A fresh-install (SOUL_CGI_ID=ntn-genesis) boot crashed with
"Segmentation fault: 11" right after the http server came up — a real
customer's very first boot. Backtrace:
strcmp(0x1) <- str_eq (el_runtime.c:219) <- mem_save <- awareness_run
Root cause: the el runtime's engram_save returns an Int (1 = ok, 0 =
failure), but mem_save did `str_eq(engram_save(path), "")`, treating the
return as a String. str_eq runs EL_CSTR on it, which is a raw cast:
EL_CSTR(1) = (char*)0x1. On a SUCCESSFUL save (return 1) strcmp then
dereferences 0x1 and segfaults. Genesis is the first path that both seeds
the brain AND saves it successfully on the very first awareness pass, so it
crashes there; non-genesis boots (contract gate, refusal test) don't hit a
successful early mem_save, which is why they passed. handle_api_consolidate
had the identical latent bug.
Fix: read engram_save's Int result and compare `== 0` instead of str_eq'ing
it — in mem_save (memory.el) and handle_api_consolidate (neuron-api.el).
Regression: pre-existing, NOT introduced by the immutability/floor rebuild.
The pre-immutability build (1442ce2) genesis-crashes identically in the same
unchanged mem_save; #159 never actually fixed#150 for a release-runtime
build.
Regenerated dist/soul.c + per-module dist/{memory,neuron-api}.c (3GB RSS
watchdog, built against release el_runtime v1.0.0-20260501). Verified:
genesis boot survives (/health 200, no segfault), verify-soul-contract.sh
GATE PASS (PRESENCE + IMMUTABILITY), and the bounded-persona floor is still
compiled in (BOUNDED PERSONA / SOUL_PERSONA_NAME strings present).
The ship-soul builds from this branch, which has the bounded-persona floor
(#93) but never received the tombstone/supersede immutability fix (that
went to main; hotfix diverged before it). So the launch soul failed
verify-soul-contract IMMUTABILITY on the delete/update/forget routes —
they hard-removed engram nodes via engram_forget/mem_forget.
Apply the same fix, mirroring the knowledge routes' supersede pattern:
- node/update -> create new node + "supersedes" edge to the original, KEEP
the original (no engram_forget).
- node/delete, memory/delete, memory/forget, cultivate forget, and the
autonomous awareness forget -> TOMBSTONE via the canonical mem_tombstone
(memory.el): keep the node + its edges, record a Tombstone marker, hide
from default bounded list reads (?include_deleted recovers). Never
engram_forget. The MCP forget tool now routes to the tombstoning delete
instead of faking a delete.
Internal GC that genuinely removes transient nodes (awareness inbox-trigger
consume, consolidation dedup, session-summary replace, telemetry pruning)
still calls engram_forget directly and is unchanged.
Regenerated dist/soul.c (single-TU) + per-module dist/{memory,awareness,
neuron-api}.c from THIS branch's sources under a 3GB physical-RSS watchdog
(peak ~32MB), built against the release el_runtime (v1.0.0-20260501). The
bounded-persona floor is preserved — verified in the emitted C and the
linked binary (BOUNDED PERSONA / SOUL_PERSONA_NAME strings present).
verify-soul-contract.sh: GATE PASS — PRESENCE all 27 routes, IMMUTABILITY
5/5 KEPT (memory-update, memory-delete, node-update, node-delete,
memory-forget).
Fix 1: mem_boot_count_inc prunes all existing soul:boot_count nodes before
inserting the new one — keeps exactly one boot counter node instead
of accumulating a new node per boot. Also fixes a latent ordering
bug where engram_search_json oldest-first results caused the counter
to read stale (low) values once >3 copies accumulated.
Fix 3: handle_api_node_delete comment clarified — the no-verify exception
is correct for deletes (not a write path); read-back-verify is for
writes only.
Fix 4: emit_session_start_event prunes old session-start InternalStateEvent
nodes after each boot, keeping the 10 most recent and forgetting
older ones. Prevents unbounded accumulation of ~120+ copies.
Every engram_node_full call that dropped its return value now binds it
and emits a println on empty string. engram_save calls in consolidate,
heartbeat, and dharma-room-turn are checked for failure. The two API
handlers (log_state_event, tune_config) that skipped api_persisted()
now match the read-back-after-write contract used everywhere else in
neuron-api.el.
Files changed:
- chat.el: conv_history_persist, handle_dharma_room_turn, auto_persist
- soul.el: emit_session_start_event, seed_persona_from_env HTTP check
- memory.el: mem_save, mem_boot_count_inc
- neuron-api.el: handle_api_log_state_event, handle_api_tune_config,
handle_api_consolidate (engram_save + session summary write)
- awareness.el: ise_post local-engram fallback path
TODO comments added for non-atomic patterns (issues #12, #13) and
the missing circuit breaker (#14) — these require new primitives.
fix(soul): add HTTP-engram guard to safe_to_seed — when ENGRAM_URL is set
the HTTP Engram owns persistence; genesis must never save to local snapshot
regardless of node counts (was: guard_disk forced to empty string, making
the ratio check vacuously true and allowing init_soul_edges+engram_save).
fix(soul): use multiplication form for ratio guard — node_count * 16000 <
disk_len avoids floor-division truncation that underestimated boundary files
(250KB / 16000 = 15.6, floors to 15; a 15-node graph wrongly passed old guard).
fix(chat): add safety_augment_system to handle_chat_as_soul,
handle_dharma_room_turn, and handle_dharma_room_turn_agentic — all three
called the LLM without Hard Bell evaluation, leaving users in dharma rooms
without crisis resource routing.
fix(neuron-api): add api_persisted read-back to handle_api_define_process —
was the only write handler that returned ok:true without verifying the node
was actually written to engram.
fix(routes): unique temp file path in connectd_post — replaces fixed
/tmp/neuron-connectors-req.json with a timestamped path to prevent
collision if concurrency is added or two soul instances share a machine.
test: add tests/test_bell_safety.el — covers safety_detect_bell_level
(none/soft/hard), safety_classify_hard_bell (abuse/self_harm routing),
safety_normalize (smart-quote), safety_augment_system, and
handle_safety_contact_post (validation + read-back).
test: add tests/test_soul_guard.el — pure-function logic tests for the
safe_to_seed predicate: 200KB boundary, 47MB/63-node clobber scenario,
HTTP-engram mode, multiplication vs division truncation at 250KB.
test: add tests/test_api_define_process.el — verifies the define_process
write is read-back verified after the fix.
The UI needs full memory CRUD; the soul had create (handle_api_remember)
and the older /memory/forget + /memory/evolve, but no endpoints matching
the UI's delete/update contract.
POST /api/neuron/memory/delete {"id"}
Hard delete. engram_forget is a true delete primitive (removes the node
and all incident edges from the engram store), so no soft-delete
fallback is needed. Unlike /memory/forget, this checks the node exists
first - engram_forget silently no-ops on unknown ids, and a bad id must
return an error, not fake success. Protected identity/values nodes are
blocked, same as the other accumulation-path handlers.
POST /api/neuron/memory/update {"id","content"}
Evolve-style update. The engram runtime has no in-place node mutation
primitive (only node-create, strengthen, forget, connect), so update
creates a new Memory node and wires a supersedes edge to the prior one,
same pattern as handle_api_evolve_knowledge. Unlike /memory/evolve, id
is required and must reference an existing node; create+link delegates
to handle_api_evolve_memory. Returns {id, supersedes, ok}.
Both files syntax-checked with elc --target=c (exit 0, no stderr).
Compile-verified only - local builds cannot run the soul; needs Will's
build for runtime verification.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Block evolve_knowledge, evolve_memory, forget, and link_entities (to_id
direction) from modifying the 15 hardcoded identity and values node IDs.
Returns HTTP 403 with a hint to use the cultivation path instead.
Add POST /api/neuron/cultivate — the bypass endpoint for intentional
cultivation sessions. Accepts { "operation": "...", ...args } and performs
the same operations without the protection check.
Add handle_api_forget and handle_api_evolve_memory as new protected-by-
default handlers, routed at /api/neuron/memory/forget and
/api/neuron/memory/evolve respectively.
Tested: 10 verification cases — 403 on all blocked targets, 200 on
non-protected nodes and FROM-direction links, cultivate bypass confirmed.
neuron-api.el is a new first-class El module that implements all Neuron
cognitive API handlers natively — no HTTP round-trips, no MCP wrapper,
direct engram builtin calls. All capabilities that previously lived in
the MCP wrapper adapter now live here in the soul.
Handlers: begin_session, compile_ctx, remember, recall, search_knowledge,
browse_knowledge, capture_knowledge, evolve_knowledge, promote_knowledge,
browse_processes, define_process, log_state_event, list_state_events,
inspect_config, tune_config, inspect_graph, link_entities, list_typed,
consolidate.
Routes wired in routes.el under /api/neuron/* (GET + POST).
Also compiles all loop-1/loop-2 .el source changes into dist/*.c and
rebuilds the binary. memory.elh and neuron-api.elh updated with new exports.
will.anderson
Tim Lingo