# M5c-1 implementation plan: Honcho, the write path

> For the implementer: each task file is one closed task for one fresh session. Read `AGENTS.md`,
> then the task file, and do exactly that task. The driver is `tools/run-plan.sh`.

**Goal:** finished turns and memory writes reach Honcho: turns to the agent's trusted or untrusted
workspace by the session's state at the turn's end (never a `secret` session's), trusted memory
writes mirrored as conclusions at once, untrusted notes to the fleet workspace as messages, all
through an append-only ledger that is also the outbox.

**Architecture:** `bxcore` gains the speaker on a turn, the turn number on `SessionUpdated`, and a
session-state question; `loopd`, `gatewayd` and `bxctl chat` carry the speaker; `brokerd` answers
the question on a new socket; `memoryd` gains a `honcho` module (configuration, ledger, decision,
`roncho` clients, a sync worker, mirrored memory writes) and `bxctl memory sync` shows its state.

**Tech stack:** Rust 1.98, edition 2024; `roncho` 1.0.0 (`default-features = false, features =
["blocking"]`), added by the design model in task 00; no other new crate.

**Spec:** `docs/specs/2026-09-27-m5c-honcho.md` (approved 2026-09-27), sections 3 to 7 and 10 to
13. The read path (`recall` over the fleet, `ask_memory`) is M5c-2, a later plan.

## Global constraints

- Roles depend on `bxcore` only; `memoryd` also on `roncho` (task 00). No `unsafe`, no async
  runtime.
- Every `roncho` client is built with `.without_config_file()` (spec 6).
- Nothing is logged that holds memory text or a key: `roncho` errors are logged by kind and
  status only (spec 6).
- Nothing above `private` is written, and never a `secret` session's turn (spec 3).
- No file the implementer reads holds a chat-template tag whole (T33); no fake key whole.
- Every path a given test creates is removed by a guard (T44); every process a test starts has a
  deadline.
- Every fail-closed state has a runbook entry, added by the task that adds its pointer (T49's
  lesson from M5b: the gate needs the entry with the pointer).
- Commit trailer from the driver; gate with a 600000 ms timeout.

## Tasks (outline, for the owner's review)

| # | Delivers | Crates |
|---|---|---|
| 00 | (the design model, before the run) `roncho` added: workspace dependency, `docs/dependencies.md`, `docs/egress.md` (rift), `cargo deny`, the Nix build on straylight; saved Honcho responses for the fake server (below) | all |
| 01 | Wire: `Turn.speaker`, `LogRecord::User.speaker` (optional, absent in old logs), `SessionUpdated.turn`, `SessionState` → `SessionStateReply`; fixtures | bxcore |
| 02 | `loopd` logs the speaker on the `User` record and sends the turn number in `SessionUpdated` | loopd |
| 03 | `gatewayd` sets the speaker: the Mattermost username when every post of the burst is from one person, else none | gatewayd |
| 04 | `bxctl chat --speaker NAME`, opt-in, no default | bxctl |
| 05 | `brokerd` serves `run/memory-broker/state.sock` from its state store; `brokerd-listener-lost` and `socket-forbidden` name it | brokerd |
| 06 | `memoryd`'s `[honcho]` section and its keys, checked at start; runbook `honcho-config-invalid` | memoryd |
| 07 | The ledger, `memory/honcho.jsonl`: its records, append, read-through, and the outbox | memoryd |
| 08 | The decision for a turn (a pure function: state, labels, speaker, text) | memoryd |
| 09 | On `SessionUpdated`, after `loopd` has its answer: ask `brokerd`, read the log, decide, record; undecided turns retried at the next report of any session; the ledger read through at start; runbook `broker-state-unavailable` | memoryd |
| 10 | `roncho` clients per workspace, and creating workspaces, peers and sessions (names, the agent unobserved, the fleet with reasoning, summaries and dreaming off, the `-2` sessions); the fake Honcho server | memoryd |
| 11 | The sync worker for turns: messages in parts of 25,000, neutralised; backoff; outage logged once; refused sends and keys; runbooks `honcho-unreachable`, `honcho-send-refused`, `honcho-key-refused` | memoryd |
| 12 | Memory writes mirrored: each journalled edit decided by spec 4's table (conclusions, fleet messages, retractions, undo) | memoryd |
| 13 | The sync worker for memory writes: conclusions created and deleted, fleet messages | memoryd |
| 14 | `bxctl memory sync`: decided, sent, waiting, failed | memoryd, bxctl |

After task 14, the design model runs the M5c-1 device check (spec 13) on straylight, rift and the
owner's Mattermost.

## The owner's answers (2026-09-27)

1. **`bxctl chat`'s speaker is opt-in: `--speaker NAME`, with no default.** Console turns are
   mostly tests, and Honcho can neither forget them nor be shared without them; a `bxctl chat` turn
   without the flag has no speaker and is not synced (spec 4). Task 04.
2. **Saved Honcho responses** for the fake server: the design model records real responses from
   rift in task 00, in a throwaway workspace, `boxmaker-plan-probe`, that it creates and deletes.
   It touches no other workspace on rift, in any way (not even a read): rift has no keys yet, so
   the rule is ours to keep.

## Before hand-over

Every task is worked through `docs/plans/CHECKLIST.md` with a reference in a scratch worktree
with its own build directory, replayed from its task text; mutations; `/tmp` compared around a
gate run; scratch files in the worktree's `.state/`; the reference moved to straylight as a bundle
before the run. Task files name their log row (T47); a scanner-like function gets a golden file
(T46); a request through another role is counted against its limits (T49).

## Running it

```sh
git switch -c m5c1 master
OPENCODE_MODEL=straylight/ornith-1.5-35b-a3b RESUME=1 \
  SLOTS_URL='http://straylight:11434/slots?model=ornith-1.5-35b-a3b' \
  tools/run-plan.sh docs/plans/M5c1 01
```

(Or titan's Ornith, `titan/…` and `http://127.0.0.1:8081/…`, once its GPU is free.)