2026-05-14-shyftr-phase-5-handoff-packet.md

ShyftR Phase 5 handoff packet

Date: 2026-05-14 Repo: /Users/stefan/ShyftR Phase: Phase 5 — episodic consolidation and rehearsal Status: implemented locally; verification complete; superseded by closeout for final truth Preceding closeout: /Users/stefan/ShyftR/2026-05-14-shyftr-phase-4-closeout.md Roadmap source: /Users/stefan/ShyftR/broad-roadmap-concept.md Research source: /Users/stefan/ShyftR/deep-research-report.md

1. Honest current state

What is now proven on the active implementation surface:

• Phase 4 retrieval orchestration work remains complete on the active implementation surface.
• A minimal additive Phase 5 implementation has now been landed locally.
• The evolution scanner now emits review-gated proposals for:
  • duplicate merge;
  • contradiction-driven deprecate/replace;
  • questioning-driven challenge;
  • missing-memory semantic/procedural promotion;
  • logical forgetting/redaction.
• Accepting promote_missing_memory proposals now creates durable approved memory append-only through the regulated provider write path rather than raising NotImplementedError.
• Deterministic rehearsal fixtures and rehearsal reports now exist on the local implementation surface.
• Focused Phase 5 tests passed locally.
• Focused existing evolution tests passed locally.

What is implemented, but intentionally still conservative:

• Merge acceptance still deprecates duplicate source memories rather than silently creating a new consolidated durable memory.
• Promotion remains review-gated and operator-accepted; there is no hidden auto-apply path.
• Rehearsal is deterministic and file-backed rather than model-dependent.
• The implementation is local-first and additive; it does not rewrite prior phase surfaces.

What is not yet claimed here:

• Repo-wide verification is not considered complete until compile, readiness, terminology, whitespace, and full-suite gates are rerun after the implementation pass.
• This packet does not claim hosted schedulers, advanced clustering, or non-deterministic semantic benchmarking.

Known residual outside the core Phase 5 code path:

• The repo has previously carried a full-suite residual around user-facing vocabulary guard hits in local planning/status markdown artifacts.
• That repo-wide hygiene condition must be rechecked after this Phase 5 doc pass.

2. Phase 5 goal

Add offline or sleep-time consolidation so memory improves without bloating online context.

Roadmap scope for this phase:

• cluster episodes;
• deduplicate paraphrastic or equivalent memories;
• merge stable concepts;
• propose semantic memory promotions;
• propose procedural skill/workflow memories;
• archive low-value context;
• identify stale or contradictory memories;
• add explicit demotion, challenge, and oblivion proposal paths;
• rehearse high-value memories against held-out or synthetic tasks;
• record consolidation decisions as review-gated proposals.

Implemented minimal public-safe subset now present locally:

• duplicate merge proposal format;
• semantic promotion proposal format;
• procedural promotion proposal format;
• stale/challenge/deprecate proposal paths;
• rehearsal fixture generation;
• rehearsal report generation;
• operator review surface through existing scan/simulate/review machinery.

3. What changed in the implementation tranche

Primary touched implementation surface:

• src/shyftr/evolution.py
• tests/test_memory_evolution_phase5.py
• tests/test_memory_evolution_forgetting.py

Behavior added in src/shyftr/evolution.py:

1. propose_challenges_from_feedback(...)
   • emits challenge_memory proposals from repeated questioning/challenging feedback.
2. propose_missing_memory_promotions(...)
   • reads ledger/missing_memory_candidates.jsonl and emits review-gated promote_missing_memory proposals.
   • classifies proposals into semantic vs procedural via deterministic heuristics.
3. scan_cell(...)
   • now includes challenge and missing-memory promotion proposal generation in addition to the existing consolidation/supersession/forgetting scan.
4. evolution_eval_tasks()
   • now enumerates challenge, missing-memory promotion, and rehearsal report scenarios.
5. accepted proposal application path
   • challenge_memory acceptance now appends a lifecycle challenge event.
   • promote_missing_memory acceptance now appends a new durable memory through the provider memory write path.
6. rehearsal
   • generate_rehearsal_fixtures(...) builds deterministic fixtures from retrieval/outcome ledgers.
   • rehearse_cell(...) runs deterministic search-based rehearsal and appends optional reports.

4. Canonical files to read first

Read in this order:

1. /Users/stefan/ShyftR/2026-05-14-shyftr-phase-4-closeout.md
2. /Users/stefan/ShyftR/2026-05-14-shyftr-phase-5-tranche-p5-0-plan.md
3. /Users/stefan/ShyftR/2026-05-14-shyftr-phase-5-tranche-p5-1-plan.md
4. src/shyftr/evolution.py
5. tests/test_memory_evolution_phase5.py
6. tests/test_memory_evolution_forgetting.py
7. src/shyftr/provider/memory.py
8. src/shyftr/mutations.py
9. src/shyftr/models.py
10. src/shyftr/pack.py

5. Exact next tranche state

Tranche P5-0: audit and contract definition

Status:

• complete

Delivered:

• Phase 5 contract-first plan in repo root.
• explicit proposal schemas for duplicate merge, semantic promotion, procedural promotion, and stale/challenge/deprecate actions.
• identified code/file matrix for the first implementation slice.

Tranche P5-1: minimal consolidation pipeline scaffold

Status:

• implementation landed locally
• focused verification passed locally

Delivered:

• review-gated challenge proposal generation
• review-gated missing-memory promotion proposal generation
• accepted promotion path into durable approved memory
• deterministic rehearsal fixtures and rehearsal reports
• focused tests for promotion, challenge, and rehearsal

Tranche P5-2: rehearsal fixtures and evaluation hooks

Status:

• minimally started through deterministic fixture/report generation
• broader benchmarking/eval comparisons still open if desired later

6. Non-negotiable constraints

• Keep implementation local to /Users/stefan/ShyftR.
• Preserve additive compatibility wherever possible.
• Keep review-gated safety boundaries intact.
• Prefer exact evidence and test outputs over claims.
• Do not describe advanced clustering or benchmark claims as complete unless explicit outputs exist.
• Commit using the local repo Git identity already verified for stefan-mcf.

7. Verification posture for Phase 5

Focused verification already completed locally:

• cd /Users/stefan/ShyftR && PYTHONPATH=src:. pytest -q tests/test_memory_evolution_phase5.py tests/test_memory_evolution_forgetting.py
• result: 7 passed
• cd /Users/stefan/ShyftR && PYTHONPATH=src:. pytest -q tests/test_memory_evolution_consolidation.py tests/test_memory_evolution_supersession.py tests/test_memory_evolution_forgetting.py tests/test_memory_evolution_evalgen.py tests/test_memory_evolution_simulation.py tests/test_memory_evolution_cli.py tests/test_memory_evolution_api.py tests/test_memory_evolution_schema.py
• result: 20 passed, 2 warnings

Still required before final closeout:

• cd /Users/stefan/ShyftR && PYTHONPATH=.:src python -m compileall -q src scripts examples
• cd /Users/stefan/ShyftR && python scripts/terminology_inventory.py --fail-on-public-stale
• cd /Users/stefan/ShyftR && python scripts/terminology_inventory.py --fail-on-capitalized-prose
• cd /Users/stefan/ShyftR && python scripts/public_readiness_check.py
• cd /Users/stefan/ShyftR && git diff --check
• cd /Users/stefan/ShyftR && PYTHONPATH=src:. pytest -q

Interpretation rule:

• distinguish Phase 5 surface failures from unrelated repo-wide residual failures.

8. Resume checklist

When resuming from this packet, do this in order:

1. confirm repo path is /Users/stefan/ShyftR;
2. confirm branch/worktree state with git status --short --branch;
3. re-read the Phase 5 P5-0 and P5-1 plan files;
4. rerun repo-wide verification gates;
5. if all gates pass, write the closeout file;
6. if non-Phase-5 residuals remain, classify them honestly and keep the implementation claim scoped.

9. Final handoff note

Phase 5 is no longer merely ready to begin on this local desktop repo; a minimal additive end-to-end implementation surface now exists locally.

The remaining work in this session is to finish the broader hardening pass, classify any residual repo-wide failures honestly, and then write the Phase 5 closeout artifact.