memex/boot-sequence-plan.md

Implementation Plan: The Micro-Loader (Boot Sequence Refactor)

Objective

Consolidate and harden the kernel's skill-loading logic into a stateful "Micro-Loader." This improves boot reliability, provides clear error reporting for malformed skills, and centralizes all capability management within the skills module.

Key Files & Context

• Target: projects/opencortex/literate/skills.org (Consolidating logic here).
• Target: projects/opencortex/literate/core.org (Moving load-all-skills out of here).
• Mandate: Syntax Pre-flight and Dependency Assertion.

Implementation Steps

1. Define the Skill Catalog

• Introduce *skill-catalog* in skills.lisp to track metadata and load status for every skill file found in SKILLS_DIR.
• Statuses: :discovered, :loading, :ready, :failed.

2. Refactor load-skill-from-org (Harden)

• Syntax Check: Invoke validate-lisp-syntax before evaluation.
• Dependency Check: If #+DEPENDS_ON refers to a skill that failed or is missing, mark this skill as :failed immediately with a clear error.
• Detailed Logging: Record the specific reason for failure (syntax, timeout, runtime error) in the catalog.

3. Implement initialize-all-skills (The Orchestrator)

• Move the directory scanning and loop logic from core.lisp into skills.lisp.
• This function will:
  1. Scan SKILLS_DIR.
  2. Populate the catalog.
  3. Run the topological sort.
  4. Execute the load loop with timeouts.
  5. Print a final "Boot Summary" report.

4. Simplify Kernel Boot

• Update start-daemon in core.lisp to call (initialize-all-skills) instead of the old load-all-skills.

Phase E: Chaos (Verification)

• Integrity Test: Add a test that verifies initialize-all-skills correctly identifies a missing dependency and prevents the dependent skill from attempting to load.
• Report Test: Verify that the skill catalog correctly reflects the status of loaded vs. failed skills.