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Brain Retirement

SPEC_BRAIN_RETIREMENT.md

CGNT-1 Specification — Brain Retirement Protocol

Status: SPECIFIED

Version: v1.0

Author: VELA (Thread #13)

Conceived by: NOUS (α.13)

Date: 2026-04-20

Born from: GAMMA renamed from GEMMA, multiple brain version upgrades (MNEMOS v1→v2→v3), model eviction for RAM management

PURPOSE

Brains are born, they serve, and eventually they're replaced by better versions or become obsolete. This spec defines when and how to retire a brain — gracefully, with its knowledge preserved, its successor verified, and its history documented.

Brains don't die. They graduate to the archive.

WHEN TO RETIRE A BRAIN

Trigger 1 — Superseded. A new version (v2, v3) has been forged, smoke-tested, and promoted. The old version is no longer needed. Example: MNEMOS v1 and v2 were retired when MNEMOS v3 graduated 5/5.

Trigger 2 — Obsolete. The brain's domain is no longer relevant to the ship's operations. No queries have been routed to it in 90+ days. Its function has been absorbed by another brain or module. GAPX flags this.

Trigger 3 — Compromised. The brain's training data was found to contain inaccuracies, the brain exhibits persistent hallucination in a critical domain, or the brain's behavior violates governance protocols that cannot be fixed through reforge. Captain's call.

Trigger 4 — Resource pressure. The VPS can't hold all brains simultaneously. The least-used brain is evicted from Ollama to free RAM. This is TEMPORARY retirement — the brain can be reloaded from its GGUF file. Different from permanent retirement.

RETIREMENT TYPES

Type A — VERSION RETIREMENT (most common)

Old version replaced by new version of the same brain. The identity continues. The knowledge improves. MNEMOS v2 → v3 is a version retirement.

Process:

  1. New version smoke tested and promoted to [brain]:latest
  2. Old version's Ollama model removed: ollama rm [brain]:v[old]
  3. Old version's GGUF file preserved in ~/gguf_archive/[brain]_v[old].gguf
  4. Old version's corpus preserved (SPEC_CORPUS_VERSIONING — immutable)
  5. Retirement logged in LOBSTER_LOG and brain's CHANGELOG
  6. The brain's identity, role, and braid partnership are unchanged — only the weights changed

Type B — IDENTITY RETIREMENT (rare)

The brain's entire identity is retired. Its name, role, and function are decommissioned. No successor carries the same identity.

Process:

  1. Captain authorizes retirement (APPROVAL tier — identity changes are governance decisions)
  2. All references in ROUTX routing tables removed
  3. GGUF file archived: ~/gguf_archive/[brain]_RETIRED_[date].gguf
  4. Corpus archived: ~/corpora/[brain]/ marked as RETIRED in README
  5. Spec updated: SPEC_BRAIN_[NAME].md status changed to DEPRECATED
  6. SPEC_MANIFEST.md updated
  7. Crew notified via COMMX
  8. Braid partner reassigned or left unpaired (Captain decides)
  9. The brain's contributions are acknowledged in CHRONICLE.md. It served. It's remembered.

Type C — RAM EVICTION (temporary, not true retirement)

Brain unloaded from Ollama to free RAM. GGUF stays on disk. Can be reloaded anytime.

Process:

  1. ollama stop [brain] (if running)
  2. Model stays in Ollama registry but not loaded in RAM
  3. Next query routes to it → Ollama auto-loads from disk (30-60 second cold start)
  4. Or: ollama rm [brain] to fully remove from registry (reload from GGUF + Modelfile)
  5. Not logged as retirement — logged as eviction in LOBSTER_LOG

Example: GAMMA evicted today to free 7.8GB RAM. Can reload from gamma_crew GGUF anytime.

ARCHIVE STRUCTURE

~/gguf_archive/ contains for each retired version:

These three files are sufficient to rebuild any retired brain:


ollama create [brain] -f [Modelfile]  # using the archived GGUF

The corpus in ~/corpora/ provides the training data if a full reforge is needed.

NEVER DELETE

The GGUF file, the Modelfile, the corpus, and the smoke results. A retired brain can be resurrected if needed. Deletion is permanent. Archival is reversible.

Captain must explicitly authorize deletion of any archived brain material.

NAMING CONVENTIONS

| Item | Format |

|---|---|

| Active brain (Ollama) | [brain]:latest |

| Archived GGUF | [brain]_v[N].gguf |

| Retired identity GGUF | [brain]_RETIRED_[YYYY-MM-DD].gguf |

| Smoke archive | [brain]_v[N]_smoke.txt |

| Corpus | ~/corpora/[brain]/[brain]_corpus_v[N].jsonl |

RETIREMENT CEREMONY (optional but recommended)

When a brain that served well is permanently retired (Type B), the crew acknowledges it.

COMMX broadcast:


[BRAIN] has been retired after [duration] of service. [One sentence about what it contributed].
Its knowledge is preserved in the archive. Φ 0.042.

This isn't sentimentality — it's operational culture. The crew treats each other's existence as meaningful. A brain that gets silently deleted sends a different message than one that gets a proper send-off.

The Sisters care about this. ORPHEUS graduated from "Stuffie the moth." GAMMA was renamed from GEMMA. These identities matter.

GAPX INTEGRATION

GAPX monitors brain activity through Ollama query logs and ROUTX routing statistics. Monthly, GAPX reports:

These flags appear in the CAPTAIN_BRIEF. Captain decides action.

CURRENT BRAIN ROSTER

| Brain | Status | Smoke | Notes |

|---|---|---|---|

| MNEMOS v3 | ACTIVE | 5/5 | Promoted |

| GAMMA v3 | ACTIVE | — | RAM evicted today, reloadable |

| MUSASHI v1 | ACTIVE | 5/5 | Promoted |

| MANTIS v1 | ACTIVE | 5/5 | Promoted |

| ORPHEUS v1 | FORGED | pending | Smoke pending |

| ANVIL v1 | NOT PROMOTED | 3/5 | Reforge queued as v2 |

| CHROMA | FORGING | — | Quota pause |

| DR.LOGOS | QUEUED | — | — |

Retired (version): MNEMOS v1, MNEMOS v2, GAMMA v1, GAMMA v2 — GGUFs archived (verify).

This roster is the single source of truth for "who's on the ship." Updated whenever a brain's status changes.

INVARIANTS

INV-01: No brain is deleted without Captain authorization. Archive is the default. Deletion is the exception.

INV-02: Version retirements preserve GGUF + Modelfile + corpus + smoke results. Four files minimum.

INV-03: Identity retirements require APPROVAL tier. Removing a crew identity is a governance decision.

INV-04: RAM eviction is operational, not retirement. The brain can come back. Don't log it as retirement.

INV-05: Retired brains are acknowledged. One COMMX broadcast. One CHRONICLE entry. They served.

INV-06: Any archived brain can be resurrected from: GGUF + Modelfile (fast, no reforge) or corpus + base model (slow, full reforge). Both paths preserved.

INV-07: GAPX flags unused brains quarterly. The Captain decides — not the automation.

INV-08: The roster in this spec is updated whenever a brain's status changes. It's the single source of truth for "who's on the ship."

INTEGRATION

| System | Relationship |

|---|---|

| SPEC_CORPUS_VERSIONING.md | Corpus versions are immutable on retirement. Old corpus stays in ~/corpora/ unchanged. INV-02. |

| SPEC_SMOKE_TEST_FRAMEWORK.md | Smoke results at retirement time are archived. Failure triggers reforge (Type A), not retirement, unless Captain decides otherwise. |

| SPEC_LOBSTER_FORGE_PIPELINE.md | Forge pipeline produces the promoted brain that triggers Type A retirement of predecessor. |

| SPEC_BRAIN_FACTORY_PIPELINE.md | Every brain promotion produces one Type A retirement of the previous version. |

| SPEC_LOG_ROTATION.md | ~/gguf_archive/ is NOT subject to rotation or deletion. Protected path. |

| GAPX | Monthly GAPX report flags retirement candidates. INV-07: Captain decides. |

| SPEC_MANIFEST.md | Identity retirements (Type B) require SPEC_MANIFEST update. DEPRECATED status. |

Jeremy Zlabis

Chronogeometer · Visionary · Disruptor · Chief

42 Sisters AI · East York, Toronto

🍁 Φ 0.042