Spark RSI is a native Rust engine that tries to improve a code repository on its own. It observes the target, asks a model for small improvement proposals, tests each one in a sandbox copy, and hands a human a review branch. It never commits to the target's default branch. The model is any OpenAI-style chat completions endpoint (the local model seat), given with --model-url and --model-id. Some defaults are specific to the DGX Spark: the model endpoint http://127.0.0.1:18006/v1, the model name atlas-lightning-omni and the Cortex memory service http://127.0.0.1:18080 (defaults in src/main.rs).
Spark RSI is an attachment of Aienix, the core tree of AIEN. It lives in its own repository and plugs into the core at a boundary. Related repositories:
- aien-dev/aien-protocols-mv: the protocol crates this repository builds against (
aien-protocol-types,aien-evaluation-protocol,aien-probe). - aien-dev/aien-architecture-mv: the AIEN plans and decisions, including the release ruling quoted below.
- aien-dev/aien-sovereign-core-mv: the Spark test pipeline (
tools/aien-test,tools/aien-local-ci) that judges every pull request here. - aien-dev/aien-receipts: where the signed test bundles for this repository are published.
Status (2026-10-19): pre-alpha, not part of the WHOLE-SYSTEM-E2E v1 release. This is Drake's ruling 4 of 2026-10-10 (INTEGRATION_PLAN.md, section 6): development and evaluation continue independently, with no unattended self-modification and no automatic promotion.
- The daemon's promotion gate requires a version 2 receipt from a separate judge (docs/RECEIPT-V2.md) and refuses every candidate its own in-process judge evaluated.
- The last feature work merged on 2026-10-12 (pull requests #44, #48 and #51): supervisor-verified canary evidence, measured stage timings, version 2 receipts from the CLI, and ledger signing keys kept off the command line. The plan is docs/plans/2026-10-12-evidence-driven-rsi-cut.md.
- Changes since then: Modular MAX, Mojo and Python were removed (2026-10-15, #55 and #56). Testing moved to AIEN's Spark pipeline (2026-10-16, #58). The build jail now finds a Rust toolchain outside the home directory, and rustls moved to 0.23.46 for four security advisories (2026-10-18, #60). The hosted GitHub test workflows were deleted (2026-10-18, #62).
- Open tracking issues: #54 (qualify one independent version 2 evaluation and review-branch cycle, for release tracking issue arch#190) and #57 (use generalization evidence as a testable RSI hypothesis, without automatic promotion).
Copyright (c) 2026 Drake Stapleton [email protected] and AIEN Contributors. Authored by Drake Stapleton in collaboration with AIEN.
Spark RSI is not a standalone checkout. It depends on the protocol crates by path (Cargo.toml), so aien-protocols-mv must be cloned next to it under the name aien-protocols:
git clone https://github.com/aien-dev/spark-rsi-mv spark-rsi
git clone https://github.com/aien-dev/aien-protocols-mv aien-protocols
cd spark-rsi
cargo build --locked
cargo test --locked -- --test-threads=1This builds three programs: spark-rsi (the main command line), spark-rsi-supervisor (the host supervisor that runs candidate workers) and spark-rsi-judge (the separate judge that writes evaluation receipts). Run any of them with --help to see its options.
The build jail runs bwrap (bubblewrap), which must be installed on the machine that runs the tests. Every jail that runs cargo finds the Rust toolchain the way cargo and rustup do: CARGO_HOME and RUSTUP_HOME when set (else $HOME/.cargo and $HOME/.rustup), plus the PATH directory holding cargo. It binds those directories read-only inside the jail and sets the same variables there, so a host whose toolchain lives outside the home directory (the Spark judge keeps it in /var/lib/aien-run/cargo and /var/lib/aien-run/rustup) still builds candidates. A directory that is or holds the judge's home is never exposed (src/isolation/cargo_sandbox.rs). The balance kernel is native Rust (src/balance.rs); it needs no extra toolchain.
The DGX Spark is the only test judge for this repository. Since 2026-10-16 it runs the gates in tests/gates/ on every pull request, and since 2026-10-18 there are no hosted GitHub workflows that build or test this code (#62). The one required check on main is AIEN Verification (.github/workflows/aien-verification.yml). It does not build the code; it checks the signed bundle the Spark published to aien-dev/aien-receipts.
The gates, all run through tests/gates/run.sh <step>:
| Gate | Step | What it runs |
|---|---|---|
CRUMB-VERIFY |
crumb-verify |
crumb verify . (every commit) |
RSI-ZERO-DISK-SECRETS |
zero-disk-secrets |
refuses any .env file (every commit) |
RSI-FMT |
fmt |
cargo fmt --all -- --check |
RSI-CHECK |
check |
cargo check --locked --all-targets |
RSI-TEST |
test |
release build, then cargo test --locked --verbose -- --test-threads=1 |
The first two are listed in .aien/always and run on every commit. The others run when their input files change. How a pull request gets merged is in docs/PIPELINE.md.
spark-rsi judge writes a version 2 receipt whenever an evaluation policy is configured, with --policy-file or RSI_JUDGE_POLICY_FILE. A policy requires --subject-path (the one file the receipt binds) and normally --executable. A malformed policy, or a policy without a subject, is refused rather than downgraded. Without a policy the judge writes a version 1 receipt, which is history only and never promotes. spark-rsi cycle and spark-rsi daemon take the promotion gate's pins as --judge-policy-file / RSI_JUDGE_POLICY_FILE and --judge-public-key / RSI_JUDGE_PUBLIC_KEY, and refuse malformed pins at startup.
Create or update your local operator profile. With no flags, init saves the values already in the file, or the defaults when there is no file. It does not ask questions:
spark-rsi initTo set values, give them as flags (--name, --email, --mode as local (the local model seat) or api, --api-url, --model-id):
spark-rsi init \
--name "Your Name" \
--email "[email protected]" \
--mode "local" \
--model-id "nvidia/NVIDIA-Nemotron-3.5-Lightning-30B-A3B-BF16"The profile is saved to ~/.config/sovereign/operator.toml (set SOVEREIGN_CONFIG_PATH to use another file). The commit on the review branch and the ratification record use the name and email you set here.
The saved engine settings (mode, api_base_url, model_id) are shown by spark-rsi profile but are not read by cycle, daemon or soak. Those commands take the model endpoint from --model-url and --model-id, and send no API key.
spark-rsi cycle runs one cycle; spark-rsi daemon runs them in a loop.
- Observe: reads the git branch and uncommitted files, the number of
.crumband.crumb.localfiles, whethercargo checkpasses, and a drive/humanity term count (soul tension) fromsoul.md,docs/PHILOSOPHY.mdandREADME.md(src/observe.rs). - Propose: asks the model for small improvement proposals and applies each in an isolated sandbox copy of the target tree (
/tmp/spark-rsi-sandbox/forcycleanddaemon). - Verify: checks the unslop writing standard, refuses plaintext secrets on disk, and runs
cargo checkandcargo test. - Balance: scores drive against humanity with the native Rust balance kernel (
src/balance.rs, CPU only). - Ratify: never commits to the target's default branch. It builds the candidate commit off to the side and runs the protected-file checks on the real git diff (path normalization;
.., symlinks, submodules, deletions and anything outside the declaredratify_rootsrefused). Then it creates a review branchrsi/<proposal id>and a patch ready for a pull request under<rsi_root>/patches/. A human opens and merges the pull request.
- evidence/rsi-cut-2026-10-12/REPORT.md: two real cycles on the DGX Spark against the fixture target on 2026-10-12, one correct and one with a wrong answer, with every raw file. It qualifies the canary mechanism only, not self-improvement.
- evidence/dual/receipt.md: the DUAL diagnostic price reader (diagnostic only, no authority).
- fixtures/canary-target/: the small worker used as the first canary target.
examples/canary_qualification.rsruns one cycle against it. - docs/CANARY-CONTRACT.md: how the supervisor drives and checks canary requests.
- docs/RECEIPT-V2.md: the version 2 evaluation receipt.
- CONTEXT.md: the glossary of terms used in the code and docs.
- docs/PHILOSOPHY.md: the programming philosophy.
Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0-or-later). See LICENSE. Project values live in the nonbinding COVENANT.md, which grants and restricts no legal rights.
All downstream distributions, derivative works and commercial deployments are governed only by the terms of LICENSE. CONSTITUTION.md is the internal architecture charter and development doctrine for upstream engineering.