Loopstrap

Loopstrap is a tests-first, evidence-producing agentic workflow kernel for designing and building software from a system contract.

The current implementation is deliberately unarmed. Its deterministic core, mock-harness path, harness-certification subsystem, and failure behavior are testable now; owner-selected role assignments, governing documents, and live Role-Treatment certification receipts remain future inputs.

Key paths:

• loopstrap_core/ — authority, workflow, evidence ledger, workspace, CUE specification/contract compilation, recursive driver, harness, evidence acceptance, recovery, budget, corpus, execution kernel, and non-authoritative SQLite observation mirror
• config/ — versioned workflow, Role-Treatment registry, owner role bindings, and certification contract
• .loopstrap/roles/ — role authority and responsibility doctrine loaded by the harness-specific Role-Treatments
• spec/cue/ — reusable project, Cell/composite, and evidence schemas
• tools/cue/ — exact version- and digest-pinned CUE executable
• tests/acceptance/ — frozen behavioral claims for the core
• tests/active/ — frozen claims for the active root and configuration surface
• tests/integration/ — frozen cross-component and recursive execution claims
• tests/telemetry/ — frozen exhaustive-observation, ordering, relationship, path/process trace, unavailable-value, and byte-copy claims
• tests/readiness/ — frozen CUE, contract, driver, recovery, and evidence claims
• tests/certification/ — frozen Role-Treatment identity, native wrapper, mechanical/inference method, and Loopstrap conformance claims
• tests/battery.sh — deterministic change detector
• tests/mutation-check.sh — sampled causal checks against detector blindness
• tests/cases/ — battery cases, each assertion mapped to a register ruling
• TELEMETRY.md — observation boundary, schema, captured data, and current gaps

The tree is sealed. loopstrap.manifest and loopstrap.modes list every file with a sha256 and a mode, and the listing is exhaustive — an unlisted file is an error, not an omission. Regenerate with artifacts/instance/tools/seal-tree.py after any change and read the delta; never edit either by hand, and never hand-resolve a merge conflict in them.

• artifacts/instance/tools/ — the working toolchain: the seal, the contract gate, the publication check, the pin checker, the consistency audit
• ops/ — operator scripts and the git hooks. setup.sh and launch-loop.sh stay at the root because they are what a person runs first
• contract/ — CUE package contract: the gate's invariants and the facts they read. Dev-lane CUE, distinct from the production schemas in spec/cue/
• .agents/ — orientation for any agent working here, vendor-neutral
• .claude/, .codex/ — harness surfaces. Skills, commands, settings for Claude Code, which grok also reads; a single adapter for codex
• .serena/ — symbolic navigation, project read-only
• artifacts/ — material carrying one of three standings: authority (cited and enforced), method (transferable technique, never executed), and record (evidence of one past run). Age is not a standing; check which before treating anything there as binding

Each run writes an append-only telemetry.sqlite3 alongside its authoritative hash-chained ledger. The database copies every observable sanitized event, timing, path, relationship, usage field, content reference, and available digest-deduplicated artifact/snapshot byte sequence for later analysis. It is never consulted for execution, replay, recovery, acceptance, or promotion.

Run tests/battery.sh for the deterministic battery. Live model execution is never an implicit fallback and must be enabled only after explicit certification.