skill-system-ans

Skill System ANS

This skill is the reusable autonomic nervous system layer for wake prompts, tool reflexes, explicit checkpoints, physiology-aware fast/slow routing, metrics, cron observability, and conditional cron-hook orchestration.

Commands

python3 scripts/ans sensor finch
python3 scripts/ans compose finch --trigger autowake --sensor-file /tmp/sensor.json
python3 scripts/ans wake finch --trigger cron
python3 scripts/ans tool --event PostToolUse --payload-file /tmp/payload.json
python3 scripts/ans pain status finch --work-root /path/to/Work --human
python3 scripts/ans pain status finch --work-root /path/to/Work --human --cached
python3 scripts/ans physiology status finch --work-root /path/to/Work --human
python3 scripts/ans physiology record-slow-trace finch --work-root /path/to/Work --summary "resolved contradiction with design artifact" --bundle-id B-123
python3 scripts/ans checkpoint close-reports --work-root /path/to/Work
python3 scripts/ans cron status
python3 scripts/ans cron orchestrate --condition "hermes_inbox_unread>0" --action "inject:check-inbox-first" --work-root /path/to/Work --dry-run
python3 scripts/ans metrics report

Rules

• Reuse existing Hermes/Work sensor scripts; do not duplicate all sensor logic.
• ans cron status is read-only and must surface drift/staleness explicitly.
• ans sensor now exposes nociception/pain, mental fatigue, cognitive mode, and OTel-ish telemetry fields.
• ans pain status <agent> turns physiology signals into strong nociception: internal pain, external pain, lesion evidence, containment, repair, prevention, and a closure gate.
• ans pain status --cached is the low-latency wake-prompt path; it labels evidence as cache-limited and avoids blocking autowake on live sensor hangs.
• Pain closure is stricter than diagnosis: if severity is not clear, diagnosis_is_progress=false and closure requires a named repair artifact plus a test/smoke proof.
• ans physiology status <agent> is the always-queryable portable physiology surface for operators.
• Hybridization tuning lives in config/ans.yaml and can be queried/set via ./sk config get ans.hybridization.mode / ./sk config set ans.hybridization.mode fast_bias|balanced|slow_bias.
• Slow-thinking now carries a direction contract: SLOW_DIRECTION if ans.slow_think.current_direction is set, otherwise SLOW_FREE_EXPLORE over bounded high-value zones.
• ans physiology record-slow-trace records successful SLOW traces into a lightweight JSONL log so repeated wins can later graduate into myelin candidates.
• ans checkpoint close-reports is the safe post-inbox checkpoint for dry-run close-report ingestion before any archive decision.
• ans cron status separates runtime health from canonical drift and reports actual/canonical/missing/extra entries.
• ans cron install|enable|disable stay dry-run/delegated in Daedalus scope; Work crontab ownership stays with Sisyphus.
• ans cron orchestrate is the dry-run design surface for condition-based cron hook installs; no live crontab edit without explicit apply + backup.
• Metrics are JSONL with caller-configurable paths.

Design basis

• OpenTelemetry GenAI semantic conventions: token/retrieval/latency naming substrate
• DynaThink (EMNLP 2024): confidence/complexity gate for FAST vs SLOW
• System-1.x (ICLR 2025): controller + hybridization factor for subgoal routing
• Dualformer (ICLR 2025): fast/slow/auto modes and shortcut promotion from repeated successful slow traces
• Do LLMs Think Fast and Slow? (2024): caution that dual-process labels must map to measurable routing signals

Lab mode tuning

./sk config get ans.hybridization.mode
./sk config get ans.slow_think.current_direction
./sk config set ans.hybridization.mode slow_bias
./sk config set ans.slow_think.current_direction apsipa-paper
./sk ans physiology status finch --work-root /path/to/Work --human

• fast_bias: raises deliberation thresholds so known reversible work stays FAST longer
• balanced: default profile
• slow_bias: lowers deliberation thresholds so ambiguity and contradiction route to SLOW earlier
• HANDOFF still wins on high-risk states (for example GPU fuse / PAIN_BLOCK / FATIGUE_HANDOFF)

Slow-think direction

• SLOW_DIRECTION: there is a current tonic direction (for example apsipa-paper, email-writing, roadmap) and slow mode should advance it artifact-first.
• SLOW_FREE_EXPLORE: no explicit direction is set, so slow mode falls back to bounded exploration inside configured high-value zones.
• This implements Arthur's rule: slow-think should give itself a direction; if none exists, explore freely but in valuable territory.

Detailed operator flow: physiology-runbook.md

{
  "schema_version": "2.0",
  "id": "skill-system-ans",
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "capabilities": ["ans-sensor", "ans-compose", "ans-wake", "ans-tool", "ans-pain", "ans-physiology", "ans-checkpoint", "ans-cron", "ans-metrics"],
  "effects": ["fs.read", "fs.write", "proc.exec"],
  "operations": {
    "sensor": {
      "description": "Collect context-aware autonomic state for a target agent.",
      "input": {
        "agent": {"type": "string", "required": true, "description": "finch | wren | cerberus | talos | daedalus | sisyphus"},
        "work_root": {"type": "string", "required": false, "description": "Optional Work root containing .tkt scripts and inboxes"}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Autonomic sensor payload", "fields": {"status": "ok | error", "sensor_state": "object"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/sensor.py", "{agent}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/sensor.py", "{agent}"]}
    },
    "compose": {
      "description": "Compose wake prompts from sensor state and YAML reflex rules.",
      "input": {
        "agent": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "trigger": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "sensor_file": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "rules": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "template": {"type": "string", "required": false}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Prompt + matched reflexes", "fields": {"status": "ok | error", "prompt": "string", "matched_reflexes": "array", "estimated_prompt_tokens": "integer"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/composer.py", "{agent}", "--trigger", "{trigger}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/composer.py", "{agent}", "--trigger", "{trigger}"]}
    },
    "wake": {
      "description": "Run the sensor -> composer -> metrics wake pipeline.",
      "input": {
        "agent": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "trigger": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "work_root": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "rules": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "template": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "metrics_path": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "send": {"type": "boolean", "required": false}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Wake pipeline result", "fields": {"status": "ok | error", "prompt": "string", "matched_reflexes": "array", "sent": "boolean"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/wake.py", "{agent}", "--trigger", "{trigger}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/wake.py", "{agent}", "--trigger", "{trigger}"]}
    },
    "tool": {
      "description": "Route PreTool/PostTool/PreCompact events through tool reflex rules.",
      "input": {
        "event": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "payload_file": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "rules": {"type": "string", "required": false}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Tool reflex result", "fields": {"status": "ok | error", "matched_reflexes": "array", "prompt": "string"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/tool.py", "--event", "{event}", "--payload-file", "{payload_file}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/tool.py", "--event", "{event}", "--payload-file", "{payload_file}"]}
    },
    "pain": {
      "description": "Expose strong nociception triage with internal/external pain lanes and repair closure gates.",
      "input": {
        "command": {"type": "string", "required": true, "description": "status"},
        "agent": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "work_root": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "human": {"type": "boolean", "required": false, "default": false},
        "cached": {"type": "boolean", "required": false, "default": false}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Pain triage payload", "fields": {"status": "ok | error", "severity": "clear | watch | ache | block", "urgent": "boolean", "internal_pain": "array", "external_pain": "array", "diagnosis_is_progress": "boolean", "closure_gate": "object"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/pain.py", "{command}", "{agent}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/pain.py", "{command}", "{agent}"]}
    },
    "physiology": {
      "description": "Provide an always-queryable physiology surface with pain, fatigue, cognitive mode, hybridization config, and slow-trace recording.",
      "input": {
        "command": {"type": "string", "required": true, "description": "status | record-slow-trace"},
        "agent": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "work_root": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "human": {"type": "boolean", "required": false, "default": false},
        "summary": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "trace_id": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "bundle_id": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "outcome": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "dry_run": {"type": "boolean", "required": false, "default": false}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Physiology status payload", "fields": {"status": "ok | error", "pain": "object", "fatigue": "object", "cognitive_mode": "string", "hybridization_factor": "string"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/physiology.py", "{command}", "{agent}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/physiology.py", "{command}", "{agent}"]}
    },
    "checkpoint": {
      "description": "Run explicit ANS checkpoints such as close-report ingestion before archive decisions.",
      "input": {
        "command": {"type": "string", "required": true, "description": "close-reports"},
        "work_root": {"type": "string", "required": true},
        "inbox": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "write": {"type": "boolean", "required": false, "default": false}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Checkpoint delegation result", "fields": {"status": "ok | error", "checkpoint": "string", "payload": "object"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/checkpoint.py", "{command}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/checkpoint.py", "{command}"]}
    },
    "cron": {
      "description": "Provide read-only operator visibility, drift-aware status, and dry-run hook orchestration over autonomic cron surfaces.",
      "input": {
        "command": {"type": "string", "required": true, "description": "list | install | status | enable | disable | logs | run-now | dry-run | tui | orchestrate"},
        "work_root": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "name": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "tail": {"type": "integer", "required": false},
        "execute": {"type": "boolean", "required": false}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Cron rows, health/drift separation, and dry-run orchestration actions", "fields": {"status": "ok | error | dry_run", "rows": "array", "missing_entries": "array", "extra_entries": "array", "delegate_command": "string|null"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/cron.py", "{command}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/cron.py", "{command}"]}
    },
    "metrics": {
      "description": "Record and summarize autonomic wake/reflex/cron metrics.",
      "input": {
        "command": {"type": "string", "required": true, "description": "record | report"},
        "path": {"type": "string", "required": false},
        "agent": {"type": "string", "required": false}
      },
      "output": {"description": "Metrics write or report payload", "fields": {"status": "ok | error", "path": "string", "total_events": "integer"}},
      "entrypoints": {"unix": ["python3", "scripts/metrics.py", "{command}"], "windows": ["python", "scripts/metrics.py", "{command}"]}
    }
  },
  "stdout_contract": {
    "last_line_json": true
  }
}