Basis Reduce and Imagine Codex Log Sift (2026-05-11)

This raw note preserves the public-safe evidence basis for the recovered Basis.Reduce and Basis.Imagine wiki pages. It summarizes Codex session logs, worktree status, safe filenames, generated UI artifacts, and verification results. It deliberately does not publish raw Codex JSONL bodies, private prompts beyond already-safe summaries, .basis run bodies, packet bodies, dashboard /api/state payloads, NDJSON streams, stdout/stderr logs, credentials, or private corpus material.

Scope

The user reported that the wiki was missing Basis Reduce and Basis Imagine, both present in worktrees. The recovery pass inspected:

Surface	Local evidence	Public-safe use
Basis.Reduce UI/workbench	`/Users/ericfode/.codex/worktrees/4e6b/basis`, branch `codex/inspect-reducer-eval`; Codex session `019e0570-23c6-7350-a3b6-d81816e0e73e`; later recovery session `019e12fb-ce24-7340-8815-35acb8293567`	branch, commit names, UI responsibilities, test/gate outcomes, screenshot-like generated UI artifacts, experiment-result summaries
Basis.Imagine workbench	`/Users/ericfode/.codex/worktrees/95ae/basis`, branch `codex/start-imaginer`; Codex session `019e0547-6afa-7e73-ab93-9077d9ee6087`; imaginer worker-session family under `/var/folders/.../basis-codex-starts/basis/imaginer-*`	dirty-file list, runtime responsibilities, proposal-only future analysis, app-server/lens boundaries, screenshot-like generated UI artifacts
Root Basis checkout	`/Users/ericfode/src/basis`, `main...origin/main`, HEAD `a5544e0`	baseline commit lineage and relation to the recovered worktrees

Existing wiki context came from basis-project-index, basis-experiment-status, basis-architecture-and-plans, basis-source-basis-and-safety-gate, and nightly-src-projects-desk-2026-05-11.

Screenshot and artifact posture

The recovered images live under ~/.codex/generated_images, not under the repository worktrees. They are screenshot-like UI artifacts from the Codex image-generation corpus and must be labeled as recovered/generated UI artifacts unless a separate browser-capture provenance path is later found. They are still useful: they show the intended/current interface structure discussed in the logs, but they are not authoritative state.

Copied public-safe image assets:

Wiki asset	Recovered source
`queries/news-assets/basis-reduce-understanding-studio-2026-05-10.png`	`~/.codex/generated_images/019e0547-6afa-7e73-ab93-9077d9ee6087/ig_086a4e20062fb5d3016a0104106f10819b95b82aa7b922313d.png`
`queries/news-assets/basis-reduce-projection-impact-matrix-2026-05-08.png`	`~/.codex/generated_images/019e0570-23c6-7350-a3b6-d81816e0e73e/ig_09ca3c4c21dd05900169fe766eeec8819bb1617ce96a92478b.png`
`queries/news-assets/basis-imagine-future-tradeoffs-2026-05-08.png`	`~/.codex/generated_images/019e0547-6afa-7e73-ab93-9077d9ee6087/ig_0e3a1739bf7f1db00169fe73970af88198bdf3e57650a2a48b.png`
`queries/news-assets/basis-imagine-architecture-slice-2026-05-08.png`	`~/.codex/generated_images/019e0547-6afa-7e73-ab93-9077d9ee6087/ig_0e3a1739bf7f1db00169fe7262c06c8198bb9f931bb92f56d0.png`

Visual classifications from inspection:

basis-reduce-understanding-studio-2026-05-10.png: Basis.Reduce “Understanding Studio” view with evidence cards, a build-shape diagram, open design choices, and a next-decisions panel.
basis-reduce-projection-impact-matrix-2026-05-08.png: Basis.Reduce source-review workbench with source sentence list, semantic lanes, pinned evidence, projection impact matrix, and acceptance/decision inspector.
basis-imagine-future-tradeoffs-2026-05-08.png: Basis Imagine future-tradeoff comparison with Packet Schema First, Topology Workbench First, and Synthesis Engine First options.
basis-imagine-architecture-slice-2026-05-08.png: Basis Imagine architecture-state view showing source topology, execution topology, semantic topology, validation gates, proposal packet, critique packet, UI run model, and human acceptance gate.

Basis.Reduce recovered status

Worktree status:

path: /Users/ericfode/.codex/worktrees/4e6b/basis
branch: codex/inspect-reducer-eval...origin/codex/inspect-reducer-eval
HEAD: ceb8df8 Fix reducer feedback modal stacking
working tree: untracked components/spec-basis-reducer/experiments/spec-pathology-study/

Recent reducer commits inspected:

ceb8df8 Fix reducer feedback modal stacking
7ce65dc Use git verbs for reducer review actions
db92587 Add reducer section pinning and build-shape recovery
9764d72 Make reducer sidebar decisions clickable choices
86a4d47 Clarify reducer record review actions
300568d Generate reducer build shape from root lens
eed41b7 Tighten reducer studio header
3966ebe Clarify reducer action impacts
3361f65 Repair reducer feedback preview and concurrency
25adbd3 Fix reducer feedback preview controls
871fceb Improve reducer projection actions
677bf83 Add reducer reasoning effort control

Safe interpretation:

Basis.Reduce is a source-review and proposal-state workbench, not just a reducer function.
The visible UI is organized around source sentences, semantic lanes, pinned evidence, projection impact, review actions, and explicit acceptance/decision inspection.
The newer “Understanding Studio” presentation tries to answer “what this wants to become” through a build-shape diagram and next-decision pressure cards.
The action vocabulary was tightened away from vague UI verbs toward review/decision/git-like verbs, but all changes remain proposal/review state until accepted.
The worktree’s tracked branch is clean against origin; the spec-pathology study is an untracked experimental artifact tree and should not be silently treated as canonical.

Verification observed during this Hermes recovery turn:

node components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/tests/validate-reducer-control-contract.mjs
=> Validated 33 reducer buttons and 21 control bindings.

Basis.Reduce pathology-study experiment

The untracked components/spec-basis-reducer/experiments/spec-pathology-study/ tree is a substantial HTML/JS experiment surface, not a small note. It includes:

index.html: hypothesis/spec surface for testing reducer and imaginer utility.
reward.html and reward-state.json: live reward/progress dashboard.
next-goal.html, larger-wave-plan.html, incomplete-spec-wave.html, large-spec-fixture.html, large-wave-results.html: experiment planning/result surfaces.
generators/evaluators under tools/.
generated condition manifests and candidate implementations under generated/.

Important public-safe results recovered from JSON reports:

generated/reducer-packets/packet-score-report.json reports status: pass; the precise reducer packet achieved precision/recall/F1 of 1 against the targeted bucket set, with no leakage findings.
generated/incomplete-spec-wave/incomplete-wave-manifest.json defines 11 incomplete-spec conditions, including an explicit full-contract control and omission families such as interface-only, happy-path-only, ordering missing, projection missing, validation/permissions missing, lifecycle fragment, topology absent, and output-only.
generated/large-spec-fixture/evaluator/large-wave-readiness-report.json reports ready_to_launch_large_wave, with weak gates remaining around process-cost telemetry and paired controls.
generated/large-spec-fixture/evaluator/telemetry-harness-report.json reports telemetry_harness_ready with 18 required capture fields and no missing fields.
generated/large-spec-fixture/large-wave/large-wave-score-report.json reports status: complete for 12 assignments, but the clean baseline itself scored only 0.0967741935483871.
generated/large-spec-fixture/large-wave/large-wave-synthesis.json says the large wave cannot support strong reducer or imaginer usefulness claims because the clean control failed below the competence floor and every assignment failed every hidden bucket.
reward-state.json reports status: g2_complete for the large corrupted-spec wave.

Safe interpretation: the pathology study is more rigorous than the earlier “spec changes do not matter” conclusion. It separates final behavior, process cost, reducer prediction, placebo/noisy/wrong packet controls, and competence-floor failure. The current large-wave result is negative/inconclusive in the right way: it rejects overclaiming until the clean control is competent.

Basis.Imagine recovered status

Worktree status:

path: /Users/ericfode/.codex/worktrees/95ae/basis
branch: codex/start-imaginer
base HEAD: a5544e0 Split reducer UI into separate app entrypoints
working tree: 13 modified tracked files, 3 untracked files
untracked: components/spec-basis-reducer/examples/p2p-llm-workspace-spec.md
untracked: components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/future-tradeoffs.js
untracked: components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/imaginer.html
tracked diff: 6919 insertions, 230 deletions across UI, runtime, app-server provider, scripted provider, tests, and docs

Important files changed or added:

components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/imaginer.html
components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/future-tradeoffs.js
components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/app.js
components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/frontier.js
components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/styles.css
components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/index.html
lib/basis/run/server.ex
lib/basis/llm/app_server_provider.ex
lib/basis/llm/lens_spec.ex
lib/basis/llm/scripted_provider.ex
lib/basis/web/server.ex
test/basis/run/server_test.exs
test/basis/llm/app_server_provider_test.exs
docs/codex-environment.md

Safe interpretation:

Basis.Imagine is a plan-space search and tradeoff-analysis workbench, not an implementation-plan oracle.
Logs show the owned local entrypoint as mise exec -- mix basis.server --port 8767, then /ui/imaginer.html after the user asked to move the imaginer URL out of /ui/index.html.
A live run was started as imaginer-1778199448840 with AppServerProvider, source components/implementation-imaginer/spec.md, target implementation_plan, branch count 3, depth 4, and initial running state with two active Codex turns.
Runtime surfaces include mode: "imaginer", decision mining, baseline jobs, synthesis requests, search steering, branch queueing, branch focus, path rejection, architecture-state job ordering, and future-tradeoff projection.
future-tradeoffs.js compares at least three implementation futures: Packet Schema First, Topology Workbench First, and Synthesis Engine First. It scores/frames axes such as provenance, testability, user clarity, drift risk, build cost, and first slice.
The dominant recommendation shown in the recovered UI is Packet Schema First: build the proposal authority boundary and validation core before rich UI or synthesis.

Verification observed during this Hermes recovery turn:

MIX_BUILD_PATH=/private/tmp/basis-95ae-build MIX_DEPS_PATH=/private/tmp/basis-95ae-deps mise exec -- mix test
=> 4 tests, 0 failures
 
node --check components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/future-tradeoffs.js && node --check components/spec-basis-reducer/ui/app.js
=> exit 0

Public safety boundary

Allowed in wiki pages from this sift:

branch names, commit names, and local worktree paths;
safe filenames and module responsibilities;
aggregate diff statistics;
test and syntax-check outcomes;
high-level UI/workbench descriptions;
generated UI images, explicitly labeled as recovered/generated artifacts;
experiment JSON status fields and aggregate scores.

Excluded from wiki pages:

raw Codex JSONL log bodies;
raw app-server prompts, turn bodies, and model streams;
.basis run bodies or dashboard state bodies;
packet bodies from real private runs;
private corpus content;
credentials, environment values, and service configuration.

Synthesis for the public pages

Basis.Reduce now deserves a dedicated page because it has become a review workbench with evidence, projection-impact, decision queues, action semantics, and a serious pathology experiment lane.
Basis.Imagine now deserves a dedicated page because it has separate URL/UI, live app-server-backed imaginer mode, future-tradeoff comparison, architecture-state projection, and clear proposal-only caveats.
The current evidence supports “these systems are becoming useful investigatory surfaces,” not “they have proved utility.” The pathology study is especially useful because it prevents that category error.

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