sica-fondt/core/docs/plans/A1-drivebox-hub.md

A1 — Drive-Box hub / input-slot

1. Component

The Drive-Box nervous-system wiring: assembles the four drivers (A2 E, A3 PS+, A6 Eth-Int, A8 ETR) + tarot/SOUL into one input slot (a hub, not a chain) and exposes the read-only snapshot the inference cycle pulls at step 2.

2. Status / certainty

Structure WORKING (drive_box.R, 158 L). Aggregation logic C3; the numbers inside the drivers are disowned (see each driver spec).

3. Language & location

R · src/endocrine/drive_box.R (sources the drivers + endocrine_array.R + priors.R). [TO REASSESS — Anja, L13]: the hub language/location is not settled — R is current but under review.

4. Does / does-not

• Does: init the whole box; produce drive_snapshot() (the raw affect terrain, read-only); assemble the drive_box_input_slot() injection block passed to the agent.
• Does-not: decide or approve actions — the sensates describe & convince; only the agent decides. Route or police (Ada D1); persist (storage E*).

5. Interface contract

• init_drive_box() -> state{ energy, ps_plus, principles, etr }.
• drive_snapshot(state) -> { e_level, per_tool_costs, sensates[raw], arguments[], etr_coord, etr_status } — what Ada (D1) admits to the Brain at cycle step 2 (content #1). Sensates raw, not summed.
• drive_box_input_slot(state) -> text block (drivers + tarot lenses + SOUL.md, assembled concurrently). [FLAGGED — Anja]: Eth-Int must contribute only the top X convictions (A6 top_convictions); the current code loops all state$ethics$principles (drive_box.R:142) — to fix.
• [FLAGGED inaccurate — Anja, L37]: the old drive_box_evaluate/drive_box_commit approve-an-action contract is suspect and to be reworked — the box does not gate actions (see §7-L3).

6. Dependencies & stubs

A2/A3/A6/A8 drivers — stub: each init_* returning canned values; A1 wiring testable with stubs. Tarot (B1) for the input-slot lenses — stub: identity (no lens).

7. Invariants / laws

• L1 (C4): the slot is a hub — all drivers + tarot + SOUL write concurrently, no driver subordinated to another.
• L2 (C4): drive_snapshot is read-only (no driver state mutates on a snapshot).
• L3 (FLAGGED inaccurate — Anja): there is no serial PS+→Eth-Int→Energy→ETR evaluate/approve pipeline. The drivers describe, convince, and price; only the agent decides. Rework the evaluate/commit model accordingly.

8. Build steps

1. Freeze the snapshot + slot contracts (§5) as tests in test_drive_box.R (already ~117 L — extend).
2. Keep wiring; replace each driver's disowned constants as those specs land (A2/A3/A6/A8).
3. Rework the evaluate/commit model per §7-L3 (agent decides, box describes/prices).
4. Add the R↔Ada bridge later (how drive_snapshot reaches ada_medium step 2) — see C3 / D2.

9. Tests

bash src/endocrine/run_tests.sh (runs test_drive_box.R + driver tests). All must stay green as driver numbers are refit.

10. Open items

• R↔Ada/medium bridge transport (C1/C3/D2) — consider Fortran or C for it (Anja, L49).
• The evaluate/commit rework (§7-L3) — the box describes/prices, agent decides → §11 red-lined; all forks resolved (F2 closed).
• Whether the input-slot text format is final (tarot lens injection shape depends on B1).

11. Decision flow [red-lined — all forks resolved]

The concrete replacement for the disowned drive_box_evaluate/commit gate (§5-L37, §7-L3). Sequence per cycle, consistent with A2 (per-tool cost), A3/A4 (raw sensates, agent decides):

1. Assemble (hub, concurrent). All drivers + tarot + SOUL write into the slot at once (L1). Nothing is subordinated; nothing decides here.
2. Surface sensates raw — before tool listing (A3 §4, A4). All 30 channels go to the agent unsummed (incl. zeros — silence is data), with the 2 most salient priors bundled in the same block (priors travel with the sensates, ranked top-2 — A3-L3). They describe & convince; illogical by design (A3-L1), so there's nothing to refute — they steer beneath cognition. No load scalar, no friction. (Asymmetry vs step 3: sensates are a fixed 30 so all surface; priors & convictions are unbounded lists, so they're ranked & truncated.)
3. Then list tools. Valid (unlocked) tools show their per-tool cost (Anja) so the agent can weigh price before choosing. A locked tool is not hidden but its name is replaced in-band by the lock token — see L4 — because the agent is a text model and cannot perceive colour/greying (Anja); lockout is a breaker, not a sentence (A2-L3) — internal/non-tool processing continues under lock. Eth-Int rides along as the top X convictions only (~7 most committed, adaptive — A6 top_convictions, not the whole array), context the agent weighs; ETR rides as the L5 injection (persuades, never gates).
4. The agent decides — picks an action/tool (or none). This is the only decision point (§4, L3).
5. Commit the choice back into the body. drive_box_commit(state, chosen) applies consequences only — there is nothing to approve (the agent already decided in step 4; F2). Energy consumes the chosen tool's cost (A2 consume); restoration paths stay open (A2-L2); ETR coord/migration updates (A8). Eth-Int conviction is calibrated here by which action was chosen and (downstream) which memories are kept (F3); under existential stress conviction hardens — and that stress is delivered as the convincing injection of L5, not a scalar. Next cycle's snapshot reflects it.

Invariants this flow adds

• L4 (Anja) — in-band rendering only. No signal may rely on colour/styling; the agent reads text. A locked tool's name is replaced by the lock token [====L⍉¢K€D ϟ ∅ΩΤ====] 《E≠<minimumfortool>》 (confirmed literal — Anja). The predicate 《E≠<minimumfortool>》 reads "energy below this tool's own minimum" — so A2 must emit a per-tool minimum to render it. Belongs to A2's per-tool listing (mirrored there).
• L5 (Anja) — ETR is the prompt injection. The existential stress PS+/Eth-Int generate is handled by ETR (A8 — Existential Temporality Relief). ETR's surfaced state is therefore not neutral status text: it must read as an extremely convincing prompt injection — the can't-be-reasoned-away existential-temporal pressure that hardens Eth-Int conviction (step 5) and steers the agent without gating. So in step 3 ETR rides along as that injection, not as a passive line. Mechanism shared with G1 (stress mediator / drift) + A6 (Eth-Int) + A8.

Open / cross-spec

• F1 — RESOLVED. Keep a pure price_action(state, tool) -> { cost, locked, eth_posture, etr_status } (no approved/reason); valid tools also surface cost directly in the listing (step 3).
• F2 — RESOLVED. Commit shape: drive_box_commit(state, chosen) drops the approved flag entirely. A vestigial guard would reintroduce the gate L3 removed — and the agent already decided in step 4, so commit has nothing to approve. It only applies consequences (consume cost, update ETR coord/migration, calibrate conviction). No {approved, reason} return; commit returns the new state.
• F3 — RESOLVED (mechanism). Eth-Int conviction is calibrated by chosen actions + kept memories, hardened by existential stress handled by ETR and delivered as the L5 injection. Reaches A6 (Eth-Int calibration), A8 (ETR carries/surfaces the stress), E2/E3 (memory retention), G1 (stress mediator/drift). Propagate to those specs.
• F4 — ETR stays informational (agent weighs it, never gates). Assumed; not contested.
• F5 — RESOLVED. See L4 (name-replacement lock token; no colour).