self-review 2026-07-21: break perceive→respond→store feedback loop in awareness

The soul daemon leaked ~104 orphan in-memory nodes/min (17.6GB RSS,
OOM-killed) because the perceive gate substring-matched 'soul-inbox'
against the loop's own verbatim-copy output, the trigger node was
strengthened but never consumed, and record() persisted a Memory node
per cycle. Fixes: perceive gates and activates only on the dedicated
soul-inbox-pending tag; one_cycle requires the tag on the node's tags
field before attending (makes consumption safe); processed triggers
are consumed via engram_forget; loop outcomes route through ISE
telemetry (48h prune) instead of permanent Memory nodes.

Verified post-restart: node_delta 104→~0, curiosity scans resumed,
WM average unfrozen (0.120833→0.0676), RSS 17.6GB→184MB.

awareness.el

@@ -391,22 +391,23 @@ fn perceive() -> String {
     // running it every second when the inbox is empty destroys working memory
     // accumulated by MCP-layer activations. engram_search_json is a pure
     // substring scan with no WM side-effects; use it as a cheap gate.
-    let inbox_check: String = engram_search_json("soul-inbox", 5)
+    // 2026-07-21 self-review: gate and activate ONLY on the dedicated inbox tag
+    // "soul-inbox-pending" (the tag routes.el:207 actually writes). The old
+    // broad "soul-inbox" gate + fallback activation substring-matched ANY node
+    // whose content merely mentioned the phrase — including the loop's own
+    // soul-response output, which respond() stores as a verbatim copy of the
+    // trigger. That fed a self-sustaining perceive→respond→store loop: ~2
+    // orphan nodes/pulse (~104/min), 17.6GB RSS, WM frozen at avg 0.120833,
+    // and proactive_curiosity permanently suppressed via did_work=true.
+    let inbox_check: String = engram_search_json("soul-inbox-pending", 5)
     let has_inbox: Bool = !str_eq(inbox_check, "") && !str_eq(inbox_check, "[]")
     if !has_inbox { return "[]" }
 
-    // Only run the full activation pipeline when there is inbox content.
     let from_pending: String = engram_activate_json("soul-inbox-pending", 2)
     let pending_ok: Bool = !str_eq(from_pending, "") && !str_eq(from_pending, "[]")
     if pending_ok {
         return from_pending
     }
-    // Fallback: broader inbox scan
-    let from_inbox: String = engram_activate_json("soul-inbox", 2)
-    let inbox_ok: Bool = !str_eq(from_inbox, "") && !str_eq(from_inbox, "[]")
-    if inbox_ok {
-        return from_inbox
-    }
     return "[]"
 }
 
@@ -418,11 +419,10 @@ fn attend(node_json: String) -> String {
         return make_action("noop", "")
     }
 
-    let node_id: String = json_get(node_json, "id")
-    if !str_eq(node_id, "") {
-        engram_strengthen(node_id)
-    }
-
+    // 2026-07-21 self-review: the trigger node is no longer strengthened here.
+    // Strengthening RAISED the trigger's salience (+0.05) on every pass while
+    // nothing ever consumed it, so the same node out-ranked real inbox items
+    // indefinitely. one_cycle() now consumes the trigger after processing.
     let content: String = json_get(node_json, "content")
     if str_eq(content, "") {
         return make_action("noop", "")
@@ -515,8 +515,13 @@ fn respond(action_json: String) -> String {
 }
 
 fn record(outcome_json: String) -> Void {
-    let tags: String = "[\"loop-outcome\"]"
-    mem_store(outcome_json, "loop-outcome", tags)
+    // 2026-07-21 self-review: loop outcomes are telemetry, not memories. They
+    // now go through ise_post (InternalStateEvent — covered by the 48h prune)
+    // instead of mem_store, which created one permanent orphan Memory node
+    // per cycle: the single largest per-tick node-creation path in the daemon.
+    let safe: String = str_replace(outcome_json, "\"", "'")
+    let ts: Int = time_now()
+    ise_post("{\"event\":\"loop-outcome\",\"outcome\":\"" + safe + "\",\"ts\":" + int_to_str(ts) + "}")
 }
 
 fn one_cycle() -> Bool {
@@ -533,6 +538,17 @@ fn one_cycle() -> Bool {
         return false
     }
 
+    // 2026-07-21 self-review: positive filter — only nodes explicitly TAGGED
+    // soul-inbox-pending are inbox items. Activation seeding is substring-based
+    // over content too, so without this check any node whose content merely
+    // mentions the inbox phrase (knowledge notes, the daemon's own output)
+    // would be attended, responded to, and — now that triggers are consumed —
+    // destroyed. Tag check makes consumption safe.
+    let node_tags: String = json_get(node, "tags")
+    if !str_contains(node_tags, "soul-inbox-pending") {
+        return false
+    }
+
     let action: String = attend(node)
     let kind: String = json_get(action, "kind")
 
@@ -552,6 +568,15 @@ fn one_cycle() -> Bool {
 
     let outcome: String = respond(action)
     record(outcome)
+
+    // Consume the processed inbox trigger. attend() used to only strengthen
+    // it (raising its rank every pass); nothing ever removed it, so the same
+    // item could be re-processed forever. engram_forget no-ops on unknown ids,
+    // so this is safe even if the action itself already removed the node.
+    let trigger_id: String = json_get(node, "id")
+    if !str_eq(trigger_id, "") {
+        engram_forget(trigger_id)
+    }
     return true
 }
 

dist/awareness.c

@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ el_val_t make_action(el_val_t kind, el_val_t payload) {
 }
 
 el_val_t perceive(void) {
-  el_val_t inbox_check = engram_search_json(EL_STR("soul-inbox"), 5);
+  el_val_t inbox_check = engram_search_json(EL_STR("soul-inbox-pending"), 5);
   el_val_t has_inbox = (!str_eq(inbox_check, EL_STR("")) && !str_eq(inbox_check, EL_STR("[]")));
   if (!has_inbox) {
     return EL_STR("[]");
@@ -294,11 +294,6 @@ el_val_t perceive(void) {
   if (pending_ok) {
     return from_pending;
   }
-  el_val_t from_inbox = engram_activate_json(EL_STR("soul-inbox"), 2);
-  el_val_t inbox_ok = (!str_eq(from_inbox, EL_STR("")) && !str_eq(from_inbox, EL_STR("[]")));
-  if (inbox_ok) {
-    return from_inbox;
-  }
   return EL_STR("[]");
   return 0;
 }
@@ -310,10 +305,6 @@ el_val_t attend(el_val_t node_json) {
   if (str_eq(node_json, EL_STR("[]"))) {
     return make_action(EL_STR("noop"), EL_STR(""));
   }
-  el_val_t node_id = json_get(node_json, EL_STR("id"));
-  if (!str_eq(node_id, EL_STR(""))) {
-    engram_strengthen(node_id);
-  }
   el_val_t content = json_get(node_json, EL_STR("content"));
   if (str_eq(content, EL_STR(""))) {
     return make_action(EL_STR("noop"), EL_STR(""));
@@ -392,8 +383,9 @@ el_val_t respond(el_val_t action_json) {
 }
 
 el_val_t record(el_val_t outcome_json) {
-  el_val_t tags = EL_STR("[\"loop-outcome\"]");
-  mem_store(outcome_json, EL_STR("loop-outcome"), tags);
+  el_val_t safe = str_replace(outcome_json, EL_STR("\""), EL_STR("'"));
+  el_val_t ts = time_now();
+  ise_post(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(EL_STR("{\"event\":\"loop-outcome\",\"outcome\":\""), safe), EL_STR("\",\"ts\":")), int_to_str(ts)), EL_STR("}")));
   return 0;
 }
 
@@ -409,6 +401,10 @@ el_val_t one_cycle(void) {
   if (str_eq(node, EL_STR(""))) {
     return 0;
   }
+  el_val_t node_tags = json_get(node, EL_STR("tags"));
+  if (!str_contains(node_tags, EL_STR("soul-inbox-pending"))) {
+    return 0;
+  }
   el_val_t action = attend(node);
   el_val_t kind = json_get(action, EL_STR("kind"));
   el_val_t is_interesting = (!str_eq(kind, EL_STR("noop")) && !str_eq(kind, EL_STR("respond")));
@@ -424,6 +420,10 @@ el_val_t one_cycle(void) {
   }
   el_val_t outcome = respond(action);
   record(outcome);
+  el_val_t trigger_id = json_get(node, EL_STR("id"));
+  if (!str_eq(trigger_id, EL_STR(""))) {
+    engram_forget(trigger_id);
+  }
   return 1;
   return 0;
 }