RUNTIME_CONTRACT.md

Aura Runtime Contract — what must be alive

GENERATED from core/runtime/health_contract.py by tools/render_health_contract.py. Do not edit by hand — a drift test regenerates and compares this file on every suite run.

Contract version: runtime-health-v1

CRITICAL — Aura CANNOT function without these

Service	Container key	Liveness check	Why it matters
InferenceGate	inference_gate	is_inference_ready	Routes LLM requests to local MLX or cloud. Without it, Aura cannot generate any response.
LLM Router	llm_router	is_ready	Selects model tier and provider. Without it, InferenceGate has no backend.
State Repository	state_repository	is_initialized	Persistent state store. Without it, Aura has no memory between turns.
Memory Facade	memory_facade	is_ready	Canonical memory gateway. Without it, Aura cannot safely read or write long-term memory.
Memory Write Gateway	memory_write_gateway	is_ready	Canonical governed durable memory write gateway. Without it, memory writes cannot be trusted.
Kernel Interface	kernel_interface	is_ready	Bridge between orchestrator and consciousness kernel.
Scheduler	scheduler	is_alive	Canonical runtime scheduler. Without it, maintenance, repair, and background work are unsupervised.
Runtime Control Plane	runtime_control_plane	is_ready	Canonical desired-state reconciler. Without it, service lifecycle and resource policy diverge.
Resource Admission	resource_admission	is_ready	Pressure-aware lease authority for inference, evolution, model loading, and managed startup.
Lane Admission	lane_admission	is_ready	Declared model-memory envelope. Without it, concurrent lane warmups can over-commit the host.
Lane Reconciler	lane_reconciler	is_ready	Managed cortex convergence and crash-loop backoff. Without it, model-serving recovery can thrash indefinitely.
Actor Supervision	actor_supervision	is_ready	Canonical multiprocessing actor monitor. Without it, crashed or stalled actors are not converged safely.
Inhibition Manager	inhibition_manager	is_ready	Canonical workspace safety gate. Without it, candidate admission cannot be trusted.
Global Workspace	global_workspace	is_ready	Canonical candidate admission and broadcast lane. Without it, inhibition cannot bind cognition.
Attention Schema	attention_schema	is_ready	Canonical attentional-focus owner and rigidity gate.
Unified Will	unified_will	is_alive	Single locus of authority for consequential decisions.
Authority Gateway	authority_gateway	is_ready	Governance gateway for tools, external I/O, memory writes, state changes, and self-modification.
Capability Engine	capability_engine	is_ready	Capability-token and skill governance layer. Without it, tool execution cannot be considered healthy.
Output Gate	output_gate	is_ready	Delivers responses to the user. Without it, Aura thinks but cannot speak.
Live Mind Runtime	live_mind_runtime	is_ready	Boot-owned causal organs and snapshot contract required for grounded live desktop speech.
External Memory Sentinel	external_memory_sentinel	is_armed	Out-of-process memory guard. Without it, a live desktop runaway can outpace in-process watchdogs and crash the host.

IMPORTANT — Aura works but the experience is degraded

Service	Container key	Liveness check	Why it matters
Event Bus	event_bus	is_alive	Canonical runtime event transport. Without it, subsystems cannot reliably coordinate.
Ulysses Covenant	ulysses_covenant	is_alive	Volitional self-binding registry enforced at the Will. Without it, precommitments against known failure modes stop holding.
Cognitive Engine	cognitive_engine	is_ready	Manages cognitive state transitions and working memory.
Affect Engine	affect_engine	is_ready	Emotional state management. Without it, responses are emotionally flat.
Compute Orchestrator	compute_orchestrator	is_alive	Resource allocation and thermal pressure control. Without it, long-run survival degrades.
Database Coordinator	database_coordinator	is_alive	SQLite connection pool. Without it, persistent storage degrades.
Drive Engine	drive_engine	is_alive	Motivation and goal management. Without it, autonomous behavior stops.
Agency Core	agency_core	is_alive	Canonical autonomous agency pathway loop. Without it, initiative and swarm tool use degrade.
Lymphatic Reaper	reaper	is_alive	Long-run maintenance supervisor. Without it, stale processes and files accumulate.
Hypervisor	hypervisor	is_alive	Event-loop and memory watchdog. Without it, severe stalls can go undetected.
Event Loop Monitor	event_loop_monitor	is_alive	Fine-grained event-loop lag monitor. Without it, blocking regressions are harder to catch.
MindTick	mind_tick	is_alive	Canonical cognitive and organism rhythm. Without forward progress, autonomous state integration stalls.
Resource Governor	resource_governor	is_alive	Canonical sampler and eviction adapter feeding the runtime control plane.
Resource Arbitrator	resource_arbitrator	is_ready	Compatibility facade ensuring legacy inference and evolution callers use canonical admission.

OPTIONAL — background enrichment; loss is invisible to the user

Service	Container key	Liveness check	Why it matters
Whole-System Φ	whole_system_phi	is_alive	Integrated-information estimation over the live channel set (exact-MIP Gaussian Φ with surrogate nulls, grain discovery, and an internal PCI). Telemetry-grade; loss removes a measurement, not a capability.
Mycelial Network	mycelial_network	presence only	Infrastructure graph and pathway routing.
Voice Engine	voice_engine	presence only	Speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities.
Liquid Substrate	liquid_substrate	presence only	Dynamic emotional substrate for consciousness simulation.
Synaptic Plasticity	synaptic_plasticity	is_ready	Bounded online projection learning for generation-style modulation.
Temporal Continuity	temporal_continuity	is_ready	Accumulated silence and drift residue for temporal presence.
Attention Gate	attention_gate	is_ready	Causal context pruning for focused cognition.
Somatic Qualia	somatic_qualia	is_ready	Non-symbolic substrate perturbation for generation controls.
Swarm Protocol	swarm_protocol	presence only	Multi-agent debate and reasoning.
Agent Delegator	agent_delegator	is_alive	Coordinates parallel task execution and specialized agents.
Stability Guardian	stability_guardian	presence only	Health monitoring and auto-recovery.
Metrics Exporter	metrics_exporter	presence only	Prometheus metrics endpoint.
Allostasis Engine	allostasis_engine	is_ready	Predictive interoception: forecasts vital-sign trajectories and regulates before crises, with a calibration ledger.

Required health probe groups

Boot readiness additionally requires at least one passing probe from each group:

• kernel: kernel_interface
• inference: inference_gate, llm_router, lane_admission, lane_reconciler
• memory: state_repository, memory_facade, memory_write_gateway, unified_memory_pressure, external_memory_sentinel
• scheduler: scheduler, runtime_control_plane, resource_admission, actor_supervision
• tool_governance: unified_will, authority_gateway, capability_engine
• workspace: inhibition_manager, global_workspace
• attention: attention_schema
• live_mind: live_mind_runtime