`grind` is defeated by trivial `List` goal
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Description
Prerequisites
- Check that your issue is not already filed:
https://github.com/leanprover/lean4/issues - Reduce the issue to a minimal, self-contained, reproducible test case.
Avoid dependencies to Mathlib or Batteries. - Test your test case against the latest nightly release, for example on
https://live.lean-lang.org/#project=lean-nightly
(You can also use the settings there to switch to “Lean nightly”)
Description
grind fails to prove the following goal:
example {l : List Nat} : l ++ [0] ≠ [] := by
grind
This fails running out of ematching rounds, with the diagnostics pointing at the lemmas List.append_assoc and List.cons_append. Removing them from the grind set causes grind to no longer run into the threshold, but it still fails to prove the goal.
I'm sorry if this is out of scope for grind, but it seems simple enough that grind ought to be able to do it.
Expected behavior: grind proves the goal.
Actual behavior: grind fails
Versions
Lean 4.30.0-nightly-2026-03-09 on live.lean-lang.org
Impact
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Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reproducing the minimal List Nat example with grind on the reported Lean nightly version, then inspect how the tactic handles List.append_assoc and List.cons_append during ematching. Done means grind proves l ++ [0] ≠ [] without exhausting its ematching-round threshold.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Domain
- compilers
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 55/100