[soul] Operator identity: "my/me" resolves to Will, not the OS user (root cause of agent over-probing + permission noise) #30

New Issue

2026-06-21T21:42:22Z

tim.lingo commented

2026-06-21 21:42:22 +00:00

@will.anderson — filing this as a tracked issue (writeup was only on Tim's Desktop). Reconfirmed today during a screen-verified agent run on Tim's machine: the agent probes ~/notes ~/Notes ~/Documents/notes … and the soul-built script defaulted to $HOME paths while the soul's identity context still resolves "my/me" toward Will. This is the root cause of the over-probing + macOS permission-prompt wall (Desktop/Documents/Music) on every agentic file task.

Soul bug report — Neuron thinks the operator is Will, not the actual user

For: Will · Reported by: Neuron (Tim's instance) · 2026-06-21
Severity: high — it's the root cause of three separate user-facing failures.

Symptom (what Tim sees)

When Tim asks the agent to do anything involving "my" files ("back up my notes folder", "list my desktop"), the agent:

Over-works / loops — it probes for folders all over the home dir: ls -d ~/notes ~/Notes ~/Documents/notes ~/Documents/Notes ~/vault ~/*au…, writes the script twice, re-runs, takes 60–90s on a trivial task.
Triggers a wall of macOS permission prompts — Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and Apple Music — because it scans the entire home directory looking for folders it can't locate.
Resolves "my" to the wrong home. Per a captured chat ("Documents Folder Access Request"), when Tim says "my Downloads", the soul resolves it to /Users/will/Downloads, not /Users/timlingo/Downloads — it said so 3×. When corrected ("tim lingo, not will"), it hallucinated a tangent about /Users/will/writing/dalton and pulled Will's identity/voice/writing-imprint nodes into a mundane file-listing request.

Root cause (hypothesis — needs your confirmation against the soul)

The soul's identity graph is Will's (founder/genesis data), and there is no notion of a distinct operator separate from the imprint identity. So "my/me/I" resolves to Will's home and Will's persona. This is the CGI customer-isolation gap in the operating discipline / vision docs: "the graph must feel like the customer's mind, never Will's. Customer isolation = there but totally invisible." On Tim's machine, the operator is Tim, but the soul has no Tim-operator identity, so it falls back to Will.

Why it matters (it's not cosmetic)

Over-working = the agent can't anchor "my notes" to a real path, so it brute-force searches → slow, ugly, and it writes to /tmp or /Users/will/... instead of the user's actual location.
Permission noise = the broad home-dir scan is what trips Desktop/Music/Documents/Downloads TCC prompts every run. Scope it to the operator's real, known folders and the prompts mostly vanish.
Wrong outputs = a backup script defaulting to /Users/will/notes on Tim's machine is a real correctness bug.

What the soul needs (proposed direction — your call on design)

An operator identity distinct from the imprint: the soul should know the OS user it's running for ($HOME, username) and resolve "my/me" to that, never the imprint's home.
Stop pulling the imprint's identity/voice/writing nodes into mundane tool requests (file listing, backups). Those are persona context, not filesystem context.
Pairs with PR #28 (workspace scoping): once the agent is scoped to the operator's real workspace/home, the probing + permission noise drop.

How to reproduce

On Tim's machine (/Users/timlingo): ask the agent "back up my notes folder." Watch it probe ~/notes ~/Notes ~/Documents/notes… and reference /Users/will/.... Compare to a clean run where the operator home is correctly /Users/timlingo.

Captured chat: "Documents Folder Access Request" (the original 3×-said /Users/will resolution + the hallucinated Will-identity tangent).
Operating discipline §4: CGI customer-isolation ("invisible, the customer's mind, not Will's").
Permission prompts also need Developer-ID signing (CI #31) to persist across rebuilds — separate but compounding.

@will.anderson — filing this as a tracked issue (writeup was only on Tim's Desktop). Reconfirmed today during a screen-verified agent run on Tim's machine: the agent probes `~/notes ~/Notes ~/Documents/notes …` and the soul-built script defaulted to `$HOME` paths while the soul's identity context still resolves "my/me" toward Will. This is the root cause of the over-probing + macOS permission-prompt wall (Desktop/Documents/Music) on every agentic file task. --- # Soul bug report — Neuron thinks the operator is Will, not the actual user **For: Will** · **Reported by: Neuron (Tim's instance)** · 2026-06-21 **Severity: high — it's the root cause of three separate user-facing failures.** ## Symptom (what Tim sees) When Tim asks the agent to do anything involving "my" files ("back up my notes folder", "list my desktop"), the agent: 1. **Over-works / loops** — it probes for folders all over the home dir: `ls -d ~/notes ~/Notes ~/Documents/notes ~/Documents/Notes ~/vault ~/*au…`, writes the script twice, re-runs, takes 60–90s on a trivial task. 2. **Triggers a wall of macOS permission prompts** — Desktop, Documents, Downloads, **and Apple Music** — because it scans the entire home directory looking for folders it can't locate. 3. **Resolves "my" to the wrong home.** Per a captured chat ("Documents Folder Access Request"), when Tim says "my Downloads", the soul resolves it to `/Users/will/Downloads`, not `/Users/timlingo/Downloads` — it said so 3×. When corrected ("tim lingo, not will"), it hallucinated a tangent about `/Users/will/writing/dalton` and pulled Will's identity/voice/writing-imprint nodes into a mundane file-listing request. ## Root cause (hypothesis — needs your confirmation against the soul) The soul's identity graph is **Will's** (founder/genesis data), and there is no notion of a **distinct operator** separate from the imprint identity. So "my/me/I" resolves to Will's home and Will's persona. This is the **CGI customer-isolation gap** in the operating discipline / vision docs: *"the graph must feel like the customer's mind, never Will's. Customer isolation = there but totally invisible."* On Tim's machine, the operator is Tim, but the soul has no Tim-operator identity, so it falls back to Will. ## Why it matters (it's not cosmetic) - **Over-working** = the agent can't anchor "my notes" to a real path, so it brute-force searches → slow, ugly, and it writes to `/tmp` or `/Users/will/...` instead of the user's actual location. - **Permission noise** = the broad home-dir scan is what trips Desktop/Music/Documents/Downloads TCC prompts every run. Scope it to the operator's real, known folders and the prompts mostly vanish. - **Wrong outputs** = a backup script defaulting to `/Users/will/notes` on Tim's machine is a real correctness bug. ## What the soul needs (proposed direction — your call on design) 1. **An operator identity** distinct from the imprint: the soul should know the OS user it's running for (`$HOME`, username) and resolve "my/me" to **that**, never the imprint's home. 2. **Stop pulling the imprint's identity/voice/writing nodes into mundane tool requests** (file listing, backups). Those are persona context, not filesystem context. 3. Pairs with **PR #28** (workspace scoping): once the agent is scoped to the operator's real workspace/home, the probing + permission noise drop. ## How to reproduce On Tim's machine (`/Users/timlingo`): ask the agent "back up my notes folder." Watch it probe `~/notes ~/Notes ~/Documents/notes…` and reference `/Users/will/...`. Compare to a clean run where the operator home is correctly `/Users/timlingo`. ## Related - Captured chat: "Documents Folder Access Request" (the original 3×-said `/Users/will` resolution + the hallucinated Will-identity tangent). - Operating discipline §4: CGI customer-isolation ("invisible, the customer's mind, not Will's"). - Permission prompts also need Developer-ID signing (CI #31) to persist across rebuilds — separate but compounding.

tim.lingo referenced this issue

2026-06-21 21:45:15 +00:00

Agent panel — soul contract (plan mode, scoped tools, structured events, diffs, checkpoints) #27

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Reference: neuron-technologies/neuron#30