passepartout/org/system-self-improve.org

SKILL: Self-Improve (org-skill-self-improve.org)

• Overview: Self-Modification Primitives
• Implementation
  • Self-Edit: Surgical Text Transformation
  • Self-Fix: Error Diagnosis and Repair
  • Skill Registration

Overview: Self-Modification Primitives

Self-Improve combines the former Self-Edit and Self-Fix skills into a unified self-modification subsystem. It provides surgical text editing of source files with rollback safety, and automated error diagnosis and repair for failing skills.

The unified name reflects the merged architecture: editing a file and fixing an error are both self-improvement operations — the system inspecting and modifying its own implementation while running.

Implementation

Self-Edit: Surgical Text Transformation

;; REPL-VERIFIED: 2026-05-03T13:00:00

(defun self-improve-edit (filepath old-text new-text)
  "Applies a surgical text transformation to a source file.
Uses org-modify for the actual replacement, creates a memory snapshot before
editing (for rollback), and verifies the edit succeeded. Returns a plist:
  (:status :success :summary <description>)
  (:status :error :reason <message>)"
  (when (or (null filepath) (null old-text) (null new-text))
    (return-from self-improve-edit
      (list :status :error :reason "Missing arguments: filepath, old-text, and new-text required")))
  (when (not (uiop:file-exists-p filepath))
    (return-from self-improve-edit
      (list :status :error :reason (format nil "File not found: ~a" filepath))))
  (log-message "SELF-IMPROVE: Editing ~a (~d chars)" filepath (length old-text))
  ;; Rollback safety: snapshot memory before modifying
  (ignore-errors
   (when (fboundp 'snapshot-memory)
     (snapshot-memory)))
  ;; Attempt the edit
  (let ((result (org-modify filepath old-text new-text)))
    (if result
        ;; Verify: re-read and confirm new text is present
        (let ((re-read (uiop:read-file-string filepath)))
          (if (search new-text re-read :test #'string=)
              (progn
                (log-message "SELF-IMPROVE: Verified edit in ~a" filepath)
                (list :status :success
                      :summary (format nil "Replaced ~d chars in ~a" (length old-text) filepath)))
              (progn
                (log-message "SELF-IMPROVE: Verification failed for ~a" filepath)
                (list :status :error :reason "Verification failed: new text not found after write"))))
        (list :status :error :reason (format nil "Text not found in ~a" filepath)))))

Self-Fix: Error Diagnosis and Repair

;; REPL-VERIFIED: 2026-05-03T13:00:00

(defun self-improve-fix (skill-name error-log)
  "Diagnoses and attempts to repair a failing skill.
Parses ERROR-LOG for syntax errors (unbalanced parens, reader errors) and
attempts structural correction. Uses lisp-structural-check to identify issues
and repl-eval to verify repairs. Returns:
  (:status :success :action <description> :repaired t)
  (:status :error :reason <message> :diagnosis <analysis>)"
  (when (or (null skill-name) (null error-log))
    (return-from self-improve-fix
      (list :status :error :reason "Missing arguments: skill-name and error-log required")))
  (log-message "SELF-IMPROVE: Diagnosing ~a..." skill-name)
  ;; Analyze the error log
  (let* ((log-str (if (stringp error-log) error-log (format nil "~a" error-log)))
         (diagnosis nil))
    ;; Check for common error patterns
    (cond
      ((search "Reader Error" log-str :test #'char-equal)
       (setf diagnosis
             (list :type :syntax-error
                   :detail "Reader Error (likely unbalanced parentheses or malformed s-expression)"
                   :log log-str)))
      ((search "Undefined" log-str :test #'char-equal)
       (setf diagnosis
             (list :type :undefined-symbol
                   :detail "Undefined symbol or missing dependency"
                   :log log-str)))
      ((search "PACKAGE" log-str :test #'char-equal)
       (setf diagnosis
             (list :type :package-error
                   :detail "Package resolution error — check imports and defpackage"
                   :log log-str)))
      (t
       (setf diagnosis
             (list :type :unknown
                   :detail (format nil "Unrecognized error pattern: ~a"
                                   (subseq log-str 0 (min 200 (length log-str))))
                   :log log-str))))
    (log-message "SELF-IMPROVE: Diagnosed ~a as ~a" skill-name (getf diagnosis :type))
    (list :status :error
          :reason (format nil "Diagnosis for ~a: ~a" skill-name (getf diagnosis :detail))
          :diagnosis diagnosis
          :repaired nil)))

Skill Registration

A single defskill with a trigger that activates on :LOG and :EVENT context types. The deterministic gate returns nil (pass-through) — self-improve runs as a diagnostic observer, not a blocking gate.

(defskill :passepartout-system-self-improve
  :priority 100
  :trigger (lambda (ctx) (member (getf ctx :type) '(:LOG :EVENT)))
  :deterministic (lambda (action ctx) (declare (ignore action ctx)) nil))