Fragment 1 · Wave 1

Wave 1 · The template

Two records are added at the door: a listener and a doer. The machine reads them and sets itself up. Nothing else happens yet.

In this wave

1. 1A wave beginsSETTLING · enter-settle

   a wave is settlingengine: at the endmembrane: at the end

   1. ·end of the logenginemembrane

   What	before		after
   a wave is settling	no	→	yes

   Something has come to the door, so the runtime starts a wave: from now until the machine is quiet, it reacts. It runs one wave at a time.

   Where it happens markSettling()Vol. 02 §4.6 · Vol. 02 §4.7

   Marks the start and the end of a wave. The runtime settles one wave at a time.

   Specification

   Vol. 02 §4.6 · Vol. 02 §4.7

   Code

   markSettling() in core/registers/mark-settling.ts, line 16: the runtime notes whether a wave is settling

   Journal

   SETTLING · enter-settle · by runtime

   Picture

   a wave is settling: no → yes

   1. 1// SETTLING latch (Vol. 02 §4.6): one settling wave at a time — a second
   2. 2// concurrent settle is a caller error, not a queue. Ephemeral stratum: the
   3. 3// latch never survives into a snapshot; extraction asserts it clear.
   4. 4// Entering a wave also rewinds the discharge slot sequence: slot ids are
   5. 5// wave-local (the table is drained between waves and ids never reach the
   6. 6// log), which keeps the journal byte-identical across a snapshot/restore —
   7. 7// unlike INTENT.CTR, which the spec pins as never-reset (Vol. 02 §4.7).
   8. 8
   9. 9import type { RegisterFile } from "./register-file";
   10. 10import { recordTransition } from "./record-transition";
   11. 11
   12. 12export function markSettling(file: RegisterFile, settling: boolean): void {
   13. 13 if (settling && file.ephemeral.settling) {
   14. 14 throw new Error("A wave is already settling; the runtime handles one wave at a time.");
   15. 15 }
   16. 16 file.ephemeral.settling = settling;↑ the runtime notes whether a wave is settling
   17. 17 if (settling) file.ephemeral.nextDischargeId = 0;
   18. 18 recordTransition(file, "runtime", "SETTLING", settling ? "enter-settle" : "leave-settle");↑ the change is written into the journal
   19. 19}

   AGPL-3.0-onlyThe Lab's demonstration environment, as this fragment ran it (build 043cc8b). The code may change, and may differ from the code of a working machine.

   Nest VM core, incubated in the CoAgnes garden · build 043cc8b (2026-09-21) · this file last changed in f36e70d (2026-08-18)

2. written by a person#0 · a listener is described→
3. written by a person#1 · a doer is described→
4. 11The wave endsSETTLING · leave-settle

   quietengine: at the endmembrane: at the end

   1. #0a listener
   2. #1a doer
   3. ·end of the logenginemembrane

   What	before		after
   a wave is settling	yes	→	no

   Nothing is left to take and nothing is waiting outside, so the wave ends. The machine is quiet: it knows one listener and one doer.

   Where it happens markSettling()Vol. 02 §4.6 · Vol. 02 §4.7

   Marks the start and the end of a wave. The runtime settles one wave at a time.

   Specification

   Vol. 02 §4.6 · Vol. 02 §4.7

   Code

   markSettling() in core/registers/mark-settling.ts, line 16: the runtime notes whether a wave is settling

   Journal

   SETTLING · leave-settle · by runtime

   Picture

   a wave is settling: yes → no

   1. 1// SETTLING latch (Vol. 02 §4.6): one settling wave at a time — a second
   2. 2// concurrent settle is a caller error, not a queue. Ephemeral stratum: the
   3. 3// latch never survives into a snapshot; extraction asserts it clear.
   4. 4// Entering a wave also rewinds the discharge slot sequence: slot ids are
   5. 5// wave-local (the table is drained between waves and ids never reach the
   6. 6// log), which keeps the journal byte-identical across a snapshot/restore —
   7. 7// unlike INTENT.CTR, which the spec pins as never-reset (Vol. 02 §4.7).
   8. 8
   9. 9import type { RegisterFile } from "./register-file";
   10. 10import { recordTransition } from "./record-transition";
   11. 11
   12. 12export function markSettling(file: RegisterFile, settling: boolean): void {
   13. 13 if (settling && file.ephemeral.settling) {
   14. 14 throw new Error("A wave is already settling; the runtime handles one wave at a time.");
   15. 15 }
   16. 16 file.ephemeral.settling = settling;↑ the runtime notes whether a wave is settling
   17. 17 if (settling) file.ephemeral.nextDischargeId = 0;
   18. 18 recordTransition(file, "runtime", "SETTLING", settling ? "enter-settle" : "leave-settle");↑ the change is written into the journal
   19. 19}

   AGPL-3.0-onlyThe Lab's demonstration environment, as this fragment ran it (build 043cc8b). The code may change, and may differ from the code of a working machine.

   Nest VM core, incubated in the CoAgnes garden · build 043cc8b (2026-09-21) · this file last changed in f36e70d (2026-08-18)

At the end of the wave The machine now has one listener and one doer, both waiting.