--- name: psyche-manual last_changed_at: 2026-09-29T00:00:00Z description: > Compact router for Psyche's private-memory and procedure domains (pad, knowledge, skills), the shared file→rebuild model, redacted settings, and the separate fixed-instructions disclosure and retirement guidance. related_files: - src/lingtai/tools/psyche/CONTRACT.md - src/lingtai/tools/psyche/ANATOMY.md - src/lingtai/tools/psyche/settings.py - src/lingtai/agent.py - ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES.md - src/lingtai/intrinsic_skills/pad-manual/SKILL.md - src/lingtai/intrinsic_skills/lingtai-manual/SKILL.md - src/lingtai/tools/knowledge/manual/SKILL.md - src/lingtai/tools/skills/manual/SKILL.md - src/lingtai/tools/context/manual/SKILL.md - src/lingtai/kernel/base_agent/lifecycle.py - src/lingtai/kernel/base_agent/__init__.py - src/lingtai/tools/avatar/manual/SKILL.md - src/lingtai/intrinsic_skills/psyche-manual/reference/settings/SKILL.md maintenance: | Keep this short router aligned with the psyche Contract/Anatomy, installed domain manuals, settings anchors, and retirement guidance. Put detailed procedure in the focused references rather than expanding this entry. --- # Psyche Psyche is the read-only public root for **Pad + Knowledge memory and the Skills catalog**. Routine schema-sufficient calls may go directly to their action. For unfamiliar or consequential work, read the matching domain manual first; use this router only if the domain is unclear. There is no required router-then-domain double read. ## Routing table | Call (strict `input={}`) | Returns / owner | |---|---| | `psyche(action="pad", input={}, reasoning="load Pad guidance")` | Pad manual: `system/pad.md`, `system/pad_append.json` | | `psyche(action="knowledge", input={}, reasoning="load knowledge guidance")` | Knowledge manual: `knowledge//KNOWLEDGE.md` | | `psyche(action="skills", input={}, reasoning="load skills guidance")` | Skills manual: `.library/{intrinsic,custom}/` and configured paths | | `psyche(action="instructions", input={}, reasoning="reference index")` | short table of contents only; optional `reference` reads one exact loaded owner | | `psyche(action="covenant", input={}, reasoning="load the effective Covenant")` | current loaded Covenant body, not a tool manual; custom source/mirror preserved | | `psyche(action="settings", input={}, reasoning="inspect Psyche settings")` | redacted settings SHOW | | `psyche(action="manual", input={}, reasoning="load the routing table")` | this router | All actions are read-only; input is strict empty except `instructions`, whose optional nullable `reference` is exactly `principle`, `covenant`, `substrate`, `procedures`, or `meta_guidance`. Use it only for needed full detail (including exact loaded adapter rules); absent/null returns the index. No arbitrary section access, ambient source read or lifecycle effect is available. There is no authoring, editing, pinning, installing, migration, catalog rescan, or prompt reload. Keep root `summarize=false` when exact guidance matters. `covenant` is an optional reference in the index, not a second mandatory orientation read. Use `instructions` with `reference="covenant"` or the optional `covenant` action on demand for Covenant-specific detail. Both return the current effective body; ambient edits do not change it until successful reconstruction. No installed manual/default substitutes for a configured Covenant. Empty means none is loaded. ## One mutation model Change durable content through `shell` on its owning path — a full rewrite, or an exact replacement after verifying the old text exists exactly once — anchored in the authorized working directory, and verify the result after writing. Then leave it for the next natural molt or refresh to reconstruct; do not rebuild after every edit. A filesystem mutation never hot-loads; there is no per-domain reload, and Skills/Knowledge retain catalog ownership. Manual `context(action="rebuild", input={})` is strongly discouraged (costly full replay that can disturb prompt-prefix cache reuse); use one targeted call only when the change must apply in this conversation and a molt is unsuitable. Platform recipes live in `shell-manual`. ## Lifecycle and settings `context` owns `molt`, `summarize`, and `rebuild`; `system` owns lifecycle controls and mechanical names. Pad holds unified private memory, including legacy character preserved once without deleting its old source. `settings` is SHOW-only, fully redacted, and reports the last successful applied snapshot. Read [the settings reference](reference/settings/SKILL.md) for grammar, precedence, timing, rollback, and all six anchors. ### Setting pad [settings reference](reference/settings/SKILL.md#setting-pad) ### Setting pad file [settings reference](reference/settings/SKILL.md#setting-pad-file) ### Setting base prompt [settings reference](reference/settings/SKILL.md#setting-base-prompt) ### Setting base prompt file [settings reference](reference/settings/SKILL.md#setting-base-prompt-file) ### Setting covenant [settings reference](reference/settings/SKILL.md#setting-covenant) ### Setting covenant file [settings reference](reference/settings/SKILL.md#setting-covenant-file) ## Retired comments and network rules `comment`/`comment_file` are removed, including Avatar's spawn comment. Remove these keys from old owner/config documents and put desired working instructions in `system/pad.md` through an ordinary authorized edit. Pad remains writable working memory, not a security boundary or broadcast mechanism. Neither `.rules` nor `system/rules.md` is read, consumed, or injected on heartbeat, boot, rebuild, refresh, or molt. Existing files are left untouched. There is no compatibility reader, automatic rewrite, purge, or data migration. ## Loaded memory length reminder After a successful molt or CLI refresh relaunch/start, `memory-length` reports character counts for the **loaded** unified Pad (including pinned references), its total and threshold. It is not a token count, disk-size check or knowledge catalog scan. The environment threshold defaults to 50000; discover its effective value with `system(action="settings", input={})` under `prompt.memory_length_warning_chars`, and read the canonical [`environment registry`](../../../../ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES.md). A lifecycle boundary produces at most one warning; normal turns, heartbeat, initial startup and `context.rebuild` do not produce new warnings. At/below the threshold a subsequent successful lifecycle check clears only the current notification; prior checks remain in `logs/events.jsonl`. Publication is best-effort and never blocks molt/refresh. No Pad, pinned reference, Knowledge or history content is automatically removed, cropped or rewritten. Review stale and duplicate content and move it to its proper durable owner through ordinary scoped edits; a warning is not permission for unrelated cleanup.