fix(validation): directional gating for copycat detection

[erfanMhi]

Summary

• Stops the copycat detector from zeroing honest victims alongside attackers
• Uses S3 LastModified to identify the later uploader as the copier; abstains when unresolved
• Archives per-miner upload times across the interval so cross-window attribution keeps working when a victim goes offline

Test plan

• 32 unit tests pass including 9 new directional-gating regression tests
• ruff + pyright clean on modified files
• Deployed to basilica-grail-validator with live log verification

Summary by CodeRabbit

Release Notes

• New Features

  • Copycat violations now include directional attribution identifying which miner copied from which.

• Improvements

  • Miner sampling now captures upload timestamp data for more accurate validation.
  • Copycat detection enhanced with better handling for unresolved attribution cases.
  • Updated test mode miner selection logic.

• Tests

  • Added comprehensive test coverage for directional attribution scenarios.

[coderabbitai]

Caution

Review failed

The pull request is closed.

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 85218864-1630-4cac-b5eb-ce7a2ca72681

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 82a701c and 2f881b7.

📒 Files selected for processing (5)

• grail/validation/copycat_service.py
• grail/validation/sampling.py
• grail/validation/service.py
• grail/validation/window_processor.py
• tests/unit/validation/test_copycat_detection.py

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Walkthrough

This PR refactors the copycat detection pipeline to incorporate S3 upload timestamp attribution. It introduces MinerCopycatSubmission bundling digest counter, rollouts, and upload time per miner, updates the detection flow to thread timing metadata from sampling through window processing to copycat analysis, and implements directional gating (flagging only the later uploader as copier).

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Core Copycat Detection Logic grail/validation/copycat_service.py	Introduced MinerCopycatSubmission dataclass and UploadTimesByHotkey type. Added _attribute_pair_direction and _PairAttribution for resolving copier/victim via S3 LastModified timestamps. Extended CopycatViolation with optional copier and victim fields. Updated ingest_window to accept submissions, _find_cheaters to gate only the resolved copier (unresolved cases suppress gating but log warnings), and both detect_cheaters methods to accept submissions instead of rollout counters.
Data Collection & Flow grail/validation/sampling.py, grail/validation/service.py, grail/validation/window_processor.py	discover_active_miners now returns (active_hotkeys, upload_times) tuple with S3 LastModified timestamps. Service threads this timing data to WindowProcessor.process_window via new uploads_by_hotkey parameter. WindowProcessor constructs MinerCopycatSubmission objects by joining digest counters and rollouts with upload times before invoking copycat detection. Service also refactored test_mode miner selection to use validator's own wallet hotkey instead of constant TRAINER_UID.
Tests tests/unit/validation/test_copycat_detection.py	Updated all ingest_window calls to use MinerCopycatSubmission format with explicit upload_time values. Adjusted assertions to expect cheater set containing only later uploader (copier) with validated attribution fields. Added TestDirectionalGating class covering directional gating behavior, role swapping by upload order, abstention on missing/equal timestamps, interval persistence, and regression cases.

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
    participant Sampler as MinerSampler
    participant Service as CopycatService
    participant Processor as WindowProcessor
    participant Copycat as CopycatTracker
    participant S3 as S3 API

    Sampler->>S3: Check active miners
    S3-->>Sampler: active_hotkeys, upload_times (LastModified)
    Sampler-->>Service: (active_hotkeys, upload_times)
    
    Service->>Processor: process_window(uploads_by_hotkey=upload_times)
    
    Processor->>Processor: Validate miners<br/>Collect digest_counters<br/>total_rollouts
    
    Processor->>Processor: Construct MinerCopycatSubmission<br/>Join with upload_times
    
    Processor->>Copycat: detect_cheaters(submissions)
    
    Copycat->>Copycat: _attribute_pair_direction<br/>(Compare S3 timestamps)
    
    Copycat->>Copycat: Gate only resolved copier<br/>Log unresolved cases
    
    Copycat-->>Processor: CopycatViolation<br/>(copier, victim, resolved)
    
    Processor-->>Service: WindowResults

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Estimated code review effort

🎯 4 (Complex) | ⏱️ ~50 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• feat: implement pair-wise copycat detection for miner rollouts #37: Implements the foundational pairwise copycat detection codepath with CopycatTracker and CopycatViolation; this PR builds on top by adding directional attribution using upload timestamps and updating the integration pipeline.

Poem

🐰 With timestamps from S3's halls so high,
We chase the copiers, uploaders sly—
Attribution flows through sampling's dance,
Till only the later uploader's gait plants
A "cheater" mark on the window's command! ⏱️

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch feat/copycat-directional-gating

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