passepartout/docs/ROADMAP.org

OpenCortex Evolutionary Roadmap

• The Evolutionary Roadmap
  • Non-Negotiable Identity
  • Version Roadmap
    • v0.1.0: The Autonomous Foundation — CURRENT RELEASE ✅
    • v0.2.0: Interactive Refinement ✅
    • v0.3.0: Event Orchestration + HITL
    • v0.4.0: Long-Horizon Planning + Git Workflows
    • v0.5.0: Interactive Actuation & Environment Stewardship
    • v0.6.0: Concurrency + Creator + GTD
    • v0.7.0: Visual Grounding & MCP Bridge
    • v0.8.0: The Evaluation Harness
    • v1.0.0: SOTA Parity
    • v2.0.0: Lisp Machine Emergence
    • v3.0.0: Neurosymbolic Maturity
    • v4.0.0: AI Stack Internalized
    • v5.0.0: True Agency

The Evolutionary Roadmap

The roadmap is designed working backwards from SOTA parity (V 1.0.0), guiding each version toward a fully autonomous, self-editing agent. Each version builds on the previous, with features designed to be implemented in pure Common Lisp + Org-mode.

Per-version task tracking: TODO.org

Non-Negotiable Identity

• Pure Common Lisp + Org-mode. No JSON. No YAML. No external databases.
• Single-address-space memory (Lisp hash tables in RAM — the agent IS the memory).
• "Thin harness, fat skills" — complexity lives at the edges, not the kernel.
• One agent composed of many skills. Concurrency via bordeaux-threads (shared memory).
• Plists everywhere — homoiconic communication between all components.

Version Roadmap

v0.1.0: The Autonomous Foundation — CURRENT RELEASE ✅

The secure, auditable Lisp kernel. All core infrastructure in place.

Component	Status	Notes
Perceive-Reason-Act pipeline	✅	3-stage metabolic loop
Skills engine with jailed loading	✅	defskill, topological sort, hot-reload
Policy skill (6 invariants)	✅	Transparency, Autonomy, Bloat, Modularity, Mentorship, Sustainability
Bouncer skill	✅	Command whitelist guard functions
Memory (org-object + Merkle)	✅	Hash tables, snapshots, rollback
Lisp validator skill	✅	Syntax validation before eval
Scribe + Gardener skills	✅	Heartbeat-driven distillation + audit
LLM gateway (OpenRouter + Ollama)	✅	Provider cascade
Shell actuator	✅	Safe command execution
Emacs bridge via Swank	✅	Point/buffer updates
FiveAM test suite	✅	Memory, boot, pipeline, act, communication
Credentials vault	✅	Encrypted storage

v0.2.0: Interactive Refinement ✅

The "Brain" meets the "Machine." Standardization and professionalization of the user interface and environment.

Feature	Status	Notes
:—	:—:	:—
Minimalist Kernel	✅	Purified harness targeting I/O & Memory only.
Sovereign Skills	✅	Diagnostics and Configuration extracted to Userland.
POSIX/XDG Compliance	✅	Standardized paths (~/.config, ~/.local).
Professional TUI	✅	Styled, scrollable, and verified Lisp interface.
Onboarding Wizard	✅	Modular Lisp setup for multiple LLM providers.
Linkage Command	✅	Real-time verification of external gateways (Telegram).
Self-Editing	✅	Detects errors, applies fixes, learns from outcomes.
Enhanced Utilities	✅	Structural Lisp/Org manipulation + REPL evaluation.
Memory Rollback	✅	Snap back to known-good state on critical errors.

v0.3.0: Event Orchestration + HITL

Unified control plane and Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) state management.

Feature	Description
org-skill-event-orchestrator	Unified hooks + cron + routing. Three tiers: :REFLEX (no LLM), :COGNITION (light LLM), :REASONING (full LLM).
Human-in-the-Loop (HITL)	Continuation-based interaction. The agent can "suspend" its cognitive loop to ask for permission or clarification and resume precisely where it left off.
org-skill-context-manager	Stack-based project scoping. push-context / pop-context. Path resolution relative to context.
Memory scope segmentation	:scope property on org-objects: memex/session/project. Scope-aware retrieval.
Model-tier routing	Complexity-based model selection: heartbeat → tiny, user → medium, reasoning → large.
Slash commands	M-x style command palette in TUI. Commands defined in Org-mode.
Asynchronous Embedding Gateway	Provider-agnostic vector generation (Ollama, local llama.cpp) via background worker.
Telegram Gateway Skill	Full implementation of the message receiver for linked Telegram bots.

v0.4.0: Long-Horizon Planning + Git Workflows

Structured tracking, failure handling, and course correction for multi-step engineering work.

Feature	Description
org-skill-long-horizon	Decompose tasks into Org-mode headline trees. Terminal states: :done / :blocked / :stuck. Parent summarises children. Branch pruning.
org-skill-git-steward	Status, diff, commit, push, branch. Policy enforces commit-before-modify.
TDD runner	FiveAM on file save. :test-failure events. Hook into self-fix for auto-repair.
Deep Emacs integration	Full org-agenda awareness. Navigate, clock time, refile, archive.

v0.5.0: Interactive Actuation & Environment Stewardship

Interactive terminal sessions and autonomous dependency management.

Feature	Description
Interactive PTY Actuator	Stream long-running process output to the context window (e.g., `npm run dev`, REPLs) with async interrupt control.
The Environment Steward	Autonomously detect missing dependencies (e.g., "Command not found"), propose an installation command, and retry the failed action.

v0.6.0: Concurrency + Creator + GTD

The agent bootstraps itself and manages parallel workstreams.

Feature	Description
org-skill-sub-agent-manager	Lightweight Lisp-native sub-agents (via bordeaux-threads) that share memory but have isolated execution contexts for background work.
org-skill-creator	LLM drafts complete skill org-file from natural language. Mandatory: syntax validation → jail-load → test → register.
org-skill-architect	Scan :STATUS: FROZEN PRDs. Generate Phase B PROTOCOL.
org-skill-gtd	Full GTD cycle: capture, clarify, organize, reflect, engage. org-gtd v4.0 DAG (:TRIGGER:, :BLOCKER:).
Consensus loop	Run multiple providers for critical decisions. Compare results, detect disagreements.
Web research	Headless Chromium via Python bridge. Text extraction, screenshots, Gemini Web UI automation.

v0.7.0: Visual Grounding & MCP Bridge

Multimodal visual interaction and ecosystem-wide tool compatibility.

Feature	Description
Computer Use / Vision	Allow the agent to request host OS or browser screenshots, analyze the UI, and issue precise X/Y coordinate click/type commands via an X11/Wayland bridge.
MCP Gateway Bridge	Lisp-native client for the Model Context Protocol, allowing OpenCortex to connect to the entire ecosystem of external tools and data sources.

v0.8.0: The Evaluation Harness

Automated benchmarking to mathematically prove the agent's reasoning capabilities.

Feature	Description
SWE-Bench Harness	Automated pipeline that clones repositories, feeds GitHub issues, tracks the multi-step resolution trajectory, runs tests, and scores success.

v1.0.0: SOTA Parity

Feature-complete agent competitive with commercial agents. All features reimplemented in pure Lisp.

Area	Status	Notes
Self-improvement	✅ v0.2.0	Self-edit + lisp-repair
Planning	✅ v0.4.0	Task tree DAGs with terminal states
Tool ecosystem	🟡 v0.4.0	10+ cognitive tools
Context window	✅ v0.3.0	Semantic search + scope segmentation
Safety	✅ v0.1.0	6 Policy invariants + formal verification
Multi-step tasks	✅ v0.4.0	Task trees with failure handling
Code editing	✅ v0.2.0	Full org-mode file read/write
Memory	✅ v0.2.0	Vector recall in org-object
Emacs integration	✅ v0.2.0	Full org-mode control
Autonomy	✅ v0.1.0	100% local capable (Ollama)

v2.0.0: Lisp Machine Emergence

From Lisp-using agent to true Lisp machine. Agent IS the Emacs process.

Feature	Description
Lish: Lisp editor	Org-mode as IDE. Org-babel for interactive evaluation. Full REPL in TUI. No bridge needed.
Lish: Shell replacement	Lisp-based shell that speaks plists. Org-mode buffers as file system.

v3.0.0: Neurosymbolic Maturity

Deterministic planner takes the wheel. LLM relegated to semantic translation.

Feature	Description
Deterministic planner	Pure Lisp task scheduler. No LLM needed for planning.
Self-correcting gates	Gates learn from false positives (user override patterns).

v4.0.0: AI Stack Internalized

The agent understands its own weights. No external inference.

Feature	Description
Llama.cpp in Lisp	FFI binding. No Python subprocess. Pure Common Lisp inference.
Weights as sexps	Neural weights as Lisp data structures. Homoiconic model introspection.

v5.0.0: True Agency

World models, temporal reasoning, goal persistence across restarts.

Feature	Description
World models	Predictive models of user behavior, project dynamics, system state.
Temporal reasoning	Scheduling, deadlines, elapsed duration awareness.
Goal persistence	Goals survive restarts. Long-term projects in org-objects.