Replace the substring-based _memory_matches() with a token-overlap
matcher that tokenizes both memory content and response, applies
lightweight stemming (trailing s/ed/ing) and stop-word removal, then
checks whether >= 70% of the memory's tokens appear in the response.
This fixes the paraphrase blindness that prevented reinforcement from
ever firing on natural responses ("prefers" vs "prefer", "because
history" vs "because the history").
7 new tests (26 total reinforcement tests, all passing).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Three findings from codex's review of the previous P1+P2 fix. The
earlier commit (f2372ef) only fixed alias resolution at the context
builder. Codex correctly pointed out that the same fragmentation
applies at every other place a project name crosses a boundary —
project_state writes/reads, interaction capture/listing/filtering,
memory create/queries, and reinforcement's downstream queries. Plus
a real bug in the interaction `since` filter where the storage
format and the documented ISO format don't compare cleanly.
The fix is one helper used at every boundary instead of duplicating
the resolution inline.
New helper: src/atocore/projects/registry.py::resolve_project_name
---------------------------------------------------------------
- Single canonicalization boundary for project names
- Returns the canonical project_id when the input matches any
registered id or alias
- Returns the input unchanged for empty/None and for unregistered
names (preserves backwards compat with hand-curated state that
predates the registry)
- Documented as the contract that every read/write at the trust
boundary should pass through
P1 — Trusted Project State endpoints
------------------------------------
src/atocore/context/project_state.py: set_state, get_state, and
invalidate_state now all canonicalize project_name through
resolve_project_name BEFORE looking up or creating the project row.
Before this fix:
- POST /project/state with project="p05" called ensure_project("p05")
which created a separate row in the projects table
- The state row was attached to that alias project_id
- Later context builds canonicalized "p05" -> "p05-interferometer"
via the builder fix from f2372ef and never found the state
- Result: trusted state silently fragmented across alias rows
After this fix:
- The alias is resolved to the canonical id at every entry point
- Two captures (one via "p05", one via "p05-interferometer") write
to the same row
- get_state via either alias or the canonical id finds the same row
Fixes the highest-priority gap codex flagged because Trusted Project
State is supposed to be the most dependable layer in the AtoCore
trust hierarchy.
P2.a — Interaction capture project canonicalization
----------------------------------------------------
src/atocore/interactions/service.py: record_interaction now
canonicalizes project before storing, so interaction.project is
always the canonical id regardless of what the client passed.
Downstream effects:
- reinforce_from_interaction queries memories by interaction.project
-> previously missed memories stored under canonical id
-> now consistent because interaction.project IS the canonical id
- the extractor stamps candidates with interaction.project
-> previously created candidates in alias buckets
-> now creates candidates in the canonical bucket
- list_interactions(project=alias) was already broken, now fixed by
canonicalizing the filter input on the read side too
Memory service applied the same fix:
- src/atocore/memory/service.py: create_memory and get_memories
both canonicalize project through resolve_project_name
- This keeps stored memory.project consistent with the
reinforcement query path
P2.b — Interaction `since` filter format normalization
------------------------------------------------------
src/atocore/interactions/service.py: new _normalize_since helper.
The bug:
- created_at is stored as 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS' (no timezone, UTC by
convention) so it sorts lexically and compares cleanly with the
SQLite CURRENT_TIMESTAMP default
- The `since` parameter was documented as ISO 8601 but compared as
a raw string against the storage format
- The lexically-greater 'T' separator means an ISO timestamp like
'2026-04-07T12:00:00Z' is GREATER than the storage form
'2026-04-07 12:00:00' for the same instant
- Result: a client passing ISO `since` got an empty result for any
row from the same day, even though those rows existed and were
technically "after" the cutoff in real-world time
The fix:
- _normalize_since accepts ISO 8601 with T, optional Z suffix,
optional fractional seconds, optional +HH:MM offsets
- Uses datetime.fromisoformat for parsing (Python 3.11+)
- Converts to UTC and reformats as the storage format before the
SQL comparison
- The bare storage format still works (backwards compat path is a
regex match that returns the input unchanged)
- Unparseable input is returned as-is so the comparison degrades
gracefully (rows just don't match) instead of raising and
breaking the listing endpoint
builder.py refactor
-------------------
The previous P1 fix had inline canonicalization. Now it uses the
shared helper for consistency:
- import changed from get_registered_project to resolve_project_name
- the inline lookup is replaced with a single helper call
- the comment block now points at representation-authority.md for
the canonicalization contract
New shared test fixture: tests/conftest.py::project_registry
------------------------------------------------------------
- Standardizes the registry-setup pattern that was duplicated
across test_context_builder.py, test_project_state.py,
test_interactions.py, and test_reinforcement.py
- Returns a callable that takes (project_id, [aliases]) tuples
and writes them into a temp registry file with the env var
pointed at it and config.settings reloaded
- Used by all 12 new regression tests in this commit
Tests (12 new, all green on first run)
--------------------------------------
test_project_state.py:
- test_set_state_canonicalizes_alias: write via alias, read via
every alias and the canonical id, verify same row id
- test_get_state_canonicalizes_alias_after_canonical_write
- test_invalidate_state_canonicalizes_alias
- test_unregistered_project_state_still_works (backwards compat)
test_interactions.py:
- test_record_interaction_canonicalizes_project
- test_list_interactions_canonicalizes_project_filter
- test_list_interactions_since_accepts_iso_with_t_separator
- test_list_interactions_since_accepts_z_suffix
- test_list_interactions_since_accepts_offset
- test_list_interactions_since_storage_format_still_works
test_reinforcement.py:
- test_reinforcement_works_when_capture_uses_alias (end-to-end:
capture under alias, seed memory under canonical, verify
reinforcement matches)
- test_get_memories_filter_by_alias
Full suite: 174 passing (was 162), 1 warning. The +12 is the
new regression tests, no existing tests regressed.
What's still NOT canonicalized (and why)
----------------------------------------
- _rank_chunks's secondary substring boost in builder.py — the
retriever already does the right thing via its own
_project_match_boost which calls get_registered_project. The
redundant secondary boost still uses the raw hint but it's a
multiplicative factor on top of correct retrieval, not a
filter, so it can't drop relevant chunks. Tracked as a future
cleanup but not a P1.
- update_memory's project field (you can't change a memory's
project after creation in the API anyway).
- The retriever's project_hint parameter on direct /query calls
— same reasoning as the builder boost, plus the retriever's
own get_registered_project call already handles aliases there.
Phase 9 Commit B from the agreed plan. With Commit A capturing what
AtoCore fed to the LLM and what came back, this commit closes the
weakest part of the loop: when a memory is actually referenced in a
response, its confidence should drift up, and stale memories that
nobody ever mentions should stay where they are.
This is reinforcement only — nothing is promoted into trusted state
and no candidates are created. Extraction is Commit C.
Schema (additive migration):
- memories.last_referenced_at DATETIME (null by default)
- memories.reference_count INTEGER DEFAULT 0
- idx_memories_last_referenced on last_referenced_at
- memories.status now accepts the new "candidate" value so Commit C
has the status slot to land on. Existing active/superseded/invalid
rows are untouched.
New module: src/atocore/memory/reinforcement.py
- reinforce_from_interaction(interaction): scans the interaction's
response + response_summary for echoes of active memories and
bumps confidence / reference_count for each match
- matching is intentionally simple and explainable:
* normalize both sides (lowercase, collapse whitespace)
* require >= 12 chars of memory content to match
* compare the leading 80-char window of each memory
- the candidate pool is project-scoped memories for the interaction's
project + global identity + preference memories, deduplicated
- candidates and invalidated memories are NEVER reinforced; only
active memories move
Memory service changes:
- MEMORY_STATUSES = ["candidate", "active", "superseded", "invalid"]
- create_memory(status="candidate"|"active"|...) with per-status
duplicate scoping so a candidate and an active with identical text
can legitimately coexist during review
- get_memories(status=...) explicit override of the legacy active_only
flag; callers can now list the review queue cleanly
- update_memory accepts any valid status including "candidate"
- reinforce_memory(id, delta): low-level primitive that bumps
confidence (capped at 1.0), increments reference_count, and sets
last_referenced_at. Only active memories; returns (applied, old, new)
- promote_memory / reject_candidate_memory helpers prepping Commit C
Interactions service:
- record_interaction(reinforce=True) runs reinforce_from_interaction
automatically when the interaction has response content. reinforcement
errors are logged but never raised back to the caller so capture
itself is never blocked by a flaky downstream.
- circular import between interactions service and memory.reinforcement
avoided by lazy import inside the function
API:
- POST /interactions now accepts a reinforce bool field (default true)
- POST /interactions/{id}/reinforce runs reinforcement on an existing
captured interaction — useful for backfilling or for retrying after
a transient error in the automatic pass
- response lists which memory ids were reinforced with
old / new confidence for audit
Tests (17 new, all green):
- reinforce_memory bumps, caps at 1.0, accumulates reference_count
- reinforce_memory rejects candidates and missing ids
- reinforce_memory rejects negative delta
- reinforce_from_interaction matches active memory
- reinforce_from_interaction ignores candidates and inactive
- reinforce_from_interaction requires minimum content length
- reinforce_from_interaction handles empty response cleanly
- reinforce_from_interaction normalizes casing and whitespace
- reinforce_from_interaction deduplicates across memory buckets
- record_interaction auto-reinforces by default
- record_interaction reinforce=False skips the pass
- record_interaction handles empty response
- POST /interactions/{id}/reinforce runs against stored interaction
- POST /interactions/{id}/reinforce returns 404 for missing id
- POST /interactions accepts reinforce=false
Full suite: 135 passing (was 118).
Trust model unchanged:
- reinforcement only moves confidence within the existing active set
- the candidate lifecycle is declared but only Commit C will actually
create candidate memories
- trusted project state is never touched by reinforcement
Next: Commit C adds the rule-based extractor that produces candidate
memories from captured interactions plus the promote/reject review
queue endpoints.
