@hviana/sema 0.2.6 → 0.2.8

package/dist/src/mind/attention.js

@@ -0,0 +1,1829 @@
+// attention.ts — Consensus climb / attention pipeline (Section 4 of the mind).
+//
+// Every region of the query's perceived tree casts a resonance vote for the
+// context (learnt fact) it best climbs to.  Votes are pooled through the very
+// deduction engine (lightestDerivation) that GraphSearch covers with — so a
+// pooled-evidence decision is one weighted rule of the SAME deduction system,
+// not a hand-rolled tally.  The result is one or more independent points of
+// attention for the rest of the pipeline to follow.
+import { isChunk } from "../sema.js";
+import { lightestDerivation, } from "../derive/src/index.js";
+import { composeStructuralGist, consensusFloor, dominates, estimatorNoise, } from "../geometry.js";
+import { foldTree, gistOf, latin1Key, perceive, read } from "./primitives.js";
+import { recognise } from "./recognition.js";
+import { leafIdRun } from "./canonical.js";
+import { corpusN, edgeAncestors, hubBound } from "./traverse.js";
+import { cachedRead, junctionContainersFrom, junctionSeeds, junctionSynonyms, loadJunctionSynonymSides, walkCache, } from "./junction.js";
+import { indexOf } from "../bytes.js";
+import { rItem, rNode, traceDerivation } from "./trace.js";
+function newTraceDraft(perceivedCount) {
+    return {
+        perceivedCount,
+        regions: [],
+        crossRegionJunctionVotes: [],
+        crossRegionProbes: [],
+        supersededOrdinaryVotes: 0,
+        anchors: [],
+    };
+}
+/** Serialise the shared `reachMemo` into the plain, authoritative saturation
+ *  profile (spec §5) — every distinct node any tier's `edgeAncestors` call
+ *  climbed from during this response, in insertion (first-consulted) order. */
+function serialiseReaches(reachMemo) {
+    const out = [];
+    for (const [node, r] of reachMemo) {
+        out.push({
+            node,
+            roots: [...r.roots],
+            contextsReached: r.contextsReached,
+            saturated: r.saturated,
+            ...(r.saturation ? { saturation: r.saturation } : {}),
+        });
+    }
+    return out;
+}
+// ── Public entry points ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+/** Climb the query's perceived byte regions up the structural DAG via
+ *  resonance, pool the evidence, and return only the ROOT points of
+ *  attention — those that cleared commitVotes' significance floor. */
+export async function climbAttention(ctx, query, k, mode = "inverse") {
+    return (await climbAttentionAll(ctx, query, k, mode)).roots;
+}
+/** Full read-out of one consensus climb: both the roots (dominant points of
+ *  attention) and the entire ranked list.  Cached via ctx.climbMemo, ALWAYS —
+ *  see {@link recognise} for why this memo (and recognise()'s own) must
+ *  never be skipped while tracing: computeAttention's collectRegions walks
+ *  the query's perceived tree via the same foldTree whose subtree-resolution
+ *  fast path makes a second call on identical bytes non-idempotent once
+ *  ctx._resolvedSubtrees is warm (which a multi-turn conversation's shared
+ *  prefix subtrees guarantee by the second turn).  A cache hit still emits
+ *  a trace step — abbreviated, since the full per-sub-region voting detail
+ *  {@link traceAttention} builds isn't preserved by the cached read-out —
+ *  so a traced response is never silently blacked out for a repeated
+ *  query. */
+export async function climbAttentionAll(ctx, query, k, mode = "inverse") {
+    // Content-keyed memo — works for both single-turn respond() and multi-turn
+    // respondTurn().
+    if (ctx.climbMemo) {
+        const contentKey = latin1Key(query);
+        const modeKey = `${k}:${mode}`;
+        let byRead = ctx.climbMemo.get(contentKey);
+        if (byRead === undefined) {
+            ctx.climbMemo.set(contentKey, byRead = new Map());
+        }
+        const hit = byRead.get(modeKey);
+        if (hit !== undefined) {
+            // Cache-hit exit (spec §9): the abbreviated payload shape — only what
+            // is actually stored in the cached AttentionRead is reported.  No
+            // candidate, reach, saturation, pooling or anchor detail is fabricated
+            // (that per-region detail was never retained by the memo).
+            const data = ctx.trace
+                ? {
+                    version: 1,
+                    cache: { hit: true, detailAvailable: false },
+                    config: { annK: k, crossRegionProbeLimit: k, mode },
+                    candidates: { perceived: 0, recognised: 0, total: 0 },
+                    result: hit,
+                }
+                : undefined;
+            ctx.trace?.step("climbConsensus", [rItem(query, "query")], hit.roots.map((r) => rNode(ctx, r.anchor, "anchor", r.vote)), `(cached) consensus already computed for this query — ` +
+                `${hit.roots.length} point(s) of attention`, undefined, data);
+            return hit;
+        }
+        const read = await computeAttention(ctx, query, k, mode);
+        byRead.set(modeKey, read);
+        return read;
+    }
+    return computeAttention(ctx, query, k, mode);
+}
+// ── Pipeline ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+export async function computeAttention(ctx, query, k, mode) {
+    const regions = collectRegions(ctx, query);
+    const perceivedCount = regions.length;
+    // Recognised sites carry structural evidence that perceived sub-regions
+    // miss: a word crossing a W-boundary is split into chunks whose partial
+    // gists may not resonate distinctively, but the SITE (content-addressed,
+    // exact) names the whole form.  Adding sites as climb regions lets the
+    // consensus vote with the full word, at zero cost — recognition is already
+    // memoised per response (ctx.recogniseMemo), and gistOf for short sites is
+    // O(|span|·D).  Sites that overlap perceived regions add corroborating
+    // evidence; sites in gaps (like cross-boundary words) fill them.
+    const rec = recognise(ctx, query);
+    for (const s of rec.sites) {
+        regions.push({
+            v: gistOf(ctx, query.subarray(s.start, s.end)),
+            start: s.start,
+            end: s.end,
+            chunk: false,
+            known: true, // a recognised site IS a stored form
+        });
+    }
+    // The trace draft (spec §9): allocated ONLY when a trace was requested —
+    // every downstream consumer gates its own writes on `td?` / `if (td)`, so
+    // an untraced climb pays zero allocation for this instrumentation.
+    const td = ctx.trace
+        ? newTraceDraft(perceivedCount)
+        : undefined;
+    const cfg0 = {
+        k,
+        mode,
+        perceivedCount,
+        totalRegions: regions.length,
+    };
+    if (regions.length === 0) {
+        traceAttention(ctx, [], [], [], undefined, td, cfg0);
+        return { roots: [], ranked: [] };
+    }
+    const N = corpusN(ctx);
+    // One climb per distinct anchor for the WHOLE query: regions sharing a
+    // chunk, and canonicalChunkId's prefix probes, all hit this memo instead of
+    // re-reading the anchor's full edge fan-out from the store.
+    const reachMemo = new Map();
+    const rvs = await voteRegions(ctx, query, regions, k, mode, N, reachMemo, td);
+    // ── Cross-region: DIRECT region-to-region interaction ─────────────────
+    // Two regions whose individual climbs land on DIFFERENT contexts leave
+    // their JOINT context — the learnt whole that contains BOTH — with no
+    // vote.  crossRegionVotes recovers it by the bridge's content-addressed
+    // junction ascent (see the note above the function).
+    const cross = await crossRegionVotes(ctx, query, regions, rvs, k, N, reachMemo, td);
+    // A vote SUPERSEDED by exact joint evidence (its bytes literally live
+    // inside the joint container, yet it climbed elsewhere — grid aliasing)
+    // is dropped, not down-weighted: the joint container explains it away.
+    const allVotes = cross.votes.length > 0
+        ? [
+            ...rvs.votes.filter((v) => !cross.superseded.has(v)),
+            ...cross.votes,
+        ]
+        : rvs.votes;
+    // Mark, on the per-region trace, the source region of every superseded
+    // ordinary vote (spec §4's final rule) — an explicit pass over the exact
+    // set crossRegionVotes' explaining-away logic removed, never inferred
+    // from `absorbed`.
+    if (td && cross.superseded.size > 0) {
+        for (const rv of cross.superseded) {
+            const region = td.regions.find((r) => r.span[0] === rv.start && r.span[1] === rv.end);
+            if (region)
+                region.superseded = true;
+        }
+    }
+    // ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    const cfg = { ...cfg0, N, reachMemo };
+    if (allVotes.length === 0) {
+        traceAttention(ctx, regions, rvs.voters, [], undefined, td, cfg);
+        return { roots: [], ranked: [] };
+    }
+    const sat = detectSaturated(ctx, regions, rvs.saturated);
+    if (td) {
+        td.saturation = {
+            regionIntervals: sat.intervals.map((iv) => ({ ...iv })),
+            hasLeading: sat.hasLeading,
+            leadingEnd: sat.leadingEnd,
+        };
+    }
+    const pooled = poolVotes(ctx, allVotes, sat, N, td);
+    return commitVotes(ctx, pooled, sat, regions, rvs.voters, N, td, cfg);
+}
+export function collectRegions(ctx, query) {
+    const regions = [];
+    // A region that DOMINATES the query (covers more than half — the shared
+    // {@link dominates} test liftAnswer uses for a span that swallows its
+    // surroundings) can never itself discriminate between several topics the
+    // query weaves; voting with it only when it is the sole structure (no
+    // narrower region exists) keeps a flat/short query's single point of
+    // attention intact without letting a broad, non-discriminative wrapper
+    // dilute a multi-topic query's vote or masquerade as a genuine second
+    // point of attention.
+    // foldTree (not walkTree): the same post-order walk, but each node also
+    // resolves content-addressed against the store — `known` is what lets the
+    // climb keep exact evidence at full weight while margin-damping the
+    // approximate kind (see voteRegions).  One findLeaf/findBranch per tree
+    // node, the same lookups a deposit pays.
+    foldTree(ctx, perceive(ctx, query), 0, (n, start, end, node) => {
+        if (n.kids === null)
+            return;
+        if (!dominates(end - start, query.length) || regions.length === 0) {
+            regions.push({
+                v: n.v,
+                start,
+                end,
+                chunk: isChunk(n),
+                known: node !== null,
+            });
+        }
+    });
+    return regions;
+}
+export async function voteRegions(ctx, query, regions, k, mode, N, reachMemo, td) {
+    const regionSaturated = new Array(regions.length).fill(false);
+    const regionVotes = [];
+    const regionVoter = ctx.trace ? regions.map(() => null) : [];
+    for (let ri = 0; ri < regions.length; ri++) {
+        const { v, start, end, chunk, known } = regions[ri];
+        // Trace-only bookkeeping for this region — allocated only under `td`
+        // (i.e. only when ctx.trace is set); see ConsensusRegionTrace/
+        // RegionOutcome (spec §4).  `examinedIds` tracks distinct ANN hits
+        // whose edgeAncestors reach was actually CONSULTED here (not merely
+        // returned by resonate) — the fallback/margin loops below add to it.
+        const examinedIds = td ? new Set() : undefined;
+        let annQueried = false;
+        let fallbackKind;
+        const recordRegion = (outcome, extra = {}) => {
+            if (!td)
+                return;
+            td.regions[ri] = {
+                index: ri,
+                source: ri < td.perceivedCount ? "perceived" : "recognised",
+                span: [start, end],
+                chunk,
+                known,
+                canonicalId: canonicalId ?? undefined,
+                canonicalUsable,
+                canonicalFailed,
+                annQueried,
+                annHitsReturned: hits ? hits.length : 0,
+                annHitsExamined: examinedIds ? examinedIds.size : 0,
+                outcome,
+                ordinaryVoteProduced: outcome === "voted",
+                superseded: false,
+                ...extra,
+            };
+        };
+        // EXACT-FIRST: a chunk whose canonical anchor is content-addressed needs
+        // no estimator — identity is exact, so its score is 1 BY DEFINITION (the
+        // estimated cosine of a form with itself, minus quantisation noise, and
+        // the caveat atop geometry.ts forbids trusting the estimate over the
+        // exact resolution anyway).  The ANN query is deferred behind
+        // `ensureHits` and paid only when actually consulted: the orphan
+        // fallback, the contrastive margin (approximate regions only), or a
+        // region with no usable canonical.  On chunk-heavy queries this removes
+        // the resonate() call for most exact regions — the single largest
+        // remaining inference sink — with the anchor choice unchanged (the
+        // canonical branch already ignored hits[0]).
+        const canonicalId = chunk
+            ? canonicalChunkId(ctx, query.subarray(start, end), N, reachMemo)
+            : null;
+        const canonicalUsable = canonicalId !== null &&
+            (ctx.store.hasParents(canonicalId) ||
+                ctx.store.hasContainers(canonicalId));
+        let hits = null;
+        const ensureHits = async () => {
+            if (hits === null) {
+                hits = await ctx.store.resonate(v, k);
+                annQueried = true;
+            }
+            return hits;
+        };
+        const canonicalFailed = chunk && canonicalId === null;
+        let voterId;
+        let score;
+        let scoreId; // the node the score was measured against
+        let selectedSource;
+        if (canonicalUsable) {
+            voterId = canonicalId;
+            score = 1;
+            scoreId = canonicalId;
+            selectedSource = "canonical";
+        }
+        else {
+            const h = await ensureHits();
+            if (h.length === 0) {
+                recordRegion("no-ann-hit");
+                continue;
+            }
+            voterId = h[0].id;
+            score = h[0].score;
+            scoreId = h[0].id;
+            selectedSource = "ann";
+            examinedIds?.add(voterId);
+        }
+        let reach = edgeAncestors(ctx, voterId, N, reachMemo);
+        // A region's vote must not die with the TOP hit: `hits[1..k]` were
+        // already fetched, and the top-ranked anchor being a structural orphan
+        // (no edge-bearing ancestors) is an accident of the approximate ranking,
+        // not evidence the region relates to nothing.  Walk the remaining hits —
+        // nearest first, climbs memoised — until one climbs.  A SATURATED reach
+        // is not an orphan: it is a deliberate abstention, kept as-is.
+        if (reach.roots.length === 0 && !reach.saturated) {
+            for (const h of await ensureHits()) {
+                if (h.id === voterId)
+                    continue;
+                const r2 = edgeAncestors(ctx, h.id, N, reachMemo);
+                examinedIds?.add(h.id);
+                if (r2.saturated || r2.roots.length > 0) {
+                    ctx.trace?.step("anchorFallback", [rNode(ctx, voterId, "orphan-anchor", score)], [rNode(ctx, h.id, "anchor", h.score)], "the top-ranked anchor climbs to no context — a lower-ranked hit votes instead");
+                    reach = r2;
+                    voterId = h.id;
+                    score = h.score;
+                    scoreId = h.id;
+                    selectedSource = "ann";
+                    fallbackKind = "orphan";
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        else if (!canonicalUsable && reach.saturated) {
+            // TIE-BAND saturation fallback.  A saturated top hit abstains the whole
+            // region (a hub's reach concludes nothing) — but the hub may only CLAIM
+            // that abstention when it is DISTINGUISHABLY the nearest anchor.  The
+            // resonance ranking is an estimate: the difference between two scores
+            // against the same query carries √2× the estimator's per-score error,
+            // ≈ 1/√D ({@link estimatorNoise}) — so any hit within that band of the
+            // top is the SAME rank at measurement resolution, and letting the hub
+            // win the tie decides the region by quantisation accident (observed:
+            // a 0.1σ rank inversion flipped a pinned behaviour when the query
+            // estimator sharpened from 4 to 8 bits).  Walk the tied hits, nearest
+            // first; the first that climbs somewhere non-saturated votes for the
+            // region.  Beyond the band the hub is genuinely nearest and its
+            // abstention stands.  A KNOWN (content-addressed) region never enters:
+            // its anchor is exact, not an estimate.
+            const band = estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D);
+            for (const h of await ensureHits()) {
+                if (h.id === voterId)
+                    continue;
+                if (h.score < score - band)
+                    break; // hits are nearest-first
+                const r2 = edgeAncestors(ctx, h.id, N, reachMemo);
+                examinedIds?.add(h.id);
+                if (!r2.saturated && r2.roots.length > 0) {
+                    ctx.trace?.step("anchorFallback", [rNode(ctx, voterId, "saturated-anchor", score)], [rNode(ctx, h.id, "anchor", h.score)], "the top-ranked anchor is a saturated hub tied within estimator noise — the tied hit votes instead");
+                    reach = r2;
+                    voterId = h.id;
+                    score = h.score;
+                    scoreId = h.id;
+                    selectedSource = "ann";
+                    fallbackKind = "saturated-tie";
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        regionSaturated[ri] = reach.saturated;
+        const selected = !td
+            ? undefined
+            : (() => {
+                const rank = selectedSource === "ann"
+                    ? hits?.findIndex((h) => h.id === voterId)
+                    : undefined;
+                return {
+                    source: selectedSource,
+                    node: voterId,
+                    score,
+                    ...(rank !== undefined ? { rank } : {}),
+                    ...(fallbackKind ? { fallback: fallbackKind } : {}),
+                };
+            })();
+        if (reach.roots.length === 0) {
+            recordRegion("no-structural-reach", { selected, reachNode: voterId });
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (reach.saturated) {
+            recordRegion("saturated-abstention", { selected, reachNode: voterId });
+            continue;
+        }
+        // One IDF per region — dfWeight() and the focus weight used to compute
+        // the same logarithm independently.
+        const idf = Math.log(N / Math.max(1, reach.contextsReached));
+        const df = Math.log(1 + reach.contextsReached);
+        const wf = mode === "direct" ? df : mode === "combined" ? idf + df : idf;
+        if (wf <= 0) {
+            recordRegion("nonpositive-df-weight", {
+                selected,
+                reachNode: voterId,
+                idf,
+                dfWeight: wf,
+            });
+            continue;
+        }
+        // CONTRASTIVE-MARGIN GATE — the compensation the linear (byte-proportional)
+        // fold demands, applied to APPROXIMATE evidence only.  Under the linear
+        // fold a resonance score reads "fraction of aligned shared bytes", so a
+        // NOVEL span sharing a frame with several stored exemplars scores high
+        // against each of them without being evidence of ANY of them: the shared
+        // scaffolding, not the span's own content, carries the similarity.  Such a
+        // frame region resonates ~equally to every framed exemplar, so its top hit
+        // barely beats the best DIFFERENT-conclusion rival (a different climb
+        // root-set) — its discriminative margin, score MINUS that rival, collapses
+        // toward zero.  A region votes only when that margin clears the estimator's
+        // own noise floor (1/√D — see {@link estimatorNoise}); below it the margin
+        // is quantisation noise, not evidence.  A KNOWN region (content-addressed,
+        // exact) skips the contrast: it IS learnt content, not an approximation.
+        //
+        // The margin GATES; it does NOT scale the weight.  A surviving region votes
+        // at its genuine strength (score²·wf) — the SAME scale {@link
+        // consensusFloor} is derived for.  Using the margin as a MULTIPLIER
+        // (score·margin) conflated "discriminative" with "strong": a genuinely
+        // discriminative span whose frame-rival happened to score close got a tiny
+        // vote, systematically compressing correct scaffolding-dominated groundings
+        // (reordered / paraphrased queries) below the floor so they grounded
+        // nothing.  Gating at the noise floor keeps frame-echo suppression (a frame
+        // region's margin ≈ 0 is gated out) without penalising honest evidence.
+        let contrastiveMargin;
+        let contrastiveRival;
+        if (!known) {
+            let margin = score;
+            const hitsForRival = await ensureHits();
+            for (let hi = 0; hi < hitsForRival.length; hi++) {
+                const h = hitsForRival[hi];
+                if (h.id === voterId)
+                    continue;
+                const r2 = edgeAncestors(ctx, h.id, N, reachMemo);
+                examinedIds?.add(h.id);
+                if (r2.saturated || r2.roots.length === 0)
+                    continue; // concludes nothing
+                if (sameRoots(r2.roots, reach.roots))
+                    continue; // same conclusion
+                margin = score - h.score; // hits are nearest-first: the best rival
+                if (td) {
+                    contrastiveRival = { node: h.id, rank: hi, score: h.score };
+                }
+                break;
+            }
+            contrastiveMargin = margin;
+            const noiseFloor = estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D);
+            if (margin <= noiseFloor) {
+                recordRegion("contrastive-margin-rejection", {
+                    selected,
+                    reachNode: voterId,
+                    idf,
+                    dfWeight: wf,
+                    contrastiveMargin: margin,
+                    contrastiveNoiseFloor: noiseFloor,
+                    ...(contrastiveRival ? { contrastiveRival } : {}),
+                });
+                continue;
+            }
+        }
+        // MUTUAL-EXPLANATION WEIGHT (angle + magnitude).  Under the linear fold
+        // cos = shared/(‖r‖·‖h‖) with ‖·‖² = content bytes, so the old score²
+        // was already — implicitly — (shared/len_r)·(shared/len_h): the fraction
+        // of the REGION the hit explains times the fraction of the HIT the
+        // region pins down.  Made explicit, each factor is computed from the two
+        // magnitudes (the region's own span; the hit's, read from the store —
+        // contentLen, √bytes being the linear fold's gist norm) and CAPPED at 1:
+        // the estimated cosine can imply more shared content than the smaller
+        // side even holds, and the uncapped square silently credited that
+        // impossible surplus — a small region echoing inside a large context, or
+        // the reverse, voted above its physical evidence.  In the uncapped
+        // regime this is exactly score², the scale {@link consensusFloor} is
+        // derived for.  (The margin gate above deliberately stays in raw cosine
+        // units: it tests the ESTIMATOR's noise floor, which lives in cosine
+        // space; converting each side by its own hit's magnitude would compare
+        // noise floors of different scales.)
+        const lenR = Math.max(1, end - start);
+        // Cap the magnitude read at lenR·D: past it s/ratio ≤ s/√D — below the
+        // estimator's own noise floor — so the mutual weight is ~0 regardless
+        // and the clamped value yields exactly that; no full walk of a huge hit.
+        const ratio = Math.sqrt(Math.max(1, ctx.store.contentLen(scoreId, lenR * ctx.store.D)) / lenR);
+        const mutual = Math.min(1, score * ratio) * Math.min(1, score / ratio);
+        const w = (mutual * wf) / reach.roots.length;
+        const wFocus = (mutual * idf) / reach.roots.length;
+        regionVotes.push({
+            start,
+            end,
+            canonicalFailed,
+            roots: reach.roots,
+            w,
+            wFocus,
+        });
+        if (ctx.trace) {
+            regionVoter[ri] = { id: voterId, score, w: wf };
+        }
+        recordRegion("voted", {
+            selected,
+            reachNode: voterId,
+            idf,
+            dfWeight: wf,
+            ...(contrastiveMargin !== undefined
+                ? {
+                    contrastiveMargin,
+                    contrastiveNoiseFloor: estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D),
+                    ...(contrastiveRival ? { contrastiveRival } : {}),
+                }
+                : {}),
+            mutualWeight: mutual,
+            voteWeightPerRoot: w,
+            focusWeightPerRoot: wFocus,
+        });
+    }
+    return {
+        votes: regionVotes,
+        saturated: regionSaturated,
+        voters: regionVoter,
+    };
+}
+/** The consensus vote as EVIDENCE POOLING, not shortest path: each surviving
+ *  region is an axiom; it contributes to every root it climbed to (or, for a
+ *  terminal answer node, to the contexts that lead to it) by a `combine:
+ *  "sum"` rule, so independent regions corroborating the same anchor ADD
+ *  rather than compete to be the cheapest route (see {@link Rule.combine} in
+ *  derive/src/deduction.ts).  Run through the very engine {@link
+ *  GraphSearch} covers with — `lightestDerivation` — so a pooled-evidence
+ *  decision is, like a followed edge or a spliced connector, one weighted
+ *  rule of the SAME deduction system, not a separate hand-rolled tally that
+ *  merely logs alongside it.  `votesIdf`/`support` are the same two
+ *  read-outs {@link commitVotes} always gated on; only how they accumulate
+ *  changed. */
+export function poolVotes(ctx, regionVotes, sat, N, td) {
+    const eligible = [];
+    for (let ri = 0; ri < regionVotes.length; ri++) {
+        const rv = regionVotes[ri];
+        if (rv.canonicalFailed &&
+            sat.intervals.some((iv) => rv.start >= iv.start && rv.end <= iv.end)) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        eligible.push(ri);
+    }
+    if (td) {
+        td.pooling = {
+            inputVotes: regionVotes.length,
+            eligibleVotes: eligible.length,
+            saturationMaskedVotes: regionVotes.length - eligible.length,
+        };
+    }
+    const key = (it) => it.kind === "region"
+        ? `r${it.ri}`
+        : it.kind === "anchor"
+            ? `a${it.id}`
+            : `x${it.id}`;
+    const pool = new Map();
+    const system = {
+        key,
+        *axioms() {
+            for (const ri of eligible) {
+                yield { item: { kind: "region", ri }, cost: 0 };
+            }
+        },
+        isGoal: () => false, // exhaust every axiom; there is no single goal to stop at
+        // Every region axiom ties at cost 0, so the agenda's pop order among them
+        // is otherwise unspecified; ordering by `ri` here only steers the HEAP
+        // (never added to a stored cost — see relax's use of h) so pooling fires
+        // in exactly the regionVotes array order the original loop used, byte-for-
+        // byte reproducing its accumulation and tie-break order.
+        heuristic: (it) => it.kind === "region" ? it.ri : 0,
+        *rules(it) {
+            if (it.kind !== "region")
+                return;
+            const rv = regionVotes[it.ri];
+            // The same hub bound the rest of the system uses (edgeAncestors' parent
+            // cutoff, chooseNext's candidate cap): a terminal answer followed by
+            // more than √N contexts is a non-discriminative hub — spreading a
+            // region's vote across its FULL corpus-sized fan-in yields O(corpus)
+            // rule applications per region and near-zero per-target weight anyway.
+            // Cap the redistribution at the first √N contexts (insertion order,
+            // the same convention chooseNext caps by).
+            const hubBound = Math.ceil(Math.sqrt(N));
+            for (const r of rv.roots) {
+                // CAPPED read: only the first hubBound targets are ever credited, so
+                // only they are read — a common continuation's full reverse fan-in
+                // is corpus-sized and is never materialised.
+                const pv = ctx.store.prevFirst(r, hubBound);
+                const isAnswer = pv.length > 0 && !ctx.store.hasNext(r);
+                const targets = isAnswer ? pv : [r];
+                for (const t of targets) {
+                    yield {
+                        premises: [it],
+                        conclusion: { kind: "anchor", id: t },
+                        cost: rv.w / targets.length,
+                        combine: "sum",
+                    };
+                    yield {
+                        premises: [it],
+                        conclusion: { kind: "anchorFocus", id: t },
+                        cost: rv.wFocus / targets.length,
+                        combine: "sum",
+                    };
+                }
+            }
+        },
+        pool,
+    };
+    lightestDerivation(system);
+    const votes = new Map();
+    const votesIdf = new Map();
+    const support = new Map();
+    const regionSupport = new Map();
+    const regionSpans = new Map();
+    const steps = [];
+    let order = 0;
+    for (const pc of pool.values()) {
+        if (pc.item.kind === "anchor") {
+            votes.set(pc.item.id, pc.cost);
+            const premises = [];
+            const seenRi = new Set();
+            let breadthSum = 0;
+            const spans = [];
+            for (const c of pc.contributions) {
+                const p0 = c.premises[0].item;
+                if (p0.kind !== "region" || seenRi.has(p0.ri))
+                    continue;
+                seenRi.add(p0.ri);
+                const rv = regionVotes[p0.ri];
+                breadthSum += rv.absorbed ?? 1;
+                premises.push({ kind: "form", span: [rv.start, rv.end] });
+                spans.push([rv.start, rv.end]);
+            }
+            regionSupport.set(pc.item.id, breadthSum);
+            regionSpans.set(pc.item.id, spans);
+            steps.push({
+                order: order++,
+                move: "pool-vote",
+                premises,
+                conclusion: { kind: "form", span: [-1, -1], node: pc.item.id },
+                cost: pc.cost,
+                producers: [],
+            });
+        }
+        else if (pc.item.kind === "anchorFocus") {
+            votesIdf.set(pc.item.id, pc.cost);
+            let bestRv = null;
+            for (const c of pc.contributions) {
+                const p0 = c.premises[0].item;
+                if (p0.kind !== "region")
+                    continue;
+                const rv = regionVotes[p0.ri];
+                if (!bestRv || rv.wFocus > bestRv.wFocus)
+                    bestRv = rv;
+            }
+            if (bestRv) {
+                support.set(pc.item.id, {
+                    start: bestRv.start,
+                    end: bestRv.end,
+                    w: bestRv.wFocus,
+                });
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    return { votes, votesIdf, support, regionSupport, regionSpans, steps };
+}
+/** The number of DISTINCT clusters a root's contributing regions form —
+ *  see Attention.clusters.  Two regions belong to the same cluster iff the
+ *  gap between them is strictly less than one river-fold quantum W: at
+ *  that distance there is no room for a genuinely separate, independently
+ *  perceivable unit of content between them (the same "smallest meaningful
+ *  distinction" quantum {@link reachThreshold}'s own doc invokes).  A gap
+ *  of a full quantum or more means real, separate structure could sit
+ *  between the two spans, so they count as independent corroboration.
+ *  Strict `<` (not `<=`): verified against gap 3.1's own "gender equality"
+ *  root, whose two genuine clusters sit EXACTLY W bytes apart — `<= W`
+ *  would wrongly merge them into one and break that pinned requirement. */
+function countClusters(spans, W) {
+    if (spans.length === 0)
+        return 0;
+    const sorted = [...spans].sort((a, b) => a[0] - b[0]);
+    let clusters = 1;
+    let curEnd = sorted[0][1];
+    for (let i = 1; i < sorted.length; i++) {
+        const [s, e] = sorted[i];
+        if (s - curEnd < W) {
+            curEnd = Math.max(curEnd, e);
+        }
+        else {
+            clusters++;
+            curEnd = e;
+        }
+    }
+    return clusters;
+}
+export function commitVotes(ctx, pooled, sat, regions, regionVoter, N, td, cfg) {
+    const { votes, votesIdf, support, regionSupport, regionSpans, steps } = pooled;
+    if (votes.size === 0) {
+        traceAttention(ctx, regions, regionVoter, [], steps, td, cfg);
+        return { roots: [], ranked: [] };
+    }
+    // SCALE-INVARIANT confidence — see Attention.breadth's doc.  regions.length
+    // is the query's OWN full candidate count (most never vote at all), the
+    // same denominator the "N of M sub-regions voted" rationale text already
+    // reports; regionSupport is that same accounting read PER ANCHOR.
+    const totalRegions = Math.max(1, regions.length);
+    const ranked = [...votes.entries()]
+        .map(([anchor, vote]) => {
+        const s = support.get(anchor);
+        return {
+            anchor,
+            vote,
+            start: s.start,
+            end: s.end,
+            breadth: (regionSupport.get(anchor) ?? 0) / totalRegions,
+            clusters: countClusters(regionSpans.get(anchor) ?? [], ctx.space.maxGroup),
+        };
+    })
+        .sort((a, b) => b.vote - a.vote);
+    const overlaps = (a, b) => a.start < b.end && b.start < a.end;
+    const idfDesc = [...votesIdf.values()].sort((a, b) => b - a);
+    const rootCut = naturalBreak(idfDesc);
+    // A FURTHER point of attention (beyond the dominant one, which always
+    // grounds) must clear the same absolute significance floor
+    // recallByResonance trusts a climb anchor with — log(N) + 1/2, three-ish
+    // halvings of confidence above pure chance at this corpus scale — not
+    // merely beat whatever its immediate neighbour in the ratio happens to be.
+    // Without it, naturalBreak's ratio is scale-free but not FLOOR-free: on a
+    // large, topic-diverse corpus the steepest ratio in a long noise tail can
+    // sit far below any real signal, admitting scaffolding echoes as if they
+    // were genuine further topics.
+    const floor = consensusFloor(N);
+    const placed = [];
+    const roots = [];
+    const recordAnchor = (point, rank, status, dominant, passesNaturalBreak, passesConsensusFloor, pastLeadingSaturation, rejectionReasons) => {
+        if (!td)
+            return;
+        td.anchors.push({
+            anchor: point.anchor,
+            rank,
+            pooledVote: point.vote,
+            idfVote: votesIdf.get(point.anchor) ?? 0,
+            candidateBreadth: regions.length,
+            contributingVotes: regionSpans.get(point.anchor)?.length ?? 0,
+            contributingEvidence: regionSupport.get(point.anchor) ?? 0,
+            breadth: point.breadth,
+            contributingSpans: regionSpans.get(point.anchor) ?? [],
+            clusters: point.clusters,
+            commit: {
+                status,
+                dominant,
+                passesNaturalBreak,
+                passesConsensusFloor,
+                pastLeadingSaturation,
+                rejectionReasons,
+            },
+        });
+    };
+    for (let rank = 0; rank < ranked.length; rank++) {
+        const point = ranked[rank];
+        const absorbed = placed.some((p) => overlaps(point, p));
+        // Commit decisions are recorded LIVE, inside this loop, in the exact
+        // shape the gates below apply them — never reconstructed afterward from
+        // the final `roots` (spec §8's explicit requirement).
+        let status;
+        let dominant = false;
+        let passesNaturalBreak;
+        let passesConsensusFloor;
+        let pastLeadingSaturation;
+        const rejectionReasons = [];
+        if (absorbed) {
+            status = "overlap";
+        }
+        else {
+            const pastLeading = !sat.hasLeading ||
+                roots.length === 0 || point.start >= sat.leadingEnd;
+            pastLeadingSaturation = pastLeading;
+            const vote = votesIdf.get(point.anchor) ?? 0;
+            if (roots.length === 0) {
+                // The first non-overlapping root is DOMINANT and bypasses the two
+                // vote thresholds (it always grounds) — only the leading-saturation
+                // gate still applies to it.
+                dominant = true;
+                if (pastLeading) {
+                    status = "root";
+                }
+                else {
+                    status = "rejected";
+                    rejectionReasons.push("leading-saturation");
+                }
+            }
+            else {
+                passesNaturalBreak = vote >= rootCut;
+                passesConsensusFloor = vote >= floor;
+                if (passesNaturalBreak && passesConsensusFloor && pastLeading) {
+                    status = "root";
+                }
+                else {
+                    status = "rejected";
+                    if (!passesNaturalBreak)
+                        rejectionReasons.push("below-natural-break");
+                    if (!passesConsensusFloor) {
+                        rejectionReasons.push("below-consensus-floor");
+                    }
+                    if (!pastLeading)
+                        rejectionReasons.push("leading-saturation");
+                }
+            }
+            if (status === "root") {
+                roots.push(point);
+            }
+            else {
+                recordAnchor(point, rank, status, dominant, passesNaturalBreak, passesConsensusFloor, pastLeadingSaturation, rejectionReasons);
+                continue;
+            }
+        }
+        recordAnchor(point, rank, status, dominant, passesNaturalBreak, passesConsensusFloor, pastLeadingSaturation, rejectionReasons);
+        placed.push(point);
+    }
+    traceAttention(ctx, regions, regionVoter, roots, steps, td, cfg ? { ...cfg, naturalBreak: rootCut, consensusFloor: floor } : undefined, ranked);
+    return { roots, ranked };
+}
+export function detectSaturated(ctx, regions, saturated) {
+    // Intervals are built from CHUNK regions only.  collectRegions emits the
+    // tree in POST-ORDER — a parent region arrives AFTER its children and
+    // shares its first child's `start` — so the raw array is not monotone in
+    // byte position, and a saturated parent would fuse with a later saturated
+    // chunk into an interval swallowing a NON-saturated child.  Chunk regions
+    // (leaf-parents) are disjoint and already in byte order, and saturation
+    // masking exists to drop canonicalFailed CHUNK votes (see poolVotes), so
+    // chunks are both the sufficient and the safe basis.  A region without a
+    // `chunk` flag (a bare {start,end} from a direct caller) is treated as a
+    // chunk.
+    const intervals = [];
+    let intStart = -1;
+    let intEnd = -1;
+    let totalLen = 0;
+    for (let ri = 0; ri < regions.length; ri++) {
+        const r = regions[ri];
+        totalLen = Math.max(totalLen, r.end);
+        if (r.chunk === false)
+            continue;
+        if (saturated[ri]) {
+            if (intStart === -1)
+                intStart = r.start;
+            intEnd = r.end;
+        }
+        else {
+            if (intStart !== -1) {
+                intervals.push({ start: intStart, end: intEnd });
+                intStart = -1;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    if (intStart !== -1) {
+        intervals.push({ start: intStart, end: intEnd });
+    }
+    const leading = intervals.length > 0 && intervals[0].start === 0
+        ? intervals[0]
+        : null;
+    const hasLeading = leading !== null &&
+        leading.end >= ctx.space.maxGroup &&
+        leading.end < totalLen;
+    const leadingEnd = leading !== null ? leading.end : 0;
+    return { leadingEnd, hasLeading, intervals };
+}
+/** Set equality of two climb root lists (the "same conclusion" test the
+ *  contrastive margin skips rivals by). */
+function sameRoots(a, b) {
+    if (a.length !== b.length)
+        return false;
+    const s = new Set(a);
+    for (const x of b)
+        if (!s.has(x))
+            return false;
+    return true;
+}
+export function canonicalChunkId(ctx, regionBytes, N, reachMemo) {
+    const len = Math.min(regionBytes.length, ctx.space.maxGroup);
+    for (let off = 0; off + len <= regionBytes.length; off++) {
+        const ids = leafIdRun(ctx, regionBytes, off, off + len);
+        if (ids === null)
+            return null;
+        const flatId = ctx.store.findBranch(ids);
+        if (flatId === null)
+            continue;
+        if (len < 2)
+            return flatId;
+        let bestId = flatId;
+        let bestReach = edgeAncestors(ctx, flatId, N, reachMemo);
+        for (let k2 = 1; k2 < len; k2++) {
+            const shortIds = ids.slice(0, len - k2);
+            const shortId = ctx.store.findBranch(shortIds);
+            if (shortId === null)
+                continue;
+            const shortReach = edgeAncestors(ctx, shortId, N, reachMemo);
+            if (shortReach.saturated ||
+                shortReach.contextsReached > bestReach.contextsReached) {
+                bestId = shortId;
+                bestReach = shortReach;
+            }
+        }
+        return bestId;
+    }
+    return null;
+}
+export function naturalBreak(votes) {
+    if (votes.length <= 1)
+        return votes[0] ?? 0;
+    let breakAt = 1;
+    let steepest = Infinity;
+    for (let i = 1; i < votes.length; i++) {
+        if (votes[i - 1] <= 0)
+            break;
+        const ratio = votes[i] / votes[i - 1];
+        if (ratio < steepest) {
+            steepest = ratio;
+            breakAt = i;
+        }
+    }
+    return votes[breakAt - 1];
+}
+const VARIANT_KIND_ORDER = {
+    "exact-exact": -1,
+    "left-synonym": 0,
+    "right-synonym": 1,
+    "double-synonym": 2,
+};
+/** Same deterministic ordering the old implementation applied to already-
+ *  materialized variants (§8): semantic confidence desc, then kind
+ *  (left-synonym, right-synonym, double-synonym), then sibling ids asc. */
+function compareStructuralVariantSpecs(a, b) {
+    return b.semanticConfidence - a.semanticConfidence ||
+        VARIANT_KIND_ORDER[a.kind] - VARIANT_KIND_ORDER[b.kind] ||
+        (a.leftSiblingId ?? -1) - (b.leftSiblingId ?? -1) ||
+        (a.rightSiblingId ?? -1) - (b.rightSiblingId ?? -1);
+}
+/** Every single- and double-synonym combination, as cost-free descriptors —
+ *  no `read`, `gistOf`, `perceive` or `StructuralPart` allocation.  Both
+ *  sibling lists are already bounded by `haloQueryK`, so the O(haloQueryK²)
+ *  cross-product here is cheap; only the SELECTED specs go on to pay for
+ *  sibling reconstruction. */
+function buildStructuralVariantSpecs(sides) {
+    const specs = [];
+    for (const left of sides.leftSiblings) {
+        specs.push({
+            kind: "left-synonym",
+            semanticConfidence: left.score,
+            leftSiblingId: left.id,
+        });
+    }
+    for (const right of sides.rightSiblings) {
+        specs.push({
+            kind: "right-synonym",
+            semanticConfidence: right.score,
+            rightSiblingId: right.id,
+        });
+    }
+    for (const left of sides.leftSiblings) {
+        for (const right of sides.rightSiblings) {
+            specs.push({
+                kind: "double-synonym",
+                semanticConfidence: Math.min(left.score, right.score),
+                leftSiblingId: left.id,
+                rightSiblingId: right.id,
+            });
+        }
+    }
+    specs.sort(compareStructuralVariantSpecs);
+    return specs;
+}
+/** A halo sibling's structural gist, bounded to `maxBytes` of stored content
+ *  and reused across the whole climb.  `positiveMemo` (shared across every
+ *  probe in the climb, passed in by the caller) remembers only successfully
+ *  reconstructed complete gists — a sibling rejected here for being too
+ *  large for THIS pair's phrase-scale bound may still be admissible for a
+ *  larger-spanning pair later, so a rejection is never memoized globally.
+ *  `localMemo` is scoped to one `buildStructuralVariants` call, where every
+ *  variant shares the same bound, so a `null` there is safe to reuse. */
+function loadBoundedSiblingGist(ctx, id, maxBytes, positiveMemo, localMemo) {
+    if (localMemo.has(id)) {
+        return localMemo.get(id) ?? null;
+    }
+    const cached = positiveMemo.get(id);
+    if (cached !== undefined) {
+        localMemo.set(id, cached);
+        return cached;
+    }
+    const length = ctx.store.contentLen(id, maxBytes + 1);
+    if (length <= 0 || length > maxBytes) {
+        localMemo.set(id, null);
+        return null;
+    }
+    const bytes = read(ctx, id, maxBytes + 1);
+    if (bytes.length === 0 || bytes.length > maxBytes) {
+        localMemo.set(id, null);
+        return null;
+    }
+    const gist = gistOf(ctx, bytes);
+    positiveMemo.set(id, gist);
+    localMemo.set(id, gist);
+    return gist;
+}
+/** Build, bound and order every mandatory structural variant (§7-8): the
+ *  exact/exact composition is always kept; up to `ctx.cfg.haloQueryK`
+ *  synonym variants (single- and double-synonym combined, one shared
+ *  budget) are appended, ordered by confidence, then kind, then sibling id.
+ *  Variant selection is entirely lightweight (see {@link
+ *  buildStructuralVariantSpecs}); a sibling's bytes are read and perceived
+ *  only for specs actually retained, and at most once per sibling id per
+ *  climb via `siblingGistMemo`. */
+export function buildStructuralVariants(ctx, ra, rb, sides, siblingGistMemo) {
+    const leftLen = ra.end - ra.start;
+    const rightLen = rb.end - rb.start;
+    const exactLeft = { v: ra.v, len: leftLen };
+    const exactRight = { v: rb.v, len: rightLen };
+    const variants = [
+        {
+            left: exactLeft,
+            right: exactRight,
+            kind: "exact-exact",
+            semanticConfidence: 1,
+        },
+    ];
+    // Same phrase-scale bound the cross-region junction ladder uses
+    // (`maxInterior`): a sibling whose complete stored content exceeds it is
+    // not materialized as a structural-resonance endpoint, keeping sibling
+    // reconstruction phrase-scale even for a large deposit or conversation
+    // root that merely appeared in a halo result.
+    const maxSiblingBytes = (leftLen + rightLen) * ctx.space.maxGroup;
+    const specs = buildStructuralVariantSpecs(sides);
+    const localGistMemo = new Map();
+    let retainedSynonyms = 0;
+    for (const spec of specs) {
+        if (retainedSynonyms >= ctx.cfg.haloQueryK)
+            break;
+        let left = exactLeft;
+        let right = exactRight;
+        if (spec.leftSiblingId !== undefined) {
+            const gist = loadBoundedSiblingGist(ctx, spec.leftSiblingId, maxSiblingBytes, siblingGistMemo, localGistMemo);
+            if (gist === null)
+                continue;
+            left = { v: gist, len: leftLen };
+        }
+        if (spec.rightSiblingId !== undefined) {
+            const gist = loadBoundedSiblingGist(ctx, spec.rightSiblingId, maxSiblingBytes, siblingGistMemo, localGistMemo);
+            if (gist === null)
+                continue;
+            right = { v: gist, len: rightLen };
+        }
+        variants.push({
+            left,
+            right,
+            kind: spec.kind,
+            semanticConfidence: spec.semanticConfidence,
+            leftSiblingId: spec.leftSiblingId,
+            rightSiblingId: spec.rightSiblingId,
+        });
+        retainedSynonyms++;
+    }
+    return { variants, exactLeft, exactRight };
+}
+/** Deterministic best-of tie-break for two proposals ranked for the SAME
+ *  candidate id — effectiveScore, then annScore, then semanticConfidence,
+ *  then variant kind, then sibling ids (§10). */
+function betterProposal(a, b) {
+    if (a.effectiveScore !== b.effectiveScore) {
+        return a.effectiveScore > b.effectiveScore;
+    }
+    if (a.annScore !== b.annScore)
+        return a.annScore > b.annScore;
+    if (a.semanticConfidence !== b.semanticConfidence) {
+        return a.semanticConfidence > b.semanticConfidence;
+    }
+    if (VARIANT_KIND_ORDER[a.variant] !== VARIANT_KIND_ORDER[b.variant]) {
+        return VARIANT_KIND_ORDER[a.variant] < VARIANT_KIND_ORDER[b.variant];
+    }
+    if ((a.leftSiblingId ?? -1) !== (b.leftSiblingId ?? -1)) {
+        return (a.leftSiblingId ?? -1) < (b.leftSiblingId ?? -1);
+    }
+    return (a.rightSiblingId ?? -1) < (b.rightSiblingId ?? -1);
+}
+/** The final approximate tier: compose every retained structural variant,
+ *  ANN-query each, merge proposals by candidate id, and validate the winner
+ *  through the SAME structural gates every other tier answers to (saturation,
+ *  roots, IDF, contrastive margin).  Returns null when nothing survives. */
+export async function structuralResonance(ctx, query, ra, rb, sides, siblingGistMemo, k, N, reachMemo, 
+/** Each side's OWN individual climb roots (from voteRegions), when it cast
+ *  one — the self-evidence backstop structural-resonance needs and the
+ *  exact tier gets for free from literal byte containment (§11's whole
+ *  premise: recover a JOINT context neither side votes for alone).  A
+ *  candidate whose reach is exactly one side's own conclusion is not new
+ *  evidence of a joint whole; it is that side's resonance rediscovering
+ *  itself through a synthetic gist still dominated by its own direction. */
+ownRootsA, ownRootsB, trace) {
+    const { variants } = buildStructuralVariants(ctx, ra, rb, sides, siblingGistMemo);
+    if (trace)
+        trace.variantBudget = ctx.cfg.haloQueryK;
+    const middleBytes = query.subarray(ra.end, rb.start);
+    const middlePart = middleBytes.length === 0
+        ? null
+        : { v: perceive(ctx, middleBytes).v, len: middleBytes.length };
+    const proposals = new Map();
+    for (const variant of variants) {
+        const parts = [variant.left];
+        if (middlePart)
+            parts.push(middlePart);
+        parts.push(variant.right);
+        const synthetic = composeStructuralGist(ctx.space, parts);
+        const hits = await ctx.store.resonate(synthetic, k);
+        if (trace) {
+            trace.variants.push({
+                kind: variant.kind,
+                semanticConfidence: variant.semanticConfidence,
+                leftSiblingId: variant.leftSiblingId,
+                rightSiblingId: variant.rightSiblingId,
+                annHitsReturned: hits.length,
+            });
+        }
+        for (const hit of hits) {
+            const candidate = {
+                id: hit.id,
+                annScore: hit.score,
+                semanticConfidence: variant.semanticConfidence,
+                effectiveScore: hit.score * variant.semanticConfidence,
+                variant: variant.kind,
+                leftSiblingId: variant.leftSiblingId,
+                rightSiblingId: variant.rightSiblingId,
+            };
+            const prev = proposals.get(hit.id);
+            if (prev === undefined || betterProposal(candidate, prev)) {
+                proposals.set(hit.id, candidate);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    if (trace)
+        trace.mergedProposals = proposals.size;
+    if (proposals.size === 0) {
+        if (trace) {
+            trace.noiseFloor = estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D);
+            trace.outcome = "empty";
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+    const sorted = [...proposals.values()].sort((a, b) => b.effectiveScore - a.effectiveScore || a.id - b.id);
+    // One shared shape for every `examined` entry (spec §5): only `outcome`
+    // varies across the six exit points below, so build it once instead of
+    // repeating the six-field literal at each site.
+    const recordExamined = (p, outcome) => {
+        if (!trace)
+            return;
+        trace.examined.push({
+            node: p.id,
+            variant: p.variant,
+            leftSiblingId: p.leftSiblingId,
+            rightSiblingId: p.rightSiblingId,
+            annScore: p.annScore,
+            semanticConfidence: p.semanticConfidence,
+            effectiveScore: p.effectiveScore,
+            outcome,
+        });
+    };
+    let selected = null;
+    let selectedReach = null;
+    let selectedIdf = 0;
+    let rival = null;
+    for (const p of sorted) {
+        const reach = edgeAncestors(ctx, p.id, N, reachMemo);
+        if (reach.saturated || reach.roots.length === 0) {
+            recordExamined(p, reach.saturated ? "saturated" : "no-roots");
+            continue;
+        }
+        const idf = Math.log(N / Math.max(1, reach.contextsReached));
+        if (idf <= 0) {
+            recordExamined(p, "nonpositive-idf");
+            continue;
+        }
+        // Self-evidence backstop (see the param doc above): a candidate that is
+        // exactly one side's own already-voted conclusion carries no JOINT
+        // evidence — skip it as if it never survived.
+        if ((ownRootsA && sameRoots(reach.roots, ownRootsA)) ||
+            (ownRootsB && sameRoots(reach.roots, ownRootsB))) {
+            recordExamined(p, "same-as-endpoint");
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (selected === null) {
+            selected = p;
+            selectedReach = reach;
+            selectedIdf = idf;
+            recordExamined(p, "selected");
+        }
+        else if (!sameRoots(reach.roots, selectedReach.roots)) {
+            rival = p;
+            recordExamined(p, "contrastive-rival");
+            break;
+        }
+        else {
+            recordExamined(p, "same-as-selected");
+        }
+    }
+    if (selected === null || selectedReach === null) {
+        if (trace) {
+            trace.noiseFloor = estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D);
+            trace.outcome = "no-valid-proposal";
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+    const margin = rival
+        ? selected.effectiveScore - rival.effectiveScore
+        : selected.effectiveScore;
+    if (trace) {
+        trace.contrastiveMargin = margin;
+        trace.noiseFloor = estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D);
+    }
+    if (margin <= estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D)) {
+        if (trace)
+            trace.outcome = "margin-rejected";
+        return null;
+    }
+    if (trace)
+        trace.outcome = "accepted";
+    return { proposal: selected, reach: selectedReach, idf: selectedIdf };
+}
+async function crossRegionVotes(ctx, query, regions, rvs, k, N, reachMemo, td) {
+    // Candidate regions: every region that ALREADY CAST ITS OWN VOTE in
+    // voteRegions — individually idf > 0, genuinely discriminative on its own,
+    // just not necessarily for the SAME context as its partner.  This is the
+    // exact shape of the binding problem: "red" alone votes for `red square`,
+    // "circle" alone for `circle` — each independently informative, disagreeing
+    // on the conclusion — and only their CONJUNCTION resolves to the one
+    // context, `red circle`, that actually holds both.
+    //
+    // A region that never voted (idf == 0 — e.g. a repeated system-prompt
+    // prefix shared by every deposit) carries NO individual signal, and must be
+    // excluded here too: ascending from a non-discriminative fragment's seeds
+    // can still land on some deeper, incidentally-unique DESCENDANT container —
+    // its rarity would come entirely from context OUTSIDE the fragments
+    // actually composed, manufacturing confidence the query gave no reason to
+    // have.  Requiring a prior individual vote is the same discipline the noise
+    // drop already applies to single regions, extended to compositions — with
+    // one graded relaxation: a KNOWN region that did NOT vote (saturated, or
+    // idf ≤ 0) may still serve as the WEAK side of a pair whose other side DID
+    // vote.  Saturation is an abstention about where the region CLIMBS; its
+    // content-addressed identity is still exact, and the junction asks a
+    // different question — "which whole holds both?" — whose conclusion the
+    // container's own idf gate below still guards.  Two non-voting regions
+    // never pair (that is exactly the shared-prefix trap above), so at least
+    // one side is always individually discriminative.
+    //
+    // Only MAXIMAL spans compose: a span contained in another candidate is a
+    // fragment of that candidate's evidence, never independent of it.
+    // Shared across every cross-region probe in this climb: a sibling
+    // successfully reconstructed while probing one pair must not be read and
+    // perceived again while probing another pair in the same climb.
+    const siblingGistMemo = new Map();
+    const votedSpans = new Set();
+    for (const rv of rvs.votes)
+        votedSpans.add(`${rv.start},${rv.end}`);
+    const seen = new Set();
+    const eligible = [];
+    const strong = new Set();
+    for (let ri = 0; ri < regions.length; ri++) {
+        const r = regions[ri];
+        const key = `${r.start},${r.end}`;
+        const isStrong = votedSpans.has(key);
+        if ((!isStrong && !r.known) || seen.has(key))
+            continue;
+        seen.add(key);
+        eligible.push(ri);
+        if (isStrong)
+            strong.add(ri);
+    }
+    const cand = eligible.filter((x) => !eligible.some((y) => y !== x &&
+        regions[y].start <= regions[x].start &&
+        regions[x].end <= regions[y].end &&
+        regions[y].end - regions[y].start > regions[x].end - regions[x].start));
+    const none = { votes: [], superseded: new Set() };
+    if (td) {
+        td.crossRegionSummary = {
+            eligibleRegions: eligible.length,
+            maximalRegions: cand.length,
+            probeLimit: k,
+            probesAttempted: 0, // updated below as probes accrue
+            stopReason: cand.length < 2 ? "insufficient-regions" : undefined,
+        };
+    }
+    if (cand.length < 2)
+        return none;
+    cand.sort((x, y) => regions[x].start - regions[y].start || regions[x].end - regions[y].end);
+    const dec = (b) => new TextDecoder().decode(b).replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
+    const cache = walkCache(ctx);
+    // One junctionSeeds per candidate for the WHOLE pairing loop — a candidate
+    // recurs in up to |cand|−1 pairs, and its seeds are a pure function of its
+    // bytes.
+    const seedsMemo = new Map();
+    const seedsOf = (ri) => {
+        let s = seedsMemo.get(ri);
+        if (s === undefined) {
+            const r = regions[ri];
+            s = junctionSeeds(ctx, query.subarray(r.start, r.end));
+            seedsMemo.set(ri, s);
+        }
+        return s;
+    };
+    const overlapsSpan = (e, s) => e.start < s.end && s.start < e.end;
+    const out = [];
+    const superseded = new Set();
+    // A candidate consumed by one junction does not seed another: its evidence
+    // is already composed at full joint strength, and re-pairing it would vote
+    // the same container (or a sub-container of it) twice.
+    const consumed = new Set();
+    let probes = 0;
+    for (let a = 0; a < cand.length && probes < k; a++) {
+        if (consumed.has(cand[a]))
+            continue;
+        const ra = regions[cand[a]];
+        for (let b = a + 1; b < cand.length && probes < k; b++) {
+            if (consumed.has(cand[b]))
+                continue;
+            const rb = regions[cand[b]];
+            if (!strong.has(cand[a]) && !strong.has(cand[b]))
+                continue;
+            if (ra.end >= rb.start)
+                continue; // overlap or adjacent — nothing between
+            // Candidates strictly BETWEEN ra and rb (cand is sorted by start, so
+            // that is exactly cand[a+1 .. b-1]) that already cast their OWN vote —
+            // genuine, individually-corroborated evidence about what fills the gap
+            // — gate the container search below: a joint container is binding
+            // evidence only when it is CONSISTENT with that evidence, i.e. its own
+            // bytes actually contain what the between-region says. This is the
+            // n-ary composition's normal shape (a between-attribute's bytes DO
+            // recur inside the joint container, credited as an "extra" below) as
+            // opposed to a container that silently substitutes something else for
+            // it (e.g. bridging past "Italy" to a container whose interior is
+            // "Japan" — a different, contradicting learnt whole).
+            // Only a KNOWN (content-addressed, exact) between-region qualifies —
+            // an approximate region's resonance climbing "somewhere" is ordinary
+            // noise (any ANN query returns SOME nearest neighbour), not evidence
+            // this specific gap already means something specific.
+            const between = [];
+            for (let m = a + 1; m < b; m++) {
+                if (strong.has(cand[m]) && !consumed.has(cand[m]) &&
+                    regions[cand[m]].known)
+                    between.push(cand[m]);
+            }
+            // A single KNOWN region covering both: the whole form is already a
+            // stored identity that votes directly; its pieces add nothing.
+            if (regions.some((r) => r.known && r.start <= ra.start && rb.end <= r.end))
+                continue;
+            probes++;
+            if (td?.crossRegionSummary) {
+                td.crossRegionSummary.probesAttempted = probes;
+            }
+            // Trace-only per-probe bookkeeping (spec §2-§7) — built incrementally
+            // as the ladder runs, pushed exactly once at whichever exit fires
+            // below.  `pushProbe` is called at every continue/success exit for
+            // THIS pair so the invariant `probes.length === probesAttempted`
+            // holds regardless of which tier settled it.
+            const probe = td
+                ? {
+                    leftRegionIndex: cand[a],
+                    rightRegionIndex: cand[b],
+                    betweenRegionIndices: [...between],
+                    exact: { attempted: false, candidatesReturned: 0 },
+                    singleSynonym: { attempted: false, candidatesReturned: 0 },
+                    doubleSynonym: { attempted: false, candidatesReturned: 0 },
+                    outcome: "structural-rejected",
+                }
+                : undefined;
+            let probePushed = false;
+            const pushProbe = (outcome) => {
+                if (!td || !probe || probePushed)
+                    return;
+                probe.outcome = outcome;
+                td.crossRegionProbes.push(probe);
+                probePushed = true;
+            };
+            const left = query.subarray(ra.start, ra.end);
+            const right = query.subarray(rb.start, rb.end);
+            // Phrase-scale contract, exactly as the bridge: the glue between the two
+            // forms may be up to W× the content it joins.
+            const maxInterior = (left.length + right.length) * ctx.space.maxGroup;
+            const cap = left.length + right.length + maxInterior;
+            // The graded ladder (spec §1): exact DAG junction, then single-synonym,
+            // then double-synonym, then — only when every DAG tier found nothing —
+            // structural-resonance.  `sides` (the two halo sibling lists) is loaded
+            // ONCE and reused by junctionSynonyms AND structural-resonance, so no
+            // ladder rung repeats a halo ANN query an earlier rung already paid for.
+            const sides = await loadJunctionSynonymSides(ctx, left, right);
+            let tier = "exact";
+            let containers = junctionContainersFrom(ctx, left, right, cap, seedsOf(cand[a]), seedsOf(cand[b]), undefined, true);
+            if (probe) {
+                probe.exact = {
+                    attempted: true,
+                    candidatesReturned: containers.length,
+                };
+            }
+            if (containers.length === 0) {
+                // Tiers 2-4 — synonym containers (junctionSynonyms itself runs
+                // single-synonym first, falling to double-synonym only when
+                // single-synonym found nothing — see junction.ts).
+                const syn = await junctionSynonyms(ctx, left, right, maxInterior, true, sides);
+                if (probe) {
+                    const singleAttempted = sides.leftSiblings.length > 0 ||
+                        sides.rightSiblings.length > 0;
+                    const singleReturned = syn[0]?.tier === "single-synonym"
+                        ? syn.length
+                        : 0;
+                    const doubleAttempted = singleAttempted && singleReturned === 0 &&
+                        sides.leftSiblings.length > 0 && sides.rightSiblings.length > 0;
+                    const doubleReturned = syn[0]?.tier === "double-synonym"
+                        ? syn.length
+                        : 0;
+                    probe.singleSynonym = {
+                        attempted: singleAttempted,
+                        candidatesReturned: singleReturned,
+                    };
+                    probe.doubleSynonym = {
+                        attempted: doubleAttempted,
+                        candidatesReturned: doubleReturned,
+                    };
+                }
+                if (syn.length > 0) {
+                    containers = syn;
+                    tier = syn[0].tier;
+                }
+            }
+            // Tier 5 — structural-resonance ANN, the FINAL approximate proposal
+            // path.  Only reached when every DAG tier found NOTHING, and only when
+            // there is no already-corroborated region between the endpoints (a
+            // between-region with its own vote is evidence the gap already means
+            // something specific — an ANN guess must not override it).
+            let structuralPick = null;
+            if (containers.length === 0) {
+                // Structural-resonance composes each side's OWN gist directly (no
+                // byte-containment truth backs it, unlike the DAG tiers) — so, unlike
+                // the DAG ladder (which tolerates one approximate side because byte
+                // containment cannot lie), the ANN tier requires BOTH sides to be
+                // KNOWN (content-addressed, exact identities): an approximate chunk
+                // fragment's own resonance is noise at any tier, and composing noise
+                // into a synthetic gist only manufactures a plausible-looking but
+                // spurious ANN neighbour, not evidence of a genuine joint whole.
+                // PHRASE-SCALE CONTRACT — the same one the DAG tiers hold their glue
+                // to (see maxInterior above): a junction, exact or approximate, is a
+                // whole the two forms nearly exhaust, not two arbitrary landmarks
+                // anywhere in a long, multi-topic query.  Without this, structural-
+                // resonance would pair opposite ends of an unrelated scaffolding-
+                // dominated query and manufacture a plausible-looking ANN neighbour
+                // for a "gap" that never was a phrase.
+                // BOTH sides must be independently DISCRIMINATIVE (individually
+                // voted — `strong`, not merely a content-addressed `known` chunk):
+                // a shared, non-discriminative scaffolding run (a repeated system
+                // preamble) can be `known` without ever being distinctive evidence
+                // of anything, and composing its own gist into a synthetic query
+                // manufactures a plausible-looking but spurious ANN neighbour.  The
+                // DAG tiers can tolerate one merely-`known` side because byte
+                // containment cannot lie; structural-resonance has no such
+                // backstop, so both sides earn their place here the same way an
+                // ordinary approximate region earns its individual vote.
+                const gap = rb.start - ra.end;
+                const reasons = [];
+                if (between.length > 0)
+                    reasons.push("between-region");
+                if (!strong.has(cand[a]) || !strong.has(cand[b])) {
+                    reasons.push("not-both-strong");
+                }
+                if (!ra.known || !rb.known)
+                    reasons.push("not-both-known");
+                if (gap > maxInterior)
+                    reasons.push("gap-too-large");
+                let resonanceTrace;
+                if (reasons.length > 0) {
+                    if (probe) {
+                        resonanceTrace = {
+                            variantBudget: ctx.cfg.haloQueryK,
+                            variants: [],
+                            mergedProposals: 0,
+                            examined: [],
+                            noiseFloor: estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D),
+                            outcome: "ineligible",
+                            ineligibleReasons: reasons,
+                        };
+                        probe.resonance = resonanceTrace;
+                    }
+                }
+                else {
+                    if (probe) {
+                        // `outcome`/`noiseFloor` are required fields with no natural
+                        // "unset" value; structuralResonance (called just below) always
+                        // overwrites both before returning, on every one of its exit
+                        // paths — these are never read in their initial form.
+                        resonanceTrace = {
+                            variantBudget: ctx.cfg.haloQueryK,
+                            variants: [],
+                            mergedProposals: 0,
+                            examined: [],
+                            noiseFloor: 0,
+                            outcome: "empty",
+                        };
+                        probe.resonance = resonanceTrace;
+                    }
+                    const ownRootsA = rvs.votes.find((v) => v.start === ra.start && v.end === ra.end)?.roots;
+                    const ownRootsB = rvs.votes.find((v) => v.start === rb.start && v.end === rb.end)?.roots;
+                    structuralPick = await structuralResonance(ctx, query, ra, rb, sides, siblingGistMemo, k, N, reachMemo, ownRootsA, ownRootsB, resonanceTrace);
+                }
+                if (structuralPick === null) {
+                    pushProbe(reasons.length > 0 ? "resonance-ineligible" : "resonance-rejected");
+                    continue;
+                }
+                tier = "structural-resonance";
+            }
+            let best = null;
+            let bestExtras = [];
+            let bestCov = -1;
+            let reach;
+            let idf;
+            let confidence;
+            if (structuralPick !== null) {
+                // A resonance proposal is NOT a Junction — there is no container to
+                // read bytes from, so the self-evidence/contradiction/N-ary
+                // machinery below (byte-verified against a real container) does not
+                // apply; per spec §13, no N-ary extra-region coverage for resonance
+                // proposals.
+                best = { id: structuralPick.proposal.id, interior: new Uint8Array(0) };
+                bestExtras = [];
+                bestCov = rb.end - ra.start;
+                reach = structuralPick.reach;
+                idf = structuralPick.idf;
+                confidence = structuralPick.proposal.effectiveScore;
+            }
+            else {
+                // Aggregate structural-tier trace (spec §4) — one per DAG tier that
+                // returned at least one container (exact, single-synonym or
+                // double-synonym); only aggregate counts and the final outcome are
+                // recorded, never every candidate.
+                const structuralTrace = probe
+                    ? {
+                        tier: tier,
+                        selfEvidenceRejected: 0,
+                        contradictionRejected: 0,
+                        passedGuards: 0,
+                        outcome: "all-rejected",
+                    }
+                    : undefined;
+                if (probe)
+                    probe.structural = structuralTrace;
+                // N-ARY selection: the container covering the MOST remaining candidate
+                // forms wins (then tightest interior, then lowest id).  Reads are
+                // cache hits — every container's bytes were already read by the walk.
+                //
+                // SELF-EVIDENCE GUARD: a junction is BINDING evidence only when the
+                // container joins forms the query mentions APART.  When the container's
+                // own joined occurrence (left..right including its interior) is a
+                // literal substring of the query, the query already spells that phrase
+                // out contiguously — perception already voted with it, and grid shards
+                // of one phrase pairing "around" a gap chunk would merely rediscover
+                // the phrase they are shards of, then explain away its rivals.
+                for (const c of containers) {
+                    const bytes = cachedRead(ctx, cache, c.id, cap);
+                    const li = indexOf(bytes, left, 0);
+                    const ri = indexOf(bytes, right, 0);
+                    if (li >= 0 && ri >= 0) {
+                        const joined = bytes.subarray(Math.min(li, ri), Math.max(li + left.length, ri + right.length));
+                        if (indexOf(query, joined, 0) >= 0) {
+                            if (structuralTrace)
+                                structuralTrace.selfEvidenceRejected++;
+                            continue; // query says it itself
+                        }
+                    }
+                    // CONTRADICTION GUARD: a between-region already carrying its own
+                    // vote must actually recur in this container's bytes — otherwise
+                    // the container is a different learnt whole that happens to share
+                    // ra/rb, and letting it stand in for the gap would silently
+                    // override evidence the query itself already resolved there.
+                    if (between.some((bi) => indexOf(bytes, query.subarray(regions[bi].start, regions[bi].end), 0) < 0)) {
+                        if (structuralTrace)
+                            structuralTrace.contradictionRejected++;
+                        continue;
+                    }
+                    if (structuralTrace)
+                        structuralTrace.passedGuards++;
+                    let cov = left.length + right.length;
+                    const extras = [];
+                    for (const ei of cand) {
+                        if (ei === cand[a] || ei === cand[b] || consumed.has(ei))
+                            continue;
+                        const e = regions[ei];
+                        if (overlapsSpan(e, ra) || overlapsSpan(e, rb))
+                            continue;
+                        const eb = query.subarray(e.start, e.end);
+                        if (indexOf(bytes, eb, 0) >= 0) {
+                            extras.push(ei);
+                            cov += eb.length;
+                        }
+                    }
+                    if (cov > bestCov ||
+                        (cov === bestCov && best !== null &&
+                            (c.interior.length < best.interior.length ||
+                                (c.interior.length === best.interior.length && c.id < best.id)))) {
+                        best = c;
+                        bestExtras = extras;
+                        bestCov = cov;
+                    }
+                }
+                if (best === null) {
+                    // every container was self-evidence / contradiction — outcome
+                    // stays "all-rejected".
+                    pushProbe("structural-rejected");
+                    continue;
+                }
+                const r = edgeAncestors(ctx, best.id, N, reachMemo);
+                if (r.saturated || r.roots.length === 0) {
+                    if (structuralTrace) {
+                        structuralTrace.outcome = r.saturated ? "saturated" : "no-roots";
+                    }
+                    pushProbe("structural-rejected");
+                    continue;
+                }
+                const df = Math.log(N / Math.max(1, r.contextsReached));
+                if (df <= 0) {
+                    if (structuralTrace)
+                        structuralTrace.outcome = "nonpositive-idf";
+                    pushProbe("structural-rejected");
+                    continue;
+                }
+                if (structuralTrace) {
+                    structuralTrace.outcome = "accepted";
+                    structuralTrace.selectedNode = best.id;
+                }
+                reach = r;
+                idf = df;
+                // Confidence used by voting (spec §13): exact junction = 1;
+                // single/double-synonym = the sibling(s)' score(s), carried on the
+                // SynonymJunction the ladder selected.
+                confidence = "confidence" in best ? best.confidence : 1;
+            }
+            // MUTUAL-EXPLANATION WEIGHT — the same formula for every tier, with
+            // `confidence` collapsed to certainty (1) for exact evidence: under
+            // that collapse this is byte-for-byte the old exact-only formula
+            // (min(1,ratio)·min(1,1/ratio)).  For structural-resonance,
+            // `confidence` is already annScore·semanticConfidence — never
+            // multiplied a second time.
+            const lenR = Math.max(1, bestCov);
+            const ratio = Math.sqrt(Math.max(1, ctx.store.contentLen(best.id, lenR * ctx.store.D)) / lenR);
+            const mutual = Math.min(1, confidence * ratio) *
+                Math.min(1, confidence / ratio);
+            const w = (mutual * idf) / reach.roots.length;
+            let spanStart = ra.start;
+            let spanEnd = rb.end;
+            for (const ei of bestExtras) {
+                spanStart = Math.min(spanStart, regions[ei].start);
+                spanEnd = Math.max(spanEnd, regions[ei].end);
+            }
+            consumed.add(cand[a]);
+            consumed.add(cand[b]);
+            for (const ei of bestExtras)
+                consumed.add(ei);
+            // EXPLAINING AWAY — see the block comment above the function.  Byte
+            // containment in the joint container is the relatedness test (the
+            // vote's bytes are literally part of the learnt whole), and FULL root
+            // disjointness is the disagreement test: a vote sharing even one root
+            // with the junction corroborates it and keeps its say elsewhere.
+            // Counted BEFORE pushing the junction's own vote below: each ORIGINAL
+            // region this ascent explains away is evidence the junction speaks
+            // for, not evidence lost — `absorbed` (RegionVote's breadth-accounting
+            // field) must credit the junction with all of it, not just the ONE
+            // pooled axiom it collapses to.
+            // Only EXACT DAG evidence may explain away ordinary votes (spec §15).
+            // Single-synonym, double-synonym, and structural-resonance may ADD
+            // supporting evidence but never remove it: their evidence is itself
+            // approximate (a sibling substitution, or an ANN guess), so treating
+            // their byte-containment the way exact containment is treated would
+            // let an approximation override a genuine, independently-voted region.
+            let explainedAway = 0;
+            // Exact set of ORIGINAL region indices this junction explained away —
+            // recorded live as `superseded.add` fires (spec §3's explicit rule:
+            // never inferred from `absorbed` afterward).
+            const explainedAwayIndices = [];
+            if (tier === "exact") {
+                const containerBytes = cachedRead(ctx, cache, best.id, cap);
+                const jointRoots = new Set(reach.roots);
+                for (const rv of rvs.votes) {
+                    if (rv.roots.some((r) => jointRoots.has(r)))
+                        continue;
+                    const bytes = query.subarray(rv.start, rv.end);
+                    if (indexOf(containerBytes, bytes, 0) >= 0 && !superseded.has(rv)) {
+                        superseded.add(rv);
+                        explainedAway++;
+                        if (td) {
+                            const idx = regions.findIndex((r) => r.start === rv.start && r.end === rv.end);
+                            if (idx >= 0)
+                                explainedAwayIndices.push(idx);
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            out.push({
+                start: spanStart,
+                end: spanEnd,
+                canonicalFailed: false, // content-addressed: never saturation-masked
+                roots: reach.roots,
+                w,
+                wFocus: w,
+                absorbed: 1 + explainedAway,
+            });
+            pushProbe("accepted");
+            if (td) {
+                td.crossRegionJunctionVotes.push({
+                    container: best.id,
+                    span: [spanStart, spanEnd],
+                    roots: [...reach.roots],
+                    sourceRegionIndices: [cand[a], cand[b], ...bestExtras],
+                    explainedAwayRegionIndices: explainedAwayIndices,
+                    absorbed: 1 + explainedAway,
+                    tier,
+                    probe: td.crossRegionProbes.length - 1,
+                    confidence,
+                    evidenceBytes: bestCov,
+                    mutualWeight: mutual,
+                    voteWeightPerRoot: w,
+                });
+            }
+            const label = [cand[a], cand[b], ...bestExtras]
+                .sort((x, y) => regions[x].start - regions[y].start)
+                .map((ri) => dec(query.subarray(regions[ri].start, regions[ri].end)))
+                .join(" ▸ ");
+            const tierNote = tier === "exact"
+                ? `junction node ${best.id}` +
+                    (best.interior.length === 0
+                        ? " (adjacent)"
+                        : ` (interior "${dec(best.interior)}")`) +
+                    ", by content-addressed ascent"
+                : tier === "structural-resonance"
+                    ? `structurally-composed ANN proposal, node ${best.id} — the query ` +
+                        `structurally composed the endpoint regions, the real middle-` +
+                        `query structure, and the selected halo-sibling endpoint ` +
+                        `direction(s) (variant ${structuralPick.proposal.variant}, ` +
+                        `annScore ${structuralPick.proposal.annScore.toFixed(3)} × ` +
+                        `semanticConfidence ${structuralPick.proposal.semanticConfidence.toFixed(3)} = effectiveScore ${structuralPick.proposal.effectiveScore.toFixed(3)}); it did not concatenate endpoint bytes or rewrite the query`
+                    : `${tier} junction node ${best.id}` +
+                        (best.interior.length === 0
+                            ? " (adjacent)"
+                            : ` (interior "${dec(best.interior)}")`) +
+                        `, by halo-sibling DAG ascent (confidence ${confidence.toFixed(3)})`;
+            ctx.trace?.step("crossRegion", [{ text: label, role: "pair" }], reach.roots.map((r) => ({
+                text: dec(read(ctx, r)).slice(0, 60),
+                node: r,
+                role: "joint-context",
+            })), `${label} → ${tierNote} → ${reach.roots.length} context(s)` +
+                (superseded.size > 0
+                    ? `; ${superseded.size} aliasing vote(s) explained away`
+                    : ""));
+            break; // ra is consumed — move to the next unconsumed candidate
+        }
+    }
+    if (td)
+        td.supersededOrdinaryVotes = superseded.size;
+    if (td?.crossRegionSummary) {
+        td.crossRegionSummary.stopReason = probes >= k
+            ? "probe-limit"
+            : "pairs-exhausted";
+    }
+    return { votes: out, superseded };
+}
+/** Emit the "climbConsensus" step — the human-readable note this always
+ *  produced, now paired (when `ctx.trace` and `cfg` are both present) with
+ *  the structured {@link ClimbConsensusData} payload on the SAME step's
+ *  `data` field.  Every exit of {@link computeAttention} funnels through
+ *  here, so instrumentation and the existing rationale text can never drift
+ *  apart — see the instrumentation spec's §9 "every exit path". */
+export function traceAttention(ctx, regions, regionVoter, roots, steps = [], td, cfg, ranked = roots) {
+    if (!ctx.trace)
+        return;
+    const voters = [];
+    for (let i = 0; i < regions.length; i++) {
+        const rv = regionVoter[i];
+        if (rv == null)
+            continue;
+        const item = rNode(ctx, rv.id, "sub-region", rv.score);
+        item.text = `${item.text}  (df-w ${rv.w.toFixed(2)})`;
+        voters.push(item);
+    }
+    const t = ctx.trace.enter("climbConsensus", voters);
+    // The pooled-evidence decision, one DerivationStep per anchor — the same
+    // shape {@link GraphSearch}'s own cover steps take (see traceDerivation).
+    if (steps.length > 0)
+        traceDerivation(ctx, steps);
+    const data = (td && cfg)
+        ? {
+            version: 1,
+            cache: { hit: false, detailAvailable: true },
+            config: {
+                annK: cfg.k,
+                crossRegionProbeLimit: cfg.k,
+                mode: cfg.mode,
+                ...(cfg.N !== undefined ? { corpusN: cfg.N } : {}),
+                dimension: ctx.store.D,
+                ...(cfg.N !== undefined ? { hubBound: hubBound(ctx) } : {}),
+                estimatorNoise: estimatorNoise(ctx.store.D),
+                ...(cfg.naturalBreak !== undefined
+                    ? { naturalBreak: cfg.naturalBreak }
+                    : {}),
+                ...(cfg.consensusFloor !== undefined
+                    ? { consensusFloor: cfg.consensusFloor }
+                    : {}),
+            },
+            candidates: {
+                perceived: cfg.perceivedCount,
+                recognised: cfg.totalRegions - cfg.perceivedCount,
+                total: cfg.totalRegions,
+            },
+            ...(td.regions.length > 0 ? { regions: td.regions } : {}),
+            ...(cfg.reachMemo ? { reaches: serialiseReaches(cfg.reachMemo) } : {}),
+            ...(td.crossRegionSummary
+                ? {
+                    crossRegion: {
+                        eligibleRegions: td.crossRegionSummary.eligibleRegions,
+                        maximalRegions: td.crossRegionSummary.maximalRegions,
+                        probeLimit: td.crossRegionSummary.probeLimit,
+                        probesAttempted: td.crossRegionSummary.probesAttempted,
+                        junctionVotes: td.crossRegionJunctionVotes,
+                        supersededOrdinaryVotes: td.supersededOrdinaryVotes,
+                        probes: td.crossRegionProbes,
+                        stopReason: td.crossRegionSummary.stopReason ?? "pairs-exhausted",
+                    },
+                }
+                : {}),
+            ...(td.saturation ? { saturation: td.saturation } : {}),
+            ...(td.pooling ? { pooling: td.pooling } : {}),
+            ...(td.anchors.length > 0 ? { anchors: td.anchors } : {}),
+            result: { roots: [...roots], ranked: [...ranked] },
+        }
+        : undefined;
+    t.done(roots.map((r) => rNode(ctx, r.anchor, "anchor", r.vote)), roots.length === 0
+        ? `${regions.length} sub-regions climbed the DAG, but none agreed on a context`
+        : roots.length === 1
+            ? `${voters.length} of ${regions.length} sub-regions voted; IDF-weighted consensus picked one context (vote ${roots[0].vote.toFixed(2)})`
+            : `${voters.length} of ${regions.length} sub-regions voted; consensus ordered ${roots.length} INDEPENDENT points of attention (votes ${roots.map((r) => r.vote.toFixed(2)).join(", ")})`, data);
+}