Andy Dixon
fb34f08f40
Phase 2. Minds are rows with a slug, status (active/disabled/archived), cognitive configuration and a pointer to the current personality version. Personalities are structured (identity, values, traits, communication, behaviour, free text) with a deterministic Brief() used by prompts and the editor preview. Every change appends a personality_versions row protected by the append-only trigger; restore copies an old version forward. Templates carry reusable personalities; minds record their overrides so a template can be re-applied without losing mind-specific edits. The self-model starts with structural limitations the mind cannot drop (no policy changes, no influence over shutdown, no cross-mind access). API, UI (list, overview, editor with sliders/diff/history/import/export, template editor) and noemactl mind/template commands. All mutations are audited with field-level diffs.
2.5 KiB
Personality
A mind's personality is a structured document, not a system prompt. It lives in personality_versions (append-only) and the mind row points at the current version.
Structure
| Section | Fields | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | name, display name, description, role, pronouns, backstory, origin | The only free-text part prompts always include |
| Values | privacy, evidence, kindness, curiosity, accuracy, autonomy, caution, creativity, persistence | 0–1, fixed vocabulary |
| Traits | curiosity, scepticism, sociability, humour, patience, verbosity, confidence, risk tolerance, novelty preference | 0–1, fixed vocabulary |
| Communication | language, dialect, formality, verbosity, humour style, terminology | |
| Behaviour | challenge assumptions, ask follow-ups, prefer evidence, cite uncertainty, offer alternatives, notify proactively | booleans |
| Free text | additional character notes | supplements, never replaces, the structured fields |
Unknown keys are dropped and numbers are clamped on every write (Personality.Normalise).
Brief
Personality.Brief() renders the structured data into a short deterministic paragraph. Cognitive prompts receive the brief, not the JSON, and the editor's Preview shows exactly that text. Because it is deterministic it is unit-tested.
Versions
Every save, import, restore or template application appends a version with a change note and author. Restoring an old version writes a new version copying it. The diff view compares any two versions field by field. Deleting history is impossible: the table has an append-only trigger.
Templates and overrides
A template is a reusable personality. When a mind is based on a template, each version also records the mind's overrides: the fields that differ from the template. Re-applying the template (for example after editing it) recomputes template + overrides, so mind-specific changes survive. Editing a template never changes minds implicitly; an operator re-applies it and that action is audited.
Traits and the runtime
Later phases consume the personality as follows:
- attention weights are biased by traits such as curiosity and novelty preference;
- affect baselines derive from traits (patience, confidence);
- the response generator receives the brief and the behavioural preferences;
- notification thresholds honour notify proactively.
Audit
personality.update, personality.import, personality.restore, personality.template, template.create/update/delete entries are written to the audit log with the field-level diff.