From 4df277803d93c6c6683c8233e6d204791bd5265f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: giles <giles.bradshaw@rose-ash.com>
Date: Fri, 8 May 2026 12:07:00 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] mk: cycle-free path search test

Mitigation for the cyclic-graph divergence (see tests/cyclic-graph.sx).
Threads a `visited` accumulator through the recursion; each candidate
next-step is gated by `nafc (membero z visited)`. Terminates on graphs
with cycles, no Phase-7 tabling required for the simple acyclic-path
query.

Demonstrates a viable alternative to tabling for the common case where
the user wants finite path enumeration over a graph with cycles.

3 new tests, 449/449 cumulative.
---
 lib/minikanren/tests/path-cycle-free.sx | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 plans/minikanren-on-sx.md               |  1 +
 2 files changed, 41 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 lib/minikanren/tests/path-cycle-free.sx

diff --git a/lib/minikanren/tests/path-cycle-free.sx b/lib/minikanren/tests/path-cycle-free.sx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2c46e407
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/minikanren/tests/path-cycle-free.sx
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+;; lib/minikanren/tests/path-cycle-free.sx — cycle-free reachability search.
+;;
+;; Threads a "visited" accumulator through the recursion, using nafc +
+;; membero to prevent revisiting nodes. Demonstrates how to make the
+;; cyclic-graph divergence problem (see tests/cyclic-graph.sx) tractable
+;; for graphs with cycles, without invoking Phase-7 tabling.
+
+(define
+  cf-edges
+  (list (list :a :b) (list :b :a) (list :b :c) (list :c :d) (list :d :a)))      ; another cycle
+
+(define cf-edgeo (fn (from to) (membero (list from to) cf-edges)))
+
+(define
+  patho-no-cycles
+  (fn
+    (x y visited path)
+    (conde
+      ((cf-edgeo x y) (nafc (membero y visited)) (== path (list x y)))
+      ((fresh (z mid v-prime) (cf-edgeo x z) (nafc (membero z visited)) (conso z visited v-prime) (patho-no-cycles z y v-prime mid) (conso x mid path))))))
+
+(define cf-patho (fn (x y path) (patho-no-cycles x y (list x) path)))
+
+(mk-test
+  "cycle-free-finds-finitely"
+  (let
+    ((paths (run* q (cf-patho :a :d q))))
+    (and
+      (>= (len paths) 1)
+      (every? (fn (p) (and (= (first p) :a) (= (last p) :d))) paths)))
+  true)
+
+(mk-test
+  "cycle-free-direct-edge"
+  (run* q (cf-patho :a :b q))
+  (list (list :a :b)))
+
+(mk-test "cycle-free-no-self-loop" (run* q (cf-patho :a :a q)) (list))
+
+(mk-tests-run!)
diff --git a/plans/minikanren-on-sx.md b/plans/minikanren-on-sx.md
index d04acc87..300c3661 100644
--- a/plans/minikanren-on-sx.md
+++ b/plans/minikanren-on-sx.md
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ _(none yet)_
 
 _Newest first._
 
+- **2026-05-08** — **cycle-free path search**: mitigation for the cyclic-graph divergence — thread a  accumulator through the recursion, gate each step with nafc + membero on visited. Terminates on graphs with cycles; no Phase-7 tabling required for the simple case. 3 new tests, 449/449 cumulative.
 - **2026-05-08** — **removeo-allo**: removes every occurrence of x (vs rembero, which removes only the first). Three conde clauses: empty -> empty; head matches -> skip and recurse; head differs (nafc) -> keep and recurse. 5 new tests, 446/446 cumulative.
 - **2026-05-08** — **btree-walko (matche showcase)**: walks a binary tree (:leaf v) | (:node l r) and emits each leaf value via conde. Demonstrates matche dispatch on tagged-list patterns, recursion through both branches via conde, and run* enumerating all 5 leaves of a small tree. 4 new tests, 441/441 cumulative.
 - **2026-05-08** — **swap-firsto**: swap the first two elements of a list. Built via four conso constraints. Self-inverse on length-2+ lists; runs forward and backward. 6 new tests, 437/437 cumulative.