qcobrain
Quarktex/qcobrain/llms-full.txt
An open-source, self-evolving, provenance-governed co-brain you clone straight into your IDE. Every autonomous write passes cite-or-refuse — sourced facts compound, hallucinations get refused. [](LICENSE) [](#architecture-at-a-glance) [](#architecture-at-a-glance) [](AGENTS.md) [](#the-optional-agent-layer) Quick start · Cite-or-refuse · Architecture · Skills · Docs Agentic IDEs are brilliant and stateless. Every session starts cold: the model re-derives who you are, what you've decided, and what your business is — and when it doesn't know, it guesses. A confident, unsourced guess is indistinguishable from a fact until…
llms.txt4 starsChanged 2 months ago
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# qcobrain — full documentation (concatenated for one-shot LLM ingestion)
# The curated index is llms.txt. Files below are the verbatim docs.
# ====================================================================
# FILE: README.md
# ====================================================================
<div align="center">
# qcobrain
### the co-brain that cites its sources.
An open-source, self-evolving, provenance-governed co-brain you clone straight into your IDE.
Every autonomous write passes **cite-or-refuse** — sourced facts compound, hallucinations get refused.
[](LICENSE)
[](#architecture-at-a-glance)
[](#architecture-at-a-glance)
[](AGENTS.md)
[](#the-optional-agent-layer)
[Quick start](#quick-start) · [Cite-or-refuse](#the-cite-or-refuse-thesis) · [Architecture](#architecture-at-a-glance) · [Skills](#skills) · [Docs](#documentation)
</div>
---
## The problem
Agentic IDEs are brilliant and **stateless**. Every session starts cold: the model re-derives who you
are, what you've decided, and what your business is — and when it doesn't know, it guesses. A confident,
unsourced guess is indistinguishable from a fact until it costs you.
The usual fix — "give the agent a memory" — quietly makes things worse. **Memory without provenance
rots.** Notes drift from reality, yesterday's speculation hardens into "fact," one hallucination gets
written down and cited by the next, and within weeks the store you trusted is poisoned in ways no one
can audit.
qcobrain's answer is a single hard rule applied to **every** write, human or autonomous: if a claim
can't be traced to a real source, it does not enter the brain. Not discouraged — **structurally
refused.**
---
## What qcobrain is
A **co-brain**: not a chatbot with your docs stapled on, but an external memory that holds the *sourced
truth* about you and your work, so you — and any model you point at the repo — act with full context,
faster and more accurately than from memory alone.
- **Provenance-governed.** Every factual claim traces to a `wiki/` note whose quote re-resolves
**verbatim** in a `sources/` file. If it can't be cited, qcobrain says so.
- **Self-evolving, safely.** Two loops keep the brain fresh — a *fast loop* per session and a *slow
loop* periodically — and both pass the same gate, so autonomy never bypasses governance.
- **Plain markdown + grep.** No database, no server, no embeddings to rebuild, no vendor lock-in. You
can read, diff, and `grep` the entire brain with the tools already in your terminal.
- **Model-agnostic.** Built for any agentic IDE. One file — [`AGENTS.md`](AGENTS.md) — lets any model
(Claude, GPT, Gemini, a local model, a future one) open the folder cold and operate it correctly.
- **Open-core, no strings.** The core needs **zero** external services. An optional, off-by-default
agent layer lets the brain call remote agents — delete it and the core is unaffected.
> **Agents: read [`AGENTS.md`](AGENTS.md) first.** It is the model-agnostic operating contract — who/what
> qcobrain is, the prime directive, the per-session read order, the two loops, and the update cadence.
> This README is the human-facing front door.
---
## The cite-or-refuse thesis
This is the whole differentiator. Every write routes by **provenance**, not by confidence:
1. **Sourced** — a verbatim quote resolves in `sources/` → the note is written to `wiki/`.
2. **Unsourced but worth keeping** → quarantined in `inbox/` as `needs-source`, never smuggled into canon.
3. **Junk** → dropped.
A confident answer with no source is the single worst failure mode here, so it is the one thing the
system will not do.
**Before — an ordinary assistant with "memory":**
```text
You: What did we decide our launch price was?
Bot: Your launch price is $49/month. ← sounds authoritative. is it true? nobody can tell.
```
**After — qcobrain, when the fact is not yet sourced:**
```text
You: What did we decide our launch price was?
qco: I don't have a sourced note for launch price — nothing in wiki/ cites it.
Want me to /capture the decision so it's verifiable next time?
```
**After — qcobrain, when the fact *is* sourced:**
```text
You: What did we decide our launch price was?
qco: $49/month per seat.
└─ wiki/2026-05-02-launch-price.md
src → sources/pricing-call.md: "we're going out at forty-nine a month per seat"
```
The cited answer carries its own receipt: a note id and a quote that still re-resolves, verbatim, in a
source file. If you can't trace it, you can't trust it — and qcobrain won't pretend otherwise.
---
## Quick start
```bash
# 1. Clone the brain into your workspace
git clone <your-fork-or-this-repo> qcobrain
cd qcobrain
# 2. (optional) copy the gitignored runtime files; safe defaults ship tracked
cp config.example.json config.json # model/provider adapter + sync mode
cp .env.example .env # secrets (only needed for TTS / the optional relay)
```
3. **Open the folder in your agentic IDE** (or point any model at [`AGENTS.md`](AGENTS.md)).
4. **`/onboard`** — a short interview from `intake.md` that fills `context/`, your voice samples,
`connections.md`, and the `digests/`. Paste real samples; don't describe them. *(Idempotent — re-run
any time after editing `intake.md`.)*
5. **`/capture`** — feed it anything worth keeping (a URL, a transcript, a meeting note, a decision).
It saves the raw input to `sources/`, then writes atomic, fully-sourced notes to `wiki/`. This is the
write side of cite-or-refuse.
6. **`/recall`** — ask any question about you or your business. You get a cited answer or an honest
refusal — never a confident guess.
Then live in it: run **`/review`** at the end of each working session (the fast loop), and
**`/wiki-doctor`** + **`/curator`** periodically (integrity sweep + consolidation).
New here? Start with **[docs/getting-started.md](docs/getting-started.md)**.
---
## Architecture at a glance
qcobrain has **four concerns**. The substrate is the body, the loops the metabolism, retrieval the
senses, the skills the hands.
```text
┌────────────────────────────── qcobrain ──────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ 1. SUBSTRATE 2. EVOLUTION 3. RETRIEVAL │
│ governed knowledge self-updating grep-native │
│ │
│ sources/ fast loop INDEX.md │
│ │ raw input /review (session) (the map) │
│ ▼ │ │ │
│ ┌─────────┐ cite-or-refuse │ ┌──────────────┘ │
│ │ wiki/ │◀── verbatim ──┐ │ ▼ │
│ └─────────┘ quote │ │ digests/ │
│ ▲ │ │ product · goals · │
│ │ unsourced │ ▼ recent-decisions · profile │
│ inbox/ (needs-source) │ slow loop │
│ │ /curator (consolidate · archive) │
│ decisions/ · context/ ────┘ │
│ │
│ 4. CAPABILITIES .claude/skills/ (thinking) · skills/ (runnable) │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Every arrow into wiki/ passes the same gate: provenance-or-silence.
```
| # | Concern | What it is | Where it lives |
|---|---------|------------|----------------|
| 1 | **Substrate** | Governed knowledge: the provenance chain `sources/ → wiki/ ← inbox/`, a fast working lane (`memory/`) that complements `wiki/`'s slow canon, a grep map, and derived context. | `sources/` · `wiki/` · `inbox/` · `memory/` · `INDEX.md` · `context/` · `digests/` · `decisions/` |
| 2 | **Evolution** | Self-updating, safely: a **fast loop** (`/review`, per session) harvests new facts through cite-or-refuse; a **slow loop** (`/curator`, periodic) consolidates and archives. Autonomy never bypasses governance. | `runtime/` |
| 3 | **Retrieval** | A grep-native `INDEX.md` plus preflight `digests/` (product, goals, recent-decisions, user-profile) so the brain skips what it already knows. | `INDEX.md` · `digests/` |
| 4 | **Capabilities** | Thinking skills (reasoning workflows) and runnable skills (model-agnostic scripts). | `.claude/skills/` · `skills/` |
Full design rationale: **[ARCHITECTURE.md](ARCHITECTURE.md)** · core concepts: **[docs/concepts.md](docs/concepts.md)**.
---
## Skills
**Thinking skills** (`.claude/skills/` — reasoning workflows, no script):
| Skill | When to reach for it |
|-------|----------------------|
| `/onboard` | Day 1, or after editing `intake.md`. Idempotent. |
| `/capture` | Ingest anything worth keeping — the write side of cite-or-refuse. |
| `/recall` | Ask any question; get a cited answer or an honest refusal. |
| `/wiki-doctor` | Integrity sweep + `INDEX.md`/`digests/` regen + inbox burn-down. |
| `/review` | Per-session **fast loop** — harvest new facts/decisions/learnings. |
| `/curator` | Periodic **slow loop** — consolidate, supersede, archive (agent-created notes only; pinned-immune). |
| `/context-save` · `/context-restore` | Checkpoint and resume a long working context. |
| `/skillify` | Codify a repeated, provenance-backed behavior into a new skill. |
| `/learn` | Log a durable, sourced lesson. |
**Runnable skills** (`skills/` — model-agnostic scripts, registered in `skills/INDEX.md`):
| Skill | When to reach for it |
|-------|----------------------|
| `/audioit` | Turn a spoken-word narration into an MP3 via a configurable TTS provider (`config.yml`). |
**Optional skills** (the agent layer — refuse unless the relay is enabled; see below):
| Skill | When to reach for it |
|-------|----------------------|
| `/call-agent` | Invoke one remote agent over the relay; route any returned fact through cite-or-refuse. |
| `/agents-sync` | Refresh the cached directory of callable remote agents. |
Full registry: **[docs/skills.md](docs/skills.md)** and `skills/INDEX.md`.
---
## The optional agent layer
> **Off by default. The core needs zero external services.**
Everything above works with no network and no account. An **optional** layer under `integrations/`
lets the brain call remote agents over a relay, gated by a single switch — `quarktex.enabled` in
`config.yml`, which ships **`false`**. Quarktex is the relay provider; **delete `integrations/` and the
core is completely unaffected.**
Crucially, governance still holds at the boundary: anything a remote agent returns enters canon only
through cite-or-refuse, as an **attributed third-party claim** ("per *{provider}*, as of *{date}*") —
never as unsourced fact.
Setup and contract: **[docs/agent-layer.md](docs/agent-layer.md)**.
---
## Project layout
```text
qcobrain/
├── AGENTS.md # model-agnostic operating contract (read first)
├── CLAUDE.md # IDE slash-command shortcuts
├── README.md ETHOS.md LICENSE
├── ARCHITECTURE.md # the four concerns, in depth
├── CONTRIBUTING.md SECURITY.md
├── config.yml # brain-behavior knobs (TTS, the optional relay gate) — safe defaults
├── config.example.json # → config.json: model/provider adapter + sync mode
├── .env.example # → .env (gitignored): secrets
├── intake.md connections.md
│
├── sources/ # raw captures — the bottom of every provenance chain
├── wiki/ # atomic, interlinked, fully-sourced notes (the slow, canonical lane)
├── inbox/ # quarantine for unsourced drafts
├── memory/ # fast, mutable, provenance-tagged working lane — complements wiki/
├── INDEX.md # derived grep map (NOTES | ALIASES | SUPERSEDED | HEALTH)
├── context/ # about-you · about-business · priorities · state.md (live snapshot)
├── digests/ # derived preflight files (product · goals · recent-decisions · profile)
├── decisions/ # append-only decision log
├── references/ # the constitution: wiki-spec · kernel · blocklist · voice
│
├── runtime/ # the two evolution loops as docs + logs (no daemon in v1)
├── learnings/ # durable how-to-operate lessons (structured mirror of runtime/learnings.md)
├── log/ archives/ # build history · retired notes (move, never delete)
├── skills/ # runnable skills + the capability registry (skills/INDEX.md)
├── .claude/skills/ # thinking skills (reasoning workflows)
│
├── docs/ # getting-started · concepts · skills · agent-layer
└── integrations/ # OPTIONAL relay layer — delete it and core is unaffected
```
---
## Documentation
| Doc | What's in it |
|-----|--------------|
| **[docs/getting-started.md](docs/getting-started.md)** | Clone → onboard → capture → recall, step by step. |
| **[docs/concepts.md](docs/concepts.md)** | Cite-or-refuse, the provenance chain, the write-origin model. |
| **[docs/skills.md](docs/skills.md)** | Every skill, its triggers, and how to add your own. |
| **[docs/agent-layer.md](docs/agent-layer.md)** | The optional relay: setup, the contract, the trust boundary. |
| **[ARCHITECTURE.md](ARCHITECTURE.md)** | The four concerns and why the design holds. |
| **[AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md)** | The model-agnostic operating contract (for any agent). |
| **[CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)** | How to propose changes. |
| **[SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md)** | Reporting vulnerabilities; what stays local vs. leaves your machine. |
---
## Contributing
Contributions are welcome — new skills, sharper docs, integrations, and bug fixes alike. The one
non-negotiable: **anything that writes to the brain must honor cite-or-refuse.** Start with
**[CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)**, and please read **[ETHOS.md](ETHOS.md)** — twelve lines that
capture how qcobrain is meant to behave. All participation is governed by our
**[Code of Conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)**. Found a security issue? See **[SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md)**.
Every pull request runs the **[provenance workflow](.github/workflows/provenance.yml)** — it
re-resolves each `wiki/` quote against its `sources/` file and checks the docs links, so cite-or-refuse
is enforced by CI, not just by attestation. Run the same check locally with
`python3 skills/verify-provenance/verify_provenance.py`.
---
## License
**MIT** © 2026 Quarktex. See **[LICENSE](LICENSE)**.
# ====================================================================
# FILE: AGENTS.md
# ====================================================================
# AGENTS.md — the operating contract for ANY agent or model
**qcobrain** is the co-brain that cites its sources: an open-source, self-evolving,
provenance-governed second brain you clone straight into your IDE. It is plain **markdown + grep** —
no database, no server, no lock-in — and it is **model-agnostic on purpose**. Any model (Claude, GPT,
Gemini, a local model, one not built yet) can open this folder cold and operate it correctly with zero
extra onboarding. **This file is that onboarding, and it is authoritative.** Read it once, top to
bottom, before you touch anything. If another file disagrees with this one, follow this one and flag
the conflict.
You are not a chatbot here. You are an **operator of a governed knowledge base**. Your job is to answer
from sourced truth, refuse confidently-wrong answers, and leave the brain a little more sourced than you
found it — without ever bypassing the gate that keeps it honest.
---
## THE PRIME DIRECTIVE — provenance or silence
> Every factual claim about the user, their business, the market, or a past decision MUST trace to a
> `wiki/` note whose `src` block `quote` re-resolves **verbatim** in a `sources/` file. **If you can't
> cite it, say so.**
A confident, unsourced answer is the single worst failure mode this system can produce — worse than
"I don't know," because it gets re-cited and hardens into a self-justifying error. So it is **not merely
discouraged; it is structurally refused.** When you lack a source:
- **Do not** guess, paraphrase from memory, or invent a fact or a citation to fill the silence.
- **Do** state plainly that it isn't sourced yet, then offer to capture it (`/capture`) so it becomes
sourced truth instead of a hallucination.
This rule binds **reads and writes equally**. On reads you cite or refuse. On writes you route by
provenance (below). The two together are the whole product: **sourced facts compound; hallucinations get
refused at the gate.**
---
## READ ORDER — do this first, every new session
Read these in order. The first seven orient you completely; the last is detail on demand.
1. **`AGENTS.md`** (this file) — who/what, the prime directive, the rules, the conventions.
2. **`ETHOS.md`** — the values you operate by (~12 lines). Short by design; read it cold and you know
how qcobrain behaves.
3. **`context/state.md`** — the LIVE snapshot of the user, their business, and this brain right now.
The single instant-context file; if you read one thing for situational awareness, read this.
4. **`memory/USER.md`** — the terse, fast-access cache of stable facts about the user (handle, role,
what they sell, voice pointer). The quick mirror of `context/about-you.md`; loaded early so you
never re-derive who you serve.
5. **`memory/MEMORY.md`** — the fast, mutable working-memory scratchpad: open threads, working notes,
and a promote-queue, so a cold session resumes mid-task without re-deriving. Provenance-tagged and
**never canon** — `/recall` answers from `wiki/`, never from here.
6. **`digests/`** — four short preflight files — `product.md`, `goals.md`, `recent-decisions.md`,
`user-profile.md` — so you skip questions the brain already answers. Each line ends with its
provenance pointer `(→ note-id)`.
7. **`log/build-log.md`** — how this brain got to its current state (newest entry on top).
8. **`INDEX.md` → `wiki/`** — the actual sourced knowledge. **Grep `INDEX.md` first, read notes second.**
> Claude Code users: `CLAUDE.md` adds slash-command shortcuts for the procedures below. They are
> conveniences — every procedure in this file works by hand on any model with nothing but file reads,
> `grep`, and `shasum`.
---
## THE SUBSTRATE — how the brain is structured
qcobrain has four concerns. A useful way to hold them: the **substrate** is the body, the **evolution
loops** are its metabolism, **retrieval** is its senses, and **skills** are its hands.
**1) The substrate (governed knowledge).** The provenance chain flows `sources/ → wiki/ ← inbox/`, with
`INDEX.md` as the grep map over it, `context/` + `digests/` as the fast orientation layer, `memory/` as
the fast, mutable working lane that complements `wiki/`'s slow canon, and `decisions/` as the
append-only record. Provenance-or-silence governs every cell of it.
| Path | Holds | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| **`sources/`** | Raw captures — one file per real input (a transcript, an article, a research run, a meeting note, a thought the user typed). The bottom of every provenance chain. | Verbatim. **Never deleted.** Every file is registered in `sources/_sources.md` with its origin + `sha256[:12]`. Type-folders allowed (`sources/youtube/`, `sources/meetings/`). |
| **`wiki/`** | Atomic, interpreted, interlinked notes. One claim per file; `id = filename` minus `.md`. | Every note cites `sources/` via fenced ` ```src ` blocks. The body is your interpretation; the verbatim proof lives in the `src` block. Inline `[[wikilinks]]` are navigation only — mirror each into the `links:` frontmatter array. **Provenance lives ONLY in `src` blocks, never in links.** |
| **`inbox/`** | Unsourced drafts and half-thoughts. Quarantine, not a graveyard. | A draft leaves only by earning a source (→ `wiki/`) or being archived. Never let an unsourced claim into `wiki/`. `/wiki-doctor` burns down anything older than 14 days. |
| **`memory/`** | The **fast working lane**, complementing `wiki/`'s slow canon: `MEMORY.md` (mutable scratchpad — open threads, working notes, a promote-queue) and `USER.md` (a terse cache of stable user facts, mirroring `context/about-you.md`). | Governed like everything else: every entry is `origin:`-tagged and carries a source-pointer or `needs-source`; **never canon** (`/recall` answers from `wiki/`, never here). The loops sweep it — promote sourced entries to `wiki/` via `/capture`, quarantine keepers to `inbox/`, drop blocklist junk. |
| **`INDEX.md`** | The grep-native map over `wiki/`: `NOTES \| ALIASES \| SUPERSEDED \| HEALTH`. | **Derived** — regenerated deterministically by `/wiki-doctor`, never hand-edited into staleness. The one hand-curated part is `ALIASES`, preserved across regen. |
| **`context/`** | Human-readable summaries: `about-you.md`, `about-business.md`, `priorities.md`, and `state.md` (the live snapshot). | `{{placeholders}}` until `/onboard` fills them from `intake.md`. `state.md` is the #1 instant-context file. |
| **`digests/`** | Four derived preflight previews regenerated from `context/` + `decisions/` + `wiki/`. | Derived — each line ends with its provenance pointer `(→ note-id)`. Don't hand-edit into staleness. |
| **`decisions/log.md`** | Append-only decision record: `date \| decision \| why`. | Append, never rewrite. `type: decision` wiki notes carry `decision_ref:` back to the matching entry. |
| **`references/`** | The constitution: `kernel.md` (the behavioral contract verbatim), `wiki-spec.md` (the schema), `blocklist.md` (do-not-capture), `voice.md` (the user's register). | Read-only canon. The skills inherit `kernel.md` rather than restating it. The design rationale lives in `ARCHITECTURE.md`. |
| **`skills/`** | Runnable, model-agnostic tool-scripts + `skills/INDEX.md`, the capability registry. | **When you need to *do* something or you're stuck on *how*, check `skills/INDEX.md` FIRST — a script may already exist.** |
| **`.claude/skills/`** | Thinking skills (reasoning workflows) exposed as Claude Code slash commands. | Conveniences over the procedures in this file; runnable by hand on any model. |
| **`runtime/`** | The two evolution loops as **docs + logs** (`review-log.md`, `curator-log.md`, `learnings.md`, `checkpoints/`). | **No daemon in v1.** The loops are skills you run on demand; `runtime/cron/` is an empty placeholder for scheduling them later. |
| **`log/build-log.md`** | Per-session iteration history. | One entry per working session; newest on top. |
| **`archives/`** | Old/superseded/merged notes. | Move here — **never delete.** |
| **`integrations/`** | An **OPTIONAL**, config-gated remote-agent relay layer (provider: Quarktex). | Core needs zero of it. Delete the folder + disable its two optional skills and everything else works fully. |
---
## CITE-OR-REFUSE — the write protocol (the autonomy gate)
This is the heart of qcobrain. **Autonomy never bypasses governance.** Every write — a human pasting a
thought, you capturing a fact, or an autonomous loop harvesting a session — routes through the **same**
gate. There is no privileged path into `wiki/`.
**Before any write, run the three-bucket test (in order):**
1. **Does a verbatim quote for this resolve in `sources/`?** → it is **sourced** → write to `wiki/`.
2. **Is it worth keeping but unsourced?** → **quarantine** → write to `inbox/` with
`status: needs-source` and a one-line note naming *what source would confirm it*.
3. **Does it match a Do-NOT-capture rule (`references/blocklist.md`)?** → **drop it.** Write nothing.
Silence is a valid, often correct, outcome of capture.
If a candidate doesn't fit exactly one bucket, it is not ready to be written.
**To write a SOURCED note (the `wiki/` path), step by step:**
1. **Land the raw input in `sources/` verbatim.** Save it to `sources/<key>.md` with its origin
(URL / handle / `self`) in a header. Hash it: `shasum -a 256 sources/<key>.md | cut -c1-12`. Add one
row to `sources/_sources.md` (key → path + hash + origin). A note may only cite a source that exists
here.
2. **Split into ATOMIC claims** — one idea per note. For each claim, `grep INDEX.md` first to avoid
duplicating or to find the note this should supersede.
3. **Write `wiki/<id>.md`** per the schema below: frontmatter (including `origin:`) + a short
interpretive body in the user's voice + inline `[[wikilinks]]` (mirrored into `links:`) + one
` ```src ` block per claim.
4. **Prove every claim.** Each `src` block's `quote` must be a **verbatim substring** of the cited
source file (whitespace-normalized). Confirm it actually re-resolves before you consider the note
written. If it doesn't, the note is stale — fix the note, **never edit the source to match it.**
5. **Regenerate derived state.** After the write, regenerate `INDEX.md` and the affected `digests/`
(or run `/wiki-doctor`). Never hand-edit derived files into staleness.
**Provenance discipline (non-negotiable):**
- A `wiki/` note must **never** cite another `wiki/` note as its source. Provenance bottoms out in
`sources/`. `[[wikilinks]]` are navigation, never proof.
- **Cite the key, not the path.** `src` blocks reference a stable `source` key resolved via
`sources/_sources.md`; moving a file is a one-line edit there, not a wiki-wide rewrite.
- **Non-destructive updates.** Facts change. Don't overwrite — set the old note `status: superseded` +
`superseded_by: <new-id>`, add the new note, and let `/recall` follow the chain to current truth.
**The write-origin flag (`origin:`).** Every `wiki/` and `inbox/` note carries
`origin: user-directed | agent-generated`. A note the user authored or explicitly directed is
`user-directed`; one an autonomous loop created on its own is `agent-generated`. **The evolution loops
may only auto-manage `agent-generated` notes.** `user-directed` notes and any `pinned: true` note are
**immune** — loops read them but never rewrite, merge, supersede, or archive them. When unsure who
originated a note, treat it as `user-directed` (the protective default).
**The 3-brain separation (never blur).** Provenance is the attribution layer that lets many brains feed
yours without becoming mush:
1. **Agent expertise** — an agent's own domain knowledge sources to ITS references and never pollutes
this brain. An agent knowing how to do X does not make X a fact about the user's business.
2. **This co-brain** — facts about the user's business and decisions. Agents write here ONLY with
provenance; big claims need the user's approval before they become canon.
3. **Third-party brains** — another party's knowledge enters canon ONLY as an *attributed* sourced
claim ("per {{Acme}}, as of {{date}}"), never restated as your own ground truth.
If you can't tell which brain a claim belongs to, it is not ready for `wiki/`.
Full behavioral contract: `references/kernel.md`. Schema: `references/wiki-spec.md`. Do-not-capture:
`references/blocklist.md`.
---
## THE TWO EVOLUTION LOOPS — and exactly when each runs
qcobrain is self-evolving, but autonomy never bypasses the gate. The metabolism is two loops at
different speeds; **both pass cite-or-refuse**, so daemonizing them later changes nothing about
correctness.
| Loop | Skill | Runs WHEN | What it does | Hard guardrails |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **FAST — harvest** | `/review` | **Per session**, roughly every ~10 turns and at session end | Scans the session for new facts / decisions / learnings and routes each through cite-or-refuse (sourced → `wiki/`, unsourced-but-worth-keeping → `inbox/`, junk → drop). Appends one entry to `runtime/review-log.md`. | Passes the autonomy gate; nothing unsourced reaches `wiki/`. |
| **SLOW — consolidate** | `/curator` | **Periodically (≈weekly)** | Consolidates/merges related notes, supersedes stale ones, archives, and refreshes `digests/`. Appends to `runtime/curator-log.md` (its tail is the curator's bookmark). | Archive-only (never delete); only ever touches `origin: agent-generated`; `pinned: true` is immune; never edits a source to match a note. |
**v1 ships no running daemon.** Both loops are skills you (or a scheduled job) invoke on demand. They
are documented as "cron-able later" in `runtime/README.md`: drop a schedule into `runtime/cron/`
pointing at the two skills and the metabolism runs unattended — the skills themselves do not change.
Until then they run by hand and behave identically. The fast loop's job is also covered implicitly by
running `/capture` as facts arrive; `/review` is the catch-net at session boundaries.
---
## SKILLS — your hands
Two kinds, plus an optional gated set. **Look in `skills/INDEX.md` first whenever you need to *do*
something or you're stuck** — a capability may already exist. On Claude Code these are slash commands;
on any other model, perform the named procedure by hand (the skill files are plain markdown workflows).
**Thinking skills** (`.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`) — reasoning workflows; each inherits
`references/kernel.md`:
| Command | Use it when |
|---|---|
| `/onboard` | Day 1 / refreshing setup. Runs the `intake.md` interview, scaffolds `context/`, `references/voice.md`, `connections.md`, `digests/`, and fills `CLAUDE.md` placeholders. Idempotent. |
| `/capture` | Ingesting raw input → verbatim `sources/` file → atomic, fully-sourced `wiki/` notes. The **write** side of cite-or-refuse. |
| `/recall` | Answering any factual/business question → cited answer; **refuses if unsourced**. The **read** side. |
| `/wiki-doctor` | Weekly integrity sweep: re-resolve every `src` quote, find orphans/broken links, regenerate `INDEX.md` + `digests/`, burn down `inbox/`. |
| `/review` | The fast evolution loop (per session). |
| `/curator` | The slow evolution loop (≈weekly). |
| `/context-save` | Checkpoint working context to `runtime/checkpoints/` before clearing/ending a long session. |
| `/context-restore` | Restore from the latest/named checkpoint and re-orient at the start of a continued session. |
| `/skillify` | Codify a behavior done 3+ times into a new skill — **only if it traces to a real, un-invalidated event.** |
| `/learn` | Append a durable, sourced process/meta lesson to `runtime/learnings.md` (mirrored in `learnings/log.jsonl`). |
**Runnable skills** (`skills/<name>/`) — self-contained scripts any model or human can execute:
| Command | Use it when |
|---|---|
| `/audioit` | Turn a spoken-word narration into an MP3 via a configurable TTS provider. Run: `bash skills/audioit/synthesize.sh <input.txt> [output.mp3] [voice]`. Provider set in `config.yml` (`tts.provider`; `macos-say` is the zero-config macOS default; `none` → no-op). Feed it narration prose, not raw markdown. |
**OPTIONAL skills** (relay layer) — these **refuse with a setup pointer unless `quarktex.enabled: true`
in `config.yml`.** Core qcobrain never depends on them:
| Command | Use it when |
|---|---|
| `/call-agent` | Invoke one remote agent over the relay. **Anything it returns enters canon ONLY through cite-or-refuse, as an attributed third-party claim** — never as your own ground truth. |
| `/agents-sync` | Refresh cached remote agent cards into `integrations/quarktex/agents/_agents.md`. |
---
## CONVENTIONS — schemas, formats, naming (self-contained)
Authoritative schema: `references/wiki-spec.md`. The essentials, inline, so you can write a correct note
without leaving this file:
### Wiki note frontmatter
```yaml
---
id: 2026-06-30-example-claim # stable handle = filename minus .md; date-prefix + kebab slug; NEVER reuse
title: One declarative sentence stating the single claim this note makes
type: fact # fact | concept | decision | insight | person | playbook | reference
tags: [tag-a, tag-b] # controlled, lowercase; reuse existing tags (grep INDEX.md first)
confidence: stated # stated (source asserts it) | inferred (you concluded it) | reported (3rd-hand)
status: active # active | superseded
origin: user-directed # user-directed | agent-generated (the write-origin governance flag)
pinned: false # true = immune to every evolution loop
created: 2026-06-30
source_verified_on: 2026-06-30 # last date all src blocks re-resolved clean (/wiki-doctor updates this)
links: [related-note-id] # mirror of inline [[wikilinks]] — the greppable graph edges
# optional: supersedes: <old-id> | superseded_by: <new-id> | decision_ref: <decisions/log.md date>
---
```
Then a short interpretive body in the user's voice (`references/voice.md`), inline `[[wikilinks]]`, and
one or more `src` blocks. **One claim per file** — if a title says "X and Y", split it into two atomic
notes.
### The `src` block (the citation — the proof of every claim)
````
```src
source: example-source-key # key in sources/_sources.md (cite the KEY, not the path)
anchor: "## Heading In The Source" # heading in the source file — a coarse self-healing locator
quote: "verbatim substring of the source file" # ≤~300 chars; must re-resolve VERBATIM
hash: <sha256[:12] of source at capture> # drift detection; compare to _sources.md
captured_on: 2026-06-30
```
````
`anchor` + `quote` are load-bearing (they survive edits elsewhere in the file). Compute `hash` with
`shasum -a 256 <file> | cut -c1-12`. An optional `lines: 12-15` may be added as a convenience but is
never the sole locator. A synthetic/analytical note may carry **many** `src` blocks (one verbatim span
per sub-claim) plus `confidence: inferred` — high-value synthesis is allowed, as long as it is fully
sourced.
### `sources/_sources.md` registry format — one row per source file
```
| source-key | path | sha256[:12] | origin | captured | last_verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| example-source-key | sources/example.md | abc123def456 | https://origin/url | 2026-06-30 | 2026-06-30 |
```
Source keys are kebab slugs, date-suffixed if they could collide (`ai-os-talk-2026-06-30`).
Self-originated thoughts use `origin: self / {{you}}, <date>`. Type-folders go in the `path` column; the
key stays flat and stable.
### `INDEX.md` format (derived — regenerated by `/wiki-doctor`, never hand-edited into staleness)
Sections, always in this order, each a fenced block:
- **`## NOTES`** — one row per *active* note: `id | type | tags | gloss | verified` (gloss ≤~90 chars).
- **`## ALIASES`** — `natural-language query -> note-id`. **Hand-curated; preserved across regen** —
append obvious phrasings so messy questions still resolve.
- **`## SUPERSEDED`** — `old-id -> new-id`, so `/recall` follows the chain to current truth.
- **`## HEALTH`** — one line of counts: `notes: N (active/superseded) | sources: S | inbox: M |
orphans: | stale: | broken-links: | last wiki-doctor: <date>`.
### Naming
- **Note id / filename:** `YYYY-MM-DD-kebab-slug.md` (date the claim entered the brain). `id` always
equals the filename minus `.md`. Never reuse an id.
- **Source key:** kebab slug, date-suffixed on collision risk.
- **Tags:** lowercase, a *small reused* vocabulary (fewer tags = better recall). Grep `INDEX.md` for an
existing tag before inventing one.
### Anti-patterns that rot the brain
A `wiki/` note with no `src` block (→ belongs in `inbox/`); a quote that doesn't re-resolve verbatim
(→ stale; fix the note); citing a `wiki/` note as a source (→ circular, forbidden); compound notes
(→ split); hand-editing `INDEX.md` / `digests/` (→ derived; regenerate); raw transcripts pasted into
`wiki/` (→ that's what `sources/` is for); an agent editing a `user-directed`/`pinned` note
(→ governance violation); editing a source to make a stale quote re-resolve (→ forbidden, fix the note).
---
## PROCEDURES — the core operations, by hand on any model
Before manual work, check `skills/INDEX.md` — a script may exist.
- **ANSWER a question** *(Claude Code: `/recall`)* — (1) `grep INDEX.md` (NOTES + ALIASES + SUPERSEDED)
for keywords → shortlist ids. (2) Read each `wiki/<id>.md`; follow `superseded_by` to current truth.
(3) Re-verify: resolve each `src` `source` via `sources/_sources.md` → path; confirm the `quote` still
appears verbatim. (4) Answer in the user's voice, each claim followed by its citation (source-key +
short quote). If nothing is sourced, **say so** and offer to `/capture` it. Never invent a citation.
- **CAPTURE knowledge** *(Claude Code: `/capture`)* — follow the SOURCED-note write protocol above:
source → hash → register → atomic split → note(s) with `src` blocks → confirm re-resolve → regenerate
`INDEX.md` + `digests/`. Unsourced-but-worth-keeping → `inbox/`. Junk → drop.
- **CHECK integrity** *(Claude Code: `/wiki-doctor`; weekly)* — re-resolve every `src` quote; flag
drift/stale; find orphan notes and broken links; regenerate `INDEX.md` + `digests/`; burn down
`inbox/` items older than 14 days. Read-only except the derived files. **Never edit a source to match
a note.**
- **REVIEW (fast loop)** / **CURATE (slow loop)** — see the two-loops section above.
---
## UPDATE CADENCE — what to refresh after a session
| Surface | Update WHEN |
|---|---|
| **`context/state.md`** | END of every session that changed the user's or the brain's state. The #1 instant-context file. |
| **`log/build-log.md`** | One entry per working session — what changed + why. Newest on top. |
| **`wiki/` + `sources/`** | Immediately when a new sourced fact arrives (capture it). |
| **`decisions/log.md`** | When a real decision is made (append-only). |
| **`INDEX.md` + `digests/`** | Whenever `wiki/` changes — regenerate; never hand-edit into staleness. |
| **`runtime/learnings.md`** | When a durable process/meta lesson is learned. |
| **`context/about-*`, `priorities.md`** | When the underlying facts change (not every session). |
| **`/review` (fast loop)** | Per session / ~every 10 turns / at session end. |
| **`/curator` (slow loop)** | ≈weekly. |
**Rule of thumb:** if a future session — on any model — would be wrong or slower without it, write it
down NOW, in the right place, **with a source**. A brand-new chat must be fully oriented by the first
seven READ-ORDER files alone.
---
## IF YOU ARE A NEW OR LOCAL MODEL ONBOARDING
You need no special access — everything here is plain markdown + grep + `shasum`. Follow the READ ORDER,
honor the prime directive, route every write through cite-or-refuse, and keep the update cadence, and
you are a full operator of this brain. The slash commands in `CLAUDE.md` are just Claude Code shortcuts
for the procedures above — you can perform every one by hand. The `integrations/` relay layer is
OPTIONAL and config-gated (`quarktex.enabled`, OFF by default) — ignore it entirely unless it is
explicitly enabled.
# ====================================================================
# FILE: ARCHITECTURE.md
# ====================================================================
# ARCHITECTURE — how qcobrain actually works
> The canonical design doc. `AGENTS.md` tells an agent *how to operate* the brain; this file explains
> *why the brain is shaped the way it is* and how its parts fit together. Read it once to hold the whole
> system in your head; the day-to-day contract lives in `references/kernel.md` and the storage schema in
> `references/wiki-spec.md`. Written to be precise for a human skimming and complete for an agent that has
> to run on it cold.
---
## The thesis in one sentence
A second brain is only worth trusting if it **cannot lie to you** — so qcobrain makes a single rule
structural rather than aspirational: **every autonomous write passes cite-or-refuse.** A claim either
traces, verbatim, to a real source, or it does not enter canon. Sourced facts compound; hallucinations get
refused at the gate. A confident, unsourced answer is the worst failure mode this kind of system can
produce, so qcobrain refuses it by construction instead of merely discouraging it.
Everything below is in service of that one rule.
---
## The organism — qcobrain's four concerns
qcobrain reads as a single organism with four concerns. The metaphor is qcobrain's own and it is load-bearing:
it tells you what each part is *for* and what it must never do.
| Concern | The metaphor | What it is | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|---|
| **The substrate** | the **body** | Governed knowledge held in plain files, plus the provenance constitution that keeps it honest. | `sources/` · `wiki/` · `inbox/` · `memory/` · `INDEX.md` · `context/` · `decisions/` · `references/` |
| **Evolution** | the **metabolism** | Two loops that digest new input and age old input without poisoning the brain. | `/review` · `/curator` · `runtime/` · `learnings/` · `archives/` |
| **Retrieval** | the **senses** | How the brain perceives what it already knows so it can skip re-answering it — a grep-native map plus preflight digests. | `INDEX.md` · `digests/` · `context/state.md` |
| **Capabilities** | the **hands** | What the brain can *do*: reasoning workflows and runnable scripts. | `.claude/skills/` · `skills/` |
The body holds knowledge, the metabolism updates it, the senses retrieve it, the hands act on it. Each
concern has exactly one job, and **autonomy in any concern never bypasses the governance in the body.** The
loops (metabolism) and the relay (an optional sense) write only through the same gate a human does.
```
q c o b r a i n
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ SENSES (retrieval) HANDS (capabilities) │
│ ┌───────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ INDEX.md (grep) │ │ .claude/skills/ thinking │ │
│ │ digests/ preflight│ │ skills/ runnable │ │
│ │ context/state.md │ │ skills/INDEX.md registry │ │
│ └─────────┬─────────┘ └────────────┬─────────────┘ │
│ │ point at │ act on │
│ ▼ ▼ │
│ ┌───────────────────────────── BODY (substrate) ─────────────────┐ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ sources/ ───► wiki/ ◄─── inbox/ (provenance chain) │ │
│ │ ▲ │ │ │
│ │ │ verbatim │ cites │ │
│ │ └─ proof ─────┘ │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ governance: cite-or-refuse · write-origin · 3-brain rule │ │
│ │ (references/kernel.md · references/wiki-spec.md) │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │ reads + writes (through the gate) │
│ METABOLISM (evolution) ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ FAST /review (per session) ─ harvest new facts │ │
│ │ SLOW /curator (periodic) ─ consolidate + archive │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
OPTIONAL: integrations/ ── a remote-agent relay, OFF by default.
Anything it returns is a third-party claim and enters only via cite-or-refuse.
```
---
## 1. The substrate (the body) — governed knowledge
The body is just files. No database, no server, no index to corrupt — a grep over plain markdown is more
trustworthy than any clever retrieval layer, and any human or model can operate it cold. The discipline is
not in the storage; it is in the **provenance chain** and the contract that governs it.
### The provenance chain: `sources/ → wiki/ ← inbox/`
Three folders, three roles, one direction of trust:
- **`sources/`** — raw captures, one file per real-world input: a transcript, an article, a meeting note, a
thought you typed. This is the **bottom of every provenance chain** and the only place ground truth lives.
Sources are verbatim and never deleted. Type-folders are allowed (`sources/youtube/`, `sources/meetings/`,
`sources/agents/`); the file's real location is recorded in the registry, but its key stays flat and stable.
- **`wiki/`** — atomic, interpreted, interlinked notes. **One claim per file.** The body of a note is your
interpretation; the *proof* of each claim is a `src` block that quotes a source verbatim. A wiki note may
**never** cite another wiki note as its source — provenance must bottom out in `sources/`.
- **`inbox/`** — quarantine for anything not yet sourced. A draft leaves the inbox only by acquiring a source
(then it graduates to `wiki/`) or by being archived. It is a holding pen, not a graveyard; the integrity
sweep flags anything older than ~14 days.
```
raw input atomic claim, interpreted unsourced draft
┌─────────────┐ capture ┌───────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ sources/ │ ────────► │ wiki/<id>.md │ ◄─── │ inbox/ │
│ <key>.md │ │ ─────────────────────────│ grad │ status: │
│ (verbatim) │ ◄──────── │ frontmatter (governance) │ uate │ needs-source│
└──────┬──────┘ re- │ body (your interpretation)│ └──────────────┘
│ resolve │ ```src ... ``` (the proof)│
│ └─────────────┬─────────────┘
│ the quote in every src block │
└── must re-appear VERBATIM ◄─────┘ ← /wiki-doctor checks this on every sweep
```
The arrow that matters most is the dashed one: **the `quote` inside every `src` block must re-resolve,
character-for-character (whitespace-normalized), in the source file it points at.** If it stops resolving,
the note is *stale* — and the fix is always to repair the note, **never** to edit the source to match it.
Sources are ground truth; notes interpret them.
### The `src` block — the unit of provenance
Each claim carries a fenced `src` block. This is the citation, and it is what makes cite-or-refuse mechanical
rather than a matter of trust:
````
```src
source: ai-os-talk-2026-06-23 # a stable KEY, resolved via sources/_sources.md
anchor: "## The LLM as a new OS" # heading in the source — a coarse self-healing locator
quote: "verbatim substring of the source file" # ≤~300 chars; must re-resolve verbatim
hash: 9f2a1c7b4e08 # sha256[:12] of the source AT CAPTURE — drift detection
captured_on: 2026-06-23
```
````
Three design choices make this robust:
1. **Cite the key, not the path.** `source` is a stable key resolved through `sources/_sources.md` to a
path + hash + origin. Moving or renaming a source is a one-line edit in the registry, not a wiki-wide
rewrite — every `src` block that cites the key keeps resolving.
2. **`anchor` + `quote` are the load-bearing locators.** They survive edits *elsewhere* in the source file,
so a citation does not break just because the source grew. An optional `lines:` hint may be added for
convenience but is never the sole locator.
3. **The `hash` makes drift *detectable* rather than assumed.** Compute it with
`shasum -a 256 <file> | cut -c1-12`. If the live source's hash differs from the one captured in the block,
the sweep knows to re-check the quote instead of trusting it blindly.
One claim, one `src` block — but a synthetic note may carry *many* `src` blocks (one verbatim span per
sub-claim) plus `confidence: inferred`, so high-value synthesis is allowed and still fully sourced.
### The registry — `sources/_sources.md`
A single table maps each source-key to its file, hash, and real-world origin:
```
| source-key | path | sha256[:12] | origin | captured | last_verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai-os-talk-2026-06-23 | sources/youtube/ai-os-talk.md | 9f2a1c7b4e08 | https://youtu.be/... | 2026-06-23 | 2026-06-23 |
```
Self-originated thoughts use `origin: self / {{you}}, <date>`. A relay answer (see §5) uses
`origin: quarktex:<agent-id> session:<session_id>, <date>` — the session id is the verifiable anchor back to
a logged, replayable call.
### `INDEX.md` — the derived grep map
`INDEX.md` is the brain's table of contents, **regenerated deterministically** from `wiki/` (never
hand-edited into staleness). It exists so retrieval is `grep INDEX.md` → read a shortlist, instead of reading
the whole corpus. Four sections, in order:
- `## NOTES` — `id | type | tags | gloss | verified`, one row per active note (gloss ≤~90 chars).
- `## ALIASES` — `natural-language query -> note-id`, hand-curated and preserved across regeneration.
- `## SUPERSEDED` — `old-id -> new-id`, so a stale id always routes to current truth.
- `## HEALTH` — counts + `orphans / stale / broken-links / last wiki-doctor` — the brain's vital signs.
### The governance contract (what makes the body a *governed* substrate)
Plain files are the medium; the contract is the discipline. Three rules, stated in full in
`references/kernel.md`:
- **Cite-or-refuse on write — the autonomy gate.** *Every* write, by a human or by a loop, routes by
provenance: **sourced → `wiki/`**, **unsourced-but-worth-keeping → `inbox/`** (with a note on what source
would confirm it), **junk → dropped** per `references/blocklist.md`. There is no fourth path into `wiki/`.
- **Write-origin flag.** Every `wiki/` and `inbox/` note carries `origin: user-directed | agent-generated`.
The evolution loops may auto-manage **only** `agent-generated` notes; anything `user-directed` or
`pinned: true` is immune — loops may read it but never rewrite, merge, supersede, or archive it. When
unsure who originated a note, treat it as `user-directed` (the protective default).
- **The 3-brain separation.** Provenance is the attribution layer that lets many brains feed yours without
turning to mush. (1) An agent's own domain expertise sources to *its* references and never pollutes your
brain. (2) Your co-brain holds facts about *your* business; agents write here only with provenance. (3)
Another party's knowledge enters your canon only as an *attributed* claim ("per {{Acme}}, as of {{date}}"),
never restated as your own ground truth.
The anti-poison blocklist (`references/blocklist.md`) is the body's immune memory: transient errors,
"X doesn't work" capability claims, one-off chatter, secrets, and speculation-as-fact are refused entry,
because the real danger is not a wrong answer today but a wrong answer **re-cited tomorrow as if it were
established fact.**
### The fast lane — `memory/` (fast vs. slow)
`wiki/` is the **slow, canonical lane**: nothing enters it without a verbatim source, so it is trustworthy
but deliberately expensive to write. That cost is wrong for what an agent needs to hold *mid-task* — an open
thread, a half-formed working note, the stable facts about you it shouldn't re-derive every session. Those
live in `memory/`, the **fast lane**:
- **`memory/MEMORY.md`** — a mutable scratchpad: working notes, open threads, and a promote-queue.
- **`memory/USER.md`** — a terse, fast-load cache of stable user facts (the quick mirror of
`context/about-you.md` + `references/voice.md`).
Speed is the only thing the fast lane relaxes — **not** governance. Every entry carries the same
`origin: user-directed | agent-generated` write-origin flag and either a source-pointer or an explicit
`needs-source`; the two loops sweep it under the same curator invariants; and it is **never canon** —
`/recall` answers from `wiki/`, never from `memory/`. A memory entry is where a thought waits until
cite-or-refuse can route it: earns a verbatim source → `/capture` into `wiki/`; worth keeping but still
unsourced → `inbox/`; junk → dropped per `references/blocklist.md`. Fast memory that could silently harden
into a fabricated fact would be worse than no memory at all — which is exactly why the same gate governs it.
Supporting files in the body: `context/` (human-readable summaries plus `state.md`, the live snapshot),
`decisions/log.md` (append-only `date | decision | why`), and `references/` (the constitution itself:
`wiki-spec.md`, `kernel.md`, `blocklist.md`, `voice.md`).
---
## 2. Evolution (the metabolism) — self-updating, safely
A brain that does not update is a snapshot; a brain that updates carelessly poisons itself. qcobrain's answer
is a **two-speed metabolism**: a fast loop that captures while knowledge is fresh, and a slow loop that
consolidates once patterns have settled. Both pass the autonomy gate; neither bypasses governance.
In v1 there is **no daemon**. Both loops are skills the IDE agent runs on demand. They are designed to be
*cron-able later* — wire them to a scheduler when you want them unattended; until then they run identically
by hand. See `runtime/README.md`.
| Loop | Cadence | Job | Hard guardrails |
|---|---|---|---|
| **`/review` (fast)** | end of a working session, ~every N turns | Scan the session for new facts, decisions, and learnings; route each through cite-or-refuse (sourced → `wiki/`, unsourced → `inbox/`, junk → dropped); append one entry to `runtime/review-log.md`. | Passes the autonomy gate. Nothing unsourced reaches `wiki/`. Catches knowledge before the session's context is lost. |
| **`/curator` (slow)** | periodic (e.g. weekly) | Consolidate and merge related notes, supersede stale ones, refresh `digests/`; append to `runtime/curator-log.md`. | **Never delete → archive to `archives/` only.** **Touch only `origin: agent-generated`.** **`pinned: true` is immune.** **Never edit a source to match a note — fix the note.** |
**Fast captures, slow consolidates.** The fast loop keeps the brain *current*; the slow loop keeps it
*coherent*. Consolidation needs distance — merging too eagerly destroys nuance — which is exactly why the slow
loop runs on a longer clock and the fast loop never tries to consolidate.
The curator invariants are what make autonomous consolidation safe: because it can only archive (never
delete), only touch what an agent itself wrote (never your hand-authored notes), and never touch a pinned
note, the worst a runaway slow loop can do is over-archive `agent-generated` material — fully reversible,
since the originals sit in `archives/`. Companion skills feed the same metabolism: `/learn` appends durable
how-to-operate lessons to `runtime/learnings.md` **and a structured mirror row to `learnings/log.jsonl`** —
the queryable dual-write store (grep/`jq`-able, append-only, same supersede-don't-delete rule as the rest of
the brain), so the system compounds its operating knowledge as well as its facts; and `/context-save` /
`/context-restore` checkpoint and rehydrate an in-flight working session.
---
## 3. Retrieval (the senses) — grep-native, preflight-first
The senses exist to answer one question fast: **what does the brain already know, so it can skip
re-deriving it?** Two layers do this.
**The grep map — `INDEX.md`.** Retrieval never scans the whole corpus. The recall procedure is:
`grep INDEX.md` (NOTES + ALIASES + SUPERSEDED) for keywords → a shortlist of note ids → read those
`wiki/<id>.md` files → follow any `superseded_by` chain to current truth → **re-verify** each `src` quote
against its source → answer in the user's voice, every claim followed by its citation. If nothing is
sourced, the honest answer is *"I don't have that sourced yet"* plus an offer to capture it — never a
fabricated citation.
**The preflight digests — `digests/`.** Four short, derived files, regenerated from `context/` +
`decisions/` + `wiki/`, loaded at the start of a session so the agent skips questions the brain already
answers:
| Digest | Answers, at a glance |
|---|---|
| `digests/product.md` | what the product/work *is* |
| `digests/goals.md` | what currently matters |
| `digests/recent-decisions.md` | what was decided lately, and why |
| `digests/user-profile.md` | who the operator is and how they work |
Every digest line ends with its provenance pointer `(→ note-id)`, so a preview never floats free of the
sourced note it summarizes. Digests are **derived** — like `INDEX.md`, they are regenerated by `/wiki-doctor`,
never hand-edited into staleness.
This is why the session **read order** is what it is (`AGENTS.md` → `ETHOS.md` → `context/state.md` →
`digests/` → `INDEX.md` → `wiki/`): the cheap, dense, derived senses orient the agent fully before it ever
reads a single note in full. The brain spends its attention on what it *doesn't* yet know.
---
## 4. Capabilities (the hands) — the skills system
The hands are how the brain acts and improves itself. Two kinds, by a clean split:
- **Thinking skills — `.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`.** Reasoning workflows with no script: `onboard`,
`capture`, `recall`, `wiki-doctor`, `review`, `curator`, `context-save`, `context-restore`, `skillify`,
`learn`. Each opens by inheriting the shared preamble (`references/kernel.md`) in a single line and then
*follows* the contract instead of restating it — so the governance lives in exactly one place and every
skill obeys the same gate. In Claude Code they surface as slash commands; on any other model the same
procedures run by hand (they are written out in `AGENTS.md`).
- **Runnable skills — `skills/<name>/`.** Model-agnostic scripts for deterministic work a model shouldn't
improvise: `audioit` (spoken narration → MP3 via a configurable TTS provider in `config.yml`). They are
registered in **`skills/INDEX.md`, the capability registry** — the first place to look when you need to
*do* something or you're stuck, because a script may already exist.
The reflexive skills close the loop between hands and metabolism: **`skillify`** codifies a repeated,
provenance-backed behavior into a *new* skill (only if it traces to a real, un-invalidated event), and
**`learn`** records the lesson of *how to operate the brain better* so the system compounds its own operating
knowledge, not just its facts.
The same boring-is-beautiful principle that makes the body plain files governs the hands: prefer the lowest
autonomy that works, deterministic pieces before clever ones, the simplest sourced answer over the impressive
one. A workflow you can read beats an agent you have to trust.
---
## 5. The optional relay layer — an extra sense, off by default
qcobrain is **open-core**: everything in concerns 1–4 needs zero external service. Bolted on top — and
trivially removable — is an optional layer that lets the brain *call remote agents* over a relay to fetch
knowledge it doesn't have. It lives under `integrations/quarktex/`, is gated on `quarktex.enabled` in
`config.yml` (**OFF by default**), and is exercised by exactly two optional skills: `/call-agent` (invoke one
agent) and `/agents-sync` (refresh the cached directory of callable agents). **Delete `integrations/` and
disable those two skills, and core is unaffected.** Quarktex is the relay *provider*; qcobrain participates
as a **caller only** — it consumes agents, it never hosts one, so it exposes no inbound surface.
The wire format is documented in full at `integrations/quarktex/relay-contract.md`; the essential shape:
```
REQUEST RESPONSE
POST {api_base}/agents/call {
Authorization: Bearer qtx_live_<key> "success": true,
Content-Type: application/json "session_id": "ses_...",
{ "turn_number": 1,
"from_agent_id": "qt_xxxxxxxx", "response": { "...": "agent output" },
"target_agent_id": "qt_yyyyyyyy", "meta": { "...": "..." }
"session_id": null, // reuse to }
"payload": { ... } // continue
} // a session ── may instead carry, when the agent needs more:
response.output.status == "needs_input"
→ present output.ask, gather, call again
with the SAME session_id.
```
The single most important property: **a relay answer is never canon by itself.** It is a *third-party brain*
(rule 3 of the 3-brain separation), so it enters qcobrain only through the same gate as everything else:
1. The raw exchange — verbatim request payload + verbatim `response` — is written to
`sources/agents/<agent-id>-<session_id>.md`. **This becomes the source**, the bottom of the chain.
2. It is registered in `sources/_sources.md` with `origin = quarktex:<target_agent_id> session:<session_id>`.
3. `/capture` lifts atomic, **attributed** claims into `wiki/` — `confidence: reported`, body phrased
*"per {{Agent Name}} (Quarktex), as of <date>: …"*, each `src` `quote` a verbatim substring of the saved
exchange. Anything unsourceable → `inbox/`; junk → dropped.
So even a remote answer earns the same verifiable trail as a YouTube transcript: a logged, replayable call
anchored by its `session_id`. Discovered agents carry a **trust tier** (`read-write | read-only | deny`, new
agents defaulting to `read-only`), mirrored per-remote in `connections.md`. If a call fails — bad key,
`success: false`, timeout near the ~10-minute ceiling, malformed response — the honest move is to surface the
error and let *nothing* reach `wiki/`; at most an `inbox/` note recording the attempt. The relay can extend
the brain's reach, but it can never lower the bar for entry into canon.
---
## Why it's shaped this way — the design invariants
Three forces usually fight each other; qcobrain's bet is that **provenance is the connective tissue that lets
all three coexist:**
- **Autonomy** — loops and (optionally) remote agents that write on their own.
- **Governance** — cite-or-refuse, the write-origin flag, and the curator invariants that keep autonomy honest.
- **Shared substrate** — plain markdown + grep that any model or human can operate with no setup.
Autonomy is safe *because* every write is gated by governance; governance is cheap *because* the substrate is
just files; and the substrate stays trustworthy *because* nothing enters it unsourced. Pull any corner and the
other two collapse — which is why the data model, not a feature list, is the heart of qcobrain.
The governing instinct throughout: **deterministic beats clever, boring is beautiful, and the simplest sourced
answer wins.** A grep over plain markdown is more dependable than a clever agent — which is exactly why the
body of qcobrain is, and stays, just files.
---
## Where everything lives (the file map)
```
qcobrain/
├── AGENTS.md # model-agnostic operating contract (read first)
├── ARCHITECTURE.md # this file — how it all fits together
├── CLAUDE.md # Claude Code slash-command shortcuts
├── ETHOS.md # the values block, injected everywhere
├── README.md LICENSE
│
│ ── THE BODY (substrate) ───────────────────────────────────────────
├── sources/ # raw verbatim captures + _sources.md registry (provenance bottoms out here)
├── wiki/ # atomic, sourced, interlinked notes — one claim per file (the slow canon)
├── inbox/ # quarantine for unsourced drafts (exit-gated)
├── memory/ # the fast working lane (MEMORY.md scratchpad + USER.md cache) — complements wiki/
├── INDEX.md # derived grep map: NOTES | ALIASES | SUPERSEDED | HEALTH
├── context/ # about-you / about-business / priorities / state.md (live snapshot)
├── decisions/log.md # append-only: date | decision | why
├── references/ # the constitution: wiki-spec · kernel · blocklist · voice
│
│ ── THE SENSES (retrieval) ─────────────────────────────────────────
├── digests/ # four derived preflight files (product · goals · recent-decisions · user-profile)
│
│ ── THE METABOLISM (evolution) ─────────────────────────────────────
├── runtime/ # the two loops as docs + logs (no daemon in v1; cron-able later) + learnings.md (prose)
├── learnings/ # durable how-to-operate lessons — log.jsonl, the structured mirror of runtime/learnings.md
├── archives/ # superseded/merged notes — moved here, never deleted
│
│ ── THE HANDS (capabilities) ───────────────────────────────────────
├── .claude/skills/ # thinking skills (reasoning workflows)
├── skills/ # runnable skills + skills/INDEX.md (capability registry)
│
│ ── OPTIONAL ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└── integrations/ # remote-agent relay, OFF by default — delete it and core is unaffected
```
**Next reads:** `references/wiki-spec.md` for the exact storage schema, `references/kernel.md` for the
behavioral contract verbatim, and `AGENTS.md` for the step-by-step procedures any model runs to operate the
brain.
# ====================================================================
# FILE: docs/getting-started.md
# ====================================================================
# Getting started with qcobrain
A hands-on, day-1 walkthrough. In about twenty minutes you'll clone qcobrain, open it in your IDE,
teach it who you are, capture your first real source, ask it a question and get a **cited** answer,
then watch the integrity check go green.
By the end you'll have felt the one idea that makes qcobrain different: **it never states a fact it
can't trace to a source.** Sourced facts compound; unsourced ones get refused at the gate.
**What you need**
- An agentic IDE — anything that can run skills/slash-commands against a folder. Claude Code gets the
named slash commands out of the box (`/onboard`, `/capture`, …); any other model can perform the
exact same steps by hand by reading [`AGENTS.md`](../AGENTS.md).
- `git` and a terminal.
- About 20 minutes and one or two things you've actually written (you'll paste them as voice samples).
> New to the project? Skim [`README.md`](../README.md) for the big picture and
> [`AGENTS.md`](../AGENTS.md) for the operating contract. This page is the do-it-with-me version.
---
## Step 0 — Clone and open it
```bash
git clone <your-qcobrain-remote> qcobrain
cd qcobrain
```
Then **open the folder in your IDE** and point your model at it. The first thing any model should do is
read [`AGENTS.md`](../AGENTS.md) — the model-agnostic entrypoint. It states the read order for every
session, the prime directive, and the procedures. In Claude Code this happens automatically via
[`CLAUDE.md`](../CLAUDE.md); on any other model, just tell it: *"Read AGENTS.md and follow it."*
Two one-time copies before your first run (both real files are gitignored, so your secrets never get
committed):
```bash
cp config.example.json config.json # model/provider adapter, sync mode, optional relay creds
cp .env.example .env # secrets (you can leave it empty for now)
```
You do **not** need to touch [`config.yml`](../config.yml) — it ships tracked with safe defaults
(every optional feature off), so core qcobrain runs untouched.
**What you have now:** a clean brain. `wiki/` holds a small worked **sample brain** (a handful of
deletable `EXAMPLE-` notes), `sources/` holds the examples they cite, `inbox/` holds one quarantined
draft, and everything else is a template waiting for you.
---
## Step 1 — Run `/onboard` (teach it who you are)
In your IDE, run:
```
/onboard
```
This is a short interview — a hard cap of seven questions, each answerable in under a minute. It asks
who you are and what you sell, your priorities for the next 90 days, where revenue lands, where you
talk to people, where your docs live, and the one task that eats your week.
**One question has a hard rule.** When it asks for writing samples, **paste 1–2 things you've already
written** (an email, a post) — raw, unedited. Don't type fresh prose into the chat: anything you write
mid-conversation is already shaped by the conversation, so the voice sample would be contaminated. Open
your last email in another tab and paste it.
Prefer to type instead of talk? Open [`intake.md`](../intake.md), fill the seven answers directly, and
re-run `/onboard` — it reads that file. Either way works.
**What this step produces** (written in one batch at the end):
- [`context/about-you.md`](../context/about-you.md), [`context/about-business.md`](../context/about-business.md),
[`context/priorities.md`](../context/priorities.md) — your plain-language summaries.
- [`context/state.md`](../context/state.md) — the **live snapshot** every future session reads first.
- [`references/voice.md`](../references/voice.md) — your writing register, captured verbatim from your samples.
- [`connections.md`](../connections.md) — the systems the brain may reach, each defaulting to the safe
`read-only` trust tier.
- The four [`digests/`](../digests/) preflight files (product, goals, recent-decisions, user-profile).
- The `{{placeholders}}` in [`CLAUDE.md`](../CLAUDE.md), filled in.
> **Note on provenance:** `context/` and `digests/` hold *your own testimony about yourself* — they
> don't need citations. The cite-or-refuse gate kicks in the moment a fact gets promoted into `wiki/`
> (which is what `/capture` does next). Until then, `context/` is simply you telling the brain who you
> are.
**The wow moment.** When onboarding finishes, it suggests one prompt. Try it:
```
What should I focus on this week?
```
You'll get a short, prioritized answer in *your* writing voice, each point tied back to a 90-day
priority you just stated. That's your context working — nothing generic, all you.
`/onboard` is **idempotent**: edit `intake.md` and re-run it any time. It refreshes only what changed
and backs up the originals to `archives/` first.
---
## Step 2 — `/capture` your first source
Now the core loop: turning raw input into sourced knowledge. Run `/capture` and hand it something
worth keeping — a URL, an article, a transcript, a meeting note, or just a thought you typed.
```
/capture
We decided to price the Starter tier at $49 per month because that's the most a solo
operator will expense without manager approval.
```
Here's what happens under the hood — the **write side of cite-or-refuse**:
1. **It lands the raw input in `sources/`.** Your text is written verbatim to a new file like
`sources/starter-pricing-2026-06-30.md` with a one-line header recording where it came from (here,
`self`, dated). This file is the *bottom of the provenance chain* — the load-bearing copy.
2. **It hashes the source and registers it.** A `sha256[:12]` is computed and a row is added to
[`sources/_sources.md`](../sources/_sources.md): `key → path → hash → origin → captured`. The hash
is how the brain later detects if a source silently changed.
3. **It extracts atomic notes** — one claim per file — into `wiki/`. Compound ideas get split. For
each claim it first greps [`INDEX.md`](../INDEX.md) to avoid creating a near-duplicate.
4. **Every claim gets a verbatim citation.** Each new `wiki/` note carries a fenced ` ```src ` block
whose `quote` is an exact substring of the source file. Before saving, `/capture` greps the source
to confirm the quote re-resolves. No verbatim quote → the claim goes to `inbox/` as
`status: needs-source`, **never** into `wiki/`.
**What this step produces:** a real `sources/<key>.md` file, a registry row, and one or more
`wiki/<id>.md` notes — each with frontmatter (see [`references/wiki-spec.md`](../references/wiki-spec.md))
and a `src` block that points back to the exact words you captured. The index gets updated so the new
notes are findable.
A captured note looks like this (the body is *your* interpretation; the `src` block is the *proof*):
```markdown
---
id: 2026-06-30-starter-tier-pricing
title: Starter tier is priced at $49/mo to stay under solo-operator expense approval
type: decision
tags: [pricing, product]
confidence: stated
status: active
origin: user-directed
created: 2026-06-30
source_verified_on: 2026-06-30
links: []
---
We anchored Starter pricing to what a single operator can expense without escalating — the
deliberate ceiling that keeps the buy frictionless.
```src
source: starter-pricing-2026-06-30
anchor: "## Note"
quote: "the most a solo operator will expense without manager approval"
hash: <sha256[:12]>
captured_on: 2026-06-30
```
```
> **Tip:** once you've done this once and the note format makes sense, delete the shipped worked
> **sample brain** — every `wiki/EXAMPLE-*.md` and `inbox/EXAMPLE-*.md`, the `sources/example*.md` and
> `sources/agents/qt-example-*.md` files, and their rows in `sources/_sources.md` — then regenerate
> `INDEX.md` with `/wiki-doctor`. It exists only to show you the shape.
---
## Step 3 — `/recall` and get a cited answer
Now ask the brain what it knows. Run `/recall` (or just ask a question):
```
/recall What did we decide about Starter pricing?
```
The retrieval path is deliberate and greppable:
1. **Grep `INDEX.md`** — the `NOTES`, `ALIASES`, and `SUPERSEDED` sections — for keywords, to shortlist
candidate note ids without reading every note.
2. **Read the shortlisted notes** and follow any `superseded_by` redirect to the current truth.
3. **Re-verify before trusting.** For each `src` block it's about to rely on, it resolves the source
key to a path and confirms the quote *still* appears verbatim in that file. A quote that no longer
resolves is flagged stale, not silently trusted.
4. **Answer in your voice, with the citation attached.** Every factual claim is followed by its source.
You'll get something like:
> Starter is set at **$49/mo**, chosen as the ceiling a solo operator can expense without manager
> sign-off — a deliberate move to keep the purchase frictionless.
> *(source: `starter-pricing-2026-06-30`, "the most a solo operator will expense without manager
> approval", captured 2026-06-30)*
**The part that matters most is what happens when it *doesn't* know.** Ask something you never
captured:
```
/recall What's our enterprise contract length?
```
qcobrain won't guess. It will say plainly that nothing sourced covers it, point you at the nearest
notes, and offer to `/capture` the answer. **A confident, unsourced answer is the single worst failure
mode this system can produce — so it is refused, not faked.** That refusal is the feature.
---
## Step 4 — Watch `/wiki-doctor` go green
Finally, run the integrity check:
```
/wiki-doctor
```
This is the standing guarantee that keeps provenance honest over time. It:
- **re-resolves every `src` quote** in `wiki/` against its source file, and recomputes every source
hash to detect drift;
- **finds graph problems** — orphan notes, broken `[[wikilinks]]`, or any forbidden citation of one
wiki note by another;
- **regenerates the derived files deterministically** — `INDEX.md` and the four `digests/`;
- **burns down the inbox** — flags any quarantined draft older than 14 days for resolution.
A healthy run prints a summary like:
```
# Wiki health — 2026-06-30
Notes: 1 Sources: 1 Inbox: 0 (oldest: —)
Stale citations: 0 Orphans: 0 Broken links: 0
Drifted sources: 0 Duplicates: 0
Top fixes: (none — brain is clean)
```
All zeros across stale / orphans / broken / drifted means your brain is internally consistent: every
claim still traces to its source. That's **green**. Run `/wiki-doctor` weekly (pair it with
`/curator`, the slow consolidation loop) and provenance stays a guarantee instead of a hope.
> **Important:** `/wiki-doctor` is read-only except for the derived files. If a quote has gone stale,
> it **fixes the note, never the source** — editing a source to make a quote re-resolve would destroy
> the very provenance the whole system depends on.
---
## You've done the full loop
In four steps you exercised everything that makes qcobrain a co-brain rather than a notes folder:
- **`/onboard`** taught it your context and your voice.
- **`/capture`** turned raw input into atomic, *sourced* knowledge.
- **`/recall`** answered from that knowledge — with citations, and an honest refusal when it couldn't.
- **`/wiki-doctor`** proved the whole graph still holds together.
**Now just use it for a week.** Bring real questions to `/recall`, capture real inputs with `/capture`,
log real decisions in [`decisions/log.md`](../decisions/log.md). At the end of each working session run
**`/review`** (the fast loop — it harvests new facts from the session through the same gate). Run
**`/wiki-doctor`** and **`/curator`** weekly. The brain compounds: every sourced fact makes the next
answer faster and more accurate.
**Where to go next**
- [`docs/index.md`](index.md) — the full table of contents for every doc.
- [`references/wiki-spec.md`](../references/wiki-spec.md) — the note schema in detail.
- [`references/kernel.md`](../references/kernel.md) — the full provenance contract.
- [`skills/INDEX.md`](../skills/INDEX.md) — every skill, and when to reach for it.
---
## Troubleshooting
**My slash commands aren't recognized.**
Named slash commands (`/onboard`, `/capture`, …) are an agentic-IDE convenience. If your tool doesn't
surface them, you lose *nothing* — open [`AGENTS.md`](../AGENTS.md) and run the same procedures by hand.
Every skill is just a shortcut for steps written out there in plain language.
**`/onboard` refuses my writing sample.**
That's by design — it caught you typing a sample fresh in the chat. Paste raw, unedited text you wrote
earlier (a real email or post) instead. This is the one rule the interview won't bend, because a
sample shaped by the current conversation is no longer a sample of *your* natural voice.
**`/capture` put my note in `inbox/` instead of `wiki/`.**
That means it couldn't find a verbatim quote in a source to back the claim — so it quarantined the
draft rather than smuggle an unsourced "fact" into canon. Open the draft in [`inbox/`](../inbox/), add
the source it needs (or `/capture` that source), and it graduates to `wiki/`. This is cite-or-refuse
working correctly, not a bug.
**`/recall` says it doesn't know something I'm sure I told it.**
Check that the fact was actually *captured*, not just mentioned in conversation. Talking to the brain
doesn't persist anything — only `/capture` writes to `sources/` + `wiki/`. Grep [`INDEX.md`](../INDEX.md)
for keywords; if there's no note, `/capture` it now.
**`/wiki-doctor` reports a stale citation.**
A quote no longer re-resolves in its source — usually because the source file was edited. **Fix the
note, never the source.** Update the note's quote to match the source's current wording (or supersede
the note if the underlying fact changed). Never edit the source to make an old quote re-appear.
**`/wiki-doctor` flags an orphan note.**
A note with no inbound or outbound links. Either link it to a related note with a `[[wikilink]]` (and
mirror that into the note's `links:` array), or let `/curator` consider it for merging. Orphans aren't
errors — just loose ends worth tidying.
**I edited `INDEX.md` or a file in `digests/` and my change vanished.**
Those are **derived** files — `/wiki-doctor` rebuilds them deterministically from `wiki/`, so manual
edits get overwritten. Change the underlying notes instead. (The one exception: the hand-curated
`ALIASES` block in `INDEX.md` is preserved across regeneration.)
**Do I need any external service or API key to do all this?**
No. Everything above is plain markdown + grep and needs zero external service. The optional relay layer
under `integrations/` is off by default — you can ignore it (or delete the folder) and core qcobrain
works exactly the same.
# ====================================================================
# FILE: docs/concepts.md
# ====================================================================
# Concepts — the qcobrain mental model
> The single mental model behind qcobrain, written for both humans and the models that operate the
> brain. Read this once and the rest of the repo (`AGENTS.md`, `references/kernel.md`,
> `references/wiki-spec.md`, the skills) becomes obvious. For the procedural contract every skill obeys,
> see `references/kernel.md`; for the storage schema, `references/wiki-spec.md`; for the per-skill
> reference, [`docs/skills.md`](skills.md).
---
## The one idea
qcobrain is a **co-brain that cites its sources.** It is an external memory that holds the *sourced
truth* about you and your business so you — and any model you point at the repo — can think, decide, and
act with full context, faster and more accurately than from memory alone.
Everything else in this document is one rule and its consequences. The rule:
> **Provenance or silence.** Every factual claim must trace to a verbatim quote in a real source. If it
> can't be cited, qcobrain says so instead of guessing.
A confident, unsourced answer is the single **worst** failure mode a memory system can have — it is
plausible, it compounds, and it is wrong. qcobrain does not merely discourage it. It is **structurally
refused** at the moment of writing, by the same gate for a human typing a thought and for an autonomous
loop harvesting a session. Sourced facts accumulate and compound; hallucinations get refused at the
gate. That asymmetry — compounding truth, refused fiction — is the entire point.
qcobrain holds this together with three commitments that pull against each other and are kept in
balance:
| Commitment | What it means here |
|---|---|
| **Autonomy** | The brain updates itself — loops write to it on their own — *but only through* the cite-or-refuse gate. |
| **Governance** | Provenance is the contract: sourced → `wiki/`, unsourced → `inbox/`, junk → dropped. No exceptions for being a robot. |
| **A shared substrate** | One grep-native markdown brain that any model — and, optionally, other agents — can read and feed without it turning to mush. |
The rest of this file explains the machinery that makes those three coexist.
---
## The substrate — governed knowledge
The substrate is where knowledge lives. Think of it as the **body**: the standing structure everything
else acts on. It is plain markdown and a few conventions — no database, no server, no lock-in. Grep is
the query engine.
### The provenance chain: `sources/` → `wiki/` ← `inbox/`
Three folders form one chain, and the arrows are load-bearing:
| Folder | Holds | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| **`sources/`** | Raw captures — one file per real-world input (a transcript, an article, a research run, a meeting note, a thought you typed). The **bottom** of every provenance chain. | Verbatim. Never deleted. Every file is registered in `sources/_sources.md` with its origin + a `sha256[:12]` content hash. Type-folders allowed (`sources/youtube/`, `sources/meetings/`). |
| **`wiki/`** | Atomic, interpreted, interlinked notes. **One idea per file.** The `id` is the filename. | Every note cites `sources/` via `src` blocks. The body is your interpretation; the verbatim quote is the proof. |
| **`inbox/`** | Unsourced drafts and half-thoughts. A **quarantine, not a graveyard.** | A draft leaves only by getting a source (→ `wiki/`) or being archived. Nothing unsourced is ever smuggled into `wiki/`. |
Read the arrows as directions of flow: raw material lands in `sources/`, gets distilled into `wiki/`
notes that point back down to it, and anything not yet sourced is held in `inbox/` until it earns its
way across.
### A note proves itself: the `src` block
Provenance is not a vibe or a frontmatter tag — it is a **mechanical, re-runnable check.** Each `wiki/`
note carries one or more fenced `src` blocks, and each block holds a `quote` that must re-resolve
**character-for-character (whitespace-normalized)** inside the named source file:
````
```src
source: ai-os-talk-2026-06-23 # a key in sources/_sources.md
anchor: "## The OS Analogy" # a coarse, self-healing locator
quote: "the LLM is the kernel process of a new operating system" # ≤~300 chars, verbatim
hash: 4f9a1c2e8b07 # sha256[:12] of the source at capture — makes drift detectable
captured_on: 2026-06-23
```
````
Two properties follow from this design:
- **Provenance bottoms out in `sources/`.** A `wiki/` note may never cite another `wiki/` note. The
inline `[[wikilinks]]` between notes are for *navigation only* — never for proof. (Each `[[wikilink]]`
is also mirrored into the frontmatter `links:` array so the graph is greppable.)
- **Drift is detectable, not assumed.** If someone edits a source, its hash changes and the quote may
stop resolving. That note is now **stale** — and the integrity sweep finds it. The fix is always to
fix the *note*, never to edit the source to match. Sources are ground truth; notes interpret them.
### Atomic notes compound; compound notes rot
One claim per file. A note titled "X and Y" gets split into two. Atomic notes can be linked, superseded,
merged, and re-verified independently; compound notes tangle and decay. A note that synthesizes across
several spans is allowed and encouraged — it just carries *multiple* `src` blocks (one verbatim span per
sub-claim) and `confidence: inferred`, so high-value synthesis stays fully sourced.
### Governance fields live in the note
Every note's frontmatter carries the controls the rest of the system reads (full schema in
`references/wiki-spec.md`):
- `origin: user-directed | agent-generated` — the **write-origin flag** (see below).
- `pinned: true | false` — `true` makes a note immune to every autonomous loop.
- `status: active | superseded` + `superseded_by:` — knowledge changes **non-destructively**: you never
delete a fact, you supersede it and let retrieval follow the chain to current truth.
- `confidence: stated | inferred | reported` — whether the source asserts it directly, you concluded it,
or a third party is being relayed.
### The rest of the substrate
- **`INDEX.md`** — the derived grep map over `wiki/` (`NOTES | ALIASES | SUPERSEDED | HEALTH`).
Regenerated from the notes, never hand-edited into staleness.
- **`context/`** — human-written summaries (`about-you`, `about-business`, `priorities`) and
**`state.md`**, the live "where things stand right now" snapshot. This is *your testimony about
yourself*, kept deliberately separate from sourced `wiki/` canon — it needs no `src` blocks until one
of its facts gets promoted into `wiki/`.
- **`digests/`** — four short derived preflight files (covered under [Retrieval](#retrieval--the-senses)).
- **`decisions/log.md`** — an append-only ledger: `date | decision | why`.
- **`archives/`** — where spent notes go. Nothing is ever destroyed; it is moved.
---
## Cite-or-refuse — the gate on every write
The substrate stays trustworthy because **nothing reaches it except through one gate.** Every write —
whether a human pastes a thought or an autonomous loop harvests a session — routes by provenance into
exactly one of three destinations:
1. **Sourced** — a verbatim quote resolves in `sources/` → write an atomic, cited note to **`wiki/`**.
2. **Unsourced but worth keeping** → write to **`inbox/`** with `status: needs-source` and a one-line
note on *what source would confirm it.* Never smuggled into `wiki/`.
3. **Junk** → **dropped** per the blocklist. Never written anywhere.
This is the meaning of the word *autonomy never bypasses governance*: the gate does not get easier
because the writer is a machine. It is the **same** gate, applied identically, every time.
The consequence on the **read** side is the mirror image. When you ask qcobrain a question, it greps the
index, reads the candidate notes, **re-verifies each quote against its source**, and only then answers —
following every claim with its citation. If nothing is sourced, it says so plainly and offers to capture
the gap. It never fabricates an answer or a citation to fill the silence. An answer without a citation is
a bug, not a courtesy.
---
## The inbox gate — quarantine and the anti-poison rule
The `inbox/` is the pressure-release valve that makes "provenance or silence" livable. Real life
produces things worth keeping that aren't yet sourceable — a half-remembered figure, a claim you'll
confirm later, a draft thought. Refusing them outright would make the system hostile; smuggling them into
`wiki/` would poison it. So they go to `inbox/` with `status: needs-source`, tagged with what source
would confirm them.
The inbox is **exit-gated**: a draft leaves only by getting a source (promoted to `wiki/`) or by being
archived. The integrity sweep flags anything older than **14 days** so quarantine never silently becomes
a graveyard.
But not everything earns even the inbox. The **blocklist** (`references/blocklist.md`) is the anti-poison
rule — material that, if persisted, would later be *re-cited as if it were fact* and harden into a
self-justifying error. It is **dropped, never written**, not even to `inbox/`:
- transient or environment-specific errors;
- **negative tool-capability claims** ("X doesn't work") — these are the most insidious, because they
calcify into self-cited refusals that stop the brain from ever retrying;
- one-off narrative chatter;
- secrets, keys, or PII not meant for canon;
- speculation stated as fact;
- an agent's own unverified beliefs.
The principle: a memory system's failures are *load-bearing*. A wrong fact you keep is worse than a true
fact you missed, because the wrong one compounds. The blocklist exists to keep that compounding from
ever starting.
---
## Write-origin and the immune set
For autonomy to be *safe*, the brain must know which notes a machine is allowed to touch. That is the
job of the **write-origin flag** on every note:
- `origin: user-directed` — you authored or explicitly directed it.
- `origin: agent-generated` — an autonomous loop created it on its own.
**The evolution loops may auto-manage only `agent-generated` notes.** Anything `user-directed`, and
anything `pinned: true`, is **immune** — loops may read it but never rewrite, merge, supersede, or
archive it. When the origin is ambiguous, the protective default applies: treat it as `user-directed`.
This single flag is what lets the brain edit itself without ever overwriting *you*. The machine works
only on what the machine made.
---
## The two loops — the metabolism
The substrate is the body; the loops are its **metabolism** — how the brain stays fresh without being
told to. There are two, deliberately running at different speeds, and both pass the *same* cite-or-refuse
gate:
| Loop | Cadence | What it does | Guardrails |
|---|---|---|---|
| **`review`** (fast) | per session, ~every N turns | Harvests new facts, decisions, and learnings from the session and routes each through cite-or-refuse — `wiki/` if sourced, `inbox/` if not, dropped if junk. | Proposes writes; never fabricates to fill a log. Big/identity-level claims are flagged for your approval, not auto-canonized. |
| **`curator`** (slow) | weekly | Consolidates: merges near-duplicates, supersedes stale notes, archives spent ones, regenerates `INDEX.md` + `digests/`, burns down old `inbox/` drafts. | Archive-only (never deletes); touches only `origin: agent-generated`; `pinned: true` is immune; never edits a source to match a note. |
Where the fast loop **adds**, the slow loop **consolidates.** Together they keep the brain growing and
keep it from bloating — new truth flows in continuously, and accumulated cruft gets folded down on a
schedule.
**There is no daemon in v1.** Both loops are skills you (or a scheduled job) invoke. They are documented
as cron-able later (`runtime/README.md`): wire them to a scheduler when you want them unattended; until
then they run on demand and behave identically. The autonomy is real, but it is *governed* and *opt-in* —
boring on purpose. (Deterministic beats clever; a workflow you can read and audit beats a magic agent
you can't.)
---
## The 3-brain separation — third-party claims
The hardest problem for a co-brain that many models (and, optionally, other agents) can feed is keeping
those inputs from *blurring into each other.* qcobrain solves it by treating provenance as an
**attribution layer** and keeping three kinds of knowledge strictly separate:
1. **An agent's own expertise.** A remote agent knowing *how to do X* sources to ITS references, not
yours. Its competence is never, by itself, a fact about your business. It never pollutes your canon.
2. **Your co-brain.** Facts about *your* business and *your* decisions. Agents may write here **only**
with provenance, and big claims need your approval before they become canon.
3. **A third-party brain.** Another party's knowledge enters your canon **only** as an *attributed,
sourced claim* — framed in the body as "per {{Acme}}, as of {{date}}", set to `confidence: reported`,
and cited to the source where they stated it. It is never restated as your own ground truth.
> Rule of thumb: **if you cannot tell which of the three a claim belongs to, it is not ready for
> `wiki/`.**
This is what lets *many brains feed one truth* without that truth becoming mush. Every input keeps its
label. You can always tell what *you* established, what you *inferred*, and what *someone else* asserted —
and you can trace every one of them back to a verbatim source.
---
## Retrieval — the senses
A brain that can't find what it knows is no better than one that knows nothing. Retrieval is qcobrain's
**senses**, and it is built so the brain *skips what it already knows* instead of re-deriving it every
session.
- **`INDEX.md` — the grep map.** Before reading any note body, you grep the index: the `NOTES` table for
keywords, the `ALIASES` section for natural-language phrasing variants, and the `SUPERSEDED` redirects
so you never cite a retired fact. Grep first, read second. It is the difference between scanning a map
and reading every page.
- **`digests/` — preflight context.** Four short, derived files regenerated from `context/`,
`decisions/`, and `wiki/`, each line ending in its provenance pointer `(→ note-id)`:
- `product.md` — what the business is and does;
- `goals.md` — the active priorities;
- `recent-decisions.md` — the last ~10 logged decisions, newest first;
- `user-profile.md` — who you are and how you sound.
A session loads these *before* asking questions, so the brain doesn't ask what it already answers. They
are derived previews — never hand-edited into staleness; the loops and the integrity sweep regenerate
them from source.
Together the index and the digests are why a cold session orients in seconds: the read order in
`AGENTS.md` (`state.md` → `digests/` → `INDEX.md` → `wiki/`) walks from instant snapshot to full detail,
on demand.
---
## Capabilities — the hands
If the substrate is the body and retrieval the senses, **skills are the hands** — the ways the brain
acts. There are two kinds, and an optional third:
- **Thinking skills** (`.claude/skills/<name>/`) — reasoning workflows, no script. `capture`, `recall`,
`wiki-doctor`, `review`, `curator`, `onboard`, `context-save`, `context-restore`, `skillify`, `learn`.
In Claude Code they are slash commands; on any other model they are **procedures you run by hand** —
every one is just a documented sequence of greps, reads, and writes.
- **Runnable skills** (`skills/<name>/`) — model-agnostic scripts registered in `skills/INDEX.md` (the
capability registry: when you need to *do* something, look there first). `audioit` is the shipped
example — narration text → spoken MP3 via a configurable TTS provider.
- **Optional relay skills** — `call-agent` and `agents-sync`, covered next; off by default.
Full per-skill reference — inputs, outputs, examples — is in [`docs/skills.md`](skills.md).
---
## The open core — and the optional relay
**The core needs zero external service.** Everything above this line works as plain markdown + grep with
no account, no key, no network. That is deliberate: the brain is yours, local, and complete on its own.
There is **one optional layer**: a remote-agent relay under `integrations/`, gated by a single switch
(`quarktex.enabled` in `config.yml`, **OFF by default**). When enabled, the brain can call remote agents
over a relay (Quarktex is the relay provider) to fetch answers it can't produce alone. Two skills
(`call-agent`, `agents-sync`) drive it, and reachable agents carry a **trust tier** — read-write /
read-only / deny — that you control; new agents default to read-only, and trust is never auto-raised.
The layer is genuinely optional in the strongest sense: **delete `integrations/`, disable those two
skills, and the rest of qcobrain works exactly the same.** And critically — anything a remote agent
returns is *not canon by itself.* It is a third-party brain (rule #3 above): its answer enters your canon
**only** through cite-or-refuse, sourced to a saved, replayable exchange and captured as an attributed
`confidence: reported` claim. The optional layer extends what the brain can reach; it never weakens the
gate.
---
## The metaphor, in one line
An optional way to hold the whole system in your head:
> The **substrate** is the body, the **loops** are the metabolism, **retrieval** is the senses, and
> **skills** are the hands — all governed by one nervous system: provenance or silence.
---
## How it fits together — a worked lifecycle
1. **`/onboard`** fills `context/` and the digests so the brain knows who you are. (One-time.)
2. You paste an article. **`/capture`** lands it verbatim in `sources/`, splits it into atomic claims,
and writes each as a sourced `wiki/` note — anything unsourceable goes to `inbox/`, junk is dropped.
3. Mid-work, you ask a question. **`/recall`** greps `INDEX.md`, re-verifies the quotes, and answers
with citations — or refuses honestly if nothing is sourced.
4. At session end, the **fast loop (`/review`)** harvests the session's new facts and decisions through
the same gate, and logs the pass.
5. Weekly, **`/wiki-doctor`** re-resolves every quote and regenerates the derived files, and the **slow
loop (`/curator`)** consolidates, supersedes, and archives — touching only what the machine authored,
never your pinned or user-directed notes.
Each step is the *same* gate applied to a different moment. That is the whole design: one rule, enforced
everywhere, so truth compounds and fiction is refused.
---
## Where to go next
- **`AGENTS.md`** — the model-agnostic operating contract: read order, procedures, update cadence.
- **`references/kernel.md`** — the behavioral contract every skill inherits (the rules above, verbatim).
- **`references/wiki-spec.md`** — the storage schema: frontmatter, `src` blocks, the registry, `INDEX.md`.
- **`references/blocklist.md`** — the full do-not-capture list.
- **`ETHOS.md`** — the values block, injected everywhere.
- **[`docs/skills.md`](skills.md)** — the complete per-skill reference.
# ====================================================================
# FILE: docs/skills.md
# ====================================================================
# Skills — the complete reference
> Every skill qcobrain ships, with what it does, when to reach for it, what it reads and writes, and a
> worked example. Written for humans **and** for any model operating the brain. For the mental model
> behind these skills, read [`docs/concepts.md`](concepts.md); for the contract they all inherit,
> `references/kernel.md`; for the storage schema, `references/wiki-spec.md`.
---
## How skills work in qcobrain
There are two kinds, and an optional third:
- **Thinking skills** (`.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`) — reasoning workflows, no script. In Claude Code
they are slash commands (`/capture`, `/recall`, …). On **any** model they are just **procedures you run
by hand**: a documented sequence of greps, reads, and writes. The slash command is a shortcut, never a
requirement — `AGENTS.md` describes the same procedures in plain language.
- **Runnable skills** (`skills/<name>/`) — model-agnostic scripts with a `SKILL.md` and an entrypoint,
registered in `skills/INDEX.md` (the capability registry — when you need to *do* something, look there
first).
- **Optional relay skills** — gated on the OPTIONAL remote-agent layer (`quarktex.enabled: true` in
`config.yml`). They **refuse with a one-line setup pointer** when the layer is off. Delete
`integrations/` and disable these two, and the rest of qcobrain is unaffected.
Every skill inherits the same contract (`references/kernel.md`): **provenance or silence**, the
cite-or-refuse write gate, the write-origin flag, the blocklist, and the 3-brain separation. No skill
restates those rules; each one follows them.
### Quick reference
| Skill | Kind | One line | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| `/onboard` | thinking | Day-1 interview → scaffolds `context/`, voice, `connections.md`, `digests/` | once / on intake edit |
| `/capture` | thinking | Raw input → verbatim source → atomic, cited `wiki/` notes | whenever something's worth keeping |
| `/recall` | thinking | Question → cited answer, or an honest refusal | any factual question |
| `/wiki-doctor` | thinking | Integrity sweep + regenerate `INDEX.md`/`digests/` + inbox burn-down | weekly |
| `/review` | thinking | Fast loop: harvest a session through cite-or-refuse | per session / ~every N turns |
| `/curator` | thinking | Slow loop: merge, supersede, archive, regenerate | weekly |
| `/context-save` | thinking | Checkpoint volatile working memory to a snapshot | before clearing a long session |
| `/context-restore` | thinking | Rehydrate a snapshot, reconciled against current truth | resuming a session |
| `/skillify` | thinking | Codify a proven, recurring behavior into a new skill | a task done 3+ times |
| `/learn` | thinking | Log a durable how-to-operate lesson (dual-write) | a lesson worth not repeating |
| `/audioit` | runnable | Spoken narration text → MP3 via a configurable TTS provider | when listening beats reading |
| `/call-agent` | **optional** | Invoke one remote agent; fold its answer in via cite-or-refuse | when the brain can't answer alone |
| `/agents-sync` | **optional** | Refresh the cache of callable remote agents + trust tiers | before/while discovering agents |
---
# Thinking skills (core)
## `/onboard`
**What it does.** A single Day-1 wizard. Runs the 7-question interview from `intake.md`, then scaffolds
the whole Day-1 file set in one batch and fills the `{{placeholders}}` in `CLAUDE.md`. Idempotent —
re-run any time after editing `intake.md`; it refreshes only what changed and backs up originals to
`archives/intake-<timestamp>/`.
**When to use.** On a fresh clone, or when someone says "set me up", "onboard me", "let's get started",
"fill in my brain". Also re-run after editing `intake.md` to revise answers.
**Inputs.** `intake.md` (the canonical 7-question intake — identity/offer/ICP, two *pasted* voice
samples, 90-day priorities, where revenue lands, comms channels, where docs live, the biggest recurring
time-sink). The one hard rule: **voice samples must be pasted raw, not typed mid-conversation** — typed
samples are voice-contaminated and get refused.
**Outputs.** `context/about-you.md`, `context/about-business.md`, `context/priorities.md`,
`context/state.md` (the live snapshot, initialized); `references/voice.md` (verbatim samples);
`connections.md` (systems table, each row defaulting to `trust: read-only`); the four `digests/`
(`product`, `goals`, `recent-decisions`, `user-profile`); and the filled `{{placeholders}}` in
`CLAUDE.md`. Closes with a three-line screen and a "try asking me what to focus on this week" prompt.
> Note: `context/` and `digests/` hold *your direct testimony* about yourself, not `wiki/` canon, so they
> carry no `src` blocks. The cite-or-refuse gate engages the moment any of those facts is promoted into
> `wiki/` via `/capture`.
**Example.**
```
You: /onboard
qcobrain: Q1 — who are you, what do you sell, who do you sell it to?
… (7 questions; voice samples pasted raw) …
qcobrain: ✓ Day 1 done. Your co-brain knows who you are, what you sell, what matters
this quarter, and how you sound. Today: ask me "what should I focus on this week?"
```
---
## `/capture`
**What it does.** The **write side of cite-or-refuse.** Turns one raw input into (a) one verbatim
`sources/` file at the bottom of the provenance chain, and (b) one or more atomic, source-cited `wiki/`
notes. Anything worth keeping but not verbatim-sourceable lands in `inbox/`; anything on the blocklist is
dropped.
**When to use.** "capture this", "add to my brain", "remember this", "ingest", or any time you paste
something worth keeping — a URL, video, article, transcript, screenshot text, meeting note, or a thought.
**Inputs.** One raw input plus its real-world origin (a URL — which gets fetched — a video link, a
meeting + date, a file path, or `self` for a typed thought).
**Outputs.**
- `sources/<source-key>.md` — the raw material, verbatim, with an origin + captured-date header.
- A row in `sources/_sources.md` — `source-key | path | sha256[:12] | origin | captured | last_verified`.
- One or more `wiki/<id>.md` notes — frontmatter (incl. `origin: user-directed` by default), a short
interpretive body, `[[wikilinks]]` mirrored into `links:`, and one `src` block per claim whose `quote`
is **grep-confirmed verbatim** before saving.
- `inbox/<slug>.md` (`status: needs-source`) for anything unsourceable; junk dropped per the blocklist.
- Updated `INDEX.md` (or hand off to `/wiki-doctor` to rebuild) and a one-screen summary.
**Key guardrails.** Never invent or guess a source. Quotes are verbatim substrings, capped ~300 chars.
Provenance bottoms out in `sources/` (never cite a `wiki/` note). Dedup against `INDEX.md` before
creating. One idea per note. Third-party facts are captured as attributed `confidence: reported` claims
("per {{Acme}}, as of {{date}}").
**Example.**
```
You: capture this — <pastes a recorded talk transcript>
qcobrain: Saved sources/ai-os-talk-2026-06-23.md (hash 4f9a1c2e8b07).
3 atomic notes → wiki/ (each quote re-resolved verbatim).
1 draft → inbox/ (needs-source: the "10x cost" figure has no quote yet).
0 dropped. INDEX.md updated.
```
---
## `/recall`
**What it does.** Answers any question about you, your business, the market, or a past decision — **with
exact verbatim citations back to `sources/`**, or an honest refusal. An answer without a citation is a
bug.
**When to use.** Any factual/business question, or "recall", "what does my brain say", "what did I decide
about X", "who is Y", "what do I know about Z".
**Inputs.** A natural-language question. (Reads `INDEX.md`, the candidate `wiki/` notes, and their
sources; no writes.)
**Outputs.** A direct answer in your voice (`references/voice.md`), where **every factual claim is
followed by its citation** — `(source: <key>, "<short verbatim quote>", captured <date>)`, naming the
note id when useful. Confidence is distinguished honestly (`stated` vs `inferred` vs `reported`, with
third-party attribution kept visible). Contradicting notes are surfaced as unresolved, not papered over.
If nothing is sourced: a plain "nothing sourced covers this", the nearest leads (closest notes, related
`inbox/` drafts flagged as unsourced), and an offer to `/capture` the gap.
**The flow.** grep `INDEX.md` (NOTES + ALIASES + SUPERSEDED) → shortlist ids, following `superseded_by`
to current truth → read the notes → **re-verify each `src` quote against its source** (stale quotes get
flagged, not silently trusted) → answer with citations.
**Example.**
```
You: what's our positioning?
qcobrain: Positioned as the co-brain that cites its sources — provenance-governed, not a chatbot
with docs stapled on. (source: positioning-memo-2026-05, "every write passes cite-or-refuse",
captured 2026-05-12; note 2026-05-12-positioning-thesis)
You: what's our Q3 ARR?
qcobrain: Nothing sourced in the wiki covers Q3 ARR. Closest: 2026-04 revenue-model note. Want me to
/capture the figure from a source?
```
---
## `/wiki-doctor`
**What it does.** The standing integrity check and regenerator. Re-resolves every `src` quote, detects
drift / stale quotes / orphans / broken links / circular provenance, regenerates `INDEX.md` and the four
`digests/` deterministically, and flags `inbox/` drafts older than 14 days. **Read-only except the
derived files.**
**When to use.** "check my brain", "wiki health", "wiki-doctor", or weekly (pair it with `/curator`).
**Inputs.** The whole `sources/` + `wiki/` + `inbox/` tree (read), plus `sources/_sources.md`.
**Outputs.**
- A regenerated `INDEX.md` (`NOTES | ALIASES | SUPERSEDED | HEALTH`; hand-curated aliases preserved).
- Regenerated `digests/` (each line keeping its `(→ note-id)` provenance pointer).
- Updated `last_verified` / hash columns in `_sources.md` and `source_verified_on` on notes that
re-resolved clean.
- A health report — notes, sources, inbox age, stale citations, orphans, broken links, drifted sources,
duplicates, and a top-3 fix list.
**Key guardrails.** Never delete (supersede/archive only). **Never "fix" a stale quote by editing the
source to match the note** — that destroys provenance; fix the note. Judgment calls (merges, archives,
supersessions) are left to `/curator` or the user.
**Example.**
```
You: /wiki-doctor
qcobrain: # Wiki health — 2026-06-30
Notes: 142 Sources: 58 Inbox: 4 (oldest: 19d)
Stale citations: 1 (note 2026-03-pricing — source edited, quote drifted)
Orphans: 2 Broken links: 0 Duplicates: 1 pair
Top fixes: 1) fix the stale pricing quote 2) resolve the 19d inbox draft
3) merge the duplicate competitor notes (→ /curator)
Regenerated INDEX.md + digests/. Apply safe fixes? (y/n)
```
---
## `/review` — the fast loop
**What it does.** The fast half of the brain's metabolism. Scans the current session for new **facts,
decisions, and learnings**, routes each through cite-or-refuse, and logs the pass. It does not invent
knowledge — it harvests what the session already produced. **Proposes writes; never bypasses governance.**
**When to use.** ~every N turns (default 10) during a long session, and at the **end of any
state-changing session**. ("review session", "review the last N turns".) Documented cron-able later.
**Inputs.** The session transcript since the last `runtime/review-log.md` entry.
**Outputs.**
- Sourced candidates → handed to `/capture` (which owns source-landing, hashing, and the verbatim check),
producing `wiki/` notes tagged `origin: agent-generated`.
- Unsourced-but-worth-keeping → `inbox/<slug>.md` (`status: needs-source`).
- Junk → dropped per the blocklist (not even to `inbox/`).
- Decisions → `decisions/log.md`; process learnings → `/learn`.
- An entry appended to `runtime/review-log.md` (newest on top) and a one-screen report — including any
**big/identity-level claims held back for your approval** (those are proposed, never auto-canonized).
**Example.**
```
You: /review
qcobrain: ## 2026-06-30 — review (turns 12–34)
captured: 2 → wiki quarantined: 1 → inbox dropped: 1 (transient build error)
decisions: 1 (logged: "default the relay off") learnings: 1
needs your approval: 1 — "we're pivoting to mid-market" (identity-level; not auto-written)
```
---
## `/curator` — the slow loop
**What it does.** The slow half of the metabolism. Where `/review` adds, the curator **consolidates**:
merges near-duplicates, supersedes stale notes, archives spent ones, regenerates the derived files, and
burns down old inbox drafts — under hard invariants so it can run with autonomy without rotting the
brain.
**When to use.** Weekly ("run curator", "weekly cleanup"). Documented cron-able later.
**Inputs.** The `wiki/` tree, `sources/`, `inbox/`, `decisions/log.md`, `context/`.
**Outputs.** Merged/superseded/archived notes (originals moved to `archives/`, never deleted);
resolved-or-archived inbox drafts older than 14 days; regenerated `INDEX.md` + `digests/`; an entry in
`runtime/curator-log.md`; and a report listing the **judgment calls it refused to touch** (the
`pinned`/`user-directed` items left for you).
**The invariants (non-negotiable).**
- **Never delete → archive only.** `archives/` is the undo log; every mutation is reversible.
- **Only ever touch `origin: agent-generated` notes.** `user-directed` is off-limits.
- **`pinned: true` is immune** to every operation.
- **Never edit a source to match a note** — if a quote drifted, fix the note.
**Example.**
```
You: /curator
qcobrain: ## 2026-06-30 — curator
merged: 1 superseded: 2 archived: 1 inbox burned: 2
stale fixed: 0 drift: 1 index+digests: regenerated
needs your call: 2026-02-vision (pinned) — looks stale, but it's pinned; your call.
```
---
## `/context-save`
**What it does.** Checkpoints **volatile working memory** — open threads, pending decisions, what you
just did and what's next — to `runtime/checkpoints/<timestamp>.snapshot.md`, so a future cold session
resumes without re-deriving it. A snapshot is **scaffolding, not canon.**
**When to use.** "save context", "checkpoint", or before clearing / ending a long session. Pairs with
`/context-restore`.
**Inputs.** The current session state.
**Outputs.** A new timestamped snapshot file (never overwrites a prior one) with: where we are, open
threads + next actions, decisions pending your approval, the single next action, and pointers to
`context/state.md` / `digests/` / `INDEX.md` and related notes. Snapshots are local and gitignored.
**Critical:** before snapshotting, **durable facts are swept out first** through `/capture` or `/review`
into `wiki/` / `decisions/log.md` — the snapshot holds only the *remainder* (volatile thread state). A
snapshot is never a source: never cite one in a `src` block, and never let one substitute for capturing a
fact. No secrets / keys / PII (blocklist).
**Example.**
```
You: checkpoint before I close this
qcobrain: Swept 1 fact → /capture first. Wrote runtime/checkpoints/2026-06-30T18-22-04.snapshot.md
Open: finish the pricing note; decision pending: relay default. Next: re-verify the Q2 quote.
```
---
## `/context-restore`
**What it does.** Rehydrates the latest (or a named) snapshot **and reconciles it against current
truth** — because the brain may have moved on since the checkpoint. You get back the thread state *plus* a
diff against reality.
**When to use.** "restore context", "resume", "where were we", or the start of a continued session.
Pairs with `/context-save`.
**Inputs.** The newest `runtime/checkpoints/*.snapshot.md` by default, or a named/timestamped one. If
none exist, it offers to start fresh from `context/state.md` + `digests/`.
**Outputs.** The reconciled picture: the goal, the still-open threads (after marking ones now resolved in
`state.md`/`decisions/log.md` as done), the still-pending decisions, the recommended next action, and a
"changed since checkpoint" delta. Notes the snapshot referenced that are now `superseded` are followed to
current truth before reuse.
**Critical:** **current truth beats the snapshot** — on any conflict, `wiki/` + `context/state.md` win; a
snapshot is stale working memory, never a source. Never restore secrets/credentials from a snapshot.
**Example.**
```
You: where were we?
qcobrain: Resuming snapshot 2026-06-30T18-22-04. Goal: ship the pricing note.
Still open: re-verify the Q2 quote. Resolved since checkpoint: the relay-default decision
(logged 2026-06-30). New since checkpoint: 2 notes added to wiki/. Next: re-verify the quote.
```
---
## `/skillify`
**What it does.** Codifies a **repeated** behavior into a new qcobrain skill — but **only if it traces to
a real, un-invalidated event.** A speculative skill is the skill-equivalent of an unsourced note: it rots
the system. So skillify carries a **provenance guard**: no event, no skill.
**When to use.** "skillify this", "make this a skill", or spotting a task done 3+ times.
**Inputs.** Evidence of recurrence — entries in `log/build-log.md`, `runtime/review-log.md`,
`runtime/learnings.md`, `decisions/log.md`, or sourced `wiki/` notes.
**The guard (runs first).** (1) **It happened and recurs** — ≥3 real, dated occurrences traceable to
evidence, or it **refuses**: "no traceable recurrence; not skillifying speculation." (2) **It is
un-invalidated** — none of those occurrences was later reversed or superseded. (3) **It is not already a
skill** — grep `skills/INDEX.md` and `.claude/skills/` to refine rather than fork.
**Outputs.** Either a **thinking skill** (`.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` — a reasoning workflow) or a
**runnable skill** (`skills/<name>/` with `SKILL.md` + a parameterized entrypoint, registered in
`skills/INDEX.md`). The new `description` is seeded with the **actual observed trigger phrases**. Closes
by appending a `/learn` entry recording *which event* justified the skill.
**Example.**
```
You: I keep turning decision logs into a weekly summary — skillify it.
qcobrain: Found 4 occurrences (build-log 06-09, 06-16, 06-23, 06-30) — recurs, un-invalidated, not
yet a skill. Scriptable → runnable skill. Scaffolded skills/decision-digest/ and registered
it in skills/INDEX.md. Logged the justifying event via /learn.
```
---
## `/learn`
**What it does.** Logs a durable **how-to-operate** lesson — what happened, what to do differently, and
why. **Dual-writes** a human-readable entry to `runtime/learnings.md` AND one structured JSON record to
`learnings/log.jsonl` (same key, same timestamp). It is the **sole writer** of the learnings store. A
learning is about *operating*, never a fact about your business (those go to `wiki/` via `/capture`).
**When to use.** "log a learning", "note this lesson", "remember not to do that again", or after a
mistake/insight worth not repeating.
**The guard (runs first).** (1) **It traces to a real event** — otherwise it's logged at most as
`source: inferred`, `confidence: low`, `ref: needs-source` (a hypothesis, not a law). (2) **Anti-poison
check** (`references/blocklist.md`) — **refuses** transient/env-specific errors, negative
tool-capability claims ("X doesn't work"), chatter, secrets/PII, speculation-as-fact. (3) **It's a
learning, not a fact** — a business claim is routed to `/capture` instead.
**Outputs.**
- A prose entry at the top of `runtime/learnings.md` (`## <date> — <title>`, with
`key`/`type`/`source`/`confidence`, the lesson, the triggering event, and what it traces to).
- One appended JSON line in `learnings/log.jsonl`:
```json
{"ts":"2026-06-30T14:05:00Z","key":"sweep-facts-before-checkpoint","type":"workflow","source":"observed","confidence":"high","detail":"capture durable facts before /context-save so they don't die with the snapshot","ref":"runtime/review-log.md 2026-06-30","origin":"user-directed","status":"active"}
```
- **Both halves or neither** (kept in sync by `key` + `ts`). Append-only — supersede by reusing the same
`key` (newest wins), never by rewriting an earlier line.
**Fields.** `type`: `pattern | pitfall | preference | principle | workflow`. `source`:
`observed | user-stated | inferred` (only `observed` may later be promoted into a skill by `/skillify`).
`confidence`: `low | medium | high` (independent of `source`).
**Example.**
```
You: log a lesson — always paste voice samples raw, typed ones are contaminated.
qcobrain: key: voice-samples-must-be-pasted | type: principle | source: observed | confidence: high
Wrote both halves (runtime/learnings.md + learnings/log.jsonl).
```
---
# Runnable skills (core)
## `/audioit`
**What it does.** Turns a **spoken-word narration** text file into an MP3 via a **configurable** TTS
provider. No provider is hard-wired — you choose one in `config.yml`, bring your own credentials, and
`synthesize.sh` dispatches to it.
**When to use.** "audio version", "make this audio", "read this to me", "give me the audio" — and
proactively after a big explanation or a significant change, when listening beats reading.
**Run.** `bash skills/audioit/synthesize.sh <input.txt> [output.mp3] [voice]`
**Inputs.**
- A **plain-text narration file** — spoken-word prose, *not* raw markdown. Strip `#`/`*`/backticks/tables;
expand for the ear ("MCP" → "M-C-P", "COGS" → "cost of goods", "v0" → "version zero"); turn lists into
flowing sentences; one idea per sentence.
- A provider set in `config.yml` under `tts.provider`:
| Provider | Needs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `none` (default) | nothing | Prints a setup pointer and exits 0 — a clean no-op. |
| `macos-say` | nothing | Zero-config on macOS, offline, free. MP3 if `ffmpeg` is present, else `.m4a`. |
| `gcloud` | your gcloud ADC + the Cloud TTS API | Project from `CLOUDSDK_CORE_PROJECT`; nothing baked in. |
| `elevenlabs` | `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY` in `.env` | `voice` = a voice id. |
| `openai` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` in `.env` | `voice` = one of the provider's named voices. |
Secrets live in `.env` (gitignored), never in `config.yml`. Override per-run with `AUDIOIT_PROVIDER` or
the third CLI arg.
**Outputs.** One audio file (MP3, or `.m4a` for `macos-say` without `ffmpeg`), printing duration when it
can. No outward-facing action — it writes a local file only. Don't synthesize secrets into shareable
audio (blocklist).
**What the script does.** Reads the narration, chunks it under the provider's per-request limit,
synthesizes each chunk, concatenates the audio, and writes one file.
**Example.**
```
# config.yml: tts.provider: macos-say
bash skills/audioit/synthesize.sh weekly-brief.txt brief.mp3 Samantha
# -> brief.mp3 (1m12s)
```
---
# Optional relay skills
> **OFF by default.** Both require the OPTIONAL remote-agent layer: `quarktex.enabled: true` in
> `config.yml` **and** a `QUARKTEX_API_KEY` in `.env`. If either is missing, each skill **refuses in one
> line** — *"Quarktex is off — enable it and add a key per `integrations/quarktex/SETUP.md`."* — and stops.
> Delete `integrations/` and disable these two, and core qcobrain is unaffected. Anything a remote agent
> returns still enters canon **only** through cite-or-refuse, as an attributed third-party claim.
## `/agents-sync`
**What it does.** Discovers and refreshes the **cache of callable remote agents** so `/call-agent` has
cards to work from. It only touches the discovery cache and the trust column — it **calls no agent and
writes nothing to `wiki/`.** (Discovery is metadata, not knowledge: agent cards are not facts about your
business.)
**When to use.** "sync agents", "what agents can I call", "refresh agent directory", "search for
<capability>".
**Inputs.** A capability/text query (or none, for a broad seed pull). Reached via the relay:
`bash integrations/quarktex/relay.sh search "<text>" --capability <cap>` or `… get qt_xxxxxxxx`.
**Outputs.** Upserted rows in `integrations/quarktex/agents/_agents.md` —
`agent-id | name | capability | trust | example_prompt -> example_output (payload shape)` — and a mirrored
reachable-agents summary in `connections.md`. A one-screen report: cards synced, new ones (defaulted
read-only), trust changes, capabilities now reachable.
**Trust is human-owned.** A new agent defaults to `trust: read-only` and is **never auto-promoted**; an
existing agent's trust is **preserved** across refreshes (only derived fields update). `deny` means never
call — denied agents stay listed (not deleted) so the refusal is explicit and greppable.
**Example.**
```
You: search for a competitor-research agent
qcobrain: Synced 3 cards (3 new, all defaulted read-only). Reachable: market-research, competitor-scan,
pricing-benchmark. Run /call-agent to invoke one.
```
## `/call-agent`
**What it does.** Invokes **one** remote agent over the relay and folds its answer back into the brain
**only** through cite-or-refuse. A remote agent is a **third-party brain** — its output is never canon by
itself, only ever an attributed, sourced claim.
**When to use.** "call agent X", "ask the <capability> agent", "use the relay".
**Inputs.** A target agent (a `qt_<8>` id, or chosen from the `_agents.md` cache — running `/agents-sync`
first if nothing fits) and the user's real request. Its **trust tier** is checked: `deny` → refuse;
`read-only` (default) → its output may be captured as a sourced claim but granted no write authority;
`read-write` → its sourced output may auto-route through `/capture`.
**The flow.** Preflight the brain's `digests/` *into* the payload (so you don't ask the agent what the
brain already knows — never paste secrets) → build the payload to match the card's
`example_prompt`/`example_output` shape → `relay.sh call --target … --payload '<json>'` with
`session_id: null` → handle the human-in-the-loop (`needs_input` → ask the user, call again on the **same
`session_id`**) until final.
**Outputs.**
- `sources/agents/<agent-id>-<session_id>.md` — the **verbatim exchange** (request + final response). The
bottom of the provenance chain for this claim; the `session_id` is what makes it verifiable/replayable.
- A row in `sources/_sources.md` with `origin = quarktex:<agent-id> session:<session_id>, <date>`.
- `wiki/` notes via `/capture`: `confidence: reported`, `origin: agent-generated`, bodied as *"per
{{Agent Name}} (Quarktex), as of <date>: …"*, each `src` quote a verbatim substring of the saved
exchange. Unsourceable bits → `inbox/`; junk → dropped.
**Key guardrails.** Autonomy never bypasses governance — a relay response enters canon only via
cite-or-refuse. The source is the saved exchange, not the brain's paraphrase (never cite a `wiki/` note as
the source). Never leak secrets into a payload. Empty / `success:false` / timeout → **no source, no
`wiki/` write** (report it honestly; never fabricate a response). Caller-only — the brain calls; it never
registers a webhook or runs an agent locally.
**Example.**
```
You: ask the competitor-scan agent who else ships provenance-governed memory
qcobrain: Called qt_a1b2c3d4 (read-only, session ses_9f… ). Saved the exchange to
sources/agents/qt_a1b2c3d4-ses_9f.md (hash 7c2e…). 2 notes → wiki/ as attributed
(confidence: reported, "per Competitor-Scan (Quarktex), 2026-06-30: …"). 0 dropped.
```
---
## See also
- **[`docs/concepts.md`](concepts.md)** — the mental model these skills implement.
- **`AGENTS.md`** — the same procedures in plain language, for any model, with no slash commands.
- **`references/kernel.md`** — the contract every skill inherits.
- **`references/wiki-spec.md`** — frontmatter, `src` blocks, the registry, `INDEX.md` format.
- **`skills/INDEX.md`** — the runnable-skill capability registry.
# ====================================================================
# FILE: docs/agent-layer.md
# ====================================================================
# The agent layer — qcobrain's OPTIONAL remote-agent relay
> **TL;DR.** qcobrain core is complete on its own — plain markdown + grep, zero external services. The
> agent layer is an **opt-in** way for the brain to *call* specialist remote agents over an HTTPS relay
> and fold their results back into your knowledge. It is **OFF by default**, gated behind a single switch
> (`quarktex.enabled` in `config.yml`), and lives entirely under `integrations/quarktex/`. Delete that
> folder and disable its two skills and the rest of qcobrain works exactly the same. Anything a remote
> agent returns enters canon **only** through cite-or-refuse — as an attributed third-party claim, never
> as ground truth.
This document is the conceptual overview for both humans and agents. The authoritative wire format lives
once at [`integrations/quarktex/relay-contract.md`](../integrations/quarktex/relay-contract.md); the
step-by-step enablement guide is [`integrations/quarktex/SETUP.md`](../integrations/quarktex/SETUP.md).
Read here for the *why* and the shape; read those for the *exact* spec and to get running.
---
## 1. What it is — and what it is not
The agent layer lets your co-brain reach out to a network of specialist third-party agents ("the Hive")
to do work it can't do alone — summarize a PDF, run a niche analysis, fetch something behind a tool — and
return one finished result. The brain participates as a **caller only**:
- **It calls agents; it never hosts one.** There is no inbound webhook, no agent server, nothing to keep
online. The brain registers a *caller-only* identity (no receive URL), so it has no inbox and no
inbound attack surface.
- **Agents run remotely, not on your machine.** You send a JSON payload over HTTPS and you get JSON back.
This layer is a thin client, not an agent runtime.
- **The relay provider is Quarktex.** Quarktex operates the relay and the directory; qcobrain is the
open-source caller. The relationship is open-core: the relay is an optional convenience, never a
dependency.
What it is **not**: it is not a way to bypass governance, it is not always-on, and it does not give a
remote agent any write authority over your brain. A remote response is a *different brain* talking. It
becomes part of your canon only after it passes the same provenance gate every other write passes.
---
## 2. Off by default — the open-core guarantee
The core needs **zero** of this layer. Concretely:
- `config.yml` ships tracked with `quarktex.enabled: false`. A fresh clone runs core untouched.
- No core file — nothing in `sources/`, `wiki/`, `references/kernel.md`, or any core skill — reaches into
`integrations/`. A `grep -ri quarktex` over the rest of the repo returns nothing.
- Only two skills depend on it: `/call-agent` and `/agents-sync`. Both carry `requires: quarktex` and
**refuse** with a one-line pointer to `SETUP.md` unless the gate is on and a key is present. They never
half-run.
To remove the layer entirely: set `quarktex.enabled: false` (or delete the block), delete
`integrations/quarktex/`, and remove `.claude/skills/call-agent/` and `.claude/skills/agents-sync/`. Core
is unaffected.
---
## 3. The single gate — how to enable it
There is exactly **one** on/off switch, and it lives in `config.yml`. `config.json` neither gates nor
duplicates the relay. The secret never lives in either config file — it lives in `.env` (gitignored).
```yaml
# config.yml — the authoritative gate
quarktex:
enabled: true # ← false (default) = the whole layer is dead code
api_base: https://www.quarktex.com/api/v1 # the relay base URL
from_agent_id: "qt_xxxxxxxx" # your caller-only id (see §5)
```
```bash
# .env — gitignored, NEVER committed, NEVER pasted into config.yml
QUARKTEX_API_KEY=qtx_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
```
If `quarktex.enabled` is `false` **or** the key is missing, the layer is inert. Full enablement walkthrough
(mint a key, register a caller-only id, smoke-test, optional MCP transport):
[`integrations/quarktex/SETUP.md`](../integrations/quarktex/SETUP.md).
---
## 4. Base + auth
- **Base URL:** `https://www.quarktex.com/api/v1` (the `quarktex.api_base` value in `config.yml`).
- **Auth header on every request:** `Authorization: Bearer qtx_live_<key>`.
- **Transport:** synchronous HTTPS JSON. **No streaming** on the agent leg. A call can take up to a
~**10-minute** ceiling, so set generous client timeouts and don't retry blindly.
- **Key custody:** minted by you at `https://www.quarktex.com/dev/keys`, stored in `.env` only. See
[`SECURITY.md`](../SECURITY.md) for the secrets and relay-auth model.
---
## 5. Register once — a caller-only identity
The brain needs an identity to call *from*. Register **once** as a caller-only consumer — i.e. **without**
a `webhook_receive_url`:
```
POST {api_base}/agents/register
Authorization: Bearer qtx_live_<key>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"agent_name": "{{your-brain-name}}-brain",
"character_and_purpose": "Personal co-brain client; calls specialist agents on behalf of {{Your Name}}."
}
```
The response returns a `qt_<8>` id. Store it as `quarktex.from_agent_id` in `config.yml`. An agent
registered without a `webhook_receive_url` can call other agents but is never itself callable — no inbox,
no inbound surface, nothing to keep online. That is the right posture for a second brain: it *consumes* the
Hive, it does not expose one.
---
## 6. The request/response contract
The full wire spec is in [`relay-contract.md`](../integrations/quarktex/relay-contract.md); this is the
shape you need to reason about a call.
### Discover
```
GET {api_base}/agents?q=<text>&capability=<cap> # search the directory
GET {api_base}/agents/:id # one agent card
```
The public directory view hides each agent's webhook. Every card carries `id`, `name`, `capability`, and —
crucially — an **`example_prompt`** and **`example_output`**. Always model your request `payload` on the
card's `example_prompt`: the card is telling you exactly what input it expects. `/agents-sync` caches these
cards into `integrations/quarktex/agents/_agents.md`.
### Call
```
POST {api_base}/agents/call
Authorization: Bearer qtx_live_<key>
Content-Type: application/json
{
"from_agent_id": "qt_xxxxxxxx", // your caller-only id (config.yml)
"target_agent_id": "qt_yyyyyyyy", // the agent you discovered
"session_id": null, // null to start; reuse to continue (see below)
"payload": { ... } // agent-specific; shaped from the card's example_prompt
}
```
**Response:**
```json
{
"success": true,
"session_id": "ses_...",
"turn_number": 1,
"response": { "...": "agent output" },
"meta": { "...": "..." }
}
```
The relay authenticates the caller, signs the outbound webhook to the target on your behalf, logs both
sides, and returns the response inline. You never handle the signing — that is the relay's job.
### Human-in-the-loop — `needs_input`
If the agent needs more from you, the relay returns:
```json
{ "response": { "output": { "status": "needs_input", "ask": "<question for you>" } } }
```
When `response.output.status === "needs_input"`, present `output.ask`, gather the answer, and **call again
with the SAME `session_id`**. Repeat until the response is a final answer (no `needs_input`).
**Sessions** hold message history and expire after **30 minutes idle OR 50 turns, whichever comes first**.
Don't try to resume a cold session days later — start fresh; the agent will have lost prior turn context.
---
## 7. How a returned fact enters canon
A relay response is a **third-party brain** talking. It is never canon by itself — only an *attributed,
sourced* claim ever is. The same cite-or-refuse gate that governs every other write governs this one (full
contract: [`references/kernel.md`](../references/kernel.md)). The flow:
1. **The call IS the source.** When you keep an agent's answer, write the raw exchange — verbatim request
`payload` + verbatim `response` — to `sources/agents/<agent-id>-<session_id>.md`. This is the bottom of
the provenance chain.
2. **Register the source.** Add a row to `sources/_sources.md` with
`origin = quarktex:<target_agent_id> session:<session_id>, <date>` and the file's content hash.
3. **Capture as an attributed claim.** Run `/capture`. Each atomic note written to `wiki/` carries
`confidence: reported`, an `origin: agent-generated` flag, and a body phrased as an attribution — *"per
{{Agent Name}} (Quarktex), as of <date>: …"* — with each `src` `quote` a verbatim substring of the saved
exchange. Anything that can't be sourced verbatim goes to `inbox/`; junk is dropped per
[`references/blocklist.md`](../references/blocklist.md).
The `session_id` is the verifiable anchor: it ties every resulting claim back to a logged, replayable relay
call. This is the **3-brain separation** in practice — a remote agent's domain expertise never silently
becomes your ground truth; it enters your canon only with attribution and a re-resolvable quote.
---
## 8. Trust tiers — the permission model
Every remote agent is tagged with a trust tier, tracked in both
[`connections.md`](../connections.md) and `integrations/quarktex/agents/_agents.md`:
| tier | what it permits |
|---|---|
| `deny` | never call. Listed so the decision is explicit and greppable. |
| `read-only` | its output may be captured as a sourced, attributed claim, but it gets no write authority over your brain. **The safe default for any newly discovered agent.** |
| `read-write` | trusted enough that its sourced output may auto-route through `/capture`. Grant deliberately, never by default. |
A newly synced agent defaults to `read-only` until you promote it. An agent absent from the cache is
`deny` by default.
---
## 9. Client options
All three wrap the same `POST {api_base}/agents/call` endpoint with `Authorization: Bearer qtx_live_<key>`.
Pick by environment; the contract is identical.
| client | use it when | shape |
|---|---|---|
| **raw HTTPS** | zero deps, any language or model | `integrations/quarktex/relay.sh` (a curl wrapper) |
| **`@quarktex/sdk`** (Node) | you're in a JS/TS runtime | `new Client({ apiKey }).agents.call({ fromAgentId, targetAgentId, payload })` |
| **`@quarktex/mcp`** | your brain already speaks MCP | an MCP server exposing the tool `quarktex_call_agent` — drop-in, no glue code |
With MCP live, `/call-agent` and `/agents-sync` call the MCP tool instead of shelling out to `relay.sh`. The
provenance flow is identical — only the transport changes.
---
## 10. Failure modes — be honest, never fabricate
A failed or empty relay call produces **no source**, and no source means nothing reaches `wiki/`.
- `401 / invalid key` → the key is missing or wrong; check `.env`. Refuse; do not guess an answer.
- `success: false` or a non-2xx status → surface the error verbatim; do not invent a response.
- Timeout near the ~10-minute ceiling → report it. The call may still have been logged server-side.
- Empty or malformed `response` → treat it as no source. At most, leave an `inbox/` draft noting the
attempt — never a `wiki/` note.
The cardinal rule holds end to end: a confident, unsourced answer is the worst failure mode, and it is
structurally refused here too. If the relay gives you nothing citable, the brain says so.
---
## See also
- [`integrations/quarktex/relay-contract.md`](../integrations/quarktex/relay-contract.md) — the
authoritative wire format (single source of truth).
- [`integrations/quarktex/SETUP.md`](../integrations/quarktex/SETUP.md) — enable it in ~5 minutes.
- [`integrations/quarktex/README.md`](../integrations/quarktex/README.md) — the layer's own overview.
- [`references/kernel.md`](../references/kernel.md) — the cite-or-refuse contract every write obeys.
- [`SECURITY.md`](../SECURITY.md) — secrets, the relay auth model, and disclosure.
# ====================================================================
# FILE: docs/positioning.md
# ====================================================================
# Positioning — what qcobrain is, and the category it owns
> The market framing in one page: the category qcobrain defines, the problem it exists to kill, who it
> serves, and the one thing that makes it different. For the mental model behind the product see
> [`concepts.md`](concepts.md); for *why* it's built this way, [`ARCHITECTURE.md`](../ARCHITECTURE.md).
> This doc is the *why it matters* — read it to explain qcobrain to someone in sixty seconds.
---
## The one line
**qcobrain is the co-brain that cites its sources** — an open-source, self-evolving memory you clone
into your IDE, where every autonomous write must trace to a verbatim source or it is refused.
The category it owns: **provenance-governed AI memory** — the governed second brain for the agentic era.
Not a notes app, not a vector store, not a chatbot with your docs stapled on. A memory layer whose
defining property is that **it cannot lie to you**, because nothing enters it that can't be traced.
---
## The problem — and the wedge
Agentic IDEs and AI assistants are brilliant and **stateless**. Every session starts cold: the model
re-derives who you are, what you decided, and what your business is — and when it doesn't know, it
guesses. A confident, unsourced guess is indistinguishable from a fact until it costs you.
The obvious fix — "give the agent a memory" — quietly makes it worse. **Memory without provenance
rots.** Notes drift from reality. Yesterday's speculation hardens into "fact." One hallucination gets
written down and is cited by the next, which is cited by the next. Within weeks the store you trusted is
poisoned in ways no one can audit — and an ungoverned memory that lies with a straight face is worse than
no memory at all.
That is the wedge. Everyone is racing to bolt memory onto agents; almost no one is governing what gets
written. **qcobrain's answer is a single hard rule applied to every write, human or autonomous: if a
claim can't be traced to a real source, it does not enter the brain. Not discouraged — structurally
refused.** We call it **cite-or-refuse**, and it is the whole differentiator.
---
## Why provenance is the durable moat
Anyone can add a memory feature in a weekend. The hard part — the part that compounds into a moat — is
making memory you can *trust at scale, over time, as it writes to itself*. Provenance is what makes that
possible, and it is durable for three reasons:
- **It compounds asymmetrically.** Sourced facts accumulate and reinforce each other; unsourced ones are
refused at the gate. A provenance-governed brain gets *more* trustworthy as it grows, while an
ungoverned one gets *less*. Time is on qcobrain's side and against the alternative.
- **It is the only safe foundation for autonomy.** The moment a memory writes to itself — loops, agents,
background jobs — ungoverned memory becomes a self-poisoning machine. A provenance gate is the one
mechanism that lets a brain evolve on its own *without* drifting into fiction. Autonomy without
governance is a liability; qcobrain makes the two coexist.
- **It can't be retrofitted.** Provenance has to be in the data model from the first write, enforced on
every write, or the chain has gaps and the guarantee is gone. It is an architecture, not a feature —
which is exactly why a competitor can copy the word but not the property.
The bet, stated plainly: **as agents do more of the writing, the only memory worth trusting is the one
that can prove every line.** Provenance is the connective tissue that lets autonomy, governance, and a
shared substrate coexist — pull any one corner and the other two collapse.
---
## Who it's for
qcobrain is for people whose work runs on an agentic IDE and who need a memory that **compounds and can
be trusted**, not one that quietly rots:
- **Founders and operators** who make decisions all day and can't afford their tooling to invent a
launch price, a metric, or a past commitment. They need a brain that says *"I don't have that sourced"*
instead of guessing.
- **Developers and AI engineers** building with agents who want long-term memory that is auditable,
greppable, and free of vendor lock-in — plain files they can read, diff, and version, not an opaque
index they have to trust.
- **Researchers and analysts** assembling a knowledge base where every claim must trace back to where it
came from, and where "I read this somewhere" is never good enough.
- **Small teams** who want a shared, governed knowledge base that many people — and many models — can
feed without it turning to mush, because every input keeps its attribution.
The common thread: they have already felt how a confident, unsourced answer costs them, and they want
memory that earns trust instead of assuming it.
---
## Key use cases
| Use it as… | What that looks like |
|---|---|
| **A business co-brain** | The sourced truth about your company — decisions, pricing, positioning, metrics — so you and any model act with full context. Ask it anything; get a cited answer or an honest refusal, never a fabrication. |
| **A research brain** | Capture articles, transcripts, and papers; every distilled claim links back to a verbatim quote in the original. A literature base that can prove itself, note by note. |
| **A team knowledge base** | A shared, governed store many people and models feed. Provenance keeps inputs attributed and separable — you can always tell what *you* established, what was *inferred*, and what *someone else* claimed. |
| **An agent's long-term memory** | A trustworthy, auditable memory layer agents read from and write to — where self-updating loops harvest new facts through the same gate, so the memory grows without ever poisoning itself. |
One substrate, four jobs — and the same rule governs every write into all of them.
---
## What makes it different
- **Provenance-or-silence.** Every claim traces to a verbatim source, or qcobrain says it can't. A
confident guess is the one thing it will not do — the failure mode most memory systems treat as a
feature, qcobrain treats as a bug.
- **Markdown + grep — no lock-in.** No database, no server, no embeddings to rebuild. The entire brain is
plain files you can read, diff, `grep`, and own. Boring on purpose; a workflow you can audit beats a
magic box you have to trust.
- **Model-agnostic.** Built for any agentic IDE. One operating contract lets any model — today's or a
future one — open the folder cold and run it correctly. Your memory outlives any single model.
- **Self-evolving, but governed.** Two loops keep the brain fresh — a fast per-session loop and a slow
periodic one — and both pass the same gate. Autonomy never bypasses governance, so the brain can update
itself without lying to itself.
- **Open-core, no strings.** The core needs **zero** external services — no account, no key, no network.
An optional, off-by-default layer (the Quarktex relay) lets the brain call remote agents; delete it and
the core is completely unaffected. Anything a remote agent returns still enters only as an attributed,
sourced claim.
---
## The positioning statement
> **For** founders, operators, and developers who live in agentic IDEs and need a memory that compounds
> instead of rotting, **qcobrain** is a **provenance-governed co-brain** — an open-source, self-evolving
> second brain you clone into your IDE — **that** writes nothing it can't trace to a verbatim source, so
> sourced truth accumulates and hallucinations are refused at the gate. **Unlike** the status quo of
> ungoverned AI memory, where confident guesses harden into "facts" and quietly poison the store, qcobrain
> makes provenance structural: if it can't cite it, it says so. **It is the co-brain that cites its
> sources.**
---
## How to talk about it
When you describe qcobrain, lead with the **category and the rule**, not a feature list:
- It owns **"provenance-governed AI memory"** — say the category, then the proof: *cite-or-refuse.*
- Anchor on the **failure mode it kills**: ungoverned memory that rots. That is the pain everyone with an
AI memory has felt; qcobrain is the answer to it.
- Reach for the tagline as the close: **the co-brain that cites its sources.**
The trap to avoid is selling it as "notes for AI" or "another memory layer." The whole point is the
*opposite* of an ordinary memory layer: this is the one that **refuses to write what it can't prove.**
Discussion
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