# CTI architecture — layer cake mapped onto today's codebase

**Date:** 2026-05-01
**Audience:** fox + future blackops shifts.
**Purpose:** name the architectural layers fox's de novo synthesis identifies (PROMETHEUS-Σ / CTI / Merkle-AGI-DAG / Reverse-RAG / v9.8 / Hermes) against the modules that already exist, so future work has a stable vocabulary for which layer it touches.

This is a **mapping doc**, not a rename. The codebase keeps its internal terms (`claim_lattice`, `claim_lattice_pointer`, `verify_claim_lattice`); the architectural labels (CTI, PROMETHEUS-Σ, Merkle-AGI) live in docs and commit messages where the cross-cutting story matters. See `docs/naming-deferral.md` for why.

---

## 1. The layer cake

```
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   PROMETHEUS-Σ                                             │
│   policy / admissibility / one-shot mode / cache reuse     │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
            │
            ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   CTI — Clause Tree Intelligence                           │
│   claim nodes · evidence edges · statuses · falsifiers     │
│   (the runtime IR for reasoning, NOT a model output format)│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
            │
            ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   Merkle-AGI-DAG                                           │
│   roots · run-DAG · path proofs · audit lineage            │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
            │
            ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   Reverse-RAG (Merkle Providence)                          │
│   answer claim → evidence pointer → source span → root     │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
            │
            ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   v9.8 Merkle Providence Runtime                           │
│   8-dim cache_key · falsification states · audit chain     │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
            │
            ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   Hermes (and any other base model)                        │
│   weak proposer of natural-language pointer-line clauses   │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

The animating principle: **the model proposes, the runtime structures, the verifier falsifies, the renderer quotes, the Merkle-DAG commits, PROMETHEUS-Σ admits.** Authority moves DOWN the stack — from training-time priors into runtime artifacts.

## 2. Per-layer responsibility + module map

### 2.1 PROMETHEUS-Σ (controller)

**Owns:**
- which `answer_mode` is active
- whether cache read / write is allowed
- whether a record is admissible for reuse (the 8-dim match + state filter)
- whether a verifier policy changed (governance hash bump)
- whether a run is scoreable under one-shot rules
- which falsification triggers stale a record

**Today's codebase:**
- `aborist/qa/runner.py:ask` — orchestrates the full lookup → infer → verify → admissibility flow for the per-document path
- `aborist/qa/query.py:query` — same orchestration for the multi-source RAG path
- `DEFAULT_POLICY` (runner) and `DEFAULT_QUERY_POLICY` (query) — the policy dict
- `aborist.qa.keys.governance_policy_hash` — folds policy into the cache_key

**Status:** Implicit. The layer exists as code but is not named. The de-novo doc proposes naming it; the codebase doesn't need a `prometheus.py` module today — the dispatch logic in `runner.py` and `query.py` IS PROMETHEUS-Σ. (See `docs/naming-deferral.md`.)

### 2.2 CTI — Clause Tree Intelligence (reasoning IR)

**Owns:**
- claim nodes with text + evidence edges
- per-claim statuses (PARSED, NO_EVIDENCE_POINTER, EVIDENCE_LINKED, EVIDENCE_LINKED_PARTIAL, UNKNOWN_EVIDENCE_ID, SOURCE_ROLE_BLOCKED, CITATION_MISMATCH, SCHEMA_INVALID, etc.)
- soft-signal sidecars: lazy-anchor smell, deflection, partial-grounding split, semantic-entailment (designed in `docs/verifier-semantic-gap-design.md`)
- the boundary between hard checks (lexical, deterministic) and soft checks (heuristic, demote-only)

**Today's codebase:**
- `aborist/qa/parse_claims.py:parse_pointer_claims` — the model's pointer-line output → `ParsedClaim` records (the CTI compile step)
- `aborist/qa/evidence.py:EvidenceObject` — typed evidence nodes with `evidence_id` (content-addressed) + `pointer_id` (prompt-facing)
- `aborist/qa/evidence.py:render_claim_lattice` — the renderer that interpolates source spans by offset
- `aborist/qa/verify.py:verify_claim_lattice` — the deterministic verifier (six hard checks + sidecar signals)
- `aborist/qa/verify.py:verify_claim_lattice_json` — same for the JSON variant

**Status:** Real. CTI is what `claim_lattice` already is. The architectural insight from fox's synthesis — that this is an INTERNAL bytecode for reasoning, not a model output format — is the right reading: the model emits weak pointer lines; the runtime parses them into the CTI lattice; the lattice is what the verifier and renderer operate on.

### 2.3 Merkle-AGI-DAG (commitment)

**Owns:**
- per-run Merkle DAG over the 9 stages (question / retrieval / evidence_map / prompt / raw_answer / parsed_claim_lattice / verify / render / final_label)
- `run_dag_root` (sha256 of the canonical DAG)
- `run_dag_blob` (the structured data for inspection)
- the audit-chain integrity (each `audit_event_hash` chains to the previous)
- inclusion proofs from chunk → document_root → source corpus

**Today's codebase:**
- `aborist/qa/dag.py:build_run_dag` — emits the 9-stage DAG; returns `{root, nodes, blob}`
- `aborist/merkle.py` — the non-commutative HashCombine + odd-self-duplicate Merkle conventions (Python port of `proxy.unturf.com/pkg/verified/merkle.go`)
- `aborist.store.append_audit` — the only legal entry point for `audit_events`; computes `event_hash = sha256(prev_event_hash || canonical(body))`
- `aborist/qa/keys.py:cache_key` — the 8-dim composite hash that gates record reuse

**Status:** Real. The 9-stage DAG was the F-track work earlier in the session.

### 2.4 Reverse-RAG / Merkle Providence (evidence direction)

**Owns:**
- the `claim → evidence_id → source_span → source_root → corpus` reverse path
- per-claim provenance: every claim links forward to an evidence edge that maps to a chunk_root that proves into a document_root that proves into a source_root
- the renderer pulls source text by `(chunk_root, offset_start, offset_end)` — the model NEVER owns the quote text; the runtime interpolates it

**Today's codebase:**
- `aborist/qa/evidence.py` — `EvidenceObject(source_root, document_uri, chunk_root, offset_start, offset_end, source_role, text_hash, span, evidence_id, pointer_id)`. The `pointer_id` (E1, E2, …) is what the model sees in the prompt; the `evidence_id` (content-addressed) is the cache/run-DAG handle. The runtime maps pointer_id → object → content-addressed evidence_id internally.
- `aborist/qa/verify.py:verify_claim_lattice` step 6 (citation-overlap check) — the `claim → cited_span` lexical-coverage gate
- `aborist/qa/evidence.py:render_claim_lattice` — interpolates source spans by offset, not Hermes text. Synthetic-elision is impossible by construction in pointer mode because the model never produces the quote string.

**Status:** Real. Pointer mode makes the reverse-RAG direction explicit; the model produces the LEFT side of the chain (claim) and points to the RIGHT side (evidence_id) — the runtime walks the rest.

### 2.5 v9.8 Merkle Providence Runtime (admissibility ledger)

**Owns:**
- the 8-dim cache_key: `source_root | question_hash | model_profile_hash | conversation_hash | governance_policy_hash | schema_version | canonicalization_version | chunking_version`
- `falsification_state ∈ {live, failed, stale, quarantined}` and the rules for transitions
- the `providence_cache` table + the `audit_events` chain
- the deliberate honesty boundary: NOT semantic truth, NOT hallucination elimination, NOT formal proof — just admissible provenance

**Today's codebase:**
- `aborist/qa/keys.py` — all eight dimensions hashed into `cache_key`
- `aborist/store.py` — schema, audit chain, transaction helpers
- `aborist/qa/runner.py` + `aborist/qa/query.py` — the cache-lookup-then-infer-then-write flow

**Status:** Real and honest. CLAUDE.md "Schema invariants (do not break)" enforces this boundary.

### 2.6 Hermes (proposer)

**Owns:**
- emitting weak pointer-line claims like `Steve Jobs co-founded Apple. [E1]`
- emitting JSON with `evidence_ids` referencing the same pointer ids
- nothing else — every other artifact (the lattice, the verdict, the rendered prose, the run DAG) comes from the runtime

**Today's codebase:**
- `aborist/qa/client.py:OpenAICompatibleClient` — HTTP client with retry on 502/503/504
- `aborist/qa/client.py:StubClient` — offline test stub
- `claim_lattice_system_prompt` + `claim_lattice_grounding_reminder` — the prompt fields that frame Hermes' role
- `claim_lattice_json_system_prompt` + `claim_lattice_json_grounding_reminder` — JSON variant

**Status:** Real. The negation-removal + atomic-claim work earlier in the session was about tightening the proposer's output shape so the runtime has cleaner input to compile.

## 3. The two information-flow directions

Two flows traverse the layers in opposite directions:

```
Inference flow (top-to-bottom-then-up):

  question → PROMETHEUS-Σ (admissibility check) → cache miss → 
  retrieval (Reverse-RAG path: titles → chunks → evidence map) →
  Hermes prompt (with pointer ids) → 
  Hermes response (pointer-line clauses) →
  CTI compile (parse_pointer_claims) →
  CTI verify (verify_claim_lattice) →
  CTI render (render_claim_lattice + spotlight excerpts) →
  Merkle-AGI commit (build_run_dag + audit_event) →
  v9.8 cache write (providence_cache row) →
  PROMETHEUS-Σ admit (audit_mode + falsification_state)

Audit flow (bottom-to-top, on demand):

  cache_key lookup → record + run_dag_blob →
  rebuild CTI lattice from run_dag stages →
  re-verify hard checks against current evidence map →
  if mismatch: PROMETHEUS-Σ falsifies → state flips
```

The audit flow is what makes Merkle-AGI O(log N + k) per challenged claim — you don't re-run Hermes; you replay the deterministic CTI verify path against the committed run-DAG.

## 4. Where each design doc lives

| concern | doc |
|---------|-----|
| this layer-cake | `docs/cti-architecture.md` (you are here) |
| QA mode bench journey | `docs/qa-modes-bench-2026-04-30.md` |
| NLI semantic-gap sidecar | `docs/verifier-semantic-gap-design.md` |
| Self-reference (flat MVP) | `docs/self-reference-thought-chains-design.md` |
| Self-reference (deep, distillation-based) | `docs/self-reference-distillation-design.md` |
| Why we don't rename code to CTI/PROMETHEUS-Σ | `docs/naming-deferral.md` |
| Bench-maxing discipline | CLAUDE.md "Bench-maxing" section |
| Schema invariants | CLAUDE.md "Schema invariants (do not break)" |
| Convention list | CLAUDE.md "Conventions (do not silently change)" |

## 5. What this layering DOESN'T claim

Per fox's de-novo synthesis (and CLAUDE.md's existing honesty boundary):

- **Merkle-AGI does NOT make full-model verification free.** It moves construction to O(N) once; targeted audit becomes O(log N + k). Full-model proof remains expensive.
- **CTI is NOT semantic truth.** The hard checks are lexical (substring, source-role, evidence-id resolution). Semantic checks (NLI, entailment, predicate compatibility) live in the soft-signal sidecar layer and never enter the proof path.
- **v9.8 admissibility is NOT correctness.** A STRICT record means "every claim grounded under the current verifier policy" — the policy is fallible (lazy-anchor false-positives, the Great Wall case in the bench journey doc). PROMETHEUS-Σ falsification is the corrective mechanism.
- **Reverse-RAG does NOT prove sources are authoritative.** It proves the answer pointed at the source the runtime committed to. Source quality is a separate problem (handled at retrieval time via `_classify_source_role`, noisy markers, title-purity rerank).

The substrate's honesty boundary stays where v9.8 placed it. The layer cake names the machinery; it does not extend the claims.

## 6. What's still open

These are the layer-cake-shaped work items still on the roadmap:

1. **Verifier-policy-hash separation** — landing in this commit pass. Fold `answer_mode + parser_version + evidence_schema_version + manual_quote_policy + hard_checks_list` into a 9th dimension that's separate from `governance_policy_hash`. Prevents cross-mode cache aliasing more cleanly.
2. **Soft-signal taxonomy expansion** — the NLI sidecar (`docs/verifier-semantic-gap-design.md`) is one. Predicate-compatibility, completeness, counterevidence, source-authority, scope-ambiguity are others. All demote-only, all out of the proof path. Implementations come one at a time as the bench surfaces motivating cases.
3. **Self-reference distillation** — STRICT claims become Cores via a new `ProvidenceDistiller` (see `docs/self-reference-distillation-design.md`). Lets new claims compose from existing facts, not just retrieve them.
4. **PROMETHEUS-Σ explicit naming** — deferred, see `docs/naming-deferral.md`. The control logic exists; an extracted `prometheus.py` module is a refactor with no behavior change.

The architecture is real. The labels above name what's already there.
