deepseek-harness/docs/core-data-structures/core.md

# Core Data Structures

English | [中文](core.zh.md)

This folder catalogs the **data structures** of the DeepSeek Harness — what each core type represents, its literal shape, and where the full detail lives. It complements [architecture.md](../architecture.md), which describes *behavior* (the service map, the session/turn/step lifecycle, the event taxonomy); this page describes the *vocabulary* that behavior moves around.

## What counts as "core"

The harness is a microkernel: a tiny core plus many plugins. Most types belong to one plugin or one capability. A handful, though, are the **spine** — the language the agent loop and its events traffic in on *every* turn, no matter which optional plugins are loaded. Those are "core".

Precisely, a data structure is **core** if either:

1. it flows through the agent-loop spine — the loop holds it, derives it, streams it, or logs it on every turn (a `Message`, a `StreamChunk`, a `SessionEvent`, the `Agent` handle itself), independent of which plugins are present; **or**
2. it is the single headline type a plugin author writes against a pipeline — `ToolDefinition` (what every tool *is*).

Everything else is documented on a **sub-page**, not here. The rule that draws the line: *the type you write, hold, or receive is core; the machinery that types it, renders it, or persists it is a sub-page detail.* So `ToolDefinition` is core, but the `ValueSchemaSpec`/`ParameterSchemaSpec` inference machinery that types it, the `ToolCallView`/`ToolResultView` render-intent vocabulary that renders it, and the `SessionPersistence` seam that stores the event log are not — they live on the sub-pages below.

| Sub-page | Owns |
|---|---|
| [llm-streaming.md](llm-streaming.md) | the `StreamChunk` wire protocol + adapter contract, `BlockAssembler`, the `LlmAdapter` seam |
| [token-meter.md](token-meter.md) | immutable scalar and positional replay measurements with consumed-log revisions |
| [scope.md](scope.md) | scoped registration identity, dispatch carriers, and the owned `Scope` context |
| [goal.md](goal.md) | persisted goal identity, lifecycle snapshots, activation, change records, and round attribution |
| [commands.md](commands.md) | the human-command seam: definitions, adapter discovery, direct invocation, results, and parsing views |
| [session.md](session.md) | the full `SessionEventMap` variant catalog, `TurnTrigger`/`TurnEndReason`, `deriveMessages()`, execution enclosure, and standalone events |
| [persistence.md](persistence.md) | the durability seam: `SessionPersistence`, JSONL + SQLite backends, `session/flush`, crash recovery, `SessionHeader` |
| [settings.md](settings.md) | the user-settings seam: `SettingsNamespace` registration, layered resolution (defaults → composition `base` → user document), owner scopes, hot commits |
| [credentials.md](credentials.md) | the credential seam: `CredentialRef` references (never values) in configuration, per-operation resolution, UI-safe `CredentialInfo`, provider source layers |
| [session-query.md](session-query.md) | logical records, bounded exact-event reads, relationship traces, semantic filters/documents, and full-text result pages |
| [session-title.md](session-title.md) | durable title snapshots, source provenance, and the asynchronous provider contract |
| [system-prompt.md](system-prompt.md) | per-assembly context, tool-provider results, prompt sections, and cooperative assembly |
| [tools.md](tools.md) | `ToolDefinition` full fields, the schema DSL, `ToolExecution`/`ToolResult`, tool-presentation UI types, and the guarded execution pipeline |
| [user-interaction.md](user-interaction.md) | the UI-backed human question/answer seam: `AskUserQuestionRequest`, answer/options vocabulary, provider API, error taxonomy |
| [approval.md](approval.md) | the one-shot user-approval seam: `ApprovalRequest`, `ApprovalOutcome`, per-session policy, audit and answerer contracts |
| [bash.md](bash.md) | the bash executor seam: `BashExecRequest`/`Spec`, `BashRunResult`, background `BashProcess` handles |
| [subprocess.md](subprocess.md) | the subprocess seam: fully-explicit `SubprocessSpawnSpec`, offset-based output readers, unclassified `SubprocessOutcome`, and the managed `DSH_*` environment vocabulary |
| [pty.md](pty.md) | persistent terminal ids, backend/session contracts, send readiness, bounded reads, and owner-visible snapshots |
| [sandbox.md](sandbox.md) | per-session policy resolution and the process-confinement seam: file-effect modes, execution/provider policies, `ConfinedArgv`, enforcement and fail-closed errors |
| [code-runtime.md](code-runtime.md) | the code-execution seam: `CodeRunRequest`/`Result`, binding namespaces, captured logs, the `CodeRunFailure` taxonomy |
| [filesystem.md](filesystem.md) | the filesystem seam: `FsTarget`, read/write/edit outcomes, observed-file state, `FsErrorCode` |
| [lsp.md](lsp.md) | the LSP navigation seam: `LspQueryRequest`/`Result`, `LspProvider`/`Service`, four operations, `LspError` |
| [skills.md](skills.md) | the skill service: discovery priority, `SkillSummary`/`SkillDefinition`, session-prefix catalog, model-facing `skill` loading |
| [compaction.md](compaction.md) | the compaction seam: the `compact/*` session events, `CompactionResult`, the `CompactService` interface |
| [subagent.md](subagent.md) | the subagent seam: the named-provider registry, `SubagentStartRequest`/`Result`/`Run`, the start-time-vs-runtime capability split |
| [web.md](web.md) | the web access seam: `WebSearchRequest`/`Result`, `WebFetchRequest`/`Result`, `WebFetchBody`, provider availability, `WebError` |
| [spill.md](spill.md) | the spill storage seam: `SaveTextSpill`, `SpillOwner`/`SpillSource`, `SpillRef`, the branded `SpillLocator` |
| [workflow.md](workflow.md) | the workflow seam: `WorkflowStartRequest`, `WorkflowMeta`, `WorkflowRun`/`Result`, the `workflow/*` event payloads, `WorkflowError` fatality |

> Type declarations and their JSDoc on these pages are source-equivalent and drift-checked by `pnpm run verify-type-equiv` (see [development.md](../development.md#documenting-types-verbatim-ts-type-equiv)). Ordinary blocks preserve complete declarations; `public-api` blocks preserve body-stripped public class declarations. Cordis services use the generated [service catalog](../cordis-catalog/services.md).

## The `…Map → derived-union` pattern

Almost every extensible sum type in the harness follows one shape: an interface keyed by a discriminant tag (the `…Map`), from which the union is derived with `keyof`. Plugins add variants by **declaration merging** — no edit to the owning package.

```ts ignore-check
// The pattern, schematically:
interface ThingMap {
  'a': { kind: 'a'; /* … */ }
  'b': { kind: 'b'; /* … */ }
}
type ThingKind = keyof ThingMap          // 'a' | 'b'
type Thing = ThingMap[keyof ThingMap]    // the discriminated union

// A plugin extends it without touching the source package:
declare module '@deepseek-ai/dsh-llm' {
  interface ThingMap {
    'c': { kind: 'c'; /* … */ }
  }
}
```

Five canonical maps use this pattern; a plugin author extends these:

| Map | Package | Derives | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| `ContentBlockMap` | dsh-llm | `ContentBlock` | [below](#content-blocks-and-messages) |
| `MessageSourceMap` | dsh-llm | `MessageSource` | [below](#content-blocks-and-messages) |
| `FinishReasonMap` | dsh-llm | `FinishReason` | [below](#the-model-request-and-result) |
| `TurnEndReasonMap` | dsh-session | `TurnEndReason` | [session.md](session.md) |
| `SessionEventMap` | dsh-session | `SessionEvent` | [session.md](session.md) |

Two large discriminated unions are the ones consumers `switch` over most: **`StreamChunk`** (the streaming protocol) and **`SessionEvent`** (the log entry). Per the repo convention, `switch` on the tag — don't chain `if`s — so each arm narrows and a typo'd tag fails to compile.

## Branded IDs

IDs that cross package boundaries are **branded** — structurally strings, but non-interchangeable at the type level (a `SessionId` cannot be passed where a `CallId` is expected). Construction goes through a per-type factory; comparison, logging, and JSON behave as ordinary strings.

The `Branded<B>` primitive lives in its own type-only package, [dsh-brand](../../packages/util/brand) (no runtime code, no harness-package dependency), so any package can brand the ids it owns without depending on an unrelated capability package.

Source: [`packages/util/brand/src/index.ts`](../../packages/util/brand/src/index.ts)

```ts type-equiv
/** A string carrying a compile-time-only brand `B`. */
type Branded<B extends string> = string & { readonly [BRAND]: B }
```

The two core IDs are `CallId` (correlates a tool call with its result; dsh-llm) and `SessionId` (the shared live agent and durable session identity; dsh-session). Capability packages brand their own ids too, such as `TaskId` in [tasks.md](tasks.md).

## Content blocks and messages

A conversation is `Message`s; a message is an array of typed **content blocks**. The block union derives from `ContentBlockMap`.

Source: [`packages/llm/llm/src/types.ts`](../../packages/llm/llm/src/types.ts)

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * Merge-extensible content blocks keyed by `type`. New core blocks must land
 * with adapter, UI, and compaction support.
 */
interface ContentBlockMap {
  'text': TextBlock
  'reasoning': ReasoningBlock
  'tool-call': ToolCallBlock
  'tool-result': ToolResultBlock
}
```

The block interfaces (full fields in source): `TextBlock` (`text`), `ReasoningBlock` (thinking, distinct from visible text), `ToolCallBlock` (`id: CallId`, `name`, raw-JSON `arguments`), `ToolResultBlock` (`toolCallId`, nested `content: ContentBlock[]`, `isError?`). `ContentBlock = ContentBlockMap[ContentBlockType]`. The core set is limited to blocks every shipping path honors — multimodal content (images, audio, …) has no core block type; a feature that needs one adds it via the merge-extensible map together with the adapter/UI/compaction support that honors it.

Source: [`packages/llm/llm/src/message.ts`](../../packages/llm/llm/src/message.ts)

A `Message` is one identified, immutable role/source/content value. Model-produced assistant messages carry provider/model ownership and optional adapter-private replay metadata in their source:

```ts type-equiv
/** Provider ownership and adapter-private replay data for an assistant message. */
interface AssistantProvenance {
  /** Provider route that produced the message. */
  provider: string
  /** Provider model id that produced the message. */
  model: string
  /**
   * Lossless-JSON adapter state needed to replay the provider response.
   * `LlmService` exposes it to a target adapter only when that adapter instance
   * currently owns both this historical provider and the target provider.
   */
  replayState?: unknown
}
```

```ts type-equiv
/** One immutable message representation shared by delivery, durable history, and model requests. */
interface Message {
  /** Stable identity preserved across every representation boundary. */
  readonly id: MessageId
  /** Provider-neutral conversation role. */
  readonly role: 'system' | 'user' | 'assistant'
  /** Exact model-facing blocks. */
  readonly content: ContentBlock[]
  /** Required producer provenance. */
  readonly source: MessageSource
}
```

Where a message came from is itself a merge-extensible sum type:

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * Where a message (or injected content) came from.
 * Merge-extensible sum type — plugins add their own `kind`s.
 */
interface MessageSourceMap {
  user: { kind: 'user' }
  plugin: { kind: 'plugin'; plugin: string }
  model: ModelMessageSource
  tool: ToolMessageSource
}
```

## Streaming

Adapters emit a raw **chunk** protocol; the loop logs the chunks (replay fidelity) while feeding the same chunks through a `BlockAssembler` to rebuild blocks and messages. `StreamChunk` is a closed discriminated union over `type` — `block-start`, `text-delta`, `reasoning-delta`, `tool-call-delta`, `block-end`, `usage`, `finish`.

The full union, the adapter contract (usage-before-finish, raw-JSON tool arguments, the two sanctioned error paths), and `BlockAssembler` live on **[llm-streaming.md](llm-streaming.md)**.

<a id="the-model-request-and-result"></a>

## The model request

One model call is a fully-assembled `GenerateOptions`. The adapter answers with a raw `StreamChunk` stream; the consumer assembles it with `BlockAssembler` (see [llm-streaming.md](llm-streaming.md)).

Source: [`packages/llm/llm/src/types.ts`](../../packages/llm/llm/src/types.ts)

Provider and model discovery uses small provider-neutral descriptors. A model catalog is advisory: routing still keys on a registered provider, and an adapter may accept unlisted model ids.

Registering an adapter returns a handle: the disposer, plus the atomic route replacement a plugin whose route set is user-configurable needs.

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * What {@link LlmService.registerAdapter} returns: the disposer, plus an
 * atomic route replacement for the same adapter instance.
 */
interface AdapterRegistrationHandle {
  /** Release every route this registration currently holds. */
  (): void
  /**
   * Replace this registration's routes with `providers`, keeping the same
   * adapter instance. The candidate set is validated in full first — a
   * conflict with another adapter, an invalid name, or bad provider metadata
   * throws and leaves the current routes untouched — and the swap itself is
   * one synchronous section, so no request can observe a gap. An empty array
   * is legal here (a settings section that emptied holds zero routes while
   * staying registered), unlike an empty initial registration.
   *
   * Throws `LlmError` with code `REGISTRATION_DISPOSED` once the registration
   * has been released: its routes are gone and its disposer has already run,
   * so anything registered afterwards would have no owner left to release it.
   * @param providers - the complete next route set for this registration.
   */
  replace(providers: string[]): void
}
```

```ts type-equiv
/** Display metadata for one registered provider route. */
interface LlmProviderInfo {
  /** Provider route key used by {@link GenerateOptions.provider}. */
  id: string
  /** Human-readable provider name for selectors and diagnostics. */
  name: string
}
```

Adapter plugins additionally declare which routes *could* run through `registerConfigurableProviders()`, addressing each one's user-settings section, so configuration surfaces can offer dormant providers before any route registers.

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * One provider route an adapter plugin can activate through configuration,
 * whether or not the route is currently registered. Configuration surfaces
 * merge this directory with `listProviders()` to offer every configurable
 * provider alongside its live/dormant state.
 */
interface LlmConfigurableProvider {
  /** Provider route key this entry activates when configured. */
  provider: string
  /** Human-readable provider name for configuration surfaces. */
  displayName: string
  /** User-settings namespace whose section configures this provider. */
  settingsNs: string
  /**
   * Path from that namespace's section root to this provider's profile
   * object; empty when the whole section is the profile.
   */
  settingsPath: readonly string[]
}
```

```ts type-equiv
/** One adapter-discovered model; catalog membership is advisory, not request validation. */
interface LlmModelInfo {
  /** Provider route that owns this model entry. */
  provider: string
  /** Model id passed to {@link GenerateOptions.model}. */
  id: string
  /** Human-readable model name for selectors. */
  name: string
  /** Optional user-facing distinction from otherwise similar models. */
  description?: string
}
```

Correctness-sensitive metadata is resolved separately from the advisory catalog and is owned by the adapter serving the exact route. Context capacity, adapter call defaults, and reasoning choices share one exact-model result so consumers do not repeat authoritative model resolution.

```ts type-equiv
/** Provider-owned context capacity for one exact provider/model route. */
interface LlmModelContext {
  /** Maximum combined request and response context in tokens. */
  contextWindow: number
}
```

Reasoning effort is another exact-route capability. The core brands identifiers but does not enumerate their values; each adapter owns the ordered set, display names, and optional deployment default.

```ts type-equiv
/** Adapter-owned identifier for one model's selectable reasoning effort. */
type ReasoningEffortId = Branded<'ReasoningEffortId'>
```

```ts type-equiv
/** Display metadata for one adapter-owned reasoning effort. */
interface LlmReasoningEffortInfo {
  /** Opaque stable value accepted by {@link GenerateOptions.reasoningEffort}. */
  id: ReasoningEffortId
  /** Human-readable effort name for selectors and diagnostics. */
  name: string
  /** Optional user-facing distinction from otherwise similar efforts. */
  description?: string
}
```

```ts type-equiv
/** Selectable reasoning efforts for one exact provider/model route. */
interface LlmModelReasoningInfo {
  /** Supported efforts in adapter-preferred display order. */
  efforts: readonly LlmReasoningEffortInfo[]
  /**
   * Adapter-configured default materialized into requests when callers omit
   * an effort. Absence preserves the provider's own default.
   */
  defaultEffort?: ReasoningEffortId
}
```

```ts type-equiv
/** Exact-route model metadata resolved by its owning adapter. */
interface LlmResolvedModelInfo extends LlmModelInfo {
  /** Provider-owned context capacity when known. */
  context?: LlmModelContext
  /** Adapter-configured per-request output cap materialized when callers omit one. */
  defaultMaxTokens?: number
  /** Adapter-owned selectable reasoning levels when exposed. */
  reasoning?: LlmModelReasoningInfo
}
```

```ts type-equiv
/** A single model request, fully assembled. */
interface GenerateOptions {
  /** Registered provider route selecting the adapter instance. */
  provider: string
  model: string
  /** Adapter-owned reasoning effort selected for this exact model. */
  reasoningEffort?: ReasoningEffortId
  /**
   * Ordered conversation messages, exactly as the provider sees them (after
   * the `system` slot). A loop-built request assembles them as
   * the derived history (dsh-agent-loop); a hand-built one-shot passes any list.
   */
  messages: Message[]
  /** System prompt text (adapters map to the provider's system slot). */
  system?: string
  /** Tool schemas (adapters map to the provider's `tools` field). */
  tools?: ToolSchema[]
  temperature?: number
  maxTokens?: number
  /**
   * Stop sequences: generation halts as soon as the model produces any one of
   * these strings (adapters map to the provider's stop field, e.g. OpenAI
   * `stop`). The stop string itself is not included in the output.
   */
  stop?: string[]
  signal?: AbortSignal
  /**
   * Session identity stamped by the loop for listener routing. Adapters ignore
   * it; replay uses it to keep concurrent parent and child cursors independent.
   */
  sessionId?: Branded<'SessionId'>
  /**
   * Provider-neutral classification for an auxiliary model call. Adapters may
   * map the purpose to model-hidden transport metadata or purpose-specific
   * generation policy. Ordinary conversation requests leave it unset.
   */
  purpose?: 'compaction' | 'session-title'
}
```

Why a model response stopped is a merge-extensible reason. Terminal provider failures carry the streaming contract's [`LlmFailure`](llm-streaming.md#llmfailure):

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * Why a model response stopped.
 * Merge-extensible so adapters can surface provider-specific reasons.
 */
interface FinishReasonMap {
  'stop': { kind: 'stop' }
  'tool-calls': { kind: 'tool-calls' }
  'max-tokens': { kind: 'max-tokens' }
  'aborted': { kind: 'aborted'; failure: LlmFailure }
  'error': { kind: 'error'; failure: LlmFailure }
}
```

`FinishReason = FinishReasonMap[keyof FinishReasonMap]`. `TokenUsage` (per-call accounting with disjoint cache fields) is detailed on [llm-streaming.md](llm-streaming.md).

`GenerateOptions.tools` carries `ToolSchema` — the JSON-schema description of a tool, as sent to the model. It is declared in dsh-llm (not dsh-tools) precisely because it is part of the request the loop assembles every step:

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * JSON-schema description of a tool, as sent to the model.
 *
 * Declared here (not in dsh-tools) because it is part of {@link GenerateOptions};
 * dsh-tools' ToolDefinition and dsh-system-prompt's PromptAssembly both import
 * it from this package.
 */
interface ToolSchema {
  name: string
  description: string
  /** JSON Schema object for the arguments. */
  parameters: Record<string, unknown>
}
```

The model-facing `ToolSchema` is the wire shape; the registered `ToolDefinition` that produces it (schema + `execute`) is on [tools.md](tools.md).

### The request envelope: `LlmCallConfig` and the logged header

The loop builds each request from logged state. `EpochHeader` records call config, adapter-default provenance, rendered prompt, and authoritative returned tool order (configured by `toolOrder`, or lexicographic when unset) through full `request/header` snapshots. Together with derived history, this makes the request reconstructable from the session log. See [session.md](session.md#the-request-header-event-requestheader) and the [reconstructability Agent Note](../../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-reconstructable-requests.md).

`agent/request` receives a frozen call-config seed and may return a replacement to switch provider, model, reasoning effort, or sampling. Before the waterfall, the loop removes values marked as adapter defaults so exact-model preparation materializes the selected route's current values; unmarked explicit settings remain in the proposal. After the waterfall, preparation rejects unsupported explicit effort ids without clamping and logs the effective config plus provenance under the turn signal. The prepared call keeps one adapter registration through dispatch. Requests reaching `llm/stream` are deep-frozen, so mutation throws, and carry a process-local loop identity so observers do not confuse separately logged frozen auxiliary calls with conversation requests.

On the wire, a loop-built request reads the `system` slot (the rendered prompt assembly) followed by the derived history — the boundary snapshot, whose tail is the newest `user/message` on a turn's first step and the previous step's tool results on later steps. The dev invariant recomputes exactly this equation against every loop-built request.

FIXME(call-config-shape): revisit which remaining fields are genuinely epoch-level for cache purposes (`model` and the model-owned reasoning effort are explicit; the sampling scalars sit here out of caution).

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * Provider, model, reasoning effort, and sampling scalars of one conversation's
 * requests. Every field maps 1:1 onto the same-named `GenerateOptions` field;
 * the loop builds requests from the logged header rather than accepting these
 * per call.
 */
interface LlmCallConfig {
  provider: string
  model: string
  reasoningEffort?: ReasoningEffortId
  temperature?: number
  maxTokens?: number
  stop?: string[]
}
```

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * Effective config fields supplied by exact-model adapter resolution rather
 * than by the caller's request proposal.
 */
interface LlmCallConfigAdapterDefaults {
  reasoningEffort?: true
  maxTokens?: true
}
```

## Sessions

A `Session` is an **append-only log** of typed `SessionEvent`s — the single source of truth. The LLM message history is *derived* from the log (`deriveMessages()`), not stored separately. The event vocabulary derives from `SessionEventMap`:

Source: [`packages/core/session/src/types.ts`](../../packages/core/session/src/types.ts)

```ts type-equiv
/**
 * One immutable entry in the session log.
 *
 * A proper discriminated union over `type` (not independent `type`/`data`
 * unions), so `switch (event.type)` narrows `event.data` without casts.
 *
 * The {@link sourceEventSeqs} and {@link surfaceOp} fields are conditional:
 * they only exist on {@link SurfaceEventType} variants (`user/message`,
 * `assistant/message`, `tool/result`).
 * Non-surface events (boundary markers, chunks, usage, errors) never carry
 * surface metadata — the compiler enforces this at `Session.append()`
 * call sites.
 */
type SessionEvent<T extends SessionEventType = SessionEventType> = {
  [K in SessionEventType]: {
    type: K
    /** Monotonic sequence number within the session. */
    seq: number
    /** Unix epoch milliseconds. */
    time: number
    data: SessionEventMap[K]
  } & (K extends SurfaceEventType ? {
    /**
     * Seq numbers of events that are provenance sources of this event
     * (e.g. the `assistant/chunk` seqs that built an `assistant/message`,
     * or the surface nodes shadowed by a compaction replace node). An
     * `assistant/message` may carry a present empty array for a known empty
     * provider stream; omission means unrecorded provenance.
     */
    sourceEventSeqs?: number[]
    /** How this event entered the surface; absent for non-surface events. */
    surfaceOp?: SurfaceOp
  } : object)
}[T]
```

The session event variants, `deriveMessages()` projection rules, `TurnEndReason` vocabulary, and execution-enclosure and standalone-event rules are on **[session.md](session.md)**. How the log is made durable — the `SessionPersistence` seam, JSONL/SQLite backends, the `session/flush` checkpoint, crash recovery, and `SessionHeader` — is on **[persistence.md](persistence.md)**.

## The agent handle

`Agent` is the surface every plugin (UI, hooks, orchestrators) programs against. The concrete implementation is package-internal to dsh-agent-loop; nothing outside the loop depends on it.

Source: [`packages/core/agent/src/types.ts`](../../packages/core/agent/src/types.ts)

```ts type-equiv
/** One of the two ordered pending-message lists owned by an agent. */
type InboxTarget = 'next-turn' | 'next-step'
```

Every pending occurrence is its `UserMessage`; `MessageId` is the sole identity. `Inbox.append`, `prepend`, `replace`, `remove`, `clear`, `splice`, and `claim` record normalized durable `agent/inbox/spliced` mutations and reject duplicate pending ids. `replace(messageId, newMessage)` and `remove(messageId)` locate the pending message across both lists; replacement may change identity and emits the old message as discarded followed by the new message as inserted. Ordinary removals and `clear()` are cancellations. `claim(target)` removes the proposed step batch — all `next-step` input plus, at a turn boundary, one `next-turn` message — through pure deletion splices without emitting discarded notifications, and the loop separately emits per-message claimed notifications. Whole-queue consumers such as UI projections reconstruct `nextTurn` and `nextStep` from the durable splices, while consumers following one message use the exact `agent/inbox/inserted`, `claimed`, and `discarded` notifications.

```ts type-equiv
/** Options for {@link Agent.cancel}. */
interface CancelOptions {
  /**
   * Preserve queued and steering inbox items instead of discarding them. The
   * active turn is still aborted, but un-started and pending work survives for a
   * later turn and no canceled inbox splice is logged.
   */
  keepInbox?: boolean | undefined
}
```

```ts type-equiv
/** Why an active agent driver was cancelled. */
type AgentCancelCause =
  | { readonly kind: 'user' }
  | { readonly kind: 'parent' }
  | { readonly kind: 'hook'; readonly reason: string }
  | { readonly kind: 'disposed' }
```

`Agent` is an interface over the public live-agent contract. Its unified `send` method exposes target and wakeup routing directly; `followup`, `steer`, and `inject` are fixed-preset aliases.

```ts type-equiv
/** Public live-agent handle. */
interface Agent {
  /** The single identity shared with {@link session}. */
  readonly id: SessionId
  /** The provider route and model this agent's requests use. */
  readonly options: AgentOptions
  /** The live session this agent drives; its log is the durable source of truth. */
  readonly session: Session
  /** The agent-owned projection of durable pending work. */
  readonly inbox: Inbox
  /** The current lifecycle state, mirrored on every `agent/status` transition. */
  readonly status: AgentStatus
  /** Agent-scoped context; its contributions are agent-local, unwind on disposal, and reject registration afterward. */
  readonly ctx: Context

  /**
   * Clear queued and steering work — unless `keepInbox` — and abort the active
   * turn or between-turn task. The first cause wins for that activity. With no
   * active activity, cancellation is a no-op and does not arm later work.
   * @param cause - the stable caller intent carried by the active operation signal.
   * @param options - cancellation options; `keepInbox` preserves pending work.
   */
  cancel(cause: AgentCancelCause, options?: CancelOptions): void

  /**
   * Resolve after the current whole-agent activity reaches quiescence. This
   * follows replacement work started before the observed driver retires,
   * but does not identify the settlement of any particular message.
   * @returns fulfillment after no active driver or maintenance task remains.
   */
  whenIdle(): Promise<void>

  /**
   * Run one non-turn maintenance task from the true idle phase. The task starts
   * synchronously after claiming that phase; later waking input remains in the
   * inbox until the task settles, while public status stays `idle`.
   * `whenIdle()` follows both the task and any waking work released behind it.
   * @param task - operation whose fulfillment or rejection is preserved, with a signal aborted by {@link cancel}.
   * @throws synchronously when turn-driving or another maintenance task already owns the agent.
   * @returns the task promise.
   */
  runMaintenance<T>(task: (signal: AbortSignal) => Promise<T>): Promise<T>

  /**
   * Route identified input to an inbox boundary and optionally wake the driver.
   * Waking input submitted after active cancellation is queued for the next turn.
   * @param message - identified content and its producer provenance.
   * @param target - the preferred next-turn or next-step inbox boundary.
   * @param wakeup - whether delivery may wake the driver.
   */
  send(message: UserMessage, target: InboxTarget, wakeup: boolean): void

  /**
   * Queue an ordinary follow-up turn and wake the driver. The item becomes the
   * sole ordinary message of its own turn.
   * @param message - identified prompt content and its producer provenance.
   */
  followup(message: UserMessage): void

  /**
   * Submit steering for the nearest step. An idle driver starts a turn;
   * a running driver consumes it at its next step boundary.
   * A rejected step leaves steering parked in the inbox until the next
   * wake; cancellation or disposal may discard pending steering.
   * @param message - identified steering content and its producer provenance.
   */
  steer(message: UserMessage): void

  /**
   * Queue model-facing context for the next pre-step without waking the
   * driver. A running driver claims it at the nearest later step boundary;
   * idle drivers leave it pending until follow-up or steering
   * wakes them. It may miss a request whose pre-step already claimed its
   * batch. Cancellation or disposal may discard pending context.
   * @param message - identified injected context and its producer provenance.
   */
  inject(message: UserMessage): void
}
```

`AgentStatus` is `'idle' | 'running'`, and `SessionId` is branded. Disposal removes the agent from the registry and emits `agent/disposed`; it is not a terminal status value. `running` describes the driver-wide drain interval and may span consecutive queued turns; it does not prove a turn is still open. `followup()` returns no handle: its `MessageId` identifies durable inbox insertion, claim, and discard facts, not a later assistant output or turn ending. `whenIdle()` observes the whole agent, so callers may call a receipt-to-idle interval a run only when they explicitly own that interval ([decision](../../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-30-followup-enqueue-and-owned-runs.md)). `AgentOptions` is merge-extensible: core declares `provider?`, `model?`, and `maxTokens?` (dispatch requires provider and model after `agent/request`). When present, `maxTokens` must be a positive safe integer and caps every conversation-model request; omission allows the exact-model adapter default to materialize before the request header, or otherwise leaves provider behavior unchanged. Persona belongs to `dsh-system-prompt`: an agent-scoped `deployment:persona` may shadow the global default.

The cause is a TypeScript-enforced same-process input. An active cancellation holder copies it into the runtime-only `AbortSignal.reason`; a signal grants cooperating listeners no classification authority. Durable `turn/end` retains the coarse `{ kind: 'aborted' }` outcome; request provenance would require a separate durable event rather than overloading the terminal result.

The [event taxonomy](../architecture.md#event) owns the `agent/*` lifecycle, checkpoint, and waterfall contracts. Turn and step boundaries are durable session events rather than agent emits.

## Initiating Agent

The process-local initiator carried by `ctx.agents` is the exact `Agent` above, not a separate frame or copied identity. Ambient presence is neither liveness proof nor authorization; the [initiator-scope decision](../../.agents/notes/implemented/architecture/2026-07-15-agent-initiator-scope.md) owns its lifetime and boundary rules.

## Interception decisions

Pre-step decisions use the same identified `UserMessage` shape as durable user-role input. The entered batch is authoritative and preserves every message's identity and provenance. Hook bridges map their native decision fields onto this typed result.

Source: [`packages/core/agent/src/types.ts`](../../packages/core/agent/src/types.ts)

`agent/pre-step` receives the exclusive claimed batch and the proposed step's coordinates and cancellation signal. The initial proposal runs inside an open turn before any step; a tool continuation may submit an empty claimed batch between steps:

```ts type-equiv
/** Coordinates and cancellation for a proposed step. */
interface PreStepContext {
  /** Turn that will own the step. */
  readonly turn: number
  /** Step proposed by the loop. */
  readonly step: number
  /** Current turn cancellation signal. */
  readonly signal: AbortSignal
}
```

It returns a `PreStepDecision`. Reject opens no step. Enter supplies the complete message batch appended after `step/start`; claimed messages omitted by the final decision remain removed, while input inserted after the claim stays pending:

```ts type-equiv
/** Whether and with which messages the loop enters a proposed step. */
type PreStepDecision =
  | { kind: 'reject' }
  | { kind: 'enter'; messages: UserMessage[] }
```

`agent/request-error` runs after a failed model step closes and before its turn closes. Listeners can repair durable state or await policy work while the failed turn's signal is still live. A handling listener returns `{ kind: 'retry' }` without calling `next()`; the default `undefined` leaves the failure terminal.

```ts type-equiv
/** Action returned by a listener that owns model-request recovery. */
type RequestErrorAction = { kind: 'retry' } | undefined
```

`agent/pre-step` is the single serial boundary before request derivation. `agent/turn-stopping` runs when a turn has no tool or steering continuation, before one final steering drain.

`agent/session-start` carries a `SessionStartSource` (why the session lifecycle began; a bridge keys its SessionStart matcher on it):

```ts type-equiv
/** Why a session lifecycle began; seeded creates are `startup`, while persisted loads are `resume`. */
type SessionStartSource = 'startup' | 'resume' | 'clear' | 'compact'
```

## `ToolDefinition`

The one pipeline-authoring type that is core: what every registered tool *is* — a model-facing `ToolSchema` plus an `execute` function and optional final-content and UI callbacks. A tool author rarely constructs it by hand (the `defineTool` DSL builds it with typed args), but it is the contract the registry holds and the loop dispatches through.

Its full fields, the `defineTool`/`ValueSchemaSpec`/`ParameterSchemaSpec` typed schema DSL, the `ToolExecution`/`ToolExecutionResult` waterfall shapes, and the tool-presentation UI vocabulary are on **[tools.md](tools.md)**.