@cartisien/cogito

Agent identity, lifecycle management, and belief revision.

Part of the Cartisien Memory Suite — res cogitans to Engram's trace and Extensa's res extensa.

What is Cogito?

Cogito is the lifecycle and identity layer for AI agents. While Engram handles memory storage and retrieval, Cogito manages who the agent is and when it's running:

• Identity — stable agent ID, persona configuration, and session context
• Lifecycle — wake() / sleep() protocol with session boundary tracking
• Belief revision — structured certainty management across the agent's memory
• Wake briefing — synthesize relevant context from Engram on startup
• Sleep digest — summarize the session and commit important decisions before shutdown

import { Cogito } from '@cartisien/cogito';
import { Engram } from '@cartisien/engram';

const memory = new Engram({ adapter: 'sqlite', connectionString: './agent.db', agentId: 'my-agent' });
const agent  = new Cogito({ agentId: 'my-agent', memory });

// On startup
const briefing = await agent.wake();
// → "Last session: 2h ago. 3 unresolved tasks. User preference updated: dark mode."

// ... agent runs ...

// On shutdown
await agent.sleep({ summary: 'Completed refactor. Deferred auth ticket to tomorrow.' });

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Agent Application           │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                     │
┌────────────────────▼────────────────────┐
│              Cogito                      │
│  wake() · sleep() · identify()          │
│  reinforce() · contradict() · reflect() │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────┘
                     │
┌────────────────────▼────────────────────┐
│              Engram                      │
│  store() · recall() · consolidate()     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

API (v0.2 — coming soon)

new Cogito(config)

const agent = new Cogito({
  agentId: 'my-agent',      // stable identity key
  memory: engramInstance,   // Engram instance
  persona?: string,         // optional system prompt / personality
  ollamaUrl?: string,       // local LLM for briefing synthesis
});

wake(): Promise<WakeBriefing>

Initialize the agent, load recent context from Engram, and return a briefing summary.

sleep(options?): Promise<void>

Summarize the session, store a session-digest memory, and close connections cleanly.

reflect(query): Promise<string>

Synthesize insights across retrieved memories before a task.

Belief Revision

await agent.reinforce(memoryId);   // confirm a belief
await agent.contradict(memoryId);  // challenge a belief
await agent.invalidate(memoryId);  // supersede a belief

The Cartisien Memory Suite

| Package | Role | Status | |---------|------|--------| | @cartisien/engram | Persistent memory | ✅ Stable | | @cartisien/cogito | Agent lifecycle & identity | 🔧 In development | | @cartisien/extensa | Vector infrastructure | 🔧 In development |

"Res cogitans meets res extensa."

Research

This package is part of the Cartisien Memory Suite described in:

Cartisien. (2026). Engram: A Local-First Persistent Memory Architecture for Conversational AI Agents. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18988892

License

MIT © Cartisien