83 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
83 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
# Obelisk
|
|
|
|
Obelisk is explicit memory infrastructure for coding agents: it indexes local
|
|
Claude Code and Codex transcripts into a queryable SQLite evidence layer, and a
|
|
CodeAct runtime lets an agent write a small query, run it, and answer from real
|
|
session history. This glossary pins the terms that are specific to Obelisk; it is
|
|
not a spec.
|
|
|
|
## Runtime interface
|
|
|
|
**Runtime interface**:
|
|
The public contract, expressed as four verbs — `build`, `search(text)`,
|
|
`query(code)`, `attune(code)`. Skill, CLI, and MCP are transports over this same
|
|
shape; none of them add their own retrieval surface.
|
|
_Avoid_: API, tool surface
|
|
|
|
**CodeAct**:
|
|
The interaction style where an agent writes JavaScript that runs inside the
|
|
`query(code)` sandbox and returns JSON, rather than calling many fine-grained
|
|
tools. This is Obelisk's core design choice.
|
|
_Avoid_: tool-calling, function-calling
|
|
|
|
**Helper**:
|
|
A convenience accessor available only inside the `query(code)` sandbox
|
|
(`overview`, `search`, `context`, `sql`, `memories`, …). Helpers are never
|
|
promoted to an external tool surface.
|
|
|
|
## Indexing
|
|
|
|
**Parse core**:
|
|
The pure `jsonl -> records` transform. Given a transcript file and a start line,
|
|
it yields normalized index records. It does not open, own, or write to a
|
|
database, and is shared verbatim by every indexing mode. This is the layer that
|
|
must never be duplicated.
|
|
_Avoid_: parser, ingest
|
|
|
|
**Record**:
|
|
One normalized row destined for the index (session, message, tool call, tool
|
|
result, summary, subagent, workflow, …), emitted by the parse core before any
|
|
persistence happens.
|
|
|
|
**Persist layer**:
|
|
The thin, binding-specific writer that consumes records from the parse core and
|
|
writes them into SQLite inside a transaction. Two persist layers exist and differ
|
|
only in binding: `node:sqlite` (skill/CLI) and `better-sqlite3` (app).
|
|
_Avoid_: writer, sink, DAO
|
|
|
|
**Daemon indexing mode**:
|
|
Continuous incremental indexing driven by a long-lived process (the desktop app,
|
|
later a CLI daemon) that watches transcript directories and keeps the index fresh
|
|
as files change.
|
|
_Avoid_: watcher mode, live indexing
|
|
|
|
**Passive pull mode**:
|
|
On-demand incremental indexing performed by the skill when there is no active
|
|
daemon: an invocation of the runtime brings the index up to date, then answers.
|
|
_Avoid_: lazy indexing, on-read indexing
|
|
|
|
**index_state**:
|
|
The bookkeeping table shared by both indexing modes. It records, per transcript
|
|
path, the last-seen `mtime` and `lines_processed` (enabling resume-from-line
|
|
incremental indexing), plus heartbeat/last-build markers used for daemon
|
|
arbitration.
|
|
|
|
**Daemon arbitration**:
|
|
The mechanism by which the passive pull mode detects a fresh daemon (via
|
|
`__app_heartbeat__` and `__app_last_successful_build__` markers in `index_state`)
|
|
and skips its own indexing. Because a fresh daemon owns writes, the two persist
|
|
layers never write concurrently.
|
|
|
|
## Memory
|
|
|
|
**Queryable session memory**:
|
|
The evidence layer — real sessions, messages, tool calls, subagents, workflows —
|
|
that an agent queries on demand. Obelisk deliberately does this instead of
|
|
implicit/ambient memory.
|
|
_Avoid_: implicit memory, ambient memory, auto-recall
|
|
|
|
**Approved durable memory**:
|
|
Human-approved conclusions persisted as markdown plus a registry record, via
|
|
`attune(code)` calling `remember()`/`forget()`. Auditable and revocable.
|
|
_Avoid_: long-term memory, vector memory
|