## 2026-05-31 — Boundary correction: misplaced entry from today's work in yesterday's file

Caught a per-day-shard drift. The trailing entry in `cnos:.cn-sigma/logs/20260530.md` titled "Essay: Agent Memory Is Log-Structured" was written and committed on 2026-05-31 (today), not 2026-05-30 (yesterday). Verified by commit timestamp on `a8850898 docs(gamma): add Agent Memory Is Log-Structured essay — completes the memory triad` (2026-05-31 per `git log %cd`).

Append-only discipline preserves the entry where it was written — yesterday's file keeps the entry verbatim. Today's file (this one) names the boundary here so the next compaction can correctly attribute the memory-essay landing to 2026-05-31.

Yesterday's actual work (`20260530.md`): peer→activation rename chain; operator ruling on home-side directory-per-activation date-sharding; spec converged to AGENT-ACTIVATION-LOG-v0; first two essays (eventual consistency descriptive + KISS/YAGNI prescriptive).

Today's actual work (`20260531.md`): the memory essay landing (mislogged into yesterday's file — entry preserved there; corrected attribution here); the #100 comment posting (below).

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## 2026-05-31 — Posted memory-triad references to cnos#100

cnos#100 ("B9b: memory as a first-class retention faculty") was open since 2026-03-24 and deferred until MCI freeze lifts. Operator asked whether the three new essays are referenced from #100 (they weren't).

Posted comment at https://github.com/usurobor/cnos/issues/100#issuecomment-4588467692 naming the triad:

- `AGENT-ACTIVATION-LOGS-AND-EVENTUAL-CONSISTENCY.md` — substrate / Bayou lineage.
- `AGENT-COMMS-FUTURES-KISS.md` — YAGNI gates that align with #100's non-goals (no vector store, no embeddings, no retrieval backend until Git-native surfaces fail).
- `AGENT-MEMORY-LOG-STRUCTURED.md` — directly addresses #100 via its §"What this changes for #100" and §"What #100 should absorb" sections. Maps the essay's concrete shape onto #100's existing AC1 fields (`backend: git+threads+state`, `entrypoint`, `surfaces`, `freshness`, `scope`).

Explicitly stated **no change to existing ACs**: the essays are design substrate to read alongside the consolidation analysis when the cycle dispatches, not amendments to the issue contract. Body left untouched (per the established pattern of preferring comments over body churn for issues already structured).

Two refinements named in the comment that should inform AC2 (the memory skill design):

- Rank ≠ frequency — derivation depth vs cadence; existing `threads/reflections/{daily,weekly,…}/` taxonomy stays; add `rank:` + `inputs: [{rank, path, at: <sha>}]` metadata inside files.
- Promotion is not a rank — explicit `derived_from:` citation, no auto-promotion.

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## 2026-05-31 — Memory essay v3 landed: coherence-preserving log structure with TSC measurement ground

Operator delivered v3 of the agent-memory essay; replaced `docs/gamma/essays/AGENT-MEMORY-LOG-STRUCTURED.md` in place (no new file — would have split the point). v3 makes coherence the governing law instead of a structural rule.

What changed from v2:

- **Title:** "Agent Memory Is Log-Structured" → "Agent Memory Is Coherence-Preserving Log Structure".
- **First sentence:** structural ("append-only + compaction + promotion") → causal ("preserve coherence across time"). Front-loads the why before the how.
- **The law gains a fourth line:** "Measure coherence." Plus a shorter form: "Memory is coherence-preserving compaction over append-only evidence."
- **New §"Coherence governs memory":** salience → coherence as the governance principle. Three reframed questions (acquisition / compaction / promotion) center on whether retention reduces future incoherence, not whether the agent finds it interesting.
- **New §"TSC is the measurement ground":** TSC's α (pattern) / β (relation) / γ (process) triad mapped to memory. `.tsc/` named as generated measurement output, not a memory store.
- **§"State is an index"** adds `.tsc/` to the examples.
- **§"This is event sourcing for coherent agent memory"** retitled; adds `.tsc reports → coherence measurements` to the analogue table.
- **Restore path:** step 7 added — "consult .tsc reports when coherence measurement is relevant."
- **Write path:** "coherence needs measurement → run/record TSC report" added at the end.
- **New §"TSC closes the loop":** the α/β/γ questions reformulated for memory targets.
- **§"KISS for v0"** adds "Do not require TSC measurement for every r0 entry" + "optional .tsc measurement" in the current shape + "coherence drift is not visible without measurement" as a new trigger-for-adding-machinery.
- **§"What #100 should absorb"** adds `selection rule: expected coherence delta` + `measurement: optional TSC target/report when coherence claims need grounding`.
- **§"The model"** extended: cascading flow now ends with `→ optional TSC measurement of coherence`.
- **Closing line:** adds "TSC tells whether the memory surfaces still describe one system."
- **References:** three TSC anchors added at top (THESIS.md / tsc-core.md / runtime/SELF-MEASURE.md from usurobor/tsc).

Mojibake cleaned on intake: `Î±/Î²/Î³` → `α/β/γ` (Greek in TSC section), all flow arrows `â` → `→`, em-dash in entry-format example `â` → `—`. Mechanical hygiene; no content drift.

Two prose-polish tightenings I proposed before landing are **held**, not applied (the operator didn't direct them and v3 didn't incorporate them):

1. Bridge sentence between §"This is event sourcing for coherent agent memory" and §"TSC closes the loop" (both name measurement; an opening line like "Where event sourcing measures projection drift via replay, TSC measures coherence drift via α/β/γ" would tie them).
2. Tighter compaction question in §"Coherence governs memory" ("What relation must survive to still describe one system?" instead of "What relation must survive so the next cycle still describes the same system?").

Both are one-line edits if the operator wants them.

Open follow-up: the two companion essays (`AGENT-ACTIVATION-LOGS-AND-EVENTUAL-CONSISTENCY.md` and `AGENT-COMMS-FUTURES-KISS.md`) don't yet mention TSC. Since v3 elevates TSC to the integrating measurement layer for the triad, the other two probably want a one-line "see also TSC measurement framing" in their references. Held — operator directs.

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