Section 14: Vision vs Reality Alignment Audit

Added: 2026-04-02 12:20 UTC

What's IN Alignment

Vision ClaimWhat We BuiltStatus
Fresh session per card (no context rot)Ralph v3 stateless runnerDone
2-Hat loop (Build + Audit)System prompt + scorerDone
Cards as brief AND audit trailForward + backward-looking fieldsDone
Skills loaded at executionSession-zero loads SKILL.mdDone
Typed errors for routing7 error types, auto-routingDone
KFS write on completionralph-kfs-writer.shDone
Concurrent lanes4 systemd timersDone

What's OUT of Alignment

Vision ClaimRealitySeverity
VERIFY → LOOP closes automaticallyRalph doesn't trigger new perceive cycle. Cards independent.HIGH
Forge as always-on PERCEIVE daemonNothing watches state changes. Jason queues everything manually.HIGH
COORDINATOR for multi-agent workNo coordinator. No task decomposition. No merge agent.HIGH
Expert clone as running loop agentMasteryOS expert system is concept only.HIGH
Governance lane perpendicularNo governance agents watch all lanes.MEDIUM
Handoffs carry full historyHandoff protocol designed, not implemented.MEDIUM
Brief Library (reusable briefs)No brief library. Every brief from scratch.MEDIUM
Pattern LibraryNo curated pattern entries.MEDIUM
Git as loop state machineCommits don't trigger PERCEIVE.MEDIUM
Forge UI as loop controllerDashboard shows nothing. No phase gates.MEDIUM

The Core Misalignment

Vision: Forge is a PERCEIVE daemon that watches the world, detects what needs doing, decomposes into cards, executes with governance, closes VERIFY → LOOP, and learns.

Reality: Ralph executes cards that Jason manually queues. We built the HANDS (execution engine). We haven't built the EYES (perceive), the BRAIN (plan/coordinate), or the MEMORY (extraction/learning loop).

The real domino: Not "Ralph reliable" — that's done. It's something that generates cards without Jason. A PERCEIVE agent that watches state and auto-generates work.


Section 15: /btw Self-Healing Pattern

When errors recur X times, Ralph spawns a /btw investigation card in parallel (researcher lane). Card produces diagnosis + fix + test plan. Safe fixes apply automatically. Risky fixes surface to Jason. Findings persist in KFS so the same investigation never repeats.


Section 16: Asymmetric Stenographer

Persistent background agent capturing decisions, judgment patterns, corrections, and roadmap ideas in real-time. Like a court stenographer for strategic decisions.

V1: PostToolUse hook → Haiku classifies → KFS write

V2: Hooks + periodic Sonnet extraction for judgment/taste

Key filter: Can it be verified by reading docs/code? YES = structural (don't train). NO = judgment (capture).


Ralph v3 Scorecard (Live)

CardTaskScoreAttempts
#445Review ralph-runner.sh error handling88/1001
#447Write CHANGELOG.md for Ralph v392/1001
#448Create ralph-v3-status.sh95/1002
#446Add /v1/context/card/:id endpointRe-queued, executing...

Updated: 2026-04-02 12:20 UTC