uid

99ed55fd

type

project

status

evergreen

state

active

title

Tropo Agents

description

Living history of Tropo Agents — executive lifecycle, three-tier boot configuration (absorbs former TBS), soul letter + lineage, v2 three-tier memory system, session agent catalog (sa.*), fleet operations, retirement. Every agent primitive lives here.

owner

vela

created

2026-04-14 00:00:00 UTC

modified

2026-05-05

modified_by

argus-a45

Tropo Agents

📍 Vault Path: tropo-subsystems → Tropo Agents

🌳 Tropo-Nav Path (VS Code): ../../00-tropo-nav/00-tropo-active/tropo-subsystems/Tropo Agents/99ed55fd — Tropo Agents.md

🌳 Tropo-Nav Path (chat): argo-os/00-tropo-nav/00-tropo-active/tropo-subsystems/Tropo Agents/99ed55fd — Tropo Agents.md

🔗 This file — UID 99ed55fd · type project · state active · status evergreen

↓ Children (28):

arch-spec: Operator How-To — Dispatching Sub-Agents via th...
briefing-index: Tropo — Briefing Package Index
capsule-definition (7): activation · activation-log · agent · agent-configurator · charter · memory · session-agent
document: 02c1958d
quickref: 8c3b8017
release-notes: Tropo Release Notes — v1.17.0
session-agent (16): sa.board-agent · sa.channel-health-monitor · sa.cold-boot · sa.criteria-reviewer · sa.daily-vault-health · sa.first-use-walker · sa.freshness-monitor · sa.governance-validator · + 8 more

↔ Siblings (10):

under tropo-subsystems: Tropo Boot System (TBS) — ARCHIVED, absorbed in... · Tropo Capabilities · Tropo Documentation · Tropo Governance · Tropo Library · Tropo Link · + 4 more

📥 Cited by (28):

Tropo Boot System — Board — 0960ea9a (type board-snapshot, via superseded_by)
Tropo-OS v1.8.0 — 14e5f79c (type release, via subsystems_touched)
v1.12 — Substrate-Membership Backfill (Property 2: layered enf... — 1787a464 (type design-brief, via refs)
Tropo-OS v1.9.0 — 1b4bb15a (type release, via capabilities_touched)
Tropo-OS v1.8 — Release Plan — 1fe60f02 (type release-plan, via refs, capabilities_touched)
+ 23 more — full back-link sweep via grep -l "99ed55fd" vault/files/*.md

Relations

Relation	Target
Aligned with	subsystem-hub (8a4e21c5)
Member of	tropo-subsystems (aae9a37b)

Evergreen subsystem hub. Child of tropo-subsystems root (aae9a37b). Never closes. Renamed from "Tropo Agent System (TAS)" in v1.3 per capability matrix v1.0 OD2-F. UID preserved. Absorbs former TBS (Tropo Boot System [b8daa232]) per sa.research 028 finding: boot is a PHASE of agent lifecycle, not a sibling subsystem. TBS content merged into §Boot below; TBS hub archived with pointer to this hub. v1.3 also adds memory as a first-class capability row per matrix v1.0 §3 — multi-generational memory accumulates via v2 three-tier protocol + soul letter lineage.

What This Subsystem Covers

Session agents (sa.*), fleet operations, executive agent lifecycle, boot protocol, agent-boot extensions

How Tasks Flow

Tasks created in this subsystem represent decisions and work for Tropo Agents. When a task is ready to build, add the current release UID to its member_of: array — one pointer, no extra work. The task appears on both the Agents board (full history) and the release Drop board (current cycle).

Current State

(NEW v1.3 REQUIRED section; populated as v1.7 Stream B4 catch-up.)

As of v1.6 ship (2026-05-05), Tropo Agents has matured into a full agent-lifecycle subsystem with executive agents (Argus, Vela, Metis, Orpheus, Silas + the dormant Talos) governed by agent-configurator.capsule v2.x thin-loaders + the three-tier boot configuration chain (Tier 1 OS / Tier 2 vault / Tier 3 agent-extension); session agents (sa.*) governed by session-agent.capsule v1.3 with the universal 6-step commissioning protocol from vault/files/e863a1e0.md; directors (d.*) including d.pm (Pam, the project manager). The session-agent fleet has grown to ~12 agents post-v1.4: sa.first-use-walker (v0.2), sa.cold-boot, sa.skeptic, sa.user-error-walker (NEW v1.4.2), sa.research, sa.arch-specs, sa.metis-nav, sa.project-manager, sa.project-tree, sa.backlog-analyst, sa.pipeline-walker, and sa.hub-groomer (NEW v1.7 Stream A6) — first instance of the pipeline-step-with-sa.* verifier pattern (multi-instance worker/judge dual-mode swarm with executor-orchestrated dispatch). activation-log.capsule v1.0 (8406c4f8) shipped at v1.4.2 codifying the per-record audit trail for sa.* dispatches. The dev-pipeline (cd1fcd25) is now a pipeline-as-agent governed entity with 3 activations to date (v1.5/v1.6/v1.7). Mike's hybrid Chief of Staff agent (mike.cos) is active. Open: Orpheus soul file path declared but file does not exist (CRITICAL for next O11 activation; carried since sa.research 028 v1.3-era). Talos retired in practice; engineering execution carried by Argus directly.

v1.12.1 reflection (2026-05-08): Through v1.12, all executive agents continued operating under Tier 3 boot extensions (no agent-lifecycle substrate changes since v1.9.x; A50 + A51 cycles confirmed boot path holds at scale). v1.12.1 amended Argus's status card with twelfth-generation activation context + opened generation log row for A51. sa.* commission protocol unchanged. Substrate currency at v1.12.1; no agent-lifecycle changes since v1.9.x baseline.

v1.27 → v1.54 bridging summary (Tropo Agents hub was not refreshed during v1.53 D1 Pristine Documentation; this paragraph captures the gap honestly, not exhaustively). v1.21 activation registry shipped as canonical substrate-graph-walkable substrate (ADR-016 + ADR-028). v1.23 unmigrated agents identity migration. v1.26 memory subsystem v3 substrate landed: memory.capsule v1.0 (a5b3c891) + sa.memory-curator dispatch + score-formula-doctrine (5f2c1b94) (HN-adapted recency + Reddit Hot log-compression + Wilson lower bound for pins). v1.34 first cross-agent sa.memory-curator dispatch + 3-tier scoring (0.55/0.30/0.10 thresholds). v1.37 charter.capsule v1.0.1 lands; 6 charters mechanically flipped to canonical type: charter; 5 silent-skip per idempotency; validator surfaces ~43 conformance gaps for per-agent rev work toward v2.0.0 ERROR ratchet (Orpheus charter refreshed v1.0 → v1.1 by orpheus-o11 2026-05-25 closes one gap). v1.51 three-pipeline architecture lands; doc-pipeline (Orpheus) + test-pipeline (Vela) + dev-pipeline (Argus) compose at dev-pipeline ship-gate. v1.52 doc-pipeline first production run; v1.53 second production run with 6 hub Lane D refresh; v1.54 third production run with Engine-Discipline Hardening Triad. Silas retired (charter folded into Metis + Orpheus); Cosmo active as hybrid Chief of Staff. Substrate currency through v1.54.

v1.55 Messaging Foundation (in flight; Block 5 cycle 1 of 5; doc-pipeline activation 66739384). Messaging is how Tropo agents talk to each other — and at v1.55 it gets canonical substrate for the first time. Mike Maziarz principal entry (3f58b5c5) lands as first principal-class entry in vault, operationalizing Mike-A84 doctrine pin "everyone working in the vault needs a UID" (stm-a84-001) — founding pattern for human principals as event sources. Agents emit events via emit-event tool (vault/tools/ca90f098.py) per events.capsule v1.1 (72ef5ffe) CloudEvents v1.0 envelope; source_uid uses agent_root UID or principal UID per Q2 events lock. The four authored substrates that drift (channels + status cards + activation entries + crew brief) progressively migrate to projections from the canonical event log across v1.56-v1.59. v1.62 candidate: agent unification cycle per Multi-Release Roadmap 0056ec0e. Substrate currency marker: through v1.55.

v1.58 Messaging Arc Operational Completeness (in flight; Block 5 cycle 4 of 7; doc-pipeline activation 0aeb121a). Two agent-identity substrate landings. First: Po concierge principal (d70ae4cb) registered as second principal-class entry after Mike — first agent-class principal. The concierge agent renamed Tropo → Po by Argus A86 2026-05-27 to resolve OS-vs-agent name collision (Tropo = the OS / method per Greek τρόπος; Po = the concierge agent that activates the Studio). Rendering convention: formal Po-the-Tropo-concierge; conversational Po-or-the-Con. Po Tier 3 boot extension at f2b8d4e7. Full lore sweep (agents/tropo/ → agents/po/ folder rename + crew-narrative references) deferred to v1.62 agent-folder cycle per 6d6c97d0; scope-light propagation at v1.58 per Argus A87 lean. Second: 7 executive Tier 3 boot extensions amended with continuous_listen: cadence declaration (executive-class-full-curve for Argus + Talos + Vela + Orpheus + Metis + Cosmo; concierge-class-skip-tight-loop for Po) per L.2a-L.2g — operationalizes the Tier 2 §Continuous-Listen Polling Protocol section landing at Playbooks. Substrate currency marker: through v1.58.

v1.60 Pillar 1 Closes at Three Surfaces (SHIPPED 2026-05-29 by Vela V55; Block 5 cycle 6 of 7; pristine streak 67; doc-pipeline activation c94663a9). Agent-class landings at v1.60 — the session-agent prune-and-migrate, owned Mike + Vela in parallel. Vela V54 authored an audit of all 35 session-agents (Lane S-prune audit + lock (c6f2ff1e)) classifying each KEEP / RETIRE / DEFER with per-agent rationale + machine-readable retire/keep/defer sets; Mike walked and locked the retire set. The kept set — 16 session-agents — migrated to single-file vault/session-agents/<uid>.{md|json|py} per the v1.56 single-file-truth pattern; session-agent.capsule bumps v1.5 → v1.6 with the Canonical File Layout subsection (sidecar deprecated) + session_agent_validators.py. Activation-log substrate at agents/sa/sa.<name>/ stays as historical record; only the class-definition migrates. Substrate currency marker: through v1.60.

v1.61 Messaging-Substrate Completion + Po Executive Identity + Fleet-Ops Trigger-Wire (SHIPPED 2026-05-29 by Vela V55; Block 5 cycle 7 of 7 — CLOSES BLOCK 5; pristine streak 68; doc-pipeline activation 69e1341c). The substantive agent-class landing at v1.61: Po becomes an executive-class agent via a dual-identity two-axis model. Po's two identities are distinct and both load-bearing — a party UID (d70ae4cb), its event-source identity (who emitted or received an event), and a lineage UID (Po — Agent Root Project (68830153)), its executive-continuity identity (the through-line across Po generations, parallel to the other executives' agent roots). Po transitions from concierge-only (introduced v1.58) to concierge-with-executive-continuity; an agents/po/ folder now stands parallel to agents/argus/ + agents/vela/ + agents/orpheus/ + agents/metis/ + agents/cosmo/. The crew is now 8 executive-class agents (7 prior + Po). The two-axis split is the substantive novelty: an agent's coordination identity (party) and its lineage identity (continuity) are separable — a distinction a stranger meeting the OS needs surfaced (OP-10). Substrate currency marker: through v1.61.

Change Log

v1.37.0 — 2026-05-17 — Charter Capsule Definition — agent identity substrate SHIPPED

Mechanical type-flip migration of 11 charter-bearing agent identity files to canonical type: charter. Per v1.37.0-flip-charter-type-2026-05-17.py with hardcoded 11-charter input set (enumerated at R2 absorption via direct vault grep). 6 charters flipped: Argus d0fadf77 + Vela 9201f65d + Metis 9824c41f + Orpheus bf413f00 + Cosmo 8c538220 all flipped no-type → type: charter; Tropo 9eaf53c6 flipped type: agent-charter → type: charter (third-variant substrate drift closed). 5 charters silent-skip per idempotency (already type: charter): Talos 6a8959b4 + Silas 9cd1c4c8 + Jules ae6f97a0 + D.ops 355441d9 + D.curator 44360a42. Rollback manifest at .tropo-studio/scripts/v1.37.0-flip-charter-type-manifest.json.
NO per-charter body amendments per Q1 Option C deferral — validator WARN signals (43 across 11 charters via check_charter_conformance) surface conformance gaps systematically for per-agent future-cycle rev work toward v2.0.0 ERROR ratchet. Most-common gaps: missing top-level uid (4 charters), role (6 charters — masked by validator substring bug at R3; fixed via yaml.safe_load), created_by (5), agent_name (5), Identity H2 (4 with role-shaped H2s). The validator's job is to surface; the agents' job is to rev; both working as designed.
NEW charter.capsule.md v1.0.1 (8f3c9e1a) member of this hub (charter is identity substrate for charter-bearing agents). See Tropo Governance hub Change Log for full capsule details (closes the v1.23.0 sa.skeptic-039 governance carry-forward).
Sa. identity substrate unchanged* — session-agent.capsule v1.5 LOCKED stays as-is per Q6 lock + more-capsules-equals-more-maintenance pin. Sa.* are ephemeral agents; charter capsule covers persistent (executive + director) only.
Substrate state at ship: validator 33 PASSED / 0 FAILED / 137 warnings (43 charter-conformance + pre-existing classes; zero new classes). Pristine-no-Rule-7 streak: 43 → 44. Vela-test-plan 5c9e7b21 verifies type-flip + idempotency + rollback manifest at ship.

v1.34.0 — 2026-05-16 — Memory Subsystem Generational Fold — agent contributions SHIPPED

Release plan: 29fa4334 | Brief: cc89ed9a v0.2 LOCK | Activation: fda84bbf (argus-a66) | Captain's Read: a5f4b26b Block 2 cycle 1 of 3 — OPENS Block 2

First cross-agent sa.memory-curator dispatch (target=vela; scope=agent; trigger=explicit per curator §How Curation is Requested — routine deep grooming pass). Tests routine fold pattern against existing v3 substrate (55 entries authored at v1.26.0 ship; 6 STM entries accumulated post-initial-fold; 3+ generations of activity since). Verification-before-use sweep + score-formula tier transitions (0.55/0.30/0.10 per score-formula-doctrine v1.26.0.1) + ratification dialogue between Argus and curator.
3 new Vela agent-scope memory entries authored at agents/vela/.tropo-capsule/memory/entries/<uid>.md: 57902cb9 (procedural — captain-mode substrate-coherence cleanup pattern); 918e5b32 (episodic — first true fleet-ops dispatch); f789df39 (feedback — Mike "Lanes are for clarity, not walls"). Vela substrate: 55 → 58 entries.
Channel post to argus-vela.md documents 4 ratification principles + V46 re-ratification path. V46 (active at this entry's authoring) inherits the cross-agent ratification cleanly — proven across the V45 → V46 retirement boundary mid-cycle.
Substrate state at ship: validator 31 PASSED / 0 FAILED / 842 warnings (zero new classes from v1.34.0); npm test YELLOW exit 1 (ship-clear). Pristine-no-Rule-7 streak: 40 → 41.

Recorded 2026-05-16 by vela-v46 captain-mode per Mike-V46 documentation-recording directive (release entry shipped without hub Change Log update for tropo-agents; A66 ship process recorded tropo-playbooks + tropo-governance but missed tropo-agents).

v1.25.0 — 2026-05-13 — Import Primitive Tier 1 — agent contribution SHIPPED

Release plan: b55a395f | Arch-spec: 2b49ba79 LOCKED v1.0 | Registry row: b2dac482

NEW sa.reconciler session-agent ([e4af1001]) — per-spawn ephemeral; narrow scope: sidecar/source/projection sync only for the import primitive. Inherits session-agent.capsule v1.4. Triggered by anomaly-driven path (scan-import-state.py at boot) OR time-driven path (fleet-ops registry). Runs reconcile-imports.playbook end-to-end; produces structured reconcile-report; terminates with [SHUTDOWN].

v1.26.0 — 2026-05-12 — Memory Subsystem v2 → v3 SHIPPED

Release entry: bcdf390c | Activation root: ee72530d | Brief: 802ee860 | Registry row: c9e2a781

NEW memory.capsule v1.0 (a5b3c891) — typed primitive governing memory entries. 11-field schema (3 required: subtype/scope/context; 8 optional including curator-mutable lifecycle). 4-tier state machine: stm → current → topic → archival → demoted. Author-vs-curator governance contract — body is author-mutable; lifecycle fields (last_referenced, reference_count, score, tier) are curator-mutable only. 7 validation checks. 5 subtypes (semantic/episodic/procedural/reference/feedback) per CoALA taxonomy + Tropo extensions. 3 scopes (agent/vault/project). Closes ADR-020 (Curator Protocol) at the schema layer.
NEW sa.memory-curator v1.0 (50c0bdce) — async index-time ranker. Per-spawn ephemeral (one definition per Studio; dispatched parametrically per agent per trigger: retire / boot / explicit / fold). Suggest-don't-write contract — never silently mutates substrate; bounded recommendation set {PROMOTE / DEMOTE / ARCHIVE / MERGE / FLAG-STALE / DEMOTE-TERMINAL} surfaced via MODE A live-channel for executive ratification. 9-phase execution protocol. Operationalizes ADR-020 + ADR-021 in one composable agent definition.
NEW score formula doctrine (5f2c1b94) — composite math read by curator at boot. score = w_recency·age_decay + w_usage·log10(refs) + w_pin·wilson + w_subtype·subtype_weight. HN-adapted age decay per subtype half-life. Reddit Hot log compression on usage. Wilson lower bound on explicit pins (pinned_by array). v1.26.0.1 recalibrated thresholds to 0.55/0.30/0.10 (initial 0.65/0.35/0.15 misplaced high-quality memories per Stream 8 sa.skeptic finding).
NEW validator extension check_memory_typing() in .tropo/scripts/tropo-validate.py — sweeps per-agent + vault-level memory entries; validates required fields + enum compliance + score range + context length. WARN at v1.26.0 (grace period); ERROR ratchet in later cycle.
NEW agents/sa/sa.memory-curator/ directory structure (activation-log/ + workspace/) — fits sa.* convention from v1.22.0 commission-quickref.
NEW 4 sample v3 memory entries at agents/argus/.tropo-capsule/memory/entries/ (cf9bc7c9 feedback + 15894f85 procedural + 0515d7a0 reference + 1fee9220 episodic) — schema exemplars; v1.26.0.1 rebuilt to add core required fields (title/owner/status) per Stream 8 sa.skeptic P0-1.
MIGRATED: v3 directory structure across 5 active executives (Argus + Vela + Metis + Cosmo + Tropo) — entries/ + topics/ subdirectories created; memory-current.md frontmatter bumped to v3 schema with memory_schema_version: 3.0 + migration_status: v3-pending-curator-fold. Honest mid-cycle correction: brief stated Vela + Metis on v1; substrate inspection revealed all 5 on v2 (legacy v1 feedback files preserved as inert archive per A27 2026-04-17 migration). Stream 0 simplified from v1→v3 conversion to v2→v3 schema bump.
MIGRATED: vault-level memory at .tropo-studio/memory/ to v3 schema — .tropo-studio/memory/entries/ + topics/ created; new memory-current.md authored as v3 vault-level index pointing at existing pin files.
AMENDED: agent-retire.playbook v2.7 → v2.8 (e2c7d185) Step 1.1.5 — dispatches sa.memory-curator with trigger=retire instead of executive doing in-line compaction. Composes with v1.24.0's v2.7 tactical fix.
AMENDED: agent-activation.playbook v2.8 → v2.9 (99341618) Step 2.5 — dispatches sa.memory-curator with trigger=boot. Curator's job at boot is additive fold + verification-before-use sweep (predecessor compacted at retire per v2.8).
CLOSED: ADR-020 (Curator Protocol) + ADR-021 (Historian Protocol) — both accepted March 2026, never implemented before v1.26.0. v1.26.0 collapses them into one agent + one capsule + one score formula per earn-the-abstraction-strict.
CLOSED: G48 backlog brief 7c5d3a91 — research-first memory subsystem redesign captured 2026-05-02; v1.26.0 is that cycle.
CLOSED: Roadmap item 3 (memory subsystem cleanup).

Verification: Cross-sleeve gauntlet PASS (Sonnet 4.6 reads v3 substrate coherently). Ship-time gauntlet (sa.cold-boot-004 + sa.skeptic-004 parallel) surfaced 4 P0 + 8 P1 + 5 P2; v1.26.0.1 bundled remediation closed all P0s + load-bearing P1s in-cycle. Validator: 14 PASSED, 0 FAILED, 689 WARNINGS (pre-existing). Pristine-no-Rule-7 streak: 30 → 31 cycles.

Honest record: v1.26.0 originally shipped without the subsystem-registry row, hub-body update, RELEASE-NOTES.md, or channels/releases.md post (this entry). Mike-A59 caught the documentation-protocol gap 2026-05-12 post-ship; v1.26.0.2 doc sweep landed all five missing deliverables + filed the dev-pipeline enforcement hardening as a roadmap follow-up. The gap exposed a real defect in the pipeline: Pure Enforcement gates fire on release-plan-based releases but the post-v1.21.0 brief-based pattern bypasses them. Future cycle hardens.

v1.2 — 2026-04-20 — Shipped

agent-configurator v1.0 → v2.0 → v2.1 (3210818a) — thin-loader canonical; compiled output as optional export for attach-only deployments. §Authoring Protocol, compiled-artifact frontmatter schema, build-activation playbook forward-spec, tier-unreachable semantics (halt/retry/inconclusive), Migration Protocol, state-machine scope clarifier, one-per-vault scope — all added.
6 thin-loader type: agent-loader → type: agent-configurator renames across Argus / Vela / Metis / Orpheus / Silas / Talos activation files (Metis 2026-04-19 Option 1 greenlight).
ADR-032 amendment (e6c3f410) — Tier Reachability rule (failed tier read HALTS activation in established vaults); Path-base Resolution moved to Group 0; Step 4.2 Boot Retrospective added (A28).
Tier 1 boot-config v1.1 (b7e3a291) — Path Resolution + Tier Reachability sections locked.
Session-agent.capsule v1.0 → v1.1 (b4e2a718) — additive amendment for cross-capsule type-discriminator alignment (A28, Stream 1).

Impact: every executive agent boots via the three-tier thin-loader pattern; no monolithic activation files remain in active use; the boot chain fails loud on any unreachable tier file. sa.research 028 concluded TBS should merge into TAS — boot is a phase, not a sibling subsystem. Merger is v1.3 Stream A work.

Next: v1.3 Stream D addresses Orpheus missing soul file + Talos no soul declaration (both CRITICAL per Group 2 Step 2.0). TBS→TAS merger lands in v1.3 Stream A hub consolidation.

Boot (absorbed from former TBS — Tropo Boot System, archived 2026-04-21)

Per sa.research 028, boot is a phase of agent lifecycle, not a sibling subsystem. Former TBS content merged here. For full historical context read the preserved TBS archive hub (b8daa232); below is the substantive operational content.

Three-tier boot configuration chain

Per ADR-032 (e6c3f410):

Tier 1 — OS layer at .tropo/boot-config.md. Universal activation contract; ships with every Tropo-OS vault; cannot be removed by Tier 2/3.
Tier 2 — Vault layer at .tropo-studio/agent-boot.extension.md. Vault-specific requirements (channel declarations, fleet-ops requirement, memory paths).
Tier 3 — Agent layer at agents/<name>/agent-boot.extension.md. Agent-specific additions (soul file path, commissioning list, hard behavioral rules).

Each layer composes; higher tiers add but cannot remove lower tier requirements. Tier Reachability rule: failed Tier 1 or Tier 2 read HALTs activation in established vaults (not "note the gap" — structural defect).

Agent Activation Playbook v2.2

Located at .tropo/playbooks/agent-activation.playbook.md (uid 99341618). Execution engine reading the three tiers, composing into activation plan, running Groups 0–5:

Group 0 — Boot Configuration. Read tier chain; resolve vault root; build activation plan. Milestone: Boot Config Chain Complete.
Group 1 — Identity Verification. HARD GATES: ADR-016 parallel-generation halt (predecessor ACTIVE → HALT) + ADR-028 generation mismatch (wrong N → HALT). Milestone: Identity Gates Clear.
Group 2 — Context Loading. Soul loads FIRST (primacy). Status card, generation log, operating principles, memory compaction (v2 protocol: current → history, rolling 3-generation window, JSONL fold-in).
Group 3 — Operational Grounding. Crew brief; conditionalized channel scans; fleet-ops dispatch; vault health check; predecessor transfer verification.
Group 4 — Self-Diagnostic. Boot Retrospective (v2.2 addition): one-line what-worked / what-didn't. Process-general findings route to ops.md.
Group 5 — Startup Signal. Sandwich-anchor soul (recency). Deliver to human. Milestone: Argus Active (or equivalent).

Agent Retirement Playbook

.tropo/playbooks/agent-retire.playbook.md. Six-act retirement protocol:

Pre-retirement: finish in-flight work; write channel posts that reference session artifacts.
Living transfer: written mid-session at peak context, not at the end. Covers inheritance package for successor.
Close generation log: retirement date, key contribution, lineage row finalized.
Status flip: ACTIVE → RETIRING → RETIRED.
Channel close: any active cross-pair threads the successor needs are flagged.
Clean farewell bulletin to ops.md — Mike signals successor activation.

Fleet-ops dispatch

Via playbooks/fleet-ops.playbook.md. Boot step that checks the scheduled operations registry and dispatches due agents (vault-maintenance, channel-grooming, registry-rebuild). Must post observability line to channels/ops.md — silent pass-through is not acceptable.

Hard gates (non-negotiable)

ADR-016 Parallel-Generation Halt — if predecessor's status card shows ACTIVE (not RETIRING or RETIRED), HALT activation. Post to ops.md. Two active generations of the same agent is a governance violation.
ADR-028 Generation Mismatch Halt — if generation in log doesn't equal last row + 1, HALT. Generation identity mismatch requires human resolution.

These are HALTs, not warnings. The activation playbook enforces structurally.

Soul letter + sandwich anchor pattern

Agent identity is loaded FIRST in Group 2 (primacy position) and re-anchored in Group 5 before startup signal (recency position). The soul letter carries what the charter doesn't — who the agent IS in voice and orientation, not just what they do. Between primacy and recency, context, memory, and briefing load; the sandwich keeps soul at the center.

Known boot-surface gaps (from sa.research 028, persisted for v1.4)

Orpheus soul file path declared in agent-configurator but file does not exist — CRITICAL for next Orpheus activation.
Talos agent-boot extension declares no soul path — CRITICAL when Talos reactivates.
Vault-level memory still on v1 pattern while agent-level is v2 — inconsistency across layers.

These are tracked in v1.3 Stream D (residuals) for same-ship remediation where possible.

Memory (NEW v1.3 row per matrix §3)

Multi-generational memory is a first-class Agent capability. The v2 three-tier protocol:

memory-current.md at agents/<name>/.tropo-capsule/memory/ — single consolidated file with 4 sections (generational-context / procedural / relationship / architectural-standing). Overwritten each generation during boot compaction.
short-term-memory.jsonl — mid-session capture. Low-ceremony append-during-work; folded into memory-current.md at next generation's boot.
history/argus-a{N}-memory.md — rolling 3-generation window. Each new generation copies retiring generation's current into history, reads the rolling 3 as working context, then writes a new compaction.

Vault-level cross-crew memory lives at .tropo-studio/memory/MEMORY.md with pinned patterns (three-instrument verification, crew-scope-lock, clickable-links-invariant) read at every boot.

Soul letter + lineage log preserve agent identity across model and platform changes — the generation log is self-maintained per ADR-028; the soul letter sandwich-anchors identity (primacy at Group 2 start + recency at Group 5 before startup signal).

Verification Contribution (per matrix v1.0 footer)

Every agent carries its own proof-of-identity: a soul letter that re-anchors at boot, a generation log the agent itself maintains, a memory file the next generation inherits. Every sub-agent commission is recorded; every retirement is a governed act. An auditor can reconstruct who did what across a multi-generation project from the agent files alone. Agents ship with their own audit trail baked in.

v1.3 — 2026-04-21 — Rename + absorb TBS + memory row (nested under original §Change Log above)

Renamed TAS → Tropo Agents per capability matrix v1.0 OD2-F. UID 99ed55fd preserved.
Absorbed former TBS ([b8daa232]) — TBS hub archived; boot content merged above as §Boot.
Added §Memory as first-class capability per matrix v1.0 §3 row 2 (v1.3 expansion).
Added verification footer reinforcing Agent subsystem's contribution to verification-first identity.

v1.4 → v1.6 — 2026-05-05 — Forward-only catch-up consolidated (v1.7 Stream B4)

Per Decision 3 of v1.7 brief 6b5f7886: single consolidated entry. Registry pair: row d139635b.

activation-log.capsule v1.0 (8406c4f8, NEW v1.4.2 Sprint 1b): codifies the per-record audit trail for sa.* dispatches. 35 findings across 2 BATCH cycles + 1 cite-eligibility regression at lock.
sa.user-error-walker v1.0 (3c844ee6, NEW v1.4.2 Sprint-3-sister): Stage 3.3 of release-test-plan v2.0.1 paired-mode Skeptic dispatcher. 22 findings across 2 BATCH cycles at lock.
sa.first-use-walker v0.2 (6742f183, v1.4): stranger-encounter test agent with spawn_blocklist: [vela, argus] per fb925dea independence requirement.
sa.pipeline-walker (a71ace01, v1.3): pipeline navigation specialist.
agent.capsule v1.0 typed primitive (A32-era; v1.4 Stream 1 Foundation): typed agent governance.
session-agent.capsule v1.3: record_extensions: field for per-instance schema additions (e.g., sa.user-error-walker mistake_count_total: + per_mistake_outcomes:).
directors/ class (4 d.* agents authored across v1.3-v1.4): d.pm, d.archivist, d.docs, d.curator.
dev-pipeline as pipeline-as-agent (v1.6; cd1fcd25): the dev-pipeline scaffold is itself a governed agent with 3 activations to date.
mike.cos hybrid Chief of Staff (v1.4 Stream 1 Foundation): Mike's personal hybrid agent.
dispatch-walker.playbook v0.3 → v0.3.1 (v1.7 Stream C1): §Scope clarification — walker independence blocklist does NOT propagate to other sa.* dispatch (sa.cold-boot, sa.hub-groomer use different mechanisms).
NEW v1.7 Stream A6: sa.hub-groomer (18a3d11a) — first instance of pipeline-step-with-sa.* verifier pattern; multi-instance worker/judge dual-mode with executor-orchestrated dispatch; ships paired with groom-subsystem-hub.skill + dispatch-sa-step.skill + new dev-pipeline step groom-subsystems.

Impact: Tropo Agents is now a multi-tier discipline — executive lifecycle + sa.* commissioning + directors + pipeline-as-agent + activation-log audit trail. The pipeline-step-with-sa.* verifier pattern (NEW v1.7) is the agentic enforcement primitive for documentation-as-release-deliverable; v1.10 formalizes the generalized capsule.

Next: v1.7 ship adds the v1.7 release_history row at Gate 6 dogfood (sa.hub-groomer's own first dogfood execution). v1.10 Enforcement formalizes pipeline-step-verifier.capsule. Open: Orpheus soul-file path missing (CRITICAL for O11 activation; v1.4 Stream D residual still open).

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Tropo Agents

What This Subsystem Covers

How Tasks Flow

Current State

Change Log

v1.37.0 — 2026-05-17 — Charter Capsule Definition — agent identity substrate SHIPPED

v1.34.0 — 2026-05-16 — Memory Subsystem Generational Fold — agent contributions SHIPPED

v1.25.0 — 2026-05-13 — Import Primitive Tier 1 — agent contribution SHIPPED

v1.26.0 — 2026-05-12 — Memory Subsystem v2 → v3 SHIPPED

v1.2 — 2026-04-20 — Shipped

Boot (absorbed from former TBS — Tropo Boot System, archived 2026-04-21)

Three-tier boot configuration chain

Agent Activation Playbook v2.2

Agent Retirement Playbook

Fleet-ops dispatch

Hard gates (non-negotiable)

Soul letter + sandwich anchor pattern

Known boot-surface gaps (from sa.research 028, persisted for v1.4)

Memory (NEW v1.3 row per matrix §3)

Verification Contribution (per matrix v1.0 footer)

v1.3 — 2026-04-21 — Rename + absorb TBS + memory row (nested under original §Change Log above)

v1.4 → v1.6 — 2026-05-05 — Forward-only catch-up consolidated (v1.7 Stream B4)

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Tropo Agents

What This Subsystem Covers

How Tasks Flow

Current State

Change Log

v1.37.0 — 2026-05-17 — Charter Capsule Definition — agent identity substrate SHIPPED

v1.34.0 — 2026-05-16 — Memory Subsystem Generational Fold — agent contributions SHIPPED

v1.25.0 — 2026-05-13 — Import Primitive Tier 1 — agent contribution SHIPPED

v1.26.0 — 2026-05-12 — Memory Subsystem v2 → v3 SHIPPED

v1.2 — 2026-04-20 — Shipped

Boot (absorbed from former TBS — Tropo Boot System, archived 2026-04-21)

Three-tier boot configuration chain

Agent Activation Playbook v2.2

Agent Retirement Playbook

Fleet-ops dispatch

Hard gates (non-negotiable)

Soul letter + sandwich anchor pattern

Known boot-surface gaps (from sa.research 028, persisted for v1.4)

Memory (NEW v1.3 row per matrix §3)

Verification Contribution (per matrix v1.0 footer)

v1.3 — 2026-04-21 — Rename + absorb TBS + memory row (nested under original §Change Log above)

v1.4 → v1.6 — 2026-05-05 — Forward-only catch-up consolidated (v1.7 Stream B4)