Canonical Vocabulary
2.0 Why This Section Exists
Section titled “2.0 Why This Section Exists”Justification. Synixolis draws from multiple bodies of work that use overlapping terms with different meanings:
- CDR theory uses “Level 1/2/3” for memory partitions, “Compress/Divide/Renew” as theorem names, and information-theoretic vocabulary (rate-distortion, entropy rate, sufficient statistic).
- AAP v0.4.3 uses “Layer 0/1/2/3” for context model levels, “division” for spawning, and BEAM/OTP process vocabulary.
- The ring architecture uses “Ring-0/1/2/3” for tiers and biological metaphors (senescence, pollution, cell division, hot/cold manifold).
- Distributed systems literature uses “promotion” for upward data movement, “consensus” for agreement protocols, and “fencing” for fault containment.
- Cognitive science uses “working memory,” “episodic memory,” and “semantic memory” for hierarchy levels that map to but do not coincide with the tier boundaries.
Without a canonical vocabulary, the spec is ambiguous. A reader encountering “promotion” cannot know whether it means upward tier movement (GC/HSM standard), spawning a handler agent (legacy kernel usage), or convention compilation (the optimization ladder). This is the same problem as namespace collision in distributed systems — resolve it once, reference the resolution everywhere.
Operating timescale. The vocabulary is static. It changes only when the spec is revised. Terms defined here are the schema, not the data — they are the IDL (Interface Definition Language) for the Synixolis protocol. All other sections of the spec, all conforming implementations, and all inter-node messages use these terms with these meanings.
How to use this section. This is a reference section, organized for lookup by domain. Each term carries a canonical name, definition, collision notes where terminology conflicts exist, and cross-references to the spec sections that depend on it. The collision resolution log (Section 2.9) documents every case where Synixolis terminology diverges from common usage and why.
2.1 Memory Hierarchy — The Four Tiers
Section titled “2.1 Memory Hierarchy — The Four Tiers”The system organizes memory into four tiers with physics-appropriate lifecycle at each level. Tier naming follows CPU cache / HSM conventions (fastest to slowest, smallest to largest).
| Canonical Name | Timescale | Definition | Cognitive Analog | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier-0: Execution | ms to min | Agent frame (stack + heap). KV cache, context window. The AAP protocol layer. | Working memory (Baddeley) | S3 (Node Contract), S8 (Reference Impl) |
| Tier-1: Session | min to hrs | Agent state: messages, scope, heap across turns. The working set for a single agent lifetime. | Short-term / episodic buffer | S3, S5 (Colony), S8 |
| Tier-2: Experience | hrs to wks | Archive entries. Batch pipeline output. Episodic consolidation. | Episodic memory (Tulving) | S3, S4 (Optimization), S8 |
| Tier-3: Identity | wks to permanent | Charter + receptor of long-lived agent lines. Core beliefs, stable preferences. | Semantic memory (Tulving) | S3, S5, S7 (Self-Modification), S8 |
Collision notes:
| Source | Old Term | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| CDR position paper | Level 1 / Level 2 / Level 3 | Remapped to Tier-1 / Tier-2 / Tier-3. CDR had no explicit Level 0; Tier-0 was implicit as “within Level 1.” |
| Ring architecture | Ring-0 / Ring-1 / Ring-2 / Ring-3 | Direct remap: Ring-N becomes Tier-N. |
| AAP v0.4.3 | Layer 0 (Task/Frame) / Layer 1 (Agent) / Layer 2 (Species) | Remapped to Tier-0 / Tier-1 / Tier-2. AAP “Species” = Tier-2, not Tier-3. |
Why “Tier” over “Ring”: “Ring” in OS convention refers to privilege levels (Ring 0 = kernel mode, Ring 3 = user mode), implying an access-control hierarchy. Misleading for memory tiers. “Tier” is the standard term in Hierarchical Storage Management and tiered caching, which is the actual analogy.
Why 0-indexed: CS convention (L1/L2/L3 caches, Tier-0/1/2 storage). Preserves the existing numbering from the ring architecture while fixing the name.
2.2 Data Movement Operations
Section titled “2.2 Data Movement Operations”Standard terms from cache/HSM literature (Hennessy & Patterson, HSM specs).
| Canonical Name | Direction | Definition | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consolidation | Tier-N to Tier-(N+1) | Compressing and moving state from a faster tier to a slower tier. Lossy. The defining downward flow. | S3 (Maintenance Path), S4 (Optimization) |
| Eviction | Out of Tier-N | Removing an entry from a tier to free capacity. May trigger consolidation (writeback) or discard. | S3 (Maintenance Path) |
| Promotion | Tier-(N+1) to Tier-N | Moving data from a slower tier to a faster tier. In GC: objects surviving collection are promoted to an older generation. | S4 (Optimization), S5 (Colony) |
| Retrieval | Query across tiers | Fetching data from a lower tier on a cache miss at a higher tier. Page-fault cascade. | S3 (Read Path) |
| Invalidation | Cascade from source | Marking cached entries stale when the source of truth changes. Propagates upward through tiers. | S3 (Maintenance Path) |
| Ingestion | External to tier | New data entering the system at a physics-appropriate tier. | S3 (Write Path) |
Ingestion paths:
| Path | Definition | Entry Point |
|---|---|---|
| Hot ingestion | Runtime sources entering the system on the latency-critical path. | Tier-0 or Tier-1. Conversation turns, tool outputs, system events, user corrections. |
| Cold ingestion | Offline sources entering the system on the batch path. | Tier-2 or Tier-3. Documents, PDFs, conversation history replay, identity seeds. |
Collision notes:
| Old Term | Canonical Term | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| ”hot manifold” / “cold manifold” | hot ingestion / cold ingestion | ”Manifold” is a differential geometry term with no CS precedent in this context. “Hot path” and “cold path” are standard in systems engineering. |
| ”culling” (for eviction) | eviction | Standard cache/HSM term. “Culling” reserved for lifecycle sweep context. |
”promotion” (as in promotion_divide) | See “delegation spawn” in S2.3 | ”Promotion” is freed for its standard CS meaning: upward tier movement. |
2.3 Agent Lifecycle — Process Model
Section titled “2.3 Agent Lifecycle — Process Model”The agent lifecycle maps to a hybrid of OS process model and BEAM/OTP actor model. Agents are BEAM processes with structured state.
| Canonical Name | Definition | CS Source | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spawn | Creating a new agent process. Kernel-mediated: the parent expresses intent, the kernel decides. Three subtypes below. | BEAM spawn/3, POSIX fork+exec | S3 (Action Cascade), S5 (Colony Formation) |
| Renewal spawn | Spawn triggered by context exhaustion. Child is a successor — same role, compressed state handoff, fresh context. The parent’s context is full; the child continues the work. | Generational GC promotion + process restart | S3 (Lifecycle Gates), S5 |
| Specialization spawn | Spawn triggered by scope drift. Child is a specialist — role derived from accumulated off-topic work. Parent resets to generalist. | Process specialization, actor splitting | S5 (Colony Formation) |
| Delegation spawn | Spawn triggered by recurring subtask patterns. Child is a handler — dedicated to the most-pushed work category. Parent zeros that category in the push ledger. | Master-worker delegation, Contract Net Protocol | S5 (Colony Formation) |
| Terminate | Agent process ends. Resources released. Evaluation record preserved as tombstone. | POSIX exit(), BEAM process termination | S3, S5 (Cull Decision) |
| State digest | Compressed summary of parent’s conversation, injected into child’s system prompt at spawn. Lossy. Max 512 tokens. LLM-generated. | Checkpoint + compression | S3 (Lifecycle Gates), S5 |
| Lifecycle sweep | Periodic maintenance: decay scores, terminate low-fitness agents, blend evaluation data. | GC collection cycle | S3 (Maintenance Path) |
Collision notes:
| Old Term | Canonical Term | Reason |
|---|---|---|
senescence_divide / “senescence division” | renewal spawn | ”Senescence” is biology (cellular aging). The CS equivalent is context exhaustion triggering process restart. “Renewal” connects to CDR Theorem 3 (Finite Optimal Lifespan). |
pollution_divide / “pollution division” | specialization spawn | ”Pollution” is a novel coinage with negative connotation. The actual mechanism is scope drift triggering specialization. |
promotion_divide | delegation spawn | ”Promotion” in CS means moving data UP a hierarchy. The old promotion_divide moves a subtask pattern DOWN to a dedicated handler — the opposite direction. “Delegation” is the standard term. |
| ”cell division” / “division” / “birth” | spawn | Standard BEAM term. |
| ”death” | termination | OS/BEAM standard. |
| ”briefing” | state digest | CS-adjacent: checkpoint + compression. |
2.4 Agent Identity — State Model
Section titled “2.4 Agent Identity — State Model”| Canonical Name | Definition | Mutability | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receptor | Public identity. What the agent handles. The only thing the router sees. Contains embedding vector + capability descriptor. Created at spawn, never modified. | Immutable | S3, S5 (Routing) |
| Charter | Private operating instructions composed into the system prompt. How the agent handles its work. | Immutable for agent lifetime | S3, S8 |
| Scope | Learned semantic fingerprint of work handled. Embedding centroid + exemplars. Drives affinity calculations and specialization pressure. Updated per-message. | Mutable | S3, S5 |
| Affinity | How well a new input matches an agent’s scope or receptor. Scalar [0,1]. Cosine similarity. | Computed per-input | S3 (Action Cascade) |
| Scope drift | How much absorbing a new input would distort an agent’s scope. Scalar [0,1]. Computed as (1 - affinity) * establishment. Drives the spawn decision. | Computed per-input | S3 (Action Cascade), S5 |
| Establishment | Degree to which an agent has built a stable scope fingerprint. Ramps 0 to 1 over the first ~5 ticks. New agents do not spawn immediately. | Mutable (monotonic ramp) | S3 (Lifecycle Gates) |
| Tick | Monotonic counter of completed work cycles (chat rounds). | Mutable (monotonic increment) | S3 |
| Fitness | Composite score [0,1] from four evaluation tiers. Used for routing weight and spawn eligibility. | Mutable | S3, S5 (Cull Decision) |
Collision notes:
| Old Term | Canonical Term | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| ”fit” | affinity | ”Fit” is ambiguous (fitness? goodness of fit?). “Affinity” is standard in scheduling (processor affinity) and already used in the architecture docs. |
| ”pollution” (as a pressure metric) | scope drift | ”Pollution” is a novel metaphor. “Scope drift” is descriptive and maps to “distributional drift” from information theory. |
state.score (legacy field) | fitness | Single fitness value from the evaluation system. No parallel scoring. |
Why “receptor” and “charter” are retained from biology: No CS term captures these concepts without distortion. “Service descriptor” (SOA) and “capability advertisement” (MAS) exist for receptor but are awkward and miss the binding-affinity semantics. “Agent policy” (RL) and “behavior specification” (OTP) exist for charter but are overloaded. Both terms are precise, collision-free, and well-established in the codebase.
2.5 Pressure System — Action Cascade
Section titled “2.5 Pressure System — Action Cascade”The four-action decision cascade for message handling, in priority order (cheapest first).
| Canonical Name | Definition | Cost | CS Source | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route | Delegate to a better-fit sibling or child agent. Checked first. | Cheapest | Message routing (actor model), load balancing | S3, S5 |
| Push | Create an ephemeral sub-task frame. Cheaper than spawning. | Medium | Stack push, call frame | S3 |
| Handle | Process the message directly in current context. Default action. | Standard | OTP handle_call, handle_cast, handle_info | S3 |
| Spawn | Create a child agent. Three subtypes: renewal, specialization, delegation. | Most expensive | BEAM spawn, POSIX fork | S3, S5 |
Cost model terms:
| Term | Formula | Old Term |
|---|---|---|
| Handle cost | exec_cost + drift_weight * scope_drift | self_cost |
| Spawn cost | spawn_overhead - route_credit | fork_cost |
| Delegation pressure | Max count in the push ledger. When this exceeds threshold, delegation spawn triggers. | promotion_pressure |
Collision note: The action :self is renamed to :handle. :self as an action name is confusing — “self” usually means “the agent itself” (reflexive pronoun), not “handle this message.” :handle follows the OTP convention.
2.6 Evaluation — Fitness Model
Section titled “2.6 Evaluation — Fitness Model”| Canonical Name | Definition | Used In |
|---|---|---|
| Fitness | Composite score [0,1] from four evaluation tiers. Used for routing weight and spawn eligibility. | S3, S5 |
| Evaluation tiers | Four-tier assessment: (1) Mechanical health, (2) Requester satisfaction, (3) Consensus sampling, (4) Activity decay. | S3 |
| Decay | Exponential reduction in fitness over time without activity. Single unified mechanism — applied during lifecycle sweeps. | S3 (Maintenance Path) |
| Tombstone | Preserved evaluation record of a terminated agent. Enables clonal resurrection. | S3, S5 |
Collision note (C7 — dual decay): The legacy codebase had two parallel decay mechanisms: a multiplicative score decay in lifecycle.ex (0.95x per sweep) and a time-based exponential activity decay in evaluation.ex. These are unified into a single decay mechanism applied during lifecycle sweeps. One decay source, one application point.
2.7 CDR Theorems — Information-Theoretic Foundation
Section titled “2.7 CDR Theorems — Information-Theoretic Foundation”CDR is the brand name for the three-theorem framework. Individual theorems have proper names below. CDR remains the shorthand when referencing the framework as a whole. Usage: “the CDR framework,” “CDR properties,” “CDR Theorem 1 (Irreversible Compression).”
| Canonical Name | Formal Statement | Operational Meaning | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irreversible Compression (Theorem 1) | Bounded-state processor receiving stream with h > 0 entropy rate reaches threshold T* beyond which unanswerable queries accumulate monotonically and are irrecoverable. | Memory loss is inevitable. The set of questions the system cannot answer grows and never shrinks. No reorganization recovers discarded information. (Data Processing Inequality.) | S1 (Theoretical Foundation) |
| Temporal Partitioning (Theorem 2) | For a multi-scale source, a rate-matched partition strictly outperforms any monolithic encoder in worst-case distortion. Fragility ratio >= K-fold. | Separating fast-changing and slow-changing state into different tiers reduces worst-case information loss. This is WHY the tier hierarchy exists. | S1, S3 |
| Finite Optimal Lifespan (Theorem 3) | If degradation grows unboundedly (drift or perturbation), the long-run cost has a finite minimizer tau*. Replace when instantaneous degradation equals long-run average cost: D(tau*) = J(tau*). | Every compression scheme eventually degrades enough that rebuilding from scratch is cheaper than patching. This is WHY renewal spawn exists. | S1, S3, S7 |
| Recursive Necessity (Theorem 4) | CDR applies at every hierarchy level. Compressed output of partition i becomes input to partition i+1. | The three properties above are not design choices — they recur at every scale (memory, protocol, population). | S1 |
Collision note: The original CDR shorthand names “Compress / Divide / Renew” are retired as theorem names. “Compress” becomes Irreversible Compression (emphasizes irreversibility, the novel claim). “Divide” becomes Temporal Partitioning (standard CS term; “divide” collides with agent division). “Renew” becomes Finite Optimal Lifespan (names the theorem’s actual result). CDR as the framework acronym is unchanged.
Supporting information-theoretic terms (standard, used as-is):
| Term | Meaning in Synixolis Context |
|---|---|
| Rate-distortion function R(D) | Fundamental tradeoff between compression rate and information loss |
| Information bottleneck | Compression that preserves task-relevant information |
| Distributional drift | Change in the statistical properties of incoming data over time |
| Perturbation accumulation | Buildup of noise/errors in compressed representations |
| Unanswerable set | The set of queries the system can no longer answer due to compression |
| Sufficient statistic | A compressed representation that preserves all task-relevant information |
| Transparency condition | Requirement that compression preserves queryability |
| Hierarchy depth bound | K <= log(T/tau_min)/log(r) — maximum useful number of tiers |
2.8 Infrastructure and Colony
Section titled “2.8 Infrastructure and Colony”Kernel Infrastructure
Section titled “Kernel Infrastructure”| Canonical Name | Definition | Used In |
|---|---|---|
| Kernel | The BEAM/OTP runtime substrate. Manages process scheduling, message passing, fault isolation. The foundation layer. | S3, S8 |
| Memory manager | The Synixolis system itself — sits above the kernel, below agents. Manages tier lifecycle, ingestion routing, consolidation scheduling, evaluation. | S3 |
| Archive | Shared knowledge store. Agents read; curators write. Hybrid search (semantic + keyword). | S3 (Read Path) |
| Curator | Specialized agent with elevated archive write permissions. Analyzes agent lifespans, indexes patterns. | S5, S8 |
| Telemetry log | Append-only event log (JSONL). Every spawn, termination, routing decision, evaluation. Replayable. | S3 (Telemetry), S7b (Fault Isolation) |
| Colony | The full population of living Synixolis-conforming nodes operating over a shared or federated memory substrate. | S5, S5b (Collective State) |
| Clonal line | A generational sequence of agents sharing a receptor. Produced by renewal spawns. | S5 |
Collision note (C1 — “Kernel”): The Synix.Kernel Elixir module is a config profile (LLM client, model, persistence settings), not a kernel. Renamed to Synix.Config. “Kernel” is reserved for the infrastructure substrate.
Collision note (C11 — “Archive”): “Archive” as noun (the knowledge store) and verb (to store in the archive) are both standard English. No rename needed; context disambiguates.
Colony Coordination
Section titled “Colony Coordination”| Canonical Name | Definition | Used In |
|---|---|---|
| Consensus | Agreement across colony nodes. Requires N/2+1 nodes validating a proposal against their own traces. | S5 (Colony), S7 (Self-Modification) |
| Quorum | The minimum number of nodes required for a colony-level decision. Default: N/2+1 (simple majority). | S5, S7b (Fault Isolation) |
| Promotion (colony context) | Moving a validated pattern from node-local conventions to shared colony-wide conventions. Requires cross-node evidence and consensus. | S5 (Organizational Memory), S7 |
| Collective state | Shared memory and conventions visible to all colony nodes. Replicated log with materialized views. Causal consistency. | S5b (Collective State) |
| Heartbeat | Liveness signal. Written to node manifest on each interaction (not on a timer — Synixolis nodes are session-based, not daemon-based). | S5c (Node Lifecycle) |
| Steering parameters | Human-provided constraints within which the colony self-organizes. Includes max colony size, budget, domain constraints, approval gates. | S5 (Colony), S8 |
Node Lifecycle States
Section titled “Node Lifecycle States”| State | Description | Capabilities | Transition Trigger | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INITIALIZING | Node bootstrapping from parent digest + colony checkpoint. | Read-only on all state. No colony participation. | Bootstrap complete -> ACTIVE | S5c |
| ACTIVE | Normal operation. | Full read/write on local state. Read + promotion pipeline on shared state. Colony participation. | Session ends without termination -> DORMANT | S5c |
| DORMANT | Session ended, state persisted on disk, no active process. | No operations. State is cold but intact. | Session resumes -> ACTIVE. Dormancy exceeds threshold -> liveness check. | S5c |
| FENCED | Fault isolation in effect. | Read-only on shared state. Full local operation. No consensus participation. | Investigation clears -> ACTIVE. Confirmed fault -> TERMINATED (with RESET). | S5c, S7b |
| TERMINATED | Node permanently decommissioned. | None. State archived. Colony manifest updated. | Cull decision via consensus or human directive. | S5, S5c |
2.9 Fault Isolation
Section titled “2.9 Fault Isolation”| Canonical Name | Definition | DS Analogue | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invariant enforcement | Per-operation validation: provenance chain checks, schema enforcement, rate limiting, conflict detection. Stateless, deterministic, never learned. | Input validation, referential integrity, token bucket rate limiting | S7b |
| Fault signature | A learned detection pattern (metric + threshold + window) compiled from a resolved incident. Carries provenance, expiry, and its own tau*. Undergoes CDR renewal. | Anomaly-based intrusion detection rule | S7b |
| Fencing | Revoking a node’s write access to shared state while allowing continued local operation. Time-bounded (default 24h). Reversible. | Circuit breaker, network partition | S7b |
Escalation Levels
Section titled “Escalation Levels”| Level | Trigger | Response | Reversibility | DS Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MONITOR | Anomaly score elevated, below threshold | Increase telemetry sampling rate for suspect node/rule | Fully reversible | Health check |
| FENCE | Threshold exceeded or signature matched | Revoke shared-state write access. Node continues local operation. | Reversible on investigation clearance | Circuit breaker |
| ROLLBACK | Confirmed contamination of shared state | Revert specific shared entries/conventions to pre-contamination checkpoint. | Partially reversible (rolled-back entries archived with REVERTED flag) | Checkpoint restore |
| EXCISE | Identified harmful entries with known blast radius | Remove specific entries. Provenance audit on downstream dependencies. | Reversible (excised entries archived with EXCISED flag) | Targeted state cleanup |
| RESET | Node confirmed as comprehensively compromised | Wipe node state, re-initialize from last known good checkpoint + state digest. Requires human approval. | Irreversible for node state | Node restart / failover |
Fault Detection Quorum
Section titled “Fault Detection Quorum”| Action | Required Evidence |
|---|---|
| Raise MONITOR | Any single node (unilateral) |
| Raise FENCE | 2+ nodes flagging the same target, OR 1 node + invariant violation |
| Raise ROLLBACK | N/2+1 nodes agreeing on contamination scope (majority quorum) |
| Raise RESET | Human approval (out-of-band escalation) |
2.10 Pipeline System
Section titled “2.10 Pipeline System”| Canonical Name | Definition | Used In |
|---|---|---|
| Pipeline | Declarative DAG of stateless transforms. Transcripts to artifacts. The batch processing system. | S3, S8 |
| Pipeline spec | Compiled representation of a pipeline: receptor + stages + evaluation + projection. Bridge between DSL and kernel execution. | S3, S8 |
| Transform patterns | Four execution shapes: Map (1:1), Group (N:M), Reduce (N:1), Fold (N:1 sequential). | S3 |
| Seeded strategy | A human-authored pipeline deployed to the kernel. Subject to evolutionary pressure like any other agent. | S5 |
Collision note (C5 — “Pipeline”): “Pipeline” is overloaded across CS. In Synixolis, “pipeline” or “Synix pipeline” when specificity is needed; “pipeline” alone when context disambiguates. Competitor usage is quoted with attribution: “Cognee pipeline,” “LangChain chain,” etc.
2.11 Metabolic Regions (Node-Level Memory Partitions)
Section titled “2.11 Metabolic Regions (Node-Level Memory Partitions)”The node contract (S3) specifies five metabolic regions, which are the physical partitions within a single node where the four tiers materialize as storage.
| Region | Tier Mapping | Decay Rate | Lifecycle | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ephemeral/ | Tier-0 + transient Tier-1 | Hard-expire at TTL | Hours. The only region where true deletion occurs. | S3, S8 |
| operational/ | Tier-1 | Active decay (default 14 days) | Days to weeks. Sprint goals, blockers, observations. | S3, S8 |
| structural/ | Tier-2 | Review cycle (monthly default) | Months to quarters. Architecture, entities, durable patterns. | S3, S5b, S8 |
| identity/ | Tier-3 | Permanent until explicitly changed | Mission, values, non-negotiables. | S3, S8 |
| glacier/ | Archived Tier-2/3 | None (archived) | Indexed. Retrieved on demand. Never deleted. | S3, S8 |
2.12 Collision Resolution Log
Section titled “2.12 Collision Resolution Log”Complete index of resolved terminology collisions. Each collision is documented with the conflicting usages and the resolution rationale.
| ID | Term | Conflict | Resolution | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Kernel | Architecture docs (“BEAM is the kernel”) vs. Synix.Kernel Elixir config module | ”Kernel” reserved for infrastructure substrate. Config module renamed to Synix.Config. | S2.8 |
| C2 | Promotion | GC/HSM: upward tier movement vs. promotion_divide: spawning a handler | ”Promotion” reserved for upward tier movement. Handler spawn renamed to “delegation spawn.” | S2.2, S2.3 |
| C3 | Tier numbering | CDR Level 1/2/3 vs. Ring-0/1/2/3 vs. AAP Layer 0/1/2 | Single canonical numbering: Tier-0 through Tier-3. All documents converge. | S2.1 |
| C4 | Generation | AAP: increments on identity mutation only vs. division.ex: also increments on spawn | AAP definition is canonical. Generation increments on identity mutation ONLY. Code bug — generation should NOT increment on spawn. | — |
| C5 | Pipeline | Synix batch system vs. generic CS term vs. competitor usage | Context disambiguates. “Synix pipeline” when specificity needed. Quote competitors: “Cognee pipeline.” | S2.10 |
| C6 | Hot path | GC: access frequency vs. ring architecture: “hot manifold” (runtime ingestion) | “Hot path” reserved for access frequency (standard systems term). “Hot manifold” renamed to “hot ingestion.” | S2.2 |
| C7 | Decay | lifecycle.ex: multiplicative score decay per sweep vs. evaluation.ex: time-based exponential activity decay | Unified into single decay mechanism applied during lifecycle sweeps. One source, one application point. | S2.6 |
| C8 | Score vs. Fitness | state.score (legacy field) vs. evaluation.fitness (composite) | state.score deprecated. Single canonical term: fitness. | S2.4 |
| C9 | Renew | CDR: rebuild when degradation > rebuild cost vs. kernel: senescence_divide on context overflow | CDR Theorem 3 = “Finite Optimal Lifespan” (the theory). “Renewal spawn” (the implementation). Gap noted: kernel triggers on capacity only; CDR also requires drift-triggered renewal. | S2.3, S2.7 |
| C10 | Spawn vs. Division | division.ex module vs. spawn.ex module vs. “cell division” in docs | ”Spawn” is canonical (BEAM native term). All docs use “spawn.” | S2.3 |
| C11 | Archive | Noun (knowledge store) vs. verb (to store) | No rename needed. Both usages are standard English and unambiguous in context. | S2.8 |
| C12 | Receptor vs. Scope | Confusion about whether these are synonyms | Complementary, not synonymous. Receptor = immutable public routing identity (static). Scope = learned semantic fingerprint (dynamic). Both are required. scope_terms (legacy bag-of-words) deprecated, replaced by scope centroid. | S2.4 |
2.13 Terms Retained From Non-CS Origins
Section titled “2.13 Terms Retained From Non-CS Origins”These terms are kept because no CS term captures the same concept without losing precision or adding confusion.
| Term | Origin | Why Retained |
|---|---|---|
| Receptor | Biochemistry (receptor binding) | “Service descriptor” (SOA) and “capability advertisement” (MAS) exist but do not capture the binding-affinity semantics. The receptor metaphor (what an agent binds to) is precise and well-established in the codebase. |
| Charter | Governance (organizational charter) | “Agent policy” (RL) and “behavior specification” (OTP) exist but are overloaded. Charter = private operating instructions defining how an agent works. Clear and collision-free. |
| Colony | Biology (ant colony, bacterial colony) | “Population” (evolutionary computation) is the closest CS term but lacks the connotation of emergent collective behavior. “Colony” captures organism-level dynamics. |
| Clonal line | Biology (clonal reproduction) | “Process lineage” does not capture the identity-preservation semantics (same receptor across generations). “Clonal” describes precisely what happens: the receptor is cloned, the context is refreshed. |
| Tombstone | Already standard CS | Database tombstone markers, GC tombstones. Not actually a biology-only term. |
| Fitness | Evolutionary biology, but standard CS | Holland (1975). fitness function = evaluation function = objective function. Well-established in evolutionary computation. |
2.14 Complete Translation Map
Section titled “2.14 Complete Translation Map”Old term to canonical term. For grep-and-replace across the codebase and all documents.
Must-Change
Section titled “Must-Change”| Old Term | Canonical Term | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Ring-0 / Ring-1 / Ring-2 / Ring-3 | Tier-0 / Tier-1 / Tier-2 / Tier-3 | Avoid OS privilege ring confusion |
| Level 1 / Level 2 / Level 3 (CDR) | Tier-1 / Tier-2 / Tier-3 | Unify numbering |
| senescence_divide | renewal spawn | Connect to CDR Theorem 3; remove bio term |
| pollution_divide | specialization spawn | Remove negative connotation; descriptive |
| promotion_divide | delegation spawn | Free “promotion” for standard CS meaning |
| cell division / division / birth | spawn | Standard BEAM term |
| hot manifold / cold manifold | hot ingestion / cold ingestion | Remove non-CS “manifold” |
| pollution (pressure metric) | scope drift | Descriptive, maps to distributional drift |
| fit (affinity metric) | affinity | Unambiguous |
| self_cost / fork_cost | handle cost / spawn cost | Match action names |
| :self (action) / :fork (action) | :handle / :spawn | OTP/BEAM convention |
| promotion_pressure | delegation pressure | Free “promotion” |
| briefing | state digest | CS-adjacent (checkpoint + compression) |
| VMM | memory manager | More general, less OS-specific |
| archivist | curator | Standard knowledge management term |
| score (state.score) | fitness | Unify with evaluation fitness |
| death (agent) | termination | OS/BEAM standard |
| system_base | charter | Already deprecated; complete migration |
Keep As-Is
Section titled “Keep As-Is”| Term | Domain | Why Keep |
|---|---|---|
| receptor | Agent identity | No better CS term (see S2.13) |
| charter | Agent identity | No better CS term (see S2.13) |
| scope | Agent state | Standard (working set, topic model) |
| archive | Knowledge store | Standard CS |
| consolidation | Downward data flow | Standard (neuroscience + systems) |
| eviction | Tier removal | Standard (cache, HSM) |
| retrieval | Upward data flow | Standard (cache, memory) |
| invalidation | Stale marking | Standard (cache coherence) |
| ingestion | External data entry | Standard (ETL, data engineering) |
| fitness | Evaluation score | Standard (evolutionary computation) |
| decay | Score reduction over time | Standard (GC, cache, neuroscience) |
| tombstone | Dead agent’s record | Standard (databases, GC) |
| colony | Agent population | Acceptable non-CS term (see S2.13) |
| clonal line | Generational agent sequence | Precise (see S2.13) |
| telemetry | Event logging | Standard |
| tick | Work cycle counter | Standard |
| establishment | Warm-up ramp | Descriptive |
| push ledger | Subtask frequency map | Descriptive |
| pipeline | Batch DAG processing | Standard |
| CDR | Three-theorem framework | Established project acronym |
2.15 Cross-Domain Academic Term Map
Section titled “2.15 Cross-Domain Academic Term Map”How Synixolis vocabulary maps to established terminology across disciplines. For use in papers, outreach, and positioning.
| Synixolis Term | CS / Systems | Cognitive Science | Agent Memory Papers (2024-2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier-0 (Execution) | L1 cache, register file | Working memory (Baddeley) | In-context memory, main context (MemGPT) |
| Tier-1 (Session) | L2 cache, working set | Short-term memory, episodic buffer | Inside-trial memory, session memory |
| Tier-2 (Experience) | L3 cache, tiered storage | Episodic memory (Tulving) | Cross-trial memory, long-term memory |
| Tier-3 (Identity) | Permanent generation (GC), cold storage | Semantic memory (Tulving) | Parametric memory, core memory |
| Consolidation | Writeback, demotion, GC promotion | Systems consolidation (hippocampus to neocortex) | Memory compression, reflection (Park et al.) |
| Eviction | Cache eviction, LRU replacement | Forgetting, decay | Memory forgetting, pruning |
| Renewal spawn | Process restart, checkpoint-restore | Memory reconsolidation | (No equivalent — novel) |
| Scope drift | Distributional drift, concept drift | Schema drift | (Not formalized in agent memory lit) |
| Affinity | Cache affinity, processor affinity | — | Relevance score, similarity |
| State digest | Checkpoint compression, snapshot | Memory consolidation | Summarization, compression |
| Irreversible Compression (T1) | Data Processing Inequality | Catastrophic forgetting, interference | Partially: stability-plasticity dilemma |
| Temporal Partitioning (T2) | Tiered caching, HSM | Complementary Learning Systems (CLS) | Hierarchical memory (HMT, H-MEM) |
| Finite Optimal Lifespan (T3) | GC generational hypothesis, cache TTL | Sleep-dependent consolidation cycles | (Novel — no equivalent) |
| Fitness | Fitness function (GA), objective function | — | Evaluation score |
| Colony | Population (evolutionary computation) | — | Multi-agent system |
| Curator | Knowledge curator, ontology maintainer | — | Memory manager (Memory-R1) |