Drift Counter
Cognitive drift counter. Archon self-assesses delivery complexity after each delivery and increments. Triggers a review when a threshold is reached.
Current Value
drift: 0
Rules
| Complexity | Definition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| trivial | Single-file change, config tweak, copy edit | +1 |
| small | 2-5 files, no new patterns introduced | +2 |
| medium | New module, new pattern, 5-10 files | +3 |
| large | New system, architecture change, cross-layer modification | +5 |
| fast-path | Qualified per soul/delivery.md §Delivery Fast-Path | +1 fixed (floors bypassed) |
Mechanical floors (applied per archon-demand §Close-Out step 4): the self-assessed score is max(self_assessment, floor). |
- ≥3 files changed → floor = small (+2)
- ≥6 files changed → floor = medium (+3)
- ≥10 files changed OR new module/pattern/dependency → floor = large (+5)
Review Tiering
Three thresholds release drift pressure at different cadences.
| Tier | Threshold | Trigger Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Light | drift ≥ 6 | Light review recommended before next medium/large demand · mechanical health audit only · releases 2-4 points |
| Full | drift ≥ 12 | Full review mandatory · includes reviewer sub-agent · resets to 0-3 |
| Emergency | drift ≥ 20 | Demand intake halted · full review + blindspot root-cause + forced remediation plan · resets to 0-3 with incident record |
Dynamic Threshold (Phase-Aware)
| Project Phase | Light | Full | Emergency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milestone start → 50% complete (build-intensive) | 8 | 15 | 22 |
| 50% → milestone close (balanced, default) | 6 | 12 | 20 |
| Milestone close ±1 week (quality convergence) | 4 | 8 | 14 |
| Active debt with deadline ≤7 days (repair bias) | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| The highest-severity matching condition wins. Inference happens during /archon routing (Step 0 drift precheck); no flags. |
Post-Review Reset
- Fully clear → reset to 0
- Residual concerns → set to 1-3 with explanation
- Emergency reset MUST log the systemic root cause
Log Format
- Captured:
Lx: asset name· multiple separated by, - Not captured:
— - Fast-path:
FP
Log Compression
Threshold: 70 hot-file lines. Keep this file as current value, tiering rules, archive index, and latest delivery rows. Strategy: Move older complete rows into .archon/drift/archive/<year>-Q<N>.md with keyword headers for on-demand recall. Cold archive files must keep their Rows archived: header equal to the number of archived delivery rows in their table.
Archive Index
| Archive | Period | Rows | Keywords | Load When |
|---|
Log
| Date | Delivery Summary | +Score | Crystallized | Total |
|---|