Per the Cortex team's audit, the BR-CX-INTERFACE-GAP boot crash was a
build/install artifact (stale node_modules, lockfile drift, Docker cache,
bundler quirks), not a plugin-bundles-brainy version-skew issue. Cortex's
MmapFileSystemStorage extends FileSystemStorage and inherits all 6
multi-process helpers via the prototype chain at runtime; the dynamic
ESM import to @soulcraft/brainy is preserved in cortex's dist.
- Rewrote the hasStorageMethod() doc comment to credit the real cause.
- Updated the init-time warning to point operators at the actual fix:
clean install or container rebuild to refresh node_modules.
- New docs/concepts/storage-adapters.md documenting the inheritance
contract: extend FileSystemStorage to inherit the multi-process
helpers, override supportsMultiProcessLocking() -> true to activate.
Includes a minimum checklist for adapter authors.
- New docs/architecture/multiprocess-storage-mixin.md as a future-
direction note: extracting the 7 methods into a
MultiProcessSafeStorage interface/mixin is the architecturally clean
next step, deferred to v8 or until a second multi-process capability
lands.
No behavior changes. Ships with the next release.
Two production correctness defects fixed together so consumers can land
one upgrade.
BR-FIND-WHERE-ZERO — find() returned [] and stats() reported 0 entities
for any workspace whose data was written after the 7.20.0 column-store
refactor. Root cause: getStats() and the getIds() fallback still read
from the deleted sparse-index path. Separately, BaseStorage.getNounType()
was hardcoded to return 'thing', poisoning type-statistics.json with
every noun attributed to that bucket.
- MetadataIndex.getStats() reads from ColumnStore + idMapper.
- MetadataIndex.getIdsFromChunks() throws BrainyError(FIELD_NOT_INDEXED)
when neither store has the field. getIdsForFilter() catches per
clause, logs once, returns [].
- BaseStorage.nounTypeByIdCache populated in saveNounMetadata_internal
and consumed in saveNoun_internal. flushCounts() now persists the
Uint32Array counters too, so readers see fresh per-type counts.
- Self-heal at init: loadTypeStatistics() auto-rebuilds when the
poisoned signature is detected. rebuildTypeCounts() is now public for
use from `brainy inspect repair`.
- Dead state removed: dirtyChunks, dirtySparseIndices,
flushDirtyMetadata().
BR-DEFENSIVE-INTERFACE — 7.21.0 called supportsMultiProcessLocking()
unconditionally, crashing on older Cortex storage adapters that predate
the method. New hasStorageMethod(name) helper gates every new-method
call site. Older adapter triggers a one-line warning at init pointing
at the recommended plugin version.
Tests:
- new tests/integration/find-where-zero.test.ts (7 cases)
- new tests/integration/cortex-compat.test.ts (5 cases)
- multi-process-safety.test.ts updated to enforce correct counts
- 1329/1329 unit + 24/24 new integration tests passing
Filesystem storage now enforces single-writer, many-reader semantics.
A second writer on the same data directory throws at init time with the
holder's PID, hostname, and heartbeat — replacing the previous silent
stale-reads failure mode.
- New: `Brainy.openReadOnly()` — coexists with a live writer, every
mutation throws clearly.
- New: writer lock at `<rootDir>/locks/_writer.lock` with 10s heartbeat
and stale-detection (PID liveness + heartbeat freshness).
- New: cross-process flush-request RPC (filesystem-based, no signals)
so inspectors can force fresh state on demand.
- New: `brain.stats()`, `brain.explain(findParams)`, `brain.health()`
for operator-facing introspection.
- New: `brainy inspect` CLI with 13 subcommands (stats, find, get,
relations, explain, health, sample, fields, dump, watch, backup,
repair, diff), all read-only by default.
- Same-PID re-opens allowed with a warning (preserves test "simulate
restart" patterns).
- Storage instances passed directly via `storage: new MemoryStorage()`
are now honoured instead of silently falling through to the
filesystem auto-detect path.
Brainy + Cortex compose under this model — the lock covers both because
they share `rootDir`, Cortex segments are immutable mmap files, and
MANIFEST updates use atomic-rename.
Column store handles all writes and primary queries. Sparse index write
methods are unreachable:
Deleted: addToChunkedIndex (~103 lines), removeFromChunkedIndex (~37 lines),
splitChunkDeferred (~82 lines), getValueChunkFilename + makeSafeFilename
(~20 lines). Total: ~240 lines of dead write-path code.
Sparse index read methods kept as migration fallback for existing workspaces.
Will be deleted once lazy migration (buildFromStorage) ships.
Adds a per-field sorted column store (Lucene doc values + roaring bitmap
architecture) that replaces the MetadataIndex sparse index internals for
both filtering and sorting. One system for all field types with exact
precision — no bucketing, no per-entity storage reads.
Column store: binary .cidx segment format, in-memory tail buffers,
LSM-style compaction, k-way merge sort, multi-value support (__words__).
All queries (filter, range, sort, filtered sort) route through the column
store when data is available, falling back to sparse index otherwise.
Key unlocks:
- find({ orderBy: 'createdAt' }) works WITHOUT a filter (previously threw)
- find({ orderBy: 'metadata.price' }) works for custom numeric fields
- Exact timestamp precision (no 1-minute bucketing)
- O(K log S) sort independent of total entity count
New files: src/indexes/columnStore/ (types, format, tail buffer, cursor,
manifest, coordinator — ~700 lines). 101 new unit tests covering binary
format round-trips, CRC validation, sort, filter, range, deletion,
multi-segment merge, persistence, and multi-value (words) fields.
Deleted: metadataIndex-automatic-bucketing.test.ts (bucketing behavior
eliminated by exact-precision column store). Sparse index write path
removed from addToIndex/removeFromIndex. Sparse index legacy code still
present as dead code pending cleanup in next commit.
Preventive cleanup of sites that previously used dual-lookup patterns
(metadata[field] ?? entity[field]) or hardcoded timestamp if-chains
to read fields off HNSWNounWithMetadata. These worked today but were
fragile — the same failure mode that caused the orderBy sort bug
would have recurred the next time someone reordered or dropped a
lookup.
- AggregationIndex.computeGroupKey + getNumericField now route all
dimension and metric field lookups through resolveEntityField.
- improvedNeuralAPI._getItemsByTimeWindow + _clusterItemsByField
use resolveEntityField as the primary path, with item.data as a
legacy producer fallback. The type/nounType legacy branch is
preserved as-is since it handles storage format compatibility
rather than shape contract drift.
No behavior change for correct inputs. All aggregation and orderby
regression tests pass unchanged.
Cortex and other first-party plugins need a shared contract for reading
fields off HNSWNounWithMetadata. Exporting from /internals keeps a single
source of truth and prevents the shape contract from drifting between
packages.
Muse reported that find({ orderBy: 'createdAt' }) silently returned the
wrong order: getFieldValueForEntity read noun.metadata[field] for
timestamp fields, but getNoun() destructures standard fields to the top
level, so the read always returned undefined and the sort collapsed to
insertion order.
The fix introduces a single source of truth for reading fields off an
entity. STANDARD_ENTITY_FIELDS + resolveEntityField() in coreTypes.ts
encode the "standard fields top-level, custom fields nested" contract
in one place. getFieldValueForEntity now uses the helper and routes
through a named BUCKETED_INDEX_FIELDS set instead of a hardcoded
timestamp if-chain — filtered sort on createdAt/updatedAt now works.
Unfiltered orderBy is explicitly rejected with a clear error pointing
callers at the right pattern. A scalable, unfiltered-sort-capable
time-ordered segment index is tracked as a separate follow-up.
Root cause: metadata index failed to reconstruct after deploy restart
because the field registry file (__metadata_field_registry__) was lost
during an interrupted flush. init() silently assumed the workspace was
empty even though 5000+ entities existed on disk.
Fix 1 (root cause): init() now probes storage for entities when field
registry is missing. If entities exist, triggers rebuild instead of
silently skipping. Never trusts a missing registry as "empty."
Fix 2 (safety net): after rebuildIndexesIfNeeded(), verifies metadata
index entry count matches storage entity count. Forces second rebuild
if mismatch detected.
Fix 3 (prevention): flush() now always saves field registry and
EntityIdMapper, even when no dirty fields exist. These tiny files are
the critical link that init() needs to discover persisted indices.
Fix 5 (safe rebuild): rebuild() no longer deletes the field registry
file before rewriting. If rebuild fails partway, the registry survives
for the next init() to discover and re-trigger rebuild.
Fix 6 (collision guard): EntityIdMapper init() warns when mapper file
is missing but entities exist on disk, preventing silent ID collisions
from nextId starting at 1.
commit() previously defaulted captureState to false, creating commits
with NULL_HASH tree that could never be restored from. Now:
- flush() runs first to persist deferred HNSW nodes, count batches,
and index state before snapshotting
- captureState defaults to true, creating real content-addressed trees
- captureState: false still available for lightweight metadata-only commits
UnifiedCache.setMaxSize() allows runtime resizing of the cache maximum.
When the new limit is smaller than current usage, lowest-value items are
evicted until the cache fits. Used by Cortex's ResourceManager to
rebalance cache vs instance memory as brainy instances are created and
evicted in multi-tenant deployments.
Also adds getMaxSize() for observability.
EmbeddingManager constructor logged 'Using Q8 precision (WASM)' before
plugins had a chance to register a native embedder. Deferred logging to
init() so the startup message reflects the actual embedding engine.
addMany() now temporarily switches the HNSW index to deferred persist
mode during the batch loop. Previously, each add() triggered ~16-20
saveHNSWData calls for modified neighbors (each a read→gzip→atomic-write
cycle). For 450 items this was ~8,100 individual storage writes.
With deferred mode, dirty node IDs are collected in a Set during the
batch and flushed once at the end — deduplicating repeated neighbor
updates. A node modified by insert #3 and again by insert #47 is
written only once.
Also adds setPersistMode() to TypeAwareHNSWIndex, propagating mode
changes to all existing type-specific sub-indexes.
The storage config type only exposed { type, options, branch } but plugin
storage factories (e.g. Cortex mmap) read rootDirectory from the top level
of the config object. This caused undefined storage paths when Cortex was
active. The underlying StorageOptions interface already declares
rootDirectory — this aligns BrainyConfig.storage to match.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
SSTable.calculateChecksum() used require('crypto') which breaks in ESM
environments and Bun. Replace with top-level import { createHash } from
'node:crypto' — SSTable is Node-only (LSM-tree filesystem storage) so
a direct node:crypto import is appropriate.
Code blocks with Unicode box-drawing characters render poorly in web
doc viewers — font alignment breaks and the styled container creates
a visual box-in-a-box. Replaced with a bullet list (before) and a
bold statement (after) that render cleanly at any size and theme.
Replace flat 15-row table with a Before/After ASCII diagram plus a
capability grid (Search/Graph/Filter/VFS/Branch/Import) with competitors
grouped by category. Add new What Can You Build? section with generic
use cases and Built with Brainy showcase. Tighten header copy.
Adds docs/eli5.md — a jargon-free explanation of Brainy and Cortex
using everyday analogies (smart librarian, turbocharger). Targets
non-technical readers who want to understand the project before diving
into the API. Links added at the top of README and in the Documentation
section index.
All code examples in installation.md and quick-start.md were tagged
as javascript — converted to typescript throughout.
quick-start.md also gets explicit type annotations:
- reactId/nextId declared as string (return type of brain.add)
- results declared as FindResult[]
- results[0].data and results[0].score shown in console.log example
Add YAML frontmatter (slug, public, category, template, order) to 8
existing docs and 2 new getting-started guides (installation, quick-start).
Include docs/**/*.md in npm package files so the portal sync-docs script
can read them from node_modules after publish.
Update CLAUDE.md with docs pipeline trigger phrases and release checklist.
Three bugs caused deleted entities to persist in the metadata index:
1. idMapper never cleaned up — EntityIdMapper accumulated UUID→int mappings
permanently. idMapper.getAllIntIds() is used as the universe for ne and
exists:false operators, so deleted entities returned in those queries
indefinitely. Fix: removeFromIndex() now calls idMapper.remove(id) and
idMapper.flush() after all bitmap operations complete (must be last because
removeFromChunk() reads idMapper.getInt(id) internally).
2. Optional fields indexed as __NULL__ but never unindexed — entityForIndexing
in add() included confidence, weight, and createdBy as explicit keys even
when undefined. Object.entries() preserves undefined-valued keys so
extractIndexableFields() indexed them as '__NULL__' bitmap entries.
storageMetadata omitted those keys via conditional spreading, so
removeFromIndex() passed a structure without those keys and never cleaned
them up. Fix: entityForIndexing now uses conditional spreading for
confidence, weight, and createdBy matching storageMetadata exactly.
3. result.successful updated before transaction commits — deleteMany() pushed
ids to result.successful inside the transaction builder, before
transaction.execute() ran. A rollback would leave result.successful
containing ids that were never actually deleted. Fix: queued ids are held
in a local chunkQueued array and moved to result.successful only after
executeTransaction() resolves without throwing.
Adds regression test suite (14 tests) covering delete() and deleteMany() for
type-index cleanup, ne operator, exists:false operator, optional-field indexing,
and partial deletion correctness.
Reported by wickworks team.
The pkg/ directory containing the Candle WASM binary was excluded from
the npm tarball because it contained its own package.json and .gitignore
(with `*` pattern). The build:copy-wasm script now skips these files
when copying to dist/, ensuring candle_embeddings.js/.wasm are included.
Also adds ./embeddings/wasm export subpath for clean ESM imports.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Add a write-time incremental aggregation engine that maintains running
totals on every add/update/delete for O(1) read performance. Integrates
into brain.find({ aggregate }) for a unified query API.
Core features:
- AggregationIndex with defineAggregate()/removeAggregate() API
- Five aggregation operations: SUM, COUNT, AVG, MIN, MAX
- GROUP BY with multiple dimensions including time windows
- Time window bucketing: hour, day, week, month, quarter, year, custom
- Materialization of results as NounType.Measurement entities
- Debounced persistence of definitions and state to storage
- Definition change detection via FNV-1a hashing with auto-rebuild
- Infinite loop prevention for materialized entities
- 'aggregation' plugin provider key for native acceleration
- Lazy initialization (created on first defineAggregate() call)
- 73 tests (unit + integration) covering all functionality
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Contributor-friendly CLAUDE.md with setup, conventions, and architecture
overview. Comprehensive skills/architecture.md verified against actual
codebase covering all 31 source directories, 38+ exports, and major
subsystems (distributed, transactions, neural, CLI, MCP, COW, etc).
Remove CLAUDE.md from .gitignore since the new version is designed
for public contributors.
