diff --git a/lang/runtime/el_runtime.c b/lang/runtime/el_runtime.c
index a9ae6e3..d73155a 100644
--- a/lang/runtime/el_runtime.c
+++ b/lang/runtime/el_runtime.c
@@ -18271,3 +18271,61 @@ el_val_t el_mem_check(void) {
     }
     return 0;
 }
+
+/* ── engram_recall_json / cgi_* accessors — restored 2026-08-15 ──────────────
+ *
+ * These existed in the runtime neuron vendored (v1.0.0-20260501) and were lost
+ * when this runtime moved on, so a soul built against current el would fail to
+ * link — and, worse, the naive "fix" of pointing recall at engram_search_json
+ * would have SILENTLY DOWNGRADED the mind's whole retrieval surface from
+ * semantic to lexical, with no error at any layer.
+ *
+ * The lexical/semantic split is a real safety boundary, not redundant naming
+ * (neuron-api.el:613 documents it): engram_search_json stays LEXICAL because
+ * ~40 internal call sites pass a KEY and seven of them DELETE every record
+ * returned — making those semantic would delete fuzzy matches. recall is the
+ * SEMANTIC surface, used by the retrieval routes.
+ *
+ * The old implementation was eg_search_json_impl(q, limit, with_legs=1): embed
+ * the query, cosine over the corpus, then a graph leg from semantic seeds.
+ * In this runtime that is exactly what engram_activate() already does (it
+ * embeds via eg_embed_fetch, scores by cosine, then spreads activation), so
+ * recall delegates to it rather than re-deriving a second semantic path.
+ * Output shape matches engram_search_json — a flat array of node objects via
+ * engram_emit_node_json — because existing callers (memory.el:80,
+ * neuron-api.el:618) parse it as search's shape, not activate's envelope.
+ * ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
+
+el_val_t engram_recall_json(el_val_t query, el_val_t limit) {
+    int64_t lim = (int64_t)limit;
+    if (lim <= 0) lim = 100;
+
+    /* depth 1: the associative leg, one hop out from the semantic seeds. */
+    el_val_t lst = engram_activate(query, (el_val_t)(int64_t)1);
+    ElList* arr = (ElList*)(uintptr_t)lst;
+
+    JsonBuf b; jb_init(&b);
+    jb_putc(&b, '[');
+    int64_t emitted = 0;
+    if (arr) {
+        for (int64_t i = 0; i < arr->length && emitted < lim; i++) {
+            if (!arr->elems[i]) continue;
+            el_val_t node_map = el_map_get(arr->elems[i], EL_STR("node"));
+            el_val_t id_v     = el_map_get(node_map, EL_STR("id"));
+            const char* id_s  = EL_CSTR(id_v);
+            EngramNode* n     = id_s ? engram_find_node(id_s) : NULL;
+            if (!n) continue;
+            if (emitted > 0) jb_putc(&b, ',');
+            engram_emit_node_json(&b, n, 0);
+            emitted++;
+        }
+    }
+    jb_putc(&b, ']');
+    return el_wrap_str(b.buf);
+}
+
+/* cgi_* — read-only identity accessors over the process-wide CGI registration
+ * set by cgi_register(). Read-only by design: there is no setter (studio.el:66). */
+el_val_t cgi_principal(void) { return EL_STR(_el_cgi_principal ? _el_cgi_principal : ""); }
+el_val_t cgi_network(void)   { return EL_STR(_el_cgi_network   ? _el_cgi_network   : ""); }
+el_val_t cgi_engram(void)    { return EL_STR(_el_cgi_engram    ? _el_cgi_engram    : ""); }
diff --git a/lang/runtime/el_runtime.h b/lang/runtime/el_runtime.h
index 7a445b2..c7a3c11 100644
--- a/lang/runtime/el_runtime.h
+++ b/lang/runtime/el_runtime.h
@@ -1017,6 +1017,15 @@ el_val_t  stdout_to_file(el_val_t path);
 el_val_t  stdout_restore(void);
 el_val_t  el_mem_check(void);
 
+/* Semantic retrieval surface. NOT interchangeable with engram_search_json,
+ * which is lexical by design — see the note at the definition. */
+el_val_t  engram_recall_json(el_val_t query, el_val_t limit);
+
+/* CGI identity accessors (read-only). */
+el_val_t  cgi_principal(void);
+el_val_t  cgi_network(void);
+el_val_t  cgi_engram(void);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif