Windburn

A memory-native agent substrate. Not a new base model — a cognitive cache layer above model-serving that turns observation, tool feedback, failure, and source-truth into durable future-self cognition.

The canonical design intent lives in the MUW Windburn Cognitive Cache Direction (dated 2026-05-03). This repository is the build-state: the substrate, the runtime, and the evidence trail.

One-Line Thesis

observe reality → update belief → choose action → verify delta → preserve learning

The transformer KV cache answers "what tokens have I already attended to?". The Windburn cognitive cache answers "what reality have I already learned?".

Seven Cache Slots (current state)

Slot	Role	Status	Where it lives
source	Research Vault, repo docs, source-of-truth files	✅ shipped (proposal layer)	OpenChronicle install proposal + RV MCP read-only contract
episodic	What happened, in order	✅ shipped (proposal layer)	OpenChronicle ingest plan for the operator-owned Claude learning store + read-only mirror of upstream agent memory
perception	Grounded observations from tools and humans	✅ shipped	scripts/windburn-side-lane-perception-bus.mjs + bounded boundary smoke
failure	Actions attempted, observed deltas, avoid/retry rules	✅ shipped	docs/remote-workhorse/WINDBURN_CRABBOX_FAILURE_HOOK.md + hermes-distributions/fearvox-windburn/skills/windburn-crabbox-failure-hook/
procedural	Reusable skills, repo routes, tool patterns	✅ shipped	goalv3-cc operator skill install + captured lessons in docs/superpowers/plans/2026-05-12-goalv3-cc-PLAN-CLOSEOUT.md
belief	Hypotheses with evidence and confidence	⚠️ skeleton	hermes-distributions/fearvox-windburn/skills/windburn-source-truth-review/ (scaffold only)
working	Current session focus + task stack	❌ gap	per-session auto-memory partial proxy; no formal substrate yet

Cross-source sync record: docs/research/2026-05-14-muw-windburn-cognitive-cache-sync.md.

Substrate Layer: Remote Workhorse

The cognitive cache needs durable compute. The first substrate slice is the DigitalOcean-backed NixOS workhorse reachable through the remote-workhorse route label, with contract-first evidence, tool truth, and a read-only canary before remote provisioning.

Fast Path

scripts/superconductor-codex-intake.sh
scripts/check.sh
scripts/preflight.sh
scripts/remote-host-proof.sh
scripts/digitalocean-snapshot.sh
scripts/nixos-conversion.sh
scripts/nixos-remote-rebuild.sh
scripts/remote-secret-sync.sh
scripts/remote-provider-smoke.sh
scripts/remote-codex-auth-sync.sh
scripts/remote-hermes-codex-smoke.sh
scripts/droplet-engagement-review.sh
scripts/digitalocean-observability.sh
scripts/hermes-health-gate.sh
scripts/hermes-maintenance.sh
scripts/hermes-yolo-loop.sh
scripts/fusion-chat-preview.sh
scripts/fusion-chat-bridge.sh
scripts/multica-runtime-card-verify.sh
scripts/windburn-captain-runtime.sh
scripts/xai-setup-agent.sh
scripts/multica-codex-cache-janitor.sh

For one-shot DigitalOcean read-only preflight without storing a doctl context, export DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN, DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN, or DOCTL_ACCESS_TOKEN in your local shell before scripts/preflight.sh. Evidence records only the variable name, not the token value.

If just is installed:

just superconductor-intake
just check
just remote-proof
just snapshot-dry-run
just nixos-conversion-dry-run
just nixos-rebuild-dry-run
just remote-secret-dry-run
just remote-provider-smoke
just remote-codex-auth-dry-run
just remote-hermes-codex-smoke
just droplet-engagement-review
just do-observability
just hermes-health
just hermes-maintenance-inspect
just hermes-yolo-inspect
just fusion-chat-preview
just fusion-chat-bridge
just multica-runtime-card-verify
just windburn-captain-runtime-status
just xai-setup-inspect
just xai-setup-smoke

Repo Map

Cache layer

• docs/research/2026-05-14-muw-windburn-cognitive-cache-sync.md — current 7-cache slot status, public-safe sync record.
• docs/superpowers/ — design specs, implementation plans, and captured-lessons closeouts for the procedural cache (notably goalv3-cc skill).
• docs/research/ — research-level material (cognitive cache theory, heuristic learning, etc.).
• hermes-distributions/fearvox-windburn/ — the distribution package: cognitive-cache, source-truth-review, and crabbox-failure-hook skills wired into a Hermes-shaped artifact.
• .goal/ (gitignored, local-only) — per-goal state directories for goalv3-cc-driven autonomous work.

Substrate / runtime layer

• docs/remote-workhorse/ — approved design, Phase 1 artifacts, canary report, and the v1 Multica/gstack bootstrap runtime-queue handshake docs.
• docs/superconductor-codex-intake.md — Superconductor-side Codex handoff and read-only intake contract.
• crates/runtimectl/ — Rust CLI for local doctor and canary evidence.
• config/tool-registry.toml — required, optional, and disabled tool policy.
• docs/external-indexes/ — generated GitHub indexes for frontier stack repos.
• flake.nix — Nix dev shell/build scaffold for the remote workhorse cell.
• nixos/hosts/windburn-workhorse-nyc1/ — first-boot NixOS host import.
• apps/fusion-chat-terminal/ — dot-matrix web terminal for the unified remote chat entrance.

Side-lane perception + scoring

• scripts/windburn-side-lane-perception-bus.mjs — bounded perception bus v0 for side-lane artifacts.
• scripts/windburn-side-lane-boundary-smoke.mjs — boundary-integrity smoke for relayed artifacts.
• scripts/windburn-side-lane-goal-score.mjs — 8-dimension scoring layer above perception bus.
• docs/protocols/2026-05-12-codex-side-lane-perception-bus-v0.md — perception bus protocol spec.
• docs/goals/2026-05-12-side-lane-goal-metrics-v0.md — 8-dimension goal metric scheme (boundary, scope, source-truth, traceability, ledger hygiene, public surface, model visibility, ...).

Remote workhorse scripts (selected)

• scripts/nixos-remote-rebuild.sh — guarded remote NixOS test/switch deploy.
• scripts/remote-secret-sync.sh — allowlisted root-only provider secret sync.
• scripts/remote-provider-smoke.sh — remote provider smoke and repair card.
• scripts/remote-codex-auth-sync.sh — root-only Codex CLI plus Hermes openai-codex auth sync.
• scripts/remote-hermes-codex-smoke.sh — pinned Hermes openai-codex remote model-call smoke.
• scripts/droplet-engagement-review.sh — read-only DO/CCR/Hermes/Windburn engagement gate for remote pre-flight.
• scripts/digitalocean-observability.sh — dry-run first DO uptime/alert desired-state gate.
• scripts/hermes-health-gate.sh — read-only Hermes service, task, update, and tmux runtime-entry health gate.
• scripts/hermes-maintenance.sh — guarded Hermes update and fixed tmux runtime-entry maintenance path.
• scripts/hermes-yolo-loop.sh — guarded hermes --yolo tmux runtime loop and openai-codex one-shot proof.
• scripts/fusion-chat-preview.sh — static preview server for the fusion chat terminal.
• scripts/fusion-chat-bridge.sh — local read-only bridge server for live repo/proof hydration in the fusion chat terminal.
• scripts/multica-runtime-card-verify.sh — local verifier for the redacted Multica runtime-card contract.
• scripts/windburn-captain-runtime.sh — forced-command-friendly Captain runtime wrapper for stdin cards, bounded run-card queue execution, lease slots, spool status JSON, and compact redacted summaries.
• scripts/xai-setup-agent.sh — local xAI setup lane smoke gate using operator-owned credentials with redacted evidence.

Ops + reliability

• docs/ops/ — local reliability guards and public repo hardening specs such as Multica Codex cache pruning and GitHub rulesets.

Current Boundary

This repo runs a DigitalOcean-backed NixOS workhorse reachable through the remote-workhorse route label. Public docs stay redacted: host details, snapshot ids, SSH targets, and operator-local absolute paths belong in operator-private proof surfaces, not in shared repo docs. Remote NixOS changes still go through nixos-rebuild test before switch. Provider smoke remains intentionally gated behind root-only allowlisted secret sync and may return REMOTE_PROVIDER_SECRET_MISSING until usable operator-owned provider profiles exist on the runtime host. The Codex-on-Hermes runtime path is proven in the remote-workhorse preflight docs through redacted evidence refs. Substrate work still succeeds only when a new agent can rerun the proof path, see which tools are usable, and return PASS, FLAG, or BLOCK without guesswork.

For Superconductor sessions, begin with scripts/superconductor-codex-intake.sh so the agent proves whether the canonical Windburn repo is attached through the expected Superconductor binding without copying raw operator-local paths into shared docs.

Public-surface safety rules

Following the metric scheme in docs/goals/2026-05-12-side-lane-goal-metrics-v0.md:

• Absolute home directory paths (/Users/<user>/..., /home/<user>/...) in docs/*.md and *.html: BLOCK.
• Provider credential-shaped strings (sk-..., ghp_..., sk-ant-..., Bearer ..., AKIA...): BLOCK.
• Local queue filenames, socket paths, hook paths in public surface: FLAG (informational, may be redacted on commit).
• Public host/port combinations: BLOCK.

scripts/ are operator-only surface and may contain local paths; docs/, top-level *.md, and *.html are public surfaces and are scanned against these rules.

Pointers

• Cognitive cache substrate design — docs/windburn-cognitive-cache-direction.md in MUW (canonical direction)
• Cross-source sync — docs/research/2026-05-14-muw-windburn-cognitive-cache-sync.md (build-state snapshot)
• Procedural cache lessons — docs/superpowers/plans/2026-05-12-goalv3-cc-PLAN-CLOSEOUT.md (8 captured lessons including anti-LGTM PR-scope failure modes)
• Distribution package — hermes-distributions/fearvox-windburn/README.md
• Agent grounding — CLAUDE.md (workbench discipline, do-not-touch lanes, 5-field closeout block)