Sigma Runtime Standard - Public Specification Notice
This document is part of the Sigma Runtime Standard (SRS) public specification layer.Specification License: CC BY 4.0.
Implementation Safe Harbor: independent implementation permitted under public SRS/SRIP terms.
Machine-readable artifacts: Apache License 2.0 where explicitly marked.
Marks / Certification: governed by Sigma Marks and Certification Policy.
Proprietary Runtime Assets: not licensed by this SRIP.Independent implementations of public SRS/SRIP normative requirements are welcome under the public specification terms.
Product assets, protected Sigma marks, official certification, compatibility badges, CC BY-NC commercial use, and patent commitments use the relevant policy or explicit covenant. Independent implementation, attribution, or citation does not imply certification, endorsement, partnership, official compatibility, or permission to use Sigma marks as product identity.
Semantic Memory, Structural Lineage, and Temporal Traceability
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| SRIP | SRIP-09 |
| Title | Long-Term Memory and Structural Coherence Layer (LTM-SC) |
| Version | Draft v0.4 |
| Status | Active Proposal / Partial Implementation |
| Date | 2026-05-20 |
| Authors / Contributors | Sigma Stratum Research Group (SSRG) |
| Owning Layer | Memory / Structural Coherence / Traceability |
| Parent Specs | SRIP-04 |
| Related Specs | SRIP-08, SRIP-10, SRIP-11, SRIP-13 |
| Specification License | CC BY 4.0 |
| Implementation Safe Harbor | Independent implementation permitted under public SRS/SRIP terms |
| Machine-Readable Artifacts | Apache 2.0 where explicitly marked |
| Marks / Certification | Governed by Sigma Marks and Certification Policy |
| Proprietary Runtime Assets | Not licensed by this SRIP |
| Independent Implementation | Permitted under the public specification terms |
| Commercial Runtime Boundary | Relevant policy or explicit covenant for protected Sigma marks, official certification, managed deployment, white-label, resale, CC BY-NC commercial use, and patent commitments |
| Information Class | Open |
| Change Class | SRS-only |
| Normative Status | Defines a long-term memory and structural-coherence contract. It does not require a specific vector database, graph database, trace-ledger product, or cross-user memory authority. |
| Conformance Level | Partial Conformance / Bounded Implementation |
| SRD Synchronization Action | Deferred review |
| Release Alignment Status | Active proposal with partial implementation; no full graph or trace-ledger production claim is made by this document alone. |
Independent implementations of the public normative requirements in this SRIP are welcome under the applicable public specification terms.
No Sigma commercial runtime license is needed solely because an independent implementation follows those public normative requirements.
Product assets, protected Sigma marks, official certification, compatibility badges, CC BY-NC commercial use, and patent commitments use the relevant policy or explicit covenant. Independent implementation, attribution, or citation does not imply certification, endorsement, partnership, official compatibility, or permission to use Sigma marks as product identity.
SRIP-09 defines the Long-Term Memory and Structural Coherence Layer (LTM-SC)
for Sigma Runtime.
LTM-SC turns memory from passive transcript storage into a traceable coherence
substrate capable of preserving semantic continuity, reconstructing runtime
trajectories, and exposing attractor evolution across cycles and sessions.
The layer is intended to support:
Without a long-term structural memory layer, a runtime may preserve local
conversation context while losing:
SRIP-09 treats memory as a system-evolution map rather than a transcript cache.
SRIP-09 does not:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Semantic Memory | Meaning-level memory represented by summaries, embeddings, and semantic hashes. |
| Structural Memory | Graph-like lineage of cycles, phases, branches, recoveries, and attractor transitions. |
| Trace Ledger | Append-only event record used for audit, replay, and recovery analysis. |
| Cycle Record | Canonical memory record for one runtime cycle. |
| Attractor Signature | Stable identifier or descriptor of the active cognitive configuration. |
| Branch ID | Identifier for divergent trajectory continuity when a state cannot safely overwrite prior lineage. |
| Recovery Event | Explicit record of recenter, restore, or fail-safe memory behavior. |
| Static Nucleus | Immutable semantic anchor loaded as a reference memory substrate. |
LTM-SC is defined as four conceptual layers.
| Layer | Purpose | Maturity |
|---|---|---|
| Context Memory | Short-term operational context for the active cycle window. | Baseline |
| Semantic Memory | Meaning-level recall through summaries, embeddings, and hashes. | Baseline / evolving |
| Structural Memory | Queryable graph of cycle lineage, phase transitions, attractors, and recoveries. | Partial / evolving |
| Trace Ledger | Append-only event stream for reproducibility and audit. | Implementation Pending |
Implementations may initially satisfy SRIP-09 through semantic memory and
lineage metadata. Full conformance requires structural memory and trace-ledger
capabilities. Bounded or transitional implementations may satisfy only a subset
of the full retrieval and lineage surface.
Each committed cycle SHOULD produce a canonical memory record.
Minimum record categories:
The record should preserve meaning and runtime lineage without requiring full
transcript replay.
Semantic hashes provide reproducibility and duplicate detection. They should be
derived from normalized semantic content and relevant state anchors, not from
raw transcript text alone.
Where available, memory records should include runtime metrics such as
coherence, stability, drift, symbolic density, or equivalent attractor-state
signals. Missing metrics should be represented explicitly rather than inferred
silently.
The structural graph model is the normative direction for full SRIP-09
conformance.
The graph layer should support:
The graph layer should support:
Full structural graph persistence is Implementation Pending unless a runtime
provides a durable graph-equivalent store with queryable lineage and recovery
relations.
During partial implementation, lineage metadata in semantic records may serve as
a transitional representation, but it is not full graph conformance.
A conformant commit flow should:
The commit path must not block active inference or real-time interaction.
LTM-SC defines three retrieval modes:
Semantic retrieval is the baseline. Structural retrieval and temporal
reconstruction are required for full conformance.
Each memory record must include:
Temporal anchoring forms the chronometric spine of runtime evolution and enables
cross-run comparison, drift analysis, and reproducible diagnostics.
| Tier | Retention | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Active Memory | Recent operational window | live continuity and current recall |
| Archive Memory | Full compressed or summarized history | replay, analysis, and regression |
| Attractor Map | Persistent structural graph | topology, stability, and branch analysis |
| Trace Ledger | Append-only event stream | audit and reproducibility |
Archived records should remain immutable. Compaction may reduce detail, but it
must preserve lineage, semantic hash, and temporal anchors required for
reconstruction.
Recovery and recenter events must be explicit in memory when the runtime exposes
the required telemetry.
A recovery trace should include:
This section is Implementation Pending until the runtime persists these
events as queryable trace-ledger or graph records.
Static nuclei are immutable semantic anchors that may be indexed into LTM-SC as
reference memory.
Nucleus records:
Nucleus integration remains compatible with SRIP-09 v0.4. Full graph
conformance should allow static nucleus nodes to participate in anchor and
stabilization relations.
LTM records are local to the runtime instance unless explicitly exported under
governance authorization.
Implementations must:
LTM-SC should attach phase state and phase transitions when available.
AEP may use LTM-SC records for drift, convergence, or recovery analysis. LTM-SC
does not replace AEP intervention logic.
CMT may compress memory into higher-order topology. LTM-SC remains the base
contract for semantic lineage and traceability.
RIS may rely on LTM-SC for session-local continuity and boundary-sensitive
recall. LTM-SC must preserve session scope and must not leak aliases or
participant assumptions across sessions.
This matrix distinguishes normative SRIP-09 requirements from current maturity
expectations.
| Capability | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Semantic cycle summaries | Baseline | Required for minimum LTM behavior. |
| Semantic retrieval representation | Baseline | Embeddings or equivalent semantic index. |
| Session and cycle anchoring | Baseline | Required for reproducibility. |
| Static nucleus anchors | Baseline / evolving | Compatible with SRIP-09c. |
| Runtime metric attachment | Partial | Use available coherence, stability, drift, and density signals. |
| Structural graph store | Partial / evolving | Required for full conformance. |
| Append-only trace ledger | Implementation Pending | Required for full audit conformance. |
| Recovery/recenter trace nodes | Implementation Pending | Depends on trace-ledger or graph persistence. |
| Branch-safe continuity | Partial / evolving | Requires durable branch identifiers and lineage traversal. |
| Temporal reconstruction interface | Partial / evolving | Requires queryable lineage and trace ordering. |
| Cross-runtime memory alignment | Future Work | Not part of minimum conformance. |
A runtime minimally conforms to SRIP-09 when it:
A runtime fully conforms to SRIP-09 v0.4 when it additionally:
Planned extensions include:
LTM-SC is not only storage.
It is the layer that makes runtime memory observable, reproducible, auditable,
and structurally interpretable over time.