Aura/docs/design/contracts/c18-registry.md

# C18 — Project management: one repo = one project, plus a run registry

**Guarantee.** Management has two planes. (1) **Code & forward-queue:** git
(commit = identity; the frozen bot *is* a commit) + Gitea (ideas/hypotheses as
the forward-queue, a research thrust = a milestone, the
`idea → experimental → validated → deployed` label gradient). (2) **Experiments
& results:** an Aura-native **run registry** — one record per run = a *manifest*
(node-commit + params + data-window + seed + broker profile + instrument +
`topology_hash` + selection) + *metrics*, queryable, with *lineage* (composite ←
signals; run ← inputs). Determinism (C1/C12) makes a run reproducible from its
tiny manifest, so the registry stores manifests + metrics and re-derives full
results on demand. Because the World may **generate or structurally search**
topologies, `commit` alone no longer identifies the graph: the manifest carries
a `topology_hash` and the registry keeps the canonical topology bytes in a
content-addressed store beside it, so the **manifest + the content-addressed
store + the commit** are the complete re-derivation recipe (C24). Depth:
**structured** (promotion/status, lineage, run-diff).

**Forbids.** Storing results not reproducible from a recorded manifest;
duplicating git/Gitea inside aura; a multi-project workspace manager.

**Why.** Comparing experiments over time is the heart of the research loop and
has no home in git/Gitea; determinism makes a structured registry cheap. Every
run emits a manifest + metrics, and the registry/index is built over manifests
that already exist. Content-addressed identity is the natural home for a
generated topology's identity: once a graph is no longer fully named by its
`commit`, the re-derivation recipe must carry or content-address the
topology-data to remain "reproducible from a recorded manifest" — the format and
carrier are C24's design, the reproduction requirement is C18's.

## Current state

**Two planes, one crate.** The code/forward-queue plane is git + Gitea, unchanged
by aura. The experiments-&-results plane is the run registry in `aura-registry`
(C9: it depends on `aura-engine`, never the reverse).

**The store family.** All members are fixed-name siblings of the runs-store path
(`Registry::path.with_file_name(...)`, `aura-registry`):

- `runs.jsonl` — the append-only flat store, one `RunReport` per line
  (`RunManifest` + `RunMetrics`), with a typed read-path (`load`) and best-first
  ranking (`rank_by`/`optimize`). No live producer writes it today — sweep /
  walk-forward / mc persist to the family store and `aura run` does not persist —
  so the flat lib API is retained but selectively live: `rank_by` backs
  `aura runs family … rank`, `optimize` backs walk-forward's in-sample step
  (`aura-campaign` and the registry's own selection helper both call it), while
  `append`/`load` remain public API with no in-tree caller (a latent surface for
  external consumers).
- `families.jsonl` — the family store. A sweep / Monte-Carlo / walk-forward /
  cross-instrument run persists as a *set of related records*, each a
  `FamilyRunRecord` (a `RunReport` stamped with `family` + `run` + `kind` +
  `ordinal`; `FamilyKind ∈ {Sweep, MonteCarlo, WalkForward, CrossInstrument}`).
  `group_families` re-derives a family from the stored links (re-listable /
  rankable as a unit — C21). The user-facing `family_id = "{family}-{run}"` handle
  is **derived** from the stored `family` name plus a per-name `run` index
  (numeric max+1 — not a content hash, so re-running the same family mints a fresh
  id). CLI: `aura runs families`, `aura runs family <id> [rank <metric>]`;
  `aura sweep`/`walkforward`/`mc` persist via `append_family` with an optional
  `--name`.
- `campaign_runs.jsonl` — one thin `CampaignRunRecord` per campaign run (below),
  over untouched family records.
- `blueprints/<hash>.json`, `processes/`, `campaigns/` — the content-addressed
  document stores (below).
- `blueprint_identity_index.jsonl` — the identity-ref resolution cache (below).

**The manifest is the re-derivation recipe.** No input-stream blob / path /
payload enters a record; a member's data window is **producer-supplied** via
`Source::bounds()`/`window_of` (eager or streamed → byte-identical lineage), never
a materialized-`Vec` scan at the call site. New manifest fields (e.g. the
first-class `instrument` lineage field) are serde-widened with
`skip_serializing_if`, so legacy lines and every path that does not set them stay
byte-identical (C14/C23). `serde_json/float_roundtrip` is enabled so stored f64
metrics round-trip exactly through `families.jsonl` — the precondition for a
bit-identical compare (C1).

**Content-addressed reproduction.** A run's topology is content-addressed: the
canonical `blueprint_to_json` bytes are stored once, keyed by the `topology_hash`
the manifest carries, in a **dumb bytes-by-key store**
(`Registry::put_blueprint`/`get_blueprint` → `blueprints/<hash>.json`; no `sha2`,
no parse — the caller owns the hash and reproduction's bit-identical compare is
the integrity check). One blueprint is stored per family (all members share the
signal `topology_hash` — C11/C12 dedup). `aura reproduce <id>` re-derives **every**
persisted member: load its blueprint by `topology_hash`, reconstruct the member
(a `Sweep` point from the recorded params; a `MonteCarlo` member's seed-driven
synthetic walk from `manifest.seed`; a `WalkForward` OOS member's windowed slice
from `manifest.window`, winner params via the shared manifest→cells recovery),
re-run through the **same** `run_blueprint_member` the live path uses (bit-identity
by construction — C1), and compare metrics. All three family kinds persist *and*
reproduce through the one shared `topology_hash`+`put_blueprint` hook. Refuse-
don't-guess (`aura_runner::reproduce`): an unknown id, a missing stored blueprint,
or a DIVERGED compare each exit **1** — recorded state missing or mismatched is
C14's runtime-failure class. Id resolution: first as the derived `{family}-{run}`
handle; a bare enumeration name naming exactly one stored run resolves as fallback;
an ambiguous name refuses, listing the candidate handles (the list-then-reproduce
seam, #298). The recipe's scope is **signal-only** today: content-addressing covers
the signal blueprint, while the fixed scaffolding stays commit-identified (not yet
blueprint-data, C24); whole-harness / structural-axis content-addressing is
deferred. Reproduction is proven on synthetic (deterministic) data;
recorded-dataset reproduction rides the DataServer seam (#124).

**The one `content_id` primitive.** `topology_hash`, the document store keys, and
`aura graph introspect --content-id`/`--identity-id` all route through
`aura_research::content_id_of` (aura-cli's `content_id`/`topology_hash` delegate
byte-identically). The **identity id** is the canonical form with every
non-load-bearing debug symbol blanked (invariant 11 / C23), hashed through the same
primitive: same-topology blueprints become comparable across authoring paths, while
the byte-exact `topology_hash` keeps every debug role untouched (introspection-only
— no manifest field, no store key, until a dedup consumer exists). A Tier-1 optional
the blueprint does not use leaves the id byte-stable. `--content-id` and
`--identity-id` are combinable.

**Cross-instrument generalization.** `FamilyKind::CrossInstrument`: `aura generalize`
runs one candidate across an instrument list and persists the M per-instrument runs
via `append_family`, each member self-identifying through `RunManifest.instrument`.
The generalization score (worst-case R floor + sign-agreement + per-instrument
breakdown) is a **recomputable aggregate** over those members, not a persisted
family-level record.

**Research-artifact document stores.** `processes/` and `campaigns/` hold two
document types (C25 roles 5 / 6b): the **process document** (a named
validation/eval methodology — a closed std stage vocabulary wrapping shipped
primitives) and the **campaign document** (persisted experiment intent —
instruments × windows × strategy refs by content/identity id × param axes × process
ref (content-id-only) × data-level presentation). Documents are canonical JSON
(`format_version` envelope, omit-defaults, no trailing newline) keyed by the shared
content-id primitive; unlike `put_blueprint` (caller owns the hash) the document
puts **self-key** from their canonical bytes, and gets are `Ok(None)`
treat-as-empty. The **referential tier** (`validate_campaign_refs`) resolves
process/strategy refs against the stores (identity refs index-first, below) and
checks each campaign axis — name AND declared `ScalarKind`, the axis carrying its
kind once — against the referenced blueprint's `param_space`. `aura process|campaign
show <content-id>` prints a registered document's canonical bytes (#300), so the
generate → retrieve → hand-extend → re-register loop needs no direct store
filesystem access.

**The bound-override coincidence (#246, ratified #328).** A campaign axis naming a
**bound** param of the referenced blueprint is deliberately accepted alongside one
naming an open param: `validate_campaign_refs` checks each axis's name against
`param_space()` **OR** `bound_param_space()` — the bound value stands as the
axis's default, and the axis's own values re-open it for that campaign. There is
no schema flag distinguishing the two cases (no `open`/`bound` marker on the axis
entry); name coincidence against one of the two namespaces IS the mechanism, and
the referenced blueprint is the single source of truth for which namespace a name
falls in. Pinned by
`referential_tier_accepts_a_kind_correct_axis_over_a_bound_param`
(`aura-registry/src/lib.rs`).

**The campaign executor.** `aura campaign run <file|content-id>` executes a
campaign (a file is register-then-run sugar; the content id is canonical): a
zero-fault referential gate, then the process pipeline. The executable shape is
`std::sweep [std::gate]* [std::walk_forward]? [std::monte_carlo]? [std::generalize]?`
— an ordered optional annotator suffix, each at most once, `std::generalize`
strictly last. The executor preflight is deliberately stricter than the intrinsic
tier (`[sweep, mc, walk_forward]` is intrinsically valid — the tier boundary is
test-pinned on both sides), plus static guards: single-instrument generalize, a
non-R generalize metric (via the registry's `check_r_metric`), zero mc
`resamples`/`block_len`, and `ZeroWalkForwardLength`. Execution *semantics* live in
the **`aura-campaign`** library crate (reachable beyond the CLI; NOT C21's
project-side World): a grid odometer over the campaign axes, members through the
engine `sweep` over a **`ListSpace`** (an explicit point set beside
`GridSpace`/`RandomSpace` — a gate's survivor subset has no cartesian structure),
per-member gates via the 14-name `member_metric` roster (an R-predicate over a
missing R block fails conservatively), walk-forward re-rolled in the doc's epoch-ms
unit (`WindowRoller`; IS windows search only the survivor points; OOS winner reports
carry `manifest.selection`), deflation nulls seeded from the doc's `seed` — the whole
realization is a pure function of doc + stores + data (C1). Harness/data binding
stays consumer-side behind the one-method **`MemberRunner`** seam (the shipped
implementation is `aura_runner::DefaultMemberRunner`; the CLI binds the loaded-
blueprint reduce convention with a unique suffix-join of raw axis names onto the
wrapped `param_space`). The `campaign_runs.jsonl` sibling records one thin
`CampaignRunRecord` per run — campaign/process ids, seed, and per-cell realized
stage prefixes linking family ids, gate survivor ordinals, and sweep selections —
run-counted per campaign id. Zero survivors truncate a cell's realized prefix and
exit 0 (a null result is a valid research result); `emit` is honored
(`family_table`/`selection_report` lines). The **blueprint on-ramp** (#196):
`aura graph register` (store put keyed by content id == topology hash),
`aura graph introspect --params` (the raw `param_space` namespace axes validate
against), and a blueprint-file mode on `--content-id`. `std::walk_forward`'s
machinery-true fields are `in_sample_ms`/`out_of_sample_ms`/`step_ms`/`mode`
(`WindowRoller`'s three lengths + both `RollMode`s).

**Annotators are terminal.** Nothing flows out of an annotator; filtering stays the
gate's monopoly. `std::monte_carlo` bootstraps the stage's *incoming* R-evidence
with one semantics, input-shaped by position: after a walk_forward, one
`r_bootstrap` over the wf family's pooled per-window OOS `net_trade_rs` in roll order
(`StageBootstrap::PooledOos`; the conduit is the cost-netted per-trade series
`r − cost_in_r`, equal to the gross series bit-for-bit when no cost model is bound,
#259); after sweep/gates, one `r_bootstrap` per surviving member's fresh in-memory
series (`StageBootstrap::PerSurvivor`, ordinals into the population family; a
zero-trade member records the engine's defined all-zero degenerate) — seeded from the
doc's `seed` (`net_trade_rs` is `#[serde(skip)]`, so annotators run in-executor or
not at all). `std::generalize` executes at **campaign scope**: after all cells, per
(strategy, window) the per-cell *nominees* (last wf window's OOS report, else the
sweep winner; none on gate truncation) across instruments feed the shipped
`generalization()` when ≥ 2 exist — divergent per-instrument winners are exposed via
their params, never averaged away; a shortfall is recorded, not computed around.
`StageRealization.bootstrap` and `CampaignRunRecord.generalizations`
(`CampaignGeneralization` keyed strategy × window with `winners`/`missing`) are
serde-default sparse (C14/C23). Known debt: the mc arm detects the wf family by the
stringly `block == "std::walk_forward"` literal.

**Per-cell fault isolation (#272).** A member fault (no-data, bind, run, or a caught
panic) is a recorded per-cell outcome, never a global abort: `run_cell` returns a
fault-annotated `CellRealization` (`fault: Option<CellFault>`, closed
`CellFaultKind`) instead of `Err`, so `execute`'s accumulate-then-append-once tail
persists every healthy cell and the one run record. Containment granularity is the
cell for a sweep stage (a grid hole compromises selection) and the fold for
walk_forward (surviving folds pool; failed folds recorded as
`StageRealization.window_faults`, the summary naming the ratio). `ExecFault::Registry`
and doc-shape preflight faults stay global. The CLI declares holes (per-cell notes +
a completion summary) and a run with ≥ 1 failed cell exits **3** ("completed with
failed cells" — distinct from 0/1/2). A partially-covered window carries a
`CellCoverage` annotation (effective bounds + interior gap months, #264). Generalize
already treats a no-nominee cell as `missing`, so a failed cell surfaces there
unchanged. Member panics are caught with `catch_unwind(AssertUnwindSafe)` at the
three member-run sites and recorded as `MemberFault::Panic`; a ref-counted
`SilencedPanic` guard (a process-global panic-hook save/no-op/restore behind a
`static Mutex`, held only around each `catch_unwind`) suppresses the default crash
backtrace so "recorded, campaign continues" is observably true on stderr. The guard's
mutex serialises only the O(1) ref-count/hook-swap, never the member computation, so
C1 disjoint-parallel execution and determinism hold; ref-counting (save on 0→1,
restore on 1→0) keeps concurrent threads and any caller-installed hook correct.

**Persisted taps (#201).** Campaign presentation persists traces. The tap namespace
is a **closed vocabulary** of the wrap convention's four sink names
(`equity`/`exposure`/`r_equity`/`net_r_equity`; `aura_research::tap_vocabulary`,
intrinsic `DocFault::UnknownTap` — the escalation for a new observable is a new
vocabulary entry or an authored blueprint sink, never an open node-path namespace).
Scope is the per-cell **nominee only**: after the pipeline settles the CLI re-runs
each nominee once in non-reduce mode (all four channels drained, windowed to the
nominee manifest's own ns bounds) and **asserts metrics equality** against the
recorded nominee — the C1 drift alarm, a hard refusal on divergence (the reproduce
precedent, enforced). Traces land in the existing `TraceStore` as
`traces/{campaign8}-{run}/{strategy8}-{instrument}-w{n}/{tap}.json`, chartable by the
unchanged viewer. The record carries one sparse pointer, `CampaignRunRecord.trace_name`
(`Some("{campaign8}-{run}")` iff the doc requests taps — the claim-sentinel contract:
`execute` claims, `append_campaign_run` composes the name via the single-sourced
`derive_trace_name`, `execute` mirrors it onto the returned copy). `aura-campaign`
stays trace-agnostic (the `MemberRunner` seam is unchanged; the stamp is a pure name
derivation). Loud stderr lines cover a per-cell no-nominee skip and a per-run
unproducible-tap skip (`net_r_equity` needs a cost leg the campaign runner wires none
of). Known debt: `aura chart` over the campaign family ROOT (cells spanning
instruments) is untested / semantically undefined — only per-cell read-back is pinned.

**Identity-ref resolution is index-first (#191).** `find_blueprint_by_identity`
consults the persistent `blueprint_identity_index.jsonl` sidecar (identity id →
content id; a fixed-name sibling of the runs store, appended under the #276 lock)
first, and **verifies every hit** by loading that one blueprint under the current
resolver and recomputing its identity id — the index is a cache, never an oracle, so
resolution stays scan-identical under roster drift, store surgery, or index corruption
(the one unspecified corner — which same-identity twin answers — is unchanged in kind:
`read_dir`-order-dependent before, index-history-dependent now). Any miss or failed
verification runs the old full-store scan as a **repair pass**, collect-then-diff-
append: the walk's last-wins mapping is diffed against the pre-walk snapshot, so a
converged index — twin stores included — appends nothing (the twin-convergence pin).
Index reads never fail a lookup (missing/unreadable → empty, unparseable lines
skipped); repair appends are best-effort; a pre-index store backfills on its first
miss (no migration); a read-only store keeps scanning. Write paths, the engine, and
both callers are untouched; maintenance is lazy-only — put-time indexing was rejected
because it would need a roster-free doc-level identity function whose equivalence to
the loaded-composite path no green test ratifies (decision log: #191).

**Retired verbs and the unknown-id contract.** Standalone `aura runs list` / `rank`
are retired (#73): families (C21) subsume standalone over-time comparison. The
unknown-id contract (ratified, Runway fieldtest 2026-06) is live law: `aura runs
family <id>` treats an unknown-but-well-formed id as an **empty family** (prints
nothing, exit 0) — the same treat-as-empty discipline as `Registry::load` reading a
missing store as `Ok(empty)`. This is deliberately distinct from `aura reproduce
<id>`, which refuses an unknown id with exit 1 (reproduction of a named-but-absent
family is missing recorded state, not a found-nothing lookup). Tightening `runs
family` to a non-zero `no such family <id>` exit (typo-safety) is an available future
UX choice, not a current contract.

**Deferred.** The **run-diff** depth and **cross-family** ranking (families against
each other, vs. within-family) remain deferred; whole-harness / structural-axis
content-addressing remains deferred (C24). Known debt across the campaign stack:
metric-roster triplication (test-caught by the #190 cross-crate guard; single-source
removal waits on #147) and deflation-constant duplication (#199).

## See also
- [C1](c01-determinism.md) — determinism / bit-identity, the reproduction and
  drift-alarm correctness invariant
- [C8](c08-node-contract.md) — sinks are the recording mechanism into the registry
- [C9](c09-fractal-composition.md) — the registry depends on the engine, never the
  reverse
- [C11](c11-sources-record-replay.md) — record-then-replay; producer-supplied
  windows; C11/C12 dedup
- [C12](c12-atomic-sim-unit.md) — the four orchestration axes (sweep / MC /
  walk-forward / comparison) the family store persists
- [C14](c14-headless-two-faces.md) — additive serde back-compat and the
  runtime-failure exit class
- [C21](c21-world.md) — the World; families as the re-listable unit
- [C23](c23-graph-compilation.md) — names non-load-bearing; the identity-id blanking
- [C24](c24-blueprint-data.md) — the blueprint as serializable data; the topology
  data format the manifest content-addresses
- [C25](c25-role-model.md) — the role model; process/campaign documents as
  closed-vocabulary artifacts

> History: [c18-registry.history.md](c18-registry.history.md)