[spark-compete] fix(character): handle malformed JSON in voice_judge _load_corpus

[ifeoluwaaj]

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  "submission_target_url": "https://github.com/vibeforge1111/spark-character/pull/54",
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  "target_repo": "vibeforge1111/spark-character",
  "issue": {
    "type": "bug",
    "severity": "MEDIUM",
    "description": "handle malformed JSON in voice_judge _load_corpus",
    "title": "Unhandled JSONDecodeError in voice_judge _load_corpus crashes scoring pipeline",
    "actual_behavior": "_load_corpus crashes with unhandled JSONDecodeError if corpus files are malformed",
    "expected_behavior": "Should return empty list and let scoring continue gracefully",
    "repro_steps": [
      "Create a malformed JSON corpus file",
      "Call score_distinctiveness",
      "Observe unhandled crash"
    ],
    "affected_workflow": "T2 distinctiveness scoring pipeline",
    "category": "reliability"
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  "proposed_fix": {
    "approach": "Added try/except around json.loads to return empty list on parse failure",
    "files_expected": [
      "src/spark_character/voice_judge.py (+4 lines: try/except wrapper)"
    ],
    "tests_or_smoke": "PYTHONPATH=src python3 -c \"import ast; ast.parse(open('src/spark_character/voice_judge.py').read()); print('Syntax OK')\"",
    "summary": "Applied fix",
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    "branch": "fix/voice-judge-json-parse",
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    "url": "https://github.com/vibeforge1111/spark-character/pull/54"
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    "duplicate_notes": "PR #37 was closed without merge. No existing open PR for this bug.",
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Team: Sequence

Bug Summary

What: _load_corpus in voice_judge.py crashes with unhandled JSONDecodeError if the golden or foil corpus files are malformed.

Actual behavior: Any malformed corpus file crashes the entire T2 distinctiveness scoring pipeline with an unhandled exception.

Expected behavior: Should return an empty list and let scoring continue gracefully.

Repro steps:

1. Create a malformed JSON corpus file
2. Call score_distinctiveness or score_distinctiveness_async
3. Observe unhandled JSONDecodeError crash

Root Cause

In src/spark_character/voice_judge.py, line 52, json.loads is called without error handling:

def _load_corpus(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
    data = json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))  # No try/except
    return list(data.get("entries") or [])

Fix

Added try/except to return empty list on parse failure:

def _load_corpus(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
    try:
        data = json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
    except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
        return []
    return list(data.get("entries") or [])

Before (The Bug)

data = json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
# Malformed JSON → unhandled JSONDecodeError → crash

After (The Fix)

try:
    data = json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
    return []  # Graceful degradation

Files Changed

• src/spark_character/voice_judge.py — Added try/except in _load_corpus (+4/-1 lines)

Duplicate Notes

No known duplicate PRs.

Risk Notes

Minimal risk.