happened to it. Quote the specific step and the observed behaviour.

When grading an explicit discard action, confirm it is CMP-8-in-scope (the option to discard exists and is not a silent side effect) and separately confirm its confirmation copy against CMP-2 (names the object, states the consequence). Do not double-count the same finding under both controls — cite whichever clause the specific defect actually violates.

Do not flag

A single-step, non-destructive form with an obvious cancel — CMP-8 targets multi-step or data-entry tasks specifically, not every form.
An explicit, confirmed discard the user chose — CMP-8 requires the option to preserve or explicitly discard, not that discarding is always wrong.
A step whose cancel/back affordance is reachable and visible but styled quietly — the requirement is that a non-destructive exit exists and can be found, not that it competes with the primary action (CMP-5).