EchoLattice

EchoLattice is a deterministic, bounded recursion engine designed to study and control recursive symbolic processes in language-model-driven systems. It provides explicit mechanisms for recursion limiting, grounding, benchmarking, and aggregate-only governance signaling.

The project is intended as a reference implementation for researchers and engineers exploring safe recursion, symbolic interruption, and reproducible evaluation of recursive behavior. It is dependency-free (Python standard library only) and emphasizes auditability, determinism, and clarity over performance or productization.

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Core Concepts

Bounded Recursion

EchoLattice constructs recursive symbolic graphs (lattices) while enforcing strict bounds on:

• depth
• branching
• transform reuse
• repetition patterns

This prevents runaway recursion and enables controlled experimentation.

Grounding / Interruption

Each recursive run is designed to terminate with at most one Ground node:

• a small, concrete, non-escalatory action
• deterministic under fixed inputs
• treated as a structural closure, not an interpretation

Grounding acts as a recursion interrupt, ensuring closure without adjudicating meaning or intent.

Determinism & Reproducibility

Given the same:

• seed
• configuration
• RNG seed

EchoLattice produces identical graphs, metrics, and selected Ground paths. This property is enforced and verified through benchmarking and regression tooling.

Aggregate-Only Governance Signals

EchoLattice emits numeric, aggregate metrics only, such as:

• loopiness indicators
• nesting depth
• deduplication ratios
• novelty-to-ground scores

No raw text, prompts, or user data are used in governance decisions.

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Repository Structure

Key components include:

• echolattice.py Core recursion engine, transform logic, grounding rules, and CLI interface.

• governance_policy.py Aggregate-only policy evaluation layer that maps stability metrics to advisory actions (e.g. CONTINUE, PRUNE, GROUND_NOW). This layer does not inspect text or memory.

• tests/ Unit tests for governance policy determinism and bounds.

• tools/verify_benchmark.py Verification script to ensure benchmark outputs conform to schema and expectations.

• docs/ Design notes, schema documentation, and instability pathway explanations.

• Example artifacts

  • lattice replay JSON
  • benchmark summaries
  • schema definitions

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Benchmarking

EchoLattice includes a built-in benchmarking mode to evaluate recursion behavior under different configurations.

Running Benchmarks

python echolattice.py --benchmark

This produces:

• bench_results.jsonl — machine-readable benchmark records
• bench_summary.md — human-readable summary and highlights

Benchmarks compare:

• novelty disabled vs. thresholded novelty
• loop suppression effectiveness
• grounding reachability
• determinism across runs

Verification

python tools/verify_benchmark.py

The verifier checks:

• required metrics are present
• schemas are respected
• policy outputs are recorded
• determinism invariants hold

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Governance & Safety Model

EchoLattice intentionally separates measurement from decision-making.

• The engine measures recursion properties.
• The policy layer evaluates aggregate metrics.
• No enforcement or interpretation is performed.

Outputs are advisory and recorded for auditability.

This design supports public transparency while avoiding:

• identity inference
• psychological claims
• private data handling
• hidden control logic

Policy outputs are:

• stored in benchmark artifacts
• summarized in human-readable form
• reduced to pointers in CLI output

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Lattice Replay & ARC Gating

EchoLattice supports replay and analysis of completed lattices, including:

• node and edge structure
• transform distribution
• grounding paths

ARC-style gating is used to:

• suppress redundant probes
• limit transform stacking
• prevent recursive amplification of identical patterns

These mechanisms are structural, not semantic.

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Status & Scope

EchoLattice is a research and engineering reference implementation.

It is:

• suitable for experimentation
• suitable for auditing and demonstration
• intentionally minimal

It is not:

• a production agent
• a clinical or diagnostic system
• a memory or identity framework

Future extensions are expected to occur in downstream systems that consume EchoLattice outputs, not inside the core engine.

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Safety Notice

EchoLattice is not a medical device and is not intended for clinical use.

If a user is distressed, sleeping poorly, feeling out of control, escalating in fear or anger, or making threats: pause usage and seek professional help.