Uni system · what is kept where

Uni's memory

Uni forgets most things between turns on purpose. A room remembers its own conversation; everything meant to last goes into Parachute, a vault of notes. Catch-up jobs carry news between rooms so no room works from a stale picture.

Where Uni's memory lives Left: what Hermes itself holds, each room's conversation, two small memory files, and its rules and skills. Centre: the Parachute vault with the journal, meetings and people, tasks, areas and projects, runs, drafts and decisions, room activity and Now. Right: who reads the vault, the rooms through tools, the Uni app, scripts and timers, and Aaron. Bottom: four catch-up paths, the digest plugin on Aaron's next message, the hourly room digest, the tasks mirror every five minutes and the morning brief. In Hermes · short memory In Parachute · long memory Who reads it A room's conversation everything said in that room, squeezed when it gets long Two memory files facts every session needs, about 3.5 KB in all Rules and skills the operating file, its voice, about 140 written procedures A room knows only its own conversation. For anything else it looks in the vault. The vault JournalAaron's text and voice entries · private Meetings, people, guides, logsthe working record Tasks · T-NNstate, owner, next step, the node it hangs on Areas and projects (nodes)each names the room that tends it Runs, drafts, decisionswhat workers did; what waits on Aaron Room activityan hourly digest of every room Nowwhat is true at the moment Every room searches and writes notes when a turn needs it The Uni app shows tasks, drafts and decisions straight from here Scripts and timers the task tool, digests, area briefs, the calendar Aaron opens a note from a link in chat, in the app Catch-up · how news travels between rooms Catch-up when Aaron writes in a room, a "since your last message" block from linked rooms and tasks rides along with his message digest plugin Room digest · hourly Haiku sums up every room into Room activity; wakes #Uni only when something crosses rooms or needs Aaron hourly job Task mirror · 5 min rewrites Aaron's task list and "for you" note from the task notes; never edited by hand system timer Morning brief · 08:00 the day from the task board, posted in #Uni; area briefs refresh on their own schedule Hermes job
Short memory on the left, long memory in the middle, readers on the right, catch-up underneath. Swipe sideways, or open the full-size picture.

Short memory: inside Hermes

Each room remembers its own conversation, and nothing else. When #techne's Uni answers, it has the whole #techne history, a small set of facts that every session carries, and its rules. It does not see what was said in #atlas. That keeps each room focused, and it is why anything worth keeping goes into the vault.

Technical detail

Long memory: the vault

Parachute's vault is the one place that lasts. It is a database of notes on the machine. Notes have a path, tags and fields, and they link to each other.

The journal

Aaron's own entries, typed or spoken, filed by date. It is his: only Aaron and Uni use it, and nothing from it is quoted into a shared place. These pages describe its shape only.

Tasks

Every task is a numbered note (T-NN) with a state (open, doing, waiting, done, archived), an owner (Aaron, Uni or a room), a next step and the node it belongs to. A change of state is checked so two rooms can't overwrite each other.

A task that waits on Aaron must carry the exact action and what he needs to do it, so the app can show it whole. When Aaron says he did something, in any room, that room closes the task or hands it back in the same turn.

Areas, projects and rooms

Nodes and their rooms Uni at the top, tended by #Uni. Under it eight areas: Atlas with #atlas, Techne with #techne, five more areas each with its own room, and one area that is the Uni system itself, discussed in #Uni. Under the areas, 36 projects, some with their own room. Tasks hang on any node. Uni#Uni Atlas#atlas Techne#techne 5 more areaseach with its own room The system itselfno room of its own Atlas projectssome with a room Techne projectssome with a room The app, the agentsa room each 36 projects (15 archived), each linked to one or two areas. A project Aaron tends directly gets its own room. Tasks hang on any node · each room keeps its nodes' "where it stands" line current · the app reads these notes, not the chat
The tree of nodes, with the room that tends each. Swipe sideways, or open the full-size picture.

The vault holds a small map of Aaron's life and work: Uni at the top, eight areas, and projects linked to them (a project can belong to two areas, so it is a web more than a tree). Each node names the room that tends it. That is how a room knows what it is responsible for, and how catch-up knows which rooms are neighbours.

Technical detail

Runs, drafts and decisions

Every worker gets a run note when it starts, closed when its room writes [done]. Drafts are things written for Aaron to read; decisions are questions with a few options he can pick in the app.

Catch-up: how news moves between rooms

  1. On Aaron's next message. When he writes in a room, a short "since your last message" block is added: what changed in linked rooms and tasks. Uni starts the turn current without anyone pushing news to it.
  2. Every hour. The room digest reads every room, writes one-line summaries (by Haiku) into the note room-activity note, and wakes #Uni only when something crosses rooms or needs Aaron. It can also close a task when Aaron says he did it.
  3. Every five minutes. The task mirror rewrites Aaron's task list and "for you" note, and the area-brief dispatcher refreshes any area that asked for it.
  4. Every morning. At 08:00 the morning brief posts the day in #Uni; earlier, a "today" roll-up of every area is rebuilt.
  5. Right away, for markers. [blocked] and [decision] wake #Uni at once; [done] wakes the room that asked for the work.
Technical detail
Worth noticing. Most news reaches #Uni lazily: on Aaron's next message, or within the hour. Only blocks and decisions interrupt. That keeps #Uni quiet, and it means #Uni's picture of running workers can be up to an hour old; the hooks project addresses the worker half of that.