Gregory Gibson writes about applying the Linux kernel's tool-generated content guidance to his vibe-coded Morse decoder app, CW Inspector. He used OpenAI Codex to build the app, then subjected it to the kernel's five transparency rules: name the tool, preserve inputs, keep the prompt trail, record exactly what the tool changed, and make the generated code prove itself. The process exposed a critical flaw — the decoder confidently produced a wrong answer (reading TTT E as SE) with zero errors, demonstrating that a clean run doesn't guarantee correctness.
- The original algorithm treated the shortest 55% of keyed pulses as dots, which broke on dash-heavy messages; the fix looks for a large ratio between short and long pulse clusters before recording dot duration.
- The author deliberately withheld the actual WAV file from Codex, providing only metadata and the expected message, to create an independent acceptance test rather than letting the model optimize against the exact sample it would later decode.
- The kernel's guidance applies only when a tool generates something substantial (functions, files, fixes, translations), not for spelling corrections, autocomplete, or variable renames.
- The original algorithm treated the shortest 55% of keyed pulses as dots, which broke on dash-heavy messages; the fix looks for a large ratio between short and long pulse clusters before recording dot duration.
- The author deliberately withheld the actual WAV file from Codex, providing only metadata and the expected message, to create an independent acceptance test rather than letting the model optimize against the exact sample it would later decode.
- The kernel's guidance applies only when a tool generates something substantial (functions, files, fixes, translations), not for spelling corrections, autocomplete, or variable renames.
