# agentic-sx — Phases 1–4 DONE, HELD at Phase 5 (handback)

Status: **196/196 green** (schema 65, branch 53, trace 35, durable 43).
Worktree `/root/rose-ash-loops/agentic`, branch `loops/agentic` (off `loops/git`).
Source `lib/agentic/{schema,branch,trace,durable}.sx`, suites
`lib/agentic/tests/*.sx`, runner `lib/agentic/conformance.sh`, scores
`lib/agentic/scoreboard.{md,json}`. Commits eff216ef → c66ee350, one per
phase. NOT pushed. Phases 5+ deliberately NOT started (per brief).

## What was built

The agentic structure IS the open-branch set of a repo: **one branch = one
agent**, seeded by a briefing. Pure assembly over `lib/git` + `persist` +
`relations` + `flow` — zero new substrates, zero third-party deps.

### Phase 1 — schema (`schema.sx`)

Objects are plain SX dicts, content-addressed via sx-git's native CID
(`git/cid` / `git/write` accept any `:type`d dict — the extensibility sx-git
promised downstream).

- **Type registry** `agentic/types`: object types `briefing`,
  `console-trace`, `behaviour` (TAG only — library HELD Phase 8) + commit
  kinds `agent-commit` (base) and subtypes `spawn`, `finding`, `refactor`,
  `test`, `session-merge`, `decision`. `agentic/is-a?` (reflexive,
  transitive, cycle-bounded), `agentic/register-type!` (create-only,
  parent-checked — how sx-gitea adds e.g. `review` kinds at runtime).
- **Agent-commits ARE git commits**: the kind rides in `:agent-type`, open
  fields (`:briefing :agent :message :behaviour-cid …`) round-trip and
  participate in the CID; all sx-git DAG/branch/merge machinery applies
  unchanged. `spawn` subtype added beyond the briefed five for branch
  genesis commits.
- Constructors/predicates/accessors for briefing, console-trace, behaviour;
  `agentic/agent-commit` validates its kind against the registry.

### Phase 2 — branch (`branch.sx`)

- `agentic/space db name` → `{:repo (git/repo-named …) :rels (relations db)}`.
- **spawn = branch-from-briefing**: `spawn!` (root, empty tree) /
  `spawn-from!` (forks at parent agent's head + asserts `sub-agent-of`
  edge) / `spawn-at!` (arbitrary fork cid). Writes briefing → genesis
  `spawn` commit (carries `:briefing` cid) → `git/branch-create!`
  `agents/<name>` (create-only; conflict dict on reuse).
- **The commit verb** `agentic/commit!`: snapshots a FULL worktree VALUE
  (path→data) via `git/tree-from-files`, builds a typed agent-commit
  (briefing + agent identity propagate from the head), advances the branch
  by `git/branch-cas!`. No shared index → multi-agent safe by construction.
- **Topology**: `agents`, `head`, `genesis`, `briefing-of`, `session-log`
  (own commits newest-first), `fork-point` = `git/merge-base` of heads.
  Typed edges over relations: `sub-agent-of` / `reviews` / `merges` with
  query wrappers (`sub-agents`, `agent-tree`, `reviewers`, `merged-sessions`,
  `merged-into`, generic `relate!`).
- **Session merge** `merge-session!`: always records an explicit two-parent
  `session-merge` commit (no-ff — the merge is itself an agent action with
  metadata `:merged-agent`), via `git/merge-commits`; `up-to-date` passes
  through; conflicts commit NOTHING and conclude via `merge-resolve!`
  (resolved worktree → same two-parent shape). Asserts the `merges` edge.

### Phase 3 — trace (`trace.sx`)

- Per-agent buffer = **persist append-only log stream**
  (`<prefix>/trace/<agent>`) + kv drain cursor. `agentic/trace! sp agent
  kind text` appends; `trace-pending` reads since last drain.
- `commit-with-trace!` = `commit!` + drain everything-since-last-commit into
  a `console-trace` object `{:commit cid :agent :entries}` bound **git-note
  style**: ref `notes/trace/<commit-cid>` → trace cid. NOT in the commit
  tree — attaching never changes the commit cid; the note is a re-bindable
  ref layer over immutable objects. Failed commits keep the buffer; plain
  `commit!` deliberately leaves binding to the agent (granularity =
  commit, agent-chosen). `trace-for` / `trace-cid-for` / `session-traces`,
  manual `attach-trace!` for any commit.

### Phase 4 — durable (`durable.sx`)

- **Deterministic replay IS the durability mechanism.** Every transition
  re-runs a self-contained flow program: the session's `defflow` source
  (durable in kv via `defsession!`) + `flow/start` + replay of every
  recorded resume value (fresh `flow-run` resets the flow store, so the
  flow id is always 1 — a feature). The ONLY durable state is
  `{:flow :input :resumes}` + derived `{:status :tag/:result}` in kv.
- Restart-safe by construction: a fresh `agentic/space` over the same
  backend sees suspended sessions and resumes them mid-flight (tested).
- **fork-an-agent-run** `session-fork!` = copy the record to another
  spawned agent; replay rebuilds the run to the same suspended state; the
  two then diverge independently (tested: 45 vs 1500 from a shared prefix).
- **Effects are data**: suspend tags and typed `(request kind payload)`
  envelopes surface as plain SX (`session-pending`, `effect-request?`,
  `effect-kind`, `effect-payload`) — the exact seam Phase 5
  hold-for-human-input plugs into.
- Session transitions append `"session"`-kind entries to the Phase-3 trace
  buffer → session history travels with the agent's next commit (tested).

## Boundary conventions discovered (bake into Phase 5+ designs)

- Guest Scheme numbers box differently at the SX boundary: compare with
  `=`, never `equal?` (7 tests initially failed on `45` vs `45`).
- Scheme strings surface as `{:scm-string …}` (unbox via `agentic/scm-out`);
  symbols surface as plain strings. Session flows should use quoted-symbol
  suspend tags and NUMERIC decision values (`(eq? d 1)`) — a resumed SX
  string does not `eq?` a Scheme symbol.
- `agentic/scm-lit` serializes numbers/strings/booleans/lists into program
  source (no string escaping — keep payloads quote-free).

## Open design questions for the HELD phases

**Phase 5 — hold-for-human-input** (blocked on sx-gitea web API, in flight):
1. The seam is ready: a suspended session's `(request "human" payload)` is
   already exposed as data. Open: does sx-gitea poll `session-pending` per
   agent, or should agentic maintain a space-wide pending-requests index
   (flow's `flow-host-requests` shape) for the forge UI to list?
2. Should the human decision be recorded as a `decision` agent-commit on
   the agent's branch (decision-commit = resume value + rationale, trace
   attached) before/atomically-with `session-resume!`? I'd argue yes —
   "hold-for-human-input (flow suspend → decision-commit)" per the trilogy
   memory — but the commit's files snapshot semantics during a suspension
   need a ruling (empty diff? head tree re-snapshot?).
3. Resume-value typing: currently any `scm-lit`-serializable value; does
   the sx-gitea API constrain it (approve/reject enum vs free payload)?

**Phase 7 — fed + type×trigger/execute trust gate**:
4. fed-sx (DefineType/SubtypeOf runtime) is NOT in this worktree — only
   design plans (`plans/fed-sx-*.md`) and `lib/relations/federation.sx`
   (peer_rel + trust facts). Phase 1's registry declares tags locally as
   agreed; migrating `agentic/types` to fed-sx types needs the fed-sx-types
   loop's substrate (loops/fed-sx-types) merged or vendored.
5. relations already gives a per-peer trust gate over federated edges
   (`erel :- peer_rel + trust`) — is the type×trigger gate a Datalog rule
   over (peer, agentic-type, trigger-verb) facts in the same db, or a
   separate capability object in the git store? The former composes with
   what's built.
6. Briefings/commits federate as content-addressed objects for free
   (same-CID-everywhere tested); what does NOT federate yet: refs
   (branch heads are local mutable state) and note bindings. Ref
   replication policy is the real Phase 7 design question.

**Phase 8/9 — behaviour library + self-improvement**:
7. `behaviour` is a registered TAG with constructor/predicate only; an
   `agent-commit` carries `:behaviour-cid` (tested). Open: behaviour BODY
   format (SX source string? content-addressed flow def like
   `defsession!` sources? both?) — deliberately unspecified.
8. Suggestion from the build: `defsession!` sources are already durable,
   content-addressable session *behaviours* — Phase 8 could unify
   behaviour bodies with session-flow defs (behaviour = the flow an agent
   runs). Needs human ruling.

**Smaller notes**:
9. Relations edges (`sub-agent-of`/`reviews`/`merges`) live in the
   in-memory Datalog db on the space handle — NOT persisted. Spawn/merge
   verbs re-assert them, but a restarted space loses edge history not
   re-derivable from commits (reviews edges especially). Option: mirror
   edges into a persist event stream and re-saturate on space open
   (cheap; ruleset stays minimal). Left for the Phase 5+ pass.
10. `git/repo` index/porcelain (`git/commit!`, `git/merge!`) is repo-global
   and deliberately UNUSED here; agentic-sx only uses the value-level API.
   If sx-gitea drives both, keep it that way.
11. Trace note refs (`notes/trace/<cid>`) are reflogged like any ref —
   free audit trail of re-bindings; surfaced in case the forge wants it.

## Proposed rulings (build loop, 2026-07-03 — for human sign-off)

Numbers match the questions above. Nothing below is implemented; these are
the designs I would build if approved.

**R1 — Derive the pending index, don't maintain one.** Session records
already live in kv (`<prefix>/session/<agent>`). Phase 5 adds one function,
`(agentic/pending-requests sp)` → `((agent tag) ...)`: enumerate
`(agentic/agents sp)` (refs are the agent registry), kv-get each record,
filter `:status "suspended"`. O(agents) kv reads, no duplicated state, no
invalidation bugs — mirrors `flow-host-requests` shape. The forge polls
this one call per space. If a space ever holds thousands of agents, add an
event-sourced index then, not now.

**R2 — Yes: decision-commit, tree = parent's tree, commit-then-resume.**
New Phase 5 verb `(agentic/decide! sp agent value rationale-meta)`:
(a) trace! a `"session"` entry recording the human decision;
(b) create a `decision` agent-commit whose `:tree` is the PARENT's tree cid
    verbatim (empty diff is correct — the decision changes the session, not
    the worktree; the payload rides in open commit fields `:resume-tag`,
    `:resume-value`, message = rationale) and CAS-advance the branch;
(c) then `session-resume!`, and append the decision-commit cid to a new
    `:decisions` list on the session record (parallel to `:resumes`, which
    stays bare replay values — serialization unchanged).
Ordering rationale: true atomicity across kv+refs doesn't exist; commit
first so the human's intent is durably recorded even if resume errors, and
resume is deterministic replay so re-applying from the decision-commit is
an idempotent repair. Hold-for-human-input then IS: suspend → forge shows
pending request → `decide!` → decision-commit + resume.

**R3 — Agentic stays permissive; the forge constrains per request kind.**
The `(request kind payload)` envelope already names the kind; sx-gitea maps
kind → input schema (e.g. "human"-review → numeric enum 1/0; free-text
comment goes in the decision-commit message/meta, NOT the resume value —
numeric decisions dodge the symbol/string `eq?` trap by construction).
One small hardening lands with Phase 5: `agentic/scm-lit` gains
backslash/quote escaping for strings (two-line change) so the quote-free
convention becomes a nicety, not a requirement.

**R4 — Local registry = authoritative runtime cache; PROJECT it into
fed-sx when federation lands.** Do not vendor fed-sx here. Each registry
entry maps mechanically to DefineType (+ SubtypeOf parent) activities; on
Phase 7 the emitted type objects' CIDs get pinned back into the registry
(`:fed-cid` per entry), and `register-type!` becomes the local-cache
updater for received DefineType activities — exactly the peer_types cache
pattern from loops/fed-sx-types. Sequencing: merge fed-sx-types substrate
(or both to architecture) BEFORE starting Phase 7; zero rework in
lib/agentic either way because tags are plain strings.

**R5 — Both, layered: capability OBJECTS in the git store as source of
truth, compiled to Datalog FACTS for enforcement.** A grant is a typed
content-addressed object `{:type "capability" :peer :agentic-type :trigger
:execute ...}` — auditable, versionable, federable like everything else.
The current capability SET is a ref (`caps/current` → a tree/list of cap
cids), so revocation = a ref move with reflog, same shape as branches.
At space-open/refresh the set compiles to flat `allowed(Peer, Type,
Trigger)` facts + at most one non-recursive rule composing with the
existing `trust(P)` gate — ruleset stays minimal per the relations
re-saturation constraint. Enforcement = `(agentic/allowed? sp peer type
trigger)` fact lookup at activity-accept time.

**R6 — Owner-writes / others-track; announcements, not replication.**
Branch heads never replicate as writable state. A peer's head move
federates as a signed announcement activity ("agent X: head → cid C");
receivers materialize it as a read-only remote-tracking ref
`remotes/<peer>/agents/<name>` — sx-git's free-form ref names support this
today with zero changes, and CAS stays a purely local concern (only the
owner moves `heads/agents/<name>`). Object transfer = CID closure of the
announced head (`git/reachable-all` gives the exact fetch set; everything
is idempotent content-addressed writes). Cross-peer session-merge = merge
FROM a remote-tracking ref, locally, producing a local session-merge
commit. The R5 gate applies at announcement-accept time (peer × type ×
trigger "head-move" / "spawn" / "merge"). Note bindings federate the same
way: announce `notes/trace/<cid>` → trace cid, land under
`remotes/<peer>/notes/trace/<cid>`.

**R7+R8 — Unify: a behaviour IS the content-addressed unit of agent skill;
sessions are behaviours instantiated.** Behaviour body = SX data with a
`:kind` discriminator; two kinds at launch: `"session-flow"` (body = a
defflow Scheme source string, directly installable) and `"prompt"` (body =
briefing-shaped instructions for LLM-driven agents). Phase 8 adds
`(agentic/defsession-from! sp behaviour-cid)`: read the behaviour object,
check `:kind "session-flow"`, install its body under the behaviour's name
— and the commit verb stamps that cid into `:behaviour-cid`. Then
`:behaviour-cid` means literally "the flow this agent was running when it
made this commit", which closes the Phase 9 loop: self-improvement =
statistics over commits grouped by behaviour-cid → new behaviour objects →
adoption via new spawns referencing them. Evolution stays in immutable
objects + ref-shaped adoption, same invariant as everything else.

**R9 — Yes, event-source the edges (do it in the Phase 5 pass, ~20
lines).** `agentic/relate!` additionally appends `{:src :dst :kind}` to
stream `<prefix>/edges`; `agentic/space` reads the stream on open and
passes the accumulated facts to `relations-build-db` (one build, no
per-fact assert). A future unrelate appends a retract event; replay
applies both in order. Space handles become fully rehydratable — the
in-memory rels db is then just a cache of the stream.

**R10 — Confirmed: porcelain stays unused by agentic and by sx-gitea's
multi-agent paths.** The repo-global index/HEAD is a single-user
convenience; anything concurrent uses the value-level API (tree-from-files
/ agent-commit / branch-cas!). If sx-gitea wants per-user checkouts, each
gets its own repo handle or stays value-level. Document, don't change.

**R11 — Surface trace-note reflogs read-only in the forge.** "Trace
history" tab on a commit = `git/reflog repo "notes/trace/<cid>"` — free
audit of re-bindings (amended traces are visible, nothing is lost since
old trace objects stay in the store). No new API.

## How to run

```bash
cd /root/rose-ash-loops/agentic
bash lib/agentic/conformance.sh   # 196/196; durable suite loads scheme+flow (~2 min)
```
