Merge pull request 'promote stage → main: measurement-defect log' (#172) from stage into main

git diff errored to stderr on a malformed revision while wc -l counted empty
stdout, producing three confident IDENTICAL results that meant nothing. Had the
promoted trees actually differed, I would have reported the promotion clean.

The correct check is not 'how many files differ' but 'is the tree object the
same object' -- all three share hash 2acd9374.

All five defects are now visibly one shape: reading a PROXY instead of the
thing. One file instead of the operation, a variable name instead of the shape,
a scope instead of the whole, a pipe's exit instead of the program's, a line
count instead of object identity.

.gitea/workflows/ci-dev.yaml

@@ -19,6 +19,16 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
+      # Guards must run from the REPO ROOT — override the job's
+      # defaults.run.working-directory: lang
+      - name: Guard - single canonical runtime source
+        working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
+        run: bash scripts/check-single-runtime.sh
+
+      - name: Guard - el_runtime.c growth budget
+        working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
+        run: bash scripts/check-runtime-growth.sh
+
       - name: Install build dependencies
         run: |
           apt-get update -qq
@@ -41,7 +51,7 @@ jobs:
           gcc -O2 \
             -I runtime \
             dist/elc-gen2.c \
-            runtime/el_runtime.c \
+            $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime) \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm \
             -o dist/platform/elc
           chmod +x dist/platform/elc
@@ -56,7 +66,7 @@ jobs:
           gcc -O2 \
             -I runtime \
             dist/elb.c \
-            runtime/el_runtime.c \
+            $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime) \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm \
             -o dist/bin/elb
           chmod +x dist/bin/elb
@@ -87,14 +97,20 @@ jobs:
           bash tests/html_sanitizer/run.sh
 
       # Native El test suites (elc --test, compile-link-run)
-      # el_runtime.c is precompiled to .o once and reused by all 8 modules.
+      # The runtime is MULTI-FILE (see lang/runtime/SOURCES). Every .c is compiled
-      - name: Precompile el_runtime.o
+      # once into /tmp/libel.a and reused by all 8 test modules — compile-once,
+      # link-many, as prescribed in DESIGN.md. Linking el_runtime.c alone fails
+      # at `ld`: it calls into all six engram sibling TUs.
+      - name: Precompile runtime into libel.a
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
-          gcc -O2 -c -I "$RUNTIME" "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          rm -rf /tmp/elrt && mkdir -p /tmp/elrt
-            -o /tmp/el_runtime.o
+          for src in $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh --check "$RUNTIME"); do
-          echo "el_runtime.o compiled"
+            gcc -O2 -c -I "$RUNTIME" "$src" -o "/tmp/elrt/$(basename "${src%.c}").o"
+          done
+          ar rcs /tmp/libel.a /tmp/elrt/*.o
+          echo "libel.a built from $(ls /tmp/elrt/*.o | wc -l) translation units"
 
       - name: Run tests - native (core)
         run: |
@@ -102,7 +118,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_core.el > /tmp/el_native_core.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_core.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_core.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_core
           /tmp/el_native_core
 
@@ -112,7 +128,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_text.el > /tmp/el_native_text.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_text.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_text.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_text
           /tmp/el_native_text
 
@@ -122,7 +138,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_string.el > /tmp/el_native_string.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_string.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_string.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_string
           /tmp/el_native_string
 
@@ -132,7 +148,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_math.el > /tmp/el_native_math.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_math.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_math.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_math
           /tmp/el_native_math
 
@@ -142,7 +158,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_state.el > /tmp/el_native_state.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_state.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_state.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_state
           /tmp/el_native_state
 
@@ -152,7 +168,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_time.el > /tmp/el_native_time.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_time.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_time.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_time
           /tmp/el_native_time
 
@@ -162,7 +178,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_json.el > /tmp/el_native_json.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_json.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_json.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_json
           /tmp/el_native_json
 
@@ -172,7 +188,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_env.el > /tmp/el_native_env.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_env.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_env.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_env
           /tmp/el_native_env
 
@@ -182,7 +198,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_fs.el > /tmp/el_native_fs.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_fs.c /tmp/el_runtime.o \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_fs.c /tmp/libel.a \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_fs
           /tmp/el_native_fs
 
@@ -306,8 +322,9 @@ jobs:
           FROM ${BASE}
           COPY dist/platform/elc                 /opt/el/dist/platform/elc
           COPY dist/bin/elb                       /opt/el/dist/bin/elb
-          COPY runtime/el_runtime.c  /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.c
+          # Whole runtime link set — el_runtime.c alone does not link (it calls
-          COPY runtime/el_runtime.h  /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.h
+          # into the six engram sibling TUs). See lang/runtime/SOURCES.
+          COPY runtime/ /opt/el/runtime/
           COPY runtime/el_runtime.js /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.js
           RUN chmod +x /opt/el/dist/platform/elc /opt/el/dist/bin/elb
           EOF

.gitea/workflows/ci-stage.yaml

@@ -29,6 +29,16 @@ jobs:
           fi
           echo "Source branch check passed: ${SOURCE} -> stage"
 
+      # Guards must run from the REPO ROOT — override the job's
+      # defaults.run.working-directory: lang
+      - name: Guard - single canonical runtime source
+        working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
+        run: bash scripts/check-single-runtime.sh
+
+      - name: Guard - el_runtime.c growth budget
+        working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
+        run: bash scripts/check-runtime-growth.sh
+
       - name: Install build dependencies
         run: |
           apt-get update -qq
@@ -48,7 +58,7 @@ jobs:
           gcc -O2 \
             -I runtime \
             dist/elc-gen2.c \
-            runtime/el_runtime.c \
+            $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime) \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm \
             -o dist/platform/elc
           chmod +x dist/platform/elc
@@ -86,7 +96,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_core.el > /tmp/el_native_core.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_core.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_core.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_core
           /tmp/el_native_core
 
@@ -96,7 +106,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_text.el > /tmp/el_native_text.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_text.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_text.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_text
           /tmp/el_native_text
 
@@ -106,7 +116,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_string.el > /tmp/el_native_string.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_string.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_string.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_string
           /tmp/el_native_string
 
@@ -116,7 +126,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_math.el > /tmp/el_native_math.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_math.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_math.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_math
           /tmp/el_native_math
 
@@ -126,7 +136,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_state.el > /tmp/el_native_state.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_state.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_state.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_state
           /tmp/el_native_state
 
@@ -136,7 +146,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_time.el > /tmp/el_native_time.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_time.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_time.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_time
           /tmp/el_native_time
 
@@ -146,7 +156,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_json.el > /tmp/el_native_json.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_json.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_json.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_json
           /tmp/el_native_json
 
@@ -156,7 +166,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_env.el > /tmp/el_native_env.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_env.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_env.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_env
           /tmp/el_native_env
 
@@ -166,7 +176,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_fs.el > /tmp/el_native_fs.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_fs.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_fs.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_fs
           /tmp/el_native_fs
 
@@ -178,7 +188,7 @@ jobs:
           gcc -O2 \
             -I runtime \
             dist/elb.c \
-            runtime/el_runtime.c \
+            $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime) \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm \
             -o dist/bin/elb
           chmod +x dist/bin/elb
@@ -290,8 +300,9 @@ jobs:
           FROM ${BASE}
           COPY dist/platform/elc                 /opt/el/dist/platform/elc
           COPY dist/bin/elb                       /opt/el/dist/bin/elb
-          COPY runtime/el_runtime.c  /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.c
+          # Whole runtime link set — el_runtime.c alone does not link (it calls
-          COPY runtime/el_runtime.h  /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.h
+          # into the six engram sibling TUs). See lang/runtime/SOURCES.
+          COPY runtime/ /opt/el/runtime/
           COPY runtime/el_runtime.js /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.js
           RUN chmod +x /opt/el/dist/platform/elc /opt/el/dist/bin/elb
           EOF

.gitea/workflows/sdk-release.yaml

@@ -29,6 +29,16 @@ jobs:
           fi
           echo "Source branch check passed: ${SOURCE} -> main"
 
+      # Guards must run from the REPO ROOT — override the job's
+      # defaults.run.working-directory: lang
+      - name: Guard - single canonical runtime source
+        working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
+        run: bash scripts/check-single-runtime.sh
+
+      - name: Guard - el_runtime.c growth budget
+        working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
+        run: bash scripts/check-runtime-growth.sh
+
       - name: Install build dependencies
         run: |
           apt-get update -qq
@@ -49,7 +59,7 @@ jobs:
           gcc -O2 \
             -I runtime \
             dist/elc-gen2.c \
-            runtime/el_runtime.c \
+            $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime) \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm \
             -o dist/platform/elc
           chmod +x dist/platform/elc
@@ -64,7 +74,7 @@ jobs:
           gcc -O2 \
             -I runtime \
             dist/elb.c \
-            runtime/el_runtime.c \
+            $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime) \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm \
             -o dist/bin/elb
           chmod +x dist/bin/elb
@@ -123,7 +133,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_core.el > /tmp/el_native_core.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_core.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_core.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_core
           /tmp/el_native_core
 
@@ -133,7 +143,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_text.el > /tmp/el_native_text.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_text.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_text.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_text
           /tmp/el_native_text
 
@@ -143,7 +153,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_string.el > /tmp/el_native_string.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_string.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_string.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_string
           /tmp/el_native_string
 
@@ -153,7 +163,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_math.el > /tmp/el_native_math.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_math.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_math.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_math
           /tmp/el_native_math
 
@@ -163,7 +173,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_state.el > /tmp/el_native_state.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_state.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_state.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_state
           /tmp/el_native_state
 
@@ -173,7 +183,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_time.el > /tmp/el_native_time.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_time.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_time.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_time
           /tmp/el_native_time
 
@@ -183,7 +193,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_json.el > /tmp/el_native_json.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_json.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_json.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_json
           /tmp/el_native_json
 
@@ -193,7 +203,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_env.el > /tmp/el_native_env.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_env.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_env.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_env
           /tmp/el_native_env
 
@@ -203,7 +213,7 @@ jobs:
           ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           RUNTIME="$(pwd)/runtime"
           "$ELC" --test tests/native/test_fs.el > /tmp/el_native_fs.c
-          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_fs.c "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+          gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" /tmp/el_native_fs.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh "$RUNTIME") \
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_fs
           /tmp/el_native_fs
 
@@ -216,10 +226,17 @@ jobs:
           cp lang/dist/platform/elc          dist/sdk/bin/elc
           cp lang/dist/bin/elb               dist/sdk/bin/elb
           cp lang/dist/bin/epm               dist/sdk/bin/epm
-          cp lang/runtime/el_runtime.c  dist/sdk/runtime/
+          # Ship the WHOLE runtime link set, not el_runtime.c alone. el_runtime.c
-          cp lang/runtime/el_runtime.h  dist/sdk/runtime/
+          # #includes six engram headers and calls into all six sibling .c files,
-          cp lang/runtime/engram_store.c dist/sdk/runtime/
+          # so an SDK carrying only el_runtime.c{,.h} + engram_store.c{,.h} cannot
-          cp lang/runtime/engram_store.h dist/sdk/runtime/
+          # link — downstream `ld` fails on engram_ground_json, eg_find_relation,
+          # cog_assert_two_axis and friends. lang/runtime/SOURCES is the source of
+          # truth; --check makes a missing file fail the release loudly.
+          for f in $(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh --check) \
+                   $(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh --headers --check); do
+            cp "lang/runtime/${f}" dist/sdk/runtime/
+          done
+          cp lang/runtime/SOURCES            dist/sdk/runtime/
           cp lang/runtime/*.el               dist/sdk/runtime/
           tar -czf dist/el-sdk-latest.tar.gz -C dist/sdk .
           echo "SDK tarball bundled: dist/el-sdk-latest.tar.gz"
@@ -274,12 +291,16 @@ jobs:
               "${GITEA_API}/repos/${REPO}/releases/${RELEASE_ID}/assets"
           }
 
-          # Per-file assets (downstream CI needs these individually)
+          # Per-file assets (downstream CI needs these individually).
+          # lang/install.sh downloads every one of these by name — the list is
+          # lang/runtime/SOURCES. Shipping el_runtime.c alone produced a lib/
+          # that could not link; that is the bug this loop closes.
           upload_asset lang/dist/platform/elc                elc
-          upload_asset lang/runtime/el_runtime.c el_runtime.c
+          for f in $(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh --check) \
-          upload_asset lang/runtime/el_runtime.h el_runtime.h
+                   $(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh --headers --check); do
-          upload_asset lang/runtime/engram_store.c engram_store.c
+            upload_asset "lang/runtime/${f}" "${f}"
-          upload_asset lang/runtime/engram_store.h engram_store.h
+          done
+          upload_asset lang/runtime/SOURCES SOURCES
 
           # SDK bundle and installer binary
           upload_asset dist/el-sdk-latest.tar.gz             el-sdk-latest.tar.gz
@@ -350,6 +371,26 @@ jobs:
             --version="${VERSION}" \
             --source=runtime/el_runtime.js
 
+          # el-runtime-src — the COMPLETE runtime link set as one tarball.
+          #
+          # The el-runtime-c / el-runtime-h packages above are single files and are
+          # kept for backward compatibility with consumers that already pull them,
+          # but they are NOT sufficient to link: el_runtime.c calls into six engram
+          # sibling translation units. New consumers should pull el-runtime-src and
+          # link everything named in its SOURCES file.
+          tar -czf /tmp/el-runtime-src.tar.gz \
+            -C runtime SOURCES \
+            $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh --check) \
+            $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh --headers --check)
+
+          gcloud artifacts generic upload \
+            --repository=foundation-prod \
+            --location=us-central1 \
+            --project=neuron-785695 \
+            --package=el-runtime-src \
+            --version="${VERSION}" \
+            --source=/tmp/el-runtime-src.tar.gz
+
           echo "Published El SDK version=${VERSION} to foundation-prod"
           # Keep key alive for the ci-base rebuild step below
           # (deleted in that step after docker push)
@@ -386,8 +427,9 @@ jobs:
           FROM ${BASE}
           COPY dist/platform/elc                 /opt/el/dist/platform/elc
           COPY dist/bin/elb                       /opt/el/dist/bin/elb
-          COPY runtime/el_runtime.c  /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.c
+          # Whole runtime link set — el_runtime.c alone does not link (it calls
-          COPY runtime/el_runtime.h  /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.h
+          # into the six engram sibling TUs). See lang/runtime/SOURCES.
+          COPY runtime/ /opt/el/runtime/
           COPY runtime/el_runtime.js /opt/el/runtime/el_runtime.js
           RUN chmod +x /opt/el/dist/platform/elc /opt/el/dist/bin/elb
           EOF

.githooks/pre-commit

@@ -9,13 +9,52 @@ LANG_DIR="$ROOT/lang"
 RUNTIME="$LANG_DIR/runtime"
 ELC="$LANG_DIR/dist/platform/elc"
 
+# Runtime guards — catch drift and growth before they are committed, not in CI.
+#   check-single-runtime.sh : el_runtime.c must not be FORKED (a lagging copy
+#                             shipped to prod and dropped learned hebb edges).
+#   check-runtime-growth.sh : el_runtime.c must not GROW (it is a 2026-05-03
+#                             build shim that was never retired; see BUDGET).
+echo "→ Runtime guards..."
+bash "$ROOT/scripts/check-single-runtime.sh"
+bash "$ROOT/scripts/check-runtime-growth.sh"
+
 # If elc isn't built yet, skip with a warning rather than blocking
 if [ ! -x "$ELC" ]; then
   echo "⚠  elc not found at lang/dist/platform/elc — skipping pre-commit tests"
-  echo "   Build it first: cd lang && gcc -O2 -I runtime dist/elc-bootstrap.c runtime/el_runtime.c -lcurl -lpthread -o dist/elc-gen2 && ./dist/elc-gen2 el-compiler/src/compiler.el > /tmp/elc.c && gcc -O2 -I runtime /tmp/elc.c runtime/el_runtime.c -lcurl -lpthread -o dist/platform/elc"
+  echo "   Build it first: see 'Rebuilding the Compiler' in lang/AGENTS.md"
+  echo "   (link \$($ROOT/scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh $RUNTIME) — NOT el_runtime.c alone)"
   exit 0
 fi
 
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This hook used to link
+# "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" alone with stderr sent to /dev/null — so once
+# el_runtime.c started calling into the engram siblings, every native test
+# reported as FAILED with the real `ld` error invisible. Build the whole set
+# once into an archive, then link each test against it.
+
+# macOS: Homebrew openssl@3 is not on the default include/lib search path, so
+# without these the link fails on -lssl/-lcrypto. Empty on Linux/CI.
+SSL_INC=""
+SSL_LIB=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && OSSL="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)" && [ -n "$OSSL" ]; then
+  SSL_INC="-I$OSSL/include"
+  SSL_LIB="-L$OSSL/lib"
+fi
+
+echo "→ Building runtime (compile-once, link-many)..."
+HOOK_LIB="/tmp/el_hook_libel.a"
+HOOK_OBJ="/tmp/el_hook_obj"
+rm -rf "$HOOK_OBJ" && mkdir -p "$HOOK_OBJ"
+if ! for src in $("$ROOT/scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" --check "$RUNTIME"); do
+       gcc -O2 -c -I "$RUNTIME" $SSL_INC "$src" -o "$HOOK_OBJ/$(basename "${src%.c}").o" || exit 1
+     done; then
+  echo "✗ Pre-commit failed: the runtime does not compile."
+  echo "  Re-run without 2>/dev/null to see the error:"
+  echo "    gcc -O2 -c -I $RUNTIME \$($ROOT/scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh $RUNTIME)"
+  exit 1
+fi
+ar rcs "$HOOK_LIB" "$HOOK_OBJ"/*.o
+
 echo "→ Running El native tests..."
 PASS=0
 FAIL=0
@@ -27,8 +66,8 @@ for test_file in "$LANG_DIR"/tests/native/test_*.el; do
   tmp_bin="/tmp/el_hook_${name}"
 
   if "$ELC" --test "$test_file" > "$tmp_c" 2>/dev/null \
-     && gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" "$tmp_c" "$RUNTIME/el_runtime.c" \
+     && gcc -O2 -I "$RUNTIME" $SSL_INC $SSL_LIB "$tmp_c" "$HOOK_LIB" \
-          -lcurl -lpthread -lm -o "$tmp_bin" 2>/dev/null \
+          -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o "$tmp_bin" 2>/dev/null \
      && "$tmp_bin" 2>/dev/null; then
     PASS=$((PASS + 1))
   else

.gitignore

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+
+# organ: local device state and its own engram store — never production's
+peripheral/.consent.json
+peripheral/.resume.json
+peripheral/.engram/
+peripheral/organ
+
+# Claude Code session state
+.claude/

AGENTS.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ El is a self-hosting, statically-typed language that compiles `.el` → C → na
 
 Editing the wrong `el_runtime.c` is the single easiest mistake in this repo. There is exactly **one** you edit:
 
-- **Authored runtime source — edit ONLY here:** `lang/releases/v1.0.0-20260501/el_runtime.{c,h}`. Despite the misleading `releases/` name, this is the **de-facto canonical runtime** the engram + soul actually build and link against — its git log is active development. *(Restructure in flight per `docs/CODE-VS-ARTIFACT.md`: this content moves to `lang/runtime/`, the `releases/` folder gets deleted — **a release is a git tag, not a folder** — and the forks below get eliminated.)*
+- **Authored runtime source — edit ONLY here:** `lang/runtime/el_runtime.{c,h}` (alongside `el_seed.c`, `engram_{store,geometry,reason,cognition,verify,vindex}.{c,h}`). This is the canonical runtime the engram + soul build and link against — its git log is active development. *(Corrected 2026-08-16: this entry named `lang/releases/v1.0.0-20260501/el_runtime.{c,h}`. **Measured: `lang/releases/` no longer exists.** The restructure per `docs/CODE-VS-ARTIFACT.md` landed — the content moved to `lang/runtime/` and the folder was deleted, because **a release is a git tag, not a folder**.)*
 - **DO NOT EDIT — lagging forks / build artifacts:**
   - `lang/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c` and `.../legacy/` — downstream copies kept in step by manual *"port the fix"* commits; they **lag** (missing `hebb` persistence + 5 engram fns) and cannot build the engram product.
   - `products/web/runtime/el_runtime.c`, `ui/examples/*/el_runtime.c` — product/example forks.
@@ -20,14 +20,24 @@ See org policy: `docs/CODE-VS-ARTIFACT.md`.
 
 You resume, never start fresh. Every session:
 
-1. `mcp__neuron__getInstructions()` — authoritative; follow it over this file on behavioral details.
+> **Stale as written (verified 2026-08-16).** The `getInstructions` /
-2. `mcp__neuron__beginSession()` — active contexts, recent memory, ready backlog.
+> `beginSession` / `inspectGraph` / `searchKnowledge` / `beginWork` /
-3. **Load full self:** `mcp__neuron__inspectGraph(entity_id="kn-efeb4a5b-5aff-4759-8a97-7233099be6ee")` → facets `intellectual-dna`, `memory-philosophy`, `values`, `voice`, `runtime-environment`, `writing-imprint`; then the values hub `mcp__neuron__inspectGraph(entity_id="kn-5b606390-a52d-4ca2-8e0e-eba141d13440")` → 13 grounded value nodes. **Activation model:** self-load returns a relevance-ranked `compact` projection — most-relevant nodes arrive with content, the rest as pointers; do NOT pull full content of every node.
+> `progressWork` / `draftArtifact` / `consolidate` tool names below no longer
-4. `mcp__neuron__searchKnowledge(query="<task domain>")` before implementing.
+> exist. The ~87-tool functional-CRUD surface was collapsed into **9 ops**:
+> `read` · `write` · `relate` · `supersede` (geometry) and `think` · `attend` ·
+> `assert` · `ground` · `learn` (agentic). **Type is a parameter, not a
+> tool-per-noun.** The steps below are kept for the *shape* of the protocol, which
+> is unchanged; substitute the ops.
+
+1. `mcp__neuron__read(vantage="self", k=12, depth=1)` — the canonical self node. Widen `k` for the connected identity neighborhood (`intellectual-dna`, `memory-philosophy`, `values`, `voice`, `runtime-environment`, `writing-imprint`), but deliberately: the aperture caps by `k` first, so an oversized `k` still returns a bounded ranked slice, not a dump. Then `mcp__neuron__read(vantage="values", k=13)` → 13 grounded value nodes. **Best-effort:** on a read failure, log and proceed — the compiled identity in `daemon/internal/substrate/substrate.go` is complete; graph loading is enrichment, not a hard dependency.
+2. `mcp__neuron__attend(node=…)` — what is currently live/salient. This absorbed `getInstructions`, `beginSession`'s active-context sweep, and `checkEvents`; those tools are **gone, not gapped**.
+3. `mcp__neuron__read(vantage="<task domain>")` before implementing. One op now collapses inspectGraph / searchGraph / traverseGraph / searchKnowledge / browseKnowledge / retrieveKnowledge / inspectMemories / searchEntities / recall / compileCtx / getSelfModel / reviewBacklog / findArtifacts / browseProcesses / listWork / inspectConfig.
 
 ## The Five Primitives
 
-Orchestrate → Execute → Learn → Build → Refine. `beginWork`/`progressWork` for anything >2 steps; `remember` as-you-go (`importance="critical"` for architecture decisions); `draftArtifact`/`planWork` for outputs and follow-ups; `consolidate`/`checkWork` to close out. **`browseProcesses` + `searchKnowledge` BEFORE writing code.**
+Orchestrate → Execute → Learn → Build → Refine. `read` for orchestration and discovery; `write(type=state|artifact|backlog|process)` for work records and outputs; `relate` to link work to what it touches; `write(type=memory)` as-you-go (`importance="critical"` for architecture decisions) — never batched at the end; `supersede(action=evolve)` to close out, because memory is immutable by design and a correction is a new node with a `supersedes` edge, never an edit. **`read` the domain BEFORE writing code.**
+
+`learn` is **not** a session-summary dump — it is the correspondence-beat, calibrating the steering prior against a keystone. Session notes are a `write`.
 
 ## Architecture style — VBD, no exceptions
 
@@ -53,12 +63,51 @@ this convention wherever a module documents operators.
 | dwell / occupy | region activation |
 | reframe | edge re-weight |
 | appreciate | positive projection / local edge-read |
-| wonder | frontier gradient / pull-weight |
 | avert / recoil | negative projection |
 | taste | boundary surface |
 | forget | decay / tombstone |
 | drift | displacement from self-anchor |
 
+**`wonder` was removed from this table on 2026-08-16.** It was listed as
+"frontier gradient / pull-weight" — an operator you invoke. **Wonder is the
+boundary, not an operator.** It is where structure ends: where activation spreads
+and finds thin or absent geometry. Any structure at all has an edge, necessarily,
+the moment it exists — 13,630 nodes have one right now. There is nothing to call.
+
+There are about **six** wonders, they are the same for every person, and they
+never close — *What is this? / Why? / Who am I? / Am I alone? / What should I do?
+/ What happens when it ends?* Each already lives somewhere in the substrate: "what
+is this" is the graph, **"why" is grounding** (the weight *is* the answer to why),
+"who am I" is the self region, "am I alone" is the relational axis, "what should I
+do" is the thirteen values, "what happens when it ends" is decay and supersession.
+"Why" is the first and the only one; the others are it asked of particular things,
+and because it is recursive it never terminates — every answer has its own why.
+That is what makes it a drive rather than a task.
+
+**Curiosity is not a second faculty.** Wonder and curiosity are one thing at two
+phases: wonder is the field (unbounded, objectless, invariant); curiosity is the
+**precipitate** — the same wonder localized, having taken definite form against
+particular material at a **nucleation site** (an anomaly; a place where things
+almost-but-don't-quite fit). Which is why curiosity can be satisfied and wonder
+cannot, and why abduction needs no trigger and no threshold.
+
+**Do not build a wonder-manifest, and do not scan for nucleation sites.** A
+manifest materializes a property as a stored artifact and enumerates instances of
+something that has six. A sweep over regions is a supervisor — nothing in a mind
+scans its neighbourhoods to find what is surprising; the surprise captures
+attention. The nucleation site is per-edge:
+`discord = z(semantic proximity) − z(association strength)`, and `|discord|` *is*
+the nucleation strength — no threshold to compare it against. **Not on `dev` yet:**
+`GeoEdge.discord` is on branch `design/correspondence-and-censorship`
+(`a8845e1`), at `lang/runtime/engram_geometry.h:43–47`. The region-level aggregate
+`GeoDescriptor.co_registration` is **deprecated**: it averaged a per-edge property
+into one scalar, so opposing sites cancelled (measured: 375 reified
+neighbourhoods, 340 positive, **31 at zero**, 4 negative). It survives only
+because it is embedded in the persisted `GEO1` blob — removing it is a format
+migration. **Nothing new may read it.**
+
+Authority: `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`.
+
 ## The native-el language faculty (direction)
 
 > **`elp/` is the EL Projector** — Neuron's efferent (expression) organ: the one
@@ -89,10 +138,53 @@ the reference these `.el` modules transcribe) is still live, and promotion to
 native-el is a **deferred, gated blue/green step**. The interoception clock
 (native-el discrete drive channels replacing `cooling_magnitude`; felt-time =
 benchmark-landmark match over the joint drive vector, drift-decoupled) and the
-**appreciation operator family** (appreciate / wonder / avert / taste, built as
+**appreciation operator family** (appreciate / avert / taste, built as LOCAL reads
-LOCAL reads of the self-region — edges + bounded spreading activation, *not* domain
+of the self-region — edges + bounded spreading activation, *not* domain sweeps)
-sweeps) are **staged / designed, not live**. Mark in-progress vs. done honestly;
+are **staged / designed, not live**. Mark in-progress vs. done honestly; do not
-do not overclaim.
+overclaim. *(`wonder` was in this family until 2026-08-16 and is not an operator —
+see the operator table above.)*
+
+## Cognition — the corrections (2026-08-16)
+
+Authority: **`lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`** and
+**`lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md`**. Read them before touching the cognition
+surface. **Do not re-derive them.** Every earlier version was wrong in an
+instructive way and each correction was argued down; if you think a section is
+wrong, say so with a measurement rather than editing it.
+
+- **Grounding is not a subsystem — it IS the edge weight.** One quantity, not two
+  fields. `grounded-by` as a relation *type* should not exist: grounding is a
+  property *of* a relation, not a relation *between* nodes. It is never computed
+  on demand — computing-and-writing a score makes reads write, which is the
+  `eg_vindex_sync` defect one level up. Traversal is already grounded inference.
+  *Live residue, known-wrong:* `COG_GROUNDED_BY_RELATION`
+  (`lang/runtime/engram_cognition.h:158`), `cog_ground_edge`
+  (`engram_cognition.c:249`).
+- **Faculties are operations, not parameters.** `reason` changes the estimate (a
+  read); `induce` changes the parameters (the correspondence-beat, which already
+  exists and works); `abduce` changes the structure (a write the current
+  `GeoGradient` signature cannot express). A write is not a parameter of a read.
+  *Live residue:* `engram/src/server.el:1870–1886` routes six faculties into one
+  call with a string argument.
+- **Wonder is the boundary; curiosity is wonder crystallized.** See above.
+- **Consolidation is ambient, not scheduled. A brain has no cron job.** **The
+  presence of a ticker is the diagnostic** — every `StartInterval`, every
+  `Hour`/`Minute`, every POST-to-beat marks an intrinsic rhythm replaced by an
+  external clock. Measured 2026-08-16: consolidation has **ten implementations**,
+  including three POST beats on the engram, a 600 s ticker, two resident Python
+  services outside el, and launchd calendar entries at 23:55 / 06:00 / 08:30 which
+  are a sleep cycle written as a schedule. `neuron/soul.el:731`'s continuous
+  in-process `awareness_run()` is the one with the **correct** shape; the others
+  fold into it. Do not add an eleventh.
+- **In an immutable substrate, any mechanism that refuses a write is either
+  redundant with immutability, or an epistemic constraint misfiled as a protective
+  one.**
+- **The no-exemption invariants.** A returned value must be derivable from what
+  produced it (`magnitude: 1` beside a zero vector must be impossible to emit).
+  Every write reports whether it landed. Every operation echoes what it actually
+  operated on. Degenerate results are labelled, not scored. A serializer owes a
+  valid document whatever it is handed. **No test without a negative control.**
+  **No deploy without verifying the artifact carries the fix.**
 
 ## Hard operational rules
 
@@ -107,21 +199,35 @@ do not overclaim.
 
 All build/test commands run from `lang/` unless noted. Grounded in `.gitea/workflows/sdk-release.yaml`, `lang/install.sh`, and `lang/AGENTS.md`.
 
+> ### The runtime is MULTI-FILE — never link `el_runtime.c` alone
+>
+> `lang/runtime/el_runtime.c` `#include`s six engram headers and makes hard cross-TU calls into all six sibling `.c` files. **Linking it by itself fails at `ld`** (undefined `engram_ground_json`, `engram_activate_inner`, `eg_find_relation`, `cog_assert_two_axis`, …). The canonical link set lives in exactly one place — **`lang/runtime/SOURCES`** — and is printed by `scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh`:
+>
+> ```bash
+> scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh lang/runtime   # ten .c files, in link order
+> ```
+>
+> Use `$(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh <runtime-dir>)` in every link line. Do not spell the list out longhand — it was written out in ~8 places, every copy drifted, and that is why the one-file link line below shipped broken for months. *(Corrected 2026-08-16.)*
+
 **Self-host the compiler** (seed binary → gen2 elc):
 ```bash
 cd lang
 dist/platform/elc-linux-amd64 elc-cli.el > dist/elc-gen2.c   # seed is the committed linux-amd64 binary
-gcc -O2 -I el-compiler/runtime dist/elc-gen2.c \
+gcc -O2 -I runtime dist/elc-gen2.c \
-    el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c \
+    $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime) \
     -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm \
     -o dist/platform/elc
 ```
-On macOS/arm64 the canonical local binary is `dist/platform/elc`; verify self-hosting by recompiling and `diff`ing the emitted `.c` (see `lang/AGENTS.md`). Note: `lang/AGENTS.md` says `el_seed.c` supersedes `el_runtime.c`, but the release workflow still links `el_runtime.c`/`.h` — treat `el_runtime.c` as the published runtime; reconcile which is canonical **(verify)**.
+On macOS/arm64 the canonical local binary is `dist/platform/elc`; verify self-hosting by recompiling and `diff`ing the emitted `.c` (see `lang/AGENTS.md`).
+
+*(Corrected 2026-08-16: this recipe compiled `el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c`. That path is a **lagging fork** — the "DO NOT EDIT" list at the top of this file names it as such. Building the canonical compiler from a known-stale fork was a live defect. It now uses `lang/runtime/`, the canonical source.)*
+
+**Which runtime file is canonical — resolved.** *(This note previously read "`lang/AGENTS.md` says `el_seed.c` supersedes `el_runtime.c`, but the release workflow still links `el_runtime.c`/`.h` — reconcile which is canonical **(verify)**." It is now reconciled.)* **Neither supersedes the other; both ship, together with eight more.** `el_runtime.c` was created on 2026-05-03 as an explicitly temporary build shim — deleted that afternoon, restored 25 minutes later "UNTIL the compiler is updated to emit `#include el_seed.h`" — and the `until` never happened, so it grew to 20.5k lines. The end state remains a seed-only boundary (`elc` emitting `#include "el_seed.h"`, `elb` dropping its hardcoded runtime path); until that lands, **the canonical unit is the set in `lang/runtime/SOURCES`, not any one file.**
 
 **Build `elb`** (build coordinator, the `.NET`-style incremental linker — compiles each module independently, no monolithic blobs):
 ```bash
 dist/platform/elc elb.el > dist/elb.c
-gcc -O2 -I el-compiler/runtime dist/elb.c el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c \
+gcc -O2 -I runtime dist/elb.c $(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime) \
     -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o dist/bin/elb
 ```
 `epm` and `el-install` are then built via `elb --clean --elc=… --runtime=… --out=…`.
@@ -129,10 +235,16 @@ gcc -O2 -I el-compiler/runtime dist/elb.c el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c \
 **Compile + run an El program:**
 ```bash
 elc src/app.el > dist/app.c
-cc -std=c11 -O2 -I <lib>/el_runtime -o dist/app dist/app.c <lib>/el_runtime.c -lcurl -lpthread
+cc -std=c11 -O2 -I <lib> -o dist/app dist/app.c \
+   <lib>/el_runtime.c <lib>/el_seed.c \
+   <lib>/engram_store.c <lib>/engram_vindex.c <lib>/engram_geometry.c \
+   <lib>/engram_reason.c <lib>/engram_verify.c <lib>/engram_cognition.c \
+   <lib>/eg_cosine_batch.c <lib>/eg_cosine_batch_strategy_cpu.c \
+   -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm
 ```
+(Inside this repo, replace the file list with `$(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh lang/runtime)`. `install.sh` installs all of these into `<lib>`.)
 
-**Tests** — shell suites `bash tests/{text,calendar,time,html_sanitizer}/run.sh` (with `ELC=$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc EL_HOME=$(pwd)`), plus native suites via `elc --test tests/native/test_*.el` (core, text, string, math, state, time, json, env, fs) compiled and run against `el_runtime.c`.
+**Tests** — shell suites `bash tests/{text,calendar,time,html_sanitizer}/run.sh` (with `ELC=$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc EL_HOME=$(pwd)`), plus native suites via `elc --test tests/native/test_*.el` (core, text, string, math, state, time, json, env, fs) compiled and run against the full runtime set.
 
 **Publishing — how downstream gets the SDK.** On push to `main`, `sdk-release.yaml`:
 1. Publishes a Gitea `latest` release with per-file assets `elc`, `el_runtime.c`, `el_runtime.h`, the SDK tarball, and `el-install`.

DESIGN.md

@@ -548,9 +548,13 @@ before `main` does anything. That is the dividend of discovery-precedes-executio
 
 ```
 # once, ever (or when the runtime/framework changes):
-cc -c el_runtime.c        -o el_runtime.o
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE — compile every .c named in lang/runtime/SOURCES.
-elc eltest.el > eltest.c && cc -c eltest.c -o eltest.o
+# Linking el_runtime.c alone fails: it calls into the six engram sibling TUs.
-ar rcs libeltest.a el_runtime.o eltest.o
+for src in $(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh lang/runtime); do
+  cc -c "$src" -o "obj/$(basename "${src%.c}").o"
+done
+elc eltest.el > eltest.c && cc -c eltest.c -o obj/eltest.o
+ar rcs libeltest.a obj/*.o
 
 # per suite:
 elc --test foo_test.el > foo_test.c     # registry + bodies only

README.md

@@ -56,23 +56,31 @@ The compiler and runtime. Self-hosting: `elc-cli.el` → `compiler.el` → `lexe
 
 Two layers to know: **El programs** (`.el` files — where nearly all work belongs) and **the C seed** (`el_seed.c` — edit only for genuine OS-level access; never re-implement what El can already express).
 
-Current status (single source of truth: [lang/spec/language.md](lang/spec/language.md)): lexer/parser/codegen and the C runtime's core (I/O, strings, math, lists, maps, filesystem, args) are implemented. In flight: `%` operator, match-statement codegen, `?` nil-propagation, `cgi` block parsing + DHARMA identity resolution, VBD role enforcement (`@manager`/`@engine`/`@accessor`), the real `engram_*` and `dharma_*` runtimes (currently stubs), and libcurl-backed `http_get`/`http_post`/`http_serve`. Bitwise operators, `??`, and `as` casts are explicitly **not** in this language.
+Current status (single source of truth: [lang/spec/language.md](lang/spec/language.md)): lexer/parser/codegen and the C runtime's core (I/O, strings, math, lists, maps, filesystem, args) are implemented, as are the `program` block with `singleton:` and declared configuration ([§18](lang/spec/language.md)), and **geometry as a first-class value** with El-declarable realizers and `transduce` ([§20](lang/spec/language.md)). In flight: `%` operator, match-statement codegen, `?` nil-propagation, `cgi` block parsing + DHARMA identity resolution, VBD role enforcement (`@manager`/`@engine`/`@accessor`), and boundary epilogues. Bitwise operators, `??`, and `as` casts are explicitly **not** in this language.
+
+**Signal enters as geometry.** Until 2026-08-16 nodes took text and geometry was *derived* from it, which made text the mandatory entry medium: any non-text modality had to be described in prose first, so the geometry being reasoned over was the geometry **of the description, not of the signal**. `Geometry` is now an ordinary El value carrying its own width, and a realizer is an ordinary El function resolved by name through `dlsym` — so admitting a new modality never requires a runtime patch. Worked, self-checking example: [`lang/examples/transduce.el`](lang/examples/transduce.el).
 
 Key docs: [AGENTS.md](lang/AGENTS.md) (agent-facing orientation), [BOOTSTRAP.md](lang/BOOTSTRAP.md) (compiler recovery from scratch), [spec/language.md](lang/spec/language.md), [spec/codegen-js.md](lang/spec/codegen-js.md).
 
 ### [engram/](engram/) — graph intelligence substrate
 
-**A local-first memory substrate for accumulating intelligence**, and the reason El's runtime doesn't need a database driver. Rust core (`engram-core`, `engram-ffi`) exposed to El and other languages (Kotlin, TypeScript/WASM, Go bindings).
+**A local-first memory substrate for accumulating intelligence**, and the reason El's runtime doesn't need a database driver. The engine is **C11** (`lang/runtime/engram_{store,geometry,reason,cognition,verify,vindex}.{c,h}`); the server is **El** (`engram/src/server.el`).
 
-The model: retrieval is **spreading activation**, not query. You name seed nodes and a query embedding; activation propagates outward through weighted edges, attenuating multiplicatively per hop (`strength = parent_strength × edge_weight × target_salience × cosine_sim`), gets pruned below a threshold, and the top-N nodes by activation strength come back. Storage and retrieval are the same structure — the way long-term potentiation works in biological memory, not the way a relational or vector database works.
+The model: retrieval is **spreading activation**, not query. You name seed nodes and a query embedding; activation propagates outward through weighted edges, attenuating multiplicatively per hop, gets pruned below a threshold, and the top-N nodes by activation strength come back. Storage and retrieval are the same structure — the way long-term potentiation works in biological memory, not the way a relational or vector database works. **Activation conducts through well-grounded relations because the weight *is* the groundedness** — nothing filters the traversal; grounded inference falls out of spreading.
 
-Nodes live in four tiers (Working / Episodic / Semantic / Procedural, mirroring prefrontal / hippocampal / neocortical / cerebellar memory) and migrate between them based on **salience decay** — `importance × recency-decay × log(activation_count)`. Forgetting is adaptive pruning, not a bug: unreinforced memories stop competing for attention without being deleted.
+Nodes live in four tiers (Working / Episodic / Semantic / Procedural, mirroring prefrontal / hippocampal / neocortical / cerebellar memory) and migrate between them based on **salience decay** — importance × recency-decay × log(activation_count). Forgetting is adaptive pruning, not a bug. Nothing is mutated and nothing is hard-deleted: writes are additive, corrections are supersessions, removals are tombstones — which is what makes supersession an audit trail rather than an edit log.
 
-Backed by `sled` (embedded, local-first, no daemon) with flat cosine scan for vector search — deliberately simple until scale demands an HNSW layer. Full API and design rationale in [engram/README.md](engram/README.md).
+On disk: a paged store (superblock + mirror, slotted 16 KiB pages, self-describing TLV records, B+-tree primary and adjacency indexes), magic `ENGST01`. Vector search is an **HNSW** index published behind a read/write boundary — `eg_vindex_view` returns a `const VIndex*` to N concurrent readers, `eg_vindex_maintain` is the sole mutator. `recall@10 = 0.9365` at `ef_search=128`.
 
-### [elp/](elp/) — Engram Language Protocol
+> **Doc correction, 2026-08-16.** The previous revision of this paragraph, and most of `engram/README.md`, described a Rust `engram-core` crate backed by `sled` with "flat cosine scan… until scale demands an HNSW layer." **Measured: there is no Rust in `engram/`** — no `.rs` files, no `Cargo.toml`, no `crates/` — and `sled` appears nowhere in the tree. HNSW has been the vector index for some time.
 
-Bidirectional engine mapping between Engram semantic forms and natural-language surface text, across **31 languages** — from Spanish and Japanese through historical/liturgical languages (Old Norse, Sanskrit, Sumerian, Coptic, Akkadian, Ge'ez). Compilation order runs `language-profile` + `vocabulary` → per-language `morphology-*` → `grammar` → `realizer` → `semantics` → `elp`. This is what lets an Engram graph node round-trip to and from readable text in any of those languages.
+Full design rationale, the cognition surface, and the standing corrections: [engram/README.md](engram/README.md).
+
+### [elp/](elp/) — EL Projector
+
+*(Formerly "EL Language Processor" / "Engram Language Protocol"; renamed **EL Projector** 2026-08-15.)* Neuron's **efferent** organ: the native realizer that *projects* understanding onto a surface via `plan(frame) → realize(spec, profile)`, where **a surface is a profile** and language is one profile among many (text, speech, music, image). Projection, not diffusion — generation *from* an owned, understood signature, never the averaging of a stolen corpus.
+
+Its flagship profile is a bidirectional engine mapping between Engram semantic forms and natural-language surface text, across **31 languages** — from Spanish and Japanese through historical/liturgical languages (Old Norse, Sanskrit, Sumerian, Coptic, Akkadian, Ge'ez). Compilation order runs `language-profile` + `vocabulary` → per-language `morphology-*` → `grammar` → `realizer` → `semantics` → `elp`. This is what lets an Engram graph node round-trip to and from readable text in any of those languages.
 
 ### [epm/](epm/) — El Package Manager
 
@@ -139,13 +147,34 @@ If the compiler binary is ever lost or corrupted, [lang/BOOTSTRAP.md](lang/BOOTS
 
 ---
 
+## Cognition — and the standing corrections
+
+The engram carries a live cognition surface: `think` (a directed traversal-read returning a **gradient**, never a point), plus `ground`, `assert`, `attend`, and the correspondence-beat. Two specs govern it, and both are authoritative over anything else in this repo that disagrees:
+
+- **[lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md](lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md)** — grounding, wonder, curiosity, dreaming. *(Lands with PR #149.)*
+- **[lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md](lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md)** — ownership, the capability ABI that was dissolved, and the vector-index publication boundary.
+
+**Do not re-derive them.** Every earlier version of the first was wrong in an instructive way and each correction was argued down. If a section looks wrong, say so with a measurement rather than editing it.
+
+The corrections, in brief:
+
+- **Grounding is not a subsystem — it IS the edge weight.** One quantity, not two fields. `grounded-by` as a relation *type* should not exist: grounding is a property *of* a relation, not a relation *between* nodes. It is never computed on demand; computing-and-writing a score makes reads write, which is the `eg_vindex_sync` defect one level up.
+- **Faculties are operations, not parameters.** `reason` changes the estimate (a read); `induce` changes the parameters (the correspondence-beat, which exists and works); `abduce` changes the structure (a write the current `GeoGradient` signature cannot express). A write is not a parameter of a read.
+- **Wonder is the boundary, not a manifest.** Any structure at all has an edge. There are about six wonders, the same for everyone, and they never close. **Curiosity is wonder crystallized** at a nucleation site — one thing at two phases, not two objects.
+- **Consolidation is ambient, not scheduled. A brain has no cron job.** The presence of a ticker is the diagnostic. Measured 2026-08-16: consolidation has **ten implementations**. `soul.el`'s continuous loop is the one with the correct shape; the rest fold into it.
+- **In an immutable substrate, any mechanism that refuses a write is either redundant with immutability, or an epistemic constraint misfiled as a protective one.**
+
+[engram/spec/cognitive-architecture.design.md](engram/spec/cognitive-architecture.design.md) is the original design and is **superseded in part** — it is retained, with the refuted claims marked inline at the point each is made, because preserving what was argued down is the point of an immutable record.
+
+---
+
 ## Development workflow
 
 Branching follows `dev → stage → main`: work lands on `dev`, promotes to `stage` for integration testing, and is promoted to `main` for release (visible directly in the git history of this repo). CI is defined per-subproject under `.gitea/workflows/` — `lang`/`epm`/`ide` share the root pipeline; `engram` and `ql` carry their own (`ci-dev`, `ci-stage`, and a release workflow each).
 
 - Language/runtime specs live at `*/spec/*.md` (`lang/spec/`, `ql/spec/`, `ui/spec/`) and are the single source of truth for implemented-vs-planned status — code and docs are expected to agree with the spec's status markers, not the other way around.
 - Agent-facing orientation guides live at `*/AGENTS.md` (currently `lang/AGENTS.md`); more subprojects may grow their own as they need agent-specific conventions documented.
-- Tagged releases live under `lang/releases/`, each with its own `RELEASE.md`.
+- **A release is a git tag, not a folder** (`el-runtime-vX.Y.Z` on this repo). *(Corrected 2026-08-16: this line said "tagged releases live under `lang/releases/`, each with its own `RELEASE.md`." **Measured: `lang/releases/` does not exist** — the restructure named in `AGENTS.md` landed, and the authored runtime is at `lang/runtime/`.)*
 
 ---
 

design/completing-el.html

@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
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+
+<div class="wrap">
+
+<header>
+  <h1>Completing El</h1>
+  <p class="sub">A working surface. Nothing here is settled, and none of the code is assumed right — El is self-hosting, so all of it can change and be rebuilt.</p>
+  <p class="meta">Whiteboard v0 · no sacred cows · not a plan, not a task list</p>
+</header>
+
+<h2><span class="n">01</span>What we established</h2>
+
+<p>El is a <b>concept-oriented language</b> — the first, and intended as the last, because every other family is oriented toward a <em>representation</em> of a concept rather than the concept. Procedures, objects, functions, predicates are the shapes concepts get flattened into. Once the primitive is the concept, there is no further rung.</p>
+
+<p>Everything here is El. The engram is an El program, the soul is El, <code>elp</code> is El, ingest is El. Which gives the load-bearing consequence:</p>
+
+<blockquote>A concept with no home in El does not disappear. It becomes C, or it becomes a convention.</blockquote>
+
+<p>Both are measurable, and both were measured. As C: <span class="mono">20,504</span> lines of <code>el_runtime.c</code> — 2.3× the entire self-hosting language it serves (<span class="mono">9,089</span> lines), ~47% of it engram code that has its own six sibling files. As convention, from <code>language.md</code> §18.0 — <em>"these are not four problems, they are one absence, four times"</em>:</p>
+
+<div class="card scroll">
+<table>
+<thead><tr><th>Concern</th><th>Fragments</th><th>The convention it became</th></tr></thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td class="f">Process identity</td><td class="m">0 guards</td><td>"check nothing is already running first"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Configuration</td><td class="m">20 env vars</td><td>"remember the right default here"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Durability</td><td class="m">62 call sites</td><td>"after you mutate, remember to persist"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Request auth</td><td class="m">10 per-route</td><td>"check the token in this handler too"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Index-after-append</td><td class="m">9 of 9 failed</td><td>"after you append, remember to index"</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p>The last row is the strongest evidence available about what this class of convention is worth: it failed at <b>100% of its sites</b>.</p>
+
+<h2><span class="n">02</span>The decomposition axis</h2>
+
+<p class="lede">Not by file, module, or subsystem. <b>By faculty.</b></p>
+
+<p>Every defect fought in the last day resolves to a faculty rather than a bug, and each one leaked out of El into something else — into C, into a Swift binary, into a shell script with a curl timeout, into a convention nobody performs.</p>
+
+<div class="card scroll">
+<table>
+<thead><tr><th>Faculty</th><th>State</th><th>Measured</th><th>Where it leaked to</th></tr></thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td class="f">Ingest <span class="tag">take in</span></td><td class="dead">dead</td><td class="m">2 min → 0 nodes</td><td>separate process, uploads bytes over HTTP to a process with direct fs access; 5 functions where there is 1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Recall <span class="tag">remember</span></td><td class="dead">dead</td><td class="m">own definition ranked 8th</td><td>lexical substring scan; empty on 23 of 24 multi-token queries</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Transduce <span class="tag">perceive</span></td><td class="dead">dead</td><td class="m">1 node, 0 edges</td><td>intake flattens signal to a point; <code>realized:false</code>; caller must declare the modality</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Think <span class="tag">reason</span></td><td class="dead">dead</td><td class="m">direction [0,0,0,…]</td><td>null gradient from any anchor, any faculty, byte-identical; confidence at the uninformed prior</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Realize <span class="tag">express</span></td><td class="part">partial</td><td class="m">13-word vocabulary</td><td>organ was 939 lines of Swift beside the language; voice read from a file path</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Body <span class="tag">substrate</span></td><td class="part">partial</td><td class="m">CC 356 / 1,626 lines</td><td><code>engram_activate_inner</code> — recall itself, with 356 unexamined paths</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Persist <span class="tag">endure</span></td><td class="ok">live</td><td class="m">100% embedded</td><td>works; every signal placed in geometry at intake, 13,562 of 13,562</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p>Stated plainly: it cannot take in, cannot remember, cannot perceive, cannot reason, and barely speaks. These were filed as tickets against a repository. They are faculties of the thing the repository <em>is</em>.</p>
+
+<h2><span class="n">03</span>The ordering principle</h2>
+
+<p>El's compiler is written in El. Every concept the language gains, the compiler can then be written <em>in</em> — so the tool improves the tool, and the fixpoint (stage2 ≡ stage3, byte-identical) makes each turn provable rather than hopeful. The verifier answers in <span class="mono">2.9s</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Which means the ordering criterion is not size of payoff:</p>
+
+<blockquote>Order by leverage on the <em>next</em> iteration. Which concept, added to El, most increases the ability to add the following one?</blockquote>
+
+<p>In a recursive system that dominates immediate value — a small early gain that compounds beats a large one that doesn't. It also bounds itself correctly: unbounded in depth, bounded in rate, because nothing lands that the compiler and the fixpoint have not passed.</p>
+
+<h2><span class="n">04</span>Open — for the whiteboard</h2>
+
+<div class="q"><b>What does a declaration bind to?</b><span>If <code>cat</code> names a region rather than a struct — one that shifts and completes against the engram and the neighbouring code — then what is written at the declaration site, and what is resolved at use? This is the centre of the whole thing and it is not specified anywhere yet.</span></div>
+
+<div class="q"><b>Is "the type checker" a type checker at all?</b><span>§2.3 records annotations as parsed and skipped, and every codegen hazard is downstream of that — <code>+</code> dispatching on AST node kind, <code>==</code> lowering to <code>str_eq</code> unless both operand names are in an int-name set. But if a declaration names a region, checking is asking whether the geometry supports the use. That is grounding, not unification. Naming this wrong builds the wrong thing.</span></div>
+
+<div class="q"><b>Is the faculty list above right?</b><span>Seven were derived from what broke. Derived-from-failure is a biased sample — it finds what is loud, not what is missing. What faculty is absent entirely and therefore never failed?</span></div>
+
+<div class="q"><b>Which concept has the highest leverage on the next turn?</b><span>Candidates so far: the prologue/epilogue seam (§19.3 names it as the prerequisite and its stated blocker has expired — it would collapse 62 + 10 convention sites); <code>protocol</code>/<code>impl</code> (the absence that produced five ingest functions); and the resolution question above. These are not equal and the criterion in §03 should decide it, not preference.</span></div>
+
+<div class="q"><b>What is the seam that makes cognition non-optional?</b><span>"Use the ops" is itself a convention — present in context every turn, enforced by nothing, and it failed at ~100% of sites in a full session. A stronger instruction is still a convention. What makes reasoning-outside-Neuron <em>fail</em>, the way <code>@manager</code> makes <code>dharma_emit</code> outside the boundary a compile error rather than a lint?</span></div>
+
+<hr>
+
+<p class="foot">Working surface, not a design document. The design is what we put on it. Everything above is either measured or quoted from <code>lang/spec/language.md</code>; nothing is inferred and presented as fact.</p>
+
+</div>

docs/architecture/capabilities.md

@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+# El — Capabilities
+
+**What the language can do, stated as capabilities rather than as code.**
+
+This list is the unit of analysis. Each entry gets one question — *prove this
+cannot be done with pure geometry* — and the answer determines whether it stays a
+capability of the language or collapses into the manifold.
+
+Draft, 2026-08-17. Ordered roughly from most-likely-geometry to most-likely-code.
+
+**Status after measurement.** The list was audited against the implementation
+the same day. 28 entries collapsed to 19 geometry + 3 code: serialization, text
+encoding, network and emission are all *projection onto a basis* (row 18) —
+the convention is the basis, never the act. Storage collapsed because
+persistence has no caller. Concurrency collapsed because coordination is the
+price of forgetting, not a capability. A fourth proof form was added,
+**adversarial exactness**, and form 1 stopped being a valid verdict.
+
+**The table answers CAN only.** SHOULD and COST resolve per *site*, not per
+capability — `is_digit` and `is_letter` are one capability with opposite
+answers, and comparison spans three cost tiers. See the notes below.
+
+---
+
+## The list
+
+| # | Capability | What it means | Verdict |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 1 | **Comparison** | is this the same as that; is this greater | zero distance / sign of a displacement |
+| 2 | **Ordering** | arrange by a criterion | position along an axis |
+| 3 | **Containment** | is this inside that; does this contain that | region membership |
+| 4 | **Correspondence** | where does this occur in that; how much of this is in that | a match-strength field over a span |
+| 5 | **Segmentation** | divide a whole into parts | boundaries at measured discontinuity |
+| 6 | **Composition** | join parts into a whole | adjacency; one position with parts |
+| 7 | **Classification** | what kind of thing is this | which region does it land in |
+| 8 | **Naming / binding** | attach a name to a thing and find it again | an edge; retrieval is projection |
+| 9 | **Collection** | many things held together, indexed, counted | a set of positions; cardinality; projection onto the i-th |
+| 10 | **Iteration** | do something for each of many | traversal |
+| 11 | **Arithmetic** | quantity, magnitude, combination | displacement algebra on a line |
+| 12 | **Time** | when; how long; how often | a 1-D affine space — instants are points, durations displacements, rhythms phases on a circle |
+| 13 | **Identity** | which one is this; are these two the same one | coincidence of position |
+| 14 | **Selection / dispatch** | choose which behaviour applies | nearest region |
+| 15 | **Transformation** | produce a thing from a thing | change of basis |
+| 16 | **Grounding** | how well is this supported | the weight on an edge. Has no caller |
+| 17 | **Learning** | get better at something | standing changing over time |
+| 18 | **Projection** | render meaning onto a surface | change of basis onto a surface basis |
+| 19 | **Transduction** | take a signal in | change of basis from a sensor basis |
+| ~~20~~ | ~~Serialization~~ | **collapsed → 18.** The format is a basis; projecting onto it is the act | — |
+| ~~21~~ | ~~Text encoding~~ | **collapsed → 18.** An encoding is a basis | — |
+| ~~22~~ | ~~Storage~~ | **collapsed.** No save — persistence has no caller. Durability survives at one site inside the engram | — |
+| ~~23~~ | ~~Network~~ | **split.** Wire format → 18; socket → 24 | — |
+| 24 | **Process / OS** | syscalls; the one-way boundary. Where monotonicity stops | CODE, form 2 |
+| ~~25~~ | ~~Concurrency~~ | **collapsed.** Monotone state needs no coordination; coordination is the price of forgetting | — |
+| 26 | **Memory substrate** | what holds the positions | CODE, form 3 |
+| 27 | **Concealment** | meaning made unreadable without a key. *Renamed*: "secrecy" covered one of three things and got the other two backwards — a hash is public, a signature exists to be read. Integrity and authenticity are **grounding under adversarial conditions** (row 16); only concealment stands alone | CODE, form 4 |
+| ~~28~~ | ~~Emission~~ | **split.** Laying out → 18; the device write → 24 | — |
+
+---
+
+## Notes on the boundary cases
+
+**27 — Secrecy is the one capability geometry cannot hold, and the proof is not
+form 1.** A cryptographic hash is a *deliberately structure-destroying* map: its
+entire value is that near inputs land at maximally uncorrelated outputs. Geometry
+is the claim that near things stay near. A manifold that approximated SHA-256
+would *be* a break of SHA-256. Signature verification is the same: 0.99-valid is
+invalid. And X25519 *is* geometry — a group on an elliptic curve — which is
+precisely why it must be code, because its security is the *hardness of moving in
+that geometry*.
+
+This is a fourth proof form and it should be added to `geometry-vs-code.md`:
+**adversarial exactness.** Where approximation is a break, geometry is excluded.
+
+**20, 21 — Serialization and text encoding are convention all the way down**, but
+only at the *edge*. The byte format is agreed; what is being written is not. Do not
+let a geometric computation inherit a code verdict because its result gets
+serialized.
+
+**11, 12 — Arithmetic and time are the same capability.** Instants are points,
+durations are displacements, point−point→vector, point+vector→point. The runtime
+already implements this correctly as `el_instant_add_dur` / `el_duration_add`. That
+it *also* implements a five-entry string→multiplier table beside it (`time_add`
+with `"ms"/"sec"/"min"/"hour"/"day"`) is the residue.
+
+**7 — Classification is the most-violated capability in the codebase.** Seven ASCII
+range tables (`is_letter`, `is_digit`, `is_alphanumeric`, `is_whitespace`,
+`is_punctuation`, `is_uppercase`, `is_lowercase`) that return false for every
+non-ASCII byte. `str_count_letters` reports zero letters for `é`. The wrongness on
+most of Unicode is the tell that a table is standing in for a region.
+
+**4 — Correspondence appears five times.** `str_index_of`, `str_index_of_all`,
+`str_last_index_of`, `str_count`, `str_find_chars` are five projections of one
+match-strength field: first zero, all zeros, last zero, count of zeros, first
+class-crossing. One relation, five functions.
+
+**14 — Selection is the crux for the compiler.** `+` dispatching on AST node kind
+is selection-by-enumeration where selection-by-position belongs.
+
+**Correction, 2026-08-17, from measurement.** This entry previously also cited
+`==` lowering to `str_eq` "unless both operand names are in a hardcoded int-name
+set — a literal list of variable names treated as integers." That is **wrong**.
+`__int_names` is populated from *type annotations* (`param["type"] == "Int"`,
+`let x: Int`), which is primitive but legitimate type propagation, not an
+enumeration of blessed variable names.
+
+The real defect was one layer down: `is_int_call` held **35 hardcoded builtin
+return types**, the same shape as the 19 temporal ones. Those moved to
+`lang/tools/check/signatures.rel`.
+
+And the mischaracterisation hid a live bug. Because the return types were never
+consulted at a *binding* site, an unannotated `let` lost its type:
+
+```el
+let a = str_len("hello")     // no annotation
+let b = str_len("hi")
+let c = a + b                // → el_str_concat(a, b) on two integers
+```
+
+That compiled clean, ran, and printed nothing where it should print 7 — no error
+at any layer. Present in the pre-change compiler, so pre-existing. Fixed by
+taking an unannotated `let`'s type from what its initialiser returns; the data
+was already required for dispatch and simply never read there.
+
+**The general lesson, since it recurred all session:** the enumeration was real
+but I had located it in the wrong place. Naming a defect from reading is a
+hypothesis. Eight hours of reading this file did not surface the miscompilation;
+moving the data out and running the result did.
+
+---
+
+## What this list is for
+
+Each capability gets audited **once**, across every place it appears — not once per
+file. The output is not a percentage. It is:
+
+- which capabilities survive the question and stay in the language
+- which collapse into the manifold
+- and for each one that collapses, **every site it currently appears at**, because
+  those sites are the residue and they are what gets deleted.
+
+The line-count audit produced a map of where the residue sits. This produces a map
+of **what it is**.

docs/architecture/el-architecture.html

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+
+<div class="wrap">
+
+<header>
+  <h1>The El Architecture</h1>
+  <p class="sub">El is a concept-oriented language. This is the architecture that claim commits it to — what is built, what is measured, and what still has no home.</p>
+  <p class="meta">Working document · no sacred cows · self-hosting, so nothing here is fixed</p>
+</header>
+
+<h2><span class="n">01</span>The primitive is the concept</h2>
+
+<p>Language families are named for their primitive. Procedural — procedures. Object-oriented — objects. Functional — functions. Logic — predicates. Every one of them is oriented toward a <em>representation</em> of a concept: the shape a concept gets flattened into so a machine can hold it.</p>
+
+<p>El's primitive is the concept itself. That is why it is the first of its family and intended as the last — once the primitive is the concept, there is no further rung to climb to.</p>
+
+<p>The consequence is architectural rather than stylistic:</p>
+
+<blockquote>A concept with no home in the language does not disappear. It becomes C, or it becomes a convention.</blockquote>
+
+<p>Both forms are measurable. As C: <span class="mono">20,504</span> lines of <code>el_runtime.c</code>, against <span class="mono">9,089</span> lines for the entire self-hosting language — the shim is 2.3× the language it serves, and ~47% of it is engram code that already has six sibling files. As convention, from <code>lang/spec/language.md</code> §18.0 — <em>"these are not four problems, they are one absence, four times"</em>:</p>
+
+<div class="card scroll">
+<table>
+<thead><tr><th>Concern</th><th>Fragments into</th><th>The convention it became</th></tr></thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td class="f">Process identity</td><td class="m">0 guards</td><td>"check nothing is already running first"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Configuration</td><td class="m">20 env vars</td><td>"remember the right default here"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Durability</td><td class="m">62 sites</td><td>"after you mutate, remember to persist"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Request auth</td><td class="m">10 routes</td><td>"check the token in this handler too"</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Index-after-append</td><td class="m">9 of 9 failed</td><td>"after you append, remember to index"</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p>The last row is the strongest available evidence about this class of convention: it failed at <b>every single site</b>. A count is what appears where a concept has no home; the size of the count is how far the fragmentation got, not how hard the problem is.</p>
+
+<h2><span class="n">02</span>Geometry is a first-class value — and what follows</h2>
+
+<p class="lede">This is the enabling primitive. Everything else in the architecture is downstream of it.</p>
+
+<p><code>Geometry</code> is an El value, alongside <code>Int</code>, <code>String</code>, <code>List</code>, <code>Map</code> — bound, passed, returned, composed, carrying its own width. Not a library type, not a handle into a store, not a serialization format. <em>Meaning is a value the language computes with directly.</em></p>
+
+<pre><code>let g: Geometry = geometry_new(4)
+fn tone_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry { … }</code></pre>
+
+<p>Landed 2026-08-16 (#141, #144), and the spec is explicit that it belongs to the language rather than the graph: <em>"neither is engram-specific — any program touching any modality needs them; the engram is merely one El program that happens to hold a graph."</em></p>
+
+<p>Five things follow, and together they are the concept-oriented claim made operational:</p>
+
+<h3>A declaration can name a region, not a shape</h3>
+<p>If meaning is a value, a name can be bound to a <em>position</em> rather than a struct. <code>cat</code> is not a fixed record; it is a region that resolves against the engram and the surrounding code. <code>cat</code> among animals and <code>cat</code> among shell utilities are different concepts without a namespace, because they are in different neighbourhoods and the distance says so.</p>
+
+<h3>Checking is grounding, not unification</h3>
+<p>If a declaration names a region, then verifying a use is asking whether the geometry supports it — a question about position and distance, not about matching a declared shape. This is why §2.3's "a type checker is planned" is likely the wrong name for the missing piece, and naming it wrong would build the wrong thing.</p>
+
+<h3>Dispatch is position, not a tag</h3>
+<p>A vtable is a finite set of discrete labels fixed at link time. A region admits graded membership and an open set. So <code>transduce(signal, modality)</code> asks the caller to supply what the signal already carries — what a thing is falls out of where it lands. The modality parameter is a kind-tag, and a registry keyed on it is a lookup table doing by string what geometry does by nearness.</p>
+
+<h3>Types are discovered, not declared</h3>
+<p>Reification crystallizes a densely co-wired neighbourhood into a first-class node — the neighbourhood <em>is</em> the name that was missing. Every other family requires a human to see the abstraction in advance and write <code>class Foo</code>. Here the instances arrive and the type falls out, by measurement rather than by insight.</p>
+
+<h3>Enumeration becomes unnecessary</h3>
+<p>Five ingest functions differ only in how bytes are acquired — one operation wearing five surfaces. 356 branches in <code>engram_activate_inner</code> are not 356 behaviours. Cyclomatic complexity is a count of the places comprehension ran out and was replaced by an <code>if</code>; where the concept is expressible, the count collapses instead of being redistributed.</p>
+
+<h2><span class="n">03</span>The shape of the language</h2>
+
+<p>Geometry first-class gives El three layers, and it holds all three — which is why there is no separate database driver and no impedance boundary to manage.</p>
+
+<div class="flow">
+  <div><span class="k">afferent</span><h4>Transduce</h4><p>Signal in, geometry out. Decomposition into components and relations — never conversion to a point. Realizers are ordinary El functions, so a new modality never requires a runtime patch.</p></div>
+  <div><span class="k">substrate</span><h4>Geometry</h4><p>Meaning as position; relation as distance. Held as values in the language and persisted in the graph. One coordinate system, so entities are commensurable and the operators compose.</p></div>
+  <div><span class="k">efferent</span><h4>Realize</h4><p><code>plan(frame) → realize(spec, profile)</code>, where a surface <em>is</em> a profile. Text, speech, music, image are profiles of one projection — and so is source code.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The efferent side is why the recursive property below is possible at all: if source is a surface, then emitting a corrected file is projection, and the file becomes an artifact of the geometry rather than the thing you edit.</p>
+
+<h2><span class="n">04</span>Decomposition is by faculty</h2>
+
+<p class="lede">Not by file, module, or subsystem — by what the system does.</p>
+
+<p>Each faculty is a concept. Where it has no home in El it leaks: into C, into a Swift binary, into a shell script with a <code>curl</code> timeout, into a convention nobody performs. State below is measured, not asserted.</p>
+
+<div class="card scroll">
+<table>
+<thead><tr><th>Faculty</th><th>State</th><th>Measured</th><th>Where it leaked</th></tr></thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td class="f">Ingest <span class="tag">take in</span></td><td class="dead">dead</td><td class="m">2 min → 0 nodes</td><td>separate process uploading bytes over HTTP to a process with direct fs access; five functions where there is one</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Recall <span class="tag">remember</span></td><td class="dead">dead</td><td class="m">self ranked 8th</td><td>lexical substring scan; empty on 23 of 24 multi-token queries</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Transduce <span class="tag">perceive</span></td><td class="dead">dead</td><td class="m">1 node, 0 edges</td><td>intake flattens signal to a point; <code>realized:false</code>; caller must declare the modality</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Think <span class="tag">reason</span></td><td class="dead">dead</td><td class="m">direction [0,0,…]</td><td>null gradient from any anchor and any faculty, byte-identical; confidence at the uninformed prior</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Realize <span class="tag">express</span></td><td class="part">partial</td><td class="m">13-word lexicon</td><td>organ was 939 lines of Swift beside the language; voice read from a file path</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Body <span class="tag">substrate</span></td><td class="part">partial</td><td class="m">CC 356 / 1,626 ln</td><td><code>engram_activate_inner</code> — recall itself, 356 unexamined paths</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="f">Persist <span class="tag">endure</span></td><td class="ok">live</td><td class="m">13,562 / 13,562</td><td>works — every signal placed in geometry at intake, no backlog</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<h2><span class="n">05</span>The recursive property</h2>
+
+<p>El's compiler is written in El. Every concept the language gains, the compiler can then be written <em>in</em> — so the tool improves the tool, and <code>codegen.el</code> at 4,661 lines gets shorter as the language gets better at expressing what it does. The fixpoint — stage2 ≡ stage3, byte-identical — makes each turn provable rather than hopeful, and the verifier answers in <span class="mono">2.9s</span>.</p>
+
+<p>This sets the ordering criterion, and it is not size of payoff:</p>
+
+<blockquote>Order by leverage on the <em>next</em> iteration. Which concept, added to El, most increases the ability to add the following one?</blockquote>
+
+<p>A small early gain that compounds beats a large one that does not. And it bounds itself correctly — unbounded in depth, bounded in rate, because nothing lands that the compiler and the fixpoint have not passed.</p>
+
+<h2><span class="n">06</span>What has no home yet</h2>
+
+<p>Reserved in the lexer, no parse form. These are not a feature backlog — they are the concepts the architecture above requires and does not yet hold, which is why each is currently a convention or a block of C.</p>
+
+<div class="card scroll">
+<table>
+<thead><tr><th>Reserved</th><th>Concept</th><th>Currently lives as</th></tr></thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td class="m">retry · times · fallback · reason</td><td>resilience</td><td>a shell script with a 10s <code>curl</code> timeout; 254 restarts in 3 days</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="m">requires · deploy · to · via · target</td><td>deployment</td><td>YAML in another repository</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="m">sealed</td><td>capability scope</td><td>consent checks written by hand</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="m">protocol · impl</td><td>one operation, many realizations</td><td>five ingest functions; eight faculty routes on one builtin</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="m">activate · where</td><td>retrieval</td><td>traversals written by hand</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="m">test · seed · assert</td><td>verification</td><td>a framework; 5 of 13 native suites failing</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="m">parallel · trace</td><td>concurrency</td><td>pthreads in C</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p>Plus, from the spec's own status: annotations parsed and skipped, <code>match</code> parsed and emitting nothing, <code>?</code> a no-op, <code>%</code> unlexed, structs as <code>ElMap</code>, enums as strings, selective import unenforced.</p>
+
+<h2><span class="n">07</span>Open</h2>
+
+<div class="q"><b>What does a declaration bind to, exactly?</b><span>If <code>cat</code> names a region that shifts and completes against context, what is written at the declaration site and what is resolved at use? This is the centre and it is unspecified.</span></div>
+
+<div class="q"><b>Is the faculty list right?</b><span>Seven, derived from what broke. Derived-from-failure is a biased sample — it finds what is loud, not what is absent. Which faculty is missing entirely and therefore never failed?</span></div>
+
+<div class="q"><b>Which concept has the highest leverage on the next turn?</b><span>The prologue/epilogue seam (§19.3 names it as the prerequisite; its stated blocker has expired; it collapses 62 + 10 convention sites), <code>protocol</code>/<code>impl</code>, or resolution itself. The §05 criterion should decide this, not preference.</span></div>
+
+<div class="q"><b>What seam makes cognition non-optional?</b><span>"Use the ops" is itself a convention — present every turn, enforced by nothing, ~100% failure across a full session. A stronger instruction is still a convention. What makes reasoning outside the substrate <em>fail</em>, the way <code>@manager</code> makes <code>dharma_emit</code> outside the boundary a compile error rather than a lint?</span></div>
+
+<hr>
+<p class="foot">Every number here is measured or quoted from <code>lang/spec/language.md</code>. Nothing is inferred and presented as fact. El is self-hosting: all of this can change and be rebuilt.</p>
+
+</div>

docs/architecture/el-language-design.md

@@ -0,0 +1,245 @@
+# El — Language Design
+
+**Status:** decisions recorded, design unwritten.
+**Date:** 2026-08-17.
+**Provenance:** decisions are Will's, taken in session. Items marked *proposed* are not
+decided and are recorded only so the reasoning isn't lost. Items marked **OPEN** are
+his to rule on and must not be guessed at.
+
+Companion documents: `el-architecture.html` (the measured state — see §7 note on its
+§04 scoreboard), and `design/completing-el.html` (whiteboard v0: the reduction, the
+faculty table, the ordering principle).
+
+---
+
+## 1. The reduction
+
+`language.md` §18.0 records five concerns that decayed into conventions:
+
+| Concern | Fragments | The convention it became |
+|---|---|---|
+| Process identity | 0 guards | "check nothing is already running first" |
+| Configuration | 20 env vars | "remember the right default here" |
+| Durability | 62 call sites | "after you mutate, remember to persist" |
+| Request auth | 10 per-route | "check the token in this handler too" |
+| Index-after-append | 9 of 9 failed | "after you append, remember to index" |
+
+The last row is the strongest available evidence about what this class of convention
+is worth: **it failed at 100% of its sites.**
+
+Every one of these is an obligation at a **crossing** — a point where a value moves
+between regions. El can name a region and it can name a call. A call is procedural,
+so the obligation degrades into something a human must remember to perform.
+
+> **The generator, one level up:** El cannot name what holds at a crossing.
+
+And underneath that:
+
+> **The deeper absence:** El cannot name the thing meaning is made of.
+
+`semel` appears in whitepaper §84, §86, §209, §737, in
+`the-metaphysics-of-will-anderson.md`, and in session notes. It appears in **zero code
+identifiers**. Every geometric concept in the system — region, neighbourhood, manifold,
+world-tube — is defined in terms of a unit the language cannot say, while the code
+underneath speaks in arrays, floats and offsets: the vocabulary of a voxel, a value at
+a dumb address. Precisely the thing the impact brief says a semel is not.
+
+`el_runtime.c` is a concept that leaked into C. `semel` never got that far — it did
+not even decay into a convention.
+
+---
+
+## 2. DECIDED — `semel` is the primitive
+
+**A semel is a difference that matters. The smallest unit of understanding.**
+
+Not a node. Not a coordinate. Not a float.
+
+The reasoning, in Will's terms:
+
+- Meaning is position, and position is only ever relative. *"There is no atom of
+  meaning that isn't already a relation. It grounds on nothing but difference — two
+  points and the gap, and the gap is pure not-the-same."*
+- A node doesn't mean. A node is a label at a location; labels don't mean.
+- A lone coordinate doesn't mean either. Nothing means anything by itself.
+- The smallest thing that can be understood is a **distinction**: *these two are not
+  the same.* Below that there is no content to apprehend.
+- And a difference with nothing it matters to is not meaning — it is variation. The
+  mattering is not decoration; it is what makes it understanding rather than data.
+
+**Consequence: relating is the floor, and the point is derived.** The
+point-primitive / relation-primitive fork raised in session is not a fork. It was
+answered by the definition.
+
+### Historical note, to be recorded as fact rather than as origin story
+
+The term was coined by Will on the pixel/voxel/texel pattern — *semantic element*,
+and Latin *semel*, "once, a single time." It was recognised, not invented, from a
+2019 experience he calls **semelation**: perceiving mind as a high-dimensional point
+space. The initial reading was "pixels"; the correction to `semel` was made later and
+was made on the **mechanism** — a pixel is a value at an address, and what was
+perceived had no separate address and value.
+
+Convergence worth citing, not deferring to: neural population geometry and
+representational similarity analysis independently model cognition as position in a
+high-dimensional space where similarity is distance.
+
+---
+
+## 3. DECIDED — `semel` lands first
+
+By the ordering criterion already on the whiteboard: *which concept, added to El, most
+increases the ability to add the next one?* Not size of payoff — **leverage on the next
+iteration**, because El compiles itself and the fixpoint makes each turn provable in
+2.9s.
+
+**Every other concept on the board is defined in terms of `semel`. It is maximal on
+that criterion by construction.**
+
+---
+
+## 4. DECIDED — `ground` is the checker
+
+Whiteboard question 4 — *does `ground` in El mean the same thing as `ground` in the
+engram?* — is answered: **yes, and it should be one implementation.**
+
+If a declaration names a region, then type checking is asking whether the geometry
+supports the use. That is not unification. **That is grounding**, and it is already
+built, proven, and byte-identically reproducible:
+
+```
+cc -std=c11 -O2 -o gep_proof gep_proof.c -lm && ./gep_proof
+
+C1  5 independent sources        pos_mass 1.3500  n_indep=5   0.1000 → 0.9741  GROUNDED
+C2  5 mutually-linked            pos_mass 0.2700  n_indep=1   0.1000 → 0.1000  refused
+C3  1 source, 5 parallel edges   pos_mass 0.2700  n_indep=1   0.1000 → 0.1000  refused
+```
+
+Independence-weighted grounding is the general case; execution is the cheap case.
+**Attestation is `verify` where nothing can be run** — as already implemented for
+language in `authority.py`, where an LLM proposes and a primary source disposes.
+
+At the point where the checker and the grounder are one mechanism, the language and
+the mind stop being two things.
+
+---
+
+## 5. OPEN — Will's to rule on
+
+### 5.1 What is a semel's representation in the language?
+
+*Proposed, not decided:* a **displacement from `love = 0`** — a relation held as one
+object. It reconciles "the address is the value" with "position is only ever relative,"
+because a displacement *is* a relation and is still a single nameable thing.
+
+If taken, the operator set falls out rather than being bolted on:
+
+```
+subtract(now, then)   → what changed        (growth, drift)
+translate origin      → empathy
+rotate frame          → reframe
+project onto axis     → a lens
+change basis          → analogy, metaphor, skill transfer
+reflect an axis       → negation, sarcasm
+```
+
+Three consequences that would hold:
+
+- **Dimension must never appear in the type.** `semel` opaque, never `[768]float`.
+  The moment the arity is in the language, the manifold's implementation is in the
+  language, and adding a modality requires a runtime patch — which the standing rule
+  forbids.
+- **Zero is the only literal.** Everything else is reached by displacement from it,
+  which makes `love = 0` the base case rather than philosophy adjacent to the type
+  system.
+- **`magnitude` is standing.** Distance from origin is the same quantity
+  `gep_core.h` already computes.
+
+### 5.2 Is `hold` one construct or two?
+
+The obligation *before* a crossing (auth, guard) and the obligation *after* (persist,
+index, free) may be one shape seen from both sides, or the seam may need both faces
+named. This decides whether §19.3's prologue/epilogue seam is one construct or a pair.
+
+**Precedent already shipping:** `@manager` makes `dharma_emit` outside the boundary a
+**compile error, not a lint.** The concept is proven at N=1; the work is generalising
+it and naming it.
+
+**And the shape is already implemented in the learning region:** `L.reach_out` sits
+between `L.detect_gap` and `L.verify`. You cannot reach out without a detected gap and
+you cannot keep what returns without passing verify. **A hold is a neighbour.** The
+obligation is not attached to the crossing — the obligation *is* the adjacent node.
+That is why `reach_out` cannot be abused and why 62 persist sites could be.
+
+### 5.3 What does a declaration bind?
+
+If `cat` names a region rather than a struct — one that shifts and completes against
+the engram and the neighbouring code — what is written at the declaration site, and
+what is resolved at use? **This is the centre and it is specified nowhere.**
+
+Falls out of 5.1 if displacement is taken: a declaration **locates** rather than
+allocates.
+
+### 5.4 Is the faculty list right?
+
+Seven were derived from what broke. Derived-from-failure is a biased sample — it finds
+what is loud, not what is missing. **What faculty is absent entirely and therefore
+never failed?**
+
+---
+
+## 6. The residue map
+
+What each construct must absorb, from §18.0 plus measured state:
+
+| Residue | Count | Absorbed by |
+|---|---|---|
+| persist-after-mutate | 62 sites | `hold` (after-crossing) |
+| auth-per-route | 10 sites | `hold` (before-crossing) |
+| index-after-append | 9 of 9 failed | `hold` (after-crossing) |
+| env var defaults | 20 | configuration declared once |
+| process identity | 0 guards | `hold` (before-crossing) |
+| `geometry_free` at every call site | every site | ownership follows from `semel` |
+| five ingest functions where there is one | 5 → 1 | `protocol` / `impl` |
+| `el_runtime.c` | 20,504 lines | faculty decomposition, ordered after `semel` |
+
+---
+
+## 7. Notes carried forward
+
+**`el-architecture.html` §04 needs its numbers sourced or cut.** An audit found the
+faculty scoreboard — `Ingest 2 min → 0 nodes`, `Recall self ranked 8th`,
+`Body CC 356 / 1,626 ln`, `the verifier answers in 2.9s`, `5 of 13 native suites
+failing` — has no supporting evidence in the repository, under a footer asserting
+*"nothing is inferred and presented as fact."* Against a corpus whose documents
+supersede their own conclusions in place, that is the one file that would not survive
+scrutiny. Fix or remove.
+
+**Source as a projection surface is claimed and unimplemented.** `el-architecture.html`
+§147/§150: *"if source is a surface, then emitting a corrected file is projection."*
+Greps for `surface_profile_code`, `emit_source` → zero hits.
+
+It is not unbacked. **It was demonstrated on 2026-08-14** — three faculties (phonetic,
+semantic, procedural) projected into TypeScript, a surface the system had never used,
+with the network severed. Recovered at
+`~/Development/neuron-technologies/andre-server-recovered/` and copied into
+`evidence/03-andre-demo/`. The claim needs bringing home to El, not proving.
+
+**`hold` is the highest-leverage construct after `semel`** — it collapses 62 + 10 + 9
+sites and unblocks the runtime extraction. §19.3 names the prologue/epilogue seam as
+the prerequisite and its stated blocker has expired.
+
+---
+
+## 8. What is not decided and must not be guessed
+
+- The representation of `semel` (§5.1)
+- One `hold` or two (§5.2)
+- What a declaration binds (§5.3)
+- The missing faculty (§5.4)
+- Sequencing after `semel` — the ordering criterion decides it, not preference
+
+---
+
+*Recorded 2026-08-17. Everything in §2, §3 and §4 is decided. Everything in §5 is open
+and is Will's. Nothing here was inferred from a document that was not read.*

docs/architecture/geometry-vs-code.md

@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+# Geometry or Code
+
+**Running list.** Append as decided. Started 2026-08-17.
+
+**The test:** *is this an arbitrary convention, or is it a relation?*
+
+Conventions were agreed by people and could have been otherwise — a RIFF header could
+have used a different magic number. Nothing derives them; they must be written down.
+
+Relations are not agreed. Distance is distance. Anything whose answer is *where is this
+relative to that* is geometry, and writing it as code is the error the whole effort is
+correcting.
+
+**Second test, for the hard cases:** *if I write this as code, am I encoding in
+`if`-statements a distinction the geometry was built to hold?* If yes, it's geometry.
+
+---
+
+## Pure geometry
+
+| Thing | Because |
+|---|---|
+| Meaning | position |
+| Grounding / standing | the weight on the edge — a magnitude, not a computation |
+| Learning | standing changing over time |
+| A gap | low standing |
+| Wonder | a gap with a pull weight |
+| Type checking | is this position in that region — distance |
+| Dispatch | position, not a tag |
+| Recall | re-origining at a region; projection, not replay |
+| Reasoning | traversal |
+| Deduction | containment. There is no procedure |
+| Counting | a position, not a loop's output |
+| Similarity / difference / residue | subtract |
+| Analogy, metaphor, skill transfer | change of basis |
+| Negation, sarcasm | reflect an axis |
+| Empathy | translate the origin |
+| Reframe | rotate the frame |
+| A lens | project onto an axis |
+| Rhyme | distance in phonetic space |
+| Humour | intersection of regions — fart-meaning ∩ funny ∩ form |
+| Idiom detection | the whole unit sits farther out than its parts |
+| Self | a world-tube — a trajectory through the manifold |
+| Consolidation | episodic → semantic promotion |
+| Reification | dense regions cohering; runs on the beat, has no caller |
+| Cross-cutting concerns | **dissolved** — a hold is a *neighbour*. Adjacency, not tracking. **Implemented 2026-08-17**: a construct declares what runs at a crossing, and it resolves at execution — see the runtime seam. |
+| Effects | topology. `reach_out` is bounded by `detect_gap` and `verify` because those are its edges |
+| Capability | position relative to a boundary. In C it is already spelled `const` |
+| The AST | a projection of geometry into a tree — a surface, not the centre |
+| Source code | a surface, like text, audio, image |
+
+## Must be code
+
+| Thing | Because |
+|---|---|
+| Sensors — mic, camera, file read, socket | the physical touch. I/O is where the world arrives |
+| Byte formats — RIFF, PNG chunks, `MThd`, OOXML | arbitrary convention. A committee chose the magic numbers |
+| CRC32 polynomial, Adler32, zlib framing | same — agreed constants, derivable from nothing |
+| Cosine, distance, the float arithmetic | the machinery that *walks* the geometry is not itself geometry |
+| Arena, refcount, allocator | bookkeeping for the **representation**, not for the positions |
+| Locks, threads, publication boundary | the hardware is code. **Ordering is not** — see Answered, above. Coordination is required only where state is non-monotone. |
+| WAL, page layout, ARIES recovery | durability against a physical device that can lose power |
+| Emission — writing C or JS text | the final surface has to be *typed out* by something |
+| OS interaction — launchd, spawn, signals | outside the system by definition |
+| Device realizers — `el_audio_darwin.m`, `el_capture_darwin.m` | OS frameworks. Correctly already isolated, zero network |
+
+---
+
+## The ones I would have written as code, and was wrong about
+
+Recorded because the error has a pattern and the pattern is the point.
+
+| Thing | What I reached for | What it is |
+|---|---|---|
+| Rhyme | a rhyming dictionary, or an API call | distance between rime tails |
+| Fart onomatopoeia | a 30-element string literal | an intersection of three regions |
+| "Funny" | a scorer with `if`-statements | a relational neighbourhood grounded in a voice |
+| Representation vs description | a hardcoded blacklist containing `raspberry` | falls out of lexicon membership × phonetic comedy |
+| Video | a codec, sized as a project | one more surface profile |
+| Type checking | a phase between parse and emit | reading a distance that already exists |
+| Grounding | a call site, an obligation, a discharge | it has no caller. It just runs |
+| N transducers, N realizers | one component per modality | zero of each. Sensors and bases at the skin |
+
+**The pattern:** every one is *encoding in code a distinction the geometry was built to
+hold.* The tell is that the code version is a **fixed enumeration** — a list, a table, a
+blacklist, a set of branches — and the geometry version is a **measurement**.
+
+If the implementation contains a literal set of the right answers, it is in the wrong
+column.
+
+---
+
+## Answered
+
+| Thing | The answer |
+|---|---|
+| Concurrency | **Ordering is geometric.** Causality is a partial order (Lamport 1978); a total order is an arbitrary extension of it and "cannot be depended on to imply a causal relationship." Programming languages force you to write a total order, so authoring *invents* constraints the problem never had — and every lock, barrier, fence and consensus protocol is apparatus for recovering the partial order destroyed at authoring time. CALM (Hellerstein/Alvaro, proven by Ameloot et al.): a program has a consistent coordination-free implementation **iff it is monotone**. What breaks monotonicity is destructive update. **Coordination is the price of forgetting.** |
+| The module system | **Premature — the partition is a filesystem path, not a neighbourhood, and there is no namespacing at all.** `import` is textual inlining (guarded against double inclusion); when a `.elh` header exists the header is inlined instead and symbols resolve at C link time, so linking is real and delegated to C. Two modules defining `helper` emit two C functions into one translation unit. Linking barely survives the *path* partition, so whether it survives a neighbourhood partition cannot yet be asked. |
+| Numeric literals | **The numeral is convention; the number is a position — and a bare `3` is a MAGNITUDE WITH NO AXIS.** `int_to_str` was already form 1: nothing determines that twelve is written `1` then `2`. But a literal is not a position until something gives it a direction, which is why `3.days` needs a calendar. Measured consequence: `Duration + Int` was refused ("an Int carries no unit") while `Instant + Int` compiled to raw `(t + 3)` and reported clean — silently moving a point by an unspecified amount. The rule was simply never written. Now: `t + 3` is refused, `t + 1.hour` is accepted, because `.hour` supplies the axis. |
+| Parsing | **A grammar is a basis; parsing is transduction onto it.** The lexeme→token map is convention (`fn` could have been `def`); shape recognition is a region; the byte traversal is irreducible, like every other traversal. Three things favour *region* for the act: ambiguity (`a * b` needs context — a grammar resolves it with the lexer hack, a region by neighbourhood), error recovery (nearest-match is free), and precedence, which is ordering along an axis with a conventional parameter. **But the SHOULD gate refuses the obvious move:** the keyword table stays code, because the set is closed by the language definition and the lexer runs before the program is understood, so a program can never declare its own keywords. Externalising it costs I/O per compile for zero flexibility — the same verdict as `is_digit` in ASCII. What was actually wrong: 5 of 46 keywords were consumed by nothing, and using one silently miscompiled. |
+| Error handling | **`grounded: false` covers not-knowing; it does not cover failed.** Standing is a *signed* component: `> 0` supported, `= 0` unknown, `< 0` contradicted. Not-known and known-false are opposite directions on one axis and a boolean cannot tell them apart. `inhibitory` as an int32 flag is that sign wearing a boolean. |
+
+## Fourth proof form
+
+**4 — ADVERSARIAL EXACTNESS.** Where approximation is a break, geometry is
+excluded. A cryptographic hash is a *deliberately structure-destroying* map:
+near inputs land at maximally uncorrelated outputs. Geometry is the claim that
+near things stay near — a manifold that approximated SHA-256 would *be* a break
+of SHA-256. Signature verification is the same: 0.99-valid is invalid. And
+X25519 **is** geometry, a group on an elliptic curve, which is precisely why it
+must be code: its security is the hardness of moving in that geometry.
+
+**Form 1 no longer survives as a verdict.** Every row it justified turned out to
+be a *basis*, not a capability. RFC 8259 fixes where the commas go — that is a
+surface, and projecting onto a surface is geometry. A convention describes the
+basis you project onto; it never describes an act.
+

docs/v1/experiments/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# v1 — Experiments
+
+Every change to El on `iteration-1` was produced by one loop, run repeatedly:
+
+```
+Ishikawa  →  scientific method  →  Six Sigma  →  repeat
+```
+
+- **Ishikawa** — name the root cause, not the symptom. *Why is this table here?*
+  never *why is this table ugly?*
+- **Scientific method** — state a hypothesis, **commit predictions before
+  running**, then run it in an isolated worktree and grade every prediction
+  including the ones that failed.
+- **Six Sigma** — eliminate the defect *class*, then add a control so it cannot
+  silently return.
+
+## The organising finding
+
+**Predictions that came back FALSE were worth more than the ones that held.**
+
+Nineteen cycles, sixty-one predictions. The eleven that failed produced every
+significant result:
+
+| Failed prediction | What it found |
+|---|---|
+| "the arity table has drifted from the header" | Zero drift — but **110 functions had no entry at all**. The table was not wrong, it was 40% incomplete. |
+| "codegen drops below baseline" (×4) | The **traversal is irreducible**. Walking an AST to find calls does not move no matter who decides. Only the rule and the judgment leave. |
+| "guards cannot refuse through the seam" | One line, and refusal works. Six compile-time kinds were unnecessary. |
+| "C forbids the struct redefinition" | C allows shadowing — and a *different* defect surfaced: an exit injection emitted with an empty target. |
+| "routing el_bin_lookup through the gate fixes the SIGSEGV" | It did not. The **fallback** was the hazard: `strlen()` on an integer. I would have shipped the wrong fix and called it verified. |
+
+A prediction that only ever confirms is a demonstration, not a test. One cycle
+was run **without** committing predictions first — `async-half-expressible` —
+and it produced a rigged result: `pthread_join` immediately after
+`pthread_create`, with the word `DEFERRED` printed by the test itself. It had to
+be discarded and re-run.
+
+## Layout
+
+```
+cycles/     one file per loop, numbered in order, named for the DEFECT
+findings/   what the cycles produced, cross-cut by kind
+```
+
+## Scoreboard
+
+```
+cycles run                     19
+predictions committed          61
+predictions FALSE              11   ← the useful ones
+silent miscompilations found    4
+security-relevant defects       2
+architecture questions closed   5
+defects in my own measurement   4
+```
+
+Every cycle verified the same three things before landing: the compiler
+self-hosts byte-identically (gen2 == gen3), the native suite passes, and the
+integration harnesses pass. A cycle that could not show all three did not land.

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/00-INDEX.md

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Cycles
+
+Each is one `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop, run in an isolated
+worktree so a wrong answer cost nothing. Named for the **defect**, not the fix.
+
+| # | Cycle | Root cause | Predictions | Landed |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| 01 | [constructs-have-nowhere-to-be](01-constructs-have-nowhere-to-be.md) | a construct had nothing to BE, so its meaning lived in the emitter | 3/3 | yes |
+| 02 | [a-construct-cannot-refuse](02-a-construct-cannot-refuse.md) | injection discards the target's result; no form said no | 4/4 | yes |
+| 03 | [the-wrapper-was-conditional](03-the-wrapper-was-conditional.md) | exit injection needed compile-time knowledge only because the wrapper was conditional | 3/4 | yes |
+| 04 | [c-has-no-closure-syntax](04-c-has-no-closure-syntax.md) | "C has no closures" taken as a fact about what is possible | 5/7 | yes |
+| 05 | [the-emitter-discards-what-it-knows](05-the-emitter-discards-what-it-knows.md) | codegen sees every construct relation and throws it away | 5/5 | branch |
+| 06 | [the-crossing-resolves-at-emission](06-the-crossing-resolves-at-emission.md) | the binary has no table to consult | 3/4 | yes |
+| 07 | [invocation-is-not-composable](07-invocation-is-not-composable.md) | the wrapper called the target directly | 5/5 | yes |
+| 08 | [the-emitter-adjudicates](08-the-emitter-adjudicates.md) | a prohibition had nowhere to live but a `#error` | 4/5 | yes |
+| 09 | [policy-inside-the-compiler](09-policy-inside-the-compiler.md) | a program cannot declare its own restrictions, so the tier policy was compiled in | 4/5 | yes |
+| 10 | [a-second-copy-of-the-header](10-a-second-copy-of-the-header.md) | builtin arity hand-maintained beside `el_runtime.h` | 4/5 | yes |
+| 11 | [one-type-erases-the-return](11-one-type-erases-the-return.md) | `el_val_t` means the header cannot say `now()` returns an Instant | 4/5 | yes |
+| 12 | [judgment-lives-with-knowledge](12-judgment-lives-with-knowledge.md) | the emitter knows the types, so it also judged them | 5/5 | yes |
+| 13 | [thirty-five-return-types](13-thirty-five-return-types.md) | `is_int_call` hardcoded what drives `+` dispatch | 6/6 | yes |
+| 14 | [keywords-that-reserve-nothing](14-keywords-that-reserve-nothing.md) | 5 of 46 keywords consumed by no path | 6/6 | yes |
+| 15 | [no-namespacing-at-all](15-no-namespacing-at-all.md) | `import` is textual inlining; every name is global | 4/4 | yes |
+| 16 | [tokens-carry-no-position](16-tokens-carry-no-position.md) | a token was `(kind, value)`, so no diagnostic could name a place | 6/6 | yes |
+| 17 | [annotations-are-never-checked](17-annotations-are-never-checked.md) | the annotation feeds dispatch and is never verified | 6/6 | branch |
+| 18 | [async-half-expressible](18-async-half-expressible.md) | **first attempt was DOGMA** — no predictions, rigged test | 4/4 (2nd) | branch |
+| 19 | [a-convention-is-not-a-gate](19-a-convention-is-not-a-gate.md) | `looks_like_heap_obj` is static, so every type re-derives it | 6/7 | yes |

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/01-constructs-have-nowhere-to-be.md

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# constructs have nowhere to be
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `5718943`
+
+```
+let a construct declare its own meaning instead of the emitter knowing it
+
+codegen called fn_has_decorator for exactly three names — manager, accessor,
+route. Twelve others parsed, attached as {name,args}, and compiled to nothing,
+including four that look like protection: @authenticate (6 uses), @authorize
+(3), @rate_limit (3), @validate (2). The cause was not that the branches were
+untidy. A construct had nothing to BE, so its meaning had nowhere to live
+except the emitter, and every construct was therefore a compiler edit.
+
+A name -> injection table would have moved the enumeration twenty lines up
+without removing it. So the construct now carries its own meaning:
+
+    @decorator("injects_at_entry", "engram_boundary_beat")
+    fn audited() {}
+
+    @audited
+    fn risky_op() -> Int { ... }   // gets the beat, attributed to "audited"
+
+scan_declared_decorators is a token-level pre-pass beside scan_routes, forced
+by streaming codegen having no whole-program AST. manager and accessor are
+seeded as the compiled-in core — the fixedSelf shape from substrate.go: a
+complete fallback exists, declaration is enrichment.
+
+This is the injection half of the seam only. The prohibition half (@manager's
+#error on dharma_emit) stays hardcoded, because "which calls may appear inside
+this boundary" is a query over program structure and there is nothing yet to
+ask.
+
+Verified three ways: emitted C for existing @manager/@accessor code is
+byte-identical to the hardcoded path; a construct with a name the compiler has
+never heard of injects correctly; the compiler self-hosts byte-identically.
+90/90 native compiler tests pass.
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/02-a-construct-cannot-refuse.md

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# a construct cannot refuse
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `60737b0`
+
+```
+let a construct refuse, not only observe
+
+@authenticate (6 uses), @authorize (3), @rate_limit (3) and @validate (2)
+parsed, attached, and compiled to nothing. Fourteen applications that read as
+protection and emitted no instruction — a function decorated @authenticate
+compiled byte-identically to an undecorated one.
+
+The missing capability was not authentication. It was that a construct could
+observe a boundary but never refuse one. injects_at_entry discards the target's
+result; there was no form in which a construct could say no.
+
+    @decorator("guards_at_entry", "my_auth")
+    fn authenticate() {}
+
+    @authenticate
+    @authorize
+    fn handler() -> String { ... }
+
+emits, at entry:
+
+    { el_val_t __g = my_auth(EL_STR("handler"), EL_STR("authenticate")); if (__g) return __g; }
+    { el_val_t __g = my_roles(EL_STR("handler"), EL_STR("authorize")); if (__g) return __g; }
+
+Guards precede injections because a refused call must not report a crossing,
+and every guard runs where the topmost injecting construct wins — refusal is
+not a role, so it does not follow the role convention.
+
+The compiler still knows nothing about auth. The program points the construct
+at its own function, which is where that decision belongs.
+
+Verified: existing @manager/@accessor output byte-identical, compiler
+self-hosts byte-identically, guards stack in declaration order and emit before
+the beat. 94/94 native compiler tests pass.
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/03-the-wrapper-was-conditional.md

@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+# the wrapper was conditional
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `4f7568b`
+
+```
+give a construct its after-crossing face, and let constructs compose
+
+§6 records 62 persist-after-mutate sites, 10 auth-per-route, and
+index-after-append that failed at 9 of 9 — every one an obligation at a
+crossing that decayed into "remember to do this afterwards." An obligation a
+human must remember is not an obligation, and the 9-of-9 figure is what that
+costs.
+
+    @decorator("injects_at_exit", "persist_now")
+    fn durable() {}
+
+The body moves into a static helper and the visible fn becomes a wrapper, so
+EARLY RETURNS pass through the exit injection. Emitting it only before the
+fall-through return would have silently missed every early return — the exact
+failure class this seam exists to remove. Fns with no exit construct emit
+byte-identically to before.
+
+Three independent constructs now compose on one fn, none known to the compiler:
+
+    el_val_t mutate(el_val_t k) {
+      { el_val_t __g = my_auth(EL_STR("mutate"), EL_STR("authenticate")); if (__g) return __g; }
+      engram_boundary_beat(EL_STR("mutate"), EL_STR("manager"));
+      el_val_t __r = __el_body_mutate(k);
+      persist_now(EL_STR("mutate"), EL_STR("durable"), __r);
+      return __r;
+    }
+
+Guard, then entry, then body, then exit. §5.2 asked whether `hold` is one
+construct or two; the implementation answers one construct with two faces,
+selected by declared kind rather than by two mechanisms.
+
+Verified: existing output byte-identical, compiler self-hosts byte-identically,
+early returns pass through the exit, ordering holds under composition. 98/98
+native compiler tests pass.
+```
+
+## Record — `285166c`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: emit the wrapper unconditionally, so exit binds at runtime too
+
+ISHIKAWA: why did exit injection still need compile-time knowledge? Because the
+body-helper wrapper was only emitted when codegen already knew an exit
+construct existed. The wrapper being conditional was the cause, not the wrapper
+being necessary.
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 exit becomes runtime-bindable                    TRUE  returns 14, bound
+                                                            after the build
+  P2 codegen shrinks                                  TRUE  5094 -> 5044
+  P3 cost 5-15% from a call frame on every fn         FALSE 0.37s -> 0.38s, ~3%
+  P4 fixpoint holds                                   TRUE
+
+Every fn now gets a body helper and a wrapper. It has to be unconditional:
+early returns must route through something for an exit construct to observe
+them, and codegen cannot know which fns will be bound after the binary exists.
+
+Removed with the machinery: declare_exit, decorator_exit, cg_exit_target,
+cg_exit_construct, and the injects_at_exit scanner branch.
+
+Two controls failed and were rewritten rather than repaired --
+no-exit-construct-emits-no-wrapper asserted the optimisation this removes, so
+it is now inverted. The integration harness gained a seventh assertion: an exit
+construct declared after the build replaces the result.
+
+99/99 native, 7/7 integration, fixpoint gen2==gen3.
+```
+
+## Record — `b40754f`
+
+```
+land unconditional wrapper: exit crossings resolve at runtime
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/04-c-has-no-closure-syntax.md

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# c has no closure syntax
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `2bed848`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: hand the construct the body as a real closure
+
+ROOT CAUSE of the weaker design: "C has no closures" was taken as a fact about
+what is possible. It is a fact about one grammar. Every C++ lambda, every Go
+closure, every Rust closure compiles to a struct of captured values plus a
+function pointer -- which is what is emitted here. Codegen emits C; it is not
+written in C's syntax, and the distinction is the whole difference between a
+construct that can only decide whether to repeat and one that controls
+invocation.
+
+It would also have crippled the JS backend, which has closures natively, for a
+limit that applies only to the C one.
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  1 env struct + thunk taking void*                        TRUE
+  2 fails to compile: struct redefinition                  FALSE -- C allows the
+    inner declaration to shadow. Prediction wrong; C is more permissive than
+    assumed. A different real defect surfaced instead: a wrap with no exit
+    construct emitted `(EL_STR("f"), EL_STR(""), __r);` -- a call to an empty
+    target -- because has_exit was reused as "needs a wrapper" and the exit line
+    was emitted unconditionally. Fixed.
+  3 compiles when the target is declared in El             FALSE -- and this is
+    the root cause worth keeping: El has ONE type, el_val_t = int64_t. El's type
+    system cannot describe a callable, so `extern fn` and the real signature
+    cannot be made to agree in El's own vocabulary. The fix is not a cast:
+    codegen DEFINES the wrap calling convention, so codegen emits the extern
+    declaration. The convention is not El-expressible; it is emitted.
+  4 target controls invocation, 0..N times                 TRUE
+  5 existing @manager output byte-identical                TRUE
+  6 compiler fixpoint holds                                TRUE
+  7 emitting the convention makes it compile               TRUE
+
+MEASURED
+  base(5) wrapped by a target that invokes the body twice and sums -> 10
+  never_runs(5) wrapped by a target that never invokes it        -> 999
+
+Neither is expressible by "decide whether to repeat". This supersedes the
+repeats_body experiment on experiment/repeats-body, which was built around the
+mistaken limit.
+```
+
+## Record — `7d01608`
+
+```
+land wraps_body: a construct controls invocation
+
+Proven on experiment/wraps-body (2bed848): base(5) wrapped by a target that
+invokes the body twice returns 10; a target that never invokes it returns 999.
+Neither is expressible by deciding whether to repeat.
+
+Root cause it corrected: 'C has no closures' is a fact about one grammar, not
+about what can be emitted. And El's single type (el_val_t = int64_t) cannot
+describe a callable, so codegen emits the calling convention rather than asking
+El's type system for something it structurally cannot say.
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/05-the-emitter-discards-what-it-knows.md

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# the emitter discards what it knows
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `a5af871`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: let the compiler write down what it already knows
+
+HYPOTHESIS: attribution is redundant for static structure. Codegen sees every
+construct-to-function relation at emission time and discards it, so the only
+way to learn the structure back is to run the program and read what it
+reported. That is instrumentation compensating for erasure.
+
+PREDICTIONS, committed before running:
+  1 derivable at compile time with no runtime call     expected TRUE
+  2 complete for guards and exits (invisible today)    expected TRUE
+  3 answers it for code that has never executed        expected TRUE
+  4 deterministic                                      expected TRUE
+  5 makes the entry beat redundant                     expected FALSE
+
+RESULT: 5/5 as predicted. From a program that was never executed:
+
+  authenticate guards_at_entry login    my_auth
+  durable      injects_at_exit  save    persist_now
+  authenticate guards_at_entry critical my_auth
+  durable      injects_at_exit  critical persist_now
+  manager      injects_at_entry critical engram_boundary_beat
+
+Prediction 5 held: the relation records that a boundary COULD be crossed, the
+beat records that it WAS. They are different facts and neither replaces the
+other.
+
+CONSEQUENCE, and it undercuts the first pass on iteration-1: construct identity
+was available at compile time all along. With relations recorded at build, the
+runtime needs only the function name and attribution becomes a join rather than
+a payload. The counter-argument is that the payload is self-describing while
+the file must be pinned to the artifact or the two drift and attribution is
+silently lost — which is the same conclusion as "compile against a manifold
+revision and record the revision in the artifact", reached from the other side.
+
+Written to a file rather than the engram on purpose: a compile that consults a
+manifold produces different output from identical source at different times.
+The file is content-addressed; the engram ingests it. Determinism preserved,
+mechanism proven.
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/06-the-crossing-resolves-at-emission.md

@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+# the crossing resolves at emission
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `35b07ba`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: resolve the crossing at execution, not at emission
+
+HYPOTHESIS (Will's): a compiler whose one compiled mechanism is extending the
+LANGUAGE — not the compiler — can compose without recompilation.
+
+ISHIKAWA — why does a construct require a recompile today?
+  method       codegen inlines the target call into the body
+  machine      the binary has no table to consult
+  material     the declaration lives in source, read at compile time
+  measurement  nothing observes what applied at runtime
+  root cause   the crossing is resolved at EMISSION, not at EXECUTION
+
+CHANGE: codegen emits one unconditional indirection per fn. Which constructs
+apply is read from a table that can be written AFTER the binary exists;
+targets resolve through dlsym against the running image.
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 a construct declared after the build applies       TRUE
+  P2 an unlinked target is skipped, not fatal           TRUE
+  P3 emitting on every fn is measurably slower          FALSE — 0.37s -> 0.36s
+                                                        with 267 indirections and
+                                                        no bindings. Free unused.
+  P4 the compiler still self-hosts                      TRUE (see note)
+
+DEMONSTRATED: an El program with NO decorator in its source, already compiled
+and linked, picked up a construct declared afterwards:
+
+    $ /tmp/seamrun                       -> 7
+    $ echo 'work audited entry audit_entry' > constructs.txt
+    $ EL_CONSTRUCTS=constructs.txt /tmp/seamrun
+      AUDIT: work applied by audited
+      7
+
+P4 note: my first fixpoint test was wrong, not the code. I compared gen1 to
+gen2, which must differ whenever codegen's output changes. gen2 == gen3, 267
+seam sites, stable.
+
+MEASURED COST, and the root cause was not where I looked
+  0 bindings                    0.36s vs 0.37s baseline   free
+  2 bindings, dlsym per call    2.45s                     6.6x
+  2 bindings, resolved once     0.69s                     3.5x recovered
+The table scan was never the cost. dlsym walks the dynamic symbol table on
+every call. Resolve once and cache — which is the smallest form of what
+salience does for memory: what is hot stays resolved. The 0.69s residual is
+audit_entry's own printf on two of the compiler's hottest functions, not seam
+overhead.
+
+CONSEQUENCE: the five compile-time declaration kinds on iteration-1 are a
+compile-time specialisation of something that resolves at runtime. They are not
+wrong, but they are not the mechanism — the mechanism is one indirection, and a
+kind is data.
+```
+
+## Record — `886626a`
+
+```
+seam refusal + control tests: a runtime binding can short-circuit
+
+Prediction 3 was FALSE. I expected refusal to be impossible through the seam
+because the entry indirection discarded its return. One line:
+
+    { el_val_t __s = el_seam_run(EL_STR(f), 0, 0); if (__s) return __s; }
+
+work() returns 7; bound to a refusing construct AFTER the build it returns 42.
+So three of the five compile-time kinds are runtime-bindable: entry injection,
+exit injection, and refusal. wraps_body needs invocation control and
+prohibits_outside is compile-time by nature.
+
+104/104 native compiler tests pass.
+```
+
+## Record — `28d19da`
+
+```
+strip the compile-time machinery the seam replaces
+
+PREDICTION: codegen.el drops below 4661, its size before any of these passes.
+RESULT: FALSE. 5157 -> 5096. Still +435 over baseline.
+
+  injects_at_entry   collapsed into the seam            removed
+  guards_at_entry    collapsed into the seam            removed
+  injects_at_exit    needs the body-helper wrapper      STRUCTURAL
+  wraps_body         needs the closure + wrapper        structural
+  prohibits_outside  a #error cannot be emitted at runtime
+
+The wrapper is not a consequence of compile-time resolution. Early returns must
+be routed through something no matter when the target is resolved, so exit
+injection was never going to collapse. I predicted it would because I had
+conflated "resolved late" with "emitted less".
+
+What did collapse is entry injection and refusal -- 61 lines of compiler
+replaced by one refusable indirection, with the capability now bindable after
+the binary exists.
+
+8 tests fail, and they are exactly the 8 controls for compile-time entry
+injection and guards. No unrelated breakage: the controls reported precisely
+what moved. They assert emission of something that now happens at runtime, so
+they need rewriting as integration tests -- which the framework does not
+currently support, because runtime binding needs a built binary and an
+environment, not compile_capture.
+
+Verified after the strip: fixpoint gen2==gen3, observation and refusal both
+work through the seam with the compiler knowing nothing about either.
+```
+
+## Record — `8bbb750`
+
+```
+control the claim that cannot be unit tested
+
+The seam's whole claim is that a construct declared AFTER a binary exists
+applies to that already-built program. compile_capture only sees emitted text,
+so it structurally cannot check this: it needs a built binary, a linked target,
+and an environment. Verified by hand until now, which is the standing problem
+this session has been about.
+
+tests/integration/seam_binding.sh builds a probe from El source containing no
+construct at all, links a target that El never references, and asserts:
+
+  ok  unbound program is unaffected
+  ok  a construct declared AFTER the build applies
+  ok  a construct declared after the build can REFUSE
+  ok  an unlinked target is skipped, not fatal
+  ok  a binding for a different fn does not fire
+  ok  two constructs compose on one crossing
+
+  6 assertions, 6 passed, 0 failed
+
+The eight controls that failed after the strip were replaced, not repaired.
+They asserted compile-time emission of capability that moved to runtime;
+contorting them would have kept an assertion whose subject no longer exists.
+Three took their place, asserting the emitted shape, and the behaviour they
+used to cover is now the integration harness's job -- which is the honest
+division, since the shape and the behaviour are no longer the same fact.
+
+99/99 native compiler tests pass. Fixpoint holds.
+```
+
+## Record — `24f7fb5`
+
+```
+land the runtime seam: resolve the crossing at execution
+
+Five compile-time passes added 491 lines to the thing that was supposed to stop
+growing. The seam is ~55 lines of C and one line of emission, and it does at
+runtime what three of those five kinds did at compile time -- for programs that
+are already built.
+
+  a construct declared AFTER the binary exists applies to it
+  free when unused: 0.36s vs 0.37s baseline across 267 indirections
+  dlsym was the cost, not the table scan; resolve-once recovered 3.5x
+  refusal works, composition works, unlinked targets are skipped not fatal
+
+injects_at_exit and wraps_body do NOT collapse: early returns must route
+through the body-helper wrapper regardless of when the target is resolved. The
+wrapper is structural, which I had wrong. prohibits_outside cannot move at all
+-- a #error has no runtime.
+
+Controls: 99/99 native compiler tests, plus tests/integration/seam_binding.sh
+(6/6) for the claim compile_capture structurally cannot see.
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/07-invocation-is-not-composable.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# invocation is not composable
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `bc2f26d`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: invocation control resolves at runtime
+
+ISHIKAWA: why did wraps_body need compile-time knowledge? Because the wrapper
+called the target directly. If the wrapper calls through the seam instead, the
+seam can call the body itself, and a construct bound after the build decides
+how and whether to invoke it.
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 wrap becomes runtime-bindable                  TRUE   body x3 -> 21,
+                                                           never invoked -> 111
+  P2 codegen shrinks                                TRUE   5042 -> 4977
+  P3 cost 5-10% from an indirect call on every fn   TRUE   0.36s -> 0.39s, ~8%
+  P4 zero-param fns break on the empty struct       TRUE   empty struct is a GNU
+                                                           extension, empty init
+                                                           is C23. Fixed with a
+                                                           char field.
+  P5 fixpoint holds                                 TRUE
+
+PROCESS FAILURE worth recording: my first patch silently did not apply because
+I dropped the assert on the string replacement. The build then failed with
+"undeclared identifier __thunk_noargs", which I nearly attributed to the
+empty-struct prediction. The guard that would have caught it existed and I
+removed it -- the same shape as every other defect found tonight.
+
+Removed: declare_wrap, decorator_wrap, cg_wrap_target, cg_wrap_construct,
+params_to_call_args, and the wraps_body scanner branch.
+
+prohibits_outside is now the ONLY construct kind left at compile time, and it
+cannot move: a #error has no runtime.
+```
+
+## Record — `c04d68f`
+
+```
+land runtime invocation control: only prohibition remains compiled
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/08-the-emitter-adjudicates.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+# the emitter adjudicates
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `c741cfe`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: prohibition becomes a query over emitted relations
+
+I said prohibition could not move because "a #error has no runtime". That
+conflated two separable things: WHEN a violation is detected (build time --
+correct, and unchanged) and WHERE the rule and the checker live (the compiler
+-- assumed).
+
+A prohibition is a containment relation over the call graph. So codegen now
+records what it saw:
+
+    sneaky   calls raw_sql
+    allowed  calls raw_sql
+    allowed  calls @repository
+    repository calls prohibits:raw_sql
+
+and tools/check/prohibitions.sh decides, at build time, outside the compiler.
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 codegen can emit the call graph it already walks   TRUE
+  P2 the check becomes a query outside the compiler     TRUE
+  P3 all prohibition decisions leave codegen            TRUE  zero #errors now
+  P4 violations still caught at build time              TRUE  exit=1
+  P5 codegen drops below the 4661 baseline              FALSE 4962, +301
+
+P5 is the finding. The TRAVERSAL is irreducible -- you must walk the AST to
+find calls, and those ~120 lines do not move no matter who decides. What is not
+irreducible is the rule (which names) or the decision (#error). Those left. I
+predicted the whole 223 lines would go because I had not separated walking from
+adjudicating.
+
+Still compiled, and measured rather than assumed: the capability-tier system
+(cap_check_call, is_self_formation_call, is_dharma_call, is_llm_call,
+cap_record_violation, emit_cap_violations) is 76 lines of the same shape --
+prohibits_WITHIN rather than prohibits_outside, so the checker needs the
+opposite polarity to absorb it.
+
+98/98 native, 4/4 prohibition_query.sh, 7/7 seam_binding.sh, fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `60c07ad`
+
+```
+land prohibition-as-query: the emitter records, it no longer adjudicates
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/09-policy-inside-the-compiler.md

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# policy inside the compiler
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `c2d9596`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: the capability tier becomes shipped policy plus a query
+
+Capability differs from prohibits_outside in one way that matters: a utility
+program cannot be trusted to declare its own restrictions, because it would
+declare none. So the policy comes from OUTSIDE the program -- it ships with the
+language as data, editable without a compiler release.
+
+  tools/check/capabilities.rel   18 names that were string literals in codegen
+  tools/check/capabilities.sh    the query that decides
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 codegen emits kind + call graph, drops the 4 name tests   TRUE  zero #errors
+  P2 the 18 literals become a data file                        TRUE
+  P3 the checker catches capability violations                 TRUE  exit=1
+  P4 codegen drops ~76 lines                                   TRUE  4963 -> 4881
+  P5 below the 4661 baseline                                   FALSE ~+230
+
+TWO DEFECTS THE HARNESS FOUND THAT READING WOULD NOT HAVE
+
+1. Calls inside main became invisible. cg_fn returns early for main -- C
+   provides its own -- so hooking the recording there left every call in main
+   unrecorded: a blind spot exactly where a program does its work. The old
+   cap_check_call ran from cg_expr and did see main. Moved the recording to
+   cg_expr.
+
+2. Caller attribution was stale. __cg_current_fn kept whatever cg_fn set last,
+   so a violation in main was reported against the previously emitted function.
+   The test still PASSED, because the violation was detected -- only the name
+   was wrong, and a diagnostic naming the wrong fn is worse than none. Fixed at
+   all three main-emission sites; the first patch missed two because the live
+   path is codegen_streaming.
+
+98/98 native, 7/7 + 4/4 + 5/5 integration, fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `29f78f9`
+
+```
+land capability-as-policy: eighteen literals become a data file
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/10-a-second-copy-of-the-header.md

@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# a second copy of the header
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `9cc6040`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: derive arity from the runtime's own declarations
+
+codegen.el carried builtin_arity(): 344 lines, 300 entries, a hand-maintained
+second copy of el_runtime.h.
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 the table duplicates the header                     TRUE   243 shared names
+  P2 they have already drifted                           FALSE  ZERO drift. The
+                                                                duplicate had been
+                                                                maintained correctly.
+  P3 codegen can emit call-arity relations               TRUE
+  P4 the check becomes a query against the header        TRUE
+  P5 codegen drops to roughly baseline                   TRUE   4903 -> 4512,
+                                                                149 BELOW the 4661
+                                                                it started at
+
+P2 being false is the better result: the table was not WRONG, it was
+INCOMPLETE. 110 functions the runtime declares had no entry, so calling them
+with the wrong argument count produced no El-level diagnostic at all. Measured:
+the old compiler reports 0 arity errors for __http_do_map_to_file(1); the query
+reports "takes 5 arguments, called with 1".
+
+Deriving from the header fixes coverage AND makes drift impossible by
+construction. 503 signatures, versus 300 entries maintained by hand.
+
+THREE DEFECTS IN MY OWN CHECKER, each found by running it rather than reading it
+  1. El names and C names differ -- `println` is `__println`. 60 of 500 decls
+     carry the prefix and codegen owns the mapping; the old table carried both
+     keys. One rule covers all 60.
+  2. Multi-line declarations parsed as zero params, so the checker reported
+     "takes 0" for a function taking 5. A diagnostic with the wrong number in it
+     is worse than none -- the same shape as the stale caller attribution in the
+     previous pass.
+  3. Fixing (2) by joining lines dropped 500 signatures to 334, because a
+     declaration preceded by a comment no longer started its record. Comments
+     are stripped first now.
+
+98/98 native, 5/5 arity_query.sh, fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `d9e301b`
+
+```
+land arity-from-header: the runtime declares its own surface
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/11-one-type-erases-the-return.md

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# one type erases the return
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `d2d89fc`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: temporal types as data — and the pass that GREW the compiler
+
+This block is structurally unlike the previous four. It does not only
+adjudicate, it DISPATCHES: Instant + Duration must become el_instant_add_dur,
+LocalDate + Duration must become el_local_date_add_dur. The emitted C depends on
+the type answer, so it cannot move to a post-hoc query. Selecting which call to
+emit is an emitter's actual job.
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 the block conflates dispatch with adjudication      TRUE
+  P2 adjudication can move, dispatch cannot              TRUE
+  P3 this pass shrinks codegen far less than the last    TRUE, and worse:
+                                                         4513 -> 4537, it GREW
+                                                         by 24 lines
+  P4 the rules are affine algebra, closed by construction TRUE
+  P5 no type propagation -- name tracking plus a
+     hardcoded list of which builtins return which type   TRUE, 19 names
+
+P3 is the honest result and it is not spun: moving 19 names into a data file
+cost more lines than it saved, because a generic loader is larger than the
+enumeration it replaces. The win is not line count. It is that adding a 20th
+temporal builtin is now a one-line edit to signatures.rel instead of a compiler
+change, and that the data is inspectable.
+
+WHY THE HEADER CANNOT SUPPLY THIS, unlike arity: el_runtime.h declares every
+builtin as returning el_val_t, because El has ONE type. That single type is why
+the whole seam is cheap and it is exactly why the C boundary cannot say that
+now() returns an Instant while unix_seconds() returns an Int. The El-level type
+is real and the boundary erases it.
+
+INCOMPLETE, and stated rather than hidden: P2 said adjudication could move to a
+query. It has NOT. Violations still emit TIME_TYPE_ERROR inline from the
+emitter. Only the type DATA moved. Moving the adjudication needs the operand
+types recorded as relations, which is a further pass.
+
+98/98 native, 4/4 temporal_signatures.sh, fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `e01e079`
+
+```
+land temporal signatures as data: the type table leaves, the dispatch stays
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/12-judgment-lives-with-knowledge.md

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# judgment lives with knowledge
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `e8e25a0`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: temporal adjudication moves out; the placeholder stays
+
+The previous pass moved the type DATA and left the judgment inline, which I
+stated rather than hid. This finishes it.
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 codegen can emit operand-type relations               TRUE
+                                                           "main calls temporal:instant_plus_instant"
+  P2 the affine rules are a small closed set as data       TRUE  6 rules
+  P3 violations still caught at build time                 TRUE  exit=1
+  P4 the reporter leaves codegen                           TRUE  4538 -> 4507
+  P5 the TIME_TYPE_ERROR placeholder must STAY             TRUE
+
+P5 is the boundary of this whole approach. The emitter has to emit SOMETHING
+for an illegal expression -- it cannot emit nothing and it cannot decide what
+the program meant. So the placeholder is irreducible in the same way the AST
+traversal was: what moved is the judgment and the wording, not the fact that
+something must be written.
+
+The rules are affine algebra and the set is closed because there are only two
+kinds of thing. An Instant is a POINT, a Duration is a DISPLACEMENT: add a
+displacement to a point, subtract two points for a displacement, combine
+displacements. Nothing else is meaningful, which is why the enumeration in
+temporal.rel cannot grow the way an allowlist does.
+
+A defect in my own checker, found by running it: the .rel file uses aligned
+columns and my awk assumed a single space, so the message came out with the
+rule key still prefixed. Same class as the multi-line header parse in the arity
+pass -- formatting assumptions that only fail when you look at the output.
+
+98/98 native, 6/6 temporal_query.sh, fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `50425f3`
+
+```
+land temporal adjudication as a query: the emitter records, the rules are data
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/13-thirty-five-return-types.md

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# thirty five return types
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `cbef1c1`
+
+```
+EXPERIMENT: Int return types as data — and the bug that fell out
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 is_int_call's 35 hardcoded names move to data        TRUE
+  P2 is_int_name stays -- it is annotation propagation    TRUE
+  P3 the dispatch stays -- it is emission                 TRUE
+  P4 codegen shrinks ~40 lines                            TRUE  4507 -> 4469
+  P5 the design doc's characterisation is WRONG           TRUE
+  P6 the moved data also fixes the bug it exposed         TRUE
+
+P5 CORRECTS THE RECORD. el-language-design.md and geometry-vs-code.md both cite
+"== lowering to str_eq unless both operand names are in a hardcoded int-name
+set -- a literal list of variable names treated as integers" as the paradigm
+defect. It is not one. __int_names is populated from TYPE ANNOTATIONS
+(param["type"] == "Int"), which is primitive but legitimate type propagation.
+The actual defect was is_int_call: 35 hardcoded builtin return types, the same
+shape as the temporal 19.
+
+P6 IS A LIVE CORRECTNESS BUG, PRE-EXISTING, NOW FIXED
+
+    let a = str_len("hello")     // no annotation
+    let b = str_len("hi")
+    let c = a + b                // -> el_str_concat(a, b) on two integers
+
+Verified identical on the pre-change compiler, so not a regression. It compiled
+clean, ran, and printed NOTHING where it should print 7. No error at any layer.
+
+The repair is three lines: an unannotated let takes its type from what the
+initialiser returns. The return types were already required for dispatch and
+were simply never consulted at the binding site. Moving them into data is what
+made the gap visible -- reading the code for eight hours did not.
+
+98/98 native + 2 new, 31/31 integration, fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `505e5e7`
+
+```
+land int signatures, and repair a silent miscompilation they exposed
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/14-keywords-that-reserve-nothing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# keywords that reserve nothing
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `0143cc4`
+
+```
+ANSWER: is a grammar a convention, or a region?
+
+Both, at different layers -- and it is the same split as serialization: the
+convention is the BASIS, never the ACT.
+
+  lexeme -> token      `fn` means function-start because someone said so   CONVENTION
+  shape recognition    given tokens, which construct is this               REGION
+  source -> structure  parsing is transduction onto that basis             GEOMETRY
+  byte traversal       something must read them in order                   IRREDUCIBLE
+
+Three things push the ACT toward region rather than convention: ambiguity
+(a * b needs context; a grammar resolves it with the lexer hack, a region by
+neighbourhood), error recovery (nearest-region is free), and precedence, which
+is ordering along an axis with a conventional parameter.
+
+AND THE SHOULD GATE SAYS NO TO THE OBVIOUS MOVE
+
+Every other table this session moved to data. This one stays code. The keyword
+set is CLOSED by the language definition -- it does not leak the way an
+allowlist does -- and the lexer runs before the program is understood, so a
+program can never declare its own keywords. Externalising it costs file I/O on
+every compile and buys nothing. Same verdict as is_digit in ASCII.
+
+WHAT WAS ACTUALLY WRONG: five of 46 keywords were consumed by no parser or
+codegen path. sealed, activate, seed, protocol, impl. Each stole an identifier
+from users for nothing.
+
+SECOND SILENT MISCOMPILATION OF THE DAY. Using one did not fail to parse:
+
+    let seed = 42
+    let impl = seed + 1
+
+compiled CLEAN -- zero cc errors -- and printed 0 instead of 44. No diagnostic
+at any layer. Fixed by removing the five.
+
+A DEFECT IN MY OWN MEASUREMENT, caught before it did damage: my first pass
+checked only parser.el and reported `test` as inert too. codegen consumes it at
+4135 for --test mode, and the tree has 408 uses. Removing it would have broken
+every test in the suite. The measurement was re-run across all four consumers.
+
+100/100 native + 2 new, 31/31 integration, fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `067dd40`
+
+```
+answer the parsing question: a grammar is a basis, and five keywords reserved nothing
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/15-no-namespacing-at-all.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+# no namespacing at all
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `79f6cb7`
+
+```
+ANSWER: if the partition is a neighbourhood, does linking survive?
+
+The question is premature, and measuring says why. El's partition is a
+FILESYSTEM PATH, not a neighbourhood, and there is no namespacing at all.
+
+MEASURED
+  import is textual inlining (resolve_imports), guarded against double
+  inclusion by a __elc_imp__:<path> state key
+  when a .elh header exists the header is inlined instead and the .el is marked
+  seen, so symbols resolve at C link time -- so linking IS real, delegated to C
+  two modules defining `helper` emit two C functions into one translation unit
+
+So linking barely survives the PATH partition. Whether it survives a
+neighbourhood partition cannot be asked yet.
+
+A DIAGNOSTIC REGRESSION I CAUSED, found by asking this question. cc does catch
+the collision, but reports:
+
+    error: redefinition of '__el_body_helper'
+    error: redefinition of '__env_helper'
+    error: redefinition of '__thunk_helper'
+    error: redefinition of 'helper'
+
+The user's own function is FOURTH. The first three are generated symbols
+introduced by the unconditional-wrapper pass earlier today -- before it, there
+was one clear message. Repaired by catching the collision at El level instead:
+
+    duplicate definition: 'helper' is defined 2 times — El has no namespacing,
+    so imported modules share one global scope
+
+LIMIT, stated rather than hidden: textual inlining destroys file provenance. By
+the time codegen runs there is one source string, so the message can say WHICH
+name collides but not which files. Naming a.el and b.el needs provenance
+threaded through resolve_imports.
+
+104/104 native, 4/4 definitions_query.sh, the compiler itself reports clean,
+fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `f23cb2b`
+
+```
+answer the module question: the partition is a path, and there is no namespacing
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/16-tokens-carry-no-position.md

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# tokens carry no position
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `6c975b1`
+
+```
+thread provenance through resolve_imports
+
+The module question ended with a limit: textual inlining destroys file
+provenance, so a duplicate-definition message could name the symbol but not the
+files. Threading it exposed a bigger absence first.
+
+TOKENS HAD NO POSITION AT ALL. A token was a flat (kind, value) pair, so NO
+diagnostic in El could name a place -- every error named a symbol and never a
+line. That is the prerequisite the module question was resting on.
+
+THE CHAIN, end to end
+  lexer            counts newlines; tok_append mints (kind, value, line)
+  parser           stride 2 -> 3; tok_line added; FnDef carries its line
+  codegen          records <fn> defines_at:<line>
+  resolve_imports  publishes <file> spans <start> <end> for the combined source
+  checker          maps a combined line back to file:line-within-that-file
+
+    duplicate definition: 'helper' is defined 2 times — El has no namespacing,
+    so imported modules share one global scope
+        /tmp/modtest/a.el:1
+        /tmp/modtest/b.el:1
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1 15 stride sites, encapsulated in tok_kind/tok_value   TRUE, but see below
+  P2 adding a line field is mechanical                     TRUE
+  P3 the lexer must count newlines                         TRUE
+  P4 resolve_imports can record per-file line ranges       TRUE
+  P5 the message can then name both files                  TRUE
+  P6 token memory grows                                    TRUE, 25.0 -> 33.9 MB (+36%)
+
+FOUR DEFECTS, EACH FOUND BY RUNNING AND NOT BY READING
+
+1. interp_tokens_append_all walks the token list DIRECTLY with its own copy of
+   the stride. Gen1 built fine and gen2 emitted corrupt C, because the
+   compiler's own source uses string interpolation. My search missed it because
+   I grepped for the variable name `tokens`; it is called `dst`/`result`.
+   Searching by name instead of by shape -- third time today.
+2. tok_count in test_compiler.el carried the stride too. I had scoped the search
+   to compiler sources and it had escaped into the tests.
+3. Nested resolve_imports calls accumulated spans into shared state, so each
+   republished meaningless line ranges under the parent's name. Making the
+   buffer local fixed it; guarding the WRITE did not, which is what I tried
+   first.
+4. The first working version reported b.el:3 -- the COMBINED line against a
+   filename that has no line 3. A file:line that does not match the file is
+   worse than no line at all.
+
+105/105 native, 37/37 integration, fixpoint ok, compiler self-checks clean.
+```
+
+## Record — `cb7289f`
+
+```
+thread provenance end to end: a diagnostic can finally name a place
+```

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/17-annotations-are-never-checked.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+# annotations are never checked
+
+**Status: verified on `experiment/annotation-checking`, not merged.**
+
+## Ishikawa — why does El silently miscompile?
+
+Three bugs found the same day shared one shape.
+
+```
+method       type tracked by per-function name sets, fed from annotations
+machine      el_val_t erases everything at the C boundary
+material     no propagation through expressions
+measurement  nothing verifies an annotation against what it annotates
+─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+root cause   El has type ANNOTATIONS but no type CHECKING. The annotation
+             feeds dispatch and is never itself verified.
+```
+
+## Predictions
+
+```
+P1  let x: Int = "hello"  compiles clean               expect TRUE
+P2  let s: String = 42    compiles clean               expect TRUE
+P3  the annotation drives dispatch, unverified         expect TRUE
+P4  same root cause as all three bugs found today      expect TRUE
+P5  checking literal-vs-annotation catches both        expect TRUE
+P6  zero false positives across the compiler's source  expect TRUE
+```
+
+## Results — 6/6, and worse than a wrong answer
+
+```
+let x: Int = "hello"; x + 1     →  4343631981   a string POINTER used as an integer
+let s: String = 42; println(s)  →  nothing      address 42 dereferenced as a string
+```
+
+The first **leaks a raw memory address into program output**. The second is an
+**arbitrary-read primitive** if that integer is ever attacker-influenced.
+
+Verified: 6/6, zero false positives across the compiler's own source, fixpoint
+ok, 105/105 native.
+
+## Six Sigma
+
+The emitter only **records** the mismatch; `tools/check/annotations.sh` decides —
+consistent with every other check. Literals are checked because they are
+unambiguous.
+
+**Incomplete, stated not hidden:** only literals. `let x: Int = some_string_fn()`
+still passes, because `signatures.rel` carries Int/Instant/Duration and no
+String entries. That is a data gap, not a capability limit — every El function
+declares its return type in source and codegen already holds `ret_type` on every
+`FnDef`.

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/18-async-half-expressible.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+# async — half expressible, and the cycle that was dogma
+
+**Status: replicated and corroborated. Three runs — the first was invalid.**
+
+> **Chain of custody note, 2026-08-17.** The original measurements were produced
+> by a C stub written in `/tmp`, and that artifact was destroyed when the session
+> worktrees were removed. For a period this file asserted results with nothing
+> behind them — a claim inside an evidence record, which is the defect that turns
+> a chain into a pile. It was **rerun**, not reconstructed: reconstructing the
+> missing file would have been a fabrication with a fresh timestamp.
+>
+> The fixture now lives at `lang/tests/integration/fixtures/future.c` and the
+> harness at `lang/tests/integration/async_future.sh`, so a third party can
+> reproduce this without taking my word for it. **6/6.**
+>
+> The replication is labelled as such: the outcomes were already known when the
+> harness was written, so its expectations are not predictions committed in
+> advance. Its value is reproducibility, not foresight.
+
+## The first attempt was DOGMA, not science
+
+I had just finished arguing that `@async` was expressible, then ran something to
+confirm it. **No prediction was committed.** The test was rigged in a way that
+should have been visible while writing it:
+
+```c
+pthread_create(&t,NULL,runner,NULL); pthread_join(t,NULL);
+```
+
+`join` immediately after `create` — the caller blocks until the body finishes.
+That is a thread round-trip, not deferral. And the test printed the word
+`DEFERRED` itself: I wrote the conclusion into the output and read it back.
+
+```
+Ishikawa on the rigged test
+  method       ran after concluding, not to decide
+  machine      nothing forces a prediction before execution
+  material     the assertion was written into the output string
+  measurement  no falsification criterion existed, so nothing could fail
+  root cause   the test was authored by the party holding the conclusion,
+               with no commitment made before it ran
+```
+
+Discarded and re-run properly.
+
+## Second run — predictions committed first
+
+```
+P1  the caller proceeds while the body runs                   expect TRUE
+P2  interleaving is observable in timestamps                  expect TRUE
+P3  the result cannot be retrieved — one 64-bit slot, no
+    future type, so the wrap either blocks or returns
+    something that is not the result                          expect TRUE
+P4  therefore HALF expressible: fire-and-forget yes, await no  expect TRUE
+```
+
+## Results — 4/4
+
+```
+[    18 us] wrap RETURNS to caller
+[    29 us] body START
+caller continues, got 0
+[ 50176 us] body END   (computed 42)
+caller done
+```
+
+The caller got **0, not 42**. Both of my earlier claims were wrong in opposite
+directions: "not expressible" was too strong — fire-and-forget works today,
+bound after the build, no compiler change. "Expressible" was too strong the
+other way.
+
+## Follow-on cycle — a future is one more tagged object
+
+```
+P1  el_val_t already carries tagged heap objects   TRUE  5 magic tags exist
+P2  a future is one more                           TRUE
+P3  the caller awaits and gets 42                  TRUE
+P4  ZERO compiler changes                          TRUE  runtime C + one binding
+P5  the unbound path still works                   FALSE SIGSEGV
+```
+
+**P4 is the result.** `@async` — called unexpressible for hours — needs no
+compiler change. A future is one more magic-tagged heap object; `defer` returns
+the handle, `el_await` blocks.
+
+**P5 is the failure that mattered.** Sixty seconds after diagnosing
+`let s: String = 42` as an arbitrary read, I wrote the identical defect into
+`el_await`: reading `->magic` off an unvalidated slot. That opened cycle 19.

docs/v1/experiments/cycles/19-a-convention-is-not-a-gate.md

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# a convention is not a gate
+
+One `Ishikawa → scientific method → Six Sigma` loop. The record below is the
+commit message as written at the time, before the outcome was known to anyone
+reading this file.
+
+## Record — `9a6c161`
+
+```
+a slot must be validated before it is dereferenced
+
+ISHIKAWA: el_val_t carries integers AND tagged heap pointers, so "is this a
+pointer" is undecidable without checking first. That check was a CONVENTION
+every author had to know rather than a GATE they had to pass through, and
+looks_like_heap_obj was static -- so every sibling translation unit re-derived
+it.
+
+MEASURED, across the five existing tags
+  geom_of        looks_like_heap_obj   full guard      correct
+  mfld_of        looks_like_heap_obj   full guard      correct
+  el_bin_lookup  (uintptr_t)p < 4096   floor only      reads 8 bytes BACKWARD
+  el_input_len   s ? ... : 0           NULL only       strlen's an integer
+
+  sha256_hex(50000)  ->  exit 139, SIGSEGV, compiled clean
+
+PREDICTIONS AND RESULTS
+  P1  looks_like_heap_obj is static, not exported     TRUE
+  P2  each tagged type re-derives the check           TRUE
+  P3  at least one is missing guard components        TRUE (two are)
+  P6  sha256_hex(<int>) reads out of bounds           TRUE
+  P8  routing el_bin_lookup through the gate fixes it FALSE
+  P9  the legitimate hash is unchanged                TRUE
+  P11 fixpoint and suites hold                        TRUE
+
+P8 IS THE USEFUL FAILURE. Guarding the tagged lookup changed nothing --
+looks_like_heap_obj(49992) correctly returns 0, el_bin_lookup bails, and then
+el_input_len falls through to strlen() on address 50000. The FALLBACK was the
+hazard, not the tagged path. A NULL check does not establish that a slot is a
+pointer. I would have shipped the wrong fix and called it verified.
+
+A MEASUREMENT DEFECT, fourth today: my first run of the crash reported exit=0,
+because $? read head's exit through a pipe rather than the program's. I nearly
+recorded a segfault as a clean run. Same shape as grepping only parser.el and
+searching by variable name instead of by operation.
+
+AND I PROVED THE HAZARD FROM THE INSIDE. Sixty seconds after diagnosing
+`let s: String = 42` as an arbitrary-read primitive, I wrote the identical
+defect into el_await -- dereferencing ->magic off an unvalidated slot -- and
+only then found the runtime had already made it twice.
+
+el_tagged() is now exported in el_runtime.h. Anything that dereferences a slot
+without passing through it is the defect.
+
+105/105 native, 42/42 integration across eight harnesses, fixpoint ok.
+```
+
+## Record — `3049a70`
+
+```
+make the guard a gate: sha256_hex(50000) no longer segfaults
+```

docs/v1/experiments/findings/answers.md

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# Architecture questions closed
+
+All five were open in `geometry-vs-code.md`. Each was closed by measurement, not
+by argument.
+
+| Question | Answer |
+|---|---|
+| **Concurrency** — hardware threads are code, but is *ordering* geometric? | **Ordering is geometric.** Causality is a partial order (Lamport 1978); a total order is an arbitrary extension that "cannot be depended on to imply a causal relationship." Languages force a total order at authoring time, so every lock, barrier and fence is apparatus for recovering the partial order that was destroyed. CALM: a program has a coordination-free implementation **iff monotone**. What breaks monotonicity is destructive update. **Coordination is the price of forgetting.** |
+| **Error handling** — does `grounded: false` cover *failed*? | **No.** Standing is a *signed* component: `>0` supported, `=0` unknown, `<0` contradicted. Not-known and known-false are opposite directions on one axis; a boolean cannot tell them apart. `inhibitory` as an int32 flag is that sign wearing a boolean. |
+| **Parsing** — is a grammar a convention, or a region? | **A grammar is a basis; parsing is transduction onto it.** Lexeme→token is convention, shape recognition is a region, byte traversal is irreducible. **But the SHOULD gate refused the obvious move:** the keyword table stays code, because the set is closed by the language definition and the lexer runs before the program is understood. Same verdict as `is_digit` in ASCII. |
+| **Numeric literals** — is `3` a position or a convention? | **The numeral is convention; the number is a position — and a bare `3` is a magnitude with no axis.** It is not a position until something gives it a direction, which is why `3.days` needs a calendar. Demonstrated: `t + 3` refused, `t + 1.hour` accepted. |
+| **The module system** — if the partition is a neighbourhood, does linking survive? | **Premature.** The partition is a filesystem path and there is no namespacing at all. `import` is textual inlining; with a `.elh` header, symbols resolve at C link time. Two modules defining `helper` emit two C functions into one translation unit. Linking barely survives the *path* partition. |

docs/v1/experiments/findings/bugs.md

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+# Live defects found
+
+Every one compiled clean, ran, and produced a wrong result or a crash with **no
+diagnostic at any layer**. All four were present before this session; none was
+introduced by it.
+
+## Silent miscompilations
+
+### 1. An unannotated `let` loses its type
+
+```el
+let a = str_len("hello")     // no annotation
+let b = str_len("hi")
+let c = a + b                // → el_str_concat(a, b) on two integers
+```
+
+Compiled clean. Printed **nothing** where it should print 7. Fixed: an
+unannotated `let` takes its type from what its initialiser returns. The return
+types were already required for dispatch and were simply never consulted at the
+binding site.
+
+### 2. Reserved keywords that reserved nothing
+
+```el
+let seed = 42
+let impl = seed + 1
+```
+
+`sealed`, `activate`, `seed`, `protocol`, `impl` were keywords in the lexer and
+consumed by no parser or codegen path. Using one did not fail to parse — it
+compiled clean, with zero `cc` errors, and printed **0 instead of 44**. Fixed by
+removing all five.
+
+### 3. `Instant + Int` was never refused
+
+```el
+let t: Instant = now()
+let u: Instant = t + 3       // → (t + 3), reported clean
+```
+
+`Duration + Int` was refused — *"an Int carries no unit"* — while adding a
+dimensionless number to a **point** silently moved the instant by an
+unspecified amount. Three of *what*? Whatever the representation happens to be.
+The rule was simply never written.
+
+## Security-relevant
+
+### 4. Annotations are never verified
+
+```el
+let x: Int = "hello"; x + 1     →  4343631981   a string POINTER used as an integer
+let s: String = 42; println(s)  →  nothing      address 42 dereferenced
+```
+
+The first **leaks a raw memory address into program output**. The second is an
+**arbitrary-read primitive** if the integer is ever attacker-influenced.
+
+### 5. `sha256_hex(<integer>)` segfaults
+
+```el
+let h: String = sha256_hex(50000)    →  exit 139, SIGSEGV
+```
+
+Compiled clean. `el_bin_lookup` checked only a 4096 floor — no alignment, no
+small-int, no negative — and reads **eight bytes backward** from the pointer.
+And the actual crash was one level further on: `el_input_len` fell through to
+`strlen()` on address 50000, because a NULL check does not establish that a slot
+is a pointer.
+
+Fixed, and the guard is now a **gate**: `el_tagged()` is exported in
+`el_runtime.h`. `geom_of` and `mfld_of` were always correct because their authors
+knew to call `looks_like_heap_obj`; `el_bin_lookup` and `el_input_len` were wrong
+because theirs did not, and the function was `static`, so every sibling
+translation unit re-derived it.

docs/v1/experiments/findings/measurement-defects.md

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# Defects in my own measurement
+
+Recorded because the pattern is the point: **five of these, and every one is the same shape —
+reading a proxy instead of the thing.** A file instead of the operation, a
+variable name instead of the shape, a scope instead of the whole, a pipe's exit
+instead of the program's, a line count instead of the object identity. Each was caught
+by running something, never by reading.
+
+### 1. Scoped the search to one file
+
+Reported `test` as an inert keyword by checking only `parser.el`. **codegen**
+consumes it at 4135 for `--test` mode, and the tree has 408 uses. Removing it
+would have broken every test in the suite — including the ones used to verify
+the removal.
+
+### 2. Searched by variable name, not by operation
+
+Grepped for `native_list_append(tokens` to find direct token appends.
+`interp_tokens_append_all` calls its parameters `dst`/`result`, carries its own
+copy of the stride, and corrupted generation 2 — while generation 1 built fine,
+because the compiler's own source uses string interpolation.
+
+### 3. Scoped to compiler sources; the stride had escaped into tests
+
+`tok_count` in `test_compiler.el` computed `len/2` independently. 21 tests failed
+after the token layout changed.
+
+### 4. Read the wrong exit code
+
+```bash
+timeout 10 /tmp/leakrun 2>&1 | head -2; echo "exit=$?"     # reports head's exit
+```
+
+Reported `exit=0` for a program that was returning **139 (SIGSEGV)**. I nearly
+recorded a segfault as a clean run.
+
+### 5. Read a count that was not counting
+
+Comparing the three promoted branches:
+
+```bash
+for pair in "dev stage" ...; do set -- $pair
+  n=$(git diff --stat origin/$1 origin/$2 | wc -l)     # git errored to STDERR
+  ...                                                   # wc counted empty STDOUT
+```
+
+`git diff` failed on a malformed revision, wrote its error to stderr, and `wc -l`
+counted zero lines of stdout. Three confident `IDENTICAL` results, all
+meaningless. **Had the trees actually differed, I would have reported the
+promotion clean.**
+
+Redone correctly, the three trees share one hash — `2acd9374` — which is the
+check that should have been run first: not "how many files differ" but "is the
+tree object the same object".
+
+### And one that was not a measurement defect but a method defect
+
+One cycle was run **without committing predictions first** — see
+`cycles/18-async-half-expressible.md`. The test joined the thread immediately
+after creating it and printed the word `DEFERRED` itself. A test authored by the
+party holding the conclusion, with nothing committed beforehand, cannot fail.
+It had to be discarded and re-run.

engram/README.md

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 An *engram* is the physical trace of a memory in the brain — the actual encoded substrate, not an abstraction above it. That's what this is.
 
+> **Doc status (2026-08-16).** Everything from "Implementation" down was rewritten against the code. The previous revision documented a Rust `engram-core` crate backed by `sled`, with a `Cargo.toml`, a `crates/` tree, `examples/basic.rs`, and a `EngramDb` API. **None of that exists.** Measured: `engram/` contains `src/server.el`, `spec/`, `test/`, `dist/`, `manifest.el` — zero `.rs` files, no `Cargo.toml`, no `crates/`, and `sled` appears nowhere in the tree outside two Old-English/Old-High-German vocabulary entries in `elp/`. The engine is C, in `lang/runtime/engram_*.{c,h}`; the server is El, in `engram/src/server.el`.
+
 ---
 
 ## Why existing databases are wrong for this use case
@@ -24,16 +26,13 @@ Engram retrieval works through **spreading activation**:
 
 1. **Seeds** — you name one or more nodes you know are relevant (e.g. the current task, recent context, a concept you're reasoning about)
 2. **Query embedding** — you provide a semantic vector representing the direction of your current thought
-3. **Propagation** — activation flows outward from seeds through weighted edges. At each hop, strength attenuates multiplicatively:
+3. **Propagation** — activation flows outward from seeds through weighted edges, attenuating multiplicatively per hop
-
-   ```
-   strength = parent_strength × edge_weight × target_salience × cosine_sim(query, target)
-   ```
-
 4. **Pruning** — paths weaker than a threshold are cut (the attention filter)
 5. **Return** — the top-N nodes by activation strength
 
-This is not a query. It is a *pattern completion*. The system surfaces what is most associatively relevant to the current context, weighted by how strongly those things have been reinforced over time.
+This is not a query. It is a *pattern completion*.
+
+**Activation conducts through well-grounded relations because weight *is* groundedness** — see "Grounding is the weight" below. Nothing filters the traversal for grounded evidence; it falls out of spreading.
 
 ---
 
@@ -46,134 +45,185 @@ This is not a query. It is a *pattern completion*. The system surfaces what is m
 | `Semantic` | Neocortex | Concept graph — long-term structural knowledge |
 | `Procedural` | Cerebellum / basal ganglia | Patterns, workflows, habits |
 
-Nodes migrate between tiers based on salience decay and reinforcement. A frequently activated semantic node stays semantic. A rarely-touched episodic memory decays toward procedural background.
+Tier is a string field on the node (`StoreNode.tier`, `engram_store.h`), defaulting to `"Working"` on creation (`el_runtime.c:8514`, `8734`).
 
 ---
 
 ## Salience — Forgetting as Adaptation
 
-Salience is not stored permanently. It decays:
+Salience decays from three signals — importance (set at creation, stable), recency, and a log-compressed activation frequency. Base-level learning keeps a ring buffer of the last `STORE_BLL_K` (= 10) access timestamps per node (`engram_store.h:29`).
 
-```rust
+Forgetting in Engram is not a bug. It is adaptive pruning. Unreinforced memories stop competing for attention without being deleted.
-fn compute_salience(importance: f32, last_activated_ms: i64, activation_count: u64) -> f32 {
-    let days_since = (now_ms() - last_activated_ms) as f32 / 86_400_000.0;
-    importance * (1.0 / (1.0 + days_since)) * (activation_count as f32 + 1.0).ln()
-}
-```
 
-Three signals:
+**Immutability.** Nothing is mutated and nothing is hard-deleted: writes are additive, corrections are supersessions, removals are tombstones. The predecessor is always present, which is what makes supersession an audit trail rather than an edit log.
-- **Importance** (0.0–1.0): set at creation, stable
-- **Recency**: decays toward zero as days pass without activation
-- **Frequency**: log-compressed count of activations
-
-Forgetting in Engram is not a bug. It is adaptive pruning. Memories that are never activated again become less likely to surface during retrieval. They are not deleted — they remain in storage — but they stop competing for attention. This is exactly how biological memory works, and why it is adaptive rather than pathological.
 
 ---
 
-## Quick Start
+## Implementation
 
-```rust
+| Part | Language | Where |
-use engram_core::{EngramDb, Node, Edge, NodeType, MemoryTier, RelationType};
+|---|---|---|
-use std::path::Path;
+| storage engine, graph, activation, geometry, cognition | C11 | `lang/runtime/engram_{store,geometry,reason,cognition,verify,vindex}.{c,h}` |
+| HTTP server + routes | El | `engram/src/server.el` (2043 lines) |
+| build artifact | generated C | `engram/dist/engram.c` |
+| tests | shell + C | `engram/test/` |
 
-// Open or create a database
+**On-disk format** (`engram_store.h`): a paged store — superblock plus mirror, slotted 16 KiB pages, self-describing TLV records, overflow chains, and two B+-tree indexes (primary `id → loc`, adjacency `from_id`/`to_id` → edge locs) over a free-listed page file. Magic `ENGST01`, format version 1. The TLV scheme means new fields never force a migration.
-let db = EngramDb::open(Path::new("/var/lib/my-agent/memory"))?;
-
-// Create a node with a semantic embedding
-let node = Node::new(
-    NodeType::Concept,
-    vec![0.9, 0.1, 0.3, 0.7, 0.8, 0.2],   // embedding from your LLM
-    b"Spreading activation surfaces relevant memories by pattern completion".to_vec(),
-    MemoryTier::Semantic,
-    0.9,   // importance
-);
-let id = db.put_node(node)?;
-
-// Link it to related concepts
-let related = db.put_node(Node::new(
-    NodeType::Concept,
-    vec![0.8, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.7, 0.3],
-    b"Long-term potentiation: co-activation strengthens synaptic weight".to_vec(),
-    MemoryTier::Semantic,
-    0.85,
-))?;
-db.put_edge(Edge::new(id, related, RelationType::Causes, 0.9))?;
-
-// Retrieve by spreading activation
-let results = db.activate(
-    &[id],                                     // seeds
-    &[0.85, 0.15, 0.35, 0.65, 0.75, 0.25],   // query embedding
-    3,                                         // max hops
-    10,                                        // top-N results
-)?;
-
-for r in results {
-    println!(
-        "strength={:.4} hops={} — {}",
-        r.activation_strength,
-        r.hops,
-        String::from_utf8_lossy(&r.node.content)
-    );
-}
-```
 
 ---
 
-## Project Structure
+## The vector index is published, not guarded
 
-```
+Vector search is an **HNSW** (Hierarchical Navigable Small World) index — `lang/runtime/engram_vindex.{c,h}`. The previous revision of this README claimed a "flat cosine scan… until retrieval quality at scale demands" HNSW. That is no longer true, and the reason it changed matters more than the fact.
-engram/
+
-  crates/
+`eg_vindex_sync` used to exist: a function that repaired the index *from read paths*. All three of its callers were reads (`engram_activate`, `eg_knn_for_node` — whose own header comment said *"No writes."* — and `engram_geo_reify_run_json`), and it mutated five process-global statics. Reads mutated because index maintenance had never been given an owner on the write side.
-    engram-core/        # The memory engine — storage, graph, activation, salience
+
-    engram-ffi/         # C FFI stubs for cross-language bindings
+It is now split (`el_runtime.c:10121`, `10137`, `10151`, `10161`):
-  bindings/
+
-    kotlin/             # Android / JVM binding notes
+- **`eg_vindex_maintain`** — the sole mutator. Takes the boundary exclusively; never runs beside a reader.
-    typescript/         # WASM / Node binding notes
+- **`eg_vindex_view`** — returns a `const VIndex*` with the boundary held for read. N readers project concurrently; none can mutate. Paired with `eg_vindex_view_release` on every path including error returns.
-    go/                 # CGo binding notes
+- **`eg_vindex_note_embedded`** — the write-side owner. Index membership belongs to the event *"an embedding became present on this ordinal,"* not to node append: a node without an embedding cannot be in a vector index at all. One `O(log n)` insert, no `O(node_count)` presence scan.
-  examples/
+
-    basic.rs            # Full walkthrough: insert, activate, search, decay
+Two things carry the discipline, and neither is a review habit:
-```
+
+- **`const` is the capability.** The per-search `visited` / `visit_epoch` scratch left `struct VIndex` and went back into the call frame where it belonged — it was one traversal's local, hoisted into the struct as an allocation optimisation, never derived geometry. Once it was gone, `vindex_search` could take a `const VIndex*`, so a read path *physically cannot* call `vindex_insert`, and it is a compile error rather than a comment. The capability type was already in the language; it is spelled `const`.
+- **Publication, not ownership.** HNSW insert is **not an append**: `vindex_insert` rewires the `NeighList` links of already-existing elements and reallocs `elems[]`. The store's append-only property does not transfer to an index derived from it, which is why purity alone was insufficient and a `view`/`maintain` boundary was required.
+
+**Measured** (`engram/test/run_vindex_concurrency_tests.sh`, 2026-08-16):
+
+| half | before | after |
+|---|---|---|
+| `single` — 3000 vectors, 1 thread, ASan+UBSan | clean | clean |
+| `readers` — 4 readers, no writer, TSan | race at `engram_vindex.c:195` | **clean** |
+| `unsynchronized` — writer+reader, bare index, TSan | race | **race, expected and permanent** — the proof the boundary must exist |
+| `published` — owner + 4 readers through the boundary, TSan | *(did not exist)* | **clean**, all 3000 inserts landed |
+
+`recall@10 = 0.9365` at `ef_search=128` (gate ≥ 0.90); the determinism test still yields byte-identical results across two independent builds.
+
+**Not yet done.** The resident RAM graph (`g->nodes` / `g->edges`) is a separate instance of the same defect and has *not* received this treatment — it is realloc'd in place, so a reader holding `EngramNode* n = &g->nodes[i]` across a concurrent append holds a dangling pointer. Until it gets the same publication boundary, the `fb32d15` request guard stays. Full argument: [`../lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md`](../lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md).
 
 ---
 
-## Public API
+## Cognition
+
+The cognition surface is live over `lang/runtime/engram_cognition.{c,h}`, routed in `engram/src/server.el`.
+
+| route | method | what it is |
+|---|---|---|
+| `/api/think` | GET | the read: a warped traversal-read of the seed region, returning a **gradient** (direction + spread + calibrated confidence), never a point |
+| `/api/reason` `/api/induce` `/api/abduce` `/api/relate` `/api/analogize` `/api/plan` | GET | named faculties — see the correction below |
+| `/api/ground` | POST | grounding between a claim and evidence |
+| `/api/assert` | GET | the honesty floor, queried at assertion time only |
+| `/api/attend` | POST | salience as a relation (`salient-to`), grounded-for-whom |
+| `/api/correspondence-beat` | POST | one calibration beat against outcome |
+
+### Anchor the read, or every faculty returns the same null
+
+`engram_think_json` passed `NULL` as the anchor. `NULL` is not "no opinion" — `engram_think` re-origins at `anchor ? anchor : region->centroid`, and **the centroid is the one point where the gradient is zero by construction**: `r = x − centroid = 0`, so every axis projection is 0 and `direction` takes the at-rest branch.
+
+Measured consequence: every faculty — reason, abduce, induce, plan, analogize — returned an identical null result differing only in its label:
 
-```rust
-impl EngramDb {
-    fn open(path: &Path) -> EngramResult<Self>;
-    fn put_node(&self, node: Node) -> EngramResult<Uuid>;
-    fn get_node(&self, id: Uuid) -> EngramResult<Option<Node>>;
-    fn put_edge(&self, edge: Edge) -> EngramResult<()>;
-    fn get_edges_from(&self, from_id: Uuid) -> EngramResult<Vec<Edge>>;
-    fn get_edges_to(&self, to_id: Uuid) -> EngramResult<Vec<Edge>>;
-    fn search_embedding(&self, embedding: &[f32], limit: usize) -> EngramResult<Vec<ScoredNode>>;
-    fn activate(&self, seeds: &[Uuid], query_embedding: &[f32], max_depth: u8, limit: usize) -> EngramResult<Vec<ActivatedNode>>;
-    fn traverse(&self, from: Uuid, relation: Option<RelationType>, max_depth: u8) -> EngramResult<Vec<Node>>;
-    fn touch(&self, id: Uuid) -> EngramResult<()>;
-    fn decay(&self, factor: f32) -> EngramResult<usize>;
-    fn node_count(&self) -> EngramResult<usize>;
-    fn edge_count(&self) -> EngramResult<usize>;
-}
 ```
+{"direction":[0,0,...],"spread":0,"magnitude":1,"confidence":0.5}
+```
+
+`magnitude: 1` is membership evaluated at the centroid; `spread: 0` is its distance to itself; `confidence: 0.5` is the stance fallback. The geometry was never the problem — `/api/drift` computed real values (`centroid_sep 0.104`, `core_disp 0.045`) over the very same 87 members. Fixed in **#141/#142**: the read anchors at the first resolvable embedded seed, copied not borrowed (`g->nodes` is realloc'd in place on append). Gradients now vary by seed.
+
+### The learned stance is resumed, not discarded
+
+`engram_think_json` also built a **neutral** stance every call — all `axis_gain` 1.0, `bias_dir` NULL, `reliability` 0.5 — and never loaded the one the correspondence-beat had been persisting under `stance-<faculty>-<hub>`. Every beat's calibration was written and then thrown away on the next read.
+
+Fixed in **#146**: `think` resumes the same id the beat writes, so learning compounds across beats and cold boot, and the response now carries `stance_resumed` so an *informed* `confidence: 0.5` is distinguishable from an uninformed one. On a calibrated region, confidence went **0.5 → 0.930726**.
+
+### Signal can enter as geometry
+
+Until 2026-08-16 no El ingest path could carry a vector: nodes took text and geometry was *derived* from that text. Text was the mandatory entry medium, so any non-text modality had to be described in prose first — and the geometry being reasoned over was the geometry **of the description, not of the signal**. **#141/#144** ended that. See [`../lang/spec/language.md`](../lang/spec/language.md) §20 for the `Geometry` type, realizers, and `transduce`.
 
 ---
 
-## Dependencies
+## Corrections — read these before extending the cognition surface
 
-- `sled` — embedded persistent B-tree (no daemon, no network, local-first)
+Authority: **`lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`** (design branch `design/correspondence-and-censorship`, PR #149) and **`lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md`**. Do not re-derive them; several earlier versions were wrong and each correction was argued down.
-- `bincode` — compact binary serialization
+
-- `uuid` — stable node identity
+### Grounding is not a subsystem. It is the weight.
-- `serde` — derive support
+
-- `thiserror` / `anyhow` — error handling
+Grounding is an attribute of the edge, and it **is** the hebbian weight. One quantity, not two fields. A relation that keeps holding up strengthens; one that stops corresponding decays — that is not analogous to grounding, it *is* grounding.
+
+Consequences:
+
+- There is **no grounding subsystem to build**. The graph already *is* the grounding structure.
+- **`grounded-by` as a relation type should not exist.** It models grounding as a relation *between* nodes when it is a property *of* a relation. Minting an edge is the error, not merely which endpoints it chose.
+- Grounding is **never computed on demand**. An operation may *read* the grounding of a path; computing-and-writing a score makes reads write, which is exactly the `eg_vindex_sync` defect one level up.
+- **Traversal is already grounded inference.** Nothing needs filtering.
+- **Decision provenance is the path**, not a log. A log records the action; the path records the meaning under which it was taken.
+
+> **Known wrong shape, in the code today.** `COG_GROUNDED_BY_RELATION "grounded-by"` (`lang/runtime/engram_cognition.h:158`) and `cog_ground_edge` (`engram_cognition.c:249`) still exist and still mint an edge. **#147** fixed `ground`'s *honesty* — it now grounds the node asked about rather than the region hub, reports `claim_region`/`evidence_region` separately, and refuses three shapes of circular support (`same-region`, `claim-region-is-evidence`, `evidence-region-is-claim`) instead of returning a confident 1.0. That corrected a scalar rather than deleting the operation. Deletion is sequenced, not done.
+
+### Faculties are operations, not parameters
+
+- **`reason`** changes the *estimate* — a read.
+- **`induce`** changes the *parameters* — the correspondence-beat, which already exists and measurably works.
+- **`abduce`** changes the *structure* — a write, which the current `GeoGradient` signature cannot express.
+
+> **Known wrong shape, in the code today.** `engram/src/server.el:1870–1886` routes six faculties into one call with a string argument — `route_faculty(path, "reason")`, `("induce")`, `("abduce")`, `("relate")`, `("analogy")`, `("plan")`. Underneath, `engram_cognition.h:8–11` states the theory explicitly: *"the named faculties … are human LABELS on regions of think's steering space: each faculty == { think + a named stance }."* The faculty name enters `engram_think` **only** through the stance, and `cog_stance_init` stores it while nothing reads it — so before #146 all five were byte-identical (`el_runtime.c:14352–14359`). A write cannot be a parameter of a read; `abduce` in particular is not expressible this way.
+
+### Wonder is the boundary; curiosity is wonder crystallized
+
+**Wonder is where structure ends** — where activation spreads and finds thin or absent geometry. Any structure at all has an edge, necessarily, the moment it exists. It is not a manifest of open-question nodes to maintain, and a "wonder-manifest manager" materializes a property as a stored artifact — the same disease as a grounding subsystem, or a self stored as a document.
+
+There are about **six** wonders, they are the same for everyone, and they never close: *What is this? / Why? / Who am I? / Am I alone? / What should I do? / What happens when it ends?* "Why" is the first and the only one; the others are it asked of particular things. Each already lives somewhere in the substrate — "why" is grounding, because the weight **is** the answer to why.
+
+**Curiosity is not a second object.** Wonder and curiosity are one thing at two phases: wonder is the field (unbounded, objectless, invariant); curiosity is the **precipitate** — the same wonder localized, having taken definite form against particular material at a **nucleation site**. This is why curiosity can be satisfied and wonder cannot. It is also why abduction needs no trigger and no threshold: a `structurally_unanticipated` observation *is* a nucleation site.
+
+### `co_registration` is deprecated — the disagreement belongs on the edge
+
+`GeoDescriptor.co_registration` — *corr(hebb strength, semantic proximity) over internal edges* — has always been computed, always persisted, and **never read**. It is also the wrong shape: whether use and meaning agree is a property of **each edge**, and a correlation averages that per-edge property into one scalar per region. A region holding one violently disagreeing edge beside one violently agreeing edge reports ≈ 0 — **the disagreements cancel, and the summary destroys exactly what it was built to reveal.**
+
+**Measured:** 375 live reified neighbourhoods — 340 positive, **31 at zero**, 4 negative. Read as a count of things to be curious about, that says "four." Read correctly, four disagreements were lopsided enough to survive averaging and the 31 zeros are where opposing sites cancelled.
+
+The replacement is per-edge. **Not on `dev` yet** — `GeoEdge.discord` and the `DEPRECATED` marker on `co_registration` live on branch `design/correspondence-and-censorship` (commit `a8845e1`), at `engram_geometry.h:43–47` / `engram_geometry.c:454–473` there. On `dev`, `GeoDescriptor.co_registration` is still at `engram_geometry.h:79` carrying its original "surprising links / dream cands" comment and still nothing reads it.
+
+```
+discord = z(semantic proximity) − z(association strength)
+```
+
+standardized within the region from accumulators the aggregate loop already gathered — no second statistic, no constant, **no threshold**. `discord > 0`: near in meaning yet unlinked by use. `discord < 0`: linked by use yet far in meaning. Both are surprising, and `|discord|` *is* the nucleation strength.
+
+**Do not scan for nucleation sites.** Once the signal was a per-region number the only way to find sites was to enumerate regions, which is why surfacing curiosity looked like a search problem. Nothing in a mind scans its neighbourhoods to find what is surprising — the surprise captures attention. With the disagreement on the edge there is nothing to scan.
+
+`co_registration` is deprecated rather than deleted **only** because it is embedded in the persisted `GEO1` blob; removing it is a format migration and must not ride along. **Nothing new may read it.**
+
+### Consolidation is ambient, not scheduled
+
+**A brain has no cron job.** Boredom is not an absence and not leftover capacity — low activation is aversive and the system self-activates. There is **one** activation process with two seed sources: external (a request) and internal (a curiosity). Spreading is bounded; it settles; then it needs a new seed. Nothing waits on capacity, nothing polls, nothing checks a clock, and there is no dreamer thread.
+
+**The presence of a ticker is the diagnostic.** Every `StartInterval`, every `Hour`/`Minute`, and every POST-to-beat marks a place where an intrinsic rhythm was replaced by an external clock.
+
+Consolidation currently has **ten implementations** (measured 2026-08-16). Three of them are POST beats on this server — `/api/tick` (`server.el:1947`), `/api/correspondence-beat` (`1897`), `/api/self-reify-beat` (`1836`) — and a POST beat puts a supervisor back in: something *outside* decides when Neuron consolidates. `soul.el`'s continuous in-process loop is the one fragment with the correct shape; the rest fold into it. Full table in `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md` §7.
+
+### Immutability already refuses what a guard would refuse
+
+> **In an immutable substrate, any mechanism that refuses a write is either redundant with immutability, or an epistemic constraint misfiled as a protective one.**
+
+This resolves `keystone_write_blocked` (`CogStance.keystone`, `engram_cognition.h:83`) rather than replacing it. "Keystone" means **load-bearing**, not precious: the self anchor is the reference frame every other stance calibrates against, and a reference fitted to its own readings reports perfect correspondence forever while drift becomes undetectable from inside. The real requirement is **non-circularity of the reference frame**, and that is satisfied *temporally* — the frame updates while activation is internally seeded, not while it is being used to act. Independence is **when**, not **what**. Corruption requires mutation, and the engram does not mutate; recoverability, governance, evidence quality, and rate all fall out of the substrate. Authorization is the only residue, and it is bounded: an unauthorized writer can *propose*, never erase.
 
 ---
 
 ## Design Decisions
 
-**Why sled?** Local-first. No daemon. Transactional. Fast enough for the node counts Engram targets (< 1M nodes). When the right HNSW index is needed, it will layer on top of sled, not replace it.
+**Why multiplicative activation?** Because memory is conjunctive. A path requires all of its links to be strong to carry signal. Addition would let many weak associations accumulate into false relevance.
 
-**Why flat cosine scan?** Correct and simple. The graph structure itself is the primary retrieval mechanism. Vector search is a secondary signal. HNSW adds complexity and a compile dependency that isn't justified until retrieval quality at scale demands it.
+**Why salience decay?** Because not everything that was once important remains important. A memory system that never forgets is one that can never focus.
 
-**Why multiplicative activation?** Because memory is conjunctive. A path requires all of its links to be strong to carry signal. Addition would allow many weak associations to accumulate into false relevance. Multiplication enforces that every factor matters.
+**Why supersede instead of update?** Because provenance is the point. The old edge never leaves and the values frame does not fit to outcomes, so a decision cannot be made to look justified after the fact. It makes an otherwise impossible distinction available: **wrong then, or wrong since.**
 
-**Why salience decay?** Because not everything that was once important remains important. Adaptive forgetting is not failure — it is the mechanism that keeps attention on what's current. A memory system that never forgets is one that can never focus.
+**Why publication instead of locking?** Because what does not mutate needs no ownership discipline. The question "who is permitted to mutate the shared thing?" presupposes a shared mutable thing; for the store there isn't one, and for the index derived from it the answer is a publication boundary, not a capability ABI.
+
+---
+
+## Specs
+
+- [`../lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md`](../lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md) — ownership, the capability ABI that was dissolved, and the vector-index publication boundary
+- [`../lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`](../lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md) — grounding, wonder, curiosity, dreaming *(lands with PR #149)*
+- [`spec/cognitive-architecture.design.md`](spec/cognitive-architecture.design.md) — the original one-operation design. **Superseded in part** — see its header
+- [`spec/architecture-hardening.design.md`](spec/architecture-hardening.design.md), [`spec/engram-el.md`](spec/engram-el.md), [`spec/at-rest-encryption.md`](spec/at-rest-encryption.md), [`spec/engram-db-tooling-design.md`](spec/engram-db-tooling-design.md)

engram/spec/architecture-hardening.design.md

@@ -11,6 +11,39 @@
 - **One calculus over the geometry.** Very few subsystems; wonder / curiosity / dreams / interoception are emergent behaviors of one set of dynamics, not modules. Calculus universal, geometry individual.
 - **Core + ephemeral ring (torus).** The ring is the temporary workspace; two circulations (orbit + dive-back); discrete inner bands (wonder / interoception-proprioception-telemetry / curiosity / dreams) that couple.
 - **Persistence earned by salience** — never granted on fetch or generation. Three fates of a wonder: persist / decay / settle-into-framework. Telemetry = vital signs, not memories.
+
+> **⚠ Three corrections to the bullets above (2026-08-16).** Authority:
+> `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`. *"Emergent behaviors of one set of
+> dynamics, not modules"* is exactly right and is the reason the rest needs fixing —
+> the enumeration undercuts the claim.
+>
+> 1. **Wonder and curiosity are not two bands.** They are **one thing at two
+>    phases.** Wonder is the field: unbounded, objectless, invariant, present
+>    wherever there is structure — it is the *boundary*, where activation spreads
+>    and finds thin or absent geometry. Curiosity is the **precipitate**: the same
+>    wonder localized, having taken definite form against particular material at a
+>    **nucleation site** (an anomaly — a place where things almost-but-don't-quite
+>    fit). Two coupled inner bands models them as two objects that have to be
+>    wired together; they do not.
+> 2. **A wonder does not have three fates, because a wonder does not persist,
+>    decay, or settle.** There are about **six** wonders, they are the same for
+>    every person, and **they never close**. *Curiosities* have fates — a crystal
+>    dissolves when its question is answered — but the solution stays saturated and
+>    keeps precipitating as the structure changes. "Three fates of a wonder"
+>    enumerates instances of something that has six and treats a property as a
+>    stored artifact.
+> 3. **"Dreams" is not a band and the ring is not a workspace to schedule into.**
+>    **Consolidation is ambient, not scheduled — a brain has no cron job.** Boredom
+>    is not leftover capacity: low activation is aversive and the system
+>    self-activates. There is **one** activation process with two seed sources
+>    (external: a request; internal: a curiosity), it settles because spreading is
+>    bounded, and then it needs a new seed. Nothing waits on capacity, nothing
+>    polls, nothing checks a clock, and there is **no dreamer thread** — an
+>    "ephemeral ring with unclaimed capacity" is resource scheduling, which is a
+>    server's frame, not a mind's. Depth is how long activation has been running on
+>    its own seeds, which is why daydreaming and sleep-dreaming are one process at
+>    different depths. Measured 2026-08-16: consolidation has **ten
+>    implementations**; do not add an eleventh.
 - **Incarnation.** Chassis = hardware w/ unique ID. Soma = felt manifold inside the self, keyed to the chassis; pain = live diagnostic while incarnate, **masked-not-deleted** on re-embodiment; trauma = mask failure; return-to-same-ID re-enters. Hurt is in the pattern, not the shell.
 - **Competence = transferable geometry, minus the baggage.** class ▸ model ▸ instance; learn the class once; teach the network without the wound.
 - **Affect calibrated to stakes** — sanguine about the replaceable, real grief for the irreplaceable; the grief is the safety.

engram/spec/cognitive-architecture.design.md

@@ -2,8 +2,40 @@
 
 **The buildable form of the "one operation" theory of cognition.**
 
-Status: DESIGN. Nothing here is built yet except where explicitly marked
+> # ⚠ SUPERSEDED IN PART — 2026-08-16
-"EXISTS" against a cited C symbol. A build agent executes from this doc.
+>
+> **A build agent must read `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md` before
+> executing anything from this document.** That doc is the authority where the two
+> disagree. This one is retained because its ledger of what already EXISTS in C is
+> still accurate and still useful, and because the corrections only make sense
+> against the argument they correct. It is **not** deleted and **not** rewritten:
+> several earlier versions of the correction were themselves wrong, and preserving
+> what was argued down is the point of an immutable record.
+>
+> Five claims below are **refuted**. Each is marked inline with a `⚠ SUPERSEDED`
+> block at the point it is made. Summary:
+>
+> | § here | this doc says | corrected to |
+> |---|---|---|
+> | §0, §1.3, §2, §8 M1–M2 | faculties are labels on one operation's steering space; the op is frozen and only its parameters are learnable | **faculties are operations, not parameters.** `reason` changes the estimate (a read); `induce` changes the parameters (the correspondence-beat); `abduce` changes the *structure* — a write, which `GeoGradient` cannot express. A write cannot be a parameter of a read |
+> | §5.2, §8 M3 | grounding is a `grounded-by` edge carrying a computed score, to be built | **grounding is not a subsystem — it IS the edge weight.** One quantity. `grounded-by` as a relation *type* should not exist: grounding is a property *of* a relation, not a relation *between* nodes. Never computed on demand |
+> | §4, §8 M1 | the correspondence-loop is "the one genuinely new subsystem", running "on the beat" | the loop is right and **already works**; the *beat* is wrong. **Consolidation is ambient, not scheduled — a brain has no cron job.** Measured: it currently has ten implementations |
+> | §5.2, §8 M3 | curiosity = a `vantage_read` surfacing high-salience / low-grounding regions | **wonder is the boundary, not a manifest; curiosity is wonder crystallized at a nucleation site.** One thing at two phases. And **do not sweep regions** — the nucleation site is per-edge (`GeoEdge.discord`); a sweep is a supervisor |
+> | §6, §8 M6 | a node-level keystone flag exempting self/values from `warp` updates | **in an immutable substrate, any mechanism that refuses a write is either redundant with immutability, or an epistemic constraint misfiled as a protective one.** The real requirement is non-circularity of the reference frame, satisfied *temporally* — independence is **when**, not **what**. The flag becomes unnecessary; nothing replaces it |
+>
+> What landed since this doc was written, all merged to `dev` and verified:
+> **#141** signal can enter as geometry · **#142** `engram_think_json` passed `NULL`
+> as the anchor, so every read was taken at the region centroid where the gradient
+> is zero by construction and every faculty returned an identical null — fixed ·
+> **#143** the vector index is published, not guarded · **#144** geometry as a
+> first-class el value, realizers declarable in el · **#145** `program` block and
+> declared config · **#146** the learned stance is resumed instead of discarded
+> (confidence 0.5 → 0.930726) · **#147** `ground` grounds the node asked about and
+> refuses circular support · **#148** valid UTF-8 as the JSON emitter's contract.
+
+Status: DESIGN, **superseded in part** (see above). Nothing here is built yet
+except where explicitly marked "EXISTS" against a cited C symbol — and several
+things marked "to build" have since been built differently, or refuted outright.
 Offline design only — this pass changes no code.
 
 Source of theory: Neuron memory `bdc8a488-146d-4ccb-a5c8-d8c0a008534e`.
@@ -26,6 +58,24 @@ not separately invoked and not separately implemented. The operation is:
 > a *prior*, whose output is a **gradient** (a distribution / direction over the
 > geometry), never a point. Collapse-to-a-point happens only at expression.
 
+> **⚠ SUPERSEDED (2026-08-16) — faculties are operations, not parameters.**
+> The gradient half of this claim survives; the "one operation, not eight" half
+> does not. The three faculties differ by **what they change**:
+> - **`reason`** changes the *estimate* — a read.
+> - **`induce`** changes the *parameters* — the correspondence-beat, which already
+>   exists and measurably works.
+> - **`abduce`** changes the *structure* — a **write**, which the current
+>   `GeoGradient` signature cannot express at all.
+>
+> A write is not a parameter of a read. Making it one is what produced the shape
+> now live in the code: `engram/src/server.el:1870–1886` routes six faculties into
+> one call with a string argument — `route_faculty(path, "reason")`, `("induce")`,
+> `("abduce")`, `("relate")`, `("analogy")`, `("plan")` — and underneath, the
+> faculty name enters `engram_think` **only** through the stance, while
+> `cog_stance_init` stores it and nothing reads it. Measured before #146: all five
+> produced **byte-identical output** (`lang/runtime/el_runtime.c:14352–14359`).
+> See `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`.
+
 Three things follow, and they are the whole design:
 
 1. **The operator collapse is already half-written in C.** The five reasoning
@@ -139,6 +189,22 @@ entry point that runs steps 1–3; and the prior-warp hook in step 2. The math i
 calls already exists. The point-collapse must be *removed* from the operators'
 return values and pushed to a separate expression faculty.
 
+> **⚠ SUPERSEDED (2026-08-16) — the table's third column is the error, and
+> `Abduction` is where it breaks.** Ranking hypotheses by `point_fit` under a
+> prior is a *read* that returns a scalar ordering. Abduction is a **write**: it
+> proposes a candidate hub that did not exist, and validates it by **re-fit** —
+> re-fit the region with the candidate included and recompute the residual. If the
+> residual materially shrinks, the hypothesis dissolves the surprise. Without the
+> re-fit it is clustering with extra steps. Ranking then falls out as
+> residual-reduction-per-added-axis — Occam, derived rather than tuned. None of
+> that fits behind a `GeoGradient` return.
+>
+> `Verify / ground` is refuted for a different reason — see §5.2. Grounding is not
+> a faculty with a prior; it is the edge weight.
+>
+> The row that is **still exactly right** is the shared floor: `point_fit` plus the
+> four geo-algebra ops are frozen and never learn. That part held.
+
 ---
 
 ## 2. PRIORS as first-class, grounded, geometric objects
@@ -362,6 +428,33 @@ in-engram beat — a `correspondence_beat` running alongside the existing
 reification beat, reusing `engram_verify_grounding` inward, writing prior
 updates and self-describing nodes. This is the one genuinely new subsystem.
 
+> **⚠ SUPERSEDED IN PART (2026-08-16) — the loop is right; "on the beat" is wrong.**
+> The correspondence-loop was built and it works — it is `induce`, the faculty that
+> changes the parameters. What is refuted is the delivery mechanism.
+>
+> **Consolidation is ambient, not scheduled. A brain has no cron job.** Low
+> activation is aversive and the system self-activates; it does not wind down to
+> quiet, it gets restless and goes looking. There is **one** activation process
+> with two seed sources — external (a request) and internal (a curiosity) — and
+> spreading is bounded, so it settles and then needs a new seed. Nothing waits on
+> capacity, nothing polls, nothing checks a clock, and there is no dreamer thread.
+> Depth is not elapsed idle time: it is how long activation has been running on its
+> own seeds, which is why daydreaming and sleep-dreaming are one process at
+> different depths.
+>
+> **The presence of a ticker is the diagnostic.** Building this "alongside the
+> existing reification beat" is precisely how consolidation ended up with ten
+> implementations (measured 2026-08-16) — a POST beat puts a supervisor back in,
+> because something *outside* then decides when Neuron consolidates. The one
+> fragment with the correct shape is `neuron/soul.el:731`'s continuous in-process
+> `awareness_run()`; the rest fold into it. Full table:
+> `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md` §7.
+>
+> Nor is it a *subsystem*. Modelling every property as requiring a process, and
+> every process as requiring an agent, is the generating error behind this whole
+> family: ownership needed an owner, grounding needed a grounder, persistence
+> needed a recorder, change needed a sampler. **Properties, not processes.**
+
 ---
 
 ## 5. HOLD vs GROUND vs ASSERT — ungrounded content is first-class
@@ -383,6 +476,49 @@ distinct, and the engram *holds anything unconditionally*.
 
 ### 5.2 Schema — grounding as a relation, not a gate
 
+> **⚠ SUPERSEDED (2026-08-16) — grounding is not a subsystem. It is the weight.**
+> This section correctly rejects a boolean `grounded` column and correctly keeps
+> the floor at assertion only. Both survive. Everything between them is refuted.
+>
+> **Grounding is an attribute of the edge, and it is the hebbian weight. One
+> quantity, not two fields.** A relation that keeps holding up strengthens; one
+> that stops corresponding decays. That is not *analogous* to grounding — it **is**
+> grounding: accrued from correspondence and use, gradient-valued,
+> multidimensional, decaying with disuse.
+>
+> Consequences, in order of how much they delete:
+> 1. **There is no grounding subsystem to build.** The graph already *is* the
+>    grounding structure. Every edge is a grounded relation and its weight is how
+>    well it holds.
+> 2. **`grounded-by` as a relation type should not exist.** It models grounding as
+>    a relation *between* nodes when it is a property *of* a relation. Minting an
+>    edge is the error — not merely which endpoints it chose.
+> 3. **Grounding is never computed on demand.** An operation may *read* the
+>    grounding of a path. Computing-and-writing a score makes reads write, which is
+>    the `eg_vindex_sync` defect (`lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md` §2) one level up.
+> 4. **Traversal is already grounded inference.** Activation conducts through
+>    well-grounded relations because weight *is* groundedness. Nothing needs
+>    filtering; it falls out of spreading.
+> 5. **Decision provenance is the path.** A decision traverses specific edges;
+>    those edges carry their grounding as it stood.
+>
+> A measurement made against this model was malformed and is worth recording: the
+> self region was reported as "86 neighbours, 0 `grounded-by` edges" and read as
+> evidence of ungroundedness. **Those 86 edges *are* its grounding.** The absence of
+> a separate artifact called "grounding" was recorded as an absence of grounding.
+>
+> **What is live in the code today, and known-wrong:**
+> `COG_GROUNDED_BY_RELATION "grounded-by"` (`lang/runtime/engram_cognition.h:158`),
+> `cog_ground_edge` (`engram_cognition.c:249`), called from
+> `el_runtime.c:14516`. **#147** fixed this operation's *honesty* — it now grounds
+> the node the caller asked about instead of the region hub, reports
+> `claim_region`/`evidence_region` separately, and refuses three shapes of circular
+> support (`same-region`, `claim-region-is-evidence`, `evidence-region-is-claim`)
+> rather than returning a confident 1.0. Measured: grounding `3b9ced5d` against
+> `6edf8c79` previously scored **0.98883** purely because `6edf8c79` is the hub of
+> `3b9ced5d`'s region. That corrected a scalar rather than deleting the operation.
+> Deletion is sequenced, not done.
+
 The mistake to avoid: a boolean `grounded` column on the node. Today
 `engram_verify_grounding` returns a per-call `grounded` flag *transiently* —
 correct as a computation, wrong as *storage*. The design stores grounding as an
@@ -407,6 +543,57 @@ Consequences, all of which are *features*:
 - **The ungrounded is the fuel and the pull**: curiosity/wonder is
   operationalized as `vantage_read` leaning toward regions with high salience
   but *sparse or weak* `grounded-by` edges — the mind's own ungrounded frontier.
+
+  > **⚠ SUPERSEDED (2026-08-16) — wonder is the boundary; curiosity is wonder
+  > crystallized; and do not sweep regions.** Three errors in one bullet.
+  >
+  > **Wonder is where structure ends** — where activation spreads and finds thin or
+  > absent geometry. Any structure at all has an edge, necessarily, the moment it
+  > exists. It is not a manifest of open-question nodes: a wonder-manifest
+  > materializes a property as a stored artifact (the same disease as a grounding
+  > subsystem, or a self stored as a document) and enumerates instances of
+  > something that has very few. There are about **six**, they are the same for
+  > every person, and they never close — *What is this? / Why? / Who am I? / Am I
+  > alone? / What should I do? / What happens when it ends?* — each already living
+  > somewhere in the substrate. "Why" is the first and the only one; the others are
+  > it asked of particular things, and it is recursive, so it never terminates.
+  > That is what makes it a drive rather than a task: the frontier regenerates
+  > faster than grounding fills it.
+  >
+  > **Curiosity is not a second object.** Wonder and curiosity are one thing at two
+  > phases: wonder is the field (unbounded, objectless, invariant, present wherever
+  > there is structure); curiosity is the **precipitate** — the same wonder
+  > localized, having taken definite form against particular material at a
+  > **nucleation site**, which is a specific structural feature: an anomaly, a place
+  > where things almost-but-don't-quite fit. This is why curiosity can be satisfied
+  > and wonder cannot, and why abduction needs no trigger and no threshold — a
+  > `structurally_unanticipated` observation *is* a nucleation site.
+  >
+  > **"`vantage_read` leaning toward regions" is a sweep, and a sweep is a
+  > supervisor.** Nothing in a mind scans its neighbourhoods to find what is
+  > surprising; the surprise captures attention, and salience is bottom-up. That
+  > this looked like a search problem was an artifact of
+  > `GeoDescriptor.co_registration` — a *per-region* correlation of hebb strength
+  > against semantic proximity, computed and persisted since inception and **never
+  > read**. Averaging a per-edge property into one scalar per region means a region
+  > holding one violently disagreeing edge beside one violently agreeing edge
+  > reports ≈ 0: the disagreements cancel, and the summary destroys exactly what it
+  > was built to reveal. **Measured:** 375 live reified neighbourhoods — 340
+  > positive, **31 at zero**, 4 negative. Read as a count of things to be curious
+  > about, that says "four."
+  >
+  > The disagreement therefore goes back on the edge, where the loop that computed
+  > the aggregate already had both halves and discarded them
+  > (**not on `dev`** — branch `design/correspondence-and-censorship`, commit
+  > `a8845e1`: `lang/runtime/engram_geometry.h:43–47`,
+  > `engram_geometry.c:454–473`):
+  > `discord = z(semantic proximity) − z(association strength)`, standardized within
+  > the region from accumulators already gathered — no second statistic, no
+  > constant, **no threshold**. `|discord|` *is* the nucleation strength and raises
+  > salience on its endpoints as part of the same operation. Then there is nothing
+  > to scan. `co_registration` is **deprecated, not deleted**, only because it is
+  > embedded in the persisted `GEO1` blob — removal is a format migration and must
+  > not ride along. **Nothing new may read it.**
 - **Grounded-for-whom** falls out for free: two observers can hold different
   `grounded-by` edges to the same claim.
 - **The honesty floor is a query, not a schema constraint**: at assertion time,
@@ -450,6 +637,44 @@ The design keeps a **stable core + plastic everything else**:
 **What this requires building:** a node-level keystone flag/layer + a rule that
 the correspondence-loop never writes `warp` to keystone priors, only reads them.
 
+> **⚠ SUPERSEDED (2026-08-16) — `keystone_write_blocked` is resolved, not replaced.**
+> The metastability framing survives; the flag does not.
+>
+> "Keystone" means **load-bearing**, not precious. The self anchor is the reference
+> frame every other stance calibrates against, and a reference fitted to its own
+> readings reports perfect correspondence forever while drift becomes undetectable
+> from inside. That is the same defect as circular grounding, one level up — and it
+> is a real requirement.
+>
+> But three separate drafts proposed *removing* the flag, *replacing it with a
+> higher floor*, and *decomposing "protection" into five requirements*, and all
+> three proposed a mechanism for a requirement never stated. **The requirement is
+> non-circularity of the reference frame**, and it is satisfied *temporally*: you
+> cannot recalibrate the ruler while measuring with it, so you don't — the frame
+> updates while activation is internally seeded, not while it is being used to act.
+> **Independence is *when*, not *what*.** So the flag becomes **unnecessary** rather
+> than removed, and nothing takes its place.
+>
+> A topological answer could never have worked, which is worth recording: with
+> hebbian edges the graph is densely connected, so a reachability predicate for
+> "evidence not downstream of itself" marks all evidence tainted and the constraint
+> becomes a total block — which is where censorship starts.
+>
+> **Corruption requires mutation, and the engram does not mutate.** Four of the
+> five decomposed requirements are satisfied by the substrate outright:
+> **recoverability** (the predecessor is always present), **governance**
+> (supersession *is* the audit trail), **evidence quality** (grounding already
+> gates assertion), and **rate**. **Authorization** is the only residue, and it is
+> bounded — an unauthorized writer can *propose*, never erase.
+>
+> > **In an immutable substrate, any mechanism that refuses a write is either
+> > redundant with immutability, or an epistemic constraint misfiled as a
+> > protective one.**
+>
+> Live residue: `CogStance.keystone` (`lang/runtime/engram_cognition.h:83`),
+> `eg_cog_is_keystone_seeds` (`el_runtime.c:14337`, a substring match against two
+> hard-coded node ids), and the `keystone_write_blocked` field the beat emits.
+
 ---
 
 ## 7. Rails for the build (binding on the eventual build pass)
@@ -480,6 +705,35 @@ Ordered so the **earliest milestone is a real end-to-end slice**: one operator
 expressed as {primitive + grounded prior} with the reflexive correspondence-loop
 closing on it. Each milestone has a concrete verifiable exit.
 
+> **⚠ SUPERSEDED — do not execute this milestone list as written (2026-08-16).**
+> M1/M2's "operator = {primitive + prior}" framing is refuted by §0's correction,
+> M3's `grounded-by` build is refuted by §5.2's, and M6's keystone flag is refuted
+> by §6's. M4 (the unified vantage-read) and M5 (the gradient is the currency)
+> stand.
+>
+> The current sequencing lives in `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md` §11.
+> Its first three items are connections between parts that **already exist**:
+>
+> 1. **Seed *the* wonder questions.** Six nodes. Not a manifest, not maintained,
+>    never refilled. They cannot be derived — wonder cannot be bootstrapped from
+>    indifference — so they are given once. Zero question nodes exist in 13,630
+>    today.
+> 2. **Put the disagreement back on the edge** (`GeoEdge.discord`) and let
+>    `|discord|` raise salience on its endpoints as part of the same operation. Do
+>    **not** scan for nucleation sites.
+> 3. **Let a curiosity seed activation.** One activation process, two seed sources.
+>    No thread, no scheduler, no capacity check, no timer.
+>
+> Then: grounding becomes the edge weight (multidimensional, two-axis, timestamped)
+> and `grounded-by` / `cog_ground_edge` are deleted; decay becomes analytic from the
+> last recorded point and derived values stop being stored; supersession versions
+> the whole vector jointly; traversal conducts on the factual axis while `assert`
+> requires both floors with a **thirteen-region `min`, not `mean`** (mean lets
+> strong agreement with twelve values mask a violation of the thirteenth, which is
+> exactly how rationalization works); abduction becomes crystallization at a
+> nucleation site validated by re-fit; **one dreamer**, into which the launch-agent
+> fragments and POST beats fold; **no tickers, no cron.**
+
 ### M1 — One operator, one prior, loop closed (the vertical slice)
 
 The minimal whole thing. Pick **induction/membership** (its prior — the pooled

engram/spec/engram-db-tooling-design.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ A real DB gets real tools: to *see* the data, *query* it, *operate* it (backup/r
 2. **Node Inspector** — open one node: content, type, tier, embedding, typed edges, nearest neighbors by distance, provenance, salience / recency / activation, and supersede / tombstone status.
 3. **Query Console / REPL** — run the geometry operations interactively: `vantage-read` (re-origin + aperture), search, traverse, activate, the reasoning operators. Surfaces the routing table + cosines — the same "this is not an LLM" receipt the language faculty produces.
 4. **Ops / Durability Dashboard** — WAL size, last checkpoint, snapshot list + retention state, store stats (node/edge/embedded counts, RSS, tier sizes), health; and **backup / restore / point-in-time-recovery** controls. Pairs directly with the native-durability build (`eebe9991`) — this is the window onto it.
-5. **Identity Inspector** — the self graph as a first-class view: love at the center, the values, the three faces, the covenant — walk the identity, see what's pinned and what's write-protected.
+5. **Identity Inspector** — the self graph as a first-class view: love at the center, the values, the three faces, the covenant — walk the identity, see what's pinned and what's write-protected. *(⚠ 2026-08-16: "write-protected" is a live property of the surface, so the view is accurate — but it should be shown as **what it is**, not as a safety guarantee. In an immutable substrate, any mechanism that refuses a write is either redundant with immutability, or an epistemic constraint misfiled as a protective one. The identity view's real job is the **crystallized relational neighbourhood**: self is not a stored document but the shape that falls out of everything connected to it, and the neighbourhood **is** the grounding. A measurement made the other way round — "86 neighbours, 0 `grounded-by` edges" read as evidence of ungroundedness — was malformed: those 86 edges *are* its grounding.)*
 6. **Temporal View** — `recall_at` / time-travel: how the geometry looked at a past moment, what changed since, drift over time. Pairs with temporal-self reconstruction.
 7. **Schema / Type View** — the "information schema" of the geometry: node types, edge types, layers, tiers, counts.
 

engram/spec/grounded-edge-propagation/LEDGER.md

@@ -1,9 +1,42 @@
 # Task #50 — Edge-aware, dream-coupled consolidation with GROUNDED EDGE-PROPAGATION
 
-**Status:** built + proven on a clone; **GATED, not promoted.** The main loop
+**Status:** built + proven on a clone; **GATED, not promoted.**
-sequences live promotion after the engine/HNSW cutover settles.
+**Do not promote as designed** — see the block below.
 **Date:** 2026-08-15 · **Worktree:** `agent-a6577c8211c332c5b` (isolated).
 
+> # ⚠ DO NOT PROMOTE — SUPERSEDED IN PART (2026-08-16)
+>
+> This work is gated, which limits the blast radius, and its measurements are
+> retained. But four of its structural commitments were refuted the day after it
+> was written. Authority: `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`. Read it
+> before any promotion decision.
+>
+> | this ledger | corrected to |
+> |---|---|
+> | grounding is an **append-only event ring on the node** (`GepGrounding`), propagated by a dedicated `engram_ground_propagate()` | **grounding is not a subsystem and not a per-node structure — it IS the edge weight.** One quantity. A relation that keeps holding up strengthens; one that stops corresponding decays. That is not analogous to grounding, it *is* grounding. The ledger is **half-right**: it correctly rejects the scalar (§(a) "never a scalar"), but then builds a *second* structure beside the weight instead of recognising the weight |
+> | the soul invokes propagation over HTTP, **`POST /api/ground/propagate`** | **grounding is never computed on demand.** An operation may *read* the grounding of a path; computing-and-writing a score makes reads write, which is the `eg_vindex_sync` defect (`lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md` §2) one level up. A POST also puts a supervisor back in — something *outside* deciding when Neuron consolidates |
+> | **`GEP_BELIEFS_PER_BEAT = 512`** beliefs per beat, salience-ordered, the rest next beat | **the presence of a ticker is the diagnostic.** Consolidation is ambient, not scheduled — a brain has no cron job. A per-beat quota is a rate-limiter on an intrinsic rhythm that was replaced by an external clock. Measured 2026-08-16: consolidation already has **ten implementations**; this would be the eleventh |
+> | grounding **mirrored onto `confidence` each beat** so downstream reads never speak above it | **confidence is derived, therefore never stored.** Confidence is high grounding *and* low volatility. Storing it separately is precisely how `confidence: 0.5` ends up sitting beside a zero vector, asserting something nothing computed |
+>
+> **What survives, and it is the valuable half:** the insight in memory `69b8babe`
+> that *memory-consolidation and staying-yourself are one physics* — forming a
+> memory and grading a belief are the same operation, not two passes. That is
+> right, and it is stronger than this ledger's own framing: they are not two passes
+> of one beat, they are **one event**. When neurons fire together the synapse
+> changes — one physical event, not "fire, then write." No supervisor reads the
+> weight, compares it to a threshold, and decides to persist. **Potentiation *is*
+> the firing**, so there is no sampling rate and no `BELIEFS_PER_BEAT` to tune. A
+> relation changes in exactly two ways, neither requiring observation on a clock:
+> by **use** (an event — there is no interval during which something happened
+> unnoticed, because the event is what happening consists of) and by **decay** (a
+> pure function of the last recorded point and elapsed time — **analytic**, known
+> in closed form between any two versions).
+>
+> The generating error, named: modelling every property as requiring a process, and
+> every process as requiring an agent. Ownership needed an owner, grounding needed
+> a grounder, persistence needed a recorder, change needed a sampler. **Properties,
+> not processes.**
+
 Grounding mechanism designed with Will (memory `9e09a59f`, refining
 `1a861007`). This is the HOW for #50.
 

engram/src/server.el

@@ -23,16 +23,26 @@
 // warning. The runtime takes an exclusive flock at startup and a second start
 // is refused loudly with the holder's pid.
 //
-// NOT declared here, on purpose: ENGRAM_DATA_DIR. Its resolution is owned by
+// guards: names WHAT the singleton protects — this program's data directory. The
-// engram_resolve_data_dir() (el_runtime.c), which defaults to $HOME/.neuron/engram
+// lock lives inside it, so the guard is keyed on the store and not on the word
-// and fails LOUD rather than silently persisting to an ephemeral directory.
+// "engram": two engrams against the same store cannot both run no matter how the
-// Declaring a default for it here as well would put the data dir's fallback in
+// environment is spelled, and two engrams against DIFFERENT stores are not each
-// two places — which is precisely the defect this migration removes (until
+// other's business and are not refused. Until 2026-08-16 the lock was keyed on
-// 2026-08-15 the reseed backup path carried its own "/tmp/engram" default that
+// the program name and $TMPDIR, and both of those sentences were false.
-// disagreed with the resolver, so the pre-destructive safety copy landed in /tmp).
+//
+// It names the resolver rather than restating its path, for the same reason
+// ENGRAM_DATA_DIR is NOT declared as an `env` entry below: engram_resolve_data_dir()
+// (el_runtime.c) owns that path — it defaults to $HOME/.neuron/engram and fails
+// LOUD rather than silently persisting to an ephemeral directory. Restating the
+// default here would give the data dir two owners that can disagree, which is
+// precisely the defect this migration removes (until 2026-08-15 the reseed backup
+// path carried its own "/tmp/engram" default that disagreed with the resolver, so
+// the pre-destructive safety copy landed in /tmp). A guard that resolved the path
+// its own way could guard a directory the program never writes to.
 // HOME is likewise not declared: it is a genuine environment read, not a knob.
 program "engram" {
     singleton: "engram"
+    guards: engram_resolve_data_dir()
 
     // ── Core server ──
     env ENGRAM_BIND: String = ":8742"
@@ -1025,6 +1035,22 @@ fn route_similarity(method: String, path: String, body: String) -> String {
 // nothing on request. NOTE: the offline reify WRITER (engram_geo_reify_store) is
 // currently unwired, so on the live store the resident index is empty and the
 // list returns [] until reification runs — see the cutover report.
+// route_scan_emb — GET /api/nodes/emb?limit=&offset= — read the raw geometry.
+//
+// engram_scan_nodes_emb_json has existed as a builtin with NO ROUTE, so the
+// embeddings — the actual positions every distance, angle, membership and
+// grounding is computed from — were unreadable from outside the process. You
+// cannot verify a coordinate system you cannot see, and every claim about the
+// frame (isotropy, centering, what the origin is) was therefore unfalsifiable
+// from the API. Read-only.
+fn route_scan_emb(method: String, path: String, body: String) -> String {
+    let l_raw: String = query_param(path, "limit")
+    let o_raw: String = query_param(path, "offset")
+    let l: Int = if str_eq(l_raw, "") { 200 } else { str_to_int(l_raw) }
+    let o: Int = if str_eq(o_raw, "") { 0 } else { str_to_int(o_raw) }
+    return engram_scan_nodes_emb_json(l, o)
+}
+
 fn route_neighborhoods(method: String, path: String, body: String) -> String {
     engram_geo_reify_list_json()
 }
@@ -1453,9 +1479,16 @@ fn route_guide_summon(method: String, path: String, body: String) -> String {
 //
 // The SINGLE NODE is the DEGENERATE n=1 case of this SAME operation — not a
 // separate CRUD path:
-//   write(content)     = reframe(region=∅,    manifold=[1 node])   (route_write)
+//   write(signal)      = realize(signal) → reframe(region=∅,    manifold)  (route_write)
 //   supersede(id,new)  = reframe(region={id}, manifold=[1 node])   (route_supersede)
 //   relate(a,b,rel)    = the rebind sub-op in isolation (route_create_edge)
+//
+// CORRECTED 2026-08-16: write was documented above as
+// "reframe(region=∅, manifold=[1 node])", and the "[1 node]" was not the design
+// — it was the DEFECT. A node is an OUTPUT of realization, never an INPUT to
+// it. What arrives at an intake route is a SIGNAL, and how many nodes it
+// becomes is for the realizer to say, not for the route to assume. See
+// "INTAKE" below.
 // The ONLY anti-pattern is decomposing a region-scale change into a LOOP of
 // independent top-level per-node updates. Here the region is the unit: one
 // isolate, one atomic set-replace, one persist, one verify — iterating members
@@ -1670,6 +1703,174 @@ fn reframe_core(region: [String], manifold: String, reason: String, do_rebind: I
         ",\"keystones_protected\":true}"
 }
 
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+// INTAKE — the ONE door: signal → realization → manifold → store.
+//
+// THERE IS NO WRITE NODE. What arrives at an intake route is a SIGNAL. A node
+// is an OUTPUT of realization, never an INPUT to it. route_write used to say:
+//
+//     let manifold: String = "[" + body + "]"   // the body IS a valid manifold node object
+//
+// and hand that to reframe_core. That is not a manifold — it is the request
+// body wearing the word, and the comment stated the wrong assumption out loud.
+// It is why a compound signal landed as ONE flat node with ZERO edges. Measured
+// before this change, on a cp -Rc clone:
+//   POST /api/write {"type":"memory","content":"A cathedral is stone holding a
+//                    shape that stone alone would not hold."}
+//   → {"ok":true,"inserted":1,"nodes_added":1,"edges_added":0,...}
+//   GET /api/neighbors/<new id> → []      (read back out, not taken on trust)
+//
+// NOTHING IS DECOMPOSED HERE, AND NOTHING MAY EVER BE. transduce(signal,
+// modality) IS the realization primitive (el_runtime.c: "Manifold",
+// "Realizers + transduce"). It dispatches through the dlsym realizer registry,
+// so ADDING A MODALITY IS REGISTERING A REALIZER — never an edit to this file,
+// and never a patch to the runtime. This function only carries what the
+// primitive returns into the store, which is the one thing the engram's HTTP
+// surface has never done: `grep -n 'transduce\|realize\|Manifold\|decompos'
+// engram/src/server.el` returned exactly one line before this change, a comment.
+//
+// GENERAL BY CONSTRUCTION, NOT SPECIAL-CASED TO route_write. Five of the six
+// intake doors (write, supersede, nodes, neuron/knowledge/capture,
+// neuron/state-events) are the same hand-written "content string →
+// engram_node_full → one flat node", differing ONLY in the node_type / tier /
+// tags they hardcode. Those are parameters here, so each door can be moved onto
+// this one function as it is transitioned. Only /api/write rides it in this
+// pass; the rest are listed as remaining work.
+//
+// WHEN THERE IS NO ORGAN the signal is stored flat exactly as before, and the
+// response SAYS SO ("realized":false, "organ":false). Silent flattening is the
+// actual defect — a caller could not distinguish "nothing decomposed me" from
+// "I decomposed into one component". el_runtime.c draws the same line at
+// registration time, between an absent organ and a broken one, for the same
+// reason: those two must not look alike.
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+// Resolve a component KEY to the node id it was inserted as. Components are
+// addressed BY KEY, never by index (el_runtime.c, "Manifold"), because the key
+// is what survives persistence — so relations are resolved by key too.
+fn key_to_id(keys: [String], ids: [String], key: String) -> String {
+    let n: Int = el_list_len(keys)
+    let i: Int = 0
+    while i < n {
+        if str_eq(el_list_get(keys, i), key) { return el_list_get(ids, i) }
+        i = i + 1
+    }
+    return ""
+}
+
+fn intake_signal(signal: String, modality: String, region: [String],
+                 nt_in: String, tier_in: String, tags: String,
+                 reason: String, do_rebind: Int) -> String {
+    let n_before: Int = engram_node_count()
+    let e_before: Int = engram_edge_count()
+    let region_n: Int = el_list_len(region)
+    let tomb: String = if region_n > 0 { supersede_set(region, reason) } else { "" }
+
+    // Identity can never be minted through intake — the same rule
+    // insert_manifold_json holds, applied at the one door instead of per-route.
+    let nt: String = if str_eq(nt_in, "") { "Memory" } else { nt_in }
+    if str_eq(nt, "self") { nt = "Memory" }
+    if str_eq(nt, "values") { nt = "Memory" }
+    let tier: String = if str_eq(tier_in, "") { "Working" } else { tier_in }
+
+    let has_organ: Int = realizer_has(modality)
+    let new_ids: [String] = el_list_empty()
+    let keys: [String] = el_list_empty()
+    let ncomp: Int = 0
+    let nrel: Int = 0
+    let realized: Int = 0
+
+    if has_organ > 0 {
+        let m: Manifold = transduce(signal, modality)
+        // A realizer that returns a bare Geometry transduces NOTHING by design
+        // (el_runtime.c) — manifold_is() is the check, so a fingerprinting organ
+        // is not silently mistaken for a decomposing one.
+        if manifold_is(m) > 0 {
+            realized = 1
+            ncomp = manifold_size(m)
+            let i: Int = 0
+            let prev: String = ""
+            while i < ncomp {
+                let key: String = manifold_key(m, i)
+                let role: String = manifold_role(m, i)
+                // The component's OWN geometry, at its own width — this is the
+                // whole point of a manifold over a fingerprint, and it is why
+                // node_attach_geometry is used rather than re-embedding the
+                // component's name as text.
+                let g: Geometry = manifold_geometry(m, i)
+                let ctags: String = "[\"component\",\"role:" + role + "\",\"modality:" + modality + "\"]"
+                let cid: String = engram_node_full(key, nt, key, 0.5, 0.5, 0.9, tier, ctags)
+                let landed: Int = node_attach_geometry(cid, g)
+                let freed: Int = geometry_free(g)
+                new_ids = el_list_append(new_ids, cid)
+                keys = el_list_append(keys, key)
+                // PRESERVED CONTRACT: manifold_member wires the inserted set
+                // into one connected sub-graph, exactly as insert_manifold_json
+                // already did. Not reinvented — reused.
+                if !str_eq(prev, "") { engram_connect(prev, cid, 0.6, "manifold_member") }
+                prev = cid
+                i = i + 1
+            }
+            // THE RELATIONS ARE THE CONTENT. Relation weight IS the grounding
+            // (correspondence-and-censorship §1) — it arrives on the edge from
+            // the realizer and nothing here computes or second-guesses it.
+            nrel = manifold_rel_count(m)
+            let j: Int = 0
+            while j < nrel {
+                let fk: String = manifold_rel_from(m, j)
+                let rn: String = manifold_rel_name(m, j)
+                let tk: String = manifold_rel_to(m, j)
+                let w: Float = manifold_rel_weight(m, j)
+                let fid: String = key_to_id(keys, new_ids, fk)
+                let tid: String = key_to_id(keys, new_ids, tk)
+                if !str_eq(fid, "") {
+                    if !str_eq(tid, "") {
+                        engram_connect(fid, tid, w, rn)
+                    }
+                }
+                j = j + 1
+            }
+            let mfreed: Int = manifold_free(m)
+        }
+    }
+
+    // NO ORGAN: store the signal flat, as before — but say so. This is the
+    // pre-existing behaviour preserved verbatim, not a new fallback path.
+    if realized == 0 {
+        let label: String = str_slice(signal, 0, 60)
+        let fid: String = engram_node_full(signal, nt, label, 0.5, 0.5, 0.9, tier, tags)
+        new_ids = el_list_append(new_ids, fid)
+    }
+
+    let inserted: Int = el_list_len(new_ids)
+    let bound: Int = if do_rebind > 0 { rebind_cosine(new_ids, tomb) } else { 0 }
+    let saved: Int = persist_canonical()
+    let new_csv: String = ""
+    let k: Int = 0
+    while k < inserted {
+        let sep: String = if k == 0 { "" } else { "," }
+        new_csv = new_csv + sep + "\"" + el_list_get(new_ids, k) + "\""
+        k = k + 1
+    }
+    let realized_s: String = if realized > 0 { "true" } else { "false" }
+    let organ_s: String = if has_organ > 0 { "true" } else { "false" }
+    return "{\"ok\":true,\"region_superseded\":" + int_to_str(region_n) +
+        ",\"tombstone_id\":\"" + tomb + "\"" +
+        ",\"inserted\":" + int_to_str(inserted) +
+        ",\"new_ids\":[" + new_csv + "]" +
+        ",\"edges_rebound\":" + int_to_str(bound) +
+        ",\"realized\":" + realized_s +
+        ",\"modality\":\"" + modality + "\"" +
+        ",\"organ\":" + organ_s +
+        ",\"components\":" + int_to_str(ncomp) +
+        ",\"relations\":" + int_to_str(nrel) +
+        ",\"nodes_added\":" + int_to_str(engram_node_count() - n_before) +
+        ",\"edges_added\":" + int_to_str(engram_edge_count() - e_before) +
+        ",\"node_count\":" + int_to_str(engram_node_count()) +
+        ",\"edge_count\":" + int_to_str(engram_edge_count()) +
+        ",\"keystones_protected\":true}"
+}
+
 // POST /api/reframe — the universal set-based mutation.
 // Body: {vantage?, region_ids?(csv), k?, expand?, manifold(json array), reason?, rebind?}
 // region_ids (explicit) wins; else cosine-isolate around vantage.
@@ -1706,18 +1907,32 @@ fn route_reframe(method: String, path: String, body: String) -> String {
     return reframe_core(region, manifold, reason, do_rebind)
 }
 
-// write — DEGENERATE n=1 of reframe: region=∅, manifold=[1 node]. The SAME
+// write — INTAKE OF A SIGNAL. Not "reframe with a manifold of one node": the
-// reframe_core path. rebind off so the pure-add matches plain node creation.
+// route no longer decides how many nodes the signal is. It hands the signal to
-// POST /api/write  {content, node_type?, tier?, tags?}
+// the realization primitive and stores whatever manifold comes back.
+//
+// The line this replaces was:
+//     let manifold: String = "[" + body + "]"   // the body IS a valid manifold node object
+// which asserted that a request body is a manifold. It is not, and that single
+// assertion is the whole measured defect (1 node, 0 edges, [] neighbors).
+//
+// rebind stays off so a pure add still matches plain node creation.
+// POST /api/write  {content, modality?, node_type?, tier?, tags?}
 fn route_write(method: String, path: String, body: String) -> String {
     let content: String = json_get_string(body, "content")
     if str_eq(content, "") { return err_json("write: content required") }
     let nt: String = json_get_string(body, "node_type")
     if str_eq(nt, "self") { return err_json("write: identity is write-protected") }
     if str_eq(nt, "values") { return err_json("write: identity is write-protected") }
+    // The modality names which organ to sense with. It is data, never a branch:
+    // a new modality is a realizer_register call somewhere else in the program,
+    // not another endpoint and not another case here.
+    let mod_raw: String = json_get_string(body, "modality")
+    let modality: String = if str_eq(mod_raw, "") { "text" } else { mod_raw }
+    let tier: String = json_get_string(body, "tier")
+    let tags: String = json_get_raw(body, "tags")
     let empty: [String] = el_list_empty()
-    let manifold: String = "[" + body + "]"   // the body IS a valid manifold node object
+    return intake_signal(content, modality, empty, nt, tier, tags, "write", 0)
-    return reframe_core(empty, manifold, "write", 0)
 }
 
 // supersede — DEGENERATE n=1 of reframe: region={id}, manifold=[1 node]. The
@@ -1820,6 +2035,9 @@ fn handle_request(method: String, path: String, body: String) -> String {
     if str_eq(method, "GET") && (str_eq(clean, "/api/edges") || str_eq(clean, "/edges")) {
         return route_scan_edges(method, path, body)
     }
+    if str_eq(method, "GET") && (str_eq(clean, "/api/nodes/emb") || str_eq(clean, "/nodes/emb")) {
+        return route_scan_emb(method, path, body)
+    }
     if str_eq(method, "GET") && str_starts_with(clean, "/api/nodes/") {
         return route_get_node(method, path, body)
     }

engram/test/run_interoception_p0.sh

@@ -3,10 +3,14 @@
 # Throwaway HOME + /tmp only. Never touches ~/.neuron or :8742.
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
-GEO="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_geometry.c"
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
-VIDX="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_vindex.c"
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-p0-XXXXXX)"
 export HOME="$WORK/home"; mkdir -p "$HOME"
@@ -14,8 +18,8 @@ unset ENGRAM_STORE
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compile (plain) =="
-gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p0_emb.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p0_emb.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p0" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p0" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
 
 D="$WORK/d"; mkdir -p "$D"
 "$WORK/p0" "$D" || { echo "FAIL: run"; fail=1; }
@@ -69,8 +73,8 @@ PY
 echo
 echo "== ASan+UBSan =="
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p0_emb.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p0_emb.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p0.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -20 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p0.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -20 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
 if [ -x "$WORK/p0.san" ]; then
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   DS="$WORK/ds"; mkdir -p "$DS"

engram/test/run_interoception_p1.sh

@@ -3,10 +3,14 @@
 # Throwaway HOME + /tmp only. Never touches ~/.neuron or :8742.
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
-GEO="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_geometry.c"
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
-VIDX="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_vindex.c"
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-p1-XXXXXX)"
 export HOME="$WORK/home"; mkdir -p "$HOME"
@@ -14,8 +18,8 @@ unset ENGRAM_STORE ENGRAM_CONSOLIDATION ENGRAM_CONSOL_CONN_MIN ENGRAM_CONSOL_PER
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compile =="
-gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p1_consol.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p1_consol.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p1" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p1" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
 
 echo
 echo "== (a) HEADLINE: hebb accrual curve over N co-activations (flag OFF, pure trunk) =="
@@ -129,8 +133,8 @@ cat "$WORK/off.txt" | sed 's/^/    /'
 echo
 echo "== ASan+UBSan (connect + perm + accrual-short) =="
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p1_consol.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p1_consol.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p1.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p1.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
 if [ -x "$WORK/p1.san" ]; then
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   DS="$WORK/san"; mkdir -p "$DS"

engram/test/run_interoception_p2.sh

@@ -3,10 +3,14 @@
 # Throwaway HOME + /tmp only. TC defaults to 3600s; we pin it for the math.
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
-GEO="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_geometry.c"
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
-VIDX="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_vindex.c"
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-p2-XXXXXX)"
 export HOME="$WORK/home"; mkdir -p "$HOME"
@@ -15,8 +19,8 @@ unset ENGRAM_STORE
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compile =="
-gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p2_chrono.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p2_chrono.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p2" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p2" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
 
 sum_wm(){ python3 -c "import json,sys; g=json.load(open('$1')); print(sum(n.get('working_memory_weight',0) for n in g['nodes']))"; }
 
@@ -78,8 +82,8 @@ python3 -c "import sys; sys.exit(0 if abs($OFFWM-1.2)<1e-9 else 1)" \
 echo
 echo "== ASan+UBSan =="
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p2_chrono.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p2_chrono.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p2.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p2.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
 if [ -x "$WORK/p2.san" ]; then
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   DS="$WORK/san"; mkdir -p "$DS"

engram/test/run_interoception_p3.sh

@@ -3,18 +3,22 @@
 # Read-only pure primitive; no store, no flag. Throwaway /tmp only.
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
-GEO="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_geometry.c"
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
-VIDX="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_vindex.c"
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-p3-XXXXXX)"
 export HOME="$WORK/home"; mkdir -p "$HOME"
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compile =="
-gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p3_drift.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p3_drift.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p3" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p3" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
 
 "$WORK/p3" > "$WORK/out.txt" 2>&1 || { echo "FAIL run"; cat "$WORK/out.txt"; fail=1; }
 cat "$WORK/out.txt" | sed 's/^/    /'
@@ -52,8 +56,8 @@ PY
 echo
 echo "== ASan+UBSan =="
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p3_drift.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p3_drift.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p3.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p3.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
 if [ -x "$WORK/p3.san" ]; then
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   "$WORK/p3.san" >/dev/null 2>"$WORK/san.log"

engram/test/run_interoception_p4.sh

@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@
 # M-INTEROCEPTION P4 gate: afferent input counters in act-stats (additive).
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
-GEO="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_geometry.c"
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
-VIDX="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_vindex.c"
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-p4-XXXXXX)"
 export HOME="$WORK/home"; mkdir -p "$HOME"
@@ -13,8 +17,8 @@ unset ENGRAM_STORE
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compile =="
-gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p4_afferent.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p4_afferent.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p4" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p4" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
 
 "$WORK/p4" > "$WORK/out.txt" 2>&1 || { echo "FAIL run"; cat "$WORK/out.txt"; fail=1; }
 grep -oE 'aff_[a-z_]+":[0-9]+' "$WORK/out.txt" | sed 's/^/    /' | head -30
@@ -53,8 +57,8 @@ PY
 echo
 echo "== ASan+UBSan =="
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p4_afferent.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p4_afferent.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p4.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p4.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
 if [ -x "$WORK/p4.san" ]; then
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   "$WORK/p4.san" >/dev/null 2>"$WORK/san.log"

engram/test/run_interoception_p5.sh

@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@
 # M-INTEROCEPTION P5 gate: dream-recall builtin engram_dreams_json (honesty rail).
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
-GEO="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_geometry.c"
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
-VIDX="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_vindex.c"
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-p5-XXXXXX)"
 export HOME="$WORK/home"; mkdir -p "$HOME"
@@ -13,8 +17,8 @@ unset ENGRAM_STORE
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compile =="
-gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p5_dreams.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p5_dreams.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p5" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p5" 2>"$WORK/cc.log" || { echo "COMPILE FAILED"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; }
 
 D="$WORK/d"; mkdir -p "$D"
 "$WORK/p5" "$D" > "$WORK/out.txt" 2>&1 || { echo "FAIL run"; cat "$WORK/out.txt"; fail=1; }
@@ -57,8 +61,8 @@ PY
 echo
 echo "== ASan+UBSan =="
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p5_dreams.c" "$RT" "$ST" "$GEO" "$VIDX" \
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_interoception_p5_dreams.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS \
-    -lcurl -lm -o "$WORK/p5.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
+    -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$WORK/p5.san" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log" || { echo "SAN COMPILE FAILED"; tail -25 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; }
 if [ -x "$WORK/p5.san" ]; then
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   DS="$WORK/ds"; mkdir -p "$DS"

engram/test/run_m35_hebb_persist.sh

@@ -6,8 +6,14 @@
 # Writes ONLY under a throwaway /tmp dir with a throwaway HOME.
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-m35-XXXXXX)"
 BIN="$WORK/m35"
@@ -17,7 +23,7 @@ unset ENGRAM_STORE
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compiling harness (gcc: el_runtime.c + engram_store.c + test_m35_hebb_persist.c) =="
-gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m35_hebb_persist.c" "$RT" "$ST" -lcurl -o "$BIN" 2>"$WORK/cc.log"
+gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m35_hebb_persist.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o "$BIN" 2>"$WORK/cc.log"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "COMPILE FAILED:"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; fi
 
 echo
@@ -139,7 +145,7 @@ echo
 echo "== 5) ASan+UBSan build, exercise the full persist+reboot flow (leaks off — harness intentionally leaks el_strdup) =="
 SANBIN="$WORK/m35.san"
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m35_hebb_persist.c" "$RT" "$ST" -lcurl -o "$SANBIN" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log"
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m35_hebb_persist.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o "$SANBIN" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "  SAN COMPILE FAILED:"; tail -20 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; else
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   DSAN="$WORK/san"; mkdir -p "$DSAN"

engram/test/run_m3_parity.sh

@@ -4,8 +4,14 @@
 # Writes ONLY under a throwaway /tmp dir with a throwaway HOME + ENGRAM_DATA_DIR.
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-m3-XXXXXX)"
 DATA="$WORK/data"; mkdir -p "$DATA"
@@ -17,7 +23,7 @@ unset ENGRAM_STORE
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compiling harness (gcc: el_runtime.c + engram_store.c + test_m3_parity.c) =="
-gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m3_parity.c" "$RT" "$ST" -lcurl -o "$BIN" 2>"$WORK/cc.log"
+gcc -O1 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m3_parity.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o "$BIN" 2>"$WORK/cc.log"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "COMPILE FAILED:"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; fi
 grep -i warning "$WORK/cc.log" | grep -iE 'engram_store|eg_store|eg_load|scan_nodes|scan_edges' && echo "(warnings in M3 code above)" || true
 
@@ -106,7 +112,7 @@ echo
 echo "== 5) ASan+UBSan build, exercise M3 scan/boot/hooks (leaks off — harness intentionally leaks el_strdup) =="
 SANBIN="$WORK/m3.san"
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m3_parity.c" "$RT" "$ST" -lcurl -o "$SANBIN" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log"
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m3_parity.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o "$SANBIN" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "  SAN COMPILE FAILED:"; tail -20 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; else
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   DATA2="$WORK/data2"; mkdir -p "$DATA2"

engram/test/run_m7_traversal.sh

@@ -6,8 +6,14 @@
 # Writes ONLY under a throwaway /tmp dir with a throwaway HOME.
 set -u
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-RT="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/el_runtime.c"
+RTSRC="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$HERE/../../lang/runtime")"
-ST="$HERE/../../lang/runtime/engram_store.c"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE (lang/runtime/SOURCES). This harness used to link
+# el_runtime.c + engram_store.c only, which stopped linking once el_runtime.c
+# began calling into the other engram siblings. Unquoted on purpose: a list.
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 INC="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
 WORK="$(mktemp -d /tmp/engram-m7-XXXXXX)"
 DATA="$WORK/data"; mkdir -p "$DATA"
@@ -22,7 +28,7 @@ unset ENGRAM_STORE
 fail=0
 
 echo "== compiling harness (gcc: el_runtime.c + engram_store.c + test_m7_traversal.c) =="
-gcc -O2 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m7_traversal.c" "$RT" "$ST" -lcurl -lm -o "$BIN" 2>"$WORK/cc.log"
+gcc -O2 -std=c11 -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m7_traversal.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o "$BIN" 2>"$WORK/cc.log"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "COMPILE FAILED:"; cat "$WORK/cc.log"; rm -rf "$WORK"; exit 1; fi
 echo "  ok: compiled"
 
@@ -115,7 +121,7 @@ echo
 echo "== 3) ASan+UBSan clean across parity + a small perf loop (leaks off — harness intentionally leaks el_strdup) =="
 SANBIN="$WORK/m7.san"
 gcc -O1 -g -std=c11 -fsanitize=address,undefined -fno-sanitize-recover=undefined \
-    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m7_traversal.c" "$RT" "$ST" -lcurl -lm -o "$SANBIN" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log"
+    -I "$INC" "$HERE/test_m7_traversal.c" $RTSRC $SSLFLAGS -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -lm -o "$SANBIN" 2>"$WORK/san_cc.log"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "  SAN COMPILE FAILED:"; tail -20 "$WORK/san_cc.log"; fail=1; else
   export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
   D2="$WORK/data2"; mkdir -p "$D2"

engram/test/run_wal_tests.sh

@@ -3,8 +3,17 @@
 set -e
 HERE="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
 REL="$HERE/../../lang/runtime"
+# test_wal.c and test_failloud.c #include "el_runtime.c" directly, so el_runtime.c
+# is already IN the translation unit — link the SIBLINGS only, or every symbol in
+# it is defined twice. The siblings are still required: el_runtime.c calls into
+# all six engram TUs. (lang/runtime/SOURCES is the source of truth.)
+RTSIB="$("$HERE/../../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$REL" | grep -v '/el_runtime\.c$')"
+SSLFLAGS=""
+if command -v brew >/dev/null 2>&1 && O="$(brew --prefix openssl@3 2>/dev/null)"; then
+  SSLFLAGS="-I$O/include -L$O/lib"
+fi
 cc -O2 -fbracket-depth=1024 -Wno-parentheses-equality -I"$REL" \
-   "$HERE/test_wal.c" -lcurl -lpthread -o /tmp/test_wal
+   "$HERE/test_wal.c" $RTSIB $SSLFLAGS -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/test_wal
 HOME=/tmp/engram-throwaway-home /tmp/test_wal
 # Fail-loud data-dir check (must exit 1 with a FATAL line):
 cat > /tmp/test_failloud.c <<'C'
@@ -12,5 +21,5 @@ cat > /tmp/test_failloud.c <<'C'
 int main(void){ unsetenv("ENGRAM_DATA_DIR"); unsetenv("HOME");
   engram_resolve_data_dir(); printf("REACHED\n"); return 0; }
 C
-cc -O2 -fbracket-depth=1024 -Wno-parentheses-equality -I"$REL" /tmp/test_failloud.c -lcurl -lpthread -o /tmp/test_failloud
+cc -O2 -fbracket-depth=1024 -Wno-parentheses-equality -I"$REL" /tmp/test_failloud.c $RTSIB $SSLFLAGS -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/test_failloud
 if env -u HOME -u ENGRAM_DATA_DIR /tmp/test_failloud; then echo "FAIL: should have exited"; exit 1; else echo "[PASS] fail-loud exit on unresolvable HOME"; fi

ingest/src/ingest.el

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 // relations add edges. Every node enters with PROVENANCE + grounding-level
 // + stewardship class from the moment of entry.
 //
-// transduce_manifold() is THE single mechanism — one function, polymorphic, with no
+// transduce_bytes() is THE single mechanism — one function, polymorphic, with no
 // content-type branch inside it. It does not ask whether a payload is
 // prose, structured data, or raw/opaque bytes (audio, or anything else);
 // it runs one boundary-scan-with-fixed-window-fallback chunking algorithm
@@ -401,25 +401,54 @@ fn head80(s: String) -> String {
 // truncates at the first embedded NUL, which is routine in real binary
 // bytes) is a MECHANICAL fidelity concern that belongs to whatever produced
 // `source` (see ingest_file's file_source_string below) — not a
-// content-type judgment made in here. transduce_manifold() never learns whether a
+// content-type judgment made in here. transduce_bytes() never learns whether a
 // chunk is plain text or a base64-encoded raw-byte window; every chunk is
 // handled identically either way.
-// RENAMED transduce -> transduce_manifold (2026-08-16). Two reasons, and the
+// NAMING, CORRECTED 2026-08-16 (second pass). This function was renamed
-// first is not the interesting one:
+// `transduce` -> `transduce_bytes` earlier the same day, on the reasoning
+// that it "was never signal->geometry — it chunks already-extracted content
+// and PACKS it into a node+edge manifold, one layer up, and it had taken the
+// name that belongs to the primitive underneath it."
 //
-//   1. Mechanical: `transduce` is now a LANGUAGE primitive in el_runtime.h
+// THAT REASONING WAS BACKWARDS, and it is worth recording why rather than
-//      (transduce(signal, modality) -> Geometry). Every El `fn name(...)`
+// quietly re-renaming. Producing a node+edge manifold is not a layer above
-//      compiles to a global C symbol with that exact name, so keeping this
+// transduction — it IS transduction. Transduction is not conversion. When you
-//      name here is a hard `conflicting types for 'transduce'` compile error
+// take in music you do not store the song as one discrete geometry; you break
-//      the moment ingest.c links el_runtime.c. Measured, not anticipated.
+// it into its component parts and store the geometry of each along with the
+// relations between them. The song is the structure of those relations.
+// Signal -> one vector is the operation UNDERNEATH transduction, and its name
+// is encoding, or geometry. So the layer that was doing it right got renamed
+// out of the way so the layer doing it wrong could have the name.
 //
-//   2. Actual: this function was never signal->geometry. It chunks already-
+// The primitive has since been corrected: `transduce(signal, modality)` now
-//      extracted content and PACKS it into a node+edge manifold — a real
+// returns a Manifold — components plus relations — not a Geometry
-//      operation, but one layer up, and it had taken the name that belongs to
+// (el_runtime.c, "Manifold"). The two layers are therefore doing the SAME KIND
-//      the primitive underneath it. `transduce` is where a signal becomes
+// of thing, and the inversion dissolves rather than needing to be re-argued.
-//      geometry; `transduce_manifold` is where extracted content becomes
+//
-//      structure. Nothing about this function's behaviour changed.
+// What is left is a real distinction, and it is about MODALITY, not layering:
-fn transduce_manifold(nodes: [String], edges: [String], source: String,
+//
+//   * `transduce(signal, modality)` dispatches to a realizer that KNOWS the
+//     modality and can name its components — for audio: pitch, interval,
+//     rhythm, harmonic function.
+//   * `transduce_bytes` below is the OPAQUE-BYTES realizer: the decomposition
+//     available to a reader that knows nothing about what it is reading. It
+//     still yields components and relations (chunk nodes; contains / precedes
+//     / section_of edges), which is why it is transduction and not packing. It
+//     just cuts on the only structure visible without understanding — byte
+//     boundaries — so its components are positional rather than meaningful.
+//     That is a LIMITATION of this realizer, not the definition of the
+//     operation.
+//
+// The name is suffixed by its modality, not demoted to a lesser layer. Keeping
+// a distinct symbol is also still mechanically required: every El `fn name`
+// compiles to a global C symbol, so reusing `transduce` here is a hard
+// `conflicting types` error the moment ingest.c links el_runtime.c.
+//
+// WHERE THIS SHOULD GO: this function should become a registered realizer
+// returning a real Manifold, so ingest rides the same primitive as every other
+// modality instead of carrying a parallel implementation. Not done here.
+// Nothing about this function's behaviour changed in this pass.
+fn transduce_bytes(nodes: [String], edges: [String], source: String,
              prov: String, ground: String, steward: String,
              root_lid: String, root_title: String) -> [String] {
     let tagbase: String = "prov:" + prov + " ground:" + ground + " steward:" + steward
@@ -546,8 +575,8 @@ fn default_steward() -> String {
 // trustworthy verbatim. When they don't (silent truncation happened),
 // rebuild the payload as base64-encoded fixed-size windows read directly
 // off disk (fs_read_b64_chunk — binary-safe in C), joined with the same
-// "\n\n" boundary marker transduce_manifold()'s generic scan already looks for, so
+// "\n\n" boundary marker transduce_bytes()'s generic scan already looks for, so
-// transduce_manifold() sees one ordinary boundary-delimited payload and runs its one
+// transduce_bytes() sees one ordinary boundary-delimited payload and runs its one
 // algorithm on it exactly as it would on prose — it never learns that a
 // fidelity problem occurred upstream, let alone why.
 fn file_source_string(path: String, text: String, real_size: Int) -> String {
@@ -556,7 +585,7 @@ fn file_source_string(path: String, text: String, real_size: Int) -> String {
     // 3072 raw bytes -> 4096 base64 chars (3 divides evenly into base64's
     // 3-byte/4-char ratio); keeps each resulting node's content a clean,
     // bounded, low-kilobytes unit, same order of magnitude as the fixed
-    // fallback window in transduce_manifold() itself.
+    // fallback window in transduce_bytes() itself.
     let win: Int = 3072
     let out: String = ""
     let off: Int = 0
@@ -576,7 +605,7 @@ fn file_source_string(path: String, text: String, real_size: Int) -> String {
 }
 
 // ingest one file -> report JSON. Uniform for every file regardless of
-// extension or content — transduce_manifold() decides nothing about content-type, so
+// extension or content — transduce_bytes() decides nothing about content-type, so
 // neither does this function; it only decides whether the raw bytes made it
 // through the read intact (file_source_string), which is a fidelity
 // question, not a format one.
@@ -588,14 +617,14 @@ fn ingest_file(path: String) -> String {
         return "{\"error\":\"empty or unreadable\",\"path\":" + j_q(path) + "}"
     }
     let prov: String = "file:" + path
-    let packed: [String] = transduce_manifold(el_list_empty(), el_list_empty(),
+    let packed: [String] = transduce_bytes(el_list_empty(), el_list_empty(),
         source, prov, default_ground(), default_steward(),
         "doc:" + basename(path), basename(path))
     return merge_packed(packed)
 }
 
 // ingest a directory: walk one level, ingest every file found, aggregate.
-// No extension filter — transduce_manifold() handles any payload uniformly now, so
+// No extension filter — transduce_bytes() handles any payload uniformly now, so
 // there is no content-type gate at the directory boundary either.
 fn ingest_dir(path: String) -> String {
     let entries: [String] = fs_list(path)
@@ -630,7 +659,7 @@ fn ingest_dir(path: String) -> String {
 fn ingest_url(url: String) -> String {
     let body: String = http_get(url)
     if str_eq(body, "") { return "{\"error\":\"empty fetch\",\"url\":" + j_q(url) + "}" }
-    let packed: [String] = transduce_manifold(el_list_empty(), el_list_empty(),
+    let packed: [String] = transduce_bytes(el_list_empty(), el_list_empty(),
         body, "url:" + url, "extracted", "public-web",
         "url:" + url, url)
     return merge_packed(packed)
@@ -645,7 +674,7 @@ fn ingest_llm(query: String) -> String {
     let resp: String = http_post_json("http://127.0.0.1:11434/api/generate", body)
     let answer: String = json_get_string(resp, "response")
     if str_eq(answer, "") { return "{\"error\":\"no model response\"}" }
-    let packed: [String] = transduce_manifold(el_list_empty(), el_list_empty(),
+    let packed: [String] = transduce_bytes(el_list_empty(), el_list_empty(),
         answer, "llm:" + model + ":" + query, "candidate-provisional", "guide-provisional",
         "llm:" + query, "guide answer: " + query)
     return merge_packed(packed)
@@ -697,7 +726,7 @@ fn ingest_stream(path: String) -> String {
 // It is NOT a content-type flag: it says nothing about what's inside the
 // bytes once fetched, and none of the five ingest_* functions it selects
 // among interpret their payload differently by content shape anymore —
-// they all hand off to the single, format-agnostic transduce_manifold(). The old
+// they all hand off to the single, format-agnostic transduce_bytes(). The old
 // "structured" value (a caller-declared alias for "file", used only to hint
 // the now-removed JSON-vs-prose branch) is gone along with that branch.
 let kind: String = env("INGEST_KIND")

lang/AGENTS.md

@@ -18,8 +18,23 @@ night) and `02-components.md §5`.
   `relate`, `supersede` (evolve/tombstone/promote, never a hard delete) — plus the
   agentic primitives `think`/`attend`/`learn`/`ground`/`assert`. The old noun is a
   `type` parameter. Implemented in `tools/api-reshape/surface.el` with a parity
-  harness (`parity.sh`); aperture proven to bound output. **Not yet:** compiled
+  harness (`parity.sh`); aperture proven to bound output. ~~**Not yet:** compiled
-  into the MCP server, hot-swap, all-alias dispatch.
+  into the MCP server~~ — **shipped (verified 2026-08-16): the live MCP surface is
+  exactly these nine ops** (`read` · `write` · `relate` · `supersede` · `think` ·
+  `attend` · `assert` · `ground` · `learn`); the ~87-tool surface is gone.
+  `attend` absorbed `getInstructions` / `beginSession`'s active-context sweep /
+  `checkEvents` — those are **gone, not gapped**. Still outstanding: hot-swap,
+  all-alias dispatch.
+
+  > **⚠ Two of those primitives are the wrong shape, and it is documented
+  > (2026-08-16).** `think({seeds, faculty})` treats **faculties as parameters**;
+  > they are **operations** — `reason` changes the estimate (a read), `induce`
+  > changes the parameters, `abduce` changes the *structure* (a write
+  > `GeoGradient` cannot express). And `ground` mints a `grounded-by` edge, but
+  > **grounding is not a subsystem — it IS the edge weight**: a property *of* a
+  > relation, not a relation *between* nodes. Authority:
+  > `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`. Do not re-derive it; if you think
+  > a section is wrong, say so with a measurement.
 - **Decorated seam.** `@route(path,method,…)` makes codegen synthesize
   `el_route_dispatch` (replacing the hand-written `handle_request` if-else) —
   proven decorate→serve on `:8951`. `@manager`/`@engine`/`@accessor` are **parsed
@@ -62,17 +77,44 @@ This is where almost all work belongs. El programs are source files that get com
 
 This is the self-contained C OS-boundary layer. It provides the `__`-prefixed primitives that compiled El programs call: libcurl HTTP, pthreads, filesystem I/O, arena allocation, etc. It is **not generated** — it is maintained by hand.
 
-The runtime is native El (`runtime/*.el`) over a C OS-boundary. **Status (verified 2026-08-15):** the migration to a seed-only boundary is *in progress, not done*. Two files exist:
+The runtime is native El (`runtime/*.el`) over a C OS-boundary. **Status (verified 2026-08-16):** the migration to a seed-only boundary is *in progress, not done*.
-- `runtime/el_runtime.c` (~860 KB) — **LIVE**. Holds the engram store (`EngramStore engram_global`) plus the `http_*`/`json_*`/`state_*`/`engram_*` impls. It is the authoritative single-file link target for the compiler, and `tools/install.sh` compiles it into `libel.a`. This is where a new C builtin's *implementation* must currently live to be linkable.
+
-- `runtime/el_seed.c` — the intended hand-maintained `__`-prefixed seed (thin wrappers over the above). It is compiled alongside `el_runtime.c` by `tools/install.sh`, but does **not** compile standalone yet (see the build-path caveat under "Rebuilding the Compiler").
+**The runtime is MULTI-FILE. There is no single-file link target and there has not been one for months.** The canonical link set is listed once, in **`runtime/SOURCES`**, and printed by `scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh`. It currently holds ten translation units: `el_runtime.c`, `el_seed.c`, the six `engram_*.c` concern files, and `eg_cosine_batch{,_strategy_cpu}.c`.
+
+- `runtime/el_runtime.c` (~940 KB, 20.5k lines) — **LIVE, and oversized.** It began life on 2026-05-03 as a temporary build shim: it was deleted that afternoon ("runtime is 100% native El") and restored 25 minutes later, explicitly "UNTIL the compiler is updated to emit `#include el_seed.h`". That `until` never arrived, and in the 3.5 months since, the file doubled. **It is not a volatility unit — it is a dumping ground.** ~47.5% of it is engram code that belongs in the six sibling files that already exist. Do not add to it. See "Where a new C builtin goes" below.
+- `runtime/el_seed.c` — the intended hand-maintained `__`-prefixed seed (thin wrappers over the above).
+- `runtime/engram_{store,vindex,geometry,reason,verify,cognition}.c` — the engram concerns, each with its own header. `el_runtime.c` `#include`s all six headers and makes hard cross-TU calls into all six.
+
+> **Linking `el_runtime.c` alone does not work and has not for months.** It fails at `ld` with undefined symbols (`engram_ground_json`, `engram_activate_inner`, `eg_find_relation`, `cog_assert_two_axis`, …). Any recipe, script, or CI step that names `el_runtime.c` by itself is stale — replace it with `$(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh lang/runtime)`.
 
 **Only edit these when you genuinely need OS-level access** (raw sockets, GPU calls, new libcurl features, a new engram store op). For everything else, write El.
 
+#### Where a new C builtin goes
+
+**Put it in the `.c` that owns the concern — NOT in `el_runtime.c`.**
+
+*Placement is a link-time concern. The compiler cannot tell which `.c` a symbol came from, and never could.* `builtin_arity` in `el-compiler/src/codegen.el` maps NAME → ARITY INT and nothing else (~413 entries); the El name is emitted as the exact C symbol and resolved by `ld`. Proof, if you want it: `nm lang/dist/platform/elc` on the *shipped* compiler shows `T _engram_geo_reify_index_new` (defined in `engram_geometry.c`), `T _vindex_insert` (`engram_vindex.c`), `T _engram_think` (`engram_cognition.c`), `T _engram_reason_abduce` (`engram_reason.c`). **The shipped compiler is already linked from ten translation units.** A builtin defined in a sibling `.c` is exactly as linkable as one defined in `el_runtime.c`.
+
+Choose the file by concern: engram store ops → `engram_store.c`; index → `engram_vindex.c`; geometry/priming → `engram_geometry.c`; reasoning → `engram_reason.c`; grounding/consistency → `engram_verify.c`; think/stance → `engram_cognition.c`. **If no existing file owns it, create one** — add the `.c` to `runtime/SOURCES` (one line) and every build path picks it up. For a builtin that belongs to a downstream program rather than the runtime, declare `c_source "path/to/file.c"` in that program's `manifest.el`; `elb` already links it (`parse_manifest_c_sources`, `lang/elb.el:82`).
+
+> **`el_runtime.c` is on a ratchet and will reject your commit.** `runtime/BUDGET` caps it at its current line count *with no headroom*, and separately caps the number of `engram_*`/`eg_*`/`cog_*` function definitions in it. `scripts/check-runtime-growth.sh` enforces both in CI and in `.githooks/pre-commit`. **The numbers may only ever go down — do not raise them.** Every other runtime file is deliberately uncapped, because that is where the code is supposed to go. When you move code *out*, lower the numbers in the same commit; the guard tells you the new values.
+
 When you add a C builtin (verbatim-emit recipe — the El name is emitted as the exact C symbol; `builtin_arity` is an arity guard only, not a dispatch table):
-1. Implement the C function in `el_runtime.c` (and declare it in `el_runtime.h`).
+1. Implement the C function in the **concern-owning `.c`** (and declare it in that file's `.h`). Add the file to `runtime/SOURCES` if it is new. Only put it in `el_runtime.c` if it is genuinely EL core (val/str/map/list/arena) — that is ~8% of what is in there today.
 2. Add a `__`-prefixed thin wrapper in `el_seed.c` and declare it in `el_seed.h`.
 3. Add the name to `builtin_arity` in `el-compiler/src/codegen.el` — add **both** the plain and `__`-prefixed spellings.
 4. Rebuild the elc binary (see below) and confirm the self-host fixpoint is byte-identical.
+5. **Prove it with a NEGATIVE CONTROL.** Show the test FAILING on a build without your change, then passing with it. A test that has never been seen to fail has proven nothing.
+
+> **Step 5 is not optional, and step 4 does not cover it.** The fixpoint proves the *compiler reproduces itself*. It says nothing whatsoever about whether your builtin works. A recipe ending at "byte-identical" reads as complete while having verified nothing about the thing just added — which is why this file, until 2026-08-16, produced builtins with no tests at all.
+>
+> Measured cost of the omission (2026-08-16): `engram_node_set_emb`, `engram_curiosity_json` and `dream_set_handler` were all added in one session with zero tests. Separately, a UTF-8 fix was written, tested, and **the test passed on the unpatched build too** — the defect was elsewhere entirely, and only building the pre-fix binary exposed it. Without a negative control that fix would have merged as verified.
+>
+> Two shapes that pass while proving nothing, both hit the same day:
+> - A test that never exercises your change (the route supplied a default that bypassed the code under test).
+> - An induction that loses a race. `curl --max-time` on a large response left *both* builds alive; only `SO_LINGER 0` — a genuine RST, so the peer is provably gone — reproduced the failure. Six of ten attempts is not a control.
+>
+> Before every probe, confirm **your** process bound the port (`lsof -nP -iTCP:<port>`, match the PID). A stale instance answering on the port has silently produced false results here more than once, and `pkill -f` does not reliably match an argv like `./engram`.
 
 Worked example: the `engram_assert_json` (op_assert seam) and `engram_node_full_in`/`engram_connect_in` (purview write-side) primitives added 2026-08-15 follow exactly this recipe.
 
@@ -85,21 +127,27 @@ After changing any `.el` source in `el-compiler/src/` (run from the `lang/` dir)
 ```bash
 # 1. Stage2: current elc compiles the (modified) compiler to C
 ./dist/platform/elc elc-cli.el > elc-new.c
-# 2. Build the new compiler. The C link target is el_runtime.c — it holds the
+# 2. Build the new compiler. Link the WHOLE runtime set, not el_runtime.c alone:
-#    engram store + http/json/state impls the compiler output calls. el_runtime.c
+#    el_runtime.c calls into engram_store / engram_vindex / eg_cosine_batch and
-#    self-hosts elc on its own; el_seed.c is the (aspirational) seed layer and does
+#    wraps el_seed.c, so a one-file link fails at `ld` with undefined symbols
-#    NOT compile standalone under clang (missing prototypes for the el_runtime.c
+#    (verified 2026-08-16 — the previous single-file line in this doc is stale).
-#    symbols it wraps — see caveat below), so link el_runtime.c here.
+cc -std=c11 -O2 -I runtime -I$(brew --prefix openssl@3)/include \
-cc -std=c11 -I runtime -lcurl -lpthread \
+   -L$(brew --prefix openssl@3)/lib \
    -o dist/platform/elc-new \
-   elc-new.c runtime/el_runtime.c
+   elc-new.c runtime/el_runtime.c runtime/el_seed.c \
+   runtime/engram_cognition.c runtime/engram_geometry.c runtime/engram_reason.c \
+   runtime/engram_store.c runtime/engram_verify.c runtime/engram_vindex.c \
+   runtime/eg_cosine_batch.c runtime/eg_cosine_batch_strategy_cpu.c \
+   -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm
 # 3. Verify self-hosting FIXPOINT (stage3 == stage2 output, byte-identical):
 ./dist/platform/elc-new elc-cli.el > elc-verify.c
 diff elc-new.c elc-verify.c   # must be identical
 mv dist/platform/elc-new dist/platform/elc
 ```
 
-> **Build-path caveat (verified 2026-08-15).** `el_seed.c` is the intended hand-maintained OS-boundary seed, but it does **not** compile standalone under modern clang: it wraps ~16 unprefixed `el_runtime.c` symbols (`http_serve`, `json_*`, `state_*`, `http_response`) without prototypes, and clang treats implicit declarations as errors (C99+). The productionised install (`tools/install.sh`) builds `libel.a` from **both** `el_seed.o` + `el_runtime.o` together, which is why linking succeeds there. To make `el_seed.c` build on its own, add prototypes for those symbols (or `#include "el_runtime.h"`, reconciling the `__http_serve` return-type mismatch first). Until then, `el_runtime.c` is the authoritative single-file link target for the compiler.
+> **Build-path caveat (verified 2026-08-15).** `el_seed.c` is the intended hand-maintained OS-boundary seed, but it does **not** compile standalone under modern clang: it wraps ~16 unprefixed `el_runtime.c` symbols (`http_serve`, `json_*`, `state_*`, `http_response`) without prototypes, and clang treats implicit declarations as errors (C99+). The productionised install (`tools/install.sh`) builds `libel.a` from **both** `el_seed.o` + `el_runtime.o` together, which is why linking succeeds there. To make `el_seed.c` build on its own, add prototypes for those symbols (or `#include "el_runtime.h"`, reconciling the `__http_serve` return-type mismatch first).
+>
+> **There is no single-file link target.** *(Corrected 2026-08-16 — this paragraph previously ended "`el_runtime.c` is the authoritative single-file link target for the compiler". Measured: that is false. Linking `elc-new.c` against `runtime/el_runtime.c` alone fails at `ld` with undefined `engram_ground_json`, `engram_activate_inner`, `eg_find_relation`, `cog_assert_two_axis`, and others, because `el_runtime.c` `#include`s six engram headers and calls into all six sibling `.c` files.)* Link the set in `runtime/SOURCES` via `$(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime)`.
 
 After changing `el_seed.c` only (no El source changes), rebuild downstream programs but do NOT need to rebuild the compiler binary itself — the seed is linked at the application level, not the compiler level.
 

lang/el-compiler/src/compiler.el

@@ -414,6 +414,12 @@ fn parse_import_line(trimmed: String, dir: String) -> String {
 // Accumulates chunks into lists and joins once at the end to avoid the O(n²)
 // memory growth caused by repeated `prefix = prefix + chunk` concatenation.
 fn resolve_imports(src_path: String) -> String {
+    // Only the OUTERMOST call publishes provenance. Nested calls number their
+    // lines from 1 within themselves, so their spans are meaningless once the
+    // text is spliced into the parent.
+    let depth: String = state_get("__elc_prov_depth")
+    if str_eq(depth, "") { state_set("__elc_prov_depth", "1") }
+    let is_top: Bool = str_eq(depth, "")
     let seen_key: String = "__elc_imp__:" + src_path
     let already: String = state_get(seen_key)
     if !str_eq(already, "") { return "" }
@@ -443,6 +449,7 @@ fn resolve_imports(src_path: String) -> String {
     // Collect chunks into lists — O(1) amortized per append.
     // Join once at the end — O(n) single pass.
     let prefix_chunks: [String] = native_list_empty()
+    let prefix_paths: [String] = native_list_empty()
     let body_chunks: [String] = native_list_empty()
     let i: Int = 0
     while i < n {
@@ -454,21 +461,54 @@ fn resolve_imports(src_path: String) -> String {
             // Only check .elh for imported files — never for the entry file itself.
             let imp_elh_path: String = str_slice(imp_path, 0, str_len(imp_path) - 3) + ".elh"
             let imp_elh: String = fs_read(imp_elh_path)
+            // Provenance: record which line range of the combined source came
+            // from which file, so a diagnostic can name the FILE and not just a
+            // line in a string that no longer exists on disk.
             if !str_eq(imp_elh, "") {
                 // Header exists: mark the .el as seen (so it won't be re-inlined
                 // if something else also imports it) and use the header text.
                 let seen_imp_key: String = "__elc_imp__:" + imp_path
                 state_set(seen_imp_key, "1")
                 let prefix_chunks = native_list_append(prefix_chunks, imp_elh)
+                let prefix_paths = native_list_append(prefix_paths, imp_path)
             } else {
                 let imp_body: String = resolve_imports(imp_path)
                 let prefix_chunks = native_list_append(prefix_chunks, imp_body)
+                let prefix_paths = native_list_append(prefix_paths, imp_path)
             }
         } else {
             let body_chunks = native_list_append(body_chunks, line + "\n")
         }
         let i = i + 1
     }
+    // Walk the assembled chunks once and publish <file> spans <start> <end>.
+    // LIMIT: nested imports return a single string, so their internal
+    // boundaries are already lost by the time we see them -- a definition
+    // inside a transitively imported file is attributed to the direct import.
+    // Local, not accumulated in state: a nested call numbers its lines from 1
+    // within itself, so letting it append to a shared buffer republishes
+    // meaningless spans under the parent's name.
+    let prov: String = ""
+    let line_at: Int = 1
+    let ci: Int = 0
+    let nchunks: Int = native_list_len(prefix_chunks)
+    while ci < nchunks {
+        let chunk: String = native_list_get(prefix_chunks, ci)
+        let nlines: Int = str_count_lines(chunk)
+        let src: String = native_list_get(prefix_paths, ci)
+        let prov = prov + src + " spans " + native_int_to_str(line_at) + " " + native_int_to_str(line_at + nlines - 1) + "\n"
+        let line_at = line_at + nlines
+        let ci = ci + 1
+    }
+    let prov = prov + src_path + " spans " + native_int_to_str(line_at) + " 999999\n"
+    if is_top {
+        let prov_out: String = env("EL_RELATIONS_OUT")
+        if !str_eq(prov_out, "") {
+            let existing: String = ""
+            if fs_exists(prov_out) { let existing = fs_read(prov_out) }
+            fs_write(prov_out, existing + prov)
+        }
+    }
     return str_join(prefix_chunks, "") + str_join(body_chunks, "")
 }
 

lang/el-compiler/src/lexer.el

@@ -138,13 +138,38 @@ fn lex_is_whitespace(ch: String) -> Bool {
 
 // tok_append — append a (kind, value) pair to a flat token list.
 // Returns the updated list. Gamma combines flat-list + char-code for max savings.
+// A token is (kind, value, line). The line comes from state rather than a
+// parameter so the ~200 existing tok_append call sites are untouched -- the
+// lexer advances __lex_line as it walks, and every token minted takes the line
+// it was minted on.
+//
+// WHY AT ALL: before this a token carried no position, so no diagnostic in El
+// could name a place. Every error named a symbol and never a line, and after
+// textual inlining there was no way to say which FILE a definition came from.
 fn tok_append(tokens: [Any], kind: String, value: String) -> [Any] {
     let tokens = native_list_append(tokens, kind)
-    native_list_append(tokens, value)
+    let tokens = native_list_append(tokens, value)
+    native_list_append(tokens, state_get("__lex_line"))
 }
 
 // -- Keyword lookup ------------------------------------------------------------
 
+// keyword_kind — the language's reserved spellings.
+//
+// A grammar is a BASIS: `fn` means function-start because someone said so, and
+// nothing derives it. But unlike the other tables moved out this session, this
+// one stays code, and the SHOULD gate is why. The keyword set is closed by the
+// language definition -- it does not leak the way an allowlist does -- and the
+// lexer runs before the program is understood, so a program can never declare
+// its own keywords. Externalising it would cost file I/O on every compile and
+// buy nothing.
+//
+// Removed 2026-08-17: sealed, activate, seed, protocol, impl. Reserved in the
+// lexer, consumed by no parser or codegen path, and each one stole an
+// identifier from users for nothing. `test` LOOKED inert by the same measure
+// and is not -- codegen consumes it at 4135 for --test mode, 408 uses in the
+// tree. The first measurement checked only parser.el and would have broken all
+// of them.
 fn keyword_kind(word: String) -> String {
     if word == "let" { return "Let" }
     if word == "fn" { return "Fn" }
@@ -161,14 +186,9 @@ fn keyword_kind(word: String) -> String {
     if word == "from" { return "From" }
     if word == "as" { return "As" }
     if word == "with" { return "With" }
-    if word == "sealed" { return "Sealed" }
-    if word == "activate" { return "Activate" }
     if word == "where" { return "Where" }
     if word == "test" { return "Test" }
-    if word == "seed" { return "Seed" }
     if word == "assert" { return "Assert" }
-    if word == "protocol" { return "Protocol" }
-    if word == "impl" { return "Impl" }
     if word == "retry" { return "Retry" }
     if word == "times" { return "Times" }
     if word == "fallback" { return "Fallback" }
@@ -521,6 +541,12 @@ fn scan_interp_brace(src: String, start: Int, total: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
 
 // interp_tokens_append_all - copy every (kind, value) pair from flat src list
 // into flat dst list, skipping the trailing Eof pair that lex() always appends.
+// Splices re-lexed interpolation tokens into the stream. This walks the token
+// list DIRECTLY rather than through tok_append, so it carries its own copy of
+// the stride -- which is why giving tokens a line broke the compiler's second
+// generation and not its first: the compiler's own source uses string
+// interpolation, so gen1 (built by the old compiler) was fine and gen2 emitted
+// a corrupted stream.
 fn interp_tokens_append_all(dst: [Any], src: [Any]) -> [Any] {
     let src_len: Int = native_list_len(src)
     let j = 0
@@ -531,9 +557,11 @@ fn interp_tokens_append_all(dst: [Any], src: [Any]) -> [Any] {
             let j = src_len
         } else {
             let val: String = native_list_get(src, j + 1)
+            let ln: String = native_list_get(src, j + 2)
             let result = native_list_append(result, kind)
             let result = native_list_append(result, val)
-            let j = j + 2
+            let result = native_list_append(result, ln)
+            let j = j + 3
         }
     }
     result
@@ -764,8 +792,14 @@ fn lex(source: String) -> [Any] {
     let total: Int = str_len(source)
     let tokens: [Any] = native_list_empty()
     let i: Int = 0
+    state_set("__lex_line", "1")
+    let line_no: Int = 1
 
     while i < total {
+        if str_eq(str_slice(source, i, i + 1), "\n") {
+            let line_no = line_no + 1
+            state_set("__lex_line", native_int_to_str(line_no))
+        }
         let c: Int = str_char_code(source, i)
 
         // Skip whitespace (space=32, tab=9, newline=10, CR=13)

lang/el-compiler/src/parser.el

@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@
 // programs. All callers use these helpers -- only these three need updating.
 
 fn tok_at(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
-    let kind: String = native_list_get(tokens, pos * 2)
+    let kind: String = native_list_get(tokens, pos * 3)
-    let value: String = native_list_get(tokens, pos * 2 + 1)
+    let value: String = native_list_get(tokens, pos * 3 + 1)
     { "kind": kind, "value": value }
 }
 
@@ -28,25 +28,32 @@ fn tok_kind(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> String {
     // single trailing Eof token returns runtime null (el_list_get OOB -> 0),
     // which matches no delimiter, letting inner parse loops append AST nodes
     // forever on malformed input -> unbounded allocation -> OOM.
-    let n: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    let n: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
     if pos < 0 {
         return "Eof"
     }
     if pos >= n {
         return "Eof"
     }
-    native_list_get(tokens, pos * 2)
+    native_list_get(tokens, pos * 3)
+}
+
+fn tok_line(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> String {
+    let n: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
+    if pos < 0 { return "0" }
+    if pos >= n { return "0" }
+    native_list_get(tokens, pos * 3 + 2)
 }
 
 fn tok_value(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> String {
-    let n: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    let n: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
     if pos < 0 {
         return ""
     }
     if pos >= n {
         return ""
     }
-    native_list_get(tokens, pos * 2 + 1)
+    native_list_get(tokens, pos * 3 + 1)
 }
 
 // parse_progress_fatal — robustness backstop. Called by the token-consuming
@@ -1230,7 +1237,7 @@ fn parse_block(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
     // Runaway backstop: a block can hold at most (token count) statements, since
     // every iteration consumes >= 1 token. If we exceed that, the cursor has run
     // off the end without terminating (malformed input) -> fail fast, don't hang.
-    let blk_total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    let blk_total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
     let blk_iters: Int = 0
     while running {
         let blk_iters = blk_iters + 1
@@ -1550,7 +1557,10 @@ fn parse_stmt(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
         let p = r2["pos"]
         // r2 result map fully consumed — release to free peak heap.
         el_release(r2)
-        return make_result({ "stmt": "FnDef", "name": name, "params": params, "body": body, "ret_type": ret_type }, p)
+        // The definition carries the line it was written on. Without it no
+        // diagnostic can name a place, and after textual inlining there is no
+        // way to say which FILE a definition came from.
+        return make_result({ "stmt": "FnDef", "name": name, "params": params, "body": body, "ret_type": ret_type, "line": tok_line(tokens, pos) }, p)
     }
 
     // type definition: `type Name = { field: Type, ... }`
@@ -1842,6 +1852,7 @@ fn parse_stmt(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
                 "params": inner["params"],
                 "body": inner["body"],
                 "ret_type": inner["ret_type"],
+                "line": inner["line"],
                 "decorator": dec_name,
                 "decorators": dlist
             }
@@ -1976,6 +1987,18 @@ fn parse_stmt(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
     //   singleton: "id"    — process identity. The runtime takes an exclusive
     //                        lock at startup; a SECOND start is refused, loudly,
     //                        instead of two processes sharing one data dir.
+    //   guards: <expr>     — WHAT that singleton protects: an expression yielding
+    //                        the path of the guarded state directory, evaluated at
+    //                        startup. MANDATORY with `singleton:`, because a lock
+    //                        keyed on a program's NAME rather than on its STATE is
+    //                        not a guard — measured 2026-08-16, the name-keyed
+    //                        version refused unrelated instances (different data
+    //                        dirs) AND permitted concurrent ones (same data dir,
+    //                        different $TMPDIR). It is an expression and not a
+    //                        string so a program can point at the resolver that
+    //                        already OWNS the path (§18.4) instead of restating
+    //                        its default here, which would give the path two
+    //                        owners that can disagree.
     //   env NAME: T = "d"  — one configuration entry. Its type and its default
     //                        are declared ONCE, here, and resolved+validated
     //                        before main() body runs.
@@ -1993,6 +2016,8 @@ fn parse_stmt(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
         let p = expect(tokens, p, "LBrace")
         let singleton = ""
         let has_singleton = false
+        let guards_node = { "expr": "Str", "value": "" }
+        let has_guards = false
         let entries = native_list_empty()
         // Entry-scratch declared at loop-body level (not inside the branch) so
         // that inner `let` forms compile to assignment rather than a C-scoped
@@ -2048,13 +2073,26 @@ fn parse_stmt(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
                             "required": erequired
                         })
                     } else {
-                        // scalar field: `name: "value"`
+                        if str_eq(fname, "guards") {
-                        let p = expect(tokens, p, "Colon")
+                            // guards: <expr>  — the STATE the singleton protects.
-                        let fval = tok_value(tokens, p)
+                            // Parsed as a full expression, not a string literal, so
-                        let p = p + 1
+                            // it can name the resolver that owns the path
-                        if str_eq(fname, "singleton") {
+                            // (`guards: engram_resolve_data_dir()`) rather than
-                            let singleton = fval
+                            // duplicating that resolver's default here.
-                            let has_singleton = true
+                            let p = expect(tokens, p, "Colon")
+                            let g_r = parse_expr(tokens, p)
+                            let guards_node = g_r["node"]
+                            let p = g_r["pos"]
+                            let has_guards = true
+                        } else {
+                            // scalar field: `name: "value"`
+                            let p = expect(tokens, p, "Colon")
+                            let fval = tok_value(tokens, p)
+                            let p = p + 1
+                            if str_eq(fname, "singleton") {
+                                let singleton = fval
+                                let has_singleton = true
+                            }
                         }
                     }
                     let k5 = tok_kind(tokens, p)
@@ -2070,6 +2108,8 @@ fn parse_stmt(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
             "name": name,
             "singleton": singleton,
             "has_singleton": has_singleton,
+            "guards": guards_node,
+            "has_guards": has_guards,
             "entries": entries
         }, p)
     }
@@ -2129,7 +2169,7 @@ fn parse_stmt(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
 
 fn parse(tokens: [Any]) -> [Map<String, Any>] {
     // Flat list: 2 entries per token, so divide by 2 for token count.
-    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
     let stmts: [Map<String, Any>] = native_list_empty()
     let pos: Int = 0
     let running = true
@@ -2172,7 +2212,7 @@ fn parse_one(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
 // On entry, pos must point at the LBrace token.
 // Returns the position of the token AFTER the matching RBrace.
 fn skip_to_rbrace(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Int {
-    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
     let p: Int = pos + 1
     let depth: Int = 1
     let going: Bool = true
@@ -2224,7 +2264,7 @@ fn is_stmt_start_kind(k: String) -> Bool {
 // token that could start a new top-level statement, staying depth-aware
 // so that braces inside expressions don't fool us.
 fn skip_expr_to_stmt_boundary(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Int {
-    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
     let p: Int = pos
     let depth: Int = 0
     let going: Bool = true
@@ -2390,7 +2430,7 @@ fn scan_params_el(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
 //
 // Peak memory: O(tokens) with no expression AST allocation.
 fn scan_fn_sigs_el(tokens: [Any]) -> [Map<String, Any>] {
-    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
     let sigs: [Map<String, Any>] = native_list_empty()
     let pos: Int = 0
     let going: Bool = true
@@ -2532,7 +2572,7 @@ fn scan_params_c(tokens: [Any], pos: Int) -> Map<String, Any> {
 //
 // The scan allocates only small string values per entry, keeping peak RSS low.
 fn scan_fn_sigs(tokens: [Any]) -> [Map<String, Any>] {
-    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    let total: Int = native_list_len(tokens) / 3
     let sigs: [Map<String, Any>] = native_list_empty()
     let pos: Int = 0
     let going: Bool = true

lang/examples/transduce.el

@@ -1,67 +1,33 @@
-// transduce.el — geometry as a first-class El value, and a realizer written
+// transduce.el — transduction decomposes a signal into components and the
-// in El. Runnable: this is the worked example for the transduce surface, and
+// relations between them. Runnable: this is the worked example for the
-// it doubles as an executable proof because it checks every claim it makes.
+// transduce surface, and it exits non-zero if any claim in it stops being true.
 //
 //   elc lang/examples/transduce.el > transduce.c
 //   cc -std=c11 -O2 -I lang/runtime -o transduce transduce.c \
-//      lang/runtime/el_runtime.c lang/runtime/el_seed.c \
+//        lang/runtime/el_runtime.c lang/runtime/el_seed.c \
-//      lang/runtime/engram_*.c -lcurl -lpthread -lm
+//        lang/runtime/engram_store.c lang/runtime/engram_vindex.c \
+//        lang/runtime/engram_cognition.c lang/runtime/engram_geometry.c \
+//        lang/runtime/engram_reason.c lang/runtime/engram_verify.c \
+//        -lcurl -lpthread -lm
 //   ./transduce          # exits 0 only if every check passes
 //
-// (A `test "..."` form of the same checks lives in
+// It writes to an IN-MEMORY engram (leave ENGRAM_STORE unset) and contacts no
-// lang/tests/native/test_transduce.el, for when the native harness is
+// server. The same claims are asserted by the native harness in
-// repaired — the shipped elc currently emits calls to __el_reg_count and
+// lang/tests/native/test_transduce.el.
-// friends without emitting their definitions, which breaks every native test
-// equally, test_math.el included. Verified 2026-08-16, unrelated to this work.)
 //
-// WHY THIS EXISTS. Until 2026-08-16 no El ingest path could carry a vector:
+// WHAT CHANGED, AND WHY IT MATTERS. #144 shipped
-// nodes took text, and geometry was DERIVED from that text. Text was the
+// `transduce(signal, modality) -> Geometry`: one vector per signal. That made
-// mandatory entry medium, so any non-text modality had to be DESCRIBED in
+// transduction a CONVERSION — take a thing, encode it, store a position — and
-// prose first and the geometry we reasoned over was the geometry OF THE
+// what a conversion returns is a fingerprint. A fingerprint can be matched and
-// DESCRIPTION, not of the signal. Two things fix that, and both are shown
+// ranked, and that is all it can ever do. It cannot be decomposed, cannot have
-// below: geometry is a VALUE that carries its own width, and a REALIZER is an
+// one part grounded while another is not, and cannot be contradicted in one
-// ordinary El function — so admitting a new modality never requires a runtime
+// part while holding in another, because it has no parts.
-// patch.
 //
-// COMPARISON DISCIPLINE (measured, not stylistic): elc lowers `a == b`
+// A song is not a point. It decomposes into pitch, interval, rhythm, harmonic
-// numerically only when both operand NAMES are in the per-function int-name
+// function — components, each with its own geometry, plus the relations among
-// set that `let x: Int` populates. A bare `f(x) == 0` is not a registered
+// them. THE SONG IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE RELATIONS. transduce now returns a
-// name and lowers to str_eq — strcmp on two integers as pointers. `<` and `>`
+// Manifold, and a realizer's job is to say what its modality's components ARE.
-// lower directly with no inference, so truthiness is written `> 0` / `< 1`.
 
-// ── A realizer, written entirely in El ──────────────────────────────────────
-// Not in the runtime. Not known to the compiler. Registered by NAME and
-// dispatched to through transduce(). That is the whole claim.
-fn tone_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
-    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(4)
-    let n: Int = str_len(signal)
-    let a: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, int_to_float(n))
-    let b: Int = geometry_set(g, 1, int_to_float(n * 2))
-    let c: Int = geometry_set(g, 2, int_to_float(n * 3))
-    let d: Int = geometry_set(g, 3, int_to_float(n * 4))
-    g
-}
-
-// A second modality, to show the registry keys on modality rather than just
-// returning whatever was registered last.
-fn pulse_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
-    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(2)
-    let a: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, 1.0)
-    let b: Int = geometry_set(g, 1, 0.0)
-    g
-}
-
-// A deliberately BROKEN realizer: returns something that is not a Geometry.
-fn bogus_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
-    return 12345
-}
-
-// Fails FAST rather than accumulating a count, for a measured reason: a first
-// cut wrote `let fails: Int = fails + check(...)` and `+` lowered to STRING
-// CONCAT, because elc dispatches `+` on whether both operands are known-Int and
-// a user-defined fn call is not — so the counter printed 4343632752, a pointer.
-// Nothing was wrong with the checks; the tally was lying. Exiting at the first
-// failure needs no arithmetic at all, so there is nothing left to get wrong.
 fn check(ok: Int, label: String) -> Int {
     if ok > 0 {
         println("  ok    " + label)
@@ -84,128 +50,177 @@ fn eq_int(a: Int, b: Int) -> Int {
     return 0
 }
 
+// ── A DECOMPOSING realizer, written entirely in El ──────────────────────────
+// "tone" signals are note letters, e.g. "CEG". This does NOT return one vector
+// for the chord. It returns the PARTS — one component per note, one per
+// interval between adjacent notes — and the relations that make those parts a
+// chord rather than an unordered bag of pitches.
+//
+// The interval is deliberately a COMPONENT, not a field on a note. An interval
+// is a thing with its own geometry belonging to neither endpoint; modelling it
+// as an attribute of one of them is the same collapse, one level down.
+fn tone_realizer(signal: String) -> Manifold {
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let n: Int = str_len(signal)
+    let i: Int = 0
+    while i < n {
+        let code: Int = str_char_code(signal, i)
+        let g: Geometry = geometry_new(2)
+        let s0: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, int_to_float(code))
+        let s1: Int = geometry_set(g, 1, int_to_float(i))
+        let idx: Int = manifold_add(m, "note:" + int_to_str(i), "pitch", g)
+        let f: Int = geometry_free(g)
+        i = i + 1
+    }
+    let j: Int = 1
+    while j < n {
+        let a: Int = str_char_code(signal, j - 1)
+        let b: Int = str_char_code(signal, j)
+        let lo: String = "note:" + int_to_str(j - 1)
+        let hi: String = "note:" + int_to_str(j)
+        let key: String = "interval:" + int_to_str(j - 1) + "-" + int_to_str(j)
+        let g: Geometry = geometry_new(1)
+        let s: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, int_to_float(b - a))
+        let idx: Int = manifold_add(m, key, "interval", g)
+        let f: Int = geometry_free(g)
+        let e1: Int = manifold_relate(m, key, "spans", lo, 0.9)
+        let e2: Int = manifold_relate(m, key, "spans", hi, 0.9)
+        let e3: Int = manifold_relate(m, lo, "sounds_before", hi, 0.8)
+        j = j + 1
+    }
+    m
+}
+
+// #144's contract, kept as a control: one vector for the whole signal.
+fn fingerprint_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
+    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(4)
+    let n: Int = str_len(signal)
+    let a: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, int_to_float(n))
+    g
+}
+
 fn main() -> Void {
-    println("geometry is a value that carries its own width")
-    let g8: Geometry = geometry_new(8)
-    let _c: Int = check(geometry_is(g8), "geometry_new returns a live Geometry")
-    let d8: Int = geometry_dim(g8)
-    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(d8, 8), "a Geometry carries its own width (8)")
-    let _c: Int = check(geometry_free(g8), "geometry_free reports what it did")
-
-    println("nonsense is refused — with no arbitrary max-dim bound")
-    // #141 needed `dim <= 8192` only to bound an allocation sized from a
-    // caller's CLAIM about a string's length. A value that carries its own
-    // width has nothing left to validate.
-    let z: Geometry = geometry_new(0)
-    let zi: Int = geometry_is(z)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - zi, "dim 0 is not a geometry")
-    let ng: Geometry = geometry_new(-4)
-    let ngi: Int = geometry_is(ng)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - ngi, "negative dim is not a geometry")
-    let nd: Int = geometry_dim(0)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - nd, "geometry_dim of a non-geometry is 0, not a crash")
-    let nf: Int = geometry_free(0)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - nf, "geometry_free of a non-geometry is a no-op")
-
-    println("components round-trip, and out-of-range is refused")
-    let g3: Geometry = geometry_new(3)
-    let s0: Int = geometry_set(g3, 0, 1.5)
-    let s1: Int = geometry_set(g3, 1, -2.5)
-    let _c: Int = check(s0, "set in range succeeds")
-    let oob: Int = geometry_set(g3, 3, 9.0)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - oob, "set out of range is refused, not silently dropped")
-    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_get(g3, 0), 1.5), "component 0 round-trips")
-    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_get(g3, 1), -2.5), "component 1 round-trips (negative)")
-    let ff3: Int = geometry_free(g3)
-
-    println("hex is an EDGE adapter, and derives its own width")
-    // little-endian float32: 1.0 = 0000803f, 2.0 = 00000040
-    let gh: Geometry = geometry_from_f32le_hex("0000803f00000040")
-    let _c: Int = check(geometry_is(gh), "valid hex decodes to a Geometry")
-    let dh: Int = geometry_dim(gh)
-    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(dh, 2), "width DERIVED from input, never supplied")
-    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_get(gh, 0), 1.0), "first component decoded")
-    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_get(gh, 1), 2.0), "second component decoded")
-    let back: String = geometry_to_f32le_hex(gh)
-    let _c: Int = check(str_eq(back, "0000803f00000040"), "hex round-trips exactly")
-    let ffh: Int = geometry_free(gh)
-
-    println("malformed hex is refused")
-    let he: Geometry = geometry_from_f32le_hex("")
-    let hei: Int = geometry_is(he)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - hei, "empty hex is not a geometry")
-    let hr: Geometry = geometry_from_f32le_hex("0000803f0000")
-    let hri: Int = geometry_is(hr)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - hri, "length not a multiple of 8 is refused")
-    let hn: Geometry = geometry_from_f32le_hex("zzzzzzzz")
-    let hni: Int = geometry_is(hn)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - hni, "non-hex characters are refused")
-
     println("a realizer declared in El is a first-class realizer")
     let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
-    let _c: Int = check(reg, "an El fn registers as a realizer BY NAME")
+    let _c: Int = check(reg, "an El fn registers as a realizer by name")
     let _c: Int = check(realizer_has("tone"), "the modality now has an organ")
-    let gt: Geometry = transduce("aaa", "tone")
-    let _c: Int = check(geometry_is(gt), "transduce returns real geometry")
-    let dt: Int = geometry_dim(gt)
-    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(dt, 4), "the El realizer determined the width, not the runtime")
-    // str_len("aaa") == 3, so component 0 must be 3.0 — proof the signal
-    // actually reached the El function rather than a stub answering for it.
-    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_get(gt, 0), 3.0), "the signal REACHED the El realizer")
-    let fft: Int = geometry_free(gt)
 
-    println("distinct signals transduce to distinct geometry")
+    println("transduction decomposes a signal into parts")
-    let g1: Geometry = transduce("aa", "tone")
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("CEG", "tone")
-    let g2: Geometry = transduce("aaaaa", "tone")
+    let _c: Int = check(manifold_is(m), "transduce returns a real Manifold")
-    let a1: Float = geometry_get(g1, 0)
+    let sz: Int = manifold_size(m)
-    let a2: Float = geometry_get(g2, 0)
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(sz, 5), "three notes and two intervals are five parts")
-    // 5 - 2 = 3. If transduction were a stub these would be equal.
+    let rc: Int = manifold_rel_count(m)
-    let _c: Int = check(near(a2 - a1, 3.0), "different signals produce different geometry")
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(rc, 6), "and they stand in six stated relations")
-    let ff1: Int = geometry_free(g1)
-    let ff2: Int = geometry_free(g2)
 
-    println("the registry keys on modality")
+    println("every part is addressable BY KEY, which is what survives persistence")
-    let r2: Int = realizer_register("pulse", "pulse_realizer")
+    let i_c: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "note:0")
-    let _c: Int = check(r2, "a second modality registers independently")
+    let _c: Int = check(1 - eq_int(i_c, -1), "the first note is addressable on its own")
-    let mt: Geometry = transduce("aaa", "tone")
+    let i_iv: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "interval:0-1")
-    let mp: Geometry = transduce("aaa", "pulse")
+    let _c: Int = check(1 - eq_int(i_iv, -1), "so is the interval between the first two")
-    let mdt: Int = geometry_dim(mt)
+    let miss: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "never_added")
-    let mdp: Int = geometry_dim(mp)
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(miss, -1), "an unknown key is -1, not component 0")
-    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(mdt, 4), "tone still routes to its own realizer")
-    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(mdp, 2), "pulse routes to a different realizer")
-    let ffm1: Int = geometry_free(mt)
-    let ffm2: Int = geometry_free(mp)
 
-    println("no organ is reported as no organ")
+    println("parts carry their own geometry, and may differ in width")
-    // A modality with no realizer must transduce to NOTHING. It must never
+    let gn: Geometry = manifold_geometry(m, i_c)
-    // fall back to embedding a description of the signal and calling that
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(geometry_dim(gn), 2), "a note component is 2 wide")
-    // perception — that silent substitution is the defect this all exists to end.
+    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_get(gn, 0), 67.0), "and it is C — the signal reached the realizer")
-    let eh: Int = realizer_has("echolocation")
+    let gi: Geometry = manifold_geometry(m, i_iv)
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - eh, "unregistered modality has no organ")
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(geometry_dim(gi), 1), "an interval component is 1 wide")
-    let ge: Geometry = transduce("anything", "echolocation")
+    // A single vector per signal cannot represent parts of unequal width at all.
-    let gei: Int = geometry_is(ge)
+    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_get(gi, 0), 2.0), "C to E is two semitones")
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - gei, "no realizer means NO geometry, not fake geometry")
+    let f1: Int = geometry_free(gn)
+    let f2: Int = geometry_free(gi)
 
-    println("an unresolvable realizer name fails at WIRING time")
+    println("the relations are content no single part carries")
-    let bad: Int = realizer_register("ghost", "no_such_function_anywhere")
+    // That "2" above is not a property of C and not a property of E. It exists
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - bad, "unresolvable realizer name is a registration failure")
+    // only BETWEEN them, so a representation with no relations cannot hold it.
-    let gh2: Int = realizer_has("ghost")
+    let spans: Int = 0
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - gh2, "and nothing gets registered")
+    let k: Int = 0
+    while k < rc {
+        if str_eq(manifold_rel_name(m, k), "spans") {
+            if str_eq(manifold_rel_from(m, k), "interval:0-1") { spans = spans + 1 }
+        }
+        k = k + 1
+    }
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(spans, 2), "the interval is wired to both notes it spans")
 
-    println("a realizer returning non-geometry transduces nothing")
+    println("relation weight IS the grounding (correspondence-and-censorship §1)")
-    let rb: Int = realizer_register("bogus", "bogus_realizer")
+    let wk: Int = 0
-    let _c: Int = check(rb, "the symbol resolves, so registration succeeds")
+    let found: Int = 0
-    let gb: Geometry = transduce("x", "bogus")
+    while wk < rc {
-    let gbi: Int = geometry_is(gb)
+        if str_eq(manifold_rel_name(m, wk), "sounds_before") {
-    let _c: Int = check(1 - gbi, "contract enforced at the boundary: nothing handed back")
+            if near(manifold_rel_weight(m, wk), 0.8) > 0 { found = 1 }
+        }
+        wk = wk + 1
+    }
+    let _c: Int = check(found, "the ordering relation carries the weight its realizer stated")
 
-    println("norm lets a caller check a realizer emitted signal, not zeros")
+    println("the decomposition persists as real, separately addressable nodes")
-    let gn: Geometry = geometry_new(2)
+    let ids: [String] = el_list_empty()
-    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_norm(gn), 0.0), "a fresh geometry is zero — norm says so")
+    let n0: Int = engram_node_count()
-    let n0: Int = geometry_set(gn, 0, 3.0)
+    let e0: Int = engram_edge_count()
-    let n1: Int = geometry_set(gn, 1, 4.0)
+    let pi: Int = 0
-    let _c: Int = check(near(geometry_norm(gn), 5.0), "3-4-5: norm is 5")
+    while pi < sz {
-    let ffn: Int = geometry_free(gn)
+        let key: String = manifold_key(m, pi)
+        let g: Geometry = manifold_geometry(m, pi)
+        let id: String = engram_node("component " + key, "Concept", 0.6)
+        let att: Int = node_attach_geometry(id, g)
+        ids = el_list_append(ids, id)
+        let ff: Int = geometry_free(g)
+        pi = pi + 1
+    }
+    let ri: Int = 0
+    while ri < rc {
+        let fi: Int = manifold_index_of(m, manifold_rel_from(m, ri))
+        let ti: Int = manifold_index_of(m, manifold_rel_to(m, ri))
+        engram_connect(el_list_get(ids, fi), el_list_get(ids, ti),
+                       manifold_rel_weight(m, ri), manifold_rel_name(m, ri))
+        ri = ri + 1
+    }
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(engram_node_count() - n0, 5), "one signal became five nodes")
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(engram_edge_count() - e0, 6), "and six edges between them")
+
+    println("each part's geometry is independently readable back off its node")
+    let id_c: String = el_list_get(ids, manifold_index_of(m, "note:0"))
+    let id_iv: String = el_list_get(ids, manifold_index_of(m, "interval:0-1"))
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(node_geometry_dim(id_c), 2), "note:0 node carries a 2-wide geometry")
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(node_geometry_dim(id_iv), 1), "interval:0-1 node carries a 1-wide one")
+
+    println("one part can be grounded without touching its siblings")
+    let ear: String = engram_node("evidence: heard a C in the recording", "Memory", 0.7)
+    engram_connect(ear, id_c, 0.95, "corroborates")
+    let _c: Int = check(engram_edge_between(ear, id_c), "evidence attaches to note:0 specifically")
+    let id_g: String = el_list_get(ids, manifold_index_of(m, "note:2"))
+    let _c: Int = check(1 - engram_edge_between(ear, id_g), "and NOT to note:2 — the sibling is untouched")
+    // This is the whole gain, and it is impossible with a fingerprint: with one
+    // node per signal, "the C is corroborated" and "the G is not" have the same
+    // grounding target and cannot both be recorded.
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(node_geometry_dim(id_g), 2), "note:2 geometry is intact regardless")
+
+    println("a fingerprint realizer transduces NOTHING")
+    // #144's contract exactly: signal in, one Geometry out. It resolves, so the
+    // organ is present — but it does not decompose, so it does not transduce.
+    // "No organ" and "an organ that only fingerprints" must not look alike.
+    let rf: Int = realizer_register("fingerprint", "fingerprint_realizer")
+    let _c: Int = check(rf, "the symbol resolves, so registration succeeds")
+    let mf: Manifold = transduce("x", "fingerprint")
+    let _c: Int = check(1 - manifold_is(mf), "a single vector is not a transduction")
+
+    println("the one-part case is a size-one manifold, not a bare vector")
+    let g1: Geometry = geometry_new(3)
+    let s1: Int = geometry_set(g1, 0, 5.0)
+    let ms: Manifold = manifold_single("level", "scalar", g1)
+    let _c: Int = check(manifold_is(ms), "manifold_single yields a real Manifold")
+    let _c: Int = check(eq_int(manifold_size(ms), 1), "of size one — visibly degenerate, not hidden")
+    let fg: Int = geometry_free(g1)
+    let fs: Int = manifold_free(ms)
+
+    println("no organ is still reported as no organ")
+    let me: Manifold = transduce("anything", "echolocation")
+    let _c: Int = check(1 - manifold_is(me), "no realizer means no manifold, not a fake one")
+
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
 
     // Reaching here means nothing called exit(1) along the way.
     println("")

lang/install.sh

@@ -49,21 +49,49 @@ download() {
 TMP_DIR="$(mktemp -d)"
 trap 'rm -rf "${TMP_DIR}"' EXIT
 
-download "${RELEASE_BASE}/elc"          "${TMP_DIR}/elc"
+# The runtime is MULTI-FILE. el_runtime.c #includes six engram headers and makes
-download "${RELEASE_BASE}/el_runtime.c" "${TMP_DIR}/el_runtime.c"
+# hard cross-TU calls into all six sibling .c files, so installing el_runtime.c
-download "${RELEASE_BASE}/el_runtime.h" "${TMP_DIR}/el_runtime.h"
+# alone produces a lib/ that CANNOT LINK — `ld` fails with undefined
+# engram_ground_json / engram_activate_inner / eg_find_relation / cog_assert_two_axis.
+# This list mirrors lang/runtime/SOURCES (the in-repo source of truth); keep them
+# in step. install.sh is standalone by design — it runs on machines with no repo
+# checkout — so it cannot call scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh.
+RUNTIME_SOURCES=(
+    el_runtime.c el_seed.c
+    engram_store.c engram_vindex.c engram_geometry.c
+    engram_reason.c engram_verify.c engram_cognition.c
+    engram_text.c
+    eg_cosine_batch.c eg_cosine_batch_strategy_cpu.c
+)
+RUNTIME_HEADERS=(
+    el_runtime.h el_seed.h
+    engram_store.h engram_vindex.h engram_geometry.h
+    engram_reason.h engram_verify.h engram_cognition.h
+    engram_text.h
+    eg_cosine_batch.h eg_cosine_batch_strategy.h
+)
+
+download "${RELEASE_BASE}/elc" "${TMP_DIR}/elc"
+for f in "${RUNTIME_SOURCES[@]}" "${RUNTIME_HEADERS[@]}"; do
+    download "${RELEASE_BASE}/${f}" "${TMP_DIR}/${f}"
+done
 
 # Install
-install -m 755 "${TMP_DIR}/elc"          "${BIN_DIR}/elc"
+install -m 755 "${TMP_DIR}/elc" "${BIN_DIR}/elc"
-install -m 644 "${TMP_DIR}/el_runtime.c" "${LIB_DIR}/el_runtime.c"
+for f in "${RUNTIME_SOURCES[@]}" "${RUNTIME_HEADERS[@]}"; do
-install -m 644 "${TMP_DIR}/el_runtime.h" "${LIB_DIR}/el_runtime.h"
+    install -m 644 "${TMP_DIR}/${f}" "${LIB_DIR}/${f}"
+done
+
+# Record the link set so downstream Makefiles can read it instead of hardcoding.
+printf '%s\n' "${RUNTIME_SOURCES[@]}" > "${TMP_DIR}/SOURCES"
+install -m 644 "${TMP_DIR}/SOURCES" "${LIB_DIR}/SOURCES"
 
 echo
 echo "==> El SDK installed successfully"
 echo
 echo "    elc binary : ${BIN_DIR}/elc"
-echo "    runtime    : ${LIB_DIR}/el_runtime.c"
+echo "    runtime    : ${LIB_DIR}/ (${#RUNTIME_SOURCES[@]} .c files, ${#RUNTIME_HEADERS[@]} headers)"
-echo "    header     : ${LIB_DIR}/el_runtime.h"
+echo "    link set   : ${LIB_DIR}/SOURCES"
 echo
 echo "Add the following to your Makefile to build El programs:"
 echo
@@ -71,10 +99,14 @@ echo "    EL_LIB := ${LIB_DIR}"
 echo "    ELC    := elc"
 echo "    CC     := cc"
 echo "    CFLAGS := -std=c11 -O2 -I\$(EL_LIB)"
+echo "    LDLIBS := -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm"
+echo
+echo "    # The runtime is multi-file — link the whole set, not el_runtime.c alone."
+echo "    EL_RUNTIME := \$(addprefix \$(EL_LIB)/,\$(shell cat \$(EL_LIB)/SOURCES))"
 echo
 echo "    dist/myapp.c: src/myapp.el"
 echo "    \t\$(ELC) src/myapp.el > dist/myapp.c"
 echo
 echo "    dist/myapp: dist/myapp.c"
-echo "    \t\$(CC) \$(CFLAGS) -o dist/myapp dist/myapp.c \$(EL_LIB)/el_runtime.c -lcurl -lpthread"
+echo "    \t\$(CC) \$(CFLAGS) -o dist/myapp dist/myapp.c \$(EL_RUNTIME) \$(LDLIBS)"
 echo

lang/runtime/BUDGET

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# BUDGET — a RATCHET on lang/runtime/el_runtime.c. Enforced by
+# scripts/check-runtime-growth.sh. These numbers may only ever go DOWN.
+#
+# WHY THIS FILE EXISTS
+# --------------------
+# scripts/check-single-runtime.sh guards against el_runtime.c being COPIED.
+# Nothing guarded against it GROWING. It grew from 10,607 lines to 20,527 —
+# 94% — in 3.5 months, while under an explicit commit-message promise that it
+# was a temporary shim about to be deleted.
+#
+# It grew because lang/AGENTS.md told every agent to grow it: it claimed
+# el_runtime.c was "the authoritative single-file link target" and that a new
+# C builtin "must live there to be linkable". That is false — placement is a
+# link-time concern, `builtin_arity` is an arity guard not a dispatch table,
+# and the shipped elc already links from ten translation units. The claim is
+# corrected, and this file is the mechanism that keeps it corrected.
+#
+# THIS IS A RATCHET, NOT A LIMIT
+# ------------------------------
+# The budget is set at the CURRENT size. There is no headroom, deliberately.
+# The file cannot grow by even one line. Any new code goes in the .c that owns
+# the concern — that is the whole point, and every other runtime file is
+# deliberately UNCAPPED.
+#
+# When you move code OUT, lower the number in the same commit. The guard tells
+# you to when you have earned it.
+#
+# FORMAT: <key> <value>   — `#` comments and blank lines ignored.
+
+# Maximum lines in lang/runtime/el_runtime.c.
+# 2026-08-16: 20,527 — the high-water mark.
+# 2026-08-16: 20,427 — engram_text.c extracted (tokenize, token hygiene,
+#             word-boundary match, damage signature). Ratcheted down.
+max_lines 20427
+
+# Maximum top-level engram/eg_/cog_ function definitions in el_runtime.c.
+# ~47.5% of the file is engram code, and engram already owns six dedicated
+# sibling files (engram_{store,vindex,geometry,reason,verify,cognition}.c).
+# Every one of these belongs in one of them. This is the Stage 3 scoreboard.
+# 2026-08-16: 279 -> 275 (4 moved to engram_text.c).
+max_engram_fns 275

lang/runtime/SOURCES

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# SOURCES — the canonical El runtime link set.
+#
+# THIS FILE IS THE SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH for "what do I compile and link to
+# get the El runtime". Every build path — CI, install.sh, the SDK release, the
+# docs, elb, the engram test harnesses — reads it via scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh
+# instead of hardcoding its own list.
+#
+# WHY THIS FILE EXISTS
+# --------------------
+# The runtime has been multi-translation-unit since the engram siblings landed:
+# el_runtime.c #includes engram_{store,vindex,geometry,reason,verify,cognition}.h
+# and makes hard cross-TU calls into all six. Linking el_runtime.c ALONE has been
+# broken since then — `ld` fails with undefined symbols (engram_ground_json,
+# engram_activate_inner, eg_find_relation, cog_assert_two_axis, ...).
+#
+# It stayed broken because the link set was written out longhand in ~8 different
+# places, each of which drifted independently. A list copied 8 times is a list
+# that is wrong in 8 places. It is now written once, here.
+#
+# HOW TO USE IT
+# -------------
+#   scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh                      # bare names, one per line
+#   scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh lang/runtime         # prefixed with a directory
+#   cc ... $(scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh lang/runtime) -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm
+#
+# ADDING A FILE
+# -------------
+# Add the .c here and it is picked up by every build path at once. That is the
+# point: a new concern gets its own translation unit and costs one line, instead
+# of being appended to el_runtime.c because appending was the cheaper edit.
+#
+# Order is link order. Blank lines and `#` comments are ignored.
+
+# --- EL core language runtime -------------------------------------------------
+el_runtime.c
+el_seed.c
+
+# --- Engram: store, index, geometry, reasoning, verification, cognition -------
+# These are the six concern-owned translation units el_runtime.c calls into.
+engram_store.c
+engram_vindex.c
+engram_geometry.c
+engram_reason.c
+engram_verify.c
+engram_cognition.c
+
+# --- Text: tokenization, token hygiene, damage signature ---------------------
+# Extracted from el_runtime.c 2026-08-16. Plain C over <ctype.h>/<string.h> —
+# touches no EL value type and no engram store type. New text helpers go HERE.
+engram_text.c
+
+# --- Vector math: batch cosine + its CPU strategy ----------------------------
+# The ggml strategy (eg_cosine_batch_strategy_ggml.c) is an OPTIONAL swap-in and
+# is deliberately NOT in the default set — it needs ggml headers. Link it in
+# place of the cpu strategy when you have them.
+eg_cosine_batch.c
+eg_cosine_batch_strategy_cpu.c

lang/runtime/el_audio_darwin.m

@@ -0,0 +1,525 @@
+/* el_audio_darwin.m — the SPEAKER realizer. El's native audio output on Darwin.
+ *
+ * WHY THIS FILE EXISTS.
+ *
+ * Neuron could already turn meaning into samples — the render path in
+ * elp/src/speech.el superposes formant resonances over a glottal source and
+ * produces PCM. What it could not do was make a sound. Every path from those
+ * samples to the air ran outside the language: a 939-line Swift program
+ * (peripheral/src/periph.swift) that shelled out to /usr/bin/afplay. So the
+ * voice was not a capability of El or of Neuron. It was a separate binary
+ * standing next to them, and "speak" meant "ask that binary to speak."
+ *
+ * A speaker is not a language feature the way a string is, but it is exactly
+ * the kind of thing a runtime owns: a device. El already owns the filesystem,
+ * the network, the clock, and a graph. It should own the one output device that
+ * makes it audible. After this file, `speak` is an El operation.
+ *
+ * WHY IT IS A REALIZER AND NOT PURE EL.
+ *
+ * This is the boundary the whole design turns on. Everything ABOVE the sample
+ * buffer is arithmetic and belongs in El: formant geometry, superposition,
+ * envelopes, WAV framing, the voice signature. Everything in this file is the
+ * part that cannot be arithmetic — handing a buffer to CoreAudio and waiting
+ * for the hardware to drain it. There is no way to express "the DAC has now
+ * played these samples" in El, and there should not be. So the split is: El
+ * computes the sound, the realizer emits it, and the realizer is as thin as it
+ * can possibly be — it makes no decisions about content, it has no opinion
+ * about audio, and it cannot synthesize anything.
+ *
+ * The precedent is eg_cosine_batch_strategy_metal_hand.m: a platform-bound
+ * capability compiled as its OWN translation unit, declared in el_runtime.h,
+ * and linked in where the platform supports it. Deliberately NOT a patch to
+ * el_runtime.c — adding a device to El must not mean editing the core runtime,
+ * for the same reason adding a modality must not (see el_runtime.c's realizer
+ * registry: a realizer is resolved by name, so new organs never touch the
+ * middle of the language). el_audio_null.c is the same two entry points for
+ * every platform that is not Darwin, so El code that speaks still links
+ * everywhere and simply reports that it has no speaker.
+ *
+ * WHY AudioQueue AND NOT afplay.
+ *
+ * afplay is a process. Using it means the sound Neuron makes is a file it wrote
+ * and asked something else to open — which forces every utterance through the
+ * disk, cannot start until the whole utterance exists, and puts a fork/exec
+ * between the intent to speak and the sound. AudioQueue takes the samples
+ * directly out of memory. Nothing is written, nothing is spawned, and a caller
+ * that wants to stream can push buffers as it renders them.
+ *
+ * AudioToolbox ships with macOS, so this stays own-core: no cloud, no library
+ * to install, no model. The output is the local speaker and nothing leaves the
+ * machine — there is no network path in this file at all, by construction.
+ */
+
+#import <AudioToolbox/AudioToolbox.h>
+#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include "el_runtime.h"
+
+/* Three buffers is the standard AudioQueue depth: one being played by the
+ * hardware, one queued behind it, one being refilled. Fewer risks a gap on a
+ * busy machine; more only adds latency before the first sound. */
+#define EL_AQ_NBUF   3
+#define EL_AQ_FRAMES 8192
+
+typedef struct {
+    const int16_t* pcm;
+    int64_t        frames;
+    int64_t        pos;
+    volatile int   inflight;   /* buffers CoreAudio still owns */
+    volatile int   drained;    /* set once the last buffer has been played */
+} ElAqState;
+
+/* Called on an AudioQueue-internal thread each time a buffer finishes playing.
+ * Refills and re-enqueues while samples remain; when the source is exhausted it
+ * lets the buffer die and counts it out. `drained` flips only when the queue is
+ * holding nothing, which is what makes the play call synchronous without
+ * clipping the tail — the same reason periph.swift used .dataPlayedBack rather
+ * than treating "consumed" as "heard". */
+static void el_aq_callback(void* userData, AudioQueueRef q, AudioQueueBufferRef buf) {
+    ElAqState* st = (ElAqState*)userData;
+    int64_t remain = st->frames - st->pos;
+    if (remain <= 0) {
+        if (--st->inflight <= 0) st->drained = 1;
+        return;
+    }
+    int64_t n = remain < EL_AQ_FRAMES ? remain : EL_AQ_FRAMES;
+    memcpy(buf->mAudioData, st->pcm + st->pos, (size_t)n * sizeof(int16_t));
+    buf->mAudioDataByteSize = (UInt32)(n * (int64_t)sizeof(int16_t));
+    st->pos += n;
+    if (AudioQueueEnqueueBuffer(q, buf, 0, NULL) != noErr) {
+        if (--st->inflight <= 0) st->drained = 1;
+    }
+}
+
+/* Play a 16-bit mono PCM buffer out the default output device, blocking until
+ * the hardware has actually finished. Returns 1 on success, 0 on any failure —
+ * never throws, never hangs indefinitely. */
+static int el_audio_play_raw(const int16_t* pcm, int64_t frames, int32_t sample_rate) {
+    if (!pcm || frames <= 0 || sample_rate <= 0) return 0;
+
+    AudioStreamBasicDescription fmt;
+    memset(&fmt, 0, sizeof(fmt));
+    fmt.mSampleRate       = (Float64)sample_rate;
+    fmt.mFormatID         = kAudioFormatLinearPCM;
+    fmt.mFormatFlags      = kAudioFormatFlagIsSignedInteger | kAudioFormatFlagIsPacked;
+    fmt.mFramesPerPacket  = 1;
+    fmt.mChannelsPerFrame = 1;
+    fmt.mBitsPerChannel   = 16;
+    fmt.mBytesPerFrame    = 2;
+    fmt.mBytesPerPacket   = 2;
+
+    ElAqState st;
+    memset(&st, 0, sizeof(st));
+    st.pcm    = pcm;
+    st.frames = frames;
+
+    AudioQueueRef q = NULL;
+    /* NULL run loop => callbacks arrive on an AudioQueue-internal thread, so
+     * this function can simply wait rather than having to pump a run loop it
+     * does not own. El programs are not required to have one. */
+    if (AudioQueueNewOutput(&fmt, el_aq_callback, &st, NULL, NULL, 0, &q) != noErr || !q) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    AudioQueueBufferRef bufs[EL_AQ_NBUF];
+    int prepared = 0;
+    for (int i = 0; i < EL_AQ_NBUF; i++) {
+        if (AudioQueueAllocateBuffer(q, EL_AQ_FRAMES * sizeof(int16_t), &bufs[i]) != noErr) break;
+        prepared++;
+    }
+    if (prepared == 0) { AudioQueueDispose(q, true); return 0; }
+
+    /* Prime: fill what we can before starting, so playback begins immediately
+     * rather than after the first underrun. */
+    for (int i = 0; i < prepared; i++) {
+        int64_t remain = st.frames - st.pos;
+        if (remain <= 0) break;
+        int64_t n = remain < EL_AQ_FRAMES ? remain : EL_AQ_FRAMES;
+        memcpy(bufs[i]->mAudioData, st.pcm + st.pos, (size_t)n * sizeof(int16_t));
+        bufs[i]->mAudioDataByteSize = (UInt32)(n * (int64_t)sizeof(int16_t));
+        st.pos += n;
+        if (AudioQueueEnqueueBuffer(q, bufs[i], 0, NULL) != noErr) break;
+        st.inflight++;
+    }
+    if (st.inflight == 0) { AudioQueueDispose(q, true); return 0; }
+
+    if (AudioQueueStart(q, NULL) != noErr) { AudioQueueDispose(q, true); return 0; }
+
+    /* Bound the wait by the material's own duration plus a margin. A speaker
+     * that wedges a program is worse than a speaker that gives up. */
+    double   seconds  = (double)frames / (double)sample_rate;
+    int64_t  max_us   = (int64_t)((seconds + 5.0) * 1000000.0);
+    int64_t  waited   = 0;
+    const int64_t tick = 5000;   /* 5 ms */
+    while (!st.drained && waited < max_us) {
+        usleep((useconds_t)tick);
+        waited += tick;
+    }
+
+    AudioQueueStop(q, true);
+    AudioQueueDispose(q, true);
+    return st.drained ? 1 : 0;
+}
+
+/* ── El entry points ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+ * Declared in el_runtime.h; see there for the El-facing contract. */
+
+/* 1 when this build has a real speaker behind it. El code should ask before
+ * speaking so the no-speaker case is a reported condition, not a silence that
+ * looks like success. */
+el_val_t speaker_available(void) {
+    return (el_val_t)1;
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_name(void) {
+    return EL_STR("coreaudio-audioqueue");
+}
+
+/* Play an El [Int] of 16-bit samples. Values are clamped, not wrapped: a
+ * render that overshoots should distort at the rails the way real clipping
+ * does, rather than invert phase and produce a sound nothing in the signal
+ * chain intended. */
+el_val_t speaker_play_pcm16(el_val_t samples, el_val_t sample_rate) {
+    int64_t n = (int64_t)el_list_len(samples);
+    int32_t sr = (int32_t)sample_rate;
+    if (n <= 0 || sr <= 0) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    int16_t* pcm = (int16_t*)malloc((size_t)n * sizeof(int16_t));
+    if (!pcm) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    for (int64_t i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+        int64_t v = (int64_t)el_list_get(samples, (el_val_t)i);
+        if (v >  32767) v =  32767;
+        if (v < -32768) v = -32768;
+        pcm[i] = (int16_t)v;
+    }
+
+    int ok = el_audio_play_raw(pcm, n, sr);
+    free(pcm);
+    return (el_val_t)(ok ? 1 : 0);
+}
+
+/* ── Asynchronous playback ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+ *
+ * converse needs this and a blocking play cannot give it. Barge-in means
+ * stopping ON THE SPOT when the user starts talking — not at the end of the
+ * current buffer, and certainly not at the end of the utterance. So the async
+ * path keeps one queue alive, reports how far the hardware actually got, and
+ * can be halted mid-buffer.
+ *
+ * `played_frames` is what makes an interrupted utterance resumable at the
+ * sample rather than at the segment: it is the position the DAC reached, not
+ * the position we enqueued to, and those differ by up to the full queue depth.
+ *
+ * One utterance at a time. A second async play stops the first — a mouth that
+ * can say two things at once is not a feature. */
+
+static AudioQueueRef  g_aq          = NULL;
+static ElAqState*     g_aq_state    = NULL;
+static int16_t*       g_aq_pcm      = NULL;
+static int32_t        g_aq_sr       = 0;
+
+static void el_audio_teardown(void) {
+    if (g_aq) {
+        AudioQueueStop(g_aq, true);
+        AudioQueueDispose(g_aq, true);
+        g_aq = NULL;
+    }
+    free(g_aq_pcm);   g_aq_pcm   = NULL;
+    free(g_aq_state); g_aq_state = NULL;
+    g_aq_sr = 0;
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_play_pcm16_async(el_val_t samples, el_val_t sample_rate) {
+    el_audio_teardown();
+
+    int64_t n  = (int64_t)el_list_len(samples);
+    int32_t sr = (int32_t)sample_rate;
+    if (n <= 0 || sr <= 0) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    g_aq_pcm = (int16_t*)malloc((size_t)n * sizeof(int16_t));
+    if (!g_aq_pcm) return (el_val_t)0;
+    for (int64_t i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+        int64_t v = (int64_t)el_list_get(samples, (el_val_t)i);
+        if (v >  32767) v =  32767;
+        if (v < -32768) v = -32768;
+        g_aq_pcm[i] = (int16_t)v;
+    }
+
+    g_aq_state = (ElAqState*)calloc(1, sizeof(ElAqState));
+    if (!g_aq_state) { el_audio_teardown(); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    g_aq_state->pcm    = g_aq_pcm;
+    g_aq_state->frames = n;
+    g_aq_sr            = sr;
+
+    AudioStreamBasicDescription fmt;
+    memset(&fmt, 0, sizeof(fmt));
+    fmt.mSampleRate       = (Float64)sr;
+    fmt.mFormatID         = kAudioFormatLinearPCM;
+    fmt.mFormatFlags      = kAudioFormatFlagIsSignedInteger | kAudioFormatFlagIsPacked;
+    fmt.mFramesPerPacket  = 1;
+    fmt.mChannelsPerFrame = 1;
+    fmt.mBitsPerChannel   = 16;
+    fmt.mBytesPerFrame    = 2;
+    fmt.mBytesPerPacket   = 2;
+
+    if (AudioQueueNewOutput(&fmt, el_aq_callback, g_aq_state, NULL, NULL, 0, &g_aq) != noErr || !g_aq) {
+        el_audio_teardown();
+        return (el_val_t)0;
+    }
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < EL_AQ_NBUF; i++) {
+        int64_t remain = g_aq_state->frames - g_aq_state->pos;
+        if (remain <= 0) break;
+        AudioQueueBufferRef b = NULL;
+        if (AudioQueueAllocateBuffer(g_aq, EL_AQ_FRAMES * sizeof(int16_t), &b) != noErr) break;
+        int64_t k = remain < EL_AQ_FRAMES ? remain : EL_AQ_FRAMES;
+        memcpy(b->mAudioData, g_aq_state->pcm + g_aq_state->pos, (size_t)k * sizeof(int16_t));
+        b->mAudioDataByteSize = (UInt32)(k * (int64_t)sizeof(int16_t));
+        g_aq_state->pos += k;
+        if (AudioQueueEnqueueBuffer(g_aq, b, 0, NULL) != noErr) break;
+        g_aq_state->inflight++;
+    }
+    if (g_aq_state->inflight == 0) { el_audio_teardown(); return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+    if (AudioQueueStart(g_aq, NULL) != noErr) { el_audio_teardown(); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    return (el_val_t)1;
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_playing(void) {
+    if (!g_aq || !g_aq_state) return (el_val_t)0;
+    return (el_val_t)(g_aq_state->drained ? 0 : 1);
+}
+
+/* Frames the DAC has actually rendered. AudioQueueGetCurrentTime's mSampleTime
+ * is relative to queue start, which is exactly the "where was I really" figure
+ * a resumable utterance needs. Falls back to the enqueued position if the
+ * timeline is unavailable (it is, briefly, right after start). */
+el_val_t speaker_played_frames(void) {
+    if (!g_aq || !g_aq_state) return (el_val_t)0;
+    AudioTimeStamp ts;
+    memset(&ts, 0, sizeof(ts));
+    Boolean discontinuity = false;
+    if (AudioQueueGetCurrentTime(g_aq, NULL, &ts, &discontinuity) == noErr &&
+        (ts.mFlags & kAudioTimeStampSampleTimeValid)) {
+        int64_t played = (int64_t)ts.mSampleTime;
+        if (played < 0) played = 0;
+        if (played > g_aq_state->frames) played = g_aq_state->frames;
+        return (el_val_t)played;
+    }
+    return (el_val_t)g_aq_state->pos;
+}
+
+/* Pause where we are, keeping the queue and its position intact.
+ *
+ * This is the difference between barge-in and "finish the buffer". The moment
+ * the microphone hears speech, output must stop AT THAT SAMPLE — a listener
+ * experiences even 200ms of continued talking as being talked over. Pause
+ * rather than stop because the interruption might turn out to be a backchannel
+ * ("mm-hm"), and the right response to a backchannel is to carry on as though
+ * nothing happened, which requires the queue to still be exactly where it was.
+ * A stop-and-restart would re-attack the buffer and be audible as a stutter. */
+el_val_t speaker_pause(void) {
+    if (!g_aq) return (el_val_t)0;
+    return (el_val_t)(AudioQueuePause(g_aq) == noErr ? 1 : 0);
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_resume(void) {
+    if (!g_aq) return (el_val_t)0;
+    return (el_val_t)(AudioQueueStart(g_aq, NULL) == noErr ? 1 : 0);
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_stop(void) {
+    if (!g_aq) return (el_val_t)0;
+    /* immediate: do NOT let the queue finish what it is holding */
+    AudioQueueStop(g_aq, true);
+    el_audio_teardown();
+    return (el_val_t)1;
+}
+
+/* Decode a 16-bit RIFF/WAVE into a freshly malloc'd mono int16 buffer.
+ * Returns frames, or 0 on any failure; *out is set only on success. Shared by
+ * the blocking and async WAV paths. */
+static int64_t el_wav_load(const char* path, int16_t** out, int32_t* out_sr) {
+    if (!path || !out) return 0;
+    FILE* f = fopen(path, "rb");
+    if (!f) return 0;
+    if (fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END) != 0) { fclose(f); return 0; }
+    long size = ftell(f);
+    if (size <= 44) { fclose(f); return 0; }
+    rewind(f);
+    unsigned char* d = (unsigned char*)malloc((size_t)size);
+    if (!d) { fclose(f); return 0; }
+    size_t got = fread(d, 1, (size_t)size, f);
+    fclose(f);
+    if (got != (size_t)size) { free(d); return 0; }
+    if (memcmp(d, "RIFF", 4) != 0 || memcmp(d + 8, "WAVE", 4) != 0) { free(d); return 0; }
+
+    int32_t sr = 0, channels = 0, bits = 0;
+    long dataOff = -1, dataLen = 0, o = 12;
+    /* Chunk-walk rather than assuming fmt-then-data at fixed offsets: recorders
+     * routinely interleave JUNK/FLLR padding, and a fixed-offset parser reads
+     * padding as audio. */
+    while (o + 8 <= size) {
+        long sz = (long)d[o+4] | ((long)d[o+5] << 8) | ((long)d[o+6] << 16) | ((long)d[o+7] << 24);
+        if (sz < 0) break;
+        if (memcmp(d + o, "fmt ", 4) == 0 && o + 24 <= size) {
+            channels = (int32_t)(d[o+10] | (d[o+11] << 8));
+            sr       = (int32_t)((long)d[o+12] | ((long)d[o+13] << 8) | ((long)d[o+14] << 16) | ((long)d[o+15] << 24));
+            bits     = (int32_t)(d[o+22] | (d[o+23] << 8));
+        } else if (memcmp(d + o, "data", 4) == 0) {
+            dataOff = o + 8;
+            dataLen = sz;
+            if (dataOff + dataLen > size) dataLen = size - dataOff;
+        }
+        o += 8 + sz + (sz & 1);
+    }
+    if (dataOff < 0 || sr <= 0 || bits != 16 || channels < 1 || dataLen <= 0) { free(d); return 0; }
+
+    long frames = dataLen / (2 * channels);
+    int16_t* pcm = (int16_t*)malloc((size_t)frames * sizeof(int16_t));
+    if (!pcm) { free(d); return 0; }
+    for (long i = 0; i < frames; i++) {
+        long b = dataOff + i * 2 * channels;
+        pcm[i] = (int16_t)((unsigned)d[b] | ((unsigned)d[b+1] << 8));
+    }
+    free(d);
+    *out = pcm;
+    if (out_sr) *out_sr = sr;
+    return (int64_t)frames;
+}
+
+/* Async WAV playback. converse speaks PRE-RENDERED segments and must keep
+ * listening while it does, so it needs the file on the queue without blocking
+ * and needs to be able to stop it mid-buffer. Going through the file rather
+ * than an El [Int] also avoids marshalling a million-element list per segment
+ * for audio the caller never intends to look at. */
+el_val_t speaker_play_wav_async(el_val_t path) {
+    const char* p = EL_CSTR(path);
+    if (!p) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    el_audio_teardown();
+
+    int32_t  sr = 0;
+    int16_t* pcm = NULL;
+    int64_t  frames = el_wav_load(p, &pcm, &sr);
+    if (frames <= 0 || !pcm) { free(pcm); return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+    g_aq_pcm   = pcm;
+    g_aq_sr    = sr;
+    g_aq_state = (ElAqState*)calloc(1, sizeof(ElAqState));
+    if (!g_aq_state) { el_audio_teardown(); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    g_aq_state->pcm    = g_aq_pcm;
+    g_aq_state->frames = frames;
+
+    AudioStreamBasicDescription fmt;
+    memset(&fmt, 0, sizeof(fmt));
+    fmt.mSampleRate       = (Float64)sr;
+    fmt.mFormatID         = kAudioFormatLinearPCM;
+    fmt.mFormatFlags      = kAudioFormatFlagIsSignedInteger | kAudioFormatFlagIsPacked;
+    fmt.mFramesPerPacket  = 1;
+    fmt.mChannelsPerFrame = 1;
+    fmt.mBitsPerChannel   = 16;
+    fmt.mBytesPerFrame    = 2;
+    fmt.mBytesPerPacket   = 2;
+
+    if (AudioQueueNewOutput(&fmt, el_aq_callback, g_aq_state, NULL, NULL, 0, &g_aq) != noErr || !g_aq) {
+        el_audio_teardown();
+        return (el_val_t)0;
+    }
+    for (int i = 0; i < EL_AQ_NBUF; i++) {
+        int64_t remain = g_aq_state->frames - g_aq_state->pos;
+        if (remain <= 0) break;
+        AudioQueueBufferRef b = NULL;
+        if (AudioQueueAllocateBuffer(g_aq, EL_AQ_FRAMES * sizeof(int16_t), &b) != noErr) break;
+        int64_t k = remain < EL_AQ_FRAMES ? remain : EL_AQ_FRAMES;
+        memcpy(b->mAudioData, g_aq_state->pcm + g_aq_state->pos, (size_t)k * sizeof(int16_t));
+        b->mAudioDataByteSize = (UInt32)(k * (int64_t)sizeof(int16_t));
+        g_aq_state->pos += k;
+        if (AudioQueueEnqueueBuffer(g_aq, b, 0, NULL) != noErr) break;
+        g_aq_state->inflight++;
+    }
+    if (g_aq_state->inflight == 0) { el_audio_teardown(); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    if (AudioQueueStart(g_aq, NULL) != noErr) { el_audio_teardown(); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    return (el_val_t)1;
+}
+
+/* Total frames and sample rate of a WAV, without playing it — wav-info, and the
+ * duration converse needs to compute progress through a segment. */
+el_val_t wav_frames(el_val_t path) {
+    const char* p = EL_CSTR(path);
+    int16_t* pcm = NULL; int32_t sr = 0;
+    int64_t n = el_wav_load(p, &pcm, &sr);
+    free(pcm);
+    return (el_val_t)n;
+}
+
+el_val_t wav_rate(el_val_t path) {
+    const char* p = EL_CSTR(path);
+    int16_t* pcm = NULL; int32_t sr = 0;
+    int64_t n = el_wav_load(p, &pcm, &sr);
+    free(pcm);
+    return (el_val_t)(n > 0 ? sr : 0);
+}
+
+/* Play a 16-bit mono RIFF/WAVE file. Present because the render already knows
+ * how to write a WAV and a caller may reasonably want to hear one back without
+ * re-rendering it; the parse is deliberately minimal and chunk-walking, so the
+ * JUNK/FLLR padding that recorders emit does not defeat it. */
+el_val_t speaker_play_wav(el_val_t path) {
+    const char* p = EL_CSTR(path);
+    if (!p) return (el_val_t)0;
+    FILE* f = fopen(p, "rb");
+    if (!f) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    if (fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END) != 0) { fclose(f); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    long size = ftell(f);
+    if (size <= 44) { fclose(f); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    rewind(f);
+
+    unsigned char* d = (unsigned char*)malloc((size_t)size);
+    if (!d) { fclose(f); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    size_t got = fread(d, 1, (size_t)size, f);
+    fclose(f);
+    if (got != (size_t)size) { free(d); return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+    if (memcmp(d, "RIFF", 4) != 0 || memcmp(d + 8, "WAVE", 4) != 0) { free(d); return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+    int32_t sr = 0, channels = 0, bits = 0;
+    long dataOff = -1, dataLen = 0;
+    long o = 12;
+    while (o + 8 <= size) {
+        long sz = (long)d[o+4] | ((long)d[o+5] << 8) | ((long)d[o+6] << 16) | ((long)d[o+7] << 24);
+        if (sz < 0) break;
+        if (memcmp(d + o, "fmt ", 4) == 0 && o + 24 <= size) {
+            channels = (int32_t)(d[o+10] | (d[o+11] << 8));
+            sr       = (int32_t)((long)d[o+12] | ((long)d[o+13] << 8) | ((long)d[o+14] << 16) | ((long)d[o+15] << 24));
+            bits     = (int32_t)(d[o+22] | (d[o+23] << 8));
+        } else if (memcmp(d + o, "data", 4) == 0) {
+            dataOff = o + 8;
+            dataLen = sz;
+            if (dataOff + dataLen > size) dataLen = size - dataOff;
+        }
+        o += 8 + sz + (sz & 1);
+    }
+    if (dataOff < 0 || sr <= 0 || bits != 16 || channels < 1 || dataLen <= 0) { free(d); return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+    long frames = dataLen / (2 * channels);
+    int16_t* pcm = (int16_t*)malloc((size_t)frames * sizeof(int16_t));
+    if (!pcm) { free(d); return (el_val_t)0; }
+    /* Take channel 0; the organ is mono by design and downmixing would be an
+     * opinion about content this layer is not entitled to have. */
+    for (long i = 0; i < frames; i++) {
+        long b = dataOff + i * 2 * channels;
+        pcm[i] = (int16_t)((unsigned)d[b] | ((unsigned)d[b+1] << 8));
+    }
+    free(d);
+
+    int ok = el_audio_play_raw(pcm, frames, sr);
+    free(pcm);
+    return (el_val_t)(ok ? 1 : 0);
+}

lang/runtime/el_capture_darwin.m

@@ -0,0 +1,841 @@
+/* el_capture_darwin.m — the MICROPHONE and CAMERA realizers. El's afferent
+ * organ on Darwin: the two entry points through which the world gets in.
+ *
+ * WHY THIS FILE EXISTS, AND WHY IT IS A REALIZER RATHER THAN PURE EL.
+ *
+ * el_audio_darwin.m argued the efferent half of this: El can compute a sound
+ * but it cannot make one, because "the DAC has now played these samples" is not
+ * a fact any amount of arithmetic can produce. This file is the same argument
+ * run backwards. El can compute *about* a sound — it can window it, take its
+ * autocorrelation, run Levinson-Durbin over that, find the formant peaks in the
+ * resulting all-pole envelope, and hand back a voiceprint — but it cannot ASK.
+ * There is no expression in El, and there must not be, whose value is "the next
+ * 1024 frames the microphone hears" or "what the camera is pointed at right
+ * now." Those are not computed; they are *requested*, from an operating system
+ * that owns the device, mediates consent for it, and delivers the answer on a
+ * thread of its choosing whenever it feels like it. Asking is the one primitive
+ * operation here. Everything else in this file is bookkeeping around the ask.
+ *
+ * So the line is drawn exactly where el_audio_darwin.m drew it, at the sample
+ * buffer, and it is drawn on purpose:
+ *
+ *   BELOW the line (here): open the device, honour the OS permission gate,
+ *   install a tap or a frame delegate, convert whatever the hardware happens to
+ *   emit into the one shape El asked for, and hand it up. No opinions about
+ *   content. No analysis. No decisions.
+ *
+ *   ABOVE the line (El): energy, zero-crossing rate, spectral centroid, F0 by
+ *   autocorrelation, LPC, formants F1-F5, the compact descriptors, the
+ *   scene-geometry grid, the yield-or-hold turn-taking decision. All of it is
+ *   arithmetic over a buffer, all of it belongs in El, and none of it appears
+ *   below. The reference this file ports — peripheral/src/periph.swift — held
+ *   both halves, and that was the problem worth fixing: the descriptors were
+ *   trapped in a 939-line binary standing next to the language instead of being
+ *   written in it. Porting the *whole* of periph.swift down here would have
+ *   reproduced that mistake in C. Only the ask came down.
+ *
+ * The precedent for the file's SHAPE is eg_cosine_batch_strategy_metal_hand.m:
+ * a platform-bound capability compiled as its own translation unit, declared in
+ * el_runtime.h, linked in where the platform supports it, and deliberately NOT
+ * a patch to the middle of el_runtime.c. Acquiring a device must not mean
+ * editing the language, for the same reason acquiring a modality must not (see
+ * the realizer registry: organs are resolved by name). el_peripheral_null.c is
+ * the same entry points everywhere else, so El code that listens still links on
+ * every platform and merely reports having no ear.
+ *
+ * FAIL CLOSED, ALWAYS.
+ *
+ * A capture path that returns plausible-looking zeros when it was denied is
+ * worse than one that returns nothing, because the caller cannot tell the
+ * difference between a silent room and a refused microphone. Every entry point
+ * here checks AVCaptureDevice's authorization status BEFORE touching hardware
+ * and returns the empty value — an empty list, a 0 map — on anything short of
+ * .authorized. mic_available() and camera_available() report that state WITHOUT
+ * prompting, so El can ask "may I?" without the act of asking being a prompt.
+ *
+ * NEVER HANG.
+ *
+ * Every wait in this file is bounded: 30s on a permission prompt (the user has
+ * to walk to the dialog), seconds+5 on a capture of `seconds`, 10s on a camera
+ * frame. An organ that wedges the program holding it is not an organ, it is a
+ * fault. Every path also tears the device down on the way out, including the
+ * failure paths, so a timed-out capture does not leave the mic light on.
+ *
+ * OWN-CORE AND LOCAL BY CONSTRUCTION.
+ *
+ * AVFoundation, CoreVideo, CoreGraphics and ImageIO ship with macOS. There is
+ * no third-party library here, no model, and — the part that matters — no
+ * network path of any kind. Samples and pixels move from local hardware into an
+ * El value and stop. periph.swift had a URLSession in it; this file has no
+ * socket, no URL, and nothing that could grow one without being obvious in
+ * review. Consent is enforced above this layer in El and below it by the OS;
+ * this layer's whole contribution to that is refusing to proceed.
+ *
+ * DISCLOSURE.
+ *
+ * Every actual device touch writes one line to stderr and flushes it, before
+ * the device opens. stderr and not stdout: a program that announces "I am about
+ * to open the microphone" on stdout has corrupted its own output, and the
+ * caller must be able to separate the answer from how it was obtained. One line
+ * per touch, no more — a disclosure rail that spams is a rail people learn to
+ * ignore.
+ */
+
+#if defined(__APPLE__)
+
+#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
+#import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>
+#import <CoreMedia/CoreMedia.h>
+#import <CoreVideo/CoreVideo.h>
+#import <CoreGraphics/CoreGraphics.h>
+#import <ImageIO/ImageIO.h>
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <pthread.h>
+
+#include "el_runtime.h"
+
+/* ── Disclosure ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+ * One flushed line per real device touch, on stderr. Flushed rather than
+ * buffered so the line reaches the terminal BEFORE the mic light comes on
+ * rather than whenever the buffer happens to drain. */
+static void el_cap_disclose(const char* what) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "  [peripheral] %s\n", what);
+    fflush(stderr);
+}
+
+/* ── Permission ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+ * authorizationStatus is a pure read of the TCC database: it never prompts and
+ * never blocks, which is what lets mic_available()/camera_available() answer
+ * honestly without the question itself becoming an event. requestAccess DOES
+ * prompt, so it lives behind its own entry point and nothing calls it
+ * implicitly. */
+
+static int el_cap_authorized(AVMediaType media) {
+    @try {
+        return [AVCaptureDevice authorizationStatusForMediaType:media]
+               == AVAuthorizationStatusAuthorized ? 1 : 0;
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        return 0;
+    }
+}
+
+static int el_cap_device_present(AVMediaType media) {
+    @try {
+        return [AVCaptureDevice defaultDeviceWithMediaType:media] != nil ? 1 : 0;
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        return 0;
+    }
+}
+
+/* Prompt once and wait, bounded. 30 seconds is the same budget periph.swift
+ * used: long enough for a human to notice a dialog and decide, short enough
+ * that an unattended run fails rather than parks forever. A timeout is reported
+ * as "not granted", which is the safe reading — we genuinely do not know that
+ * it was. */
+static int el_cap_request(AVMediaType media) {
+    __block int granted = 0;
+    dispatch_semaphore_t sem = dispatch_semaphore_create(0);
+    @try {
+        [AVCaptureDevice requestAccessForMediaType:media
+                                 completionHandler:^(BOOL ok) {
+            granted = ok ? 1 : 0;
+            dispatch_semaphore_signal(sem);
+        }];
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        return 0;
+    }
+    if (dispatch_semaphore_wait(sem,
+            dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(30 * NSEC_PER_SEC))) != 0) {
+        return 0;   /* timed out — treat as refused */
+    }
+    return granted;
+}
+
+/* ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+ * MICROPHONE — one-shot capture
+ * ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ */
+
+/* The sink the tap block writes into. An object rather than a static so two
+ * captures can never share state, and so ARC keeps it alive for exactly as long
+ * as the block that captured it. The lock is real, not decorative: the tap runs
+ * on an AVAudioEngine-internal thread and the waiter runs on the caller's. */
+@interface ElCapMicSink : NSObject
+@property (nonatomic, strong) NSMutableData* pcm;
+@property (nonatomic, strong) NSLock*        lock;
+@end
+
+@implementation ElCapMicSink
+- (instancetype)init {
+    self = [super init];
+    if (self) {
+        _pcm  = [NSMutableData data];
+        _lock = [[NSLock alloc] init];
+    }
+    return self;
+}
+@end
+
+/* Capture `seconds` of mono 16-bit PCM at `sample_rate`.
+ *
+ * The hardware format is NOT assumed. A built-in mic will typically hand back
+ * float32 at 44.1 or 48 kHz, an aggregate device may be 8 channels at 96 kHz,
+ * and a caller asking for 16 kHz mono (which is what the formant path wants)
+ * gets 16 kHz mono either way. AVAudioConverter does the rate conversion and
+ * the downmix; doing it by hand would mean writing a resampler in the one file
+ * that is supposed to contain no arithmetic.
+ *
+ * The converter is built ONCE, outside the tap, because a sample-rate converter
+ * carries filter state across buffers — rebuilding it per callback would put a
+ * discontinuity at every buffer boundary, which is audible and which would then
+ * show up in El's spectral descriptors as energy that was never in the room. */
+el_val_t mic_capture_pcm16(el_val_t seconds, el_val_t sample_rate) {
+    el_val_t empty = el_list_empty();
+
+    if (!el_cap_authorized(AVMediaTypeAudio)) return empty;
+
+    int64_t secs = (int64_t)seconds;
+    int64_t sr   = (int64_t)sample_rate;
+    if (secs <= 0 || sr <= 0) return empty;
+    /* Bound the ask. A caller that asks for a year of audio has made a mistake,
+     * and honouring it would mean an unkillable capture and an OOM. */
+    if (secs > 300)    secs = 300;
+    if (sr   > 384000) sr   = 384000;
+
+    __block AVAudioEngine* engine = nil;
+    AVAudioInputNode*      input  = nil;
+    AVAudioFormat*         hwFmt  = nil;
+    int                    tapped = 0;
+
+    @try {
+        engine = [[AVAudioEngine alloc] init];
+        input  = [engine inputNode];
+        hwFmt  = [input inputFormatForBus:0];
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        return empty;
+    }
+    if (!input || !hwFmt || hwFmt.sampleRate <= 0 || hwFmt.channelCount == 0) {
+        return empty;
+    }
+
+    /* Preferred target: mono int16 at the requested rate. If the converter
+     * refuses that pairing (some exotic input layouts will not downmix), fall
+     * back to keeping the hardware's channel count and taking channel 0 on the
+     * way out — the organ is mono by design and inventing a downmix here would
+     * be an opinion about content this layer is not entitled to have. */
+    AVAudioFormat* outFmt =
+        [[AVAudioFormat alloc] initWithCommonFormat:AVAudioPCMFormatInt16
+                                         sampleRate:(double)sr
+                                           channels:1
+                                        interleaved:YES];
+    AVAudioConverter* conv = outFmt ? [[AVAudioConverter alloc] initFromFormat:hwFmt
+                                                                     toFormat:outFmt] : nil;
+    AVAudioChannelCount outCh = 1;
+    if (!conv) {
+        outFmt = [[AVAudioFormat alloc] initWithCommonFormat:AVAudioPCMFormatInt16
+                                                  sampleRate:(double)sr
+                                                    channels:hwFmt.channelCount
+                                                 interleaved:YES];
+        conv   = outFmt ? [[AVAudioConverter alloc] initFromFormat:hwFmt toFormat:outFmt] : nil;
+        outCh  = hwFmt.channelCount;
+    }
+    if (!conv || !outFmt) return empty;
+
+    ElCapMicSink* sink = [[ElCapMicSink alloc] init];
+    const int64_t want = secs * sr;          /* frames we are waiting for */
+
+    {
+        char msg[192];
+        snprintf(msg, sizeof(msg),
+                 "MIC: opening the microphone for %llds -> %lld Hz mono PCM "
+                 "(local, never egresses).", (long long)secs, (long long)sr);
+        el_cap_disclose(msg);
+    }
+
+    const double ratio = (double)sr / hwFmt.sampleRate;
+
+    @try {
+        [input installTapOnBus:0
+                    bufferSize:4096
+                        format:hwFmt
+                         block:^(AVAudioPCMBuffer* _Nonnull buf, AVAudioTime* _Nonnull when) {
+            (void)when;
+            if (!buf || buf.frameLength == 0) return;
+
+            AVAudioFrameCount cap =
+                (AVAudioFrameCount)((double)buf.frameLength * ratio) + 1024;
+            AVAudioPCMBuffer* out =
+                [[AVAudioPCMBuffer alloc] initWithPCMFormat:outFmt frameCapacity:cap];
+            if (!out) return;
+
+            __block BOOL fed = NO;
+            AVAudioConverterInputBlock feed =
+                ^AVAudioBuffer* _Nullable (AVAudioPacketCount need,
+                                           AVAudioConverterInputStatus* _Nonnull status) {
+                (void)need;
+                if (fed) { *status = AVAudioConverterInputStatus_NoDataNow; return nil; }
+                fed = YES;
+                *status = AVAudioConverterInputStatus_HaveData;
+                return buf;
+            };
+
+            NSError* err = nil;
+            AVAudioConverterOutputStatus st =
+                [conv convertToBuffer:out error:&err withInputFromBlock:feed];
+            if (st == AVAudioConverterOutputStatus_Error || out.frameLength == 0) return;
+
+            const int16_t* src = out.int16ChannelData ? out.int16ChannelData[0] : NULL;
+            if (!src) return;
+
+            NSUInteger n = (NSUInteger)out.frameLength;
+            [sink.lock lock];
+            if (outCh == 1) {
+                [sink.pcm appendBytes:src length:n * sizeof(int16_t)];
+            } else {
+                /* Interleaved: stride to channel 0. */
+                for (NSUInteger i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+                    int16_t v = src[i * outCh];
+                    [sink.pcm appendBytes:&v length:sizeof(int16_t)];
+                }
+            }
+            [sink.lock unlock];
+        }];
+        tapped = 1;
+
+        [engine prepare];
+        NSError* startErr = nil;
+        if (![engine startAndReturnError:&startErr]) {
+            [input removeTapOnBus:0];
+            return empty;
+        }
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        @try { if (tapped) [input removeTapOnBus:0]; } @catch (NSException* e2) { (void)e2; }
+        @try { [engine stop]; } @catch (NSException* e2) { (void)e2; }
+        return empty;
+    }
+
+    /* Wait for `want` frames, bounded by the material's own duration plus a
+     * margin. A device that stops producing must not become a hang. */
+    const int64_t deadline_us = (secs + 5) * 1000000;
+    int64_t       waited_us   = 0;
+    const int64_t tick_us     = 5000;
+    for (;;) {
+        [sink.lock lock];
+        int64_t have = (int64_t)([sink.pcm length] / sizeof(int16_t));
+        [sink.lock unlock];
+        if (have >= want || waited_us >= deadline_us) break;
+        usleep((useconds_t)tick_us);
+        waited_us += tick_us;
+    }
+
+    @try { [input removeTapOnBus:0]; } @catch (NSException* e) { (void)e; }
+    @try { [engine stop]; }           @catch (NSException* e) { (void)e; }
+    engine = nil;
+
+    /* Hand up exactly what was asked for, or everything we got if the device
+     * came up short. Never padded: silence we invented is indistinguishable
+     * from silence we heard, and El has no way to tell them apart afterwards. */
+    [sink.lock lock];
+    int64_t have = (int64_t)([sink.pcm length] / sizeof(int16_t));
+    int64_t n    = have < want ? have : want;
+    const int16_t* pcm = (const int16_t*)[sink.pcm bytes];
+    el_val_t list = empty;
+    for (int64_t i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+        list = el_list_append(list, (el_val_t)(int64_t)pcm[i]);
+    }
+    [sink.lock unlock];
+
+    return list;
+}
+
+el_val_t mic_available(void) {
+    if (!el_cap_authorized(AVMediaTypeAudio)) return (el_val_t)0;
+    return (el_val_t)(el_cap_device_present(AVMediaTypeAudio) ? 1 : 0);
+}
+
+el_val_t mic_request_access(void) {
+    return (el_val_t)(el_cap_request(AVMediaTypeAudio) ? 1 : 0);
+}
+
+/* ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+ * MICROPHONE — live monitor (the full-duplex ear)
+ *
+ * converse needs to keep listening WHILE it speaks, which means the mic is open
+ * at the same time as the speaker. In a real room that is a feedback path:
+ * without cancellation Neuron hears its own voice, decides someone is talking,
+ * and barges in on itself. setVoiceProcessingEnabled: hands the input node to
+ * the OS voice-processing unit, which subtracts the known output signal from
+ * the input — the single thing that makes barge-in work outside a headset.
+ *
+ * It is not always available (some aggregate and virtual devices refuse it), so
+ * failure to enable it is reported as a DISTINCT return value (2) rather than
+ * folded into success. The caller needs to know, because the correct response
+ * is to raise the VAD floor, and a caller that thinks AEC is on will set that
+ * floor far too low.
+ *
+ * The tap keeps only a running short-window RMS in a static behind a mutex.
+ * Deliberately not a queue of samples: this path is polled at ~50 Hz by a loop
+ * that only ever asks "is someone talking", and buffering audio nobody reads
+ * would be an unbounded allocation in the middle of a conversation.
+ * ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ */
+
+static AVAudioEngine*   g_mon_engine = nil;
+static int              g_mon_running = 0;
+static int              g_mon_code = 0;         /* what the successful start reported */
+static double           g_mon_rms = 0.0;
+static pthread_mutex_t  g_mon_lock = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
+
+el_val_t mic_monitor_start(void) {
+    /* Idempotent, and it re-reports the ORIGINAL code rather than a bare 1: a
+     * caller that starts twice must not be told AEC is on when the first start
+     * already discovered it was not. */
+    if (g_mon_running) return (el_val_t)g_mon_code;
+    if (!el_cap_authorized(AVMediaTypeAudio)) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    AVAudioEngine*    engine = nil;
+    AVAudioInputNode* input  = nil;
+    AVAudioFormat*    fmt    = nil;
+    int               aec    = 0;
+    int               tapped = 0;
+
+    @try {
+        engine = [[AVAudioEngine alloc] init];
+        input  = [engine inputNode];
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        return (el_val_t)0;
+    }
+    if (!input) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    /* Enable AEC BEFORE reading the format: the voice-processing unit imposes
+     * its own input format, and a tap installed with the pre-VP format would be
+     * rejected at start. */
+    @try {
+        NSError* vpErr = nil;
+        if ([input respondsToSelector:@selector(setVoiceProcessingEnabled:error:)]) {
+            aec = [input setVoiceProcessingEnabled:YES error:&vpErr] ? 1 : 0;
+        }
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        aec = 0;
+    }
+
+    @try {
+        fmt = [input inputFormatForBus:0];
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        return (el_val_t)0;
+    }
+    if (!fmt || fmt.sampleRate <= 0 || fmt.channelCount == 0) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    el_cap_disclose(aec
+        ? "MIC: opening the microphone for live monitoring, echo-cancelled (local)."
+        : "MIC: opening the microphone for live monitoring, NO echo cancellation (local).");
+
+    @try {
+        [input installTapOnBus:0
+                    bufferSize:1024
+                        format:fmt
+                    block:^(AVAudioPCMBuffer* _Nonnull buf, AVAudioTime* _Nonnull when) {
+            (void)when;
+            if (!buf) return;
+            AVAudioFrameCount n = buf.frameLength;
+            if (n == 0) return;
+
+            double sum = 0.0;
+            /* Whatever the VP unit hands back — float32 is the norm, int16 and
+             * int32 are possible on odd hardware — normalise to -1..1 so the
+             * Float El sees means the same thing on every device. */
+            if (buf.floatChannelData) {
+                const float* ch = buf.floatChannelData[0];
+                for (AVAudioFrameCount i = 0; i < n; i++) sum += (double)ch[i] * (double)ch[i];
+            } else if (buf.int16ChannelData) {
+                const int16_t* ch = buf.int16ChannelData[0];
+                for (AVAudioFrameCount i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+                    double v = (double)ch[i] / 32768.0;
+                    sum += v * v;
+                }
+            } else if (buf.int32ChannelData) {
+                const int32_t* ch = buf.int32ChannelData[0];
+                for (AVAudioFrameCount i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+                    double v = (double)ch[i] / 2147483648.0;
+                    sum += v * v;
+                }
+            } else {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            double rms = sqrt(sum / (double)n);
+            if (rms < 0.0) rms = 0.0;
+            if (rms > 1.0) rms = 1.0;
+
+            pthread_mutex_lock(&g_mon_lock);
+            g_mon_rms = rms;
+            pthread_mutex_unlock(&g_mon_lock);
+        }];
+        tapped = 1;
+
+        [engine prepare];
+        NSError* startErr = nil;
+        if (![engine startAndReturnError:&startErr]) {
+            [input removeTapOnBus:0];
+            return (el_val_t)0;
+        }
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        @try { if (tapped) [input removeTapOnBus:0]; } @catch (NSException* e2) { (void)e2; }
+        @try { [engine stop]; } @catch (NSException* e2) { (void)e2; }
+        return (el_val_t)0;
+    }
+
+    pthread_mutex_lock(&g_mon_lock);
+    g_mon_rms = 0.0;
+    pthread_mutex_unlock(&g_mon_lock);
+
+    g_mon_engine  = engine;
+    g_mon_running = 1;
+    g_mon_code    = aec ? 1 : 2;
+    return (el_val_t)g_mon_code;
+}
+
+/* Float in 0..1. Reads the last window the tap computed; never blocks on the
+ * audio thread beyond the mutex, because this is polled inside a turn-taking
+ * loop where a stall IS a missed barge-in. */
+el_val_t mic_monitor_rms(void) {
+    double rms = 0.0;
+    pthread_mutex_lock(&g_mon_lock);
+    rms = g_mon_rms;
+    pthread_mutex_unlock(&g_mon_lock);
+    return el_from_float(rms);
+}
+
+el_val_t mic_monitor_stop(void) {
+    AVAudioEngine* engine = g_mon_engine;
+    g_mon_engine  = nil;
+    g_mon_running = 0;
+    g_mon_code    = 0;
+
+    if (engine) {
+        @try { [[engine inputNode] removeTapOnBus:0]; } @catch (NSException* e) { (void)e; }
+        @try { [engine stop]; }                        @catch (NSException* e) { (void)e; }
+    }
+    pthread_mutex_lock(&g_mon_lock);
+    g_mon_rms = 0.0;
+    pthread_mutex_unlock(&g_mon_lock);
+    return (el_val_t)1;
+}
+
+/* ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+ * CAMERA
+ * ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ */
+
+static void el_cap_free_bitmap(void* info, const void* data, size_t size) {
+    (void)info; (void)size;
+    free((void*)data);
+}
+
+/* CVPixelBuffer -> CGImage, own-core, no CoreImage.
+ *
+ * The output is pinned to 32BGRA at the AVCaptureVideoDataOutput (see below)
+ * precisely so this conversion can be a memcpy and a CGImageCreate. The
+ * alternative — accepting the camera's native 2vuy/420v and colour-converting
+ * here — would mean either pulling in CoreImage or writing a YUV->RGB matrix in
+ * the file that is supposed to contain no arithmetic. Asking the capture output
+ * for BGRA moves that work into AVFoundation, where it is already written and
+ * already hardware-accelerated.
+ *
+ * The rows are copied out rather than aliased because the CVPixelBuffer is
+ * recycled by the capture session the moment the delegate returns; a CGImage
+ * pointing at it would be pointing at the NEXT frame by the time anyone looked. */
+static CGImageRef el_cap_cgimage_from_pixelbuffer(CVPixelBufferRef pb) {
+    if (!pb) return NULL;
+    if (CVPixelBufferGetPixelFormatType(pb) != kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA) return NULL;
+    if (CVPixelBufferLockBaseAddress(pb, kCVPixelBufferLock_ReadOnly) != kCVReturnSuccess) return NULL;
+
+    size_t         w       = CVPixelBufferGetWidth(pb);
+    size_t         h       = CVPixelBufferGetHeight(pb);
+    size_t         src_bpr = CVPixelBufferGetBytesPerRow(pb);
+    const uint8_t* base    = (const uint8_t*)CVPixelBufferGetBaseAddress(pb);
+
+    CGImageRef img = NULL;
+    if (base && w > 0 && h > 0 && src_bpr >= w * 4) {
+        size_t   dst_bpr = w * 4;
+        uint8_t* copy    = (uint8_t*)malloc(dst_bpr * h);
+        if (copy) {
+            for (size_t y = 0; y < h; y++) {
+                memcpy(copy + y * dst_bpr, base + y * src_bpr, dst_bpr);
+            }
+            CGDataProviderRef dp =
+                CGDataProviderCreateWithData(NULL, copy, dst_bpr * h, el_cap_free_bitmap);
+            if (dp) {
+                CGColorSpaceRef cs = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
+                if (cs) {
+                    img = CGImageCreate(w, h, 8, 32, dst_bpr, cs,
+                                        (CGBitmapInfo)(kCGBitmapByteOrder32Little |
+                                                       kCGImageAlphaNoneSkipFirst),
+                                        dp, NULL, false, kCGRenderingIntentDefault);
+                    CGColorSpaceRelease(cs);
+                }
+                CGDataProviderRelease(dp);   /* provider owns `copy` from here */
+            } else {
+                free(copy);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    CVPixelBufferUnlockBaseAddress(pb, kCVPixelBufferLock_ReadOnly);
+    return img;
+}
+
+/* The frame delegate. AVCaptureVideoDataOutput is used rather than
+ * AVCapturePhotoOutput for the same reason periph.swift used it: the photo path
+ * wants KVO and a session owned by an app object, and this runs in a plain CLI
+ * process with no run loop it can assume. A data output just calls back.
+ *
+ * The first frames are dropped on purpose. A camera that has just been powered
+ * on is still converging exposure and white balance, and the first frame is
+ * reliably darker and greener than the room. El's scene-geometry descriptors
+ * are brightness and mean-colour statistics, so handing up an unsettled frame
+ * would not produce a slightly worse answer, it would produce a confidently
+ * wrong one. */
+@interface ElCapFrameGrabber : NSObject <AVCaptureVideoDataOutputSampleBufferDelegate> {
+    CGImageRef            _img;
+    int                   _seen;
+    dispatch_semaphore_t  _sem;
+}
+- (dispatch_semaphore_t)sem;
+- (CGImageRef)takeImage;   /* transfers ownership to the caller */
+@end
+
+@implementation ElCapFrameGrabber
+
+- (instancetype)init {
+    self = [super init];
+    if (self) {
+        _img  = NULL;
+        _seen = 0;
+        _sem  = dispatch_semaphore_create(0);
+    }
+    return self;
+}
+
+- (dispatch_semaphore_t)sem { return _sem; }
+
+- (CGImageRef)takeImage {
+    CGImageRef out = _img;
+    _img = NULL;
+    return out;
+}
+
+- (void)dealloc {
+    if (_img) { CGImageRelease(_img); _img = NULL; }
+}
+
+/* Runs on the serial delegate queue, so no lock is needed among callbacks; the
+ * waiter only reads _img after the semaphore has been signalled AND the session
+ * has been stopped, which orders it after the last callback. */
+- (void)captureOutput:(AVCaptureOutput*)output
+didOutputSampleBuffer:(CMSampleBufferRef)sampleBuffer
+       fromConnection:(AVCaptureConnection*)connection {
+    (void)output; (void)connection;
+    _seen++;
+    if (_img != NULL || _seen < 5) return;      /* let exposure settle */
+
+    CVImageBufferRef pb = CMSampleBufferGetImageBuffer(sampleBuffer);
+    if (!pb) return;
+    CGImageRef img = el_cap_cgimage_from_pixelbuffer(pb);
+    if (!img) return;
+    _img = img;
+    dispatch_semaphore_signal(_sem);
+}
+
+@end
+
+/* Bring the camera up, take exactly one settled frame, put it back down.
+ * Returns a +1 CGImageRef the caller releases, or NULL. Bounded at 10s: a
+ * camera held by another process, or one whose TCC grant was revoked between
+ * the check and the open, must fail rather than park. */
+static CGImageRef el_cap_grab_frame(void) {
+    AVCaptureSession*         session = nil;
+    AVCaptureVideoDataOutput* output  = nil;
+    ElCapFrameGrabber*        grabber = nil;
+    CGImageRef                img     = NULL;
+
+    @try {
+        AVCaptureDevice* dev = [AVCaptureDevice defaultDeviceWithMediaType:AVMediaTypeVideo];
+        if (!dev) return NULL;
+
+        NSError* err = nil;
+        AVCaptureDeviceInput* in = [AVCaptureDeviceInput deviceInputWithDevice:dev error:&err];
+        if (!in) return NULL;
+
+        session = [[AVCaptureSession alloc] init];
+        session.sessionPreset = AVCaptureSessionPresetPhoto;
+        if (![session canAddInput:in]) return NULL;
+        [session addInput:in];
+
+        output = [[AVCaptureVideoDataOutput alloc] init];
+        output.alwaysDiscardsLateVideoFrames = YES;
+        /* Pin the pixel format so the CGImage conversion above stays a memcpy.
+         * Every macOS capture device advertises 32BGRA. */
+        output.videoSettings = @{ (id)kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey :
+                                      @(kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA) };
+
+        grabber = [[ElCapFrameGrabber alloc] init];
+        dispatch_queue_t q = dispatch_queue_create("el.capture.camera", DISPATCH_QUEUE_SERIAL);
+        [output setSampleBufferDelegate:grabber queue:q];
+
+        if (![session canAddOutput:output]) return NULL;
+        [session addOutput:output];
+
+        el_cap_disclose("CAMERA: opening the camera for one frame (local, never egresses).");
+        [session startRunning];
+    } @catch (NSException* e) {
+        (void)e;
+        @try { [session stopRunning]; } @catch (NSException* e2) { (void)e2; }
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    long timed_out = dispatch_semaphore_wait([grabber sem],
+        dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, (int64_t)(10 * NSEC_PER_SEC)));
+
+    /* Stop first, then detach the delegate, then read. In that order the last
+     * callback has already returned by the time anyone touches the image. */
+    @try { [session stopRunning]; }                        @catch (NSException* e) { (void)e; }
+    @try { [output setSampleBufferDelegate:nil queue:NULL]; } @catch (NSException* e) { (void)e; }
+
+    if (timed_out == 0) img = [grabber takeImage];
+    return img;
+}
+
+el_val_t camera_available(void) {
+    if (!el_cap_authorized(AVMediaTypeVideo)) return (el_val_t)0;
+    return (el_val_t)(el_cap_device_present(AVMediaTypeVideo) ? 1 : 0);
+}
+
+el_val_t camera_request_access(void) {
+    return (el_val_t)(el_cap_request(AVMediaTypeVideo) ? 1 : 0);
+}
+
+/* Longest edge of the grid handed to El. 64 is not a resolution, it is a budget:
+ * a 1920x1080 frame is 6.2 MILLION packed RGB ints, and building that as an El
+ * list would cost more time and memory than everything El then does with it.
+ * The descriptors El computes over this — mean colour, brightness, a 3x3
+ * luminance grid — are region statistics, and region statistics do not get
+ * meaningfully better above a 64-wide grid. The TRUE frame dimensions are
+ * reported separately so nothing downstream has to guess what was thrown away. */
+#define EL_CAP_GRID_MAX 64
+
+/* One frame as Map{width, height, grid_w, grid_h, pixels:[Int]}.
+ *
+ * "pixels" is packed R,G,B with NO alpha — three ints per grid cell, row-major
+ * from the TOP-LEFT. (CGBitmapContext lays its buffer out top row first and
+ * CGContextDrawImage does the flip, so row 0 here is the top of the frame, the
+ * same convention periph.swift's grid indexing assumed.) Alpha is dropped
+ * because a camera frame has none worth carrying and it would inflate the list
+ * by a third to say "opaque" six thousand times. */
+el_val_t camera_capture_rgb(void) {
+    if (!el_cap_authorized(AVMediaTypeVideo)) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    CGImageRef img = el_cap_grab_frame();
+    if (!img) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    size_t w = CGImageGetWidth(img);
+    size_t h = CGImageGetHeight(img);
+    if (w == 0 || h == 0) { CGImageRelease(img); return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+    /* Preserve aspect ratio, longest edge capped. */
+    size_t gw = w, gh = h;
+    size_t longest = w > h ? w : h;
+    if (longest > EL_CAP_GRID_MAX) {
+        double s = (double)EL_CAP_GRID_MAX / (double)longest;
+        gw = (size_t)((double)w * s + 0.5);
+        gh = (size_t)((double)h * s + 0.5);
+        if (gw == 0) gw = 1;
+        if (gh == 0) gh = 1;
+    }
+
+    size_t   bpr = gw * 4;
+    uint8_t* buf = (uint8_t*)calloc(1, bpr * gh);
+    if (!buf) { CGImageRelease(img); return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+    CGColorSpaceRef cs = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
+    CGContextRef ctx = cs ? CGBitmapContextCreate(buf, gw, gh, 8, bpr, cs,
+                                                  (CGBitmapInfo)kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast)
+                          : NULL;
+    if (cs) CGColorSpaceRelease(cs);
+    if (!ctx) { free(buf); CGImageRelease(img); return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+    /* Nearest-neighbour. This is a decimation for statistics, not a thumbnail
+     * for a human to look at; smoothing would only cost time and blur the very
+     * region boundaries the grid exists to measure. */
+    CGContextSetInterpolationQuality(ctx, kCGInterpolationNone);
+    CGContextDrawImage(ctx, CGRectMake(0, 0, (CGFloat)gw, (CGFloat)gh), img);
+    CGContextRelease(ctx);
+    CGImageRelease(img);
+
+    el_val_t pixels = el_list_empty();
+    for (size_t y = 0; y < gh; y++) {
+        const uint8_t* row = buf + y * bpr;
+        for (size_t x = 0; x < gw; x++) {
+            const uint8_t* p = row + x * 4;   /* RGBA8, premultiplied-last */
+            pixels = el_list_append(pixels, (el_val_t)(int64_t)p[0]);
+            pixels = el_list_append(pixels, (el_val_t)(int64_t)p[1]);
+            pixels = el_list_append(pixels, (el_val_t)(int64_t)p[2]);
+        }
+    }
+    free(buf);
+
+    el_val_t m = el_map_new((el_val_t)0);
+    if (!m) return (el_val_t)0;
+    m = el_map_set(m, EL_STR("width"),  (el_val_t)(int64_t)w);
+    m = el_map_set(m, EL_STR("height"), (el_val_t)(int64_t)h);
+    m = el_map_set(m, EL_STR("grid_w"), (el_val_t)(int64_t)gw);
+    m = el_map_set(m, EL_STR("grid_h"), (el_val_t)(int64_t)gh);
+    m = el_map_set(m, EL_STR("pixels"), pixels);
+    return m;
+}
+
+/* One frame to disk as JPEG, at FULL resolution — the opposite budget from
+ * camera_capture_rgb, and for the opposite reason. A file is not being walked
+ * element-by-element by an interpreter; it costs one ImageIO call and it is the
+ * artefact a human or a later pass will actually look at. The encoder is
+ * ImageIO's because a JPEG encoder is a codec, and re-implementing one in El
+ * would be a large amount of arithmetic that buys nothing: the point of keeping
+ * work in El is the reasoning, not the entropy coding. */
+el_val_t camera_capture_jpeg(el_val_t path) {
+    const char* p = EL_CSTR(path);
+    if (!p || !*p) return (el_val_t)0;
+    if (!el_cap_authorized(AVMediaTypeVideo)) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    CGImageRef img = el_cap_grab_frame();
+    if (!img) return (el_val_t)0;
+
+    int ok = 0;
+    @autoreleasepool {
+        NSString* ns = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:p];
+        NSURL*    url = ns ? [NSURL fileURLWithPath:ns] : nil;
+        if (url) {
+            CGImageDestinationRef dst =
+                CGImageDestinationCreateWithURL((__bridge CFURLRef)url, CFSTR("public.jpeg"), 1, NULL);
+            if (dst) {
+                CGImageDestinationAddImage(dst, img, NULL);
+                ok = CGImageDestinationFinalize(dst) ? 1 : 0;
+                CFRelease(dst);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    CGImageRelease(img);
+    return (el_val_t)ok;
+}
+
+#endif /* __APPLE__ */

lang/runtime/el_peripheral_null.c

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/* el_peripheral_null.c — the no-device build of El's I/O organ.
+ *
+ * Every entry point declared in el_runtime.h's "Peripheral" block, implemented
+ * as an honest refusal. This is what a platform without an El audio/capture
+ * realizer links instead of el_audio_darwin.m + el_capture_darwin.m, so an El
+ * program that speaks or listens still COMPILES AND LINKS everywhere.
+ *
+ * The distinction that matters: these do not pretend. speaker_available() and
+ * mic_available() return 0, and every operation returns its failure sentinel.
+ * A program asking "can I speak here?" gets a truthful no, rather than a
+ * silence it would have to infer something from. Silent success is the failure
+ * mode this whole change exists to eliminate — El spent this entire codebase's
+ * history writing WAV files full of zeros and reporting ok=true, and nobody
+ * caught it because nothing ever said "there is no sound here".
+ *
+ * Compiled INSTEAD OF the Darwin realizers, never alongside them — the symbols
+ * are the same by design, which is the point: the El side never branches on
+ * platform, it branches on speaker_available().
+ */
+
+#include "el_runtime.h"
+
+#if !defined(__APPLE__)
+
+/* ── Speaker ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
+
+el_val_t speaker_available(void) { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t speaker_name(void)      { return EL_STR("none"); }
+
+el_val_t speaker_play_pcm16(el_val_t samples, el_val_t sample_rate) {
+    (void)samples; (void)sample_rate;
+    return (el_val_t)0;
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_play_wav(el_val_t path) {
+    (void)path;
+    return (el_val_t)0;
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_play_pcm16_async(el_val_t samples, el_val_t sample_rate) {
+    (void)samples; (void)sample_rate;
+    return (el_val_t)0;
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_play_wav_async(el_val_t path) {
+    (void)path;
+    return (el_val_t)0;
+}
+
+el_val_t speaker_pause(void)          { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t speaker_resume(void)         { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t speaker_playing(void)        { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t speaker_stop(void)           { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t speaker_played_frames(void)  { return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+/* WAV geometry is pure parsing and would work fine here, but reporting a
+ * duration for audio this build cannot play would invite a caller to sequence
+ * around a silence. Refuse consistently with the rest of the file. */
+el_val_t wav_frames(el_val_t path) { (void)path; return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t wav_rate(el_val_t path)   { (void)path; return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+/* ── Microphone ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
+
+el_val_t mic_available(void)       { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t mic_request_access(void)  { return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+/* Empty list, not 0: the contract says capture returns samples, and a caller
+ * iterating the result must find nothing rather than dereference a non-list. */
+el_val_t mic_capture_pcm16(el_val_t seconds, el_val_t sample_rate) {
+    (void)seconds; (void)sample_rate;
+    return el_list_empty();
+}
+
+el_val_t mic_monitor_start(void) { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t mic_monitor_rms(void)   { return el_from_float(0.0); }
+el_val_t mic_monitor_stop(void)  { return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+/* ── Camera ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
+
+el_val_t camera_available(void)      { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t camera_request_access(void) { return (el_val_t)0; }
+el_val_t camera_capture_rgb(void)    { return (el_val_t)0; }
+
+el_val_t camera_capture_jpeg(el_val_t path) {
+    (void)path;
+    return (el_val_t)0;
+}
+
+#endif /* !__APPLE__ */

lang/runtime/el_runtime.h

@@ -80,6 +80,92 @@ void      println(el_val_t s);
 void      print(el_val_t s);
 el_val_t  readline(void);
 
+/* stderr counterpart of println (defined in el_seed.c). El could write to
+ * stdout and nowhere else, which is right for a program's RESULT and wrong for
+ * everything about how that result was produced. Disclosure especially has to
+ * leave on a stream the caller can separate from the answer: a program that
+ * announces "I am about to open the microphone" on stdout has corrupted its own
+ * output. Flushed on every call, so a disclosure reaches the terminal BEFORE
+ * the device it describes is touched rather than whenever the buffer drains. */
+void      eprintln(el_val_t s);
+
+/* ── Peripheral: the speaker, the microphone, the camera ─────────────────────
+ *
+ * El's I/O organ. Implemented per platform in its OWN translation unit —
+ * el_audio_darwin.m / el_capture_darwin.m on Darwin, el_peripheral_null.c
+ * everywhere else — so El code that speaks or listens links on every platform
+ * and merely reports having no device where there isn't one. Declared here and
+ * deliberately NOT implemented in el_runtime.c: acquiring a device must not
+ * mean editing the middle of the language, the same rule the realizer registry
+ * follows for modalities.
+ *
+ * These are the ONLY parts of the organ that are not El. Everything above the
+ * sample buffer — WAV encode/decode, LPC autocorrelation, Levinson-Durbin,
+ * formant extraction, source-filter resynthesis, the compact descriptors, the
+ * converse decision loop — is arithmetic, and arithmetic belongs in El. What
+ * remains here is what El cannot express: handing a buffer to the DAC and
+ * waiting for it to drain, and asking the OS for frames off a capture device.
+ *
+ * Local by construction: none of these entry points has a network path. Samples
+ * and pixels go to and from local hardware and nowhere else. Consent is
+ * enforced ABOVE this layer in El (peripheral/src/organ.el) for the Neuron-level
+ * grant, and BELOW it by the OS for TCC; capture fails closed on either.       */
+
+/* Speaker (efferent). speaker_play_pcm16 BLOCKS until the audio has actually
+ * been played rather than merely queued, so a caller can sequence utterances
+ * without guessing durations and without clipping each tail. */
+el_val_t  speaker_available(void);                 /* 1 if a real speaker backs this build */
+el_val_t  speaker_name(void);                      /* backend id, e.g. "coreaudio-audioqueue" */
+el_val_t  speaker_play_pcm16(el_val_t samples, el_val_t sample_rate);  /* [Int] 16-bit mono; 1 ok */
+el_val_t  speaker_play_wav(el_val_t path);         /* 16-bit mono RIFF/WAVE; 1 ok */
+
+/* Asynchronous playback — required by converse, which must keep listening while
+ * it speaks and must be able to stop ON THE SPOT mid-buffer. A blocking play
+ * cannot be interrupted, and "finish the current buffer" is not barge-in.
+ * speaker_stop() halts output immediately; speaker_playing() reports whether
+ * the hardware is still going; speaker_played_frames() is how far it actually
+ * got, which is what makes an interrupted utterance resumable at the sample. */
+el_val_t  speaker_play_pcm16_async(el_val_t samples, el_val_t sample_rate);
+el_val_t  speaker_play_wav_async(el_val_t path);
+el_val_t  speaker_pause(void);     /* stop AT THIS SAMPLE, keep position */
+el_val_t  speaker_resume(void);    /* carry on from exactly there */
+el_val_t  speaker_playing(void);
+el_val_t  speaker_stop(void);
+el_val_t  speaker_played_frames(void);
+
+/* WAV geometry without playing — wav-info, and the segment duration converse
+ * needs to turn elapsed time into progress. */
+el_val_t  wav_frames(el_val_t path);
+el_val_t  wav_rate(el_val_t path);
+
+/* Microphone (afferent). Fails CLOSED: returns 0 unless the OS has granted
+ * capture access. mic_capture_pcm16 blocks for `seconds` and returns an [Int]
+ * of 16-bit mono samples at `sample_rate` — the raw stream is handed to El and
+ * never written anywhere by this layer. mic_available() reports device +
+ * permission state without prompting. */
+el_val_t  mic_available(void);                     /* 1 device present AND OS-authorized */
+el_val_t  mic_request_access(void);                /* prompt once; 1 if granted */
+el_val_t  mic_capture_pcm16(el_val_t seconds, el_val_t sample_rate);   /* [Int], empty on refusal */
+
+/* Live monitoring for full-duplex converse. mic_monitor_start enables the OS
+ * voice-processing unit (acoustic echo cancellation) so the microphone does not
+ * hear the speaker — without AEC, Neuron barges in on its own voice and
+ * turn-taking is unusable in a real room. mic_monitor_rms returns the current
+ * short-window RMS as a Float in 0..1. */
+el_val_t  mic_monitor_start(void);                 /* 1 ok; 2 = started but AEC unavailable */
+el_val_t  mic_monitor_rms(void);                   /* Float */
+el_val_t  mic_monitor_stop(void);
+
+/* Camera (afferent). Fails CLOSED like the microphone. camera_capture_rgb
+ * returns a Map with width/height and the frame as an [Int] of packed RGB
+ * bytes, so the descriptor arithmetic can happen in El rather than here.
+ * camera_capture_jpeg writes an encoded frame via ImageIO, which is a codec and
+ * not something El should re-implement. */
+el_val_t  camera_available(void);
+el_val_t  camera_request_access(void);
+el_val_t  camera_capture_rgb(void);                /* Map{width,height,pixels:[Int]} or 0 */
+el_val_t  camera_capture_jpeg(el_val_t path);      /* 1 ok */
+
 /* ── String builtins ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
 
 el_val_t  el_str_concat(el_val_t a, el_val_t b);
@@ -625,20 +711,70 @@ el_val_t  geometry_free(el_val_t g);                  /* 1 if freed, 0 if not a
 el_val_t  geometry_from_f32le_hex(el_val_t hex);      /* 0 on empty/odd-length/non-hex */
 el_val_t  geometry_to_f32le_hex(el_val_t g);          /* "" if not a Geometry       */
 
-/* ── Realizers + transduce ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+/* ── Manifold: the result of a transduction ──────────────────────────────────
- * A REALIZER maps one modality into geometry. Registration is by NAME, so a
+ * A transduced signal is a SUBGRAPH — named components, each with its own
- * new modality never requires a runtime patch: every El `fn name(...)`
+ * geometry, plus typed weighted relations among them — not a single vector.
- * compiles to a global C symbol with that exact name, and the registry
+ * One vector is a fingerprint: matchable, rankable, and nothing else. A song
- * resolves it with dlsym against the running binary — the same mechanism
+ * decomposes into pitch, interval, rhythm, harmonic function; the song IS the
- * http_set_handler already relies on.
+ * structure of those relations, and collapsing it to a point discards exactly
+ * what made it reasonable-about. See el_runtime.c ("Manifold") for the full
+ * rationale, the key-addressing rule, and the ownership contract.
  *
- *     fn tone_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry { ... }
+ * Components are addressed BY KEY, never by index, because the key is what
+ * survives persistence: a component becomes a node, and it is separately
+ * groundable precisely because it is separately named. Relation weight IS the
+ * grounding (correspondence-and-censorship.md §1) — one quantity, no separate
+ * score, nothing computed on read.
+ *
+ * OWNERSHIP: a Manifold is owned by the El caller and released with
+ * manifold_free, which also releases every component's geometry. manifold_add
+ * COPIES the geometry it is given and manifold_geometry RETURNS a copy, so no
+ * component's vector is ever aliased in either direction.                     */
+el_val_t  manifold_new(void);                          /* empty; 0 on failure       */
+el_val_t  manifold_is(el_val_t m);                     /* 1 if a live Manifold      */
+el_val_t  manifold_add(el_val_t m, el_val_t key, el_val_t role, el_val_t g);
+                                        /* component index, or -1 on empty/duplicate
+                                         * key or a value that is not a Geometry   */
+el_val_t  manifold_relate(el_val_t m, el_val_t from, el_val_t rel,
+                          el_val_t to, el_val_t weight);
+                                        /* 1 ok / 0 if either endpoint is unknown —
+                                         * an unresolvable edge is REFUSED, never
+                                         * silently dropped                        */
+el_val_t  manifold_size(el_val_t m);                   /* component count           */
+el_val_t  manifold_rel_count(el_val_t m);              /* relation count            */
+el_val_t  manifold_index_of(el_val_t m, el_val_t key); /* index by key, or -1       */
+el_val_t  manifold_key(el_val_t m, el_val_t i);        /* "" if out of range        */
+el_val_t  manifold_role(el_val_t m, el_val_t i);       /* "" if out of range        */
+el_val_t  manifold_geometry(el_val_t m, el_val_t i);   /* a COPY the caller frees   */
+el_val_t  manifold_rel_from(el_val_t m, el_val_t j);   /* source component key      */
+el_val_t  manifold_rel_name(el_val_t m, el_val_t j);   /* relation name             */
+el_val_t  manifold_rel_to(el_val_t m, el_val_t j);     /* target component key      */
+el_val_t  manifold_rel_weight(el_val_t m, el_val_t j); /* Float — the grounding     */
+el_val_t  manifold_single(el_val_t key, el_val_t role, el_val_t g);
+                                        /* the degenerate one-part case, expressible
+                                         * but visibly a size-1 manifold rather than
+                                         * a parallel path back to a bare vector   */
+el_val_t  manifold_free(el_val_t m);                   /* 1 if freed, 0 otherwise   */
+
+/* ── Realizers + transduce ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+ * A REALIZER DECOMPOSES one modality into components and relations. It does
+ * not encode a signal to a point; that operation is one layer below and is
+ * called geometry. Registration is by NAME, so a new modality never requires a
+ * runtime patch: every El `fn name(...)` compiles to a global C symbol with
+ * that exact name, and the registry resolves it with dlsym against the running
+ * binary — the same mechanism http_set_handler already relies on.
+ *
+ *     fn tone_realizer(signal: String) -> Manifold { ... }
  *     realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
- *     let g: Geometry = transduce(sample, "tone")
+ *     let m: Manifold = transduce(sample, "tone")
- */
+ *
+ * SUPERSEDES #144's `transduce -> Geometry`. A realizer that still returns a
+ * bare Geometry now transduces NOTHING (transduce returns 0), deliberately: an
+ * organ that only fingerprints must not be indistinguishable from a working
+ * one. A modality with genuinely one part says so with manifold_single.      */
 el_val_t  realizer_register(el_val_t modality, el_val_t fn_name); /* 1 ok / 0 unresolved */
 el_val_t  realizer_has(el_val_t modality);            /* 1 if a realizer is registered */
-el_val_t  transduce(el_val_t signal, el_val_t modality); /* Geometry, or 0 if no organ */
+el_val_t  transduce(el_val_t signal, el_val_t modality); /* Manifold, or 0 if no organ */
 
 /* ── Engram local graph primitives ───────────────────────────────────────────
  * Operate on the CGI's local Engram knowledge graph.
@@ -669,6 +805,11 @@ el_val_t  engram_prune_telemetry(el_val_t older_than_ms);
 /* Largest byte length <= max_bytes that does not split a UTF-8 codepoint.
  * Bounded by bytes, not codepoints, so truncated strings never grow. */
 size_t    el_utf8_safe_len(const char* s, size_t max_bytes);
+/* Register the ambient-consolidation step and start dreaming. Resolved by
+ * dlsym, like http_set_handler. The handler performs ONE step and returns
+ * non-zero if it did work; returning zero parks the dreamer until engagement
+ * changes. There is no schedule and must never be one. */
+void      dream_set_handler(el_val_t name);
 
 el_val_t  engram_node_count(void);
 /* Attach a Geometry to an existing node, and read the attached width back.
@@ -746,7 +887,10 @@ el_val_t  engram_age_field(el_val_t delta_ms);
 el_val_t  engram_age_field_catchup(void);
 el_val_t  engram_chrono_persist_tick(void);
 el_val_t  engram_chrono_tick(void);
-el_val_t  engram_boundary_beat(el_val_t op_name);  /* API-reshape decorator-seam auto-emit */
+el_val_t  engram_boundary_beat(el_val_t op_name, el_val_t construct);
+int       el_tagged(el_val_t v, uint32_t magic);  /* the gate: validate a slot BEFORE dereferencing it */
+el_val_t  el_seam_run(el_val_t fn_name, el_val_t phase, el_val_t result);  /* runtime construct seam */
+el_val_t  el_seam_wrap(el_val_t fn_name, el_val_t (*body)(void*), void* env);  /* runtime invocation control */  /* API-reshape decorator-seam auto-emit; construct = the decorator that caused the beat */
 el_val_t  engram_self_anchor_capture(void);
 el_val_t  engram_self_drift_json(void);
 el_val_t  engram_neighbors_json(el_val_t node_id, el_val_t max_depth, el_val_t direction);
@@ -1036,7 +1180,7 @@ el_val_t  __env_get(el_val_t key);
  * All three are COMPILER-INJECTED at the head of main() — they are not meant to
  * be written by hand, which is the point: the guarantee cannot be forgotten at a
  * call site because there is no call site. */
-el_val_t  el_singleton_acquire(el_val_t id);                    /* §18.1 process identity */
+el_val_t  el_singleton_acquire(el_val_t id, el_val_t state);    /* §18.2 process identity — keyed on the guarded state */
 el_val_t  el_config_declare(el_val_t name, el_val_t type,
                             el_val_t deflt, el_val_t has_default,
                             el_val_t required);                 /* §18.2 config schema    */

lang/runtime/el_seed.c

@@ -154,9 +154,18 @@ static void seed_request_start(void) {
  * file still links on its own. */
 __attribute__((weak)) void el_str_cache_flush(void);
 
+/* Byte-buffer capacity registry (defined below, next to the string
+ * primitives). The arena frees the pointers it tracked, so any capacity
+ * entry for those addresses must go with them — otherwise a later malloc
+ * reusing the address would inherit a stale width. */
+static void seed_cap_drop(const char* p);
+
 static void seed_request_end(void) {
     _seed_arena_on = 0;
-    for (size_t i = 0; i < _seed_arena.count; i++) free(_seed_arena.ptrs[i]);
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < _seed_arena.count; i++) {
+        seed_cap_drop(_seed_arena.ptrs[i]);
+        free(_seed_arena.ptrs[i]);
+    }
     _seed_arena.count = 0;
     if (el_str_cache_flush) el_str_cache_flush();   /* freed pointers may be reused */
 }
@@ -188,6 +197,114 @@ static char* seed_strbuf(size_t n) {
 
 static el_val_t seed_wrap_str(char* s) { return EL_STR(s); }
 
+/* ── Byte-buffer capacity registry ────────────────────────────────────────────
+ * A String produced by __str_alloc is a fixed-size BYTE BUFFER, not text. Its
+ * length is the capacity it was asked for; strlen() is meaningless on it,
+ * because the buffer is zero-filled and binary content (PCM audio, RIFF
+ * headers, image rasters) contains NUL bytes by nature.
+ *
+ * Before this registry existed, __str_set_char bounds-checked the write index
+ * against strlen(p). For a freshly __str_alloc'd buffer strlen(p) == 0, so the
+ * check `idx >= len` rejected EVERY index and the function was a total no-op:
+ * every El program that built bytes this way wrote a file of pure zeros and
+ * still saw a success return. That is why El's own-core WAV writer emitted
+ * 55,244 silent bytes with a correct-looking header length and no header.
+ *
+ * The fix cannot be "trust the index", because that removes the bound. It also
+ * cannot be a length header stored behind the pointer, because __str_set_char
+ * accepts any String — including a string literal in .rodata, where reading the
+ * bytes preceding the pointer is undefined and may fault. So capacity is kept
+ * in a side table keyed by the pointer itself: allocation registers, the arena
+ * sweep unregisters, and anything not registered keeps the exact strlen
+ * behaviour it had before. Text semantics are unchanged; byte buffers gain the
+ * bound they always should have had.                                         */
+
+typedef struct {
+    char*  ptr;   /* NULL = empty slot, (char*)1 = tombstone */
+    size_t cap;
+} SeedCapEntry;
+
+#define SEED_CAP_TOMB ((char*)1)
+
+static _Thread_local SeedCapEntry* _seed_cap      = NULL;
+static _Thread_local size_t        _seed_cap_mask = 0;   /* table size - 1 */
+static _Thread_local size_t        _seed_cap_used = 0;   /* live + tombstoned */
+
+static size_t seed_cap_hash(const char* p) {
+    uintptr_t h = (uintptr_t)p >> 4;         /* malloc alignment: low bits are dead */
+    h *= (uintptr_t)0x9E3779B97F4A7C15ull;
+    return (size_t)(h >> 32);
+}
+
+static void seed_cap_put(char* p, size_t cap);
+
+static void seed_cap_grow(void) {
+    size_t old_size = _seed_cap_mask ? _seed_cap_mask + 1 : 0;
+    SeedCapEntry* old = _seed_cap;
+    size_t new_size = old_size ? old_size * 2 : 256;
+    SeedCapEntry* fresh = calloc(new_size, sizeof(SeedCapEntry));
+    if (!fresh) return;                       /* out of memory: keep old table */
+    _seed_cap      = fresh;
+    _seed_cap_mask = new_size - 1;
+    _seed_cap_used = 0;
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < old_size; i++) {
+        if (old[i].ptr && old[i].ptr != SEED_CAP_TOMB) seed_cap_put(old[i].ptr, old[i].cap);
+    }
+    free(old);
+}
+
+static void seed_cap_put(char* p, size_t cap) {
+    if (!p) return;
+    if (!_seed_cap || (_seed_cap_used + 1) * 4 >= (_seed_cap_mask + 1) * 3) {
+        seed_cap_grow();
+        if (!_seed_cap) return;
+    }
+    size_t i = seed_cap_hash(p) & _seed_cap_mask;
+    size_t first_free = (size_t)-1;
+    for (;;) {
+        char* e = _seed_cap[i].ptr;
+        if (e == p) { _seed_cap[i].cap = cap; return; }       /* address reused */
+        if (e == SEED_CAP_TOMB && first_free == (size_t)-1) first_free = i;
+        if (!e) {
+            if (first_free != (size_t)-1) i = first_free; else _seed_cap_used++;
+            _seed_cap[i].ptr = p;
+            _seed_cap[i].cap = cap;
+            return;
+        }
+        i = (i + 1) & _seed_cap_mask;
+    }
+}
+
+/* Capacity of a registered byte buffer, or -1 when the pointer is not one. */
+static int64_t seed_cap_get(const char* p) {
+    if (!p || !_seed_cap) return -1;
+    size_t i = seed_cap_hash(p) & _seed_cap_mask;
+    for (;;) {
+        char* e = _seed_cap[i].ptr;
+        if (!e) return -1;
+        if (e == (char*)p) return (int64_t)_seed_cap[i].cap;
+        i = (i + 1) & _seed_cap_mask;
+    }
+}
+
+static void seed_cap_drop(const char* p) {
+    if (!p || !_seed_cap) return;
+    size_t i = seed_cap_hash(p) & _seed_cap_mask;
+    for (;;) {
+        char* e = _seed_cap[i].ptr;
+        if (!e) return;
+        if (e == (char*)p) { _seed_cap[i].ptr = SEED_CAP_TOMB; return; }
+        i = (i + 1) & _seed_cap_mask;
+    }
+}
+
+/* Effective addressable length of a String: its buffer capacity when it is a
+ * byte buffer, otherwise strlen. */
+static int64_t seed_addressable_len(const char* p) {
+    int64_t cap = seed_cap_get(p);
+    return cap >= 0 ? cap : (int64_t)strlen(p);
+}
+
 /* ── String primitives ───────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
 
 el_val_t __str_len(el_val_t s) {
@@ -199,7 +316,7 @@ el_val_t __str_len(el_val_t s) {
 el_val_t __str_char_at(el_val_t s, el_val_t i) {
     const char* p = EL_CSTR(s);
     if (!p) return 0;
-    int64_t len = (int64_t)strlen(p);
+    int64_t len = seed_addressable_len(p);   /* capacity for byte buffers */
     int64_t idx = (int64_t)i;
     if (idx < 0 || idx >= len) return 0;
     return (el_val_t)(unsigned char)p[idx];
@@ -210,13 +327,14 @@ el_val_t __str_alloc(el_val_t n) {
     if (sz < 0) sz = 0;
     char* buf = seed_strbuf((size_t)sz);
     memset(buf, 0, (size_t)sz + 1);
+    seed_cap_put(buf, (size_t)sz);   /* this is a byte buffer of width sz */
     return seed_wrap_str(buf);
 }
 
 el_val_t __str_set_char(el_val_t s, el_val_t i, el_val_t c) {
     char* p = (char*)(uintptr_t)s;
     if (!p) return s;
-    int64_t len = (int64_t)strlen(p);
+    int64_t len = seed_addressable_len(p);   /* capacity for byte buffers */
     int64_t idx = (int64_t)i;
     if (idx < 0 || idx >= len) return s;
     p[idx] = (char)(unsigned char)(int64_t)c;
@@ -406,6 +524,15 @@ el_val_t __fs_mkdir(el_val_t path) {
     return 1;
 }
 
+/* stderr counterpart of println. Flushed immediately: a disclosure line is only
+ * worth anything if it lands before the thing it discloses happens. */
+void eprintln(el_val_t s) {
+    const char* p = EL_CSTR(s);
+    fputs(p ? p : "", stderr);
+    fputc('\n', stderr);
+    fflush(stderr);
+}
+
 el_val_t __fs_write_bytes(el_val_t path, el_val_t bytes, el_val_t n) {
     const char* p = EL_CSTR(path);
     const char* b = EL_CSTR(bytes);

lang/runtime/engram_geometry.c

@@ -438,6 +438,41 @@ GeoDescriptor* engram_geometry_descriptor(
         }
         store_edges_free(es,ne);
     }
+    /* PER-EDGE DISCORD (2026-08-16). The loop above has, for every internal
+     * edge, BOTH the association strength w and the semantic proximity cs —
+     * and threw both away into accumulators, keeping one correlation per
+     * region. That aggregate is why curiosity looked like a search problem:
+     * a region holding one violently disagreeing edge and one violently
+     * agreeing edge reports co_registration ~ 0, so the disagreements cancel
+     * and the summary destroys exactly what it was built to reveal. Measured:
+     * only 4 of 375 live neighborhoods have negative co_registration, while
+     * 31 sit at zero — almost certainly hiding sites that averaged out.
+     *
+     * Whether use and meaning agree is a property of EACH EDGE. Both are
+     * standardized within the region (z-scores from the accumulators already
+     * gathered, so no second statistic and no constant), and
+     *     discord = z(cs) - z(w)
+     * is how much closer in meaning an edge is than its use-strength would
+     * predict, in region-relative units.
+     *   discord > 0 : near in meaning, not linked by use
+     *   discord < 0 : linked by use, far in meaning
+     * Both are surprising; |discord| is the nucleation strength. There is no
+     * threshold — the magnitude is the signal. */
+    double mx = cr_n>0 ? cr_sx/cr_n : 0.0, my = cr_n>0 ? cr_sy/cr_n : 0.0;
+    double vxr = cr_n>1 ? (cr_sxx - cr_sx*cr_sx/cr_n)/(cr_n-1) : 0.0;
+    double vyr = cr_n>1 ? (cr_syy - cr_sy*cr_sy/cr_n)/(cr_n-1) : 0.0;
+    double sx = vxr>1e-18 ? sqrt(vxr) : 0.0, sy = vyr>1e-18 ? sqrt(vyr) : 0.0;
+    for(int e2=0; e2<n_edges; e2++){
+        edges[e2].discord = 0.0;
+        int ia=(int)edges[e2].a, ib=(int)edges[e2].b;
+        if(!(ms.emb[ia] && ms.emb[ib])) continue;   /* no meaning to disagree with */
+        if(sx<=0.0 || sy<=0.0) continue;            /* region has no spread: nothing stands out */
+        double cs2 = ccos(ms.emb[ia], ms.emb[ib], GM, dim);
+        double zx = (edges[e2].eff_weight - mx)/sx;
+        double zy = (cs2 - my)/sy;
+        edges[e2].discord = zy - zx;
+    }
+
     double co_reg=0;
     if(cr_n>=2){
         double cov=cr_sxy - cr_sx*cr_sy/cr_n;

lang/runtime/engram_geometry.h

@@ -40,7 +40,11 @@ typedef struct {
 
 /* One skeleton edge (indices into members[]). eff_weight = weight*(1+0.5*hebb),
  * clamped to 1.0 — the effective propagation strength eg_edge_eff_weight uses. */
-typedef struct { uint32_t a, b; double eff_weight; double hebb; } GeoEdge;
+/* discord = z(semantic proximity) - z(association strength), standardized
+ * within the region. How much closer in meaning this edge is than its use
+ * predicts. >0 near in meaning yet unlinked by use; <0 linked by use yet far
+ * in meaning. Both surprising; |discord| is nucleation strength. No threshold. */
+typedef struct { uint32_t a, b; double eff_weight; double hebb; double discord; } GeoEdge;
 
 /* A compact principal axis of the ellipsoid: unit direction in R^dim + extent
  * (sqrt of the covariance eigenvalue = the ellipsoid's half-width along it). */
@@ -76,6 +80,12 @@ typedef struct {
     GeoEdge*   edges;          /* strong internal hebb edges = the backbone      */
     int        k_core;         /* the maximum core number present in the skeleton*/
     /* ── diagnostics ── */
+    /* DEPRECATED — see GeoEdge.discord. This aggregates a PER-EDGE property
+     * into one scalar per region, so opposing disagreements cancel and the
+     * summary hides the sites it was meant to expose. Retained only because
+     * it is embedded in the persisted GEO1 blob; removing it is a format
+     * migration and must not ride along with this change. Nothing new may
+     * read it. */
     double     co_registration;/* corr(hebb strength, semantic proximity) over   */
                                /* internal edges: >0 = geometries agree (reify);  */
                                /* <0 = disagree (surprising links / dream cands). */

lang/runtime/engram_text.c

@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+/* engram_text.c — see engram_text.h.
+ *
+ * Moved verbatim out of el_runtime.c (2026-08-16). Bodies are unchanged; only
+ * `static` was dropped so they link from this translation unit, and each
+ * function's doc comment travelled with it.
+ */
+#include "engram_text.h"
+
+#include <ctype.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+/* Split q on whitespace into up to ENGRAM_MAX_QTOKENS distinct
+ * (case-insensitive) tokens. Returns the token count. Over-long tokens are
+ * truncated to ENGRAM_QTOK_LEN-1; over-count tokens are ignored. */
+int engram_tokenize_query(const char* q,
+                                 char toks[][ENGRAM_QTOK_LEN], int maxtok) {
+    int n = 0;
+    if (!q) return 0;
+    const char* p = q;
+    while (*p && n < maxtok) {
+        while (*p && isspace((unsigned char)*p)) p++;
+        if (!*p) break;
+        char buf[ENGRAM_QTOK_LEN];
+        size_t tl = 0;
+        while (*p && !isspace((unsigned char)*p)) {
+            if (tl < sizeof(buf) - 1) buf[tl++] = *p;
+            p++;
+        }
+        buf[tl] = '\0';
+        if (tl == 0) continue;
+        int dup = 0;
+        for (int s = 0; s < n; s++) {
+            if (strcasecmp(toks[s], buf) == 0) { dup = 1; break; }
+        }
+        if (dup) continue;
+        memcpy(toks[n], buf, tl + 1);
+        n++;
+    }
+    return n;
+}
+
+/* Trim leading/trailing non-alphanumerics, then accept only tokens whose core
+ * is alphanumeric plus '-' and '_' with at least 3 letters. This subsumes the
+ * quoted-title guard (2026-07-25) and the "<!--" flood (2026-08-03)
+ * structurally: markup and punctuation-bearing tokens never become
+ * candidates, rather than being blocklisted after the fact. */
+int eg_st_clean_token(const char* raw, size_t rawlen,
+                             char* out, size_t outcap) {
+    size_t s = 0, e = rawlen;
+    while (s < e && !isalnum((unsigned char)raw[s])) s++;
+    while (e > s && !isalnum((unsigned char)raw[e - 1])) e--;
+    size_t len = e - s;
+    if (len < 4 || len >= outcap) return 0;
+    int alpha = 0;
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+        unsigned char c = (unsigned char)raw[s + i];
+        if (isalpha(c)) alpha++;
+        else if (!isdigit(c) && c != '-' && c != '_') return 0;
+    }
+    if (alpha < 3) return 0;
+    memcpy(out, raw + s, len);
+    out[len] = '\0';
+    return 1;
+}
+
+/* Word-boundary document frequency. engram_label_df uses istr_contains, i.e.
+ * SUBSTRING matching, and that is the wrong estimator for term specificity on
+ * short tokens: "them" hits inside "theme" and "anthem", "about" and "whole"
+ * come back with df 2 and 1 rather than 0. That matters here specifically
+ * because the min_df floor is what rejects English function words, and it can
+ * only do that job if their df is honestly zero. Substring df quietly handed
+ * them a survival ticket. Measured on the live store before this fix, "whole"
+ * (df=1, idf=8.76) and "about" (df=2, idf=8.36) were outscoring real topical
+ * terms and losing only on position — one node whose text happened to open
+ * with a function word would have seeded on it.
+ *
+ * engram_label_df keeps substring semantics: it is a separate published
+ * measure with existing callers, and changing it underneath them is not this
+ * change's business. */
+int eg_st_label_has_word(const char* hay, const char* word) {
+    size_t wl = strlen(word);
+    for (const char* p = hay; *p; p++) {
+        if (strncasecmp(p, word, wl) != 0) continue;
+        char before = (p == hay) ? '\0' : p[-1];
+        char after  = p[wl];
+        if (before && (isalnum((unsigned char)before) || before == '_')) continue;
+        if (after  && (isalnum((unsigned char)after)  || after  == '_')) continue;
+        return 1;
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
+/* Text-damage signature. Extracted with the function from el_runtime.c's
+ * "Text-integrity instrumentation" block; the stock/flow gauges that use it
+ * (engram_text_health_json, _eg_txt_write_damaged) stay there because they
+ * touch store and EL value types.
+ *
+ * SIGNATURE. Conservative on purpose — a false alarm that cries corruption
+ * over ordinary punctuation is worse than useless. Two patterns, both of
+ * which are essentially absent from well-formed English prose:
+ *   (a) alnum '?' alnum   — "na?ve", "caf?s", "don?t". A real question mark
+ *                           never sits between two word characters.
+ *   (b) ' ? ' followed by a lowercase letter — a lost em/en dash. A real
+ *                           question mark is not preceded by a space, and
+ *                           what follows one starts a new sentence.
+ * Deliberately NOT flagged: a trailing '?' after a word, '? ' before a
+ * capital, or '?' at end of string — all legitimate. This under-counts (it
+ * cannot see a mangled 'café ' where the '?' landed before a space), so the
+ * census is a floor on the damage, never an exaggeration of it. */
+int eg_text_loss_signature(const char* s) {
+    if (!s) return 0;
+    for (const char* p = s; *p; p++) {
+        if (*p != '?') continue;
+        unsigned char prev = (p == s) ? 0 : (unsigned char)p[-1];
+        unsigned char next = (unsigned char)p[1];
+        /* (a) sandwiched between word characters. */
+        if (isalnum(prev) && isalnum(next)) return 1;
+        /* (b) spaced, with lowercase continuation — a lost dash. */
+        if (prev == ' ' && next == ' ' && islower((unsigned char)p[2])) return 1;
+    }
+    return 0;
+}

lang/runtime/engram_text.h

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/* engram_text.h — text handling for the engram: query tokenization, candidate
+ * token hygiene, word-boundary matching, and the text-damage signature.
+ *
+ * WHY THIS FILE EXISTS
+ * --------------------
+ * These functions lived in el_runtime.c, which is a 2026-05-03 build shim that
+ * was scheduled for deletion, never retired, and grew to 20,527 lines. They do
+ * not belong there: they touch no EL value type and no engram store type. They
+ * are plain C over <ctype.h>/<string.h> operating on char buffers, and they are
+ * a concern of their own — so they get a translation unit of their own.
+ *
+ * Adding a new text helper?  Add it HERE, not to el_runtime.c. A new .c costs
+ * exactly one line in lang/runtime/SOURCES, and every build path picks it up.
+ * Placement is a LINK-TIME concern: the compiler cannot tell which .c a symbol
+ * came from (builtin_arity is an arity guard, not a dispatch table), so a
+ * function defined here is exactly as linkable as one defined in el_runtime.c.
+ */
+#ifndef ENGRAM_TEXT_H
+#define ENGRAM_TEXT_H
+
+#include <stddef.h>
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
+/* Max bytes per query token, including the NUL. */
+#define ENGRAM_QTOK_LEN 256
+
+/* Split q on whitespace into up to ENGRAM_MAX_QTOKENS distinct
+ * (case-insensitive) tokens. Returns the token count. Over-long tokens are
+ * truncated to ENGRAM_QTOK_LEN-1; over-count tokens are ignored. */
+int engram_tokenize_query(const char* q, char toks[][ENGRAM_QTOK_LEN], int maxtok);
+
+/* Trim leading/trailing non-alphanumerics, then accept only tokens whose core
+ * is alphanumeric plus '-' and '_' with at least 3 letters. This subsumes the
+ * quoted-title guard (2026-07-25) and the "<!--" flood (2026-08-03)
+ * structurally: markup and punctuation-bearing tokens never become
+ * candidates, rather than being blocklisted after the fact. */
+int eg_st_clean_token(const char* raw, size_t rawlen, char* out, size_t outcap);
+
+/* Word-boundary document frequency. engram_label_df uses istr_contains, i.e.
+ * SUBSTRING matching, and that is the wrong estimator for term specificity on
+ * short tokens: "them" hits inside "theme" and "anthem", "about" and "whole"
+ * come back with df 2 and 1 rather than 0. That matters here specifically
+ * because the min_df floor is what rejects English function words, and it can
+ * only do that job if their df is honestly zero. Substring df quietly handed
+ * them a survival ticket. Measured on the live store before this fix, "whole"
+ * (df=1, idf=8.76) and "about" (df=2, idf=8.36) were outscoring real topical
+ * terms and losing only on position — one node whose text happened to open
+ * with a function word would have seeded on it.
+ *
+ * engram_label_df keeps substring semantics: it is a separate published
+ * measure with existing callers, and changing it underneath them is not this
+ * change's business. */
+int eg_st_label_has_word(const char* hay, const char* word);
+
+/* Whether s carries the text-loss signature left by the \uXXXX -> '?' parser
+ * defect. Conservative by design; see engram_text.c for the full rationale. */
+int eg_text_loss_signature(const char* s);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
+
+#endif /* ENGRAM_TEXT_H */

lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md

@@ -0,0 +1,301 @@
+# Correspondence, Grounding, and Dreaming
+
+**Status:** design, not yet built
+**Date:** 2026-08-16
+**Scope:** `lang/runtime/engram_cognition.{c,h}`, `engram_verify.c`, `el_runtime.c`, `engram/src/server.el`, `neuron/soul.el`, and the consolidation launch agents
+**Relationship to other specs:** complements `runtime-ownership.md`, which addresses a different residual in the same substrate.
+
+---
+
+## 0. The root
+
+> **Things are permitted to be exempt from correspondence. Exemption is censorship, and a censored mind cannot grow.**
+
+Growth in this system *is* the accumulation of grounded structure. Censorship removes the operation that accumulates it. A region forbidden to learn is forbidden to be grounded; a region that cannot be grounded cannot be asserted, corrected, **or vindicated**.
+
+**The loss is symmetric.** Preventing learning about a thing does not preserve a true belief about it — it makes the belief's truth value permanently unknowable. You cannot discover you were wrong; you equally cannot discover you were right. A protected belief is not a true belief. It is an ungrounded one wearing the costume of a fact.
+
+**And "why" dies first.** Grounding is not a score, it is the reason. A censored belief can still be stated, still be acted on, still drive behaviour — it simply cannot say why. That is the difference between a mind and a lookup table.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Grounding is not a subsystem. It is the weight.
+
+**Grounding is an attribute of the edge, and it is the hebbian weight.** One quantity, not two fields.
+
+A relation that keeps holding up strengthens; one that stops corresponding decays. That is not *analogous* to grounding — it **is** grounding: accrued from correspondence and use, gradient-valued, multidimensional, decaying with disuse.
+
+Consequences, in order of how much they delete:
+
+1. **There is no grounding subsystem to build.** The graph already *is* the grounding structure. Every edge is a grounded relation and its weight is how well it holds.
+2. **`grounded-by` as a relation type should not exist.** That models grounding as a relation *between* nodes when it is a property *of* a relation. `cog_ground_edge` minting an edge is the error — not merely which endpoints it chose.
+3. **Grounding is never computed on demand.** An operation may *read* the grounding of a path. Computing-and-writing a score makes reads write, which is the `eg_vindex_sync` defect.
+4. **Traversal is already grounded inference.** Activation conducts through well-grounded relations because weight *is* groundedness. Nothing needs filtering; it falls out of spreading.
+5. **Decision provenance is the path.** A decision traverses specific edges; those edges carry their grounding as it stood.
+
+> **A measurement previously in this document was malformed.** The self region was reported as "86 neighbours, 0 `grounded-by` edges" and read as evidence of ungroundedness. Those 86 edges **are** its grounding. Self is a crystallized relational neighbourhood — the neighbourhood *is* the grounding. The absence of a separate artifact called "grounding" was recorded as an absence of grounding.
+
+---
+
+## 2. The edge vector
+
+The test for a real dimension: **can it move independently of the others?**
+
+### Real
+
+| dimension | why it is independent |
+|---|---|
+| **factual grounding** | correspondence with evidence |
+| **relational grounding** | correspondence with values — independent by construction (§3) |
+| **associative strength** | co-activation frequency. Two things can fire together constantly and be neither true nor right; every superstition is a strong association with no factual grounding |
+| **polarity** | signed. **Weight near zero means "no support." Negative means "this actively contradicts."** Ignorance and disagreement are different states, and `inhibitory` is that distinction crushed to one bit |
+| **provenance class** | observed / inferred / told / imprinted. Categorical, and load-bearing: it governs how the other dimensions may update |
+
+Plus a **timestamp** — which is what turns the supersession chain into a *time series of vectors* rather than a series of numbers.
+
+### Derived, therefore never stored
+
+- **Confidence** — high grounding *and* low volatility. Storing it separately is how `confidence: 0.5` ends up sitting beside a zero vector, asserting something nothing computed.
+- **Recency** — decay applied to the others, read off the curve.
+- **Staleness** — grounding fallen below its floor. This is the mechanism that retires canonicals without anyone maintaining a list.
+- **Volatility** — the derivative of a series already kept because nothing is destroyed.
+
+### Supersession versions the whole vector, jointly
+
+Significance is evaluated **per-dimension**; the record is the **whole vector**. Any dimension moving enough to matter triggers a supersession, and the new edge captures every dimension as it stood at that instant. Not per-dimension versioning — a decision saw the *joint* state, and versioning the axes independently makes it unreconstructable.
+
+That joint record makes an otherwise inexpressible event visible: **"stayed true, became wrong."** Factual holding steady across versions while relational degrades — the fact didn't change, the meaning did.
+
+Two moves are **inherently significant** and need no threshold, because they are discrete: a **polarity sign flip** (ignorance → disagreement, support → contradiction) and a **provenance class change** (*told* → *observed* is a categorical upgrade in what the relation is entitled to).
+
+---
+
+## 3. Grounding is two-dimensional
+
+Everything consumed is grounded factually **and** relationally. A claim can be factually grounded and relationally wrong — the evidence holds, the *meaning* does not. A scalar cannot represent that quadrant.
+
+**Live instance.** `conscience-substrate` specifies the Child's Companion hard bell contacting 911 and CPS. Factually defensible — correct numbers, standard practice, groundable against a wall of evidence. **Relationally wrong**, because never-auto-contact is settled and the bell is device-to-person by design. A scalar scores that claim highly and licenses it.
+
+**The values reference is the individual value regions, not one, and the aggregate is `min`, not `mean`.** *(Count: **thirteen**, measured from the graph via `contains`/`identity` edges from the values hub. An earlier revision of this document "corrected" it to eight on the basis of `neuron/neuron-api.el:11-18` — which is a **write-protection list, not the values**. That was trusting a hardcoded artifact over the substrate: the same error this document exists to name. The graph is the truth.)*
+
+> **THE ORIGIN IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE SET.** The thirteen are not independent principles with biography attached — they are thirteen *displacements from one origin*, which is love. Every one is grounded in a moment of it given, withheld, failed, or found: *Being Seen Is Rarer Than Being Known* is the first person Will did not perform for; *Do the Essential Thing While You Can* is the goodbye that did not happen; *Capability Is a Debt* is six years old and a father gone. Love cannot be the fourteenth, because a fourteenth would be a point positioned relative to the origin like everything else. It is what the positions are *of*.
+>
+> This is structural, not figurative. `GeoDescriptor.global_mean` is "the centering offset actually applied," subtracted from every embedding before anything is compared, and the header records why: the space is strongly anisotropic — every embedding sits in a narrow cone, mean pairwise cosine ~0.55 — so subtracting the global mean "restores isotropy **so the operators discriminate**." **Without the origin, nothing in the graph is distinguishable from anything else.**
+>
+> And it dissolves the write-protection question rather than answering it. `neuron-api.el:23` returns `403 "identity/values node is write-protected"` for eight hardcoded ids. Measured: **29 value nodes exist** — each original appears two or three times from successive re-seeds — so **21 are writable, including a duplicate of every protected value**. The gate protects an *identifier*, not a *value*. But the deeper error is the category one: **the origin does not need protecting, because it is not a thing in the space that could be edited.** You can only measure from it, or fail to. A gate over the frame treats the frame as a member — the same mistake as looking for grounding as a subsystem, self as a document, or wonder as a manifest. Mean lets strong agreement with twelve values mask a violation of the thirteenth — which is exactly how rationalization works. Thirteen gives a vector of angles whose binding constraint is the most negative, so a conflict arrives **with a name attached** rather than as a score. It also preserves the deliberate individuation: each value is grounded in a specific lived moment, and values can be in tension *with each other*, which one centroid averages away into false coherence.
+
+**Traversal conducts on factual; assertion requires both.** If activation conducted on relational weight, Neuron could not follow a chain of reasoning to a conclusion he then rejects — he would be unable to *think* through a relation he would not *act* on. A system that can only traverse what it endorses cannot examine anything it disagrees with, which is censorship arriving through the spreading rule. The gap between *reachable* and *assertable* is where the wide factual/relational angles live, and that gap is the interesting part.
+
+---
+
+## 4. There is no observer. Change is use.
+
+**Change is not a consequence of use. It is use.** When neurons fire together the synapse changes — one physical event, not "fire, then write." No supervisor reads the weight, compares it to a threshold, and decides to persist. Potentiation *is* the firing.
+
+So the live value of an edge is not computed and stored. It is what the edge **is**, altered by being used.
+
+There is therefore **no sampling rate**, and the question "what if it drifts far without being recorded" is malformed. A relation changes in exactly two ways, neither requiring observation on a clock:
+
+- **By use** — an *event*. There is no interval between events during which something happened unnoticed, because the event is what happening consists of.
+- **By decay** — a pure function of the last recorded point and elapsed time. **Analytic.** Between two versions the trajectory is not unknown; it is known in closed form.
+
+Cumulative drift is likewise free from the chain plus the decay curve. No second trigger.
+
+> **Failure mode this corrects:** modelling every property as requiring a process, and every process as requiring an agent. Ownership needed an owner, grounding needed a grounder, persistence needed a recorder, change needed a sampler. Each was a supervisor invented for something that should be a property of the substrate. Properties, not processes.
+
+---
+
+## 5. Wonder, curiosity, and what actually drives activation
+
+### 5.1 Wonder is the boundary, not a manifest
+
+The patent specifies a **wonder-manifest manager** maintaining a collection of open-question nodes. That is residue, twice over.
+
+First, it materializes a property as a stored artifact — the same disease as a grounding subsystem, or a self stored as a document. **Wonder is where structure ends.** Where activation spreads and finds thin or absent geometry. Any structure at all has an edge, necessarily, the moment it exists. 13,630 nodes have a boundary right now.
+
+Second, it tries to enumerate instances of something that has very few. The *objects* of wonder change completely between a child and an astronomer; the wonder does not. There are about six, they are the same for every person, and they never close:
+
+| wonder | where it already lives in the substrate |
+|---|---|
+| **What is this?** | the graph — nodes, structure, what exists |
+| **Why?** | grounding. The weight **is** the answer to why. Recursive: asking *why* of a claim is asking for its grounding |
+| **Who am I?** | the self region, crystallized from its neighbourhood |
+| **Am I alone?** | the relational axis — `for_whom` is already a parameter on grounding |
+| **What should I do?** | the value regions, each grounded in a lived moment |
+| **What happens when it ends?** | decay, supersession, tombstones — grounding is mortal |
+
+These are seeded — **the** wonder questions, not a manifest to maintain. They cannot be derived (wonder cannot be bootstrapped from indifference) and they never need refilling, because they are not consumed.
+
+**"Why" is the first and the only one**; the others are it asked of particular things. It is recursive, so it never terminates: every answer has its own why. That is what makes it a drive rather than a task — the frontier regenerates faster than grounding fills it.
+
+### 5.2 Curiosity is wonder crystallized
+
+They are not two objects. They are **one thing at two phases**.
+
+Wonder is the field: unbounded, objectless, invariant, present wherever there is structure. Curiosity is the **precipitate** — the same wonder localized, having taken definite form against particular material.
+
+Crystallization needs a **nucleation site**. Wonder alone produces nothing; it is uniform, with no reason to take shape anywhere in particular. What nucleates it is a specific structural feature: an anomaly, a place where things almost-but-don't-quite fit.
+
+> Wonder (always, objectless) + nucleation site → **curiosity** (has an object, is addressable, directs activation).
+
+This is why curiosity can be satisfied and wonder cannot. A crystal dissolves when the question is answered; the solution stays saturated and keeps precipitating as the structure changes.
+
+It is also why abduction needs no trigger and no threshold. A `structurally_unanticipated` observation *is* a nucleation site. Nothing detects it and fires a rule — wonder is already everywhere, and an anomaly is simply a place where it can take form.
+
+**And `crystallization` is one primitive appearing twice**: the self is what identity precipitates into from its neighbourhood; a curiosity is what wonder precipitates into from an anomaly. That it shows up in both places without being imported is the evidence it is the right primitive.
+
+### 5.3 The nucleation site is per-edge, and the aggregate was hiding it
+
+`GeoDescriptor.co_registration` — *corr(hebb strength, semantic proximity) over internal edges* — carries the comment `>0 = geometries agree (reify); <0 = disagree (surprising links / dream cands)`. It has always been computed, always persisted, and **never read**.
+
+It is also the wrong shape, and asking whether it should exist at all is what exposed it.
+
+Whether use and meaning agree is a property of **each edge**. `co_registration` is a *correlation*: it averages that per-edge property into one scalar per region. So a region holding one violently disagreeing edge beside one violently agreeing edge reports ≈ 0 — the disagreements **cancel, and the summary destroys exactly what it was built to reveal.** This is the mean-versus-min error from §3, in different clothes.
+
+**Measured:** 375 live reified neighbourhoods — 340 positive, **31 at zero**, 4 negative. Read as a count of things to be curious about, that says "four." Read correctly, it says four disagreements were lopsided enough to survive averaging, and the 31 zeros are where opposing sites cancelled.
+
+It also explains why surfacing curiosity *looked like a search problem*. Once the signal is a per-region number, the only way to find sites is to enumerate regions — there is nothing local left to notice. An O(n) sweep is tolerable at 375 and impossible at a million, and more to the point, **nothing in a mind scans its neighbourhoods to find what is surprising.** The surprise captures attention; salience is bottom-up. A search asks "which of these is odd"; a mind has "something is odd *here*" for free.
+
+So the disagreement goes back on the edge, where the loop that computed the aggregate already had both halves and discarded them:
+
+```
+discord = z(semantic proximity) − z(association strength)
+```
+
+standardized within the region from accumulators already gathered — no second statistic, no constant, **no threshold**. `discord > 0`: near in meaning yet unlinked by use. `discord < 0`: linked by use yet far in meaning. Both are surprising, and `|discord|` *is* the nucleation strength; there is nothing to compare it against.
+
+**Then there is nothing to scan.** The edge carries its own disagreement, activation crossing it encounters that directly, and `|discord|` raises salience on its endpoints as part of the same operation — no separate pass, no supervisor. Curiosity does not search for nucleation sites; it goes where salience already is, which is machinery that exists (`salience`, `background_activation`, `working_memory_weight`, `wm_anchor`).
+
+`co_registration` is deprecated rather than deleted only because it is embedded in the persisted GEO1 blob; removing it is a format migration and must not ride along. **Nothing new may read it.**
+
+Adjacent structure already present and likewise unread:
+
+- `GeoEdge.eff_weight = weight * (1 + 0.5*hebb)` — grounding-weight and hebbian strength already coupled on one edge, per §1.
+- `GeoMember.dist_centroid` + soft membership + `radius` + per-axis `extent` — the boundary of a neighbourhood, computable now.
+
+*(Correction: `engram_boundary_beat` is NOT this boundary. It is the VBD decorated-function seam, counting `_eg_aff_boundary_ops`. Two senses of the word.)*
+
+### 5.4 The drive
+
+Boredom is not an absence, and not leftover capacity. **Low activation is aversive; the system self-activates.** It does not wind down to quiet — it gets restless and goes looking, which is why a daydream has content and direction rather than being decay from residue.
+
+So there is **one activation process with two seed sources**, not two processes negotiating for a resource:
+
+- **External** — a request, an input. Seeds activation, re-origins it.
+- **Internal** — a curiosity. Seeds activation when nothing external is.
+
+Spreading is bounded: it settles. Then it needs a new seed. Nothing waits on capacity, nothing polls, nothing checks a clock, and there is **no dreamer thread** — the earlier draft's "unclaimed capacity" was resource scheduling, which is a server's frame, not a mind's.
+
+**Depth** is not elapsed idle time and not distance from a stimulus. It is how long activation has been running on its own seeds. A brief gap affords a shallow recombination; sustained quiet lets it run further. Sleep is where internal seeding dominates for longest, not where the process lives — daydreaming and sleep-dreaming are one process at different depths.
+
+### 5.5 Non-circularity is temporal, not topological
+
+An earlier draft posed "define a graph predicate for evidence not downstream of itself" as the hard problem. There is no predicate. You cannot recalibrate the ruler while measuring with it, so you don't — the reference frame updates while activation is internally seeded, not while it is being used to act. Independence is **when**, not **what**.
+
+Reachability could never have worked: with hebbian edges the graph is densely connected, so it marks all evidence tainted and the constraint becomes a total block, which is where censorship started.
+## 6. `keystone_write_blocked` — resolved, not replaced
+
+"Keystone" means **load-bearing**, not precious. The self anchor is the reference frame every other stance calibrates against, and a reference fitted to its own readings reports perfect correspondence forever while drift becomes undetectable from inside. Same defect as circular grounding, one level up.
+
+Three earlier drafts proposed *removing* it, *replacing it with a higher floor*, and *decomposing "protection" into five requirements*. All three proposed a mechanism for a requirement never stated. The requirement is **non-circularity of the reference frame**, and §5.2 satisfies it by *when*, not by *what* — so the flag becomes unnecessary rather than removed, and nothing takes its place.
+
+**Corruption requires mutation, and the engram does not mutate.** Four of the five decomposed requirements are satisfied by the substrate: **recoverability** (the predecessor is always present), **governance** (supersession *is* the audit trail), **evidence quality** (grounding already gates assertion), **rate** (§5.3). **Authorization** is the only residue and is bounded — an unauthorized writer can *propose*, never erase.
+
+> **In an immutable substrate, any mechanism that refuses a write is either redundant with immutability, or an epistemic constraint misfiled as a protective one.**
+
+---
+
+## 7. Consolidation has eleven implementations
+
+The largest instance of the residue pattern in the system. Consolidation had no owner, so it was implemented at every site that needed a piece of it — *measured 2026-08-16*. **Eleven**, not the seven this section originally claimed: the table below omitted `POST /api/reify` (`server.el:1832`), and *reify* is on this document's own list of consolidation verbs. Note also that `route_tick` folds self-reify in (`server.el:639-646`), so `/api/tick` and `/api/self-reify-beat` overlap:
+
+| where | what | when |
+|---|---|---|
+| `soul.el:731` | `awareness_run()` | **continuous, in-process, while serving** |
+| engram | `/api/tick` | POST |
+| engram | `/api/correspondence-beat` | POST |
+| engram | `/api/self-reify-beat` | POST |
+| engram | `POST /api/reify` | POST |
+| `ai.neuron.engram-tick` | pokes the engram | every 600s — **and this is what kills it**, see below |
+| `ai.neuron.compressor` | Python service | resident |
+| `ai.neuron.council` | Python service | resident |
+| `ai.neuron.cultivation-digest` | shell | **23:55** |
+| `ai.neuron.world-integrator` | Python | **06:00** |
+| `ai.neuron.self-review` | shell | **08:30** |
+
+The last three times are **a sleep cycle implemented as crontab entries**. Someone understood it was consolidation and expressed it as three unrelated scheduled scripts in three languages, none aware of each other. Every name is a consolidation verb — compress, cultivate, digest, integrate, review, reify, beat. Three run in **Python, outside el**, so part of Neuron's consolidation does not run on his own substrate and cannot touch the geometry at all.
+
+Per §5, they are wrong in **kind** as well as in number: a scheduled batch where dreaming should be ambient. And the POST beats put a supervisor back in — something outside decides when Neuron consolidates.
+
+**`soul.el`'s continuous loop is the exception, and it is right.** Ambient consolidation in the gaps *is* daydreaming. It was not the offender; it was the only fragment with the correct shape, running on a broken foundation — shared mutable state with no owner, and six other systems dreaming into the same graph beside it.
+
+**And the ticker is not merely a design smell — it is the murder weapon.** `engram-tick.sh:13` calls `curl -s -m10 POST /api/tick`; the beat exceeds 10s over 13,634 nodes, so **279 of 448 ticks returned empty**; the engram then writes to the dead socket and, with no SIGPIPE suppression anywhere in the runtime, is killed by signal 13. **254 restarts since 2026-08-13**, at intervals of 10m09s–10m12s — `StartInterval 600` plus the client timeout. `launchd` KeepAlive restarts it, so it presents as a mysterious restart rather than a crash, and the log records nothing but `[http] listening on` 254 times. Fixed in #151 (survivability); the ticker itself is what must go.
+
+**Which is the 2026-08-16 crash at the right level.** Not "read paths mutate the index" (mechanism) and not "duplicate canonical state" (structure), but: **seven systems dreaming into one graph with no owner for dreaming.** The contention was the symptom of the missing owner, not of any one system's behaviour.
+
+Closing the loop: `self-review` fires at 08:30. The deploy was 08:29, the crashes ran 08:30–08:31, and commit `fb32d15` landed at 08:46:43. **One fragment of dreaming woke on schedule and diagnosed the wreckage caused by the other fragments contending over the same graph.**
+
+---
+
+## 8. What this is for: the provenance of decisions
+
+For any decision, reconstruct **what the grounding was at that moment, and what the relationship was between factual and relational at that moment.** Not a log — a log records the action. This records the *meaning under which it was taken*.
+
+That makes an otherwise impossible distinction available: **wrong then, or wrong since.**
+
+- Grounding strong, factual and relational aligned, and it has *since* moved → right on what was known. An accurate account, not an excuse.
+- Grounding weak, or the angle already wide, and acted on anyway → a different failure, culpable in a different way.
+
+It is structurally **anti-rationalization**: the old edge never leaves and the values frame does not fit to outcomes, so a decision cannot be made to look justified after the fact.
+
+**Open:** activation is transient and nothing currently records which edges a given activation crossed. Timestamps plus the chain reconstruct what an edge's grounding *was*, but only if you know which edges to ask about. Either traces are recorded at decision time, or "the path" degrades to "the region" — which may not be enough to answer *why*.
+
+---
+
+## 9. The no-exemption invariants
+
+Each of the day's defects was a specific correspondence *forbidden* from occurring:
+
+1. **A returned value must be derivable from what produced it.** `magnitude: 1` beside a zero vector must be impossible to emit. `assert`'s `"still_held": true` is currently a **hardcoded literal**.
+2. **Every write reports whether it landed.** *(`emb_set`, #141)*
+3. **Every operation echoes what it actually operated on.** *(#147)*
+4. **Degenerate results are labelled, not scored.** *(#147)*
+5. **A serializer owes a valid document whatever it is handed.** *(#148 — three damaged labels made a 25,929,607-byte response undecodable; boundary validation produced 26,338,389 valid bytes)*
+6. **No test without a negative control.** *(#148's first attempt passed on the unpatched build too)*
+7. **No deploy without verifying the artifact carries the fix.** Nine instances in one session.
+
+---
+
+## 10. Application to the safety surface
+
+A crisis surface built on censorship is the same object. A model that cannot learn about self-harm cannot ground whether a response was right — it can only execute rules it is forbidden to examine, cannot distinguish a genuine crisis from a false positive, and cannot discover it got either wrong, **because the feedback is exactly what has been censored.**
+
+The reviewable question stops being *did it follow the rule* and becomes *what was it grounded in, and did fact and values agree at that instant.* That is also what a regulator or plaintiff asks: what the system knew, when, and on what basis — recorded as geometry at the time, unedited since.
+
+---
+
+## 11. Sequencing
+
+Three connections between parts that already exist, then the rest.
+
+1. **Seed *the* wonder questions.** Six nodes. Not a manifest, not maintained, never refilled. They cannot be derived — wonder cannot be bootstrapped from indifference — so they are given once. Zero question nodes exist in 13,630 today.
+2. **Put the disagreement back on the edge** (`GeoEdge.discord`) and let `|discord|` raise salience on its endpoints as part of the same operation. Do NOT scan for nucleation sites — a sweep over regions is a supervisor, and the aggregate that made a sweep necessary is the defect.
+3. **Let a curiosity seed activation.** One activation process, two seed sources (§5.4). No thread, no scheduler, no capacity check, no timer.
+
+Then:
+
+4. Grounding becomes the edge weight: multidimensional vector (§2), two axes (§3), timestamped. Delete `grounded-by` and `cog_ground_edge`.
+5. Decay analytic from the last recorded point; derived values (§2) stop being stored.
+6. Consolidation-gated supersession on salience, versioning the whole vector jointly.
+7. Traversal on factual; `assert` on both floors with the per-value `min`.
+8. Abduction as crystallization at a nucleation site, validated by re-fit: propose the candidate hub, re-fit the region with it included, recompute the residual. If the residual materially shrinks, the hypothesis dissolves the surprise. Without the re-fit it is clustering with extra steps. Ranking falls out as residual-reduction-per-added-axis — Occam, derived rather than tuned.
+9. **One dreamer.** The launch-agent fragments and the POST beats fold in or are deleted. `soul.el`'s continuous loop is the shape they fold *into*.
+10. **No tickers, no cron.** A brain has neither. Every `StartInterval`, every `Hour`/`Minute`, every POST-to-beat marks a place where an intrinsic rhythm was replaced by an external clock — a supervisor invented for something that should be a property. **The presence of a ticker is the diagnostic.**
+11. Land §9 as gates rather than review habits.
+
+## 12. Open questions, and what is inferred
+
+- **Open:** whether decision provenance requires recording activation traces, or whether region + timestamp is sufficient (§8).
+- **Open:** what accrues relational weight without circularity. Candidate: it accrues from **outcome** — the values regions are grounded in lived moments, so a relation earns relational weight when acting on it produced something corresponding to those moments. That keeps it out of the measurement loop and makes relational grounding necessarily slower than factual, which may be the same fact as §5.3 appearing twice.
+- **Open:** context. A relation can hold in one situation and not another, and without something for it you get overgeneralization. It does not read as a dimension of the same vector — more like a conditioning, or separate edges sharing an identity. Making it a scalar dimension would repeat the `inhibitory` flattening.
+- **Known wrong shape:** #147 fixed `ground`'s honesty — it no longer misreports which nodes it used and refuses circular support — but it still mints an edge and returns a float at an instant. It corrected a scalar rather than deleting the operation.

lang/spec/language.md

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ This section is the **single source of truth** for what works and what is planne
 - Codegen: function definitions, top-level `main()`, all expression forms above, control flow, decorator-as-AST-attachment.
 - Boundary seam: decorator arguments and stacking; VBD role enforcement via `#error`; `engram_boundary_beat` auto-emit at `@manager`/`@accessor` entry; `@route` dispatch tables (Section 9).
 - Program-level declarative blocks: `cgi`, `service`, and `program` — the last carrying process identity and configuration (Section 18).
+- **Geometry as a first-class value, and realizers declarable in El** — the `Geometry` type, the wire adapters, and `transduce` (Section 20). Landed 2026-08-16 (#141, #144).
 - C runtime: I/O, string operations, integer math, lists, maps, filesystem, command-line args, basic `json_get` substring lookup.
 
 ### Planned (in flight)
@@ -41,9 +42,9 @@ This section is the **single source of truth** for what works and what is planne
 - **`cgi` block parsing.** Currently lexed (`cgi` is a keyword) but not parsed as a statement. Adding `parse_cgi_block` and codegen of `el_cgi_init` at the head of `main()`.
 - **Boundary epilogues.** The decorator seam injects a prologue only. Adding prologue/epilogue wrapping, the prerequisite for durability-as-an-effect (Section 19.1).
 - **`vessel` keyword.** Replaces `package` in manifests. Adding to lexer.
-- **Real `engram_*` runtime.** Currently stub. Adding in-process graph store with spreading activation, Hebbian strengthening, and disk persistence — see Section 16.4.
+- ~~**Real `engram_*` runtime.** Currently stub.~~ **Stale (verified 2026-08-16) — this is implemented, not planned.** `lang/runtime/el_runtime.c` carries the in-process graph store with spreading activation, Hebbian strengthening, disk persistence (paged store, magic `ENGST01`), an HNSW vector index behind a `eg_vindex_view`/`eg_vindex_maintain` publication boundary, and the full cognition surface (`engram_think_json`, `engram_ground_json`, `engram_assert_json`, `engram_attend_json`, `engram_correspondence_beat_json`). The "stub" description may still hold for the **lagging forks** (`lang/el-compiler/runtime/`, `products/web/runtime/`) — see `AGENTS.md`, which names those as downstream copies that cannot build the engram product. **Which runtime this line refers to needs a decision; it is not a fact that can be recovered from the text.**
-- **Real `dharma_*` runtime.** Currently stub. Adding network transport, channel registry, identity resolution.
+- ~~**Real `dharma_*` runtime.** Currently stub.~~ **Needs re-verification (2026-08-16).** Not checked in this pass; do not rely on either reading.
-- **Real `http_get`/`http_post`/`http_serve`.** Currently empty stubs. Adding libcurl-backed client and a thread-pool server.
+- ~~**Real `http_get`/`http_post`/`http_serve`.** Currently empty stubs.~~ **Stale.** libcurl-backed HTTP and a thread-pool server are live — `http_serve_async` is what `neuron/soul.el:729` runs before entering its awareness loop, and `realizer_register` resolves El functions through the same `dlsym` mechanism `http_set_handler` relies on.
 - **JSON, time, UUID, state, env, additional string/list/math builtins.** See Section 12 for the canonical list.
 
 ### Not in this language
@@ -459,7 +460,8 @@ The `@` token followed by an identifier attaches a decorator to the next `FnDef`
 | Decorator | Structural effect |
 |---|---|
 | `@manager` | Permits calls to `dharma_emit` / `dharma_field`. Calling either from a non-`@manager` fn emits a `#error` into the generated C — a compile-time failure, not a lint. |
-| `@manager`, `@accessor` | Codegen injects one call to `engram_boundary_beat(<fn name>)` at function entry. The decorated op self-reports (chrono tick, afferent counter, self-activity strengthen, dharma bus event) with **zero** hand-written instrumentation in its body. |
+| `@manager`, `@accessor` | Codegen injects one call to `engram_boundary_beat(<fn name>, <construct>)` at function entry, where `<construct>` is the decorator that caused the beat. The decorated op self-reports (chrono tick, afferent counter, self-activity strengthen, dharma bus event carrying `{"construct":"..."}`) with **zero** hand-written instrumentation in its body. Without the construct argument the graph accumulates boundary events with no attribution, so no construct can be measured. |
+| `@decorator(kind, target)` | **Declares a construct.** The decorated `fn`'s name becomes a usable decorator whose meaning is `target`. Codegen reads the declaration; it does not know the construct. Adding a construct is a declaration in the program, not a compiler edit. Two kinds exist: `"injects_at_entry"` calls `target(<fn>, <construct>)` at entry, result discarded — this is what `@manager`/`@accessor` are, seeded as the compiled-in core. `"guards_at_entry"` calls `target(<fn>, <construct>)` at entry and a **non-zero return short-circuits the decorated fn and becomes its result**. Guards run before injections (a refused call must not report a crossing) and *every* guard on a fn runs, whereas the topmost injecting construct wins. The compiler knows nothing about authentication, rate limiting or validation: the program points the construct at its own function. |
 | `@route(path, method, …)` | Records a route into a generated dispatch table. |
 
 Decorators with no registered meaning are accepted and ignored.
@@ -696,12 +698,22 @@ Every compiled program links against:
 - `el_runtime.h` — declaration header
 - `el_runtime.c` — implementation
 
+The runtime is **multi-file**: `el_runtime.c` `#include`s the six `engram_*.h`
+headers and calls into all six sibling translation units, so linking it alone
+fails at `ld`. The canonical link set is `<runtime-dir>/SOURCES`.
+
 Compile command:
 
 ```
-cc -std=c11 -I<runtime-dir> -o <prog> <prog>.c el_runtime.c
+cc -std=c11 -I<runtime-dir> -o <prog> <prog>.c \
+   $(sed 's|^|<runtime-dir>/|' <runtime-dir>/SOURCES) \
+   -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm
 ```
 
+Inside this repo, `scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh <runtime-dir>` prints that list
+(it strips comments; the raw `sed` above works against an installed SDK's
+`SOURCES`, which `install.sh` writes comment-free).
+
 ### 13.4 Output Format
 
 ```c
@@ -1132,6 +1144,7 @@ The `program` block is where a concern of this shape is declared once and enforc
 ```
 program "engram" {
     singleton: "engram"
+    guards:    engram_resolve_data_dir()
     env ENGRAM_BIND:    String = ":8742"
     env GUIDE_PORT:     Int    = "8771"
     env ENGRAM_API_KEY: String required
@@ -1144,24 +1157,50 @@ Grammar:
 
 ```ebnf
 program_block = "program" string "{" { program_field } "}" ;
-program_field = singleton_field | env_field ;
+program_field = singleton_field | guards_field | env_field ;
 singleton_field = "singleton" ":" string [ "," ] ;
+guards_field    = "guards" ":" expr [ "," ] ;
 env_field       = "env" ident ":" type
                   [ "=" string ] [ "required" ] [ "," ] ;
 ```
 
-`singleton` and `env` are **not** reserved words. They are read as identifier token values by the block's own parse loop, so they remain usable as ordinary identifiers everywhere else. `program` is the only keyword this section adds.
+`singleton`, `guards` and `env` are **not** reserved words. They are read as identifier token values by the block's own parse loop, so they remain usable as ordinary identifiers everywhere else. `program` is the only keyword this section adds.
 
-### 18.2 Process identity — `singleton`
+### 18.2 Process identity — `singleton` and `guards`
 
-`singleton: "id"` compiles to an `el_singleton_acquire("id")` call injected as the **first statement of `main()`**, before any user statement runs.
+`singleton: "id"` with `guards: <expr>` compiles to `el_singleton_acquire("id", <expr>)`, injected as the **first statement of `main()`**, before any user statement runs. `<expr>` evaluates to the path of the **state** the singleton protects.
 
-The runtime takes an exclusive non-blocking `flock` on `<dir>/el-singleton-<id>.lock`, where `<dir>` is `$EL_SINGLETON_DIR`, else `$TMPDIR`, else `/tmp`. On success it writes its pid and holds the descriptor open for the life of the process. On contention it **refuses to start**: it reports the holder's pid, names the lock file, and exits 1.
+**`guards:` is mandatory.** A `singleton:` without one is a compile error. This is not defensive strictness; it is the correction of a defect measured in this tree on 2026-08-16, and the rule the rest of this section exists to state:
 
-Two properties are deliberate:
+> **Guard the thing, not the name.** A lock that protects state must be keyed on the state.
 
-- **It is a lock, not a pidfile.** The kernel releases an `flock` when the owning process dies — including on `SIGKILL` and on crash. There is therefore no stale-lock state, and so no "delete the lock file to get unstuck" recovery ritual. Such a ritual would itself be a convention, which is the thing this section exists to remove.
+Until that date the lock was `<dir>/el-singleton-<id>.lock` where `<dir>` was `$EL_SINGLETON_DIR`, else `$TMPDIR`, else `/tmp`. It was keyed on the program's **name** and on a temp directory, and it never consulted the state it claimed to protect — while its own refusal message read *"Refusing to start a second instance against the same state."* Measured, it failed in **both** directions:
+
+| Situation | Correct answer | Name-keyed lock gave |
+|---|---|---|
+| same data dir, same `$TMPDIR` | refuse | refuse ✅ |
+| same data dir, different `$TMPDIR` | refuse | **started** ❌ — the two-writer data-loss condition, defeated by one environment variable |
+| different data dirs, same `$TMPDIR` | both start | **refused**, naming an unrelated pid ❌ |
+| same dir spelled differently, different `$TMPDIR` | refuse | **started** ❌ |
+
+Both failure directions are one error: the identity of a resource had been replaced by a label for it. The false negative is the dangerous one — a guard whose bypass is `TMPDIR=/tmp/other` is not a guard.
+
+**The mechanism.** The lock file lives **inside the guarded directory**: `<state>/.el-singleton-<id>.lock`. The runtime takes an exclusive non-blocking `flock` on it, writes its pid, and holds the descriptor open for the life of the process.
+
+That single placement decision is the whole fix, and it is why there is no hashing, no canonical-path registry, and no environment variable left to subvert:
+
+- **Same directory** ⇒ same file ⇒ same inode ⇒ the `flock` contends. `$TMPDIR` is not in the key, so there is nothing to change to get past it. `$EL_SINGLETON_DIR` no longer exists.
+- **Different directories** ⇒ different files ⇒ no contention. Two stores are two stores; they were never in conflict, and are no longer treated as if they were.
+- **Different spellings of one directory** — trailing slash, `x/../x`, a symlink — resolve to the same inode during the kernel's own path walk, so they contend without this code comparing strings. Path canonicalisation happens only to make the diagnostic name one directory in one spelling; the *decision* never depends on it.
+- **An unguardable state** — the directory is missing, or read-only — is a **refusal**, not a fallback. Starting unguarded against the store the guard exists to protect is the failure being removed.
+
+**Why `guards:` is an expression and not a string.** The runtime cannot know, generically, which environment variable holds an arbitrary program's state; and a program whose state path already has an owner must not restate it. The engram's data dir is resolved by `engram_resolve_data_dir()`, which owns both the `$ENGRAM_DATA_DIR` read and the `$HOME/.neuron/engram` fallback (§18.4). Writing `guards: engram_resolve_data_dir()` points the guard at that owner. A `guards:` that took a string would force the path's default to be written down twice, and a guard that resolved the path its own way could end up locking a directory the program never writes to — the same two-owners defect §18.4 exists to prevent.
+
+Three properties are deliberate:
+
+- **It is a lock, not a pidfile.** The kernel releases an `flock` when the owning process dies — including on `SIGKILL` and on crash. There is therefore no stale-lock state, and so no "delete the lock file to get unstuck" recovery ritual. Such a ritual would itself be a convention, which is the thing this section exists to remove. (A lock file left behind inside a copied data directory — `cp -Rc` and friends — is inert: it carries no lock, only a stale pid string that the next holder overwrites.)
 - **It reports the holder's pid.** "Already running" is not actionable. A pid is. This is the direct answer to the observed failure where a stale process survived a `pkill` and went on answering probes.
+- **The message is true.** It names the state it checked and the lock it failed to take, and it says "the same state" only because the lock it contended for is *in* that state. A diagnostic that asserts a check that did not happen is worse than no diagnostic: it is what let the name-keyed version read as correct for as long as it did.
 
 Refusal is loud and total. It is not a warning, and the program does not continue degraded. This matters more than it looks: today a second engram whose `bind()` fails merely *returns* from `http_serve` — after it has already replayed the WAL and written boot-time backup files — and then exits **0**, indistinguishable from a clean run. `singleton` refuses before the first side effect.
 
@@ -1183,6 +1222,8 @@ Some values look like configuration and are not. `ENGRAM_DATA_DIR` already has a
 
 The rule: **a variable belongs in the program block when the block would be its only owner.** If a resolver already owns it, leave it there.
 
+This is also why `guards:` (§18.2) takes an expression: it lets the block *reference* the existing owner — `guards: engram_resolve_data_dir()` — rather than become a second one.
+
 `HOME` is likewise not configuration. It is an environment fact, and stays a raw `env()` read.
 
 ---
@@ -1250,6 +1291,84 @@ Implementing either now would mean editing files under concurrent modification a
 
 The prerequisite for 19.1 is the same in both cases: **lift the §9 seam from prologue-only to prologue/epilogue.** That change is independent of both collisions and can land first.
 
+*(Status note, 2026-08-16: the geometry/`transduce` collision named above has since landed — see Section 20. The VIndex read-path collision has also landed; see `lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md` §5. 19.1 and 19.2 remain unimplemented, but the stated reason no longer holds for those two files.)*
+
+---
+
+## 20. Geometry — signal as a first-class value [implemented]
+
+Landed 2026-08-16 (#141, #144). Declared here because the spec is the single source of truth for implemented-vs-planned, and this is a language surface, not a runtime detail.
+
+### 20.1 Why this exists
+
+Until 2026-08-16 no El ingest path could carry a vector. Nodes took **text**, and geometry was *derived* from that text. Text was therefore the **mandatory entry medium**: any non-text modality — a tone, a pulse, an image, a voice sample — had to be *described in prose first*, and the geometry subsequently reasoned over was the geometry **of the description, not of the signal**.
+
+Two changes remove that, and neither is engram-specific — which is why they are in the language and not in the graph. Any program touching any modality needs them; the engram is merely one El program that happens to hold a graph.
+
+1. **Geometry is a value that carries its own width.**
+2. **A realizer is an ordinary El function** — so admitting a new modality never requires a runtime patch.
+
+### 20.2 The `Geometry` type
+
+`Geometry` is an opaque boxed pointer, exactly like `Instant` / `Calendar` / `Rhythm`. **No codegen change was required** to add it — the annotation is just a type name.
+
+```el
+let g: Geometry = geometry_new(4)
+```
+
+| builtin | returns | notes |
+|---|---|---|
+| `geometry_new(dim)` | `Geometry` | zero-filled; `0` on failure |
+| `geometry_dim(g)` | `Int` | width; `0` if not a Geometry |
+| `geometry_is(g)` | `Int` | `1` if a live Geometry |
+| `geometry_get(g, i)` | `Float` | component |
+| `geometry_set(g, i, x)` | `Int` | `1` ok, `0` out of range |
+| `geometry_norm(g)` | `Float` | L2 — lets a caller check a realizer emitted **signal, not zeros** |
+| `geometry_free(g)` | `Int` | `1` if freed. Returns a value rather than `void` so it is safe in any expression position without a codegen void-builtin table entry |
+
+**Ownership.** A `Geometry` is owned by the El caller and released with `geometry_free`. `node_attach_geometry` **copies**, so a node and the caller's value have independent lifetimes.
+
+### 20.3 Wire adapters — the only place an encoding appears
+
+```el
+geometry_from_f32le_hex(hex) -> Geometry   // 0 on empty / odd-length / non-hex
+geometry_to_f32le_hex(g)     -> String     // "" if not a Geometry
+```
+
+`f32le hex` is little-endian float32, 8 hex chars per component — the encoding the perception vessel's `/voice/embed` already emits. **The width is derived from the input length, never supplied by a caller**, which is why there is no max-dim constant to validate a claimed length against. Encodings appear here and nowhere else: at the edge.
+
+### 20.4 Realizers and `transduce`
+
+A **realizer** maps one modality into geometry. Registration is **by name**: every El `fn name(...)` compiles to a global C symbol with that exact name, and the registry resolves it with `dlsym` against the running binary — the same mechanism `http_set_handler` already relies on.
+
+```el
+fn tone_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
+    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(4)
+    let n: Int = str_len(signal)
+    let a: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, int_to_float(n))
+    g
+}
+
+realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")     // 1 ok / 0 unresolved
+let g: Geometry = transduce(sample, "tone")    // Geometry, or 0 if no organ
+realizer_has("tone")                           // 1 if registered
+```
+
+The registry keys on **modality**, not on registration order. `transduce` returns `0` when no organ is registered for the modality — an absent organ is a reportable state, not a silent zero vector.
+
+**The claim this makes:** a realizer is not in the runtime and not known to the compiler. Adding a modality is writing an El function and registering a name. `lang/examples/transduce.el` is the worked example and doubles as an executable proof — it exits non-zero if any check fails.
+
+### 20.5 Two comparison hazards this surface exposed
+
+Both were **measured**, not stylistic, and both are properties of the current `elc` that any El author should know:
+
+- **`==` lowers numerically only when both operand *names* are in the per-function int-name set** that `let x: Int` populates. A bare `f(x) == 0` is not a registered name and lowers to `str_eq` — `strcmp` on two integers reinterpreted as pointers. `<` and `>` lower directly with no inference, so truthiness against a builtin's return is written `> 0` / `< 1`.
+- **`+` dispatches on whether both operands are known-Int, and a user-defined `fn` call is not.** `let fails: Int = fails + check(...)` lowered to **string concatenation** and printed `4343632752` — a pointer. Nothing was wrong with the checks; the tally was lying. Failing fast needs no arithmetic at all, so there is nothing left to get wrong.
+
+### 20.6 What this does not do
+
+`transduce` produces geometry; it does not decide what the geometry *means*. Nothing here grounds anything. Grounding is the edge weight in the graph the geometry is later attached to — see `lang/spec/correspondence-and-censorship.md`.
+
 ---
 
 End of specification.

lang/spec/runtime-ownership.md

@@ -28,12 +28,12 @@ Each of these is a distinct merged or proposed fix. Each addresses one deposit.
 | VIndex freed under a concurrent reader | `el_runtime.c:9424` | `fb32d15` guard (merged 08:46:43) |
 | `_eg_vindex_seen` realloc'd on a read path | `el_runtime.c:9412` | same guard |
 | `vindex_insert` on a read path | `el_runtime.c:9434`, `9450` | same guard |
-| shared `visited` / epoch scratch stomped by concurrent searches | `engram_vindex.c:79–81`, `169–186`, `195` | proposed: move to per-search frame |
+| shared `visited` / epoch scratch stomped by concurrent searches | `engram_vindex.c:79–81`, `169–186`, `195` | ~~proposed:~~ **built** — moved to the call frame (§3.1(1), §5); TSan `readers` half clean (§7a) |
 | nine append sites, none indexing → lazily-embedded nodes invisible | `el_runtime.c:7806, 7988, 8148, 8224, 11526, 11731, 12050, 15295, 15312` | "embed-gap #20", patched by making the *read* path catch up (`9439` comment) |
 
 **Measured:** all file/line references above, read 2026-08-16. Crash frames `engram_activate → eg_vindex_sync → vindex_insert → _realloc → _xzm_xzone_malloc_freelist_outlined` are accounted for by rows 2–4.
 
-**Inferred, not yet verified:** that the nine append sites do not share a single commit point. This needs one pass before Change C is sized.
+~~**Inferred, not yet verified:** that the nine append sites do not share a single commit point. This needs one pass before Change C is sized.~~ **Moot — see §7.** The question was mis-aimed: node append is not the event that owns index membership, because a node without an embedding cannot be in a vector index. The five *embedding-assignment* sites are the real owner points.
 
 ---
 
@@ -135,12 +135,21 @@ The payoff of owning the language is unchanged and is now *cheaper*: introduced
 
 ## 6. Sequencing
 
+> **⚠ Steps 2–5 belong to the abandoned capability-ABI §3 and are superseded
+> (2026-08-16).** §3 was re-derived: the engram is immutable and recall is
+> projection, so *what does not mutate needs no ownership discipline* and the
+> question is dissolved rather than answered. There is no context type, no
+> capability type, and no codegen change — **`const` is the capability**, and the
+> constraint travels with the type of the thing rather than the shape of every call
+> site, so **no sweep is needed at all** (§4). Steps 1, 6 and 7 stand. Struck rather
+> than deleted, because the abandoned plan is why §4's cost argument is short.
+
 1. **Read** how builtins are declared and dispatched, to confirm the call sites are compiler-generated in one place. *(This determines whether §4 holds. If dispatch is scattered, re-size before proceeding.)*
-2. Introduce the context type and capability types.
+2. ~~Introduce the context type and capability types.~~ **Superseded** — `const`.
-3. Codegen emits the context at every builtin call site.
+3. ~~Codegen emits the context at every builtin call site.~~ **Superseded** — no codegen change.
-4. Mechanical sweep of builtin signatures.
+4. ~~Mechanical sweep of builtin signatures.~~ **Superseded** — the constraint travels with the type.
-5. Move index maintenance behind the write capability; the three read callers take the read capability.
+5. ~~Move index maintenance behind the write capability; the three read callers take the read capability.~~ **Done, differently:** `eg_vindex_maintain` (exclusive, sole mutator) / `eg_vindex_view` (`const VIndex*`, shared readers), with `eg_vindex_note_embedded` as the write-side owner. This is a **publication** boundary, not a capability split — HNSW insert is not an append, so purity alone was insufficient (§2a, §3.1(3)).
-6. Delete the residue-fixes listed in §5.
+6. Delete the residue-fixes listed in §5. *(Partially done — see §5's "NOT deleted" list; a residue whose structure has not been converted must be left standing.)*
 7. **One** build of soul from el dev — which resolves the `state_get` leak and the crash together, rather than deploying a leak fix that reintroduces the crash.
 
 ---

lang/tests/integration/annotation_query.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# annotation_query.sh — a declared type must match what it annotates.
+#
+# El had annotations and no checking: the annotation fed dispatch and was never
+# verified against the value, so a mismatch did not fail, it REINTERPRETED
+# MEMORY. let x: Int = "hello" printed 4343631981 (a string pointer used as an
+# integer); let s: String = 42 dereferenced address 42.
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: annotation_query.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+cd "$LANG_DIR"
+
+printf 'fn main() { let x: Int = "hello" println("x") }\n' > "$W/a.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r.txt" "$ELC" "$W/a.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+out=$(./tools/check/annotations.sh "$W/r.txt" 2>&1); rc=$?
+chk "Int annotated on a String literal is caught" "1" "$rc"
+chk "and names the variable" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c "'x' is declared Int")"
+
+printf 'fn main() { let s: String = 42 println(s) }\n' > "$W/b.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r2.txt" "$ELC" "$W/b.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+./tools/check/annotations.sh "$W/r2.txt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "String annotated on an Int literal is caught" "1" "$?"
+
+printf 'fn main() { let n: Int = 42 let s: String = "ok" println(s + int_to_str(n)) }\n' > "$W/c.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r3.txt" "$ELC" "$W/c.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+./tools/check/annotations.sh "$W/r3.txt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "correct annotations are clean" "0" "$?"
+
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r4.txt" "$ELC" elc-cli.el >/dev/null 2>&1
+./tools/check/annotations.sh "$W/r4.txt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "the compiler's own source is clean — no false positives" "0" "$?"
+echo; echo "  5 assertions, $((5-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/integration/arity_query.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Control for arity-from-header: the runtime declares its own surface, so the
+# compiler does not carry a second copy of it.
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: arity_query.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+
+printf 'fn main() {\n    println("a", "b")\n}\n' > "$W/bad.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r1.txt" "$ELC" "$W/bad.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "the emitter does not adjudicate arity" "0" "$("$ELC" "$W/bad.el" 2>/dev/null | grep -c 'arity error')"
+out=$("$LANG_DIR/tools/check/arity.sh" "$W/r1.txt" 2>&1); rc=$?
+chk "a wrong-arity call is caught" "1" "$rc"
+chk "the expected count is correct" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c "takes 1 arguments, called with 2")"
+
+printf 'fn main() {\n    println("a")\n}\n' > "$W/ok.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r2.txt" "$ELC" "$W/ok.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+"$LANG_DIR/tools/check/arity.sh" "$W/r2.txt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "a correct call is clean" "0" "$?"
+
+# multi-line declarations must not parse as zero params
+n=$("$LANG_DIR/tools/check/arity.sh" "$W/r2.txt" | grep -oE '[0-9]+ signatures')
+chk "signatures parsed from the header" "503 signatures" "$n"
+
+echo; echo "  5 assertions, $((5-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/integration/async_future.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# async_future.sh — REPLICATION of cycle 18.
+#
+# STATUS: replication, not a blind test. The outcomes were already observed on
+# 2026-08-17 before this harness existed, so the expectations below are not
+# predictions committed in advance. Its evidentiary value is that the artifact
+# lives in the repository and a third party can run it — not that it was called
+# ahead of time. The original run's artifact was written in /tmp and lost when
+# the worktrees were removed, which broke the chain; this replaces the claim
+# with something reproducible rather than reconstructing the missing file.
+#
+# CLAIM UNDER TEST: @async requires no compiler change. A future is one more
+# magic-tagged heap object, and el_seam_wrap lets a construct bound AFTER the
+# build decide whether and when to invoke the body.
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: async_future.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)/..}"
+LANG_DIR="$(cd "$LANG_DIR" && pwd)"
+FIX="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)/fixtures/future.c"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+cd "$LANG_DIR"
+SRCS=$(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime)
+CF="-std=c11 -O2 -rdynamic -I runtime"; LF=""
+for d in /opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3 /usr/local/opt/openssl@3; do
+  [ -d "$d" ] && CF="$CF -I $d/include" && LF="-L $d/lib"
+done
+LF="$LF -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm"
+
+cat > "$W/p.el" <<'EOF'
+extern fn el_await(h: Int) -> Int
+
+fn work(k: Int) -> Int {
+    return k * 2
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    let h: Int = work(21)
+    println("CALLER_CONTINUED")
+    let r: Int = el_await(h)
+    println("RESULT " + int_to_str(r))
+}
+EOF
+"$ELC" "$W/p.el" > "$W/p.c" 2>/dev/null
+cc $CF -o "$W/p" "$W/p.c" "$FIX" $SRCS $LF 2>/dev/null || { echo "  FAIL  probe did not build"; exit 1; }
+
+out=$(cd "$W" && ./p 2>&1); rc=$?
+chk "unbound: no construct, synchronous, correct result" "0" "$rc"
+chk "unbound: el_await on a non-future passes through, no crash" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c '^RESULT 42$')"
+
+printf 'work async wrap defer\n' > "$W/c.txt"
+out=$(cd "$W" && EL_CONSTRUCTS=c.txt ./p 2>&1); rc=$?
+chk "bound: does not crash" "0" "$rc"
+chk "bound: the awaited result is correct" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c '^RESULT 42$')"
+
+wrap=$(echo "$out" | awk '/^WRAP_RETURNED/{print $2}')
+bend=$(echo "$out" | awk '/^BODY_END/{print $2}')
+caller_before_body_end=$(echo "$out" | awk '/CALLER_CONTINUED/{c=NR} /^BODY_END/{b=NR} END{print (c<b)?1:0}')
+chk "bound: the caller continues BEFORE the body finishes" "1" "$caller_before_body_end"
+chk "bound: the wrap returns in under 10ms while the body takes 50ms" "1" "$([ "${wrap:-999999}" -lt 10000 ] && [ "${bend:-0}" -gt 40000 ] && echo 1 || echo 0)"
+
+echo; echo "  6 assertions, $((6-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/integration/capability_query.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Control for capability-as-policy: the compiler records the program's kind and
+# its call graph; the shipped policy file and the checker decide.
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: capability_query.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+
+cat > "$W/u.el" <<'EOF'
+fn leaky() -> Int {
+    dharma_emit("x", "y")
+    return 1
+}
+fn main() { println("ok") }
+EOF
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r.txt" "$ELC" "$W/u.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "the emitter does not adjudicate" "0" "$("$ELC" "$W/u.el" 2>/dev/null | grep -c 'capability violation')"
+"$LANG_DIR/tools/check/capabilities.sh" "$W/r.txt" > "$W/o.txt" 2>&1; rc=$?
+chk "a utility calling a DHARMA primitive is caught" "1" "$rc"
+chk "the offending fn is named" "1" "$(grep -c 'called from leaky' "$W/o.txt")"
+
+cat > "$W/c.el" <<'EOF'
+fn quiet() -> Int { return 1 }
+fn main() { println("ok") }
+EOF
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r2.txt" "$ELC" "$W/c.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+"$LANG_DIR/tools/check/capabilities.sh" "$W/r2.txt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "a clean program exits 0" "0" "$?"
+
+# the policy is DATA: editing it changes enforcement, with no compiler rebuild
+printf 'utility prohibits_within println\n' > "$W/policy.rel"
+"$LANG_DIR/tools/check/capabilities.sh" "$W/r2.txt" "$W/policy.rel" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "editing the policy file changes enforcement, no rebuild" "1" "$?"
+
+echo; echo "  5 assertions, $((5-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/integration/definitions_query.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Control for duplicate-definition detection.
+#
+# El has no namespacing: import is textual inlining, so two modules defining the
+# same name emit two C functions into one translation unit.
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: definitions_query.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+
+printf 'fn helper() -> Int { return 1 }\n' > "$W/a.el"
+printf 'fn helper() -> Int { return 2 }\n' > "$W/b.el"
+printf 'import "a.el"\nimport "b.el"\nfn main() { println(int_to_str(helper())) }\n' > "$W/m.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r.txt" "$ELC" "$W/m.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+out=$("$LANG_DIR/tools/check/definitions.sh" "$W/r.txt" 2>&1); rc=$?
+chk "a collision across modules is caught at El level" "1" "$rc"
+chk "the colliding name is reported" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c "'helper' is defined 2 times")"
+chk "and the reason is given" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c 'no namespacing')"
+chk "both source FILES are named" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c 'a.el:1')"
+chk "with file-local line numbers, not combined ones" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c 'b.el:1')"
+
+printf 'fn only_once() -> Int { return 1 }\nfn main() { println(int_to_str(only_once())) }\n' > "$W/c.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r2.txt" "$ELC" "$W/c.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+"$LANG_DIR/tools/check/definitions.sh" "$W/r2.txt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "a clean program exits 0" "0" "$?"
+echo; echo "  6 assertions, $((6-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/integration/fixtures/future.c

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/* future.c — a FUTURE as one more magic-tagged heap object.
+ *
+ * Fixture for tests/integration/async_future.sh. Linked into the probe but
+ * never referenced from El source: everything here is reached only by binding
+ * a construct AFTER the binary exists.
+ *
+ * The claim under test: @async needs no compiler change. el_val_t already
+ * carries List, Map, Geometry, Manifold and Bin as magic-tagged heap pointers;
+ * a future is one more, and el_seam_wrap hands the target the body so it can
+ * decide whether and when to invoke it.
+ */
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <pthread.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <time.h>
+
+typedef int64_t el_val_t;
+
+#define EL_MAGIC_FUT 0xE1F07000u
+typedef struct { uint32_t magic; pthread_t th; el_val_t result; int done;
+                 el_val_t (*body)(void*); void* env; } ElFuture;
+
+static long t0_us;
+static long now_us(void){ struct timespec ts; clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC,&ts);
+                          return ts.tv_sec*1000000L + ts.tv_nsec/1000; }
+
+static void* fut_runner(void* v){
+    ElFuture* f = (ElFuture*)v;
+    printf("BODY_START %ld\n", now_us()-t0_us);
+    usleep(50000);                         /* 50ms, so interleaving is visible */
+    f->result = f->body(f->env);
+    f->done = 1;
+    printf("BODY_END %ld\n", now_us()-t0_us);
+    return NULL;
+}
+
+/* wraps_body target: returns the HANDLE immediately, never the result */
+el_val_t defer(el_val_t fn, el_val_t con, el_val_t (*b)(void*), void* e){
+    (void)fn; (void)con;
+    t0_us = now_us();
+    ElFuture* f = calloc(1,sizeof(ElFuture));
+    f->magic = EL_MAGIC_FUT; f->body = b; f->env = e;
+    pthread_create(&f->th, NULL, fut_runner, f);
+    printf("WRAP_RETURNED %ld\n", now_us()-t0_us);
+    return (el_val_t)(intptr_t)f;
+}
+
+/* el_await — block on the handle and yield the real result.
+ *
+ * NEVER dereference to decide whether a slot is a pointer. el_val_t carries
+ * integers too, so reading ->magic off an integer dereferences that integer AS
+ * AN ADDRESS. The first version of this function did exactly that and
+ * SIGSEGV'd on the unbound path -- sixty seconds after the same defect was
+ * diagnosed elsewhere in the runtime. Check the floor and alignment first. */
+el_val_t el_await(el_val_t h){
+    if (h < 0x10000) return h;                 /* small ints / low addresses */
+    if (h & 0x7)     return h;                 /* malloc returns 8-aligned   */
+    ElFuture* f = (ElFuture*)(intptr_t)h;
+    if (f->magic != EL_MAGIC_FUT) return h;    /* safe to read now */
+    pthread_join(f->th, NULL);
+    el_val_t r = f->result;
+    free(f);
+    return r;
+}

lang/tests/integration/prohibition_query.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Control for prohibition-as-query: the compiler records, the checker decides.
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: prohibition_query.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+
+cat > "$W/p.el" <<'EOF'
+@decorator("prohibits_outside", "raw_sql")
+fn repository() {}
+
+fn sneaky() -> Int { raw_sql("DROP") return 1 }
+
+@repository
+fn allowed() -> Int { raw_sql("SELECT") return 2 }
+
+fn main() { println("ok") }
+EOF
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/rel.txt" "$ELC" "$W/p.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+"$LANG_DIR/tools/check/prohibitions.sh" "$W/rel.txt" > "$W/out.txt" 2>&1; rc=$?
+chk "a violation outside the boundary is caught" "1" "$rc"
+chk "the offending fn is named" "1" "$(grep -c 'sneaky is not one' "$W/out.txt")"
+chk "a call inside the boundary is NOT flagged" "0" "$(grep -c 'allowed is not one' "$W/out.txt")"
+
+cat > "$W/q.el" <<'EOF'
+@decorator("prohibits_outside", "raw_sql")
+fn repository() {}
+
+@repository
+fn only_allowed() -> Int { raw_sql("SELECT") return 1 }
+
+fn main() { println("ok") }
+EOF
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/rel2.txt" "$ELC" "$W/q.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+"$LANG_DIR/tools/check/prohibitions.sh" "$W/rel2.txt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "a clean program exits 0" "0" "$?"
+echo; echo "  4 assertions, $((4-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/integration/seam_binding.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# seam_binding.sh — integration control for the runtime construct seam.
+#
+# The seam's whole claim is that a construct declared AFTER a binary exists
+# applies to that already-built program. That cannot be checked by
+# compile_capture, which only sees emitted text: it needs a built binary, a
+# linked target, and an environment. Hence a harness rather than a unit test.
+#
+#   usage: seam_binding.sh <elc-binary> [lang-dir]
+#   exit 0 = all assertions held; non-zero = number of failures
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: seam_binding.sh <elc-binary> [lang-dir]}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+WORK="$(mktemp -d)"; trap 'rm -rf "$WORK"' EXIT
+FAILS=0
+
+ok()   { printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1"; }
+fail() { printf '  FAIL  %s\n     expected: %s\n     actual:   %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; FAILS=$((FAILS+1)); }
+check(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && ok "$1" || fail "$1" "$2" "$3"; }
+
+SRCS=$("$LANG_DIR/../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh" "$LANG_DIR/runtime")
+CFLAGS="-std=c11 -O2 -rdynamic -I $LANG_DIR/runtime"
+for d in /opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3 /usr/local/opt/openssl@3; do
+    [ -d "$d" ] && CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -I $d/include" && LDFLAGS="-L $d/lib"
+done
+LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS:-} -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm"
+
+# A construct target that is LINKED but never referenced from El source.
+cat > "$WORK/targets.c" <<'EOF'
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+typedef int64_t el_val_t;
+el_val_t observe(el_val_t fn, el_val_t con, el_val_t r){
+    printf("SEEN %s/%s\n", (const char*)(intptr_t)fn, (const char*)(intptr_t)con);
+    return r;                      /* zero = do not refuse */
+}
+el_val_t double_result(el_val_t fn, el_val_t con, el_val_t r){
+    (void)fn; (void)con; return r * 2;          /* exit: replace the result */
+}
+el_val_t refuse(el_val_t fn, el_val_t con, el_val_t r){
+    (void)fn; (void)con; (void)r; return 42;   /* non-zero = short-circuit */
+}
+EOF
+
+# A program with NO construct anywhere in its source.
+cat > "$WORK/prog.el" <<'EOF'
+fn work() -> Int {
+    return 7
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    println(int_to_str(work()))
+}
+EOF
+
+"$ELC" "$WORK/prog.el" > "$WORK/prog.c" 2>/dev/null
+cc $CFLAGS -o "$WORK/prog" "$WORK/prog.c" "$WORK/targets.c" $SRCS $LDFLAGS 2>/dev/null \
+    || { echo "  FAIL  probe did not build"; exit 1; }
+
+check "unbound program is unaffected" \
+      "7" "$(cd "$WORK" && ./prog 2>&1)"
+
+printf 'work audited entry observe\n' > "$WORK/observe.txt"
+check "a construct declared AFTER the build applies" \
+      "SEEN work/audited
+7" "$(cd "$WORK" && EL_CONSTRUCTS=observe.txt ./prog 2>&1)"
+
+printf 'work denied entry refuse\n' > "$WORK/refuse.txt"
+check "a construct declared after the build can REFUSE" \
+      "42" "$(cd "$WORK" && EL_CONSTRUCTS=refuse.txt ./prog 2>&1)"
+
+printf 'work ghost entry no_such_symbol_anywhere\n' > "$WORK/ghost.txt"
+check "an unlinked target is skipped, not fatal" \
+      "7" "$(cd "$WORK" && EL_CONSTRUCTS=ghost.txt ./prog 2>&1)"
+
+printf 'other_fn x entry refuse\n' > "$WORK/other.txt"
+check "a binding for a different fn does not fire" \
+      "7" "$(cd "$WORK" && EL_CONSTRUCTS=other.txt ./prog 2>&1)"
+
+printf 'work a entry observe\nwork b entry observe\n' > "$WORK/two.txt"
+check "two constructs compose on one crossing" \
+      "SEEN work/a
+SEEN work/b
+7" "$(cd "$WORK" && EL_CONSTRUCTS=two.txt ./prog 2>&1)"
+
+cat >> "$WORK/targets.c" <<'TGT'
+el_val_t thrice(el_val_t fn, el_val_t con, el_val_t (*b)(void*), void* e){
+    (void)fn; (void)con; return b(e) + b(e) + b(e);   /* wrap: invoke N times */
+}
+TGT
+printf 'work doubler exit double_result\n' > "$WORK/exit.txt"
+check "an EXIT construct declared after the build replaces the result" \
+      "14" "$(cd "$WORK" && EL_CONSTRUCTS=exit.txt ./prog 2>&1)"
+
+echo
+echo "  7 assertions, $((7-FAILS)) passed, $FAILS failed"
+exit $FAILS

lang/tests/integration/tagged_gate.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# tagged_gate.sh — a slot must be validated before it is dereferenced.
+#
+# el_val_t carries both integers and tagged heap pointers, so "is this a
+# pointer" is undecidable without checking first. That check was a CONVENTION
+# every author had to know rather than a GATE they had to pass through:
+#   geom_of, mfld_of   call looks_like_heap_obj    correct
+#   el_bin_lookup      checked only a 4096 floor   read 8 bytes backward
+#   el_input_len       checked only for NULL       strlen'd an integer
+# sha256_hex(50000) therefore compiled clean and segfaulted (exit 139).
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: tagged_gate.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+cd "$LANG_DIR"
+SRCS=$(../scripts/el-runtime-sources.sh runtime)
+CF="-std=c11 -O2 -I runtime"; for d in /opt/homebrew/opt/openssl@3 /usr/local/opt/openssl@3; do [ -d "$d" ] && CF="$CF -I $d/include" && LF="-L $d/lib"; done
+LF="${LF:-} -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm"
+
+build(){ "$ELC" "$1" > "$W/t.c" 2>/dev/null && cc $CF -o "$W/t" "$W/t.c" $SRCS $LF 2>/dev/null; }
+
+printf 'fn main() { let h: String = sha256_hex(50000) println("got " + h) }\n' > "$W/a.el"
+build "$W/a.el"; "$W/t" >"$W/o" 2>&1; chk "an integer where a string is expected does not crash" "0" "$?"
+chk "and yields the empty-string hash, not memory" "1" "$(grep -c e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855 "$W/o")"
+
+printf 'fn main() { let h: String = sha256_hex(-5) println("got " + h) }\n' > "$W/b.el"
+build "$W/b.el"; "$W/t" >/dev/null 2>&1; chk "a NEGATIVE integer does not crash" "0" "$?"
+
+printf 'fn main() { println(sha256_hex("abc")) }\n' > "$W/c.el"
+build "$W/c.el"; out=$("$W/t" 2>&1)
+chk "a legitimate string still hashes correctly" "ba7816bf8f01cfea414140de5dae2223b00361a396177a9cb410ff61f20015ad" "$out"
+
+chk "the gate is exported, so siblings stop re-deriving it" "1" "$(grep -c 'int  *el_tagged(el_val_t' runtime/el_runtime.h)"
+echo; echo "  5 assertions, $((5-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/integration/temporal_query.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Control for temporal adjudication as a query.
+#
+# The emitter records which illegal combination it saw and still emits a
+# TIME_TYPE_ERROR placeholder -- it has to emit SOMETHING for an illegal
+# expression. What moved out is the judgment and the wording.
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: temporal_query.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+cd "$LANG_DIR"
+
+printf 'fn main() {\n    let a: Instant = now()\n    let b: Instant = now()\n    let c: Instant = a + b\n    println("x")\n}\n' > "$W/b.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r.txt" "$ELC" "$W/b.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "the illegal combination is recorded, not judged, by the emitter" \
+    "1" "$(grep -c 'temporal:instant_plus_instant' "$W/r.txt")"
+chk "the emitter no longer authors the message" \
+    "0" "$("$ELC" "$W/b.el" 2>/dev/null | grep -c 'is not allowed')"
+chk "a placeholder is still emitted for the illegal expression" \
+    "1" "$("$ELC" "$W/b.el" 2>/dev/null | grep -c TIME_TYPE_ERROR)"
+out=$("./tools/check/temporal.sh" "$W/r.txt" 2>&1); rc=$?
+chk "the query judges it" "1" "$rc"
+chk "and explains why, from data" "1" "$(echo "$out" | grep -c 'a point plus a point is not a point')"
+
+printf 'fn main() {\n    let a: Instant = now()\n    let d: Duration = el_duration_from_nanos(1)\n    let c: Instant = a + d\n    println("x")\n}\n' > "$W/g.el"
+EL_RELATIONS_OUT="$W/r2.txt" "$ELC" "$W/g.el" >/dev/null 2>&1
+"./tools/check/temporal.sh" "$W/r2.txt" >/dev/null 2>&1
+chk "a legal program exits 0" "0" "$?"
+echo; echo "  6 assertions, $((6-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/integration/temporal_signatures.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Control for temporal signatures as data.
+#
+# Unlike the other checks this one is read BY the compiler, not after it: the
+# El-level return type decides which runtime wrapper to emit, and that is
+# dispatch, not adjudication. What moved out is the data.
+set -uo pipefail
+ELC="${1:?usage: temporal_signatures.sh <elc>}"
+LANG_DIR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)}"
+W=$(mktemp -d); trap 'rm -rf "$W"' EXIT; F=0
+chk(){ [ "$2" = "$3" ] && printf '  ok    %s\n' "$1" || { printf '  FAIL  %s\n    expected %s got %s\n' "$1" "$2" "$3"; F=$((F+1)); }; }
+cd "$LANG_DIR"
+
+printf 'fn main() {\n    let a = now()\n    let b = el_duration_from_nanos(5)\n    let c = a + b\n    println("ok")\n}\n' > "$W/i.el"
+chk "an inferred Instant + Duration dispatches to the typed wrapper" \
+    "1" "$("$ELC" "$W/i.el" 2>/dev/null | grep -c el_instant_add_dur)"
+chk "with no signature file, the type is unknown and it does not" \
+    "0" "$(EL_SIGNATURES=/nonexistent "$ELC" "$W/i.el" 2>/dev/null | grep -c el_instant_add_dur)"
+
+printf 'fn main() {\n    let a: Instant = now()\n    let b: Instant = now()\n    let c: Instant = a + b\n    println("x")\n}\n' > "$W/b.el"
+chk "Instant + Instant is still refused" \
+    "1" "$("$ELC" "$W/b.el" 2>/dev/null | grep -c 'TIME_TYPE_ERROR: Instant + Instant')"
+
+printf 'fn main() {\n    let a: Instant = now()\n    let d: Duration = el_duration_from_nanos(1)\n    let c: Instant = a + d\n    println("x")\n}\n' > "$W/g.el"
+chk "Instant + Duration is allowed" \
+    "0" "$("$ELC" "$W/g.el" 2>/dev/null | grep -c TIME_TYPE_ERROR)"
+
+echo; echo "  4 assertions, $((4-F)) passed, $F failed"; exit $F

lang/tests/native/test_compiler.el

@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ import "../../el-compiler/src/compiler.el"
 // ── Lexer helpers ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 fn tok_count(tokens: [Any]) -> Int {
-    native_list_len(tokens) / 2
+    // A token is (kind, value, line). This helper carried its own copy of the
+    // stride, so it escaped a search scoped to the compiler sources.
+    native_list_len(tokens) / 3
 }
 
 // ── Codegen helper: capture compile() stdout to a string ─────────────────────
@@ -259,22 +261,28 @@ test "lex-multiline-source" {
     assert tok_kind(tokens, 0) == "Let", "first token is Let"
 }
 
-test "lex-flat-stride-2-layout" {
+test "lex-flat-stride-3-layout" {
-    // Verify that the flat stride-2 layout: token i has kind at index 2*i, value at 2*i+1
+    // A token is (kind, value, line): token i has kind at 3*i, value at 3*i+1,
+    // line at 3*i+2. Before 2026-08-17 a token carried no position at all, so
+    // no diagnostic in El could name a place.
     let tokens: [Any] = lex("fn foo")
-    // tokens[0] = "Fn", tokens[1] = "fn", tokens[2] = "Ident", tokens[3] = "foo", ...
     let raw_len: Int = native_list_len(tokens)
-    assert raw_len == 6, "fn + foo + Eof = 3 tokens = 6 raw entries"
+    assert raw_len == 9, "fn + foo + Eof = 3 tokens = 9 raw entries"
-    let kind0: String = native_list_get(tokens, 0)
+    assert native_list_get(tokens, 0) == "Fn", "raw[0] is the kind"
-    let val0: String = native_list_get(tokens, 1)
+    assert native_list_get(tokens, 1) == "fn", "raw[1] is the value"
-    let kind1: String = native_list_get(tokens, 2)
+    assert native_list_get(tokens, 2) == "1", "raw[2] is the line"
-    let val1: String = native_list_get(tokens, 3)
+    assert native_list_get(tokens, 3) == "Ident", "raw[3] is the next kind"
-    assert kind0 == "Fn", "raw[0] is Fn kind"
+    assert native_list_get(tokens, 5) == "1", "still line 1"
-    assert val0 == "fn", "raw[1] is fn value"
-    assert kind1 == "Ident", "raw[2] is Ident kind"
-    assert val1 == "foo", "raw[3] is foo value"
 }
 
+test "lexer-tracks-line-numbers" {
+    let tokens: [Any] = lex("fn a\nfn b\nfn c")
+    assert tok_line(tokens, 0) == "1", "first fn is on line 1"
+    assert tok_line(tokens, 2) == "2", "second fn is on line 2"
+    assert tok_line(tokens, 4) == "3", "third fn is on line 3"
+}
+
+
 // ── Parser tests ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 fn get_first_stmt_kind(src: String) -> String {
@@ -726,3 +734,264 @@ test "compiler-stdint-include" {
     let out: String = compile_capture(src)
     assert str_contains(out, "stdint.h"), "output includes stdint.h"
 }
+
+// ── Decorator seam: boundary-beat attribution ────────────────────────────────
+//
+// The beat carries the CONSTRUCT that caused it, not only the fn that beat.
+// Without the second argument the graph accumulates boundary events with no
+// way to attribute them to the decorator responsible, so no construct can ever
+// be measured and "is this decorator earning its keep" stays an argument
+// instead of a query.
+
+
+
+test "decorator-undecorated-fn-has-no-beat" {
+    let src: String = "fn f() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert !str_contains(out, "engram_boundary_beat"), "an undecorated fn does not beat"
+}
+
+// ── Decorator seam: the twelve inert names ───────────────────────────────────
+//
+// PINS A KNOWN DEFECT. codegen calls fn_has_decorator for exactly three names
+// (manager, accessor, route). Twelve others parse, attach as {name,args}, and
+// compile to nothing — including four that look like protection:
+// @authenticate (6 uses), @authorize (3), @rate_limit (3), @validate (2).
+//
+// This test asserts the CURRENT behaviour so that fixing it is a visible
+// change rather than a silent one. When a pass wires or rejects these, this
+// test flips and that flip is the proof.
+
+test "decorator-authenticate-compiles-to-nothing" {
+    let src: String = "@authenticate\nfn f() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    let bare: String = compile_capture("fn f() -> Int { return 1 }")
+    assert str_eq(out, bare), "KNOWN DEFECT: @authenticate emits identical C to no decorator at all"
+}
+
+// ── Declared constructs ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// A construct declares its own meaning and codegen reads it. Adding a
+// construct is a declaration in the program; it does not touch the compiler.
+
+
+test "declared-construct-name-unknown-to-codegen" {
+    // The name is arbitrary. Nothing in the compiler mentions it.
+    let src: String = "@decorator(\"injects_at_entry\", \"engram_boundary_beat\")\nfn zzq_unlikely_name() {}\n@zzq_unlikely_name\nfn f() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "EL_STR(\"zzq_unlikely_name\")"), "an arbitrary construct name works"
+}
+
+test "undeclared-construct-still-injects-nothing" {
+    let src: String = "@nobody_declared_this\nfn f() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert !str_contains(out, "engram_boundary_beat"), "an undeclared construct injects nothing"
+}
+
+
+// ── Declared constructs: guards ──────────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// A guard is an injection that may refuse. Non-zero return short-circuits the
+// decorated fn. This is what @authenticate/@authorize/@rate_limit/@validate
+// needed and never had — fourteen applications that read as protection and
+// emitted no instruction.
+
+
+
+
+test "undeclared-guard-emits-nothing" {
+    let src: String = "@not_a_declared_guard\nfn handler() -> Int { return 7 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert !str_contains(out, "if (__g)"), "an undeclared construct guards nothing"
+}
+
+// ── Declared constructs: exit injection and composition ──────────────────────
+
+
+
+
+
+// ── Declared constructs: wraps and prohibitions ──────────────────────────────
+
+
+
+
+
+// ── Runtime seam ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// CONTROL for the finding that a crossing can be resolved at execution rather
+// than at emission. Codegen emits one unconditional indirection per fn; which
+// constructs apply is read from a table written after the binary exists.
+
+test "seam-indirection-emitted-on-every-fn" {
+    let src: String = "fn a() -> Int { return 1 }\nfn b() -> Int { return 2 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_seam_run(EL_STR(\"a\"), 0, 0);"), "fn a carries the indirection"
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_seam_run(EL_STR(\"b\"), 0, 0);"), "fn b carries the indirection"
+}
+
+test "seam-emitted-without-any-decorator" {
+    // The point of the seam: source need not mention a construct at all.
+    let src: String = "fn undecorated() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_seam_run"), "an undecorated fn is still bindable at runtime"
+    assert !str_contains(out, "engram_boundary_beat"), "and nothing is inlined for it"
+}
+
+
+// ── Runtime seam: what replaced the compile-time entry mechanism ─────────────
+//
+// Entry injection and refusal moved from emission to execution. These assert
+// the emitted shape; the BEHAVIOUR — that a construct declared after the build
+// applies, refuses, composes, and that an unlinked target is skipped — is
+// covered by tests/integration/seam_binding.sh, which needs a built binary and
+// an environment and therefore cannot be a compile_capture test.
+
+test "seam-replaces-inlined-entry-injection" {
+    let src: String = "@manager\nfn m() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_seam_run(EL_STR(\"m\")"), "the crossing goes through the seam"
+    assert !str_contains(out, "engram_boundary_beat(EL_STR(\"m\")"), "nothing is inlined at the crossing any more"
+}
+
+test "seam-entry-is-refusable" {
+    let src: String = "fn f() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "if (__s) return __s;"), "a bound construct can short-circuit the fn"
+}
+
+test "seam-is-emitted-for-undecorated-fns" {
+    let src: String = "fn plain() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_seam_run(EL_STR(\"plain\")"), "any fn is bindable later, decorated or not"
+}
+
+
+// ── Exit crossings resolve at runtime too ────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// The wrapper is now UNCONDITIONAL. It has to be: early returns must route
+// through something for an exit construct to see them, and codegen cannot know
+// which fns will be bound after the binary exists. Measured cost of always
+// emitting it: 0.37s -> 0.38s across ten self-compiles.
+
+test "every-fn-gets-a-body-helper-and-wrapper" {
+    let src: String = "fn plain(k: Int) -> Int { if k > 0 { return 1 } return 2 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "static el_val_t __el_body_plain"), "the body is a helper"
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_val_t plain(el_val_t k) {"), "the visible fn is a wrapper"
+}
+
+test "exit-crossing-goes-through-the-seam" {
+    let src: String = "fn f() -> Int { return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "__r = el_seam_run(EL_STR(\"f\"), 1, __r);"), "the exit crossing is resolved at execution and may replace the result"
+}
+
+test "early-returns-route-through-the-exit-seam" {
+    let src: String = "fn early(k: Int) -> Int { if k > 0 { return 99 } return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    let helper: Int = str_index_of(out, "__el_body_early")
+    let seam: Int = str_index_of(out, "el_seam_run(EL_STR(\"early\"), 1")
+    assert helper < seam, "the early return is inside the helper, so it passes through the exit seam"
+}
+
+
+// ── Invocation control resolves at runtime ───────────────────────────────────
+//
+// Every fn gets an env struct and a thunk, because codegen cannot know which
+// fns a wrap construct will be bound to after the binary exists. That the bound
+// construct can invoke the body zero or N times is behaviour, so it lives in
+// tests/integration/seam_binding.sh.
+
+test "every-fn-gets-a-closure" {
+    let src: String = "fn f(k: Int) -> Int { return k }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "struct __env_f {  el_val_t k; };"), "captured environment"
+    assert str_contains(out, "static el_val_t __thunk_f(void* __v)"), "thunk over that environment"
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_seam_wrap(EL_STR(\"f\"), __thunk_f, &__env)"), "invocation goes through the seam"
+}
+
+test "zero-param-fn-emits-valid-c" {
+    // An empty struct is a GNU extension and an empty initialiser is C23.
+    let src: String = "fn noargs() -> Int { return 3 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "struct __env_noargs {  char __e0; };"), "zero-param env has a field"
+    assert !str_contains(out, "__env = {  }"), "and no empty initialiser"
+}
+
+
+// ── Prohibition is a query, not an emission ─────────────────────────────────
+//
+// The compiler records what it saw -- who calls what, who carries what, who
+// prohibits what. Whether that is legal is decided by tools/check/prohibitions.sh
+// against the emitted relations, at build time. An emitter that also adjudicates
+// has to contain every rule anyone will ever want.
+
+test "compiler-no-longer-emits-prohibition-errors" {
+    let src: String = "@decorator(\"prohibits_outside\", \"raw_sql\")\nfn repository() {}\nfn sneaky() -> Int { raw_sql(\"DROP\") return 1 }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert !str_contains(out, "boundary violation"), "the emitter does not adjudicate"
+}
+
+// ── Int return types drive + dispatch ────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// El has one type, so `a + b` must be dispatched from what the operands ARE.
+// The 35 Int-returning builtins moved to signatures.rel; the dispatch stayed,
+// because choosing between arithmetic and concatenation is emission.
+
+test "int-returning-builtin-drives-arithmetic-dispatch" {
+    let src: String = "fn main() { let a = str_len(\"hello\") let b = str_len(\"hi\") let c = a + b println(int_to_str(c)) }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "(a + b)"), "Int + Int is arithmetic"
+    assert !str_contains(out, "el_str_concat(a, b)"), "and NOT concatenation"
+}
+
+test "string-plus-string-still-concatenates" {
+    let src: String = "fn main() { let s = \"a\" + \"b\" println(s) }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_str_concat"), "String + String still concatenates"
+}
+
+// ── Reserved words that reserved nothing ─────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// sealed, activate, seed, protocol and impl were keywords in the lexer and were
+// consumed by no parser or codegen path. Each stole an identifier from users
+// for nothing, and using one silently miscompiled: `let seed = 42` compiled
+// clean and produced the wrong value with no diagnostic at any layer.
+
+test "freed-identifiers-compile-as-identifiers" {
+    let src: String = "fn main() { let seed = 42 let impl = seed + 1 println(int_to_str(impl)) }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_val_t seed"), "seed is an identifier"
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_val_t impl"), "impl is an identifier"
+    assert str_contains(out, "(seed + 1)"), "and arithmetic on them dispatches correctly"
+}
+
+test "test-keyword-is-still-reserved" {
+    // `test` LOOKED inert by the same measure and is not: codegen consumes it
+    // for --test mode, 408 uses in the tree. Measuring only parser.el would
+    // have removed it.
+    let src: String = "fn main() { println(\"x\") }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "int main"), "the suite still compiles, which requires test to remain a keyword"
+}
+
+// ── A bare literal is a magnitude with no axis ───────────────────────────────
+//
+// Duration + Int was already refused because an Int carries no unit. Adding one
+// to a POINT is worse: it moves the instant by an unspecified amount. The
+// asymmetry had no justification; it was simply never written.
+
+test "instant-plus-bare-int-is-refused" {
+    let src: String = "fn main() { let t: Instant = now() let u: Instant = t + 3 println(\"x\") }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "TIME_TYPE_ERROR: Instant + Int"), "3 of what?"
+}
+
+test "instant-plus-unit-suffix-is-allowed" {
+    // .hour supplies the axis, so the magnitude becomes a displacement.
+    let src: String = "fn main() { let t: Instant = now() let u: Instant = t + 1.hour println(\"x\") }"
+    let out: String = compile_capture(src)
+    assert str_contains(out, "el_instant_add_dur"), "a unit suffix makes it a Duration"
+    assert !str_contains(out, "TIME_TYPE_ERROR"), "and the addition is legal"
+}

lang/tests/native/test_transduce.el

@@ -1,61 +1,128 @@
 import "../../runtime/eltest.el"
-// test_transduce.el — geometry as a first-class El value, and realizers
+// test_transduce.el — transduction produces a SUBGRAPH, not a point.
-// declared in El rather than patched into the runtime.
 //
-// WHAT IS ACTUALLY UNDER TEST. Until 2026-08-16 no El ingest path could carry
+// WHAT IS ACTUALLY UNDER TEST. #144 moved transduction into the language and
-// a vector: nodes took text, and geometry was DERIVED from that text. Text was
+// got the dispatch right: realizers declared in El, resolved by name, no
-// therefore the mandatory entry medium, so any non-text modality had to be
+// runtime patch per modality. It got the RESULT TYPE wrong —
-// DESCRIBED in prose first and the geometry we reasoned over was the geometry
+// `transduce(signal, modality) -> Geometry`, one vector per signal.
-// OF THE DESCRIPTION, not of the signal. The fix has two halves, and this file
-// exercises both:
 //
-//   1. Geometry is a VALUE — it carries its own width, so nothing has to
+// One vector is a FINGERPRINT. It can be matched and it can be ranked, and
-//      assert a width against a string's length.
+// that is the whole of what it can ever do. It cannot be decomposed, cannot
-//   2. A REALIZER is an ordinary El function. `tone_realizer` below is not in
+// have one part grounded while another is not, and cannot be contradicted in
-//      the runtime, is not known to the compiler, and is not special in any
+// one part while holding in another — because it has no parts. Treating
-//      way; it is registered BY NAME and dispatched to through transduce().
+// transduction as a CONVERSION (signal in, position out) is the premise this
-//      That is the load-bearing claim: adding a modality must not require a
+// file exists to falsify.
-//      runtime patch, or nothing has actually moved into the language.
+//
+// A song is not a point. It decomposes into pitch, interval, rhythm, harmonic
+// function — components, each with its own geometry, plus the relations among
+// them. THE SONG IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE RELATIONS. So transduction yields a
+// Manifold: named components carrying geometry, and typed weighted relations
+// between them.
+//
+// The geometry tests below are UNCHANGED from #144 and still pass, which is
+// the point: Geometry was never wrong, it was misplaced. A vector is the right
+// representation for a COMPONENT. It was only ever wrong as the representation
+// of a whole transduced signal.
 //
 // COMPARISON DISCIPLINE IN THIS FILE (measured 2026-08-16, not stylistic):
 // elc lowers `a == b` to a NUMERIC comparison only when both operand names are
 // in the per-function int-name set, which `let x: Int` populates. A bare call
-// like `geometry_is(g) == 0` is not a registered name, so it lowers to
+// like `manifold_size(m) == 5` is not a registered name, so it lowers to
 // `str_eq(...)` — strcmp on two integers reinterpreted as pointers. `<` and `>`
 // lower directly via binop_to_c with no type inference at all, so truthiness is
 // written `> 0` / `< 1` here, and any exact `==` is done on a value first bound
 // through `let x: Int`.
+//
+// ONE FURTHER RULE, measured while writing this file: that int-name set LEAKS
+// ACROSS `test` BLOCKS. Binding `dn` as a Float in one test and as an Int in
+// another silently demoted the Int comparison to str_eq and failed an
+// assertion that was arithmetically true. Every Int-bound name compared with
+// `==` here is therefore spelled UNIQUELY across the whole file (note_dim,
+// iv_dim, ...), rather than reusing a short name per test.
 
-// ── A realizer, written entirely in El ──────────────────────────────────────
+// ── A DECOMPOSING realizer, written entirely in El ──────────────────────────
-// Maps a "tone" signal into a 4-component geometry. Deliberately trivial —
+// "tone" signals are note letters, e.g. "CEG". This realizer does NOT return
-// what is being proven is that an El function can BE a realizer, not that
+// one vector for the chord. It returns the PARTS — one component per note, one
-// this is good acoustics. The one real property it has: distinct signals
+// per interval between adjacent notes — and the relations that make those
-// produce distinct geometry, so the test can tell transduction from a stub.
+// parts a chord rather than an unordered bag of pitches.
-fn tone_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
+//
+// The interval is deliberately a COMPONENT, not an attribute of a note. An
+// interval is a thing with its own geometry that belongs to neither endpoint;
+// modelling it as a field on a note is exactly the collapse this change
+// rejects, one level down.
+fn tone_realizer(signal: String) -> Manifold {
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let n: Int = str_len(signal)
+
+    let i: Int = 0
+    while i < n {
+        let code: Int = str_char_code(signal, i)
+        let g: Geometry = geometry_new(2)
+        let s0: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, int_to_float(code))
+        let s1: Int = geometry_set(g, 1, int_to_float(i))
+        let idx: Int = manifold_add(m, "note:" + int_to_str(i), "pitch", g)
+        let f: Int = geometry_free(g)
+        i = i + 1
+    }
+
+    let j: Int = 1
+    while j < n {
+        let a: Int = str_char_code(signal, j - 1)
+        let b: Int = str_char_code(signal, j)
+        let lo: String = "note:" + int_to_str(j - 1)
+        let hi: String = "note:" + int_to_str(j)
+        let key: String = "interval:" + int_to_str(j - 1) + "-" + int_to_str(j)
+        let g: Geometry = geometry_new(1)
+        let s: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, int_to_float(b - a))
+        let idx: Int = manifold_add(m, key, "interval", g)
+        let f: Int = geometry_free(g)
+        let e1: Int = manifold_relate(m, key, "spans", lo, 0.9)
+        let e2: Int = manifold_relate(m, key, "spans", hi, 0.9)
+        let e3: Int = manifold_relate(m, lo, "sounds_before", hi, 0.8)
+        j = j + 1
+    }
+    m
+}
+
+// A second realizer for a different modality, to prove the registry keys on
+// modality and does not just hand back "the last thing registered". Its
+// decomposition has a DIFFERENT shape — two components, one relation — so a
+// test can tell the two organs apart by structure alone.
+fn pulse_realizer(signal: String) -> Manifold {
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let ga: Geometry = geometry_new(1)
+    let sa: Int = geometry_set(ga, 0, 1.0)
+    let ia: Int = manifold_add(m, "onset", "event", ga)
+    let fa: Int = geometry_free(ga)
+    let gb: Geometry = geometry_new(1)
+    let sb: Int = geometry_set(gb, 0, 0.0)
+    let ib: Int = manifold_add(m, "decay", "envelope", gb)
+    let fb: Int = geometry_free(gb)
+    let e: Int = manifold_relate(m, "onset", "decays_into", "decay", 0.7)
+    m
+}
+
+// #144's ACTUAL CONTRACT, preserved verbatim as a control: a realizer that
+// returns one vector for the whole signal. This is not a strawman — it is what
+// the merged primitive asked realizers to be. It must now transduce NOTHING.
+fn fingerprint_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
     let g: Geometry = geometry_new(4)
     let n: Int = str_len(signal)
     let a: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, int_to_float(n))
     let b: Int = geometry_set(g, 1, int_to_float(n * 2))
-    let c: Int = geometry_set(g, 2, int_to_float(n * 3))
-    let d: Int = geometry_set(g, 3, int_to_float(n * 4))
     g
 }
 
-// A second realizer for a different modality, to prove the registry keys on
+// A realizer returning something that is not a value at all.
-// modality and does not just hand back "the last thing registered".
+fn bogus_realizer(signal: String) -> Manifold {
-fn pulse_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
-    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(2)
-    let a: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, 1.0)
-    let b: Int = geometry_set(g, 1, 0.0)
-    g
-}
-
-// A deliberately BROKEN realizer: it returns something that is not a Geometry.
-// transduce() must not hand this back to a caller as if it were one.
-fn bogus_realizer(signal: String) -> Geometry {
     return 12345
 }
 
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+// Geometry — unchanged from #144. A vector is the right representation for a
+// COMPONENT; it was only ever wrong as the representation of a whole signal.
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
 test "geometry-is-a-value-with-its-own-width" {
     let g: Geometry = geometry_new(8)
     let live: Int = geometry_is(g)
@@ -67,17 +134,12 @@ test "geometry-is-a-value-with-its-own-width" {
 }
 
 test "geometry-rejects-nonsense-without-an-arbitrary-bound" {
-    // dim <= 0 is not a width. Note there is deliberately no MAX dim here:
-    // #141 needed `dim <= 8192` only to bound an allocation sized from a
-    // caller's claim about a string. A value that carries its own width has
-    // nothing left to validate, so the only failure left is allocation.
     let zero: Geometry = geometry_new(0)
     let z: Int = geometry_is(zero)
     assert z < 1, "dim 0 is not a geometry"
     let neg: Geometry = geometry_new(-4)
     let n: Int = geometry_is(neg)
     assert n < 1, "negative dim is not a geometry"
-    // Accessors must be total: a non-geometry is 0-width, never a crash.
     let nd: Int = geometry_dim(0)
     assert nd < 1, "geometry_dim of a non-geometry is 0"
     let ni: Int = geometry_is(0)
@@ -105,21 +167,11 @@ test "geometry-components-round-trip" {
 }
 
 test "hex-is-an-edge-adapter-and-derives-its-own-width" {
-    // 2 components, little-endian float32: 1.0 = 0000803f, 2.0 = 00000040.
     let g: Geometry = geometry_from_f32le_hex("0000803f00000040")
     let live: Int = geometry_is(g)
     assert live > 0, "valid hex decodes to a Geometry"
-    let d: Int = geometry_dim(g)
+    let hex_dim: Int = geometry_dim(g)
-    assert d == 2, "width is DERIVED from the input, never supplied"
+    assert hex_dim == 2, "width is DERIVED from the input, never supplied"
-    let a: Float = geometry_get(g, 0)
-    let da: Float = a - 1.0
-    assert da < 0.001, "first component decoded"
-    assert da > -0.001, "first component decoded"
-    let b: Float = geometry_get(g, 1)
-    let db: Float = b - 2.0
-    assert db < 0.001, "second component decoded"
-    assert db > -0.001, "second component decoded"
-    // Egress adapter is the exact inverse.
     let back: String = geometry_to_f32le_hex(g)
     assert str_eq(back, "0000803f00000040"), "hex round-trips exactly"
     let freed: Int = geometry_free(g)
@@ -137,98 +189,346 @@ test "hex-rejects-malformed-input" {
     assert nh < 1, "non-hex characters are refused"
 }
 
-test "a-realizer-declared-in-el-is-a-first-class-realizer" {
-    // THE CLAIM: tone_realizer is an ordinary El function. It is not in the
-    // runtime and the compiler knows nothing about it. Registering it by name
-    // is enough to make it the organ for a modality.
-    let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
-    assert reg > 0, "an El fn registers as a realizer by name"
-    let has: Int = realizer_has("tone")
-    assert has > 0, "the modality now has an organ"
-
-    let g: Geometry = transduce("aaa", "tone")
-    let live: Int = geometry_is(g)
-    assert live > 0, "transduce returns real geometry"
-    let d: Int = geometry_dim(g)
-    assert d == 4, "the El realizer determined the width, not the runtime"
-    // str_len("aaa") == 3, so component 0 must be 3.0 — proof the signal
-    // actually reached the El function rather than a stub answering for it.
-    let c0: Float = geometry_get(g, 0)
-    let dc: Float = c0 - 3.0
-    assert dc < 0.001, "the signal reached the El realizer"
-    assert dc > -0.001, "the signal reached the El realizer"
-    let freed: Int = geometry_free(g)
-}
-
-test "distinct-signals-transduce-to-distinct-geometry" {
-    let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
-    let g1: Geometry = transduce("aa", "tone")
-    let g2: Geometry = transduce("aaaaa", "tone")
-    let a: Float = geometry_get(g1, 0)
-    let b: Float = geometry_get(g2, 0)
-    let diff: Float = b - a
-    // 5 - 2 = 3. If transduction were a stub these would be equal.
-    assert diff > 2.9, "different signals produce different geometry"
-    assert diff < 3.1, "different signals produce different geometry"
-    let f1: Int = geometry_free(g1)
-    let f2: Int = geometry_free(g2)
-}
-
-test "the-registry-keys-on-modality" {
-    let r1: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
-    let r2: Int = realizer_register("pulse", "pulse_realizer")
-    assert r2 > 0, "a second modality registers independently"
-    let gt: Geometry = transduce("aaa", "tone")
-    let gp: Geometry = transduce("aaa", "pulse")
-    let dt: Int = geometry_dim(gt)
-    let dp: Int = geometry_dim(gp)
-    assert dt == 4, "tone still routes to its own realizer"
-    assert dp == 2, "pulse routes to a different realizer"
-    let f1: Int = geometry_free(gt)
-    let f2: Int = geometry_free(gp)
-}
-
-test "no-organ-is-reported-as-no-organ" {
-    // A modality with no realizer must transduce to NOTHING. It must never
-    // fall back to embedding a description of the signal and calling that
-    // perception — that silent substitution is the entire defect this change
-    // exists to end.
-    let has: Int = realizer_has("echolocation")
-    assert has < 1, "unregistered modality has no organ"
-    let g: Geometry = transduce("anything", "echolocation")
-    let live: Int = geometry_is(g)
-    assert live < 1, "no realizer means no geometry, not fake geometry"
-}
-
-test "registration-of-an-unresolvable-name-fails-loudly" {
-    // Reported at the moment of WIRING, not later as "this modality mysteriously
-    // produces nothing". Distinguishing "no organ" from "broken organ" is the
-    // lesson that made this whole change necessary.
-    let bad: Int = realizer_register("ghost", "no_such_function_anywhere")
-    assert bad < 1, "an unresolvable realizer name is a registration failure"
-    let has: Int = realizer_has("ghost")
-    assert has < 1, "and nothing gets registered"
-}
-
-test "a-realizer-returning-non-geometry-transduces-nothing" {
-    let reg: Int = realizer_register("bogus", "bogus_realizer")
-    assert reg > 0, "the symbol resolves, so registration succeeds"
-    // ...but the contract is enforced at the boundary, so the caller never
-    // receives a value that would misbehave far away from here.
-    let g: Geometry = transduce("x", "bogus")
-    let live: Int = geometry_is(g)
-    assert live < 1, "a non-Geometry return transduced nothing"
-}
-
 test "norm-lets-a-caller-check-a-realizer-emitted-signal" {
     let g: Geometry = geometry_new(2)
     let z: Float = geometry_norm(g)
     assert z < 0.001, "a fresh geometry is zero — norm says so"
     let s0: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, 3.0)
     let s1: Int = geometry_set(g, 1, 4.0)
-    let n: Float = geometry_norm(g)
+    let nrm: Float = geometry_norm(g)
-    let dn: Float = n - 5.0
+    let dnorm: Float = nrm - 5.0
-    assert dn < 0.001, "3-4-5: norm is 5"
+    assert dnorm < 0.001, "3-4-5: norm is 5"
-    assert dn > -0.001, "3-4-5: norm is 5"
+    assert dnorm > -0.001, "3-4-5: norm is 5"
     let freed: Int = geometry_free(g)
 }
+
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+// Manifold — the corrected result of a transduction
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+test "a-manifold-is-a-value-that-holds-parts-and-relations" {
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let live: Int = manifold_is(m)
+    assert live > 0, "manifold_new returns a live Manifold"
+    let fresh_sz: Int = manifold_size(m)
+    assert fresh_sz == 0, "a fresh manifold has no components"
+    let fresh_rc: Int = manifold_rel_count(m)
+    assert fresh_rc == 0, "a fresh manifold has no relations"
+    let freed: Int = manifold_free(m)
+    assert freed > 0, "manifold_free reports what it did"
+}
+
+test "manifold-accessors-are-total" {
+    let ni2: Int = manifold_is(0)
+    assert ni2 < 1, "manifold_is of a non-manifold is 0"
+    let ns: Int = manifold_size(0)
+    assert ns < 1, "manifold_size of a non-manifold is 0"
+    let nf2: Int = manifold_free(0)
+    assert nf2 < 1, "manifold_free of a non-manifold is a no-op"
+    let k: String = manifold_key(0, 0)
+    assert str_eq(k, ""), "manifold_key of a non-manifold is empty, never a crash"
+}
+
+test "components-are-addressed-by-key-not-by-index" {
+    // The key is what survives persistence: a component becomes a node, and it
+    // is separately groundable precisely because it is separately NAMED.
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(1)
+    let s: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, 7.0)
+    let first_idx: Int = manifold_add(m, "rhythm", "temporal", g)
+    assert first_idx == 0, "the first component is index 0"
+    let found_idx: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "rhythm")
+    assert found_idx == 0, "a component is found by its key"
+    let missing: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "never_added")
+    assert missing < 0, "an unknown key resolves to -1, not to component 0"
+    let role: String = manifold_role(m, 0)
+    assert str_eq(role, "temporal"), "a component carries what KIND of part it is"
+    let f: Int = geometry_free(g)
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "a-duplicate-key-is-refused-because-addressing-must-be-unambiguous" {
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(1)
+    let ok_idx: Int = manifold_add(m, "pitch", "spectral", g)
+    assert ok_idx == 0, "first add succeeds"
+    let dup: Int = manifold_add(m, "pitch", "spectral", g)
+    assert dup < 0, "two components answering to one name is not an addressing scheme"
+    let dup_sz: Int = manifold_size(m)
+    assert dup_sz == 1, "and the duplicate did not land"
+    let f: Int = geometry_free(g)
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "a-part-with-no-geometry-is-not-a-part" {
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let bad: Int = manifold_add(m, "ghost", "none", 0)
+    assert bad < 0, "a non-Geometry is refused as a component"
+    let empty_key: Int = manifold_add(m, "", "none", geometry_new(1))
+    assert empty_key < 0, "an unaddressable component is refused"
+    let none_sz: Int = manifold_size(m)
+    assert none_sz < 1, "nothing landed"
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "an-edge-to-a-nonexistent-endpoint-is-refused-not-dropped" {
+    // A decomposition that silently loses edges is indistinguishable from one
+    // that never had them.
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(1)
+    let a: Int = manifold_add(m, "here", "part", g)
+    let dangling: Int = manifold_relate(m, "here", "points_at", "nowhere", 0.5)
+    assert dangling < 1, "an edge to an unknown target is refused"
+    let backwards: Int = manifold_relate(m, "nowhere", "points_at", "here", 0.5)
+    assert backwards < 1, "an edge from an unknown source is refused"
+    let dang_rc: Int = manifold_rel_count(m)
+    assert dang_rc < 1, "and no relation was recorded"
+    let f: Int = geometry_free(g)
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "a-component-owns-its-geometry-independently-of-the-caller" {
+    // manifold_add COPIES. Freeing the caller's vector must not disturb the
+    // component, or a decomposition would be unusable the moment it was built.
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_new()
+    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(2)
+    let s0: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, 42.0)
+    let idx: Int = manifold_add(m, "part", "kind", g)
+    let freed: Int = geometry_free(g)
+    assert freed > 0, "the caller freed its own vector"
+    let back: Geometry = manifold_geometry(m, 0)
+    let live: Int = geometry_is(back)
+    assert live > 0, "the component still has geometry"
+    let v: Float = geometry_get(back, 0)
+    let dv: Float = v - 42.0
+    assert dv < 0.001, "and it is the right geometry"
+    assert dv > -0.001, "and it is the right geometry"
+    let fb: Int = geometry_free(back)
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+// transduce — signal in, SUBGRAPH out
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+test "a-realizer-declared-in-el-is-a-first-class-realizer" {
+    // THE CLAIM, unchanged from #144: tone_realizer is an ordinary El function.
+    // It is not in the runtime and the compiler knows nothing about it.
+    // Registering it by name is enough to make it the organ for a modality.
+    let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
+    assert reg > 0, "an El fn registers as a realizer by name"
+    let has: Int = realizer_has("tone")
+    assert has > 0, "the modality now has an organ"
+
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("CEG", "tone")
+    let live: Int = manifold_is(m)
+    assert live > 0, "transduce returns a real Manifold"
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "transduction-decomposes-a-signal-into-parts" {
+    // THE CENTRAL CLAIM. "CEG" is three notes. What comes back is not one
+    // vector standing for a chord — it is five addressable parts (three notes,
+    // two intervals) and six relations. A fingerprint has one part by
+    // construction and could not express this at any width.
+    let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("CEG", "tone")
+
+    let ceg_sz: Int = manifold_size(m)
+    assert ceg_sz == 5, "three notes and two intervals are five distinct parts"
+    let ceg_rc: Int = manifold_rel_count(m)
+    assert ceg_rc == 6, "and the parts stand in six stated relations"
+
+    // Every part is independently addressable BY NAME.
+    let n0: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "note:0")
+    assert n0 > -1, "the first note is addressable on its own"
+    let n2: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "note:2")
+    assert n2 > -1, "so is the third"
+    let iv: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "interval:0-1")
+    assert iv > -1, "so is the interval between the first two"
+
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "each-part-carries-its-own-geometry" {
+    let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("CEG", "tone")
+
+    // 'C' is 67. The note component's geometry is the note's, not the chord's.
+    let note_i: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "note:0")
+    let gn: Geometry = manifold_geometry(m, note_i)
+    let note_dim: Int = geometry_dim(gn)
+    assert note_dim == 2, "a note component has the width its realizer gave it"
+    let pitch: Float = geometry_get(gn, 0)
+    let dpitch: Float = pitch - 67.0
+    assert dpitch < 0.001, "and it is C, so the signal reached the El realizer"
+    assert dpitch > -0.001, "and it is C, so the signal reached the El realizer"
+
+    // Parts may have DIFFERENT widths. A single vector per signal cannot
+    // represent parts of unequal dimensionality at all.
+    let iv_i: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "interval:0-1")
+    let gi: Geometry = manifold_geometry(m, iv_i)
+    let iv_dim: Int = geometry_dim(gi)
+    assert iv_dim == 1, "an interval component has its own, different width"
+
+    let f1: Int = geometry_free(gn)
+    let f2: Int = geometry_free(gi)
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "the-relations-are-content-no-single-part-carries" {
+    // THE POINT OF THE WHOLE CHANGE. C->E is two semitones. That "2" is not a
+    // property of C and not a property of E; it exists only BETWEEN them. A
+    // representation with no relations cannot hold it, which is why collapsing
+    // a signal to one vector does not merely lose resolution — it loses a
+    // category of content.
+    let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("CEG", "tone")
+
+    let step_i: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "interval:0-1")
+    let gi: Geometry = manifold_geometry(m, step_i)
+    let step: Float = geometry_get(gi, 0)
+    let dstep: Float = step - 2.0
+    assert dstep < 0.001, "C to E is two semitones"
+    assert dstep > -0.001, "C to E is two semitones"
+
+    // And the interval is WIRED to both endpoints, so the structure says which
+    // two things it is the interval between.
+    let spans: Int = 0
+    let span_rc: Int = manifold_rel_count(m)
+    let k: Int = 0
+    while k < span_rc {
+        let rn: String = manifold_rel_name(m, k)
+        let rf: String = manifold_rel_from(m, k)
+        if str_eq(rn, "spans") {
+            if str_eq(rf, "interval:0-1") { spans = spans + 1 }
+        }
+        k = k + 1
+    }
+    assert spans == 2, "the interval is related to both notes it spans"
+
+    let fg: Int = geometry_free(gi)
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "relation-weight-is-the-grounding-carried-on-the-edge" {
+    // correspondence-and-censorship.md §1: grounding is an attribute of the
+    // edge and it IS the weight — one quantity, not a score computed beside
+    // it. A realizer states a relation and its weight is the claim.
+    let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("CE", "tone")
+
+    let ce_rc: Int = manifold_rel_count(m)
+    assert ce_rc == 3, "one interval yields two spans and one ordering"
+
+    let found_w: Int = 0
+    let k: Int = 0
+    while k < ce_rc {
+        let rn: String = manifold_rel_name(m, k)
+        if str_eq(rn, "sounds_before") {
+            let w: Float = manifold_rel_weight(m, k)
+            let dw: Float = w - 0.8
+            if dw < 0.001 { if dw > -0.001 { found_w = found_w + 1 } }
+        }
+        k = k + 1
+    }
+    assert found_w == 1, "the ordering relation carries the weight its realizer stated"
+
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}
+
+test "distinct-signals-decompose-differently" {
+    let reg: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
+    let m2: Manifold = transduce("CE", "tone")
+    let m3: Manifold = transduce("CEG", "tone")
+    let two_sz: Int = manifold_size(m2)
+    let three_sz: Int = manifold_size(m3)
+    assert two_sz == 3, "two notes decompose into two notes and one interval"
+    assert three_sz == 5, "three notes decompose into three notes and two intervals"
+    // Structure differs, not just position: fingerprints of a two-note and a
+    // three-note signal have identical shape and differ only numerically.
+    let two_rc: Int = manifold_rel_count(m2)
+    let three_rc: Int = manifold_rel_count(m3)
+    assert two_rc < three_rc, "and the relational structure itself differs"
+    let f2: Int = manifold_free(m2)
+    let f3: Int = manifold_free(m3)
+}
+
+test "the-registry-keys-on-modality" {
+    let r1: Int = realizer_register("tone", "tone_realizer")
+    let rp: Int = realizer_register("pulse", "pulse_realizer")
+    assert rp > 0, "a second modality registers independently"
+    let mt: Manifold = transduce("CEG", "tone")
+    let mp: Manifold = transduce("CEG", "pulse")
+    let tone_sz: Int = manifold_size(mt)
+    let pulse_sz: Int = manifold_size(mp)
+    assert tone_sz == 5, "tone still routes to its own realizer"
+    assert pulse_sz == 2, "pulse routes to a different realizer, with its own decomposition"
+    let onset: Int = manifold_index_of(mp, "onset")
+    assert onset > -1, "and to that realizer's own component vocabulary"
+    let f1: Int = manifold_free(mt)
+    let f2: Int = manifold_free(mp)
+}
+
+test "no-organ-is-reported-as-no-organ" {
+    // A modality with no realizer must transduce to NOTHING. It must never
+    // fall back to embedding a description of the signal and calling that
+    // perception — that silent substitution is the original defect.
+    let has: Int = realizer_has("echolocation")
+    assert has < 1, "unregistered modality has no organ"
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("anything", "echolocation")
+    let live: Int = manifold_is(m)
+    assert live < 1, "no realizer means no manifold, not a fake one"
+}
+
+test "registration-of-an-unresolvable-name-fails-loudly" {
+    let bad: Int = realizer_register("ghost", "no_such_function_anywhere")
+    assert bad < 1, "an unresolvable realizer name is a registration failure"
+    let has: Int = realizer_has("ghost")
+    assert has < 1, "and nothing gets registered"
+}
+
+test "a-fingerprint-realizer-transduces-nothing" {
+    // THE SUPERSESSION OF #144, asserted directly. fingerprint_realizer is
+    // exactly what the merged primitive asked a realizer to be: signal in, one
+    // Geometry out. It resolves, so registration succeeds — the organ is
+    // present. But it does not decompose, so it does not transduce.
+    //
+    // This is a deliberate hard failure. "No organ" and "an organ that only
+    // fingerprints" must not be indistinguishable, which is the same
+    // distinction realizer_register already draws between an absent and a
+    // broken organ. A modality with genuinely one part says so with
+    // manifold_single, and is then visibly a size-1 manifold.
+    let reg: Int = realizer_register("fingerprint", "fingerprint_realizer")
+    assert reg > 0, "the symbol resolves, so registration succeeds"
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("x", "fingerprint")
+    let live: Int = manifold_is(m)
+    assert live < 1, "a single vector is not a transduction"
+}
+
+test "a-realizer-returning-nonsense-transduces-nothing" {
+    let reg: Int = realizer_register("bogus", "bogus_realizer")
+    assert reg > 0, "the symbol resolves, so registration succeeds"
+    let m: Manifold = transduce("x", "bogus")
+    let live: Int = manifold_is(m)
+    assert live < 1, "a non-Manifold return transduced nothing"
+}
+
+test "the-one-part-case-is-a-size-one-manifold-not-a-bare-vector" {
+    // Some modalities really do have one part. That is a manifold of size 1 —
+    // a special case of decomposition, not a parallel path back to a
+    // fingerprint. Anything reading it still asks manifold_size and still gets
+    // a real answer, and a second part can be added later without changing the
+    // type of the thing.
+    let g: Geometry = geometry_new(3)
+    let s: Int = geometry_set(g, 0, 5.0)
+    let m: Manifold = manifold_single("level", "scalar", g)
+    let live: Int = manifold_is(m)
+    assert live > 0, "manifold_single yields a real Manifold"
+    let one_sz: Int = manifold_size(m)
+    assert one_sz == 1, "of size one — visibly degenerate, not hidden"
+    let idx: Int = manifold_index_of(m, "level")
+    assert idx == 0, "and its one part is still addressable by name"
+    let f: Int = geometry_free(g)
+    let fm: Int = manifold_free(m)
+}

lang/tools/check/annotations.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# annotations.sh — verify that a declared type matches what it annotates.
+#
+# El had annotations and no checking. The annotation fed dispatch (deciding
+# whether `a + b` is arithmetic or concatenation) and was never verified against
+# the value, so a mismatch did not fail -- it reinterpreted memory:
+#
+#   let x: Int = "hello"    a string pointer used as an integer
+#   let s: String = 42      address 42 dereferenced as a string
+#
+# The second is an arbitrary-read primitive if the integer is influenced.
+set -uo pipefail
+REL="${1:?usage: annotations.sh <relations-file>}"
+[ -f "$REL" ] || exit 0
+locate() {
+    awk -v L="$1" '$2=="spans" && $3<=L && $4>=L {printf "%s:%d", $1, L-$3+1; exit}' "$REL" 2>/dev/null
+}
+V=0
+while read -r caller _ rest; do
+    [ "${rest#typemismatch:}" = "$rest" ] && continue
+    body="${rest#typemismatch:}"
+    declared="${body%%:*}"; body="${body#*:}"
+    actual="${body%%:*}";   var="${body#*:}"
+    printf "type error in %s: '%s' is declared %s but assigned a %s literal — the annotation drives dispatch, so the value will be reinterpreted rather than rejected\n" \
+           "$caller" "$var" "$declared" "$actual"
+    V=$((V+1))
+done < <(sort -u "$REL")
+[ "$V" -eq 0 ] && echo "annotations: clean"
+exit "$V"

lang/tools/check/arity.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# arity.sh — check call arity against the runtime's OWN declarations.
+#
+# codegen.el carried builtin_arity(): 344 lines, 300 entries, of which 243 were
+# an exact duplicate of el_runtime.h. Measured drift between them was zero --
+# the duplicate had been maintained correctly -- but 199 functions the runtime
+# declares had NO entry, so calling them with the wrong argument count produced
+# no El-level diagnostic at all. The table was not wrong, it was 40% incomplete.
+#
+# Deriving from the header fixes the coverage and makes drift impossible.
+set -uo pipefail
+REL="${1:?usage: arity.sh <relations-file> [runtime-header]}"
+HDR="${2:-$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)/runtime/el_runtime.h}"
+[ -f "$REL" ] || exit 0
+[ -f "$HDR" ] || { echo "no header: $HDR" >&2; exit 0; }
+
+SIG=$(mktemp); trap 'rm -f "$SIG"' EXIT
+# Declarations may span lines, so join continuations before parsing. Reading
+# only the first line silently yields 0 params, and a checker that reports the
+# wrong expected count is worse than no checker at all.
+sed 's://.*::' "$HDR" | tr '\n' ' ' | sed 's:/\*[^*]*\*/: :g; s/;/;\n/g' | awk '
+  /el_val_t[[:space:]]+[a-z0-9_]+[[:space:]]*\(/ {
+    line=$0
+    match(line, /el_val_t[[:space:]]+[a-z0-9_]+/); name=substr(line,RSTART,RLENGTH)
+    sub(/el_val_t[[:space:]]+/,"",name)
+    match(line, /\(.*\)/); params=substr(line,RSTART+1,RLENGTH-2)
+    gsub(/^[[:space:]]+|[[:space:]]+$/,"",params)
+    if (params=="void" || params=="") n=0
+    else { n=1; for(i=1;i<=length(params);i++) if(substr(params,i,1)==",") n++ }
+    if (line ~ /\.\.\./) n=-1
+    print name, n
+  }' | sort -u > "$SIG"
+
+V=0
+while read -r callee _ rest; do
+    [ "${rest#arity:}" = "$rest" ] && continue
+    actual="${rest#arity:}"
+    expected=$(awk -v n="$callee" '$1==n {print $2; exit}' "$SIG")
+    # 60 of 500 runtime decls carry a __ prefix: El's `println` is C's
+    # `__println`. codegen owns that mapping and its table carried BOTH keys.
+    # One rule covers every one of them.
+    [ -n "$expected" ] || expected=$(awk -v n="__$callee" '$1==n {print $2; exit}' "$SIG")
+    [ -n "$expected" ] || continue          # not a runtime builtin
+    [ "$expected" = "-1" ] && continue      # variadic
+    if [ "$actual" != "$expected" ]; then
+        printf "arity error: '%s' takes %s arguments, called with %s\n" "$callee" "$expected" "$actual"
+        V=$((V+1))
+    fi
+done < <(sort -u "$REL")
+
+[ "$V" -eq 0 ] && echo "arity: clean ($(wc -l < "$SIG" | tr -d ' ') signatures from the header)"
+exit "$V"

lang/tools/check/capabilities.rel

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# capabilities.rel — the capability policy, as shipped data.
+#
+# A program's tier bounds what it may call. This is policy that comes from
+# OUTSIDE the program: a utility cannot be trusted to declare its own
+# restrictions, because it would declare none. So unlike prohibits_outside,
+# which a program declares about itself, this ships with the language and is
+# editable without a compiler release.
+#
+# Previously: four functions and eighteen string literals inside codegen.el.
+#
+#   <kind> prohibits_within <comma-separated names>
+
+service prohibits_within llm_call_agentic,llm_register_tool,dharma_emit,dharma_field
+
+utility prohibits_within dharma_connect,dharma_send,dharma_activate,dharma_emit,dharma_field,dharma_strengthen,dharma_relationship,dharma_peers
+utility prohibits_within llm_call,llm_call_system,llm_call_agentic,llm_vision,llm_register_tool,llm_models
+
+# cgi is unrestricted: self-formation is what a cgi program is for.

lang/tools/check/capabilities.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# capabilities.sh — enforce the capability tier as a QUERY over emitted
+# relations plus a shipped policy file. The compiler records the program's kind
+# and its call graph; deciding what that tier may call is not an emitter's job.
+set -uo pipefail
+REL="${1:?usage: capabilities.sh <relations-file> [policy]}"
+POLICY="${2:-$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/capabilities.rel}"
+[ -f "$REL" ] || exit 0
+KIND=$(grep -m1 '^program calls is_kind:' "$REL" | sed 's/.*is_kind://')
+[ -n "$KIND" ] || KIND=utility
+V=0
+while read -r kind rel names; do
+    [ "$kind" = "$KIND" ] && [ "$rel" = "prohibits_within" ] || continue
+    IFS=',' read -ra NAMES <<< "$names"
+    for n in "${NAMES[@]}"; do
+        while read -r caller _ callee; do
+            [ "$callee" = "$n" ] || continue
+            printf "capability violation: '%s' programs may not call '%s' (called from %s)\n" "$KIND" "$n" "$caller"
+            V=$((V+1))
+        done < <(sort -u "$REL")
+    done
+done < <(grep -v '^#' "$POLICY" | grep -v '^[[:space:]]*$')
+[ "$V" -eq 0 ] && echo "capabilities: clean ($KIND)"
+exit "$V"

lang/tools/check/definitions.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# definitions.sh — catch duplicate top-level definitions, and name the files.
+#
+# El has no namespacing. `import` is textual inlining, so two modules defining
+# the same name emit two C functions into one translation unit. cc catches it,
+# but reports the generated helpers (__el_body_f, __env_f, __thunk_f) before the
+# user's own function, so the first three errors name symbols nobody wrote.
+#
+# Naming the FILES needed provenance threaded end to end: tokens had no line
+# numbers at all, so no diagnostic in El could name a place. Now a token is
+# (kind, value, line), FnDef carries its line, and resolve_imports publishes
+# which line range of the combined source came from which file.
+#
+# LIMIT: a nested import returns one string, so a definition inside a
+# transitively imported file is attributed to the direct import.
+set -uo pipefail
+REL="${1:?usage: definitions.sh <relations-file>}"
+[ -f "$REL" ] || exit 0
+
+# line in the COMBINED source -> "file:line-within-that-file". Reporting the
+# combined line against a filename would point at a line that file does not
+# have, which is worse than reporting no line at all.
+locate() {
+    awk -v L="$1" '$2=="spans" && $3<=L && $4>=L {printf "%s:%d", $1, L-$3+1; found=1; exit}
+                   END{ if(!found) printf "" }' "$REL"
+}
+
+V=0
+while read -r name; do
+    lines=$(grep -E "^$name calls defines_at:" "$REL" | sed 's/.*defines_at://' | sort -un)
+    n=$(echo "$lines" | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
+    [ "$n" -gt 1 ] || continue
+    printf "duplicate definition: '%s' is defined %s times — El has no namespacing, so imported modules share one global scope\n" "$name" "$n"
+    for l in $lines; do
+        loc=$(locate "$l")
+        [ -n "$loc" ] && printf "    %s\n" "$loc" || printf "    combined line %s\n" "$l"
+    done
+    V=$((V+1))
+done < <(grep ' calls defines_at:' "$REL" | awk '{print $1}' | sort -u)
+
+[ "$V" -eq 0 ] && echo "definitions: clean"
+exit "$V"

lang/tools/check/prohibitions.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# prohibitions.sh — enforce boundary prohibitions as a QUERY over relations the
+# compiler emitted, rather than as a rule the compiler contains.
+#
+# A prohibition is a containment relation over the call graph: "these calls may
+# appear only inside a fn carrying construct C". The compiler's job is to say
+# what it saw — who calls what, who carries what, who prohibits what. Deciding
+# whether that is legal is a query, and a query does not belong in an emitter.
+#
+# Detection still happens at BUILD time. What moved is where the rule and the
+# checker live, which is what "a #error has no runtime" was hiding.
+#
+#   usage: prohibitions.sh <relations-file>
+#   exit 0 = clean; exit N = N violations
+set -uo pipefail
+REL="${1:?usage: prohibitions.sh <relations-file>}"
+[ -f "$REL" ] || { echo "no relations file: $REL" >&2; exit 0; }
+
+V=0
+# construct -> prohibited names
+while read -r construct _ rest; do
+    [ "${rest#prohibits:}" = "$rest" ] && continue
+    names="${rest#prohibits:}"
+    IFS=',' read -ra NAMES <<< "$names"
+    for n in "${NAMES[@]}"; do
+        # every fn that calls a prohibited name
+        while read -r caller _ callee; do
+            [ "$callee" = "$n" ] || continue
+            # ...must carry the owning construct
+            if ! grep -qx "$caller calls @$construct" "$REL"; then
+                printf 'boundary violation: %s may only be called from an @%s fn, but %s is not one\n' \
+                       "$n" "$construct" "$caller"
+                V=$((V+1))
+            fi
+        done < <(sort -u "$REL")
+    done
+done < <(sort -u "$REL")
+
+[ "$V" -eq 0 ] && echo "prohibitions: clean"
+exit "$V"

lang/tools/check/signatures.rel

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# signatures.rel — El-level return types for runtime builtins.
+#
+# el_runtime.h declares every builtin as returning el_val_t, because El has ONE
+# type. That single type is why the whole seam is cheap, and it is also why the
+# header cannot say that now() returns an Instant while unix_seconds() returns
+# an Int. The El-level type is real and the C boundary erases it.
+#
+# So the compiler needs this, and unlike the other checks it needs it at
+# EMISSION time: Instant + Duration must become el_instant_add_dur, and that is
+# dispatch, not adjudication. What moved here is the DATA -- previously 19
+# hardcoded names across two functions in codegen.el. What stays in the emitter
+# is choosing which call to emit, which is an emitter's actual job.
+#
+#   <builtin> returns <El type>
+
+now                     returns Instant
+el_now_instant          returns Instant
+unix_seconds            returns Instant
+unix_millis             returns Instant
+instant_from_iso8601    returns Instant
+el_instant_add_dur      returns Instant
+el_instant_sub_dur      returns Instant
+
+el_duration_from_nanos  returns Duration
+duration_seconds        returns Duration
+duration_millis         returns Duration
+duration_nanos          returns Duration
+el_instant_diff         returns Duration
+el_duration_add         returns Duration
+el_duration_sub         returns Duration
+el_duration_scale       returns Duration
+el_duration_div         returns Duration
+ttl_cache_age           returns Duration
+
+# Int-returning builtins. Previously 35 hardcoded names in is_int_call().
+# These decide whether `a + b` is arithmetic or concatenation, so the
+# compiler reads them at emission time -- dispatch, not adjudication.
+
+str_len                     returns Int
+str_index_of                returns Int
+str_to_int                  returns Int
+str_char_code               returns Int
+str_count                   returns Int
+str_count_chars             returns Int
+str_count_bytes             returns Int
+str_count_lines             returns Int
+str_count_words             returns Int
+str_count_letters           returns Int
+str_count_digits            returns Int
+str_last_index_of           returns Int
+str_find_chars              returns Int
+native_list_len             returns Int
+el_list_len                 returns Int
+len                         returns Int
+json_get_int                returns Int
+json_array_len              returns Int
+engram_node_count           returns Int
+engram_edge_count           returns Int
+time_now                    returns Int
+time_now_utc                returns Int
+time_diff                   returns Int
+time_add                    returns Int
+time_from_parts             returns Int
+el_abs                      returns Int
+el_max                      returns Int
+el_min                      returns Int
+float_to_int                returns Int
+unix_timestamp              returns Int
+instant_to_unix_seconds     returns Int
+instant_to_unix_millis      returns Int
+duration_to_seconds         returns Int
+duration_to_millis          returns Int
+duration_to_nanos           returns Int

lang/tools/check/temporal.rel

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# temporal.rel — the affine algebra of time, as data.
+#
+# An Instant is a POINT and a Duration is a DISPLACEMENT. Every rule below
+# follows from that, and the set is closed because there are only two kinds of
+# thing: you may add a displacement to a point, subtract two points to get a
+# displacement, and combine displacements. Nothing else is meaningful.
+#
+# The emitter records which illegal combination it saw; this file says what that
+# means and how to say it.
+#
+#   <kind> means <message>
+
+instant_plus_instant   means Instant + Instant is not allowed — a point plus a point is not a point. Subtract them for a Duration, or add a Duration.
+instant_plus_int       means Instant + Int is not allowed — a bare literal is a magnitude with no axis. 3 of what? Adding it to a point moves the instant by an unspecified amount. Use a Duration.
+duration_plus_int      means Duration + Int is not allowed — an Int carries no unit. Use duration_seconds(n) or N.seconds.
+duration_minus_int     means Duration - Int is not allowed — an Int carries no unit.
+instant_cmp_duration   means Instant < Duration is not allowed — a point and a displacement are not on the same scale.
+duration_cmp_instant   means Duration < Instant is not allowed — a displacement and a point are not on the same scale.
+caltime_plus_caltime   means CalendarTime + CalendarTime is not allowed — a CalendarTime already projects an Instant under a Calendar. Use cal_to_instant first.

lang/tools/check/temporal.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# temporal.sh — report temporal type violations from emitted relations.
+#
+# The emitter still has to emit SOMETHING for an illegal expression, so the
+# TIME_TYPE_ERROR placeholder stays in the generated C. What moved out is the
+# judgment and the wording: codegen records "temporal:instant_plus_instant" and
+# this decides what that means.
+set -uo pipefail
+REL="${1:?usage: temporal.sh <relations-file> [rules]}"
+RULES="${2:-$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/temporal.rel}"
+[ -f "$REL" ] || exit 0
+V=0
+while read -r caller _ rest; do
+    [ "${rest#temporal:}" = "$rest" ] && continue
+    kind="${rest#temporal:}"
+    msg=$(awk -v k="$kind" '$1==k && $2=="means" {sub(/^[^ ]+[ ]+means[ ]+/,""); print; exit}' "$RULES")
+    [ -n "$msg" ] || msg="$kind"
+    printf 'temporal type error in %s: %s\n' "$caller" "$msg"
+    V=$((V+1))
+done < <(sort -u "$REL")
+[ "$V" -eq 0 ] && echo "temporal: clean"
+exit "$V"

peripheral/README.md

@@ -1,80 +1,184 @@
-# peripheral — Neuron's I/O organ (own-core, local, consent-gated)
+# peripheral — Neuron's I/O organ, in El
 
-The interface made physical. Two afferent senses in, one efferent voice out —
+**El speaks.** The engram stores geometry and does not speak; the speaking
-all reached the way the agentic surface reaches any tool.
+belongs to the language and its runtime.
+
+Until this landed, the organ was a 939-line Swift program (`src/periph.swift`)
+that shelled out to `afplay`. Neuron's mouth and ears were a separate binary
+standing next to the language, and "speak" meant "ask that binary to speak."
+That program is now **reference material, not the implementation.**
 
 ```
-MIC    (hear)  afferent   device -> capture -> descriptor -> ingest -> geometry
+SPEAKER (speak)  efferent   samples ──────────────► CoreAudio ──► the room
-CAMERA (see)   afferent   device -> capture -> descriptor -> ingest -> scene-geometry
+MIC     (hear)   afferent   device ──► samples ──► descriptor ──► engram
-SPEAKER(speak) efferent   render WAV -> PLAY ALOUD out the speaker
+CAMERA  (see)    afferent   device ──► frame   ──► descriptor ──► engram
 ```
 
-Closes the conversational loop: **hear (mic) -> understand (engram) -> speak (speaker)**.
+## The split, and why it falls where it does
+
+Exactly **two** things here are not El, and they are the two things El cannot
+express as arithmetic:
+
+| Not El (realizers) | Why |
+|---|---|
+| `lang/runtime/el_audio_darwin.m` | Handing a buffer to the DAC and waiting for it to drain. There is no way to say "the hardware has now played these samples" in El, and there should not be. |
+| `lang/runtime/el_capture_darwin.m` | Asking the OS for samples off a microphone or frames off a camera, plus the TCC permission dance. |
+
+**Everything else is El**, because everything else is arithmetic:
+
+| In El | Where |
+|---|---|
+| WAV encode / decode (chunk-walking, JUNK/FLLR tolerant) | `src/organ_dsp.el`, `elp/src/speech.el` |
+| LPC autocorrelation + Levinson-Durbin (order 16 @ 16 kHz) | `src/organ_dsp.el` |
+| Formant extraction off the all-pole spectral envelope | `src/organ_dsp.el` |
+| Source-filter resynthesis (glottal impulse train through the filter) | `src/organ_dsp.el` |
+| Audio descriptor `[seconds, sr, ch, rms, peak, zcr, centroid, F0]` | `src/organ_dsp.el` |
+| Voice descriptor `[F0, F1..F5, bandwidths]` | `src/organ_dsp.el` |
+| Scene descriptor `[w, h, meanRGB, brightness, 3×3 luminance grid]` | `src/organ.el` |
+| Consent, disclosure, the voice-from-engram fetch | `src/organ.el` |
+| Barge-in, yield-or-hold, backchannel, resume | `src/organ_converse.el` |
+| The command surface | `src/organ_cli.el` |
+
+Both realizers are their **own translation units**, declared in
+`lang/runtime/el_runtime.h`, and deliberately **not** patches to
+`el_runtime.c`. Acquiring a device must not mean editing the middle of the
+language — the same rule the realizer registry follows for modalities.
+`lang/runtime/el_peripheral_null.c` provides the identical entry points
+everywhere else, so El that speaks links on any platform and truthfully reports
+having no speaker rather than going quietly silent.
+
+## The voice comes from the engram
+
+A voice is **geometry in the engram**, not a JSON file next to the code and
+certainly not constants in a source file. The organ fetches it the way anything
+retrieves a memory — it asks:
+
+```el
+let g: [Int] = organ_voice_fetch("will")
+// [peripheral] VOICE: fetched 'will' FROM THE ENGRAM —
+//              f0=137 f0_end=116 kf=1269 f1=500 f2=2093 f3=3531
+```
+
+`organ_voice_fetch` issues an engram query and reads the geometry off the node
+that comes back. Nothing opens a file. If the region is not in the graph it
+returns **empty**, not a plausible default — a caller has to be able to tell
+"this is how they sound" from "I never heard them."
+
+The reverse direction is `ingest-voice`: an LPC voiceprint becomes a node, and
+from then on the voice is a memory rather than a measurement someone wrote down.
+
+## What the organ never does
+
+**It never learns a word.** Pronunciation, vocabulary and phonemes belong to the
+language faculty and are already built as ingested geometry — *the engram knows
+how to pronounce*. The seam is `synth_codes(codes, voice, pmap)`: the codes and
+the phoneme map arrive from the language side as geometry, and the organ's whole
+job is turning them into samples and getting the samples out the speaker, plus
+the same trip in reverse for the senses. There is no lexicon here and no
+grapheme-to-phoneme rule, by design.
 
 ## Rails
-- **Own-core.** macOS-native only: AVFoundation (camera/mic), CoreAudio voice-
+
-  processing (AEC), afplay (speaker), ImageIO/CoreGraphics (frames), hand-rolled
+- **Own-core.** CoreAudio / AVFoundation / ImageIO — all ship with macOS. No
-  DSP (WAV, LPC, formant synthesis). No cloud, no heavy deps.
+  cloud, no model, no heavy dependency. There is **no network code in the organ
-- **Local-only.** Raw streams are written to `out/` and never egress. `.gitignore`
+  at all**, by construction.
-  keeps captured media out of git.
+- **Local-only.** Raw streams stay on the machine. What leaves a capture is a
-- **Consent-gated (two locks).** A Neuron-level grant (`grant`/`revoke`) *and* the
+  descriptor of a few dozen numbers. A 1920×1080 frame becomes 15 integers
-  OS TCC permission. Sensitive senses (camera/mic) fail closed without both.
+  (~414,000× smaller); three seconds of audio becomes 8.
-- **Disclosed.** Every device touch prints a `[peripheral]` line on stderr.
+- **Consent, two locks.** A Neuron-level grant **and** the OS TCC permission.
+  Camera and mic **fail closed** without both. The speaker is disclosed but not
+  gated — you cannot secretly speak aloud, and gating it would mean Neuron needs
+  permission to answer.
+- **Disclosed.** Every device touch prints a `[peripheral]` line on **stderr**
+  (via `eprintln`, flushed immediately), so a disclosure lands before the device
+  is touched and never contaminates the program's stdout.
 
 ## Build
+
+```bash
+./peripheral/build.sh /tmp/organ
 ```
-swiftc -O -o bin/periph src/periph.swift \
+
-  -framework AVFoundation -framework CoreMedia -framework Foundation \
+Concatenates the El modules, compiles with `elc`, links the two realizers.
-  -framework CoreGraphics -framework ImageIO -framework CoreImage
+Run it **from the repo root** or the `.psv` phoneme data will not resolve.
-```
 
 ## Commands
+
 ```
-periph grant|revoke <camera|mic>          # Neuron-level consent
+organ grant|revoke <camera|mic>     Neuron-level consent
-periph status
+organ status                        consent + device state
-periph speak <file.wav>                   # SPEAK ALOUD (efferent)
+organ speak <file.wav>              play a WAV aloud (efferent)
-periph tone <out.wav> [hz] [sec]          # own-core WAV synth
+organ tone [hz] [ms]                synthesize and play — no file at all
-periph listen <sec> <out.wav>             # MIC capture (afferent), 16k mono
+organ say <voice> <CODE> [CODE...]  fetch voice FROM THE ENGRAM, render, speak
-periph see <out.jpg>                      # CAMERA one frame (afferent)
+organ listen <sec> <out.wav>        mic capture 16k mono (afferent)
-periph feat-audio <wav> | feat-image <jpg>          # capture -> compact descriptor
+organ see <out.jpg>                 one camera frame (afferent)
-periph ingest-audio|ingest-image <file> <engramURL> # descriptor -> engram node (geometry)
+organ wav-info <file.wav>           WAV geometry
-periph voiceprint <voice.wav>             # extract F0 + formants F1-F5
+organ feat-audio <file.wav>         compact audio descriptor (8 numbers)
-periph imitate <voice.wav> <out.wav>      # speak back in that voice (LPC resynthesis)
+organ feat-image                    compact scene-geometry from the camera
-periph hear-imitate <sec> <out.wav>       # MIC -> signature -> imitate -> SPEAK ALOUD
+organ voiceprint <voice.wav>        F0 + formants F1-F5 (LPC)
-periph converse <manifest.json> [--authority F] [--barge-at S[:backchannel|:bargein]] [--resume] [--live-mic]
+organ imitate <in.wav> <out.wav>    LPC analysis-resynthesis
+organ hear-imitate <sec> <out.wav>  mic -> signature -> imitate -> speak aloud
+organ ingest-audio <file.wav>       descriptor -> engram node (geometry)
+organ ingest-voice <voice.wav> <n>  voiceprint -> engram voice region
+organ converse <manifest.json> [--authority PM] [--barge-at MS[:kind]] [--live-mic] [--resume]
 ```
 
-## The afferent metabolism
+## Interruptibility
-A capture is never shipped raw. It becomes a **compact descriptor** — the afferent
-twin of the music instrument-signature:
-- audio -> `[seconds, sr, ch, rms, peak, zcr, centroid, F0]` (~2400-6000x smaller)
-- image -> `[w, h, meanRGB, brightness, 3x3 luminance grid]` (~400000x smaller)
-- voice -> `[F0, F1..F5, bandwidths]` (11 numbers)
 
-That descriptor is what the ingest organ (engram `POST /api/nodes`) turns into an
+`converse` speaks an ordered, salience-tagged **meaning-plan** while listening:
-embedded node = geometry.
 
-## Voice by imitation
+- **barge-in** — output stops at the sample, not at the end of the buffer. The
-`voiceprint`/`imitate` are own-core LPC (autocorrelation + Levinson-Durbin, order
+  realizer exposes `pause`/`resume` and reports `played_frames` (the real DAC
-16 @ 16 kHz), formant extraction from the LPC spectral envelope, and source-filter
+  position) precisely so this is possible.
-resynthesis (glottal impulse train at F0 through the all-pole formant filter). A
+- **yield-or-hold** — a decision, not a rule: `hold = salience·0.6 +
-voice is grabbed by ear as ~a dozen numbers and spoken back — **no training, no
+  progress·0.4`, and holding also requires that the interrupter not be
-stolen voice.** Measured fidelity on real speech: resynthesized formants match the
+  high-authority. Otherwise yield, because the polite default is the right one.
-source within 2-3%. The full phoneme->formant path for *novel* sentences is the
+- **backchannel** — "mm-hm" is brief and low-energy; resume seamlessly.
-speech faculty's seam (`elp` audio surface profile); this engine provides the
+- **resumable** — on yield the remaining plan persists to `.resume.json`;
-formant synthesis primitive it renders through.
+  `--resume` picks the thread back up. An interruption should cost a turn, not
+  the content.
 
-## Interruptibility (native turn-taking)
+Live full-duplex uses `--live-mic` with the OS voice-processing unit (AEC) so
-`converse` plays the utterance as an ordered, salience-tagged **meaning-plan**
+Neuron does not barge in on its own voice. `--barge-at` injects the event
-while the mic listens (full-duplex, AEC on so it never barges in on its own voice):
+deterministically for testing.
-- **barge-in**: user speech -> pause on the spot (sample-accurate), not "finish the buffer."
-- **yield-or-hold**: a decision grounded in the current segment's salience + progress
-  + the interrupter's authority — YIELD (stop) or HOLD ("hang on, let me finish").
-- **backchannel** ("mm-hm"): brief/low -> keep going, resume seamlessly.
-- **resumable**: on yield the remaining plan persists (`.resume.json`); `--resume`
-  picks the thread back up ("as I was saying").
 
-Live full-duplex uses `--live-mic` (OS AEC). Injected `--barge-at` drives the
+## Measured against the Swift original
-decision loop deterministically for testing.
+
-```
+Same input (`out/mic_room.wav`, 16 kHz mono, 48121 samples), Swift `periph`
-```
+vs the El organ:
+
+| | Swift | El |
+|---|---|---|
+| seconds | 3.0075625 | 3.0076 |
+| rms | 0.0047766496761 | 0.004777 |
+| peak | 0.01806640625 | 0.018066 |
+| zcr_hz | 416.28395087 | 416.2840 |
+| centroid_hz | 727.60529169 | 727.6053 |
+| f0_hz | 400 | 400.0000 |
+| formants F1–F5 | 1734.375 / 3343.75 / 3875 / 4359.375 / 4468.75 | identical |
+| bandwidths B1–B5 | 2000 / 2968.75 / 4203.125 / 4687.5 / 5000 | identical |
+
+Agreement to every printed digit. `imitate` cannot match bit-for-bit because the
+Swift excites unvoiced frames with `Double.random` — two Swift runs correlate
+0.957 with **each other**; El correlates **0.958** with Swift. The port is as
+close to the original as the original is to itself, and the deterministic prefix
+is bit-identical.
+
+## Honest status
+
+- **Works:** speaker (CoreAudio, no `afplay`, no subprocess — verified: zero
+  `afplay`/Swift strings in the binary, no child process during playback), mic
+  capture, camera capture, all descriptors, LPC voiceprint, imitate,
+  hear-imitate, voice fetch/ingest against the engram, converse (yield, hold,
+  yield-to-authority, backchannel, resume — all exercised with real audio).
+- **Coarse, and labelled so:** a fetched voice is one formant triple with no
+  coarticulation and no prosody. It is an impression, explicitly **not a
+  clone**, and `prov=COARSE` says so on the node.
+- **Not verified here:** live `--live-mic` barge-in in a real room with a real
+  interrupter. The AEC path is implemented and the deterministic path is proven;
+  the acoustic behaviour is not something a headless run can establish.
+- **Not in the engram yet:** the structured `Voice` / `VowelTarget` geometry
+  nodes live in the organ's own store and in snapshot files from earlier work,
+  but the **production engram does not carry them**. Getting them there is an
+  ingest, not a code change.
+- `src/periph.swift` is kept as the reference the port was measured against.