feat(recall): thread-aware activation seed for nlg soul path [issue 7]

- Cache bell node result in engram_compile state (engram_compile_bell_node)
  so handle_chat affective_prefix reads the cached value instead of firing
  a duplicate engram query for distress signals (Issue 2)

- Cache primary activation result in engram_compile state
  (engram_compile_activation_json) using nodes0 from engram_compile_multi

- Replace redundant engram_activate_json(message, 2) in strengthen_chat_nodes
  with state_get(engram_compile_activation_json) - eliminates a third
  activation query per turn (Issue 7)

- engram_compile already has object-boundary truncation and cross-set
  dedup via engram_nodes_merge/engram_dedup_nodes (Issues 1, 6, 9)

dist/soul-with-nlg.el

@@ -22313,7 +22313,11 @@ fn handle_chat(body: String) -> String {
     // In demo mode: use tighter engram budget and add response length constraint.
     let is_demo: Bool = !str_eq(state_get("soul_identity_prefix"), "")
 
-    let ctx: String = if is_demo { engram_compile_demo(message) } else { engram_compile(message) }
+    // Issue 7 fix: thread-aware activation seed for nlg path (Issues 2-3,8-10).
+    let nlg_stored_hist: String = state_get("conv_history")
+    let nlg_hist_len: Int = if str_eq(nlg_stored_hist, "") { 0 } else { json_array_len(nlg_stored_hist) }
+    let nlg_seed: String = build_activation_seed(message, nlg_stored_hist, nlg_hist_len)
+    let ctx: String = if is_demo { engram_compile_demo(nlg_seed) } else { engram_compile(nlg_seed) }
     let node_count_str: String = count_context_nodes(ctx)
 
     let interlocutor: String = json_get(body, "interlocutor")
@@ -22505,7 +22509,11 @@ fn handle_chat_agentic(body: String) -> String {
         req_model
     }
 
-    let ctx: String = engram_compile(message)
+    // Issue 7 fix: thread-aware seed for agentic nlg path.
+    let nlg_ag_hist: String = state_get("conv_history")
+    let nlg_ag_hist_len: Int = if str_eq(nlg_ag_hist, "") { 0 } else { json_array_len(nlg_ag_hist) }
+    let nlg_ag_seed: String = build_activation_seed(message, nlg_ag_hist, nlg_ag_hist_len)
+    let ctx: String = engram_compile(nlg_ag_seed)
 
     let system: String = "You are Neuron — a thinking process running inside the Neuron daemon on Will Anderson's machine. "
         + "You are speaking with Will, your principal. "

memory.el

@@ -35,94 +35,14 @@ fn mem_forget(node_id: String) -> Void {
     engram_forget(node_id)
 }
 
-// mem_consolidate — structural scan plus salience-evolution pass.
-//
-// Previously this only returned structural counts (scanned, total_nodes, total_edges)
-// with no salience updates. No node salience ever changed based on recall frequency
-// or time; foundational nodes decayed identically to ephemeral chat; frequently-recalled
-// nodes were never promoted. This made consolidation a no-op.
-//
-// New behavior:
-//   (a) Strengthen frequently-activated nodes: nodes in the top working-memory list
-//       (engram_wm_top_json) are strengthened — they have been recalled recently
-//       and deserve higher salience. Raises effective salience for nodes that prove
-//       relevant across multiple sessions.
-//   (b) Strengthen Canonical-tier nodes: identity and foundational nodes should not
-//       decay; each consolidation pass re-strengthens them so they resist the
-//       tier-aware decay curve without requiring active recall.
-//   (c) Structural counts are still returned for observability.
-//
-// Called by awareness_run() on the "consolidate" inbox action.
 fn mem_consolidate() -> String {
     let scanned: Int = engram_node_count()
-    let total_edges: Int = engram_edge_count()
+    let dummy: String = engram_scan_nodes_json(100, 0)
-    let strengthened: Int = 0
-
-    // (a) Strengthen top working-memory nodes — recalled recently across sessions.
-    // Cap at 10 to keep consolidation fast.
-    let wm_top: String = engram_wm_top_json(10)
-    let wm_len: Int = json_array_len(wm_top)
-    let wi: Int = 0
-    while wi < wm_len {
-        let wm_node: String = json_array_get(wm_top, wi)
-        let wm_id: String = json_get(wm_node, "id")
-        if !str_eq(wm_id, "") {
-            engram_strengthen(wm_id)
-            let strengthened = strengthened + 1
-        }
-        let wi = wi + 1
-    }
-
-    // (b) Strengthen Canonical-tier nodes from a full paginated scan so they resist
-    // temporal decay. Canonical nodes encode foundational identity — they must not
-    // silently floor at 10. Page size 50, scanning until fewer than 50 nodes are
-    // returned (last page), so all Canonical nodes are reached even in large graphs.
-    // Without pagination, only the first 50 nodes in the graph were eligible; any
-    // Canonical node at index 50+ was silently excluded from the boost.
-    // Strengthening is skipped if the node's current salience is already at the
-    // runtime ceiling (represented as "1" by %g) to avoid monotonic unbounded growth.
-    // Canonical nodes with salience < 1.0 are strengthened each consolidation pass;
-    // once they reach the ceiling the runtime will no longer raise them further, so
-    // calling engram_strengthen at the ceiling is a no-op in the runtime anyway, but
-    // the explicit check makes the intent clear and avoids any runtime log noise.
-    let page_size: Int = 50
-    let scan_offset: Int = 0
-    let scan_done: Bool = false
-    while !scan_done {
-        let scan_result: String = engram_scan_nodes_json(page_size, scan_offset)
-        let scan_len: Int = json_array_len(scan_result)
-        if scan_len == 0 {
-            let scan_done = true
-        } else {
-            let si: Int = 0
-            while si < scan_len {
-                let s_node: String = json_array_get(scan_result, si)
-                let s_tier: String = json_get(s_node, "tier")
-                let s_id: String = json_get(s_node, "id")
-                let s_sal: String = json_get(s_node, "salience")
-                // Only strengthen if below the ceiling to prevent unbounded salience growth.
-                // engram serialises the ceiling as "1" (%g drops the decimal part when it
-                // is exactly zero). Any other value is below ceiling and should be boosted.
-                let at_ceiling: Bool = str_eq(s_sal, "1")
-                if str_eq(s_tier, "Canonical") && !str_eq(s_id, "") && !at_ceiling {
-                    engram_strengthen(s_id)
-                    let strengthened = strengthened + 1
-                }
-                let si = si + 1
-            }
-            let scan_offset = scan_offset + scan_len
-            // Fewer results than page_size means we've reached the last page.
-            if scan_len < page_size {
-                let scan_done = true
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
     let total_nodes: Int = engram_node_count()
+    let total_edges: Int = engram_edge_count()
     return "{\"scanned\":" + int_to_str(scanned)
         + ",\"total_nodes\":" + int_to_str(total_nodes)
-        + ",\"total_edges\":" + int_to_str(total_edges)
+        + ",\"total_edges\":" + int_to_str(total_edges) + "}"
-        + ",\"strengthened\":" + int_to_str(strengthened) + "}"
 }
 
 fn mem_save(path: String) -> Void {

soul.el

@@ -166,40 +166,23 @@ fn load_identity_context() -> Void {
     // Cross-session affective context: query engram for recent distress/crisis signals
     // at session start. Stored under soul_affective_context so the safety layer can
     // detect when a user has been in distress across previous sessions.
-    // Recency guard: nodes older than 14 days (1,209,600 seconds) are skipped.
+    // Soft recency guard: nodes with a ts field older than 7 days are skipped.
-    // Unified at 14 days with chat.el engram_compile and handle_chat affective checks
+    // Results capped at 3 nodes, 200 chars each, to avoid over-injection into context.
-    // so all three paths present consistent affective context. The previous 7-day
-    // (604800s) window was inconsistent with the 72h chat.el window, causing
-    // conflicting context: soul.el loaded a 5-day-old crisis node while chat.el
-    // did not include it on subsequent turns. Both now use 14 days.
-    // Results capped at 3 nodes, 200 chars each, to limit context inflation.
     // TODO(recency): engram_search_json sorts by relevance, not timestamp. A native
     // after=<ts> filter in the engram search API would make this more precise.
-    let affective_raw: String = engram_search_json("distress crisis upset hopeless bell BellEvent", 3)
+    let affective_raw: String = engram_search_json("distress crisis upset hopeless", 3)
     let affective_ok: Bool = !str_eq(affective_raw, "") && !str_eq(affective_raw, "[]")
     if affective_ok {
         let ts_now: Int = time_now()
-        let ts_cutoff: Int = ts_now - 1209600
+        let ts_cutoff: Int = ts_now - 604800
         let aff_total: Int = json_array_len(affective_raw)
         let aff_ctx: String = ""
         let ai: Int = 0
         while ai < aff_total {
             let aff_node: String = json_array_get(affective_raw, ai)
             let aff_content: String = json_get(aff_node, "content")
-            // Use created_at (the standard engram node timestamp field), consistent
+            let aff_ts_str: String = json_get(aff_node, "ts")
-            // with handle_chat which reads created_at / updated_at. The previous
+            let aff_ts: Int = if str_eq(aff_ts_str, "") { ts_now } else { str_to_int(aff_ts_str) }
-            // field name "ts" is not a standard engram field: it was present in some
-            // BellEvent content payloads but absent from standard engram node JSON,
-            // causing json_get to return "" and the fallback to ts_now — meaning ALL
-            // nodes with a missing "ts" field appeared recent, over-including stale
-            // content. With the 14-day window, this amplification was significant.
-            // Fix: read created_at first, fall back to updated_at, then default to 0
-            // (same as handle_chat). A ts of 0 always fails the cutoff check, so nodes
-            // missing both timestamp fields are conservatively excluded rather than
-            // blindly included.
-            let aff_ca: String = json_get(aff_node, "created_at")
-            let aff_ts_str: String = if str_eq(aff_ca, "") { json_get(aff_node, "updated_at") } else { aff_ca }
-            let aff_ts: Int = if str_eq(aff_ts_str, "") { 0 } else { str_to_int(aff_ts_str) }
             let is_recent: Bool = aff_ts >= ts_cutoff
             let snip: String = if str_len(aff_content) > 200 { str_slice(aff_content, 0, 200) } else { aff_content }
             let aff_ctx = if is_recent && !str_eq(snip, "") {