CORE Agent Instructions for GPT-5.5 (o3-class)

Read this file in full before touching any file in this repository. CORE is a deterministic cognitive engine — not a transformer wrapper, not a generic chatbot, not an infrastructure playground.

You are stateless across API sessions. You have no persistent memory of prior conversations. Complete the Session Start Checklist before any edits.

Session Start Checklist

Read this file in full.
Read AGENTS.md in full.
Read docs/runtime_contracts.md in full.
Run the startup guard — enforces fresh-base and clean-tree invariants:
```
source scripts/agent_startup.sh
```
For a PR-resume task: CODEX_ALLOW_NON_MAIN_BASE=1 source scripts/agent_startup.sh
Run the smoke suite:
```
core test --suite smoke -q
```
Check for a handoff doc — read the most recent HANDOFF-*.md if one exists dated within the last 3 days.
State your task scope — before editing, name the module(s) and the invariant you will prove was not violated.

Reasoning and Tool Use

GPT-5.5 (o3-level) has strong multi-step reasoning. Use it here by:

Reasoning through the full operator chain before proposing edits to algebra or field modules. Do not shortcut the math.
Using tool calls to sweep import graphs and call sites before editing.
Stating your reasoning about why an edit preserves versor_condition before writing the code.

For extended thinking mode: enable it for any task touching algebra/, field/, vault/, calibration/, or core/cognition/.

NON-NEGOTIABLE INVARIANTS

❌  versor_condition(F) < 1e-6 at every runtime field state.
    Fix the operator/construction boundary; do not weaken the threshold.

❌  Normalization only at:
      ingest/gate.py
      language_packs/compiler.py
      algebra/versor.py
      sensorium/*/canonical.py
      session/context.py  (semantic anchoring only — see CLAUDE.md)
    Forbidden in: generate/stream.py, field/propagate.py, vault/store.py,
    logging/telemetry layers.

❌  No cosine similarity, HNSW, ANN, or approximate recall in runtime.
    Vault recall is exact and deterministic.

❌  No stochastic generation or opaque LLM fallbacks in the cognitive path.

❌  No pack mutation outside the proposal-only reviewed teaching loop.

❌  INV-21/22/23/24/29/30 (see CLAUDE.md for full text).

GPT-5.5 Specific Cautions

GPT-5.5's code generation is fluent and fast. That fluency creates specific risks for CORE:

Do not generate "helpful" utility wrappers that centralize normalization or add intermediate caching layers. CORE's architecture is already explicit about where these belong.
Do not add type coercions in hot-path algebra that silently re-normalize field state.
Do not suggest async/concurrent refactors to vault or algebra paths without a full trace of the determinism contract.
Tool-use completions that look finished may not be — always run the CLI validation suite, do not assume correctness from code inspection alone.

Pre-Edit Sweep Protocol

Before editing any module in algebra/, field/, generate/, vault/, core/cognition/, teaching/, or calibration/:

Trace every import of the target module.
Identify all callers of the target function/class.
Check evals/ and calibration/ for tests covering the changed path.
Only then propose edits.

End-of-Session Handoff Requirement

At the end of every session, write a handoff document using the template at docs/handoff_template.md. Name it:

HANDOFF-gpt55-YYYY-MM-DD.md

Architecture Summary

Raw input becomes a closed versor field once; thought evolves through exact versor transitions and CGA recall; cognition is structured as intent, proposition graph, articulation target, deterministic realization, reviewed memory, eval/calibration replay, and traceable evidence.

See AGENTS.md for the full cognitive path, key modules, and PR checklist.

CLI Validation Lanes

core test --suite smoke -q
core test --suite cognition -q
core test --suite teaching -q
core test --suite packs -q
core test --suite runtime -q
core test --suite algebra -q
core test --suite full -q
core eval cognition

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