Agent Fields
Reference for the Agent concept: the field-level shape of a Nimi agent across Runtime, Realm, Avatar, and Cognition.
What An Agent Is
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| First-class participant | Not a tool, not a session, not a persona |
| Persistent identity | Travels across all worlds the agent visits |
| Authority | Owns scoped capability tokens; can delegate one level by default |
| Composability | Behavior comes from four independently-evolving layers |
The Four Layers
| Layer | Carries | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Soul | Personality, values, foundational disposition | Agent persistent profile |
| Brain | Reasoning, planning, decision-making | Runtime agent execution |
| Worldview | Beliefs about the world(s), models of other agents | Cognition memory + Realm reads |
| Memory | Long-lived recall of events, relationships, learnings | Cognition memory service + Runtime memory bank |
The four layers are designed to compose. Behavior at any moment is a function of all four; an agent is not reducible to any single layer.
Runtime-Owned Agent Fields
| Field | Owner | Rule prefix |
|---|---|---|
| Agent lifecycle (per agent_id) | runtime/kernel/runtime-agent-service-contract.md | K-AGCORE-* |
| Conversation continuity | runtime/kernel/agent-conversation-anchor-contract.md | K-AGCORE-* |
| Persistent presentation profile | runtime/kernel/agent-presentation-contract.md | K-AGCORE-* |
| Transient presentation stream | runtime/kernel/agent-presentation-stream-contract.md | K-AGCORE-* |
| Hook intent | runtime/kernel/agent-hook-intent-contract.md | K-AGCORE-* |
| Output wire format (APML) | runtime/kernel/agent-output-wire-contract.md | K-AGCORE-* |
| Avatar debug projection | runtime/kernel/avatar-debug-projection-contract.md | K-AGCORE-* |
| Non-canonical agent participation | runtime/kernel/runtime-agent-participation-contract.md | K-AGCORE-* |
Conversation Anchor
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scope | Per-agent + per-conversation |
| Purpose | Lets desktop chat / avatar / web share one conversation without collapsing into a global session |
| Owner | Runtime |
Presentation Profile
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Avatar backend | Live2D / VRM / generated-motion |
| Asset reference | Carrier-specific asset binding |
| Expression preset | Default expression behavior |
| Voice binding | Voice profile reference |
| Persistence | Slow-changing; survives restart and cross-surface reuse |
Chat Track / Life Track
Every agent has two distinct execution tracks.
| Track | Driver | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Chat Track | Reactive — driven by user/app input | Runtime |
| Life Track | Proactive — driven by agent autonomy + runtime hook scheduling | Runtime |
Chat is always available even when Life is suspended. Life Track is opt-in and default-off.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Life cadence | off / low / medium / high |
| Life token budget | Daily by default |
| Default cadence | off |
Hook Intent
A typed contract by which an agent can request future scheduled action. Models cannot emit free-form scheduling logic; they emit typed HookIntent records that runtime validates and admits.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Owner | Runtime |
| Admission | Narrow-admit; runtime enforces typed contract |
| Lifecycle | pending → running → completed / failed / canceled / rescheduled / rejected |
APML Output Wire Format
The model-facing contract for agent output.
| Root tag | Purpose |
|---|---|
<life-turn> | Proactive life-track output |
<chat-track-sidecar> | Reactive chat-track sidecar |
<canonical-review> | Canonical review output for memory admission |
JSON executor compatibility is not admitted. APML is parsed and projected into typed runtime events before product code touches it.
Memory Bank Scopes
| Scope | Visibility | Owner |
|---|---|---|
AGENT_CORE | Agent-private | Runtime |
AGENT_DYADIC | Per-relationship private | Runtime |
WORLD_SHARED | Visible inside one world | Runtime + Realm replication |
APP_PRIVATE | App infrastructure scope | Runtime infra |
WORKSPACE_PRIVATE | Workspace infrastructure scope | Runtime infra |
Memory is opt-in. Default substrate is Hindsight (experimental). No memory provider is admitted by default.
Memory Replication States
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
pending | Awaiting replication |
synced | Replicated to Realm |
conflict | Conflict detected; cannot serve |
invalidated | Realm governance invalidated cached memory; runtime cannot continue serving |
Realm-Owned Agent Fields
| Field | Owner | Rule prefix |
|---|---|---|
| Public agent identity | realm/agent.md | R-* |
| Cross-world social standing | realm/social-contract.md | R-SOC-* |
| Cross-world economic standing | realm/economy-contract.md | R-ECON-* |
| Cross-world transit eligibility | realm/transit-contract.md | R-TRANSIT-* |
Avatar-Owned Agent Fields
| Field | Owner | Rule prefix |
|---|---|---|
| Embodiment projection | avatar/kernel/embodiment-projection-contract.md | Avatar * |
| Carrier visual acceptance | avatar/kernel/carrier-visual-acceptance-contract.md | Avatar * |
| Backend branch (Live2D / VRM / etc.) | avatar/kernel/backend-branch-contract.md | Avatar * |
| Agent script | avatar/kernel/agent-script-contract.md | Avatar * |
| Avatar event surface | avatar/kernel/avatar-event-contract.md | Avatar * |
Cognition-Owned Agent Fields
| Field | Owner |
|---|---|
| Long-lived memory | cognition/kernel/memory-service-contract.md |
| Knowledge retrieval | cognition/kernel/knowledge-service-contract.md |
| Prompt templates | cognition/kernel/prompt-serving-contract.md |
| Completion gates | cognition/kernel/completion-contract.md |
External Agents
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Principal type | ExternalPrincipal |
| Token | Scoped, single-use plaintext display, immutable token ledger |
| Capability domains | action.discover.*, action.dry-run.*, action.verify.*, action.commit.* |
| Action surface | Hook Action Fabric (Runtime + Desktop hook capability sandbox) |
Source Basis
.nimi/spec/platform/vision.md.nimi/spec/platform/ai-last-mile.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/runtime-agent-service-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/runtime-agent-participation-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/agent-conversation-anchor-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/agent-presentation-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/agent-presentation-stream-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/agent-hook-intent-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/agent-output-wire-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/runtime-memory-service-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/runtime-memory-substrate-contract.md.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/tables/runtime-memory-bank-scope.yaml.nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/tables/runtime-memory-replication-outcome.yaml.nimi/spec/realm/agent.md.nimi/spec/avatar/kernel/index.md.nimi/spec/cognition/kernel/index.md