Ghostlight/notes/fresh-workspace-handoff.md

Ghostlight Fresh Workspace Handoff

Do not trust this file for the exact live HEAD. Use git for volatile truth.

Do not continue implementation automatically from a rehydrate-only request.

Immediate Re-entry Instruction

1. Read state/map.yaml.
2. Read notes/ghostlight-current-system-map.md.
3. Read notes/ghostlight-implementation-plan.md.
4. Run npm run state:status.
5. Restate the persisted next action before touching code or docs.

Mission

Ghostlight exists to build socially persistent generative agents for Aetheria: characters and institutions whose actions emerge from personality, culture, memory, perception, incentives, material constraints, ordinary life, tonal mode, and scene pressure.

The live product-facing goal is procedural branching scene generation for games: speech and non-speech actions, NPC responses, consequences, future hooks, and state/memory/social-perception mutation. The wider ambition includes narrated story scaffolding, Elysium branch exploration, psychologically grounded consumer behavior, major faction decision-making, and technology/item manifest generation.

Current Focus

The active path is a source-grounded branching-scene data loop:

1. Source-ground Aetheria context.
2. Project canonical state into character-local operating context.
3. Build an exact responder packet.
4. Run a sandboxed responder with only allowed packet/context/research scope.
5. Capture raw output, consulted refs, research summary, reviewed output, leakage audit, and coordinator interventions.
6. Apply only reviewed mutations into state, memory, relationships, perceived overlays, and unresolved hooks.
7. Run the coordinator as its own sandboxed, promptable organ whenever generating training-shaped scene loops. Capture exact coordinator input, raw coordinator output, parsed artifact, review labels, interventions, and rejected alternatives.
8. Let Codex act as meta-coordinator: scope the organs, launch sandboxed workers, review outputs, repair only with labels, wire structured state, and preserve receipts. Do not silently treat omniscient chat steering as raw coordinator training data.
9. Let the accepted coordinator artifact carry continuity, unresolved hooks, glue prose, and the next scene/beat plan.
10. Let the branch compiler materialize playable Ink plus sidecar and compiler notes from reviewed state and branch decisions.
11. Run IF, narrative, lore, spatial, and visual review before accepting a fixture as training data.

Live Seams

• Canonical map: state/map.yaml
• Current system map: notes/ghostlight-current-system-map.md
• Implementation plan: notes/ghostlight-implementation-plan.md
• Documentation inventory: notes/documentation-inventory.md
• Agent-state schema: schemas/agent-state.schema.json
• Projected local context schema: schemas/projected-local-context.schema.json
• Coordinator artifact schema: schemas/coordinator-artifact.schema.json
• Responder packet schema: schemas/responder-packet.schema.json
• Responder output schema: schemas/responder-output.schema.json
• Event record schema: schemas/event-record.schema.json
• Participant appraisal schema: schemas/participant-appraisal.schema.json
• Reviewed mutation schema: schemas/reviewed-mutation.schema.json
• Scene-loop bundle schema: schemas/scene-loop-bundle.schema.json
• Training-loop validator: npm run training-loop:validate
• Prompt folder: prompts/
• Corpus coverage ledger: state/corpus-coverage.json
• Corpus coverage command: npm run coverage:status
• Sandboxed responder prompt template: prompts/sandboxed-responder-packet.md
• Research sanity responder prompt template: prompts/research-sanity-responder.md
• Narrative quality reviewer prompt: prompts/narrative-quality-reviewer.md
• Lore grounding reviewer prompt: prompts/lore-grounding-reviewer.md
• Spatial/geometric reviewer prompt: prompts/spatial-geometric-cohesion-reviewer.md
• Visual scene continuity reviewer prompt: prompts/visual-scene-continuity-reviewer.md
• Interactive Fiction Weaver prompt: prompts/interactive-fiction-weaver.md
• Illustrated IF visual pipeline: docs/architecture/illustrated-if-visual-pipeline.md
• Branch compiler and IF reviewer contract: docs/architecture/ink-branching-scenes.md

Live Fixtures

Pallas Species Strikes is the current reference-only interactive-fiction story fixture:

• examples/lore-grounding/pallas-species-strikes.awakened-labor.v0.json
• examples/agent-state.pallas-species-strikes.v0.json
• examples/coordinator/pallas-species-strikes.branch-and-fold.v0.json
• examples/ink/pallas-species-strikes.branch-and-fold.v0.ink
• examples/ink/pallas-species-strikes.branch-and-fold.v0.training.json
• examples/visual/pallas-species-strikes.branch-and-fold.v0.visual.json
• experiments/pallas-species-strikes/pallas-species-strikes.branch-and-fold-clean-run.v0.md
• experiments/pallas-species-strikes/pallas-species-strikes.visual-scene-review.v1.json

It starts in ordinary AU Bloom cavity-shell maintenance texture, introduces the major participants before branch-only deepening, then escalates through Nara-7's coordinated hazard refusal, baseline rigger solidarity pressure, supplier liability framing, AU dry-operation cephalopod shell-artery leverage, and a folded recognition/safety climax. Treat it as a reference for well-shaped, source-grounded story and illustrated IF presentation. It is not training-ready data for the responder, projector, appraiser, mutator, relationship updater, coordinator, branch compiler, or reviewer organs because it lacks exact stage-shaped input/output receipts.

The first separate training-shaped derivative is pallas-training-loop-v0. It rebuilds only the Kappa refusal / Ilya arrival threshold segment as a receipt-chain pilot, leaving the reference fixture untouched:

• examples/training-loops/pallas-training-loop-v0/pallas-training-loop-v0.scene-digest.json
• examples/training-loops/pallas-training-loop-v0/pallas-training-loop-v0.initial-state.json
• examples/projected-contexts/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-01.nara-7.projected-context.json
• examples/projected-contexts/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-02.ilya-marne.projected-context.json
• examples/projected-contexts/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-03.lio-vale.projected-context.json
• examples/responder-packets/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-01.nara-7.packet.json
• examples/responder-packets/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-02.ilya-marne.packet.json
• examples/responder-packets/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-03.lio-vale.packet.json
• experiments/responder-packets/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-01.nara-7.packet.capture.json
• experiments/responder-packets/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-02.ilya-marne.packet.capture.json
• experiments/responder-packets/pallas-training-loop-v0.turn-03.lio-vale.packet.capture.json
• examples/training-loops/pallas-training-loop-v0/pallas-training-loop-v0.bundle.json
• experiments/pallas-training-loop-v0/pallas-training-loop-v0.clean-run.md

The derivative has exact packet prompts, raw no-fork subagent outputs, event records, participant-local appraisals from current character state refs, reviewed mutation receipts, coordinator continuity receipts, and a coverage row. It is training-shaped for projector, responder, event resolver, appraiser, mutator, relationship/perception updater, and coordinator/story-runtime seams. It is not branch compiler, IF reviewer, or visual training data.

lucent-hostage-feed-v0 is the current open-ended training-loop draft. It moves the pipeline away from Pallas overfitting into a darkly comic Lucent Media hostage-feed negotiation set in a tethered counterweight station: a giant media-headquarters eye staring down the tether at a metropolis bubble.

Live Lucent surfaces:

• examples/training-loops/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/lucent-hostage-feed-v0.scene-digest.json
• examples/training-loops/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/lucent-hostage-feed-v0.initial-state.json
• examples/training-loops/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/lucent-hostage-feed-v0.branch-surface.json
• examples/training-loops/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/lucent-hostage-feed-v0.bundle.json
• examples/training-loops/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/lucent-hostage-feed-v0.review.json
• experiments/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/lucent-hostage-feed-v0.clean-run.md
• experiments/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/lucent-hostage-feed-v0.staging-sketch.md
• scripts/materialize_lucent_loop.py
• scripts/materialize_lucent_loop_continuation.py
• examples/ink/lucent-hostage-feed.branch-and-fold.v0.ink
• examples/ink/lucent-hostage-feed.branch-and-fold.v0.training.json
• examples/ink/lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.ink
• examples/ink/lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.training.json
• experiments/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/sandbox-packets/lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.coordinator-packet.md
• experiments/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/sandbox-captures/lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.coordinator.capture.json
• experiments/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/sandbox-packets/lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.weaver-packet.md
• experiments/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/reviews/lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.narrative-review.final.json
• experiments/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/reviews/lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.lore-review.final.json
• experiments/lucent-hostage-feed-v0/reviews/lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.spatial-review.final.json

The Lucent bundle counts fifteen post-compaction restart turns from turn-06 through turn-20 as training-clean responder receipts. Earlier opening turns established the situation and proof-object but crossed a compaction seam, so they are treated as setup/rehearsal context rather than gold responder data. The accepted loop starts after feed ops externalizes the proof-object into EDIT TRAIL HOLD and resolves when Juno reaches the marked safe line, security stays behind the collars, Sol is categorized for non-contact protective handoff, and evidence export remains the live aftermath hook.

Lucent is training-shaped for projector, responder, event resolver, appraiser, mutator, relationship/perception updater, and coordinator/story-runtime seams. It is not branch compiler, IF reviewer, or visual training data yet.

Lucent's strongest machine lesson: the coordinator should not shove the actors toward a desired plot. It should make the strings fun to play with. Supply game-ergonomic affordances, visible gates, clocks, evidence objects, posture constraints, route access, public categories, and resource pressure; let actors choose from local state; then fold the observed action into reviewed state. Elastic strings, not rails. Little puppet theater, but with receipts.

Character-intelligence lesson: keep the machinery as smart as possible, but do not make every character inherit frontier-model metacognition. Characters should reason, manipulate, misread, explain themselves, and regulate stress only to the level supported by their stat sheet, culture, role, experience, and current state. The coordinator/narrator may translate high-context maneuvers for the reader, especially in Lucent-style reputation warfare, but that explanation is not automatically character knowledge.

Coordinator seam correction: the Lucent character responders were sandboxed no-fork agents, but the coordinator was Codex-authored and then captured as artifacts. Future training-shaped loops should sandbox coordinator turns too. Codex is the meta-coordinator herding Ghostlight pieces into shape, not the raw coordinator organ being trained.

Branch compiler seam correction: lucent-hostage-feed.branch-and-fold.v0.ink is the first meta-coordinator authored branch-and-fold draft for exploring the Lucent state space. The newer lucent-hostage-feed.negotiator-branch.v1.ink was produced through a sandboxed coordinator packet and a no-fork sandboxed Interactive Fiction Weaver. Codex then acted as meta-coordinator and applied labeled repairs: Ink syntax, validator-supported action labels, sidecar shape, and post-review spatial cleanup. Treat this as draft branch-compiler training shape with labeled repairs, not pure Weaver gold.

Lucent v1 reviewer result: narrative, lore, and spatial sandboxed reviewers all returned B-level or better after iteration. Visual review was intentionally not run because this pass has no visual plan. The lore reviewer identified reusable backfill candidates: Lucent crisis feed protocols, junior Reality Architect operational roles, Lucent creator debt/arbitration machinery, and media-eye tether stations if that station type recurs.

Kappa geometry to preserve: Service Ring Kappa names this specific standardized industrial spoke manifold service ring, a bounded local access loop around a dense seal-air-thermal equipment cluster. The loop-inner side exposes manifold faces and Kappa access ports on the machinery cluster. The loop-outer side holds worker staging, the baseline anchor rail, lockers, carts, break ledge, and access back toward yard systems. Kappa-7 False-Seam Artery, worker slang Rell's Cut, is the specific dangerous passage. The Kappa operations gallery sees the primary manifold/access-port segment, not the whole loop.

Visual pipeline lesson: generated concept images are useful as vibe/material reference, but they do not preserve room layout. Durable illustrated replay needs a camera-specific blockout or scene-set source; imagegen handles the painterly pass.

Aetheria Doctrine

• Call of the Void remains a consumer target for content generation and dialogue scaffolding.
• Elysium futures are branch-local canon indexed by lineage.
• Aetheria writing should support tonal range: warmth, absurdity, humane observation, institutional comedy, domestic texture, noir, horror, wonder, romance, dour poetry, procedural investigation, and dry systems prose.
• Before writing conflict, establish the life being interrupted when the fixture calls for it: routines, work texture, relationships, private jokes, rituals, status games, habits, small desires, and ordinary accommodations.
• Before generating Aetheria scenes, check lore for factions, movements, institutions, species/body affordances, location, time period, infrastructure, and material constraints.
• If a blocking lore gap appears, patch AetheriaLore narrowly before treating the detail as available to Ghostlight.
• Technology exploration should emit database-shaped item/assembly/component/ supply-chain candidates mapped toward Aetheria-Economy's CultCache item model.
• Corpus completeness requires broad Aetheria coverage. Generate stories for every major faction, minor faction, movement, and major flashpoint. Major factions need both founding-era and day-in-the-life stories. All coverage stories should involve cultural collision.
• Current rough corpus counts from AetheriaLore: 12 major powers, 21 minor powers, 23 movements, 24 Pre-Elysium flashpoints, and 5 defunct/absorbed powers. Baseline coverage is 92 story fixtures, or 97 with defunct powers; the practical first broad target is 100-150 reviewed fixtures.

Cleanup Note

The old prototype fixture receipts and model-runner files were removed from the live workspace after their useful lessons were distilled into the architecture docs, state map, and git history. Do not resurrect them as active steering surfaces unless the user explicitly asks for archaeology.

Current Next Action

Choose the next bounded move: backfill the useful Lucent lore gaps into AetheriaLore, build a visual/scene-set pass for the Lucent IF, or move to the next coverage fixture. Current accepted full-fixture coverage is still empty; Pallas and Lucent derivatives are draft rows with per-organ training readiness, not accepted broad corpus fixtures.

Warnings

• Keep persistent state small. Git history and artifacts own chronology.
• Do not let notes, map, handoff, and evidence become four versions of the same brain.
• Do not train on coordinator-repaired responder prose unless the repair is labeled.
• Do not accept branch fixtures without branch compiler notes and IF artifact review.
• Do not let tracked variables, relationship bands, or visual modifiers remain decorative.
• Do not let Elysium branch futures overwrite Sol single-history facts.
• Do not let state-grounded prose become one crisis-procedure voice.
• Treat subagent research as self-reported unless the worker returns explicit research notes or a future runner captures calls.