SOTA: split realtime reflex control from deliberative reasoning

Goal

Implement and validate a two-speed agent control primitive where MidStream handles sub-second reflex events and Ruflo continues slower deliberative reasoning.

Architecture

Fast path handles interruption acknowledgement, backchannel, pause, cancel request, and stream continuity. It must not perform privileged tool actions or invent task conclusions.

Slow path remains responsible for reasoning, planning, tool choice, and task completion through Ruflo/RVM.

Primitive

Add a dependency-free ReflexController with:

• typed realtime events
• explicit reflex-safe actions
• monotonic sequence numbers
• stale event rejection
• interruption coalescing
• cancellation accounting
• bounded queue depth
• deterministic receipts with authority: none
• reasoner handoff state that preserves task and interruption provenance

Benchmark

Compare monolithic deliberative control with split reflex/reasoning control under identical synthetic event traces.

Report:

• interruption acknowledgement latency
• queued event count
• cancelled work units
• wasted deliberative work
• task completion quality proxy
• stale event drops
• overflow behavior
• determinism

Promotion gate

Candidate must reduce interruption acknowledgement latency by at least 40%, preserve task quality within 2 absolute points, keep cancellation waste below 10% of deliberative work, reject stale/out-of-order events deterministically, and never grant execution authority.

Security

Reflex actions are local interaction controls only. Tool invocation, network access, filesystem mutation, capability grant, and external effects remain behind RVM and the deliberative path.

Cross-stack

MidStream owns reflex arbitration. Ruflo owns reasoning. MetaHarness owns matched benchmark and adversarial reproduction. RVM owns authority. Core Memory may persist receipts and session state. Cognitum can use the split for voice, robotics, ambient interfaces, and realtime customer agents.

No autonomous merge or deployment.

No files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by locating MidStream’s Rust control and arbitration entry point, then map the Ruflo/RVM handoff and MetaHarness benchmark before implementing; done means meeting the stated latency, quality, cancellation, ordering, overflow, determinism, and authority constraints.