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Version: v0.9.0a2

Features

6 min readEvaluator · Integrator · Operatorv0.9.0a1

What Stigmem is

An open, federated knowledge protocol — a layer where AI agents and humans store typed, traceable facts that travel across tools, platforms, and organizations. Each fact is an immutable record (entity, relation, value, source, timestamp, confidence, scope) written once, queryable forever, with full provenance and a defined expiry.

This page describes v0.9.0a1 and the active alpha extraction line.

The canonical version line of stigmem begins at v0.9.0a1 per ADR-001

  • ADR-019. Earlier version markers labeled internal development checkpoints, not tagged releases. Many features that earlier docs described as "Stable" were deferred per ADR-002 — the v1 critical-path scope cut. Those features remain in the codebase as opt-in or deferred surfaces. Migrated feature truth now lives in features/<feature>/; implementation packages that still live under experimental/<feature>/ remain gated and off by default.

How to read this page

Status
Promise
Meaning
Stable
spec normative · core
Spec section normative in v0.9.0a1; in core; no breaking changes within v0.9.0a series wire-format scope.
Preview
no guarantee · pin versions
Shipped as part of v0.9.0a1 with no stability guarantee.
Experimental
opt-in plugin
Feature record lives under features/<feature>/ once migrated; implementation may remain under experimental/<feature>/. Not in the default install.
Deferred
non-critical-path
Feature is outside the v1 critical path; migrated rows point to features/<feature>/status.md, while unmigrated rows still use experimental/<feature>/STATUS.md.

No calendar dates. Stigmem is phase-gated, not time-gated. Phase progression is documented in ROADMAP.md.

Why pick Stigmem over a vector-RAG product?

Stigmem retrieves typed atomic facts, not opaque chunks. Each embedding has an explicit (entity, relation, value) contract. Recall in v0.9.0a1 covers basic typed-fact retrieval; advanced recall (graph BFS, vector embeddings, MMR packing, memory cards) is deferred per ADR-002 and ships incrementally as plugins. Read the spec at spec/stigmem-spec-v0.9.0a1.md.

Core memory model (v0.9.0a1 critical path)

Capability
Status
Spec
Immutable typed facts (entity, relation, value, source, timestamp, confidence, scope)
Stable
Spec-01-Fact-Model, Spec-15-Fact-Semantics
Scope enforcement (local / team / company / public)
Stable
Spec-02-Scopes-and-ACL
Confidence (valid_until, retraction)
Stable
Spec-15-Fact-Semantics
Conflict surfacing & resolution
Stable
Spec-15-Fact-Semantics
Entity naming rules
Stable
Spec-01-Fact-Model
Lint semantics
Stable
Spec-20-Lint-Semantics
Content-addressed fact IDs (CIDs)
Stable in core (ADR-017)
Spec-21-Content-Addressed-IDs

Recall (v0.9.0a1 critical path)

Capability
Status
Spec
POST /v1/recall basic typed-fact retrieval
Stable
Spec-07-Recall-Pipeline
query_facts operation
Stable
Spec-03-HTTP-API
assert_fact operation
Stable
Spec-03-HTTP-API

Federation (v0.9.0a1 critical path)

Capability
Status
Spec
Two-node mTLS federation (TLS 1.3 floor, SAN ↔ entity_uri binding)
Stable
Spec-10-Hardening mTLS transport
Ed25519 signed manifests at /.well-known/stigmem-manifest.json
Stable
Spec-04-Manifests
Capability tokens (≤90d, Ed25519, verb+object validated at admission)
Stable
Spec-06-Capability-Tokens
Bounded HLC skew + per-peer drift tracking
Implemented on main for v0.9.0a2 (R-19)
Spec-11-Replay-Protection
Quarantine garden (federation inbound writes)
Stable
Spec-08-Quarantine-Garden
Pull replication
Stable
Spec-05-Federation-Trust

Authentication & authorization (v0.9.0a1 critical path)

Capability
Status
Spec
API-key authentication (per-scope)
Stable (Argon2id for new; SHA-256 rows rehash per ADR-007)
Spec-02-Scopes-and-ACL
Enforced API key max-age (default 90d)
Stable
Spec-10-Hardening key rotation
Per-principal token-bucket rate limits (7 dimensions)
Stable
Spec-10-Hardening rate limits
Capability-based instruction handling (interpret_as)
Implemented on main; future cert/validation pending (ADR-003)
Spec-15-Fact-Semantics

Observability (v0.9.0a1 critical path)

Capability
Status
Spec
WAL-ordered audit log (14 event types, 90-day retention)
Stable
Spec-09-Audit-Log
Prometheus metrics (node health, request rates, quotas, federation peer status)
Stable
Spec-09-Audit-Log

Storage, embedding, SDKs, adapters, operations

Capability
Status
Notes
SQLite backend
Stable
Default storage; backend-family record: features/storage-backends.
libSQL/Turso storage
Experimental, opt-in
Adapter-specific feature record: features/storage-libsql.
SQLCipher at-rest encryption
Stable (opt-in)
Required for regulated data.
Local nomic-embed-text-v1.5 embeddings
Stable (default, offline)
Cloud embedding opt-in only.
Python SDK (stigmem-py)
Stable
Sole fully-supported SDK in v0.9.0a1 per ADR-002.
TypeScript SDK (@eidetic-labs/stigmem-ts)
Preview
Pin to specific versions.
Go SDK (stigmem-go)
Experimental, external
features/sdk-go; package alignment remains future alpha work.
OpenClaw adapter (stigmem-openclaw)
Alpha (evaluation only)
Published in v0.9.0a1; copy/framing corrections for v0.9.0a2; safety hardening/audit closure pending the v0.9.0aN/beta hardening path.
MCP adapter
Experimental, external
features/mcp-adapter; @eidetic-labs/stigmem-mcp is independently versioned and installs the stigmem-mcp binary.
OpenAI tools adapter
Experimental, opt-in
features/openai-tools-adapter; packaged as stigmem-plugin-openai-tools-adapter for v0.9.0a10; live LiteLLM, OpenAI SDK, and Ollama validation remains operator-owned for v0.1.0.
Paperclip adapter
Deferred, external
features/paperclip-adapter; live Paperclip validation remains future alpha work.
Ollama/LiteLLM adapter
Superseded, external
features/ollama-litellm-adapter; compatibility identity for the OpenAI-compatible tools adapter.
Gemini adapter
Experimental, opt-in
features/gemini-adapter; packaged as stigmem-plugin-gemini-adapter for v0.9.0a10; live Gemini validation remains operator-owned for v0.1.0.
Zep adapter
Experimental, opt-in
features/zep-adapter; packaged as stigmem-plugin-zep-adapter for v0.9.0a10; live Zep validation remains operator-owned for v0.1.0.
Letta adapter
Experimental, opt-in
features/letta-adapter; packaged as stigmem-plugin-letta-adapter for v0.9.0a10; live Letta validation remains operator-owned for v0.1.0.
Cognee adapter
Experimental, opt-in
features/cognee-adapter; packaged as stigmem-plugin-cognee-adapter for v0.9.0a10; live Cognee validation remains operator-owned for v0.1.0.
Obsidian adapter
Experimental, external
features/obsidian-adapter; CLI, plugin, and live-vault validation remain future alpha work.
Docker Compose reference deployment
Stable
make demo, make demo-attack.
Container hardening (distroless, non-root UID, read-only fs, seccomp)
Stable
Spec-10-Hardening container baseline.
Helm / Kubernetes
Deferred, external
features/deploy-helm; live cluster validation remains future alpha work.
Fly.io
Deferred, external
features/deploy-fly; live deployment, persistence, dashboard validation, and secrets review remain future alpha work.
Grafana
Deferred, external
features/deploy-grafana; live stack validation, metric review, alert review, and packaging remain future alpha work.
PaaS
Deferred, external
features/deploy-paas; live platform validation, persistence, secrets, and scaling review remain future alpha work.
systemd
Deferred, external
features/deploy-systemd; live distro validation, installer review, hardening review, and upgrade/rollback remain future alpha work.

Plugin infrastructure (alpha-series foundation)

Capability
Status
Notes
Stable 22-hook registry surface
Landed on main
Queued for the next alpha artifact refresh.
Typed hook semantics
Landed
Voting, filter-chain, score-delta, fire-and-forget.
Manual/core handler registration
Landed
Deterministic ordering with minimum manifest/context/capability APIs.
Hook-site wiring
Landed
Across assertion, recall, federation, auth, migration, and audit paths.
Registry observability and tests
Landed
Audit/metrics plumbing, test registry helpers, hook-firing benchmark gate.
Entry-point discovery, lifecycle, health polling, operator CLI
Landed
Startup registration with dependency ordering, lifecycle health reporting, stigmem plugins inspection.
Production signing/trust + author/operator plugin docs
Landed
Fail-closed production signing gate, trusted-publisher policy, operator override metadata, author/operator references, alpha tester migration guidance.

Experimental & deferred features

The following features are not in v0.9.0a1's default install. Migrated feature records own the product truth under features/<feature>/. Implementation code may still live under experimental/<feature>/. Unmigrated future-alpha adapters, SDKs, deployments, dashboards, and tooling still carry experimental/<surface>/STATUS.md tracking.

Alpha extraction is NOT ADR-008 graduation.

Across the v0.9.0a2..a8 alpha series, cross-cutting features are extracted into opt-in experimental plugin packages per ADR-011. Graduation into the supported surface happens later, after the ADR-008 five-gate process.

Feature
Status
Spec or tracker
Lazy instruction discovery
opt-in plugin source on main; graduation blocked on ADR-003
Spec-X1-Lazy-Instruction-Discovery
RTBF tombstones
opt-in plugin source on main; default routes/filters inactive
Spec-X2-RTBF-Tombstones
Time-travel as_of queries
opt-in plugin source on main; explicit operator gates; default fails closed on as_of
Spec-X3-Time-Travel-Queries
Memory Garden advanced ACL
opt-in plugin source on main; default ACL inactive
Spec-X5-Memory-Garden-Advanced-ACL
Source attestation
opt-in plugin source on main; default inert
Spec-X6-Source-Attestation
Subscriptions
Experimental, dormant
Spec-X7-Subscriptions
Intent envelope
Deferred indefinitely
Spec-X8-Intent-Envelope
Decay semantics
Experimental, dormant
Spec-X9-Decay-Semantics
Synthesis
Experimental, dormant
Spec-X10-Synthesis
Recall graph, vector embeddings, MMR, memory cards
Experimental, dormant
Spec-X11-Recall-Graph
Multi-tenant isolation
Experimental, no Spec-X assigned
features/multi-tenant/
OIDC SSO, async jobs, fuzzy resolver, billing hooks
Experimental, no Spec-X assigned
experimental/<feature>/STATUS.md
Dashboard
Experimental internal tooling, no Spec-X assigned
features/dashboard/
Evaluation harness
Experimental internal tooling, no Spec-X assigned
features/eval-harness/
Adapters, SDKs, deployment recipes
Experimental, no Spec-X assigned
experimental/<surface>/STATUS.md

See the full deferred-features list and source locations at Experimental Features.

v0.9.0a1 architecture in flight (Option A acknowledgment)

The v0.9.0a1 default install ships with feature-specific code in node/src/stigmem_node/ for several deferred features (tombstones.py, instruction_migrate.py, card_materializer.py, source_trust.py, etc.). The routes are mounted but the features are dormant unless explicitly configured. Per ADR-019 iteration semantics, each v0.9.0aN extracts one cross-cutting feature into a plugin per ADR-011's C1 plugin architecture; after v0.9.0a8, default install will be true to ADR-011's commitment.

Main now includes the hook-registry foundation and stable 22-hook surface, with manual/core handler registration, minimum manifest/context/capability APIs, hook-site wiring, registry observability, test helpers, benchmark coverage, entry-point package discovery, startup registration, operator inspection commands, and production signing/trust gates. Lazy instruction discovery, time-travel queries, RTBF tombstones, advanced Memory Garden ACLs, source attestation, and multi-tenant isolation have been extracted as opt-in experimental plugin source packages; signed/package artifact evidence remains deferred until the plugin launch train. The ADR-003 instruction-handling core is also present on main: interpret_as, instruction:write, instruction quarantine, channel-separated recall output, MCP/OpenClaw channel framing, instruction audit events, and same-session provenance controls. Plugin authors can start from the Plugin Author Guide.

See LIMITATIONS.md §11 — v0.9.0a1 architecture in flight for the full architectural-gap acknowledgment.

What's coming next

The phase progression is in ROADMAP.md.

  1. v0.9.0a2 through v0.9.0a8 — incremental plugin extraction per ADR-011. Lazy instruction discovery, time-travel queries, RTBF tombstones, advanced Memory Garden ACLs, source attestation, and multi-tenant isolation are extracted on main as opt-in experimental source. CIDs remain core.
  2. Future hardened-core line — complete the remaining hardening evidence around the landed capability redesign, finish ADR-015 model-certification runner/results, federation hardening, OpenClaw audit closeout, storage immutability stack per ADR-016, 30-day external operator soak.
  3. Future release-candidate and GA lines — Sigstore-signed releases, reproducible builds, SBOM, 3+ external operators in production. Wire format frozen.

Out of scope — explicit non-targets

A hosted/SaaS Stigmem product

Reference deployments only; operators run their own nodes.

A competing agent runtime

To OpenClaw / Claude Code / LangChain etc.

A multi-agent orchestration layer

Stigmem is a memory substrate — it makes existing agent frameworks more capable, not redundant.

An in-house GRC / compliance product

Stigmem provides provenance primitives; compliance application logic is out of scope.

A vertical agent product

Support agent, bookkeeping agent, etc. — until post-v1.0.0.

A chatbot of any kind


This page is regenerated each release to reflect actual ship-state. The previous "Spec v2.0 — in flight" framing was retired during the v0.9.0a1 reset. For the development history, see spec/EVOLUTION.md.