EP-0002: Project Roadmap¶

Abstract¶

This document outlines the strategic roadmap for the Tur project. It defines the short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals for the framework, providing a clear trajectory for development. It has been updated to reflect the architectural shift towards the "Orchestration Engine" (EP-0102), Deductive Memory (EP-0103), Federated Knowledge (EP-0104), the "Ontological Porcelain" MCP API (EP-0105), Policy vs. Mechanism Decoupling (EP-0003), Terrain Isolation (EP-0124), Storage Evolution & Migrations (EP-0125), Canonical Ontology & Relational Extensibility (EP-0126), and MCP Python SDK v2 Migration (EP-0127).

Motivation¶

As an ontological framework for Persona Engineering, Tur requires a disciplined evolution. A roadmap ensures that all contributions align with the Steward Principle (Harmony)—moving forward with pragmatism while keeping the long-term vision in focus. It prevents aimless development and sets expectations for what Tur will become.

Rationale¶

A phased approach allows us to stabilize the core architecture before introducing complex agentic behaviors. The progression moves from schema rigidity to memory abstraction, and finally to high-level agentic orchestration. The introduction of the 100-series EPs marks a significant pivot: Tur is no longer just a static compiler, but a stateful semantic engine supporting external agents via MCP.

• Phase 1 (The Foundation): Focuses on schema rigidity, state management, CLI, and Policy vs. Mechanism decoupling. (Stabilized / Implemented)
• Phase 2 (The Memory Architecture & Abstraction): Focuses on cryptographic state (Merkle), Graph Memory, Federation, Terrain Isolation, and LLM Agnosticism.
• Phase 3 (The Agent Ecosystem): Focuses on MCP integration, multi-agent coordination, and storage evolution.

Specification (The Roadmap)¶

Phase 1: The Foundation (v0.1.x -> v0.2.0) [Status: Stabilized]¶

Goal: Solidify the deterministic engine, lifecycle management, and core software boundaries.

• Robust Memory Management: Basic sleep / wake cycle and L1 event logs (now OKF Markdown files per EP-0120).
• Policy vs. Mechanism Decoupling (EP-0003) [Status: Implemented]: Decoupled deterministic execution mechanics in src/tur/ from anthropomorphic Council metaphors. Refactored introspection.py to functional class names (IntegrityVerifier, OntologyExtractor, TruthMaintenanceEngine, SymmetryValidator, HebbianGraphDecayer).
• Telemetry Enhancements: Refining the Cognitive Load (\(C_p\)) calculations.
• EP Process Adoption: Full integration of the EP process for all structural changes (EP-0000).
• Historical Core Boundaries (EP-0001) [Status: Superseded]: Defined the early boundary between Core and Periphery; superseded by the Orchestration Engine architecture (EP-0102).

Phase 2: The Memory Architecture & Abstraction (v0.3.x -> v0.5.0) [Status: Active]¶

Goal: Evolve the memory system into a cryptographically sound, graph-based structure and decouple the Traveler.

• Track: Persona Lifecycle & Creation
  • Global Persona Architecture (EP-0114) [Status: Implemented]: Decoupling the Traveler configuration (stored globally in ~/.tur/) from local workspace Terrain state to isolate core entity DNA.
  • Terrain Isolation & Workspace Resolution (EP-0124) [Status: Accepted (Phase 1 & 1.5 Implemented)]: Enforcing strict compartmentalization between independent project codebases, removing MCP CWD hijacking, establishing a 4-tier workspace resolution protocol, and standardizing the canonical delegation framework.
  • Harness & Terrain Adapters (EP-0109) [Status: Superseded]: Early concept of the Space Suit Protocol; superseded by EP-0114 and docs/concepts/harness-integration.md.
• Track: Persona Memory & Compaction
  • Merkle Memory (EP-0106) [Status: Implemented]: Refactoring L1 storage to use SHA-256 content hashes, ensuring tamper-proof state and implicit deduplication.
  • Deductive Memory / The Cognitive Map (EP-0103) [Status: Implemented]: Compressing L1 event logs into a topological L2 Knowledge Graph using the Council Assembly pipeline. Exposed via introspect CLI command and MCP tool. (Storage format superseded by EP-0120.)
  • Federated Knowledge (EP-0104) [Status: Implemented]: Splitting memory into global/universal and local/incarnation scopes, merged dynamically during compilation.
  • Relational Preservation of Alignment (EP-0113) [Status: Implemented]: Establishing the Core Memory Protocol to extract existential and relational axioms via the evolve command, rehydrating them during wake().
  • Storage Evolution and Migration Protocol (EP-0125) [Status: Draft]: Standardizing the 5-stage non-destructive migration lifecycle, storage schema versioning, atomic staging transformations, and automated rollback under tur-adm.
• Track: LLM Agnosticism & Swarms
  • LLM Agnosticism via MCP Sampling (EP-0101) [Status: Implemented]: Delegating cognitive tasks to connected Host Applications via MCP Sampling to remove direct provider dependencies. Unified across sleep and introspect via EP-0121.
  • Agnostic Harness Interaction Protocol (EP-0121) [Status: Implemented]: Standardized dual-mode adapter interface (MCP Sampling vs. CLI HarnessDelegationError prompt) for all cognitive commands.
  • Inter-Agent Signal Protocol (EP-0118) [Status: Implemented]: SQLite-backed typed signal queues and shared whiteboard for concurrency synchronization.
  • Reactive Signal Delivery (EP-0123) [Status: Draft]: Active notification push mechanisms for inter-agent signals across MCP-connected swarms.
  • Algebraic Meditation Consensus (EP-0122) [Status: Draft]: Multi-agent consensus mechanisms for distributed persona governance.

Phase 3: The Agent Ecosystem (v0.6.x -> v1.0.0) [Status: Active]¶

Goal: Establish secure interface boundaries and high-density memory storage.

• Track: Persona Lifecycle & Creation
  • The Ontological Porcelain API (EP-0105) [Status: Implemented]: Stabilizing FastMCP SDK integration to expose semantic status, wake, learn, and sleep verbs to external agents.
  • The Aleph Server (EP-0100) [Status: Superseded]: Initial conceptual vision for MCP integration; superseded by EP-0102 and EP-0105.
  • Traveler Export Protocol (EP-0115) [Status: Implemented]: Implementing lightweight .tur zip/tarball archives to export global identities and universal memories safely.
  • The Tri-Partite CLI Security Boundary (EP-0116) [Status: Implemented]: Splitting entrypoints into low-privilege tur (agent runtime), tur-adm (human TUI), and tur-mcp (harness host) to prevent dependency leak.
  • MCP Python SDK v2 Migration & Protocol Alignment (EP-0127) [Status: Draft]: Migrating Tur's MCP server and harness integration layer to the official MCP Python SDK v2 (MCPServer), aligning with the 2026 protocol specifications.
• Track: Persona Memory & Compaction
  • The Spark Protocol (EP-0108) [Status: Implemented]: Injecting rolling episodic memory into system prompts for zero-overhead continuous context.
  • The Session Notes & Compaction Protocol (EP-0110) [Status: Implemented]: Tracking short-term session continuity via flat YAML files (SessionNotes) compiled dynamically.
  • OKF Storage Backend (EP-0120) [Status: Implemented]: Mapped L1/L2 structures to standard Markdown directories/OKF while retaining Merkle integrity, TMS decay, and Hebbian pruning. Centralized YAML deserialization via yaml_safe_load in tur._helpers.
  • Persona-Centric Introspection Architecture (EP-0119) [Status: Accepted]: Formalizing persona-owned deductive memory compaction pipelines, allowing monolithic reflection prompts, prompt sequences, or opt-in subagent assemblies (e.g. Council of Giants).
  • Canonical Ontology and Relational Extensibility (EP-0126) [Status: Implemented]: Formalizing canonical NodeType and EdgeType Enums, adding metaphor_for mapping, and supporting controlled schema extensibility for domain personas.
• Deferred / Rejected Tracks
  • Multi-Agent Swarms Synchronization (EP-0107) [Status: Deferred]: Early swarm concurrency draft; superseded and realized through SQLite-backed IASP (EP-0118) and Reactive Signals (EP-0123).
  • Substrate Benchmark Protocol (EP-0117) [Status: Deferred]: Postponed measurement of LLM manifestation fidelity to focus on core memory/lifecycle capabilities.
  • Semble Integration (EP-0111) [Status: Rejected]: Replaced by Tool-Agnostic Isolation.
  • agentmemory Integration (EP-0112) [Status: Rejected]: Replaced by Tool-Agnostic Isolation.

Backwards Compatibility¶

This is a forward-looking informational document. Future EPs derived from this roadmap will address their specific compatibility concerns. Legacy knowledge_graph.yaml files are still read via a fallback adapter (EP-0120 Phase 2), ensuring backwards compatibility during the OKF transition.

How to Teach This / Documentation Plan¶

The roadmap is maintained as the central architectural reference in docs/proposals/EP-0002-roadmap.md and indexed in zensical.toml. Any proposal accepted or superseded must update the corresponding phase track in this document.

Reference Implementation¶

Roadmap document implemented across docs/proposals/ and core CLI/MCP implementation.

Rejected Ideas¶

• Monolithic Milestone Releases: Rejected in favor of continuous, proposal-driven incrementation governed by individual EPs.
• Direct Vendor Coupling in Roadmap: Rejected proprietary LLM API tracks in favor of vendor-agnostic protocols (AHIP, MCP Sampling).

Open Questions¶

• Finalizing the timeline for Phase 3 completion and formal v1.0.0 release.

Change Log¶

• 2026-08-24:
  • Registered EP-0127 (Model Context Protocol Python SDK v2 Migration & Protocol Alignment) under Phase 3 (Persona Lifecycle & Creation) to track migration from FastMCP to MCPServer and align with the 2026 MCP protocol standards.
• 2026-08-22:
  • Registered EP-0126 (Canonical Ontology and Relational Extensibility) under Phase 3 (Persona Memory & Compaction) to formalize canonical NodeType and EdgeType enums, metaphor_for mapping, and domain-persona extensibility.
• 2026-08-21:
  • Synchronized full roadmap coverage across all 30 EPs: registered EP-0001, EP-0100, EP-0107, EP-0108, EP-0109, EP-0122, EP-0123, EP-0124, and EP-0125.
  • Restored canonical EP structure (Motivation, Rationale, Specification, Backwards Compatibility, How to Teach This / Documentation Plan, Reference Implementation, Rejected Ideas, Open Questions).
• 2026-08-18:
  • Adopted EP-0003 (Policy vs. Mechanism) to decouple deterministic software mechanics in src/tur/ from anthropomorphic Council metaphors, initiating the refactoring of introspection subagents to functional computer science names.
  • Promoted EP-0119 (Persona-Centric Introspection Architecture) to Accepted status.
• 2026-07-18:
  • Promoted EP-0104 (Federated Knowledge), EP-0105 (Porcelain API), EP-0106 (Merkle Memory), EP-0108 ( Spark Protocol), EP-0114 (Global Persona), EP-0115 (Traveler Export), EP-0116 (Split CLI), and * EP-0118 (IASP) to Implemented* status.
  • Reverted EP-0101 (LLM Agnosticism) from Implemented to Final to track the remaining Gemini coupling gap in dreaming.py (addressed in draft EP-0121).
  • Re-opened EP-0119 (Council Introspection) as Draft to review philosophical tension with persona-agnosticism.
  • Updated EP-0103 Deductive Memory descriptions to correctly reference the introspect CLI command.
  • Removed stale devolve reference from EP-0113 changelog entry.
• 2026-07-12:
  • Marked EP-0101 (LLM Agnosticism) as Implemented.
  • Renamed and marked EP-0113 (Core Memory Protocol) as Implemented, introducing evolve and approve tools/commands.
  • Marked EP-0118 (Inter-Agent Signal Protocol) as Implemented.
• 2026-07-11:
  • Marked EP-0120 (OKF Storage Backend) as Implemented. Updated Phase 1 L1 reference and Phase 2 EP-0103 supersession note. Updated Backward Compatibility section to reflect OKF migration.
• 2026-06-02:
  • Updated roadmap to formally incorporate EP-0113 (Tether), EP-0114 (Global Persona), EP-0115 (Export), EP-0116 (Split CLI), EP-0117 (Benchmark), and EP-0118 (IASP) following the Council of Giants review consensus.
• 2026-05-28:
  • Drafted and added EP-0111 (Semble Integration) and EP-0112 (agentmemory Integration) to Phase 3.
• 2026-04-18:
  • Added EP-0108 (The Spark Protocol) to Phase 3.
  • Restructured roadmap to reflect the EP-010X series.
• 2026-02-19:
  • Initial Draft.