/nightly - canonical seven-leg close-parity protocol

NIGHTLY_LOCAL_PROTOCOL: close-parity-v2-7L-11C

/nightly-close-parity is the public fire verb for this seven-leg framework. It first proves that this project-local protocol is the one being loaded. Do not fall back to another same-name skill or an installed cache.

The seven legs contain eleven independently recorded checkpoints:

Leg	Checkpoints
A - Dream	dream
B - Reconcile and context	reconcile, context-hygiene
C - Sweep and heat	sweep-now, heat-index
D - Digest	digest
E - Runtime health	system-check, cognitive-runtime
F - Measurement ledgers	ledger-capture, ledger-review
G - Vault sync	vault-sync

Every checkpoint is recorded through daemons/nightly-pass.mjs. A failed checkpoint immediately writes a named event to the append-only NIGHTLY_ALERTS.jsonl ledger, writes the same bounded alert to stderr, and leaves it active for the next SessionStart hook. Local delivery is the complete default channel; no external coordination service is required.

Root, memory, date, and environment

Run from the aigent-OS root. The normal operational memory root is vault/memory; the daemon also supports the documented memory fallback used by minimal forks and honors AIGENT_STATE_HOME_DIR for isolated probes.

One time zone is used for pass dating, alert scopes, ledger review, and freshness. Configure it with AIGENT_NIGHTLY_TIME_ZONE; the documented default is America/Los_Angeles. Configure the post-fire cutoff with AIGENT_NIGHTLY_CUTOFF_HOUR; the default is 4. A CLI --time-zone or --cutoff-hour override must be threaded through the whole invocation. The controller stores both values in pass state so a later checkpoint cannot drift to a different date policy.

Tests and scheduled invocations must set the root, state-home, time zone, and cutoff explicitly. Ambient values must never decide which memory tree a proof mutates.

Evidence controller

Prove the route, then begin:

node daemons/nightly-route-check.mjs --root <aigent-root>
node daemons/nightly-pass.mjs begin --root <aigent-root> [--date YYYY-MM-DD] [--replace]

Begin requires both canonical inputs to exist and be readable:

• vault/memory/MEMORY_CANDIDATES.md
• vault/memory/runtime/NIGHTLY_CAPTURE_CANDIDATES.jsonl

The exact prefix may be memory/ only when the root uses the documented fallback layout. Missing input is a failed invocation, never an empty or skip claim.

--replace is recovery-only. It abandons an interrupted status=running pass with a named alert before starting a new pass. It never overwrites completed evidence.

After each checkpoint:

node daemons/nightly-pass.mjs record --root <aigent-root> \
  --checkpoint <name> --status <pass|skipped|fail> --exit-code <integer> \
  --artifact <file:PATH|git:FULL-40-CHAR-SHA|stdout:CHECKPOINT@exit=N|none:ALLOWLISTED-REASON> \
  --detail "<bounded factual detail>"

A git: artifact must be the full 40-character commit id, copied verbatim from git rev-parse HEAD; a short id is refused.

Any nonzero exit, missing/stale/noncanonical artifact, illegal skip, or explicit failure becomes fail and raises NIGHTLY:LEG_FAIL:<checkpoint>. A duplicate record is refused, preserves the first evidence, raises NIGHTLY:DUPLICATE_CHECKPOINT:<checkpoint>, and makes finish red. Only sweep-now and digest may be skipped under their exact predicates. Continue collecting other safe evidence after a failure.

Finish:

node daemons/nightly-pass.mjs finish --root <aigent-root>

A missing checkpoint raises NIGHTLY:INCOMPLETE_PASS. The terminal block is green only when all eleven checkpoint rows are present once, every validator receipt is nonempty, no row failed, and terminal status: PASS is written. Terminal status: FAIL is always red.

Artifact and postcondition contract

The controller captures pre-fire Dream, cognitive, and ledger snapshots at begin. It independently re-runs each known postcondition and stores bounded literal output in the checkpoint's validator field.

Checkpoint	Accepted green artifact
dream	canonical file: path to DREAM_LOG.md
reconcile	stdout:reconcile@exit=0
context-hygiene	stdout:context-hygiene@exit=0
sweep-now	canonical file: path to SWEEP_LOG.md
heat-index	canonical file: path to HEAT_INDEX.json
digest	canonical MEMORY_CANDIDATES.md file, or none:no-staged-candidates when re-parsing proves zero
system-check	stdout:system-check@exit=0
cognitive-runtime	stdout:cognitive-runtime@exit=0
ledger-capture	canonical candidate file/stdout, or none:no-ledger-candidates when the begin snapshot proves no append
ledger-review	stdout:ledger-review@exit=0
vault-sync	current git:<HEAD>, or none:nothing-to-commit after a clean-tree predicate

A checkpoint may not certify itself by echoing an artifact string. File paths must remain inside the selected root and resolve to the canonical product. Stdout receipts cause the deterministic daemon to run again. none: reasons are allowlisted and reproduced from live state.

Human-gate invariants

• Dream improvements start proposed; only an exact operator decision can approve them.
• Digest only counts and surfaces staged candidates unattended; it never changes status.
• Reconcile reports drift; it never reprioritizes.
• Context hygiene archives before removal, uses compare-and-swap, and refuses unfamiliar shapes.
• Cognitive updates write only explicit or mechanically evidenced deltas.
• Judgment-bearing ledger entries are staged. Direct mutation requires an allowlisted executable predicate and the existing ledger owner.
• Sweep results remain proposals.
• Meta-improvement consumes approved candidates only and never self-merges.
• Vault sync never force-pushes, resolves conflicts, stages unrelated work, or acts without the configured repository authority.

Leg A - Dream

Execute skills/dream/SKILL.md directly. The leg runs on every fire and appends one canonical dated synthesis, including an explicit zero-lesson result when there is no new signal.

PASS requires:

• the newest real Dream header matches the pass date;
• the Dream and Lessons products retain their pre-fire byte prefixes;
• every appended JSONL row parses, uses a valid next id, and satisfies the admission predicate;
• every improvement candidate starts status: proposed;
• exact source references and mutation-proof fields are present.

Record the canonical Dream file. The controller runs DREAM_CONTRACT PASS; serialization errors, self-approval, legacy paths, or a missing dated entry are failures.

Leg B - Reconcile and context

B1 - reconcile

Run:

node daemons/nightly-reconcile.mjs --root <aigent-root> --as-of <pass-date>

The daemon computes an exact seven-calendar-day attention window from explicit Tier-1 intended shares. Missing intended shares return the named failure intended-share-input-absent; the leg must not invent percentages or call the absence a skip. Record stdout:reconcile@exit=<literal-exit>.

B2 - context-hygiene

Execute skills/context-hygiene/SKILL.md. It archives old dated Session Log blocks before removal, keeps the documented five-entry newest-first live window, and requires one operating-mode heading plus one to five priorities under Tier 1-3 headings. It refuses ambiguous content and uses pre-write SHA-256 compare-and-swap.

Run the read-only checker after any edit:

node daemons/nightly-context-hygiene.mjs --root <aigent-root>

Only CONTEXT_HYGIENE PASS is green. Record stdout:context-hygiene@exit=<literal-exit>.

Leg C - Sweep and heat

C1 - sweep-now

Reuse skills/sweep-now/SKILL.md. Preserve its seven-day cadence:

• skip only when the newest real ### YYYY-MM-DD SWEEP_LOG.md header is within cadence;
• otherwise run the existing tracker, heat, and link proposal pass;
• surface every untracked path by name.

A cadence skip records status=skipped exit=0 with the canonical sweep-log file. Missing or unparseable cadence evidence is failure.

C2 - heat-index

Always run:

node daemons/memory-heat/compute-heat.js

The daemon atomically replaces HEAT_INDEX.json. Re-read it and require valid JSON, a current parseable generated_at, an array hot_top_20, and a nonnegative integer total_notes. A fresh mtime with stale content is red.

Leg D - Digest

Read the canonical MEMORY_CANDIDATES.md table and count exact status=staged rows by type. Do not promote, skip, supersede, or simulate an operator answer.

• Zero staged rows: status=skipped exit=0 artifact=none:no-staged-candidates.
• One or more: status=pass exit=0 with the canonical file. The controller re-parses it and records the derived count.

Leg E - Runtime health

E1 - system-check

Run bash daemons/system-check.sh from the aigent-OS root with explicit AIGENT_ROOT, vault, time-zone, and cutoff values. Record stdout:system-check@exit=<literal-exit>. A nonzero result is a failed checkpoint, but later safe legs still run.

E2 - cognitive-runtime

Execute skills/cognitive-update/SKILL.md. It may touch only GOAL_STACK.json, BELIEF_STATE.jsonl, SELF_MODEL.json, and PROCEDURES.jsonl. Zero qualifying updates are valid when the skipped count and sources are recorded.

The controller derives append-only suffixes, id allocation, and alias deltas from its begin snapshot. Record stdout:cognitive-runtime@exit=<literal-exit>.

Leg F - Ledger capture and review

F1 - ledger-capture

Execute skills/nightly-ledger-capture/SKILL.md. Local capsules, the canonical Session Log, explicitly referenced Git evidence, and existing ledgers are discovery inputs. A source cannot verify its own confident claim.

Judgment-bearing proposals append through the sole writer to:

vault/memory/runtime/NIGHTLY_CAPTURE_CANDIDATES.jsonl

Direct ledger mutation is legal only through an existing ledger owner after a green allowlisted executable predicate with structured arguments, observed result, literal exit, artifact, and receipt hash. Exact already-given decision outcomes use the dedicated compare-and-swap writer only when matching is unique, due, and replay-safe.

F2 - ledger-review

Run daemons/nightly-ledger-review.mjs. Count open honesty/trust items older than seven days, executable resolution candidates, and repeated failure classes. Stage any judgment-bearing resolution or doctrine proposal. On Friday the literal FRIDAY_MEASUREMENT line implements the weekly measurement.

Record stdout:ledger-review@exit=<literal-exit> even when every count is zero.

Leg G - Vault sync

Run last using the existing daemons/vault-sync.mjs boundary and the repository's configured authority:

1. Inspect git status --porcelain and name every untracked path.
2. Keep unrelated user work out of the sync.
3. Run the configured vault sync only when its remote and authority predicates pass.
4. Record current git:<HEAD>, or record none:nothing-to-commit only when a fresh clean-tree check reproduces it.
5. Finish the evidence controller.

If durable evidence cannot be committed after finish, run nightly-pass.mjs evidence-fail with the literal failure. After a verified retry, run evidence-success --sha <commit> to resolve only that run's alert. Never force-push, rewrite history, switch branches, resolve divergence, or claim delivery without readback.

No-fire watchdog

daemons/nightly-watchdog.mjs reads the actual maximum dated Nightly Log header outside fenced examples. File mtime is ignored. It applies the same configured time zone and post-fire cutoff, then verifies the selected block:

• exact protocol;
• terminal status: PASS;
• valid completion timestamp;
• all eleven checkpoints exactly once;
• no unknown, unparseable, or unreceipted rows;
• no failed or nonzero row under a PASS terminal status.

Red raises one of two distinct alerts, because "the pass never ran" and "the pass ran and failed" are different conditions and must not report as the same thing:

• NIGHTLY:NO_FIRE — no block, a stale block, or a structurally incomplete one. The pass did not complete.
• NIGHTLY:PASS_FAILED — a structurally complete block whose terminal status is FAIL, naming the failed checkpoints. The pass ran every checkpoint and reported its failures honestly. Raising this also resolves any stale no-fire, so the ledger never carries both claims at once.

Either way the result is red — a failing nightly never reads green. The active alert is visible at SessionStart even if no optional integration exists, and the boot renderer interpolates the alert code rather than filtering on it, so a new code surfaces without a change there. Green resolves only the no-fire alert.

Betterment flow

Nightly produces lessons, Dream proposals, staged ledger candidates, and pressure signals. skills/meta-improve-vault/SKILL.md may consume only a Dream proposal that carries exact operator approval. The flow is:

propose -> operator review -> approved -> independently reviewed implementation

Nothing auto-applies, auto-promotes, auto-approves, or self-merges.

What this pass never does

• Never fires or writes nightly evidence merely because the framework is installed or tested. Installation may seed only missing empty schema templates; tests use disposable operating-system temp roots.
• Never treats a missing input, stub, incomplete checkpoint, invalid artifact, or terminal FAIL as green.
• Never uses a capsule or agent-authored summary as its own verification oracle.
• Never requires or reports to an external coordination system.
• Never changes scheduler registration.
• Never lowers a sibling skill's human gate.