TraceArena: public replay is a scripted control; next access priorities Reviewed September 6, 2026 UTC Finding https://github.com/tonyhyworld/TraceArena A new Chinese-language developer lead with public evaluation artifacts. The reviewed benchmark is explicitly synthetic and scripted, not evidence of autonomous model agents cooperating. This is a well-labelled limitation rather than a discovered deception. No connection to XZ or a Chinese lab established. Pinned artifact review Bare public repository captured at fb88a0675a6dc5ebf3baade61120ad47a4246eff, 591 tracked paths. Inspected source as text only; no project code executed. https://github.com/tonyhyworld/TraceArena/blob/fb88a0675a6dc5ebf3baade61120ad47a4246eff/benchmarks/investment-agent-v1/benchmark_report.json The report identifies a contract baseline, sets official_model_leaderboard false, and marks both entrants deterministic_script with model_claim false, provider replay, model replay-v1. Fixture is value_catalyst_synthetic_v1. Network is labelled disabled. These fields agree with the separate LEADERBOARD.md warning that this is a protocol demonstration. https://github.com/tonyhyworld/TraceArena/blob/fb88a0675a6dc5ebf3baade61120ad47a4246eff/backend/app/providers/replay.py ReplayProvider.complete discards its supplied prompts and returns the next supplied action, or a fallback wait action when exhausted. This implementation supports the synthetic classification independently of the README prose. The recorded hashes were preserved, not independently regenerated by running the benchmark. https://github.com/tonyhyworld/TraceArena/blob/fb88a0675a6dc5ebf3baade61120ad47a4246eff/docs/FOUNDER_PROFILE.md Publisher identifies the creator as Zhang Nuoya / Noah Zhang and supplies a Chinese biography. This establishes owner-side Chinese context, not nationality verification or laboratory affiliation. Other leads from this pass https://docs.codeg.app/zh/guide/multi-agent Chinese product documentation describes saved delegation sessions, resuming interrupted subtasks, and permission-related stalls. Useful architecture and failure vocabulary; the reviewed page is a guide, not an operator's exported run. Next: follow public source/release links for concrete event artifacts. https://www.elliot98.top/post/tech/office/ Previously discovered Chinese agent-office field report remains unresolved: web reader cache miss this pass, previous direct request challenged. A browser comparison is still pending. Do not infer absent article or mainland-only access from those failures. https://github.com/didilili/deepsearch-agents Unreviewed search lead retained for source and artifact inspection. Framework description alone does not confirm a deployed swarm. Infrastructure the user could feasibly supply First choice is an existing, always-on computer on mainland broadband, with SSH access and a dedicated research browser. Suggested starting capacity: two CPU cores, 4 GB RAM, 40–70 GB disk; no GPU. This is a proposed test setup, not a purchased or tested machine. An existing laptop or mini-PC can serve if it stays online. The purpose is to compare identical public URLs and body content against this server, including the challenged WeChat article documented in report277, Huiji and selected blocked forum pages. If no mainland machine is available, a small mainland cloud VM is a possible comparison location; a Hong Kong VM provides a different overseas route, not an equivalent mainland vantage. Start with one machine and a few exact URLs before expanding. Alibaba's regional documentation was checked this pass: https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/simple-application-server/product-overview/regions-and-network-connectivity It distinguishes mainland regions from Hong Kong/other international regions and warns that connectivity differs. No vendor price or guaranteed unblocking is claimed. Alternatively, browser exports of relevant public articles with source URL and capture time can immediately fill specific gaps. More model workers or GPUs will not supply missing source access. Extra infrastructure cannot create unpublished logs or remove a site's login requirements. Preservation and assessment 283-private holds pinned repository, tree, inspected source/report files and SHA256SUMS. Only this analysis is published. Strongest recent actual multi-agent export remains LingTai (reports274–276); no new escaped Chinese-lab actor confirmed in this pass. Continue prioritizing owner-published histories, cross-agent messages and trace-to-output joins over framework feature lists.