Architecture

the-brain implements a 3-layer cognitive architecture inspired by human memory.

Data Flow

Harvesters (Cursor IDE, Claude Code, Windsurf)
  ↓
⚡ INSTANT — Graph Memory (immediate corrections)
  ↓
⚖️ SELECTION — SPM Curator (filters noise)
  ↓
🌌 DEEP — MLX LoRA Training (overnight consolidation)

Design Principles

Local-First: Data never leaves your machine. Local SQLite, local MLX training.

Pluggable Architecture: Core is an empty data bus. Everything — harvesters, memory modules, trainers — is a swappable plugin via definePlugin().

Selection over Accumulation: The system actively rejects redundant information. SPM (Surprise-Gated Prediction Error) learns only from what surprises you.

Ambient UX: Zero-effort background daemon. No manual input required.

Database

Three core tables via Drizzle ORM + bun:sqlite:

• memories — harvested interactions with metadata
• graph_nodes — relational memory nodes (Layer 1)
• sessions — session tracking across IDE instances

Plugin Lifecycle

1. Plugin defined via definePlugin({ name, setup })
2. setup(hooks) registers on hook events
3. PluginManager loads from config
4. Hooks fire in registration order
5. Hot-swappable without restart