v5.6.0

Released as v5.6.0 (Oct 2026): today's safety net in both runs. The release figures come from a new 500-seed study (engine commit 5bf5bcc) in which both runs, with and without Compassionism, have today's safety net: SNAP (with its work rule for adults aged 18 to 64 with no child under 14, Public Law 119-21), the earned income tax credit and the refundable Child Tax Credit, paid on last year's income. "No program" now means today's US policy, and each change is what Compassionism adds to it. Plain-words report for Duke: dev/reports/v5-34-v56-release.md.

• Compassionism's measured gain moved little: by under one point for adults in every environment and horizon, and by 0.7 to 1.7 points for children; no result changed sign. The Stress Test is where the gain shrinks on every measure (by 0.2 to 0.8 points).
• SNAP's work rule adds almost nothing (at most 0.07 points on the gain); nearly all of the move is the safety net itself.
• SNAP's income limit is no longer read as a tax on all earnings (SNET.slope): the safety net's marginal rate is the slope of the benefit schedule, not its cliff.
• The attribution runs and the US-data check are still v5.3's, with no safety net; the pages say so.
• Each switch is off by default in the engine, and with all three off every figure of v5.5 is reproduced exactly (guard_test.js, snap_rule_check.js).
• merge_panel.py and backing_chart.py now keep the run's switches in the merged files' reproduce command.
• v5.5.0's notes are in CHANGELOG.md.

---