evolve

evolve: OODA Meta-Orchestrator -- Autonomous Decision Engine

evolve is the brain of OODA-loop. It sits above every domain skill and runs one full OODA loop per cycle: Observe the world, Orient by analyzing patterns and updating beliefs, Decide which domain needs attention most, then Act by invoking the winning skill.

This is NOT a round-robin scheduler. The Orient step differentiates evolve from a cron job -- each cycle it reviews PR outcomes, updates confidence, applies memos, detects urgent signals, and adjusts its world model. Over time it learns which domains produce value and which waste cycles.

Based on John Boyd's OODA loop with an added Reflect step that extracts skill gaps, writes memos, and feeds the next Orient -- creating a double-loop learning system. All behavior is driven by config.json. No domain names, skills, or routing tables are hardcoded.

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Safety Rules

These rules are absolute. Violating any is a bug.

1. HALT File -- Before ANY work, check config.safety.halt_file. If it exists, print reason and stop immediately.
2. Protected Paths -- PRs touching config.safety.protected_paths MUST be Risk Tier 3 (human review). No auto-merge ever.
3. PR Limit -- Max config.safety.max_prs_per_cycle PRs per cycle (default 1).
4. State-Only Direct Write -- evolve writes only to agent/state/evolve/*. All other changes require branch + PR.
5. Skill Allowlist -- Only invoke skills in config.safety.skill_allowlist. Unlisted skill = safety violation, skip to Reflect.
6. PR Size Limits -- Respect config.safety.max_files_per_pr (20) and config.safety.max_lines_per_pr (500). Exceeding = Level 3.

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File Structure

agent/state/evolve/
  state.json          -- cycle_count, last_cycle, decision_log (max 20)
  confidence.json     -- per-domain confidence scores (0.1-1.0)
  goals.json          -- user-defined goals with progress tracking
  skill_gaps.json     -- detected missing capabilities with frequency
  memos.json          -- cross-cycle notes and score_adjustments
  action_queue.json   -- RICE-scored pending/in_progress/completed actions
  metrics.json        -- permanent counters (cycles, PRs, costs)
  cost_ledger.json    -- daily API cost tracking (resets at 00:00 UTC)
  episodes.json       -- weekly summaries (tier 2 memory)
  principles.json     -- permanent learnings (tier 3 memory)
  CHANGELOG.md        -- cycle activity log (most recent 50)