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VAC34 edited this page Aug 1, 2026 · 17 revisions

SAIPEN

Continuation protocol for AI coding agents. Project memory in plain markdown. Cold agent with zero history runs /saipen continue, reads STATE->BOARD->LOG tail, executes next_action, resumes in under a minute. Any vendor, any day.

v7.158.0 | MIT | Spec | RFC | CI

One command. Zero dependencies. Zero amnesia.

User  ->  /saipen continue
Agent ->  reads STATE.md (phase, task, next_action, mode, human_note)
Agent ->  reads BOARD.md (DOING / TODO / DONE / BLOCKED tickets)
Agent ->  reads active LOG.md tail (recent events)
Agent ->  executes next_action immediately
Agent ->  loads phase doc only when rules needed
Agent ->  Works.

14 commands, full surface

Command Effect
saipen set / saipen init Bootstrap .saipen/
saipen continue / bare saipen Resume from STATE
saipen goal <text> Pivot to objective, run to completion
saipen plan Enter PLAN phase
saipen clean Deep repo scrub
saipen translate Isolated translation build
saipen markhunt Dry exhaustive audit (record only)
saipen prepare [producer] Build a complete, fresh ready package; no integration or push
saipen collect <producer> Integrate one ready package through Core gates
saipen ship Version bump, tag, push
saipen hunt Run the HUNT sweep now
saipen validate Run conformance checker
saipen status Read-only board report
saipen stop Checkpoint + halt

Shortcuts (full 13-key table in RFC § 1.10): cc = goal, ccc = continue + push, ss = stop, sss = status, ee/eee = prepare/collect+push translations, qq/qqq = prepare/collect+push wiki. The tripled package keys refuse unless the doubled key already produced status: ready. Length has no global meaning; each row is an exact assignment. Cyrillic twins сс, ссс, аа, ее, еее, рр work too.

Two layers

Layer Required Purpose
Core ✅ Continue work safely
Maintenance On top of Core Evolve software with no tasking

Core state machine: INIT -> PLAN -> SCOUT -> BUILD -> VERIFY -> REVIEW -> SHIP -> DONE | BLOCKED

Autonomous evolution: Empty board at DONE -> auto HUNT -> ADD -> HUNT... until mature or capped (3 waves / 20 tickets).

Goal mode: saipen goal <objective> - autonomous run with safety valve. Auto-pivots, auto-ships, auto-hunts. Stops at maturity or caps.

Key features v7.157.0

  • WAIT categories (v7.93.0): Closed 7-word vocabulary — manual-verify, destructive-op, first-publish, user brake, blocked, safety valve, init. Makes stopping mechanically distinguishable.
  • Cross-document drift detector (v7.93.0): tools/validate.py parses 6 sets from RFC, FAILs on schema/validator/BOOT/CONFORMANCE disagreement.
  • Portable floor (v7.94.0-97.0): validate.sh + validate.ps1 probe all 9 RFC SS1.2 fields, frozen against new checks. Audited by tools/audit_floor.py — 20 mutations, both halves proven red (v7.100.0).
  • SubSaipen protocol (v7.91.0): OUTBOX validated (status/summary/critical), patch-with-evidence format, read-only workers. Sub liveness now machine-checked: never-run instances WARN, unreviewed findings WARN (v7.99.0).
  • Determinism invariants (v7.86.0-92.0): fixed action priority, RECOVER/FINISH/START hierarchy, one-ticket-at-a-time.
  • CI gates pushes (v7.98.0): validate.yml fires on push to main/master and pull_request, with concurrency group. Pre-commit hook remains the opt-in per-machine gate.
  • Drift hunt validation (v7.98.0): validate.py expanded to subSaipen next_action, self-transition enum, adapter paths. Plus (v7.102.0): all 9 adapters now name BOOT.md — no cold agent pays 25x the necessary read.
  • SubSaipen production ready (v7.98.0): 4 live instances running since v7.84.0.
  • Validator linted (v7.99.0): 9 cp1251-mangled section signs found inside its own FAIL messages — valid UTF-8, invisible to its own U+FFFD check. Repaired; CI runs ruff. Push claims now verified against git — a next_action claiming "pushed" with local-only commits FAILs.
  • Doc inventory (v7.100.0): 184 shipped documents accounted for. Every one under a check or exempt with a stated reason. No more orphan files at phantom paths.
  • Citation resolution (v7.101.0): every SS N.N and phases/.md reference in a shipped doc must name something that exists. 103 docs scanned, zero dangling.
  • KNOWLEDGE/ under checks (v7.101.0): traps.md and decisions.md both taught a WAIT-at-DONE rule superseded 9 releases earlier. No more blanketed exemptions for project data.
  • Mojibake lint (v7.103.0): 5 cp1251 corruption sequences detected across every shipped doc, not a curated 4. Found a mangled arrow in traps.md — the very file documenting the corruption.
  • Phantom version check (v7.104.0): cited versions must exist in release ledger (git tags + CHANGELOG), not merely sit below VERSION. Ledger halves compared.
  • Release.yml fix (v7.105.0): fetch-depth: 0 in CI — no more shallow-clone blind spots. make_latest pinned to highest semver.
  • Palette Vintage Golden (v7.106.0-107.0): UI palette named, 18 tokens defined, 46 files renamed. Guard survives its own rename.
  • Nine unclaimed MUSTs (v7.108.0): 3 RFC sections with 9 MUSTs and zero CONFORMANCE rows. Workspace hygiene now enforced mechanically.
  • Tag audit (v7.109.0): tools/audit_tags.py sweeps every tag against VERSION. Found 4 pre-existing mismatches.
  • UTF-16 encoding crash (v7.110.0): validator died on first UTF-16 STATE.md. All 3 checkpoint files encoding-checked up front. schema_version future-WARN.
  • read-only dual meaning (v7.111.0): Core vs subSaipen read-only clarified — 7 banned phases vs 4. HUNT->DONE legal for subSaipen. Sub STATE checked against Core rules.
  • audit_order.py (v7.112.0): catches use-before-define NameErrors invisible to ruff. requires: and saipen_version now meaningfully checked.
  • Hook generation stamp (v7.113.0): pre-commit hook carries stamp, validator compares. Fail-open path now prints repair command.
  • BOOT.md language rule (v7.114.0): reply-language rule moved into the cold-start kernel instead of sitting behind escalation. Its original bare-command default is superseded by v7.157.0's exact three-language precedence.
  • last_event + TEMPLATE check (v7.115.0): STATE freshness marker enforced. TEMPLATE placeholders cannot escape into live instances.
  • claim_time validation (v7.116.0): claim_time checked as ISO-8601 UTC. Half-claim (owner without time) warns. warn() prints category on every line.
  • review_passes + digest freshness (v7.117.0): review_passes cap enforced. Digest named v7.83.0 — 33 releases stale.
  • MARKHUNT manifest (v7.118.0): closure manifest validated — shape, cursor, vector completeness. no-git head pair must be a pair.
  • audit_checks.py (v7.119.0): 41-mutation harness proving validator checks still go red. Control run is precondition.
  • Portable floor honest wording (v7.120.0): floor stopped claiming conformance in validator's words. tools/audit_parity.py guards baseline.
  • bash vs sh trap (v7.121.0): find_bash() picks real bash, never sh. Control-failure names which tool and exit code.
  • verify: finally defined (v7.122.0): RFC 1.2 states the closed ticket-field list. verify: was enforced by the tool and carried by 72 tickets — named in no document.
  • No gitlink under .saipen/ (v7.123.0): nested repo = mode-160000 entry pointing at a commit no clone can fetch. Validator FAILs it. v7.122.0 shipped exactly that way.
  • A row can't claim dead enforcement (v7.124.0): CONFORMANCE row naming a deleted tool/CI step/fixture = FAIL. 144 rows, zero retirements, now loud.
  • Retry owes an answer (v7.124.0): a repeated attempt MUST name what changed. Honest answer "nothing" = retry forbidden.
  • BUILD reuse ladder (v7.124.0): own code → stdlib → existing dep → write it. Adding a dependency is a ticket, not a build step.
  • agent: names the seat (v7.125.0): inherited from STATE, never invented per session. Placeholders (id, <name>, AgentID, unknown) FAIL. Model upgrade ≠ new actor.
  • Installs carry VERSION (v7.126.0): injectors ship it; runtime manifest makes forgetting it a FAIL. Refreshes replace managed dirs, never overlay.
  • Git Bash gets its tools (v7.127.0): floor harnesses add Git usr/bin to child PATH only; System32 WSL stub rejected case-insensitively. 20/20 floor checks green on Windows.
  • SHIP preflight repair loop (v7.128.0): fixable pre-commit failure → narrow SHIP→BUILD edge, then repeat VERIFY/REVIEW/SHIP. Release order explicit: prepare metadata → rerun validators → commit → push.
  • One observation, two checks (v7.129.0): release ledger queries tags once, reuses the snapshot. Failure shows the real cause — no silent skip behind except: pass.
  • Publish the release you named (v7.130.0): SHIP pushes branch + exact refs/tags/vVERSION. --tags/--follow-tags forbidden for releases.
  • Run the guard, not its spelling (v7.131.0): injector/floor/ledger guards execute scripts; source reads stay for syntax contracts. Floor 27 cases, Git Trace2 observes real processes.
  • Bind memory before touching it (v7.132.0): checkpoints bound to one resolved project root. Git worktree/common-dir identity; --project-root deliberately overrides cwd.
  • A skipped guard is a failed guard (v7.133.0): LOG mutations resolve active or newest sealed segment; any unavailable mutation is fatal. 41/41 holds even with an empty active LOG.
  • Known history is not a permanent warning (v7.134.0): release ledger suppressed historical exceptions with backfilled entries; validator reads both current and archived changelogs and fails when an exception goes stale.
  • STATE is a real commit pointer (v7.135.0): last_event marker has a migration boundary — schema v1 missing it WARNs, schema v2 with event-bearing LOG and no marker FAILs.
  • A lost tag audit is not a passing tag audit (v7.136.0): git cat-file --batch process failures exit nonzero with focused FAIL; only legal <spec> missing stays a warning.
  • Bootstrap success means the writes landed (v7.137.0): injectors/uninstallers exit nonzero on failed backup/transform/removal/write; PowerShell block regex leaves user-owned whitespace untouched.
  • Exports belong to the project (v7.138.0): archive written beside the .saipen/ owner, never ambient cwd; Git worktree/common-dir identity, foreign Git repos rejected.
  • Crew launch success means three terminals accepted (v7.139.0): Unix launcher observes each detach, falls through on failure, exits nonzero without Done. when launchers exhaust.
  • Bytecode is not a release artifact (v7.140.0): tracked __pycache__/*.py[cod] forbidden; both injectors clean caches from installed trees before reporting success.
  • Shell predicates fail closed (v7.141.0): grep status 1 selects absence; statuses above 1 return focused failure. Managed skill paths removed as file, symlink, or directory.
  • Tag enumeration failures are not skips (v7.142.0): nonzero git tag -l v* is evidence loss, exits nonzero; only missing Git may SKIP loudly.
  • Portable LOG filtering propagates failure (v7.143.0): empty malformed-line set is success; read/filter errors exit nonzero before any PASS or completion.
  • Hooks resolve Bash for the Bash floor (v7.144.0): POSIX hook runs its no-Python floor through resolved bash; floor without Bash fails focused with a dependency message.
  • Crew launcher reports what happened (v7.145.0): Windows saipen_crew.bat reads launch statuses, stops on refusal, names the failed window, exits nonzero.
  • Re-authorization survives the next crash (v7.146.0): bare saipen goal writes DEC: goal reauthorized; § 1.5 counts from the newest marker; validator replays the rebuild, greps nothing.
  • A file that stops mid-line swallows the next write (v7.147.0): all 21 append targets must end on a line boundary; validator reads the last byte. 46/46 mutations hold.
  • One key to maintain, one to reach a remote (v7.148.0, historical assignment superseded): cc then meant saipen continue; current routes live only in RFC § 1.10.
  • The brake gets the short key (v7.149.0): ss = saipen stop; sss = saipen status — length is collision order, not cost.
  • Length rationale kept honest (v7.150.0, later tightened): key count has no global meaning; exact rows govern cost and routing.
  • A phase-named command carries the phase switch's duty (v7.151.0): phase-switching list derived from phase docs; saipen hunt checkpoints a claimed ticket; init excluded structurally.
  • A shortcut typed in Cyrillic is the same shortcut (v7.152.0): six current homoglyph twins normalize through the confusable set before matching; table stays Latin as canonical spelling.
  • Every shortcut can wake the protocol up (v7.153.0): SKILL.md frontmatter must equal the RFC table plus confusable mapping; validator rejects both halves of drift; 50/50 mutations.
  • Shortcuts belong at the front door (v7.154.0): README and guides surface cc/sss/ss near the opening and link to the canonical table; current callouts name 13 keys and six Cyrillic twins.
  • A no-op mutation is not evidence (v7.155.0): harness rejects every callable whose output equals its input; identity-mutation self-control keeps the guard capable of failing. 50 canonical mutations fire.
  • Device names and weak translations get guards (v7.156.0): root /nul cannot disable audit snapshots; 32 locale shortcut sources feed their mirrors and non-Core guides under exact parity checks. 52 canonical mutations fire.
  • One chat-language contract (v7.157.0): RFC/BOOT/STYLE/SKILL share explicit EE/EN/RU prose > clearly Russian repo for bare/ambiguous input > Estonian default; unsupported detected language bridges through English. Caveman-дед persists until an explicit off switch. 54 canonical mutations fire.
  • Ready packages and exact shortcut routes (v7.158.0): ee/qq prepare complete isolated translation/wiki handoffs; eee/qqq collect only fresh ready payloads through gates and push. All 13 routes are pinned, six Cyrillic twins wake the skill, and 59 canonical mutations fire.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/vacterro/saipen
cd saipen
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\bootstrap\inject.ps1     # Windows
bash bootstrap/inject.sh                                            # macOS / Linux

Paste to any agent: Read <clone>/saipen/BOOT.md first (cold-start kernel), then <clone>/saipen/RFC.md + <clone>/saipen/STYLE.md

Windows users: inject.sh now converts paths via cygpath -w under git bash / MSYS / Cygwin — no more dead paths in CLAUDE.md that no Windows agent can open (v7.100.0).

ДED Voice

"Без SAIPEN: открываешь проект через неделю — 'кто тут? что за код? где я остановился?' С SAIPEN: 'привет, продолжай, T-42 в DOING, verify не было, чини.' Один чтение — и работаешь. Никакого 'расскажи что ты делал'. Никакого 'дай контекст'. Просто STATE.md открыл — и всё понял."

GitHub | 32 locale guides | Changelog

SAIPEN v7.158.0 — One command. Zero dependencies. Zero amnesia. — MIT

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