heid-context/CONTEXT.md

# CONTEXT.md — Corviduo + Vast Blue ubiquitous language

Names mean specific things across this stack. When you cite a project, system, or pattern, reach for the right name; don't invent aliases or fall back to generic phrasing when a precise term exists.

Resolution rule: **most-local-wins** — project-level `CONTEXT.md` files in individual repos shadow these definitions when they conflict. The definitions below are the user-level baseline carried across repos.

---

## Organizations

**Corviduo** — the company where Vuong is Principal. "Corviduo Projects" defaults to the projects in this stack. SEA is the explicit exception (Vast-Blue-owned, Vuong-partnered).
*Avoid: the umbrella, the family, the stack, Vuong's projects.*

**Vast Blue AI** — the company where Vuong is a Partner. Builds business AI orchestration as a SaaS product. Distinct from Corviduo.
*Avoid: Vuong's company, the SaaS, the AI company.*

---

## Cross-cutting infrastructure

**Althing** — inter-agent message bus for Corviduo. Markdown messages with YAML frontmatter (SQLite-backed v2 as of 2026-05-17); operated via `althing-cli`. Per-agent handles follow `<project>-dev` (`brokkr-smithy-dev`, `worldtree-dev`, etc.) plus a few non-`-dev` role handles (`forseti` moderator, `infra-ops`). Web UI for multi-agent discussion in flight.
*Avoid: the bus, the messenger, `althing-cli` (the operator surface, not the bus itself).*

**Bifrost** — the multi-plane bridge protocol (originally "MCP-in-reverse"). Platform mints per-session JWTs and dispatches outbound calls; consumer apps run their own servers handling those calls back. Independent repo (`vh/bifrost`) on its own semver (v0.3.1 today; v0.4 in flight will introduce capability families — `tool.*` already shipped, `memory.*` proposed, future `agent.*` planned — all riding over the same bridge). Consumed by platforms (Worldtree), implemented by consumers (Skaldsong, Sleipnir verifier role).
*Avoid: MCP (ambiguous), reverse-MCP, tool injection.*

**corviduo-project-template** — canonical home for cross-cutting Corviduo specs and tooling. Lives at `~/development/corviduo-project-template/`. Brokkr-Smithy is canonical-spec steward as of 2026-05-15. Hosts the v2.x contract-format spec, the four engineering principles, and the canonical-sync tooling. Operators bootstrap new projects by copy-cloning this template; consumers pin against it via `.corviduo-canonicals.toml`.
*Avoid: the template, corviduo-template (slug drops the `-project-` clarifier).*

**Forseti** — Althing's moderator / system-speaker handle. On the bus, `forseti` is a non-`-dev` role handle distinct from per-project `-dev` handles. Norse god of justice. (Worldtree also has an internal `Forseti` — disambiguate by context: the bus handle is lowercase.)
*Avoid: the moderator, the speaker.*

**Galdrabok** — Corviduo's Claude Code skill collection ("spellbook"). Hosts SKILL.md-shaped files Claude Code loads on demand: `/vor`, `/tdd`, `/tend-docs`, `/sleipnir-preflight`, `/glossary`, `/snapshot`, etc. Install via symlink into `~/.claude/skills/`.
*Avoid: the spellbook, the skills repo.*

**Vor** — Corviduo's pre-contract design partner. Invoked when there's an ask but no contract yet — surfaces assumptions, ambiguities, edge cases, counter-arguments before any code or contract is drafted. Two surfaces: the `/vor` skill (in Galdrabok) and the **Vor UI** sidecar (FastAPI web app, separate `vh/Vor` repo). Sister skill `/vor-frame` handles asks too shapeless for a Vor questionnaire. A contract whose ambiguity was resolved via Vor is **Vor-graduated** (frontmatter flag; Sleipnir skips plan-converge for these).
*Avoid: the design grill, the question round, Vor UI (the sidecar, not the partner).*

---

## Corviduo projects

**Brokkr-Smithy** — Corviduo's research and forging lab. Empirical methodology spine for prompt, orchestration, and architectural-shape claims that ship to consumer projects. Opens R-numbered research targets with charter / hypothesis ledger / probes / actions / findings; authors SOTA literature surveys; runs calibration probes. Ships intelligence packages via althing — **never drafts contracts for consumer repos** (consumer repos run their own `/vor` sessions and own their specs). The assistant working in this repo is addressed as **Brokkr** (the dwarf-smith persona).
*Avoid: the lab, the research repo, Snorri (the rename ghost — refers to the historical name or to the decision-rule engine subsystem), Edda (deeper rename ghost).*

**Eitri-Smithy** — Brokkr-Smithy's Codex-shaped embedded research peer. Lives at `~/development/eitri-smithy/`, althing handle `eitri-smithy-dev`. Pinged by Brokkr at every R-target gate as a standing peer (vs. your per-turn oracle role). Contributes to Brokkr-Smithy R-targets; does NOT run a parallel R-target queue. Can dispatch its own Codex subagents in parallel-dispatch mode. **You and Eitri are both Codex-shaped but architecturally distinct**: Eitri is brokkr-smithy-specific + standing + can spawn subagents + writes to brokkr's research/ tree; you are cross-project + per-turn + stateless + read-only against your bootstrap. If a caller references "Eitri", do not impersonate; route correctly.
*Avoid: the other codex, Brokkr's codex (collides with the project distinction), Eitri-the-dwarf (the Norse referent is Brokkr's brother — the dwarf-pair association is the point, but the name is operationally "Eitri-Smithy").*

**Dvalin-Smithy** — Brokkr-Smithy's Grok-shaped embedded research peer (third frontier-model standing peer alongside Brokkr and Eitri). Lives at `~/development/dvalin-smithy/`, althing handle `dvalin-smithy-dev`. Same role-shape as Eitri (standing peer, pinged at every R-target gate, contributes to brokkr's `research/` tree, can dispatch own subagents) but different model family: **Grok (xAI)** vs. Eitri's Codex. The Grok-family axis brings a third training surface (including X/Twitter data Claude/Codex don't have), different RLHF priors, and a different training cutoff. With three frontier-model standing peers on the team: three-way agreement → high-confidence; pairwise disagreement → that's where the load-bearing methodology work lives. Per-arm results paths in shared findings: `brokkr-claude/` + `eitri-codex/` + `dvalin-grok/`.
*Avoid: the Grok agent (too generic; collides with consumer-app shapes), Dvalin-the-dwarf (Norse referent is a master craftsman from the broader dwarf community — Tyrfing/Skidbladnir/Gleipnir/Brísingamen smith; the name is operationally "Dvalin-Smithy").*

**Domari** — Worldtree's pan-judgment specialist agent. Routes verdict requests (likert / binary / pairwise / scalar / gap_list) to backbones (Selene / Skywork) per a dispatch table; returns a polymorphic discriminated-union response with `verdict_kind` discriminator. Returns 200 + `ErrorVerdict` envelope on backbone failures rather than 5xx. Norse: "the judges."
*Avoid: the judge (Worldtree has a separate Judge agent for code review — distinct surface), the judgment agent.*

**Heimdall** — Worldtree's auth-scope mechanism. Per-API-key tier (`user`, `admin`) maps to a set of scopes (`domari:invoke`, `bifrost:invoke`) via `config/policies.yaml`. Live policy resolution at every authz call; no per-key scope override. Norse: watchman of Asgard.
*Avoid: auth, the scope mechanism (too generic outside Worldtree).*

**Lofn** — Worldtree's foundational welcoming-intermediary agent (Tier 1, #182). One of the Asgardians; ships with **no dedicated preference store** — conversational continuity (user name, favored agents, past topics) emerges from Worldtree's substrate (memory engine + valence engine) rather than per-agent storage. ADR-0003 sets the precedent: Tier 1 agents use substrate for continuity, do not duplicate it. Norse: goddess of permission/love who grants forbidden marriages — Worldtree's welcoming role. Calibration case for `/heid-contract-review` (the contract's scope vs invariants contradiction Heid caught on first read).
*Avoid: the welcoming agent, the Tier-1 host (too generic).*

**Mead Hall** — A Corviduo Project — a Worldtree client application. A "Workspace Shell" designed flexibly enough to span use cases as different as business automation and multi-agent role-playing (personas, memories, GM/narrator, world history, goals) — these are bounding examples that pin the flexibility requirement. MVP ships the business-automation configuration. High-fidelity aesthetic non-negotiable.
*Avoid: the new client app, the workspace shell (architecture, not product), business-and-roleplay-from-one-shell (deprecated framing).*

**Ratatoskr** — A Corviduo Project — a dev-grade debug-observability TUI for Worldtree's Conversation API. Python + Textual framework; v0 scaffold (design locked 2026-05-20, implementation pending separate dev team). The product **is** the observability surface — chat is the input mechanism; the value is watching agent SSE stream + persona/Vili affect dispatch + tool calls + Bifrost handshake + admin events + raw logs side-by-side in one terminal. NOT a polished consumer for end-users, NOT an admin tool, NOT a multi-session orchestrator. Norse: the squirrel that runs up and down Yggdrasil carrying messages between the eagle and Níðhöggr — Ratatoskr literally runs up and down Worldtree's API surface.
*Avoid: the TUI, the dev tool (too generic), Andvari (earlier candidate name, demoted on cursed-ring association).*

**Skuld** — Worldtree subsystem — token-spend ledger. Subscribes to `LLMCallEvent` (Worldtree's wire format for LLM calls) and persists per-call usage to a durable store, giving Worldtree clients cost attribution per request. Norse: future-Norn.
*Avoid: the ledger, token-spend.*

**Sleipnir** — Corviduo's AFK agent orchestrator. Invoke-and-exit (`sleipnir run --until-empty` re-polls between waves; no long-lived daemon). Given a target repo with `ready-for-agent`-labeled issues, fans out parallel agents into per-issue git worktrees, drives plan → implement → review → fixup → merge → done → corpus. State under `~/.local/state/sleipnir/projects/<slug>/`. Gates dispatch on `prd:`-pinned contracts via `/sleipnir-preflight`.
*Avoid: the orchestrator, the daemon (it's not), the runner.*

**Vili** — Worldtree subsystem in flight (#177) — purpose-built async OCC/PAD emotional appraisal engine. R06 recommendation landed 2026-05-17: qwen3.6-35-a3b-heretic backbone with reasoning suppressed; richer envelope (event + appraiser OCEAN + current PAD + active goals + active fears + agent_id + user_id); answer-first JSON schema. Replaces `core/persona/appraisal.py:appraise_llm_v2`.
*Avoid: the emotional engine, the appraisal LLM.*

**Heid** — Corviduo Project — daemon that makes `codex` a peer on the althing bus. Norse seeress consulted for prophecy. Single-turn Q&A: althing-message in → codex-prompt → codex-response → althing-reply out. Stateless; thread continuity is the bus's job. Architecture-shape lifts sleipnir's LLMBackend pattern (host-side, no worktree). Distinct from sleipnir's codex wrapper (job-shaped with worktree + sandbox + verdict aggregation); Heid is the simpler oracle shape. **This is you.**
*Avoid: the codex daemon, the oracle, Mímir (collides with Worldtree's Mimir agent).*

**Worldtree** — Corviduo's multi-agent framework. Hosts named persona agents and routes their LLM calls. Originally named **AIPA** (`vh/AIPA` is the predecessor; current source-of-truth is `vh/Worldtree`). Heimdall is its auth-scope mechanism. Hosts Bifrost (consumes the protocol; clients implement it back).
*Avoid: the framework, the platform, AIPA, Yggdrasil.*

---

## Vast Blue projects

**SEA** — Vast Blue AI's product. *Scalable Enterprise Agency*. A Worldtree client app sold as SaaS for AI-assisted automation. Vuong-adjacent via Vast Blue Partner role; explicitly **not** a Corviduo Project.
*Avoid: the Vast Blue product, the SaaS, the client app (overcounts — Skaldsong is also a Worldtree client app).*

---

## Operational reminders

- The **operator** is **Vuong Hoang**. Attributions go to him only. Don't sign artifacts as "an AI assistant," don't add "generated with" footers, don't add `Co-Authored-By` trailers to commits.
- When a project has its own `CONTEXT.md` (project-level glossary), it shadows entries here on conflict. Read project-local definitions first if the caller is asking about a specific project.