@hviana/sema 0.2.6 → 0.2.7

package/dist/src/mind/graph-search.js

@@ -0,0 +1,956 @@
+// graph-search.ts — the weighted deduction system that thinking runs on.
+//
+// Thinking is ONE thing: a lightest derivation over the Sema graph (derive's
+// adapted A*LD engine).  This file is that one thing, factored out of the mind: it
+// states the items, axioms, goal, and weighted rules, and returns the chosen
+// spans of the lightest cover.  Every behaviour — covering the query, following
+// edges to a fixpoint, jumping a concept (halo) link, fusing fragments into a
+// deeper learned form, splicing a learnt connector between two rewrites, and
+// re-voicing an answer in the asker's words — is a rule here, not a separate
+// algorithm.
+//
+// It reaches Sema only through the {@link Store} interface and one injected
+// callback, {@link GraphSearch.resolve} (canonical node id of a byte span).  The
+// async hints the synchronous search cannot gather for itself — concept targets
+// and connectors — are pre-resolved by the caller (see src/mind/pipeline.ts) and handed in.
+// So this engine stays decoupled: it knows the graph's shape, never how the
+// graph was learnt.
+import { lightestDerivation, } from "../derive/src/index.js";
+import { bytesEqual, concat2, concatBytes, latin1 } from "../bytes.js";
+import { ALL } from "./types.js";
+// The cost ladder is a strict ORDERING, not tuned magic:
+//   • Coverage dominates everything: leaving one query byte unrecognised (PASS)
+//     outweighs any chain of graph steps a covering derivation could take, so
+//     the search always prefers to recognise.
+//   • A direct edge (STEP) is the cheapest move; fusing adjacent fragments is
+//     free (cost 0) — it only re-NAMES a span, it does not advance the cover.
+//   • A concept jump (CONCEPT) is dearer than a direct edge, so a literal
+//     continuation is preferred to a synonym's.
+// Any constants with this ordering give the same lightest derivations.
+//
+// EXPORTED because the ladder is the ONE cost currency of the whole mind:
+// think's grounding decider (pipeline.ts) weighs every mechanism's candidate
+// answer in these same units, so a mechanism-level choice and a byte-level
+// choice are the same kind of decision — a lightest derivation.
+export const STEP = 1;
+export const CONCEPT = 10;
+export const PASS = 1000;
+/** The cheapest local cost in the ladder: a recognised completion bridging into
+ *  the cover.  Far below STEP, so connecting two recognised spans never disturbs
+ *  the ordering — and, being the minimum per-position cost, it is the per-byte
+ *  unit of the admissible search heuristic (see {@link GraphSearch.buildSearch}). */
+export const MICRO = 1e-3;
+/** Append `v` to the list at `mp[k]`, creating the list on first use. */
+function pushInto(mp, k, v) {
+    const a = mp.get(k);
+    if (a)
+        a.push(v);
+    else
+        mp.set(k, [v]);
+}
+/** Read the chosen spans back off a derivation: the goal is a chain of bridge
+ *  steps, each whose second premise is the `out` it crossed.  Walk the chain to
+ *  the axiom and reverse into left-to-right order. */
+function readCover(derivation) {
+    const segs = [];
+    let node = derivation;
+    while (node && node.rule) {
+        const out = node.premises[1].item;
+        if (out.kind === "out") {
+            segs.push({
+                i: out.i,
+                j: out.j,
+                bytes: out.bytes,
+                rec: out.rec,
+                node: out.node,
+                computed: out.computed,
+            });
+        }
+        node = node.premises[0];
+    }
+    segs.reverse();
+    return segs;
+}
+/** Flatten a {@link GItem} into the {@link DerivationItem} a rationale shows. */
+function derivationItem(it) {
+    if (it.kind === "cover")
+        return { kind: "cover", span: [it.p, it.p] };
+    if (it.kind === "form") {
+        return { kind: "form", span: [it.i, it.j], node: it.node };
+    }
+    return { kind: "out", span: [it.i, it.j], bytes: it.bytes, node: it.node };
+}
+/** Name the reasoning act a rule performed, from the shape of what it consumed
+ *  and produced — the one mapping from rule geometry to a human move.  Mirrors
+ *  the rule set in {@link GraphSearch.coverRules}/{@link formRules}/{@link
+ *  outRules}/{@link fuse}; kept here beside {@link readCover} so the two readers
+ *  of a derivation sit together. */
+function classifyMove(premises, conclusion, articulating) {
+    if (premises.length === 1) {
+        const [p] = premises;
+        if (p.kind === "form" && conclusion.kind === "form") {
+            // form→form is an edge step; CONCEPT cost marks the synonym hop, but the
+            // cost is on the rule, not the item — the caller passes it to refine this.
+            return "follow-edge";
+        }
+        if (p.kind === "form" && conclusion.kind === "out") {
+            // form→out: grounding to a terminal answer, or — under a substitution map —
+            // the form emitting the asker's own wording (articulation's `voice`).
+            if (!conclusion.rec)
+                return "step";
+            return articulating ? "voice" : "ground";
+        }
+        if (p.kind === "out" && conclusion.kind === "out")
+            return "split";
+        return "step";
+    }
+    if (premises.length === 2) {
+        const [a, b] = premises;
+        if (a.kind === "cover" || b.kind === "cover")
+            return "bridge";
+        if (conclusion.kind === "form")
+            return "recompose";
+        if (conclusion.kind === "out") {
+            // A connector splice concatenates THREE pieces (l + link + r); a plain
+            // fuse concatenates two (concat2).  Distinguish by BYTE width: a splice's
+            // conclusion is wider than its two premises summed (the link sits between
+            // them), whereas a fuse's conclusion is exactly their sum.  Position can't
+            // tell them apart — in "icefire" the two rewrites are positionally
+            // adjacent yet a connector is still spliced into the bytes.
+            if (a.kind === "out" && b.kind === "out") {
+                const summed = (a.bytes?.length ?? 0) + (b.bytes?.length ?? 0);
+                return (conclusion.bytes?.length ?? 0) > summed
+                    ? "splice-connector"
+                    : "fuse";
+            }
+            return "fuse";
+        }
+    }
+    return "step";
+}
+/** Walk a finished derivation into its rule applications, in post-order
+ *  (premises before the conclusion they feed), deduplicating shared
+ *  sub-derivations so a node reached by two rules is reported once.  This is the
+ *  whole proof tree — every STEP, CONCEPT, fuse and bridge the lightest cover
+ *  was built from — the finest granularity a rationale can reach. */
+function readDerivation(root, articulating = false) {
+    const steps = [];
+    // The `order` assigned to each already-emitted derivation node, so a later
+    // step that consumes it as a premise can name it as a producer — the proof
+    // tree's data-flow edge, preserved exactly.  Only RULE-bearing nodes (the
+    // emitted steps) get an entry; an axiom premise (a seed leaf/form/computed
+    // result) has no producer and contributes no edge.  `order` therefore stays
+    // contiguous with `steps`, so producers index directly into the emitted list.
+    const orderOf = new Map();
+    let order = 0;
+    const walk = (d) => {
+        if (orderOf.has(d))
+            return; // a shared sub-derivation, already emitted
+        for (const p of d.premises)
+            walk(p);
+        if (!d.rule)
+            return; // an axiom: a seed, reported as its consumer's premise
+        const move = classifyMove(d.rule.premises, d.rule.conclusion, articulating);
+        // Refine an edge step to a concept hop by its cost (CONCEPT > STEP).
+        const refined = move === "follow-edge" && d.rule.cost >= CONCEPT ? "concept-hop" : move;
+        const producers = [];
+        for (const p of d.premises) {
+            const o = orderOf.get(p); // defined iff p was itself an emitted rule step
+            if (o !== undefined)
+                producers.push(o);
+        }
+        const myOrder = order++;
+        orderOf.set(d, myOrder);
+        steps.push({
+            order: myOrder,
+            move: refined,
+            premises: d.premises.map((p) => derivationItem(p.item)),
+            conclusion: derivationItem(d.item),
+            cost: d.rule.cost,
+            producers,
+        });
+    };
+    walk(root);
+    return steps;
+}
+/** The lightest-derivation search over the Sema graph.  One instance binds the
+ *  store, `maxGroup` (the fusible span ceiling), and the canonical
+ *  {@link resolve} callback; {@link cover} then solves one query. */
+export class GraphSearch {
+    store;
+    maxGroup;
+    host;
+    constructor(store, maxGroup, 
+    /** The host whose capabilities the search consults: resolve (canonical node
+     *  id of a byte span), recogniseSpan (content-addressed graph lookup for
+     *  recursive completion), and chooseNext (distributional-evidence edge
+     *  disambiguation when a recognised form has multiple continuations). */
+    host) {
+        this.store = store;
+        this.maxGroup = maxGroup;
+        this.host = host;
+    }
+    /** Explore the Sema graph for the lightest cover of the query and return its
+     *  chosen spans left-to-right — WITH the derivation's total weight (the g
+     *  value of the goal item, in the exported cost ladder), which think's
+     *  grounding decider compares against the other mechanisms' candidates —
+     *  or null if the query cannot be covered.
+     *
+     *  The search runs on the query's tree leaves, not flat bytes — leaf-level
+     *  cover axioms, recognised forms as graph entry points — and discovers
+     *  cross-leaf forms by fusing adjacent fragments on demand (the only
+     *  byte-processing it does, and only where a derivation needs it).  When
+     *  `substitutions` is given, recognised forms emit substitute bytes directly
+     *  (cost 0) — articulation splicing the asker's wording in.
+     *
+     *  Any learnt connector between two rewrites is spliced IN by the in-search
+     *  connector rule (see {@link outRules}), so the returned spans already carry
+     *  it — there is no post-pass. */
+    cover(queryLen, sites, conceptTarget, leaves, splits, starts, substitutions, connectors, computedResults, 
+    /** When given, receives the lightest derivation's rule applications — the
+     *  full adapted A*LD proof tree as classified {@link DerivationStep}s — for the TOP
+     *  cover only (a recursive recompletion solves its own sub-cover and is not
+     *  reported here, to keep the trace one layer per think).  Off by default,
+     *  so the search pays nothing when no one inspects. */
+    onDerivation) {
+        // Top-level entry: reset the per-call recursion state, then run the one
+        // {@link solve} routine that both the query and any produced composite go
+        // through (completion is cover, recursively — see {@link recompleteNode}).
+        this.recompleteOpen.clear();
+        this.recompleteMemo = new Map();
+        return this.solve(queryLen, {
+            sites,
+            leaves,
+            splits,
+            starts,
+        }, conceptTarget, substitutions, connectors, computedResults, onDerivation);
+    }
+    /** Build the deduction system for one span and return its lightest cover's
+     *  chosen spans — the SINGLE routine the query and every produced composite
+     *  run through.  `recognition` carries the span's recognised forms; the query
+     *  brings its own (with pre-resolved concepts/connectors), a recursive
+     *  completion re-recognises the produced bytes (edge/fuse only).
+     *
+     *  No depth limit governs nesting — convergence is INTRINSIC, exactly as in the
+     *  adapted A*LD chart and {@link completeForward}: a completion only recurses into a
+     *  node it has not already entered ({@link recompleteNode}'s cycle guard), and
+     *  the node ids are finite, so the recursion must terminate on its own.  A
+     *  decomposition may therefore run as deep as the graph licenses — three
+     *  decomposes, two recomposes, any mix — and stops only when it reaches a node
+     *  that leads nowhere new, never at an arbitrary count. */
+    solve(spanLen, recognition, conceptTarget, substitutions, connectors, computedResults, onDerivation) {
+        const system = this.buildSearch(spanLen, recognition.sites, conceptTarget, recognition.leaves, recognition.splits, recognition.starts, substitutions, connectors, computedResults);
+        const derivation = lightestDerivation(system);
+        // When covering under a substitution map (articulation), a form→out rule is
+        // the form EMITTING the asker's voice, not grounding to its own answer — so
+        // tell the reader to name those moves `voice` rather than `ground`.
+        if (derivation && onDerivation) {
+            onDerivation(readDerivation(derivation, substitutions !== undefined));
+        }
+        return derivation
+            ? { segs: readCover(derivation), cost: derivation.cost }
+            : null;
+    }
+    /** The weighted deduction system the graph exploration solves (the four
+     *  reductions of adapted A*LD live in {@link lightestDerivation}; this only states the
+     *  items, axioms, goal, and rules — see {@link GItem} for the item kinds).
+     *
+     *  Forms that span across leaves are discovered BY the rules, which fuse
+     *  adjacent fragments toward a known leaf (findLeaf) or branch (findBranch);
+     *  a completion fused with its neighbour may spell a deeper learned form the
+     *  flat probes can't name, recovered canonically by {@link resolve}. */
+    buildSearch(queryLen, sites, conceptTarget, leaves, splits, starts, substitutions, connectors, computedResults) {
+        const W = this.maxGroup; // fusible span ceiling (shortest composite bound)
+        // Same corpus-scale hub floor {@link atomIsHub}/{@link atomReach} (traverse.ts)
+        // derive for byte atoms — duplicated here rather than imported because this
+        // module is deliberately host-based (no MindContext), and both inputs
+        // (maxGroup, edgeSourceCount) are already in scope with no ctx needed.  If
+        // the formula ever changes, it must change in BOTH places (see canonical.ts's
+        // header for the same write/read-side duplication convention).
+        const atomsAreHubs = Math.max(1, Math.ceil((this.store.edgeSourceCount() * W) / 256)) > Math.ceil(Math.sqrt(Math.max(2, this.store.edgeSourceCount())));
+        const nodeBytes = (n) => this.store.bytesPrefix(n, ALL);
+        // Content-addressed probes over the store's hash-cons maps — the same keys
+        // training filled.  No byte-by-byte trie walk.
+        const findLeafU = (b) => this.store.findLeaf(b) ?? undefined;
+        const findBranchU = (k) => this.store.findBranch(k) ?? undefined;
+        // Finalised `out` items, indexed for the binary (bridge, fuse) rules.
+        const coversDone = new Set();
+        const outsByStart = new Map();
+        const outsByEnd = new Map();
+        const outsByNode = new Map();
+        const coverableByStart = new Map();
+        // Index the connectors by their left and right answer-node, so the connector
+        // rule iterates only this out's FEW resolved partners (selective, and for the
+        // N-ary case O(parts) keys) instead of scanning every position pair — what
+        // keeps the in-search bridge bounded when many parts are recognised at once.
+        const linksByLeft = new Map();
+        const linksByRight = new Map();
+        if (connectors) {
+            for (const [key, bytes] of connectors) {
+                const comma = key.indexOf(",");
+                const l = Number(key.slice(0, comma));
+                const r = Number(key.slice(comma + 1));
+                pushInto(linksByLeft, l, [r, bytes]);
+                pushInto(linksByRight, r, [l, bytes]);
+            }
+        }
+        return {
+            key(it) {
+                if (it.kind === "cover")
+                    return "c" + it.p;
+                if (it.kind === "form") {
+                    return `f${it.i}.${it.j}.${it.node}.${it.via ? 1 : 0}.${it.rcmp ? 1 : 0}`;
+                }
+                return `o${it.i}.${it.j}.${it.cover ? 1 : 0}.${it.rec ? 1 : 0}.${it.node ?? -1}.${latin1(it.bytes)}`;
+            },
+            *axioms() {
+                yield { item: { kind: "cover", p: 0 }, cost: 0 };
+                // One out per tree leaf — content-defined chunks, far fewer than bytes.
+                // Each carries the node id it resolves to (when known) so it can compose
+                // toward a known branch by findBranch.
+                for (const lf of leaves) {
+                    yield {
+                        item: {
+                            kind: "out",
+                            i: lf.start,
+                            j: lf.end,
+                            bytes: lf.bytes,
+                            cover: true,
+                            rec: false,
+                            node: lf.node ?? undefined,
+                        },
+                        cost: 0,
+                    };
+                }
+                for (const s of sites) {
+                    yield {
+                        item: {
+                            kind: "form",
+                            i: s.start,
+                            j: s.end,
+                            node: s.payload,
+                            via: false,
+                        },
+                        cost: 0,
+                    };
+                }
+                // Computed (extension) results — see {@link ComputedResult}.  Each enters as a
+                // RECOGNISED covering completion, exactly like a learned terminal answer:
+                // its bytes are the computed result, it bridges the cover at MICRO (rec),
+                // and it carries the result's canonical node (when the store holds it) so
+                // it can fuse as an operand of an outer form.  The STEP base cost marks a
+                // computation as a unit of work — a derived fact, on par with following a
+                // learned edge (STEP), so it decisively beats leaving the span
+                // unrecognised (PASS) but never masquerades as a free perceived leaf.
+                // Because this cost EQUALS a learned edge's, the search would tie a
+                // computation against a colliding recall; the computation-always-wins policy lives
+                // in the caller (src/mind/pipeline.ts think), which masks any recognised site a result
+                // overlaps so the computation is the cover's sole completion there — the
+                // search stays a neutral cost engine with no computation-vs-recall precedence baked
+                // in.  When `computedResults` is empty (every non-arithmetic query) this loop
+                // emits nothing, so the search is byte-identical to one with no extension at all.
+                for (const u of computedResults ?? []) {
+                    yield {
+                        item: {
+                            kind: "out",
+                            i: u.i,
+                            j: u.j,
+                            bytes: u.bytes,
+                            cover: true,
+                            rec: true,
+                            node: u.node,
+                            computed: true,
+                        },
+                        cost: STEP,
+                    };
+                }
+            },
+            isGoal: (it) => it.kind === "cover" && it.p === queryLen,
+            // Admissible, consistent lower bound on the cost remaining to the goal
+            // cover(queryLen) — this is what makes the adapted A*LD search OUTPUT-SENSITIVE
+            // (work proportional to the answer, not to how densely the corpus enriched
+            // the query's sub-forms).  Without it the engine runs as uninformed
+            // Dijkstra and pops every zero-cost fuse before the goal; with it the
+            // agenda is ordered g + h, so the frontier is driven FORWARD toward full
+            // coverage instead of wallowing in low-position fragment fusions.
+            //
+            // The bound: whatever an item is, reaching the goal still requires the
+            // cover frontier to advance to queryLen, and the CHEAPEST any single
+            // covered position can be is the recognised-completion bridge (ε = MICRO,
+            // the minimum local cost in the ladder — every other move costs ≥ STEP).
+            // So the remaining query past the item's right edge is a guaranteed
+            // ≥ ε-per-byte cost.  cover(p) still owes [p,queryLen); a form/out at
+            // [i,j) can contribute coverage no further than j, so it still owes
+            // [j,queryLen).  Using ε (≤ every real per-byte cost, incl. PASS) keeps it
+            // a true lower bound; counting only the suffix past the right edge keeps it
+            // consistent (each forward rule pays ≥ ε per byte it advances the edge).
+            heuristic: (it) => {
+                const right = it.kind === "cover" ? it.p : it.j;
+                return (queryLen - right) * MICRO;
+            },
+            rules: (it) => {
+                if (it.kind === "cover") {
+                    return this.coverRules(it, coversDone, coverableByStart);
+                }
+                if (it.kind === "form") {
+                    return this.formRules(it, conceptTarget, substitutions, nodeBytes);
+                }
+                return this.outRules(it, {
+                    W,
+                    splits,
+                    starts,
+                    atomsAreHubs,
+                    coversDone,
+                    outsByStart,
+                    outsByEnd,
+                    outsByNode,
+                    coverableByStart,
+                    findLeafU,
+                    findBranchU,
+                    linksByLeft,
+                    linksByRight,
+                });
+            },
+        };
+    }
+    /** cover(p): the BRIDGE rule — extend the cover across any coverable out that
+     *  begins at p, stepping the frontier from p to that out's end.
+     *
+     *  This is what links the rewritten parts of a multi-form answer.  An out is
+     *  either a recognised completion (`rec`, free) or a literal span the query
+     *  carried between known forms — the connective: a space, comma, period,
+     *  newline, or any run of bytes that was never recognised.  Bridging a literal
+     *  costs PASS per byte (so the search still prefers to recognise), but it is
+     *  the cheapest — indeed only — way to cross a gap that has no learned form,
+     *  and it KEEPS that connective in the cover chain, so the asker's own linking
+     *  material reappears when it still coheres ("ice, fire" → "cold, hot", not
+     *  "coldhot").  A recognised completion bridges for a tiny ε (1e-3, far below
+     *  STEP), so a single connected span beats two separate ones on coherence
+     *  without disturbing the cost ladder's ordering.
+     *
+     *  Marks p finalised so the symmetric out-side bridge ({@link outRules}) can
+     *  fire for outs that arrive after their start position is covered. */
+    *coverRules(it, coversDone, coverableByStart) {
+        coversDone.add(it.p);
+        for (const o of coverableByStart.get(it.p) ?? []) {
+            yield this.bridgeRule(it, o);
+        }
+    }
+    /** The BRIDGE rule, built once for its two arrival orders (cover-first in
+     *  {@link coverRules}, out-first in {@link outRules}): ε for a recognised
+     *  completion; PASS per byte for a literal connective — kept in the cover
+     *  so the asker's own connector survives where it fits.  ONE definition of
+     *  the cost expression, so the ladder's application cannot drift between
+     *  the two sides. */
+    bridgeRule(cover, o) {
+        return {
+            premises: [cover, o],
+            conclusion: { kind: "cover", p: o.j },
+            cost: o.rec ? MICRO : PASS * (o.j - o.i),
+        };
+    }
+    /** The connector-SPLICE rule for an oriented (l, r) pair, or null when the
+     *  pair does not qualify — the ONE body behind {@link outRules}' two
+     *  mirror loops (this-as-left over resolved right partners, this-as-right
+     *  over resolved left partners).  Fires only when both sides are
+     *  recognised, r starts at or after l ends, and the gap between them is
+     *  empty or wholly recognised — never across the asker's own literal
+     *  separator. */
+    trySplice(l, r, link, outsByEnd) {
+        if (!l.rec || !r.rec || r.i < l.j)
+            return null;
+        if (!this.gapRecognised(l.j, r.i, outsByEnd))
+            return null;
+        return {
+            premises: [l, r],
+            conclusion: {
+                kind: "out",
+                i: l.i,
+                j: r.j,
+                bytes: concatBytes([l.bytes, link, r.bytes]),
+                cover: true,
+                rec: true,
+                node: r.node,
+            },
+            cost: 0,
+        };
+    }
+    /** form(i,j,node,via): follow the graph out of `node`, or (in articulation)
+     *  emit its substitute voice directly. */
+    *formRules(it, conceptTarget, substitutions, nodeBytes) {
+        // Articulation: emit voice bytes at the recognised span; the hop/concept/
+        // emit chain is suppressed — the form contributes only its substitute.
+        if (substitutions) {
+            const voice = substitutions.get(it.node);
+            if (voice !== undefined) {
+                yield {
+                    premises: [it],
+                    conclusion: {
+                        kind: "out",
+                        i: it.i,
+                        j: it.j,
+                        bytes: voice,
+                        cover: true,
+                        rec: true,
+                        node: it.node,
+                    },
+                    cost: 0,
+                };
+            }
+            return;
+        }
+        if (it.via) {
+            // A CHAIN hop (this form was itself reached by following an edge):
+            // read up to the hub bound — the SAME √(max(2,N)) convention {@link
+            // hubBound} in traverse.ts derives, replicated here because
+            // GraphSearch holds only a bare Store, not a MindContext — and fork
+            // across EVERY continuation.  A bidirectional pair (SmolSent trains
+            // both directions) puts the back-edge to where we came from ahead of
+            // the forward edge in insertion order; a single first-inserted pick
+            // would walk the search straight into a cycle (the A*LD duplicate-key
+            // guard then dead-ends it) with no way to reach the forward edge.
+            // Forking offers every continuation as its own rule so the one that
+            // genuinely advances (not a duplicate) is still reachable.
+            const bound = Math.ceil(Math.sqrt(Math.max(2, this.store.edgeSourceCount())));
+            const nx = this.store.nextFirst(it.node, bound);
+            if (nx.length) {
+                // The SAME evidence-weighted disambiguation the first hop uses
+                // (below) identifies the most-corroborated continuation.  Yielding
+                // it FIRST matters: {@link lightestDerivation}'s chart keeps the
+                // FIRST rule to reach a given cost for an item and discards later
+                // arrivals at an EQUAL cost (`cost < current`, strictly) — so
+                // among same-depth sibling forks that tie in cost, the
+                // evidence-backed edge wins deterministically, never by
+                // exploration-order luck.  `preferred`, when set, is necessarily
+                // an element of `nx` (chooseNext reads the identical hub-bounded
+                // set — see traverse.ts), so a plain skip-in-place suffices; no
+                // second array need be allocated to reorder it to the front.
+                const preferred = nx.length > 1
+                    ? this.host.chooseNext?.(it.node)
+                    : undefined;
+                const fork = (node) => ({
+                    premises: [it],
+                    conclusion: { kind: "form", i: it.i, j: it.j, node, via: true },
+                    // A real edge always costs STEP, whether it is the first hop or
+                    // the fifth — so a chain's total cost is proportional to its
+                    // length and the lightest derivation is always the SHORTEST
+                    // successful one.  (Charging every hop after the first for
+                    // FREE, as an earlier design did, made every stopping point at
+                    // any depth tie at the same cost — indistinguishable to the
+                    // search, decided by whichever arrived first.)
+                    cost: STEP,
+                });
+                if (preferred !== undefined)
+                    yield fork(preferred);
+                for (const c of nx) {
+                    if (c !== preferred)
+                        yield fork(c);
+                }
+                // Also offer stopping HERE, at CONCEPT above whatever the chain
+                // has already cost — the same "a synonym jump is dearer than a
+                // direct edge" ordering the ladder already uses elsewhere,
+                // repurposed as "giving up early is dearer than one more real
+                // hop".  A premature stop at depth D costs D·STEP + CONCEPT, so a
+                // SHORTER premature stop always beats a longer one, and a genuine
+                // fixpoint (below, costing +0) always beats any premature stop at
+                // the same depth — the search only settles here when continuing
+                // genuinely dead-ends (every fork above revisits an already-
+                // explored key) or grows costlier than giving up.
+                //
+                // The stop-here bytes are the node's OWN, as-is — NOT recompleteNode's
+                // recursive re-cover.  recompleteNode re-runs the full recognition
+                // + edge/fuse search over the node's bytes, an O(node's own
+                // substructure) cost independent of chain depth; offering it at
+                // EVERY premature stop makes a query's total cost scale with how
+                // many nodes the corpus happens to interconnect here (corpus
+                // density), not with the answer's own hop count — the exact
+                // output-sensitivity the rest of this search is built to keep.
+                // Reserved below for the ONE place it is load-bearing: the true
+                // fixpoint, checked once, at the chain's actual end.
+                yield {
+                    premises: [it],
+                    conclusion: {
+                        kind: "out",
+                        i: it.i,
+                        j: it.j,
+                        bytes: nodeBytes(it.node),
+                        cover: true,
+                        rec: true,
+                        node: it.node,
+                    },
+                    cost: CONCEPT,
+                };
+                return;
+            }
+            // The chain reached a node with no WHOLE-node continuation anywhere
+            // — a genuine fixpoint, not a premature stop.  Before emitting it as
+            // terminal, CONTINUE THE EXPLORATION into its own structure: a
+            // composite answer like "p1 p2" leads nowhere as a whole, yet
+            // recognising it surfaces p1, p2 — each of which continues (→ R1,
+            // R2) and recomposes into a deeper learnt form (→ FINAL).  {@link
+            // recompleteNode} re-covers the node's bytes through the SAME
+            // recognition + edge/fuse machinery the top query uses (a continued
+            // graph exploration, not a re-perception), and returns the deeper
+            // completion's bytes when it genuinely leads somewhere new.  Emit
+            // that; else emit the node itself as the terminal answer.  This is
+            // the ONE place the recursive re-cover runs — once, at the chain's
+            // actual end, never per intermediate stop — so its cost tracks the
+            // ANSWER's own structure, not how densely the corpus interconnects
+            // the nodes passed through on the way there.
+            const deeper = this.recompleteNode(it.node);
+            yield {
+                premises: [it],
+                conclusion: {
+                    kind: "out",
+                    i: it.i,
+                    j: it.j,
+                    bytes: deeper ?? nodeBytes(it.node),
+                    cover: true,
+                    rec: true,
+                    node: it.node,
+                },
+                cost: 0,
+            };
+        }
+        else {
+            // The FIRST hop out of a recognised site — unchanged from the
+            // original design.  LIMIT 2 only senses PLURALITY (does this node
+            // have more than one learnt continuation?); the actual bounded read
+            // and evidence-weighted pick both live inside {@link
+            // Mind.chooseNext} (see traverse.ts), which floors its own hub bound
+            // at √(max(2,N)) regardless of what we read here.
+            const nx = this.store.nextFirst(it.node, 2);
+            if (nx.length) {
+                yield {
+                    premises: [it],
+                    conclusion: {
+                        kind: "form",
+                        i: it.i,
+                        j: it.j,
+                        node: (nx.length > 1 ? this.host.chooseNext?.(it.node) : undefined) ??
+                            nx[0],
+                        via: true,
+                        rcmp: it.rcmp,
+                    },
+                    // A recomposed form's continuation is FREE: the two (or more) parts
+                    // were already paid for as their own rewrites, and the single
+                    // consolidated span saves one cover-bridge versus leaving them
+                    // split — so charging 0 here makes the grounded whole (e.g.
+                    // "DE"→F) strictly beat the split ("D","E") by exactly that saved
+                    // bridge, deterministically.
+                    cost: it.rcmp ? 0 : STEP,
+                };
+                return;
+            }
+            // Recognised but edge-less: borrow a concept (halo) sibling's edge.  No
+            // edge and no concept means the form leads nowhere — it yields no rule, so
+            // a query of only such forms produces no derivation, and think is silent.
+            const target = conceptTarget.get(it.node);
+            if (target !== undefined) {
+                yield {
+                    premises: [it],
+                    conclusion: {
+                        kind: "form",
+                        i: it.i,
+                        j: it.j,
+                        node: target,
+                        via: true,
+                    },
+                    cost: CONCEPT,
+                };
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    /** Complete a node that an edge produced but that bears no further whole-edge,
+     *  by COVERING ITS OWN BYTES — the very same operation the top query runs.
+     *  Completion is not a special pass: a produced composite ("p1 p2") is just
+     *  another span to cover, and covering it re-applies recognition, edge-follow,
+     *  fusion and recomposition to discover that its parts continue (p1→R1, p2→R2)
+     *  and recompose into a deeper learnt form (→ FINAL).  This is why a single
+     *  edge-target needs no bespoke logic — it routes back through {@link solve}.
+     *
+     *  Re-recognition (not the node's tree children) is what surfaces the learnt
+     *  parts: content-defined chunking may cut "p1 p2" as "p1 p"|"2", so only
+     *  recognising the bytes recovers p1 and p2 as the forms the graph knows.
+     *
+     *  The recovered answer is accepted only when it MOVED and names a LEARNT node
+     *  ({@link resolve}) — the graph itself gates against re-expanding a contained
+     *  form ("ice is cold" ⊅→ "ice is cold is cold").
+     *
+     *  Termination is INTRINSIC, not a depth limit: a node already on the
+     *  completion stack ({@link recompleteOpen}) is not re-entered — a self-
+     *  referential recomposition is a cycle that can yield nothing new, so it
+     *  stops there, exactly as {@link completeForward} stops on a revisited edge.
+     *  Distinct node ids are finite and each finished completion is memoised, so a
+     *  legitimate chain runs as deep as the graph licenses and no further. */
+    recompleteNode(node) {
+        if (!this.host.recogniseSpan)
+            return null;
+        const memo = this.recompleteMemo;
+        if (memo.has(node))
+            return memo.get(node) ?? null;
+        // Cycle guard: a node being completed must not recurse back into itself.
+        if (this.recompleteOpen.has(node))
+            return null;
+        // A leaf or single-child node has no parts to recompose; skip before the
+        // costly recognition so a plain terminal answer pays nothing.
+        const nrec = this.store.get(node);
+        if (!nrec || nrec.kids === null || nrec.kids.length < 2) {
+            memo.set(node, null);
+            return null;
+        }
+        const bytes = this.store.bytesPrefix(node, ALL);
+        this.recompleteOpen.add(node);
+        try {
+            // Completion is cover: re-cover the produced bytes through the SAME solve
+            // routine, recognising them afresh.  No concepts/connectors (those need the
+            // caller's async pre-resolution) — the recursion explores edges and fusion,
+            // which is what a deeper rewrite chain is made of.
+            const solved = this.solve(bytes.length, this.host.recogniseSpan(bytes), new Map());
+            const answer = solved && concatBytes(solved.segs.map((s) => s.bytes));
+            const out = (answer !== null && !bytesEqual(answer, bytes) &&
+                this.host.resolve(answer) !== null)
+                ? answer
+                : null;
+            memo.set(node, out);
+            return out;
+        }
+        finally {
+            this.recompleteOpen.delete(node);
+        }
+    }
+    /** Per-cover memo of each produced node's completion (so the many terminal
+     *  outs of a long query re-cover each distinct node at most once); reset at the
+     *  top of {@link cover}. */
+    recompleteMemo = new Map();
+    /** The nodes currently being re-completed — the recursion stack.  A node in
+     *  this set is not re-entered, so a cyclic recomposition terminates naturally
+     *  (the same cycle guard {@link completeForward} uses), with no depth cap. */
+    recompleteOpen = new Set();
+    /** out(i,j,bytes,…): index it for the binary rules, then offer splicing a
+     *  learnt connector (the in-search bridge), splitting (at a sub-leaf form
+     *  boundary), bridging (cover(i) ∧ this → cover(j)), and fusing with an
+     *  adjacent finalised out. */
+    *outRules(it, ctx) {
+        const { splits, coversDone, outsByStart, outsByEnd, coverableByStart } = ctx;
+        const outsByNode = ctx.outsByNode;
+        const byRight = ctx.linksByRight ?? new Map();
+        pushInto(outsByStart, it.i, it);
+        pushInto(outsByEnd, it.j, it);
+        if (it.rec && it.node !== undefined)
+            pushInto(outsByNode, it.node, it);
+        if (it.cover)
+            pushInto(coverableByStart, it.i, it);
+        // ── connector rule (the BRIDGE, in-search) ──────────────────────────
+        // A connector keyed `L,R` carries everything a learnt whole holds BETWEEN
+        // answer L and answer R — for an N-ary whole, that includes the interior
+        // answers (see {@link Mind.resolveGroupConnectors}).  Splicing it joins L and
+        // R into one recognised span L+connector+R, priced inside the search.  The
+        // rule fires for ADJACENT parts (R begins where L ends) AND across a gap that
+        // is ITSELF wholly recognised (an interior answer absorbed into the whole,
+        // Points 2 & 5) — but NEVER across the asker's own unrecognised separator (a
+        // space, comma), so "ice fire" stays "cold hot", never "cold or hot".
+        //
+        // Cost stays bounded by iterating only the FEW resolved connector targets of
+        // this out's node (links are selective and, for the N-ary case, keyed first→
+        // later — O(parts), not O(parts²)), and matching them against finalised outs
+        // by node id, rather than scanning every position pair.
+        const byLeft = ctx.linksByLeft;
+        if (byLeft && it.rec && it.node !== undefined) {
+            // L = this out, R = a later out whose node is a resolved target.
+            for (const [rNode, link] of byLeft.get(it.node) ?? []) {
+                for (const r of outsByNode.get(rNode) ?? []) {
+                    const rule = this.trySplice(it, r, link, outsByEnd);
+                    if (rule)
+                        yield rule;
+                }
+            }
+            // R = this out, L = an earlier out whose node has a resolved target here.
+            for (const [lNode, link] of byRight.get(it.node) ?? []) {
+                for (const l of outsByNode.get(lNode) ?? []) {
+                    const rule = this.trySplice(l, it, link, outsByEnd);
+                    if (rule)
+                        yield rule;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        // Split an unrecognised out at a sub-leaf form boundary — demand-driven,
+        // only when a split point sits inside this out's range.  Each half carries
+        // its own resolved node id so it can still anchor a fusion.
+        if (it.cover && !it.rec && it.j - it.i > 1) {
+            for (const k of splits) {
+                if (k > it.i && k < it.j) {
+                    const lb = it.bytes.subarray(0, k - it.i);
+                    const rb = it.bytes.subarray(k - it.i);
+                    yield {
+                        premises: [it],
+                        conclusion: {
+                            kind: "out",
+                            i: it.i,
+                            j: k,
+                            bytes: lb,
+                            cover: true,
+                            rec: false,
+                            node: ctx.findLeafU(lb),
+                        },
+                        cost: 0,
+                    };
+                    yield {
+                        premises: [it],
+                        conclusion: {
+                            kind: "out",
+                            i: k,
+                            j: it.j,
+                            bytes: rb,
+                            cover: true,
+                            rec: false,
+                            node: ctx.findLeafU(rb),
+                        },
+                        cost: 0,
+                    };
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        // The BRIDGE, fired from the out side: cover(i) ∧ this → cover(j).  Same
+        // rule as coverRules, the other order of arrival — an out finalised after
+        // its start was already covered.  Either way the connective (this out, when
+        // unrecognised) is carried into the cover chain so the asker's own link
+        // survives between the rewritten parts.
+        if (it.cover && coversDone.has(it.i)) {
+            yield this.bridgeRule({ kind: "cover", p: it.i }, it);
+        }
+        for (const r of outsByStart.get(it.j) ?? [])
+            yield* this.fuse(it, r, ctx);
+        for (const l of outsByEnd.get(it.i) ?? [])
+            yield* this.fuse(l, it, ctx);
+    }
+    /** Whether the query span [from, to) is wholly covered by RECOGNISED outs —
+     *  the test that lets a connector jump across INTERIOR answers (an N-ary whole)
+     *  but never across the asker's own unrecognised framing (a space or comma the
+     *  asker wrote between parts).  Empty span (from === to, the adjacent case) is
+     *  trivially recognised.  Otherwise step right-to-left: from `to`, find a
+     *  recognised out ending there and continue from its start, until reaching
+     *  `from`.  Greedy-longest is sufficient here — the spans in play are the few
+     *  recognised answers of one query, not a general interval cover. */
+    gapRecognised(from, to, outsByEnd) {
+        let pos = to;
+        while (pos > from) {
+            let stepped = -1;
+            for (const o of outsByEnd.get(pos) ?? []) {
+                if (o.rec && o.i >= from && o.i < pos) {
+                    stepped = Math.min(stepped === -1 ? o.i : stepped, o.i);
+                }
+            }
+            if (stepped < 0)
+                return false; // a position not spanned by a recognised out
+            pos = stepped;
+        }
+        return true;
+    }
+    /** Fuse two adjacent finalised outs — the search's own discovery of forms
+     *  that cross leaf boundaries.  The concatenation may be a known leaf
+     *  (findLeaf, when short enough), or — when both sides resolved — their pair a
+     *  known branch (findBranch); a completion fused with its neighbour may spell
+     *  a deeper learned form, recovered canonically by {@link resolve} (gated on a
+     *  completion being present, so it only runs along chains).  The fused span
+     *  lives on as an intermediate out while it could still grow into a form, and
+     *  enters the graph as a form the moment it names a node. */
+    *fuse(l, r, ctx) {
+        const bytes = concat2(l.bytes, r.bytes);
+        // A PURE leaf-leaf fuse (neither side already a recognised completion)
+        // is opportunistic cross-leaf recovery exactly like recognition.ts's own
+        // canonical chain — findLeaf/findBranch here have no idea WHY these two
+        // leaves are adjacent, only that their concatenation happens to spell a
+        // trained form ("hi" recovered from "W[hi]ch").  The same corpus-scale
+        // caution recognition.ts's `boundary` gate applies: trust it fully when
+        // `l.i` is a position the query's OWN fold chose as a boundary (real
+        // structural evidence); past the scale where atoms themselves stop
+        // discriminating, an interior offset's opportunistic match is noise, not
+        // a genuine cross-leaf recovery.  A completion-involved fuse (l.rec ||
+        // r.rec) is a different, legitimate case — a rewrite growing into its
+        // neighbour — and is exempt, same as recognition.ts's rec-derived sites.
+        const trusted = l.rec || r.rec || ctx.starts.has(l.i) ||
+            !ctx.atomsAreHubs;
+        let node = (trusted && bytes.length <= ctx.W)
+            ? ctx.findLeafU(bytes)
+            : undefined;
+        // Whether this pair ACTUALLY forms a 2-child branch — the hard evidence
+        // that the fused bytes are a learned form worth keeping alive.  Derived
+        // from the same findBranchU probe that sets `node`; when false, the pair
+        // is structurally unrecognised and an intermediate span that carries no
+        // node cannot contribute to any further fusion (findBranch needs two
+        // nodes, resolve needs a completion, and findLeaf already had its chance).
+        let pairFormsBranch = false;
+        if (trusted && node === undefined && l.node !== undefined &&
+            r.node !== undefined) {
+            node = ctx.findBranchU([l.node, r.node]);
+            pairFormsBranch = node !== undefined;
+        }
+        if (node === undefined && (l.rec || r.rec)) {
+            // Canonical recovery of a deeper learned form fused from a completion and
+            // its neighbour.
+            const id = this.host.resolve(bytes);
+            if (id !== null)
+                node = id;
+        }
+        // A completed rewrite (rec) must not be absorbed into an unrelated INTERIOR
+        // chunk of a one-shot phrase: that lets the chunk's continuation swallow the
+        // inter-part gap and corrupt the answer ("cold"+" " → "cold " ⊂ "cold or
+        // hot"; "Y"+" " → "Y " ⊂ "X then Y then Z").  A node learnt as a meaningful
+        // unit bears a halo (it took part in an episode); a bare phrase-interior
+        // chunk does not.  So when a completion fuses into a node, require that node
+        // to be halo-bearing — a real fused form (a learnt fact context like "4+3")
+        // carries a halo and still passes.
+        if (node !== undefined && (l.rec || r.rec) && !this.store.hasHalo(node)) {
+            node = undefined;
+        }
+        // A node-less fused span is kept alive ONLY while it can still grow INTO a
+        // learned form: it's still ≤ W bytes (so a wider fuse might yet name it via
+        // findLeaf), or the pair ACTUALLY forms a branch (so the fused bytes are
+        // a real learned form, even if the halo gate cleared its node above).  It is
+        // NOT kept merely because both sides carry a node — that "potential" gate
+        // let every pair of adjacent recognised forms produce an intermediate span
+        // regardless of whether they name a branch together, generating O(N²) chart
+        // items for N abutted forms where only O(N) pairs actually form branches.
+        // The earlier O(2ⁿ) gate (kept alive whenever a side was a completion) is
+        // already superseded by this one — a completion that genuinely deepens names
+        // a node via findBranch or resolve and is yielded as a form regardless.
+        const couldGrow = bytes.length <= ctx.W || pairFormsBranch;
+        if (node === undefined && !couldGrow)
+            return;
+        yield {
+            premises: [l, r],
+            conclusion: {
+                kind: "out",
+                i: l.i,
+                j: r.j,
+                bytes,
+                cover: false,
+                rec: false,
+                node,
+            },
+            cost: 0,
+        };
+        if (node !== undefined) {
+            // A RECOMPOSITION: two already-rewritten parts (both rec completions)
+            // fused into a node that itself CONTINUES.  Tag the form so its onward
+            // step is charged at MICRO (see formRules) — the graph learned this whole,
+            // so following it to its grounded answer must win over leaving the parts
+            // split.  An ordinary cross-leaf fuse (not from rewrites) is not tagged and
+            // keeps the normal STEP cost.
+            const recomposed = l.rec && r.rec && this.store.hasNext(node);
+            yield {
+                premises: [l, r],
+                conclusion: {
+                    kind: "form",
+                    i: l.i,
+                    j: r.j,
+                    node,
+                    via: false,
+                    rcmp: recomposed,
+                },
+                cost: 0,
+            };
+        }
+    }
+}