Conflict Resolution

Cortex automatically detects when new memories conflict with existing ones. Conflicts are resolved by authority or recency, with dissent retained.

How Conflicts Are Detected

When a new memory is written, Cortex:

1. Generates an embedding for the content
2. Searches for near-neighbours with similarity > 0.75
3. Classifies each neighbour as a potential conflict

graph LR
    A[New Memory] -->|embed| B[Vector Search]
    B -->|similarity > 0.75| C[Conflict Candidates]
    C -->|classify| D[Conflict Types]

Conflict Types

Resolution Strategy

Conflicts are resolved using authority-based rules:

Authority Hierarchy

Authority is the memory's author's clearance level (not their role):

Resolution Rules

1. contradiction — higher-level author wins, resolution: "authority". A Senior's memory supersedes a Contractor's even if the Contractor's is newer — a lower-authority author cannot override a fact by simply writing something more recent.
2. stale — the newer memory always wins, resolution: "recency", regardless of either author's level (it's an update, not a rank contest).
3. Same level, contradiction — newer memory wins (tie broken by recency).
4. Dissent retained — the loser is marked superseded, never deleted, and linked via supersedes so recall can flag "history available".

Conflict Data Structure

{
  "id": "uuid",
  "memory_a": "uuid",
  "memory_b": "uuid",
  "kind": "contradiction",
  "resolution": "authority",
  "winner": "uuid",
  "dissent_retained": true,
  "resolved_by": "uuid",
  "created_at": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}

Memory Lifecycle with Conflicts

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Active: remember()
    Active --> Superseded: Conflict resolved (lost)
    Active --> Active: Conflict resolved (won)
    Superseded --> [*]: Retained but not recalled

Example

{
  "memory_id": "new-uuid",
  "conflict_candidates": [
    {
      "memory_id": "old-uuid",
      "score": 0.82
    }
  ],
  "conflicts": [
    {
      "id": "conflict-uuid",
      "kind": "contradiction",
      "resolution": "authority",
      "winner": "new-uuid"
    }
  ]
}