nagent_review_v3.1 — Comparison Table

Date: 2026-06-20 Spec pair: spec_v3.1.md + plan_v3.1.md Companion: nagent_review_v3_1_report_20260620.md (the v3.1 thickened main review); decisions.md (v3.1 candidate list); nagent_takeaways_v3_1_20260620.md (bridge to v3 takeaways + sibling reviews); nagent_review_v3_20260619.md (the v3 main review, preserved unchanged per user directive 2026-06-20). Source: nagent v3.1 (a1f0680 on macton/nagent@main, 2026-06-18) + the two case-study repos at main (macton/pep-copt, macton/differentiable-collisions-optc).

Flat side-by-side reference. One row per v3.1 cluster + one row per v2.3 pattern that v3.1 updates. Verdicts and pitfalls are in nagent_review_v3_1_report_20260620.md.

File-naming note (user directive 2026-06-20). The v3.1 thickened content is in a NEW file (nagent_review_v3_1_report_20260620.md), not in nagent_review_v3_20260619.md (the v3 main review, which is preserved unchanged). The delta summary is nagent_review_v3_1_20260620.md. See metadata.json v3_1_file_separation field for the file structure.

Legend

Verdict values: PARITY (same shape), PARITY+ (Manual Slop is stronger), PARITY- (nagent is stronger), PARTIAL (one half, not the other), GAP (Manual Slop lacks the feature), ARCH-DIFF (different architecture, both correct in their domain), SUBSUMED (consumed by a follow-up track).
Domain tags: APP = Application domain, MT = Meta-Tooling domain, BOTH.
Cluster status: NEW (didn't exist at v3), UPDATE (extends v3 cluster).

v3.1 new sections

#	Section	nagent source	Manual Slop equivalent	Verdict	Status	Domain
12	YAML avoidance	nagent uses YAML for campaigns/distill/knowledge; user does NOT adopt	SUBSUMED (Manual Slop convention: markdown + custom DSL)	NEW	n/a	BOTH
13	Agent context-window observations	n/a (empirical findings from the user)	Manual Slop's `docs/` + `conductor/` markdown navigation is partial mitigation; agents frequently forget to read	GAP	NEW	BOTH
14	Fine-tuning observations	n/a (user interest + vendor notice)	Manual Slop could provide the curated dataset; vendor selection is separate	n/a (observation, not comparison)	NEW	n/a

v3 clusters (carried forward, thickened in v3.1)

#	Cluster	nagent source	Manual Slop equivalent	Verdict	Status	Domain
1	Campaigns	`24cf16d`, `199a36b`, `f3ec090`, `c1d2cad`, `6443d70`, `7a7e242`	`conductor/tracks/` is project-scoped but plan.md is not operable	PARTIAL	NEW	BOTH
2	Conversation safety net	`38d3d4f`, `6426a67`	No checkpoint/rebuild; no extracted-summary index	GAP	NEW	APP
3	Hooks	`a4fb141` + both case-study harnesses	Tier 4 QA error interception is analogous; no per-run hook	PARTIAL	NEW	BOTH
4	Project-local roots	`54c8741`, `557dd39`, `0b9d1a2`, `023e23a`	`conductor/tracks/` is already project-scoped; `[conductor].dir` per-project override	PARITY	NEW	BOTH
5	Provider expansion	`bdfa2a6`, `5075f6e`, `2edc7ee`	Manual Slop has 8 providers (per tech-stack.md); per-model context windows new	PARITY (DIFFERENT COUNT)	UPDATE	APP
6	Delegation rewrite	`d56f0f0`, `65787a6`, `315fe9e`	MMA WorkerPool disciplined; non-MMA recursion bug real	PARTIAL	UPDATE	APP
7	Robustness	`065168c`, `6b762da`, `12c35b7`, `49e07f3`	Manual Slop uses `Result[T]` discipline + audit scripts (per `conductor/code_styleguides/error_handling.md`)	ARCH-DIFF	UPDATE	BOTH
8	Operating rules	`a1f0680`	`conductor/code_styleguides/data_oriented_design.md` is derived from this file	PARITY (DERIVED)	UPDATE	BOTH
9	Case-study methodology	both case-study repos (cross-cutting)	No equivalent yet	GAP	NEW	BOTH
10	PEP case study	`macton/pep-copt`	n/a (empirical evidence for nagent, not Manual Slop)	n/a	NEW	n/a
11	Collisions case study	`macton/differentiable-collisions-optc`	n/a	n/a	NEW	n/a

v2.3 patterns updated by v3.1

#	v2.3 pattern	v3.1 update
1	Durable work, disposable workers	UPDATES: campaigns (§1) extend with explicit plan artifacts; v3.1 §13 notes that "different machine" (Q9) is a more radical form of "disposable"
3	Conversations are editable state	UPDATES: project-local roots (§4) make conversation state project-scoped; hooks (§3) per-turn observability; v3.1 §13 notes the per-turn hook as the structural mechanism for the cycle
4	Visible output protocol	(no update in v3.1)
5	The loop	UPDATES: safety net (§2) adds failure-recovery; robustness (§7) hardens 4 failure modes; hooks (§3) per-turn ground-truth; v3.1 §13 reframes the cycle as compact→re-warm→continue
6	Per-file memory	(no update in v3.1)
7	Repository history as data	UPDATES: project-local roots (§4) make `.nagent/` commit-able
8	Historical coupling & neighborhoods	(no update in v3.1)
9	Disposable sub-conversations	UPDATES: delegation rewrite (§6) fixes recursion bug + names two reasons
11	Large files as explicit artifacts	(no update in v3.1)
12	Tool discovery	(no update in v3.1)
13	Differences from frameworks	(no update in v3.1)
14	Build your own	(no update in v3.1)

Sibling-review cross-refs

Sibling	Section	Relationship
`fable_review_20260617`	Fable's analysis of Mythos system prompt	Comparator: "what a competitor's agent directives look like" vs. nagent's canonical operating rules; Fable's watch-dogging is the anti-pattern of nagent's data-grounded operating rules (§8)
`intent_dsl_survey_20260612`	Survey's Cluster 4 (meta-tooling DSLs) + Cluster 3 (intent-mapping) + Cluster 5 (SSDL shape primitives)	Parallel: the 4-prompt case-study methodology (§9) is implicitly an intent-DSL for "drive nagent at an optimization problem"; v3.1 §12 (YAML avoidance) cites the survey's Cluster 5 as the project's DSL primitive
`superpowers_review_20260619`	superpowers `brainstorming` skill	Process parallel: structured questions to refine an idea before implementation, same role as the case-study 4 prompts; v3.1 §12 (YAML avoidance) cites the superpowers review as the project's markdown-driven convention

Honest notes

The v3.1 verdict for "Provider expansion" is PARITY (DIFFERENT COUNT) — Manual Slop has 8 providers per tech-stack.md (the qwen_llama_grok track adds 3 more); nagent v3.1 has 6 providers. The count is independent of the abstraction (per-model context windows, billing isolation, ground-truth harness).
The "Conversation safety net" GAP is the highest-value v3 candidate — the 3-number config (checkpoint_interval_minutes, checkpoint_max_new_kb, rebuild_at_kb) + the sync-checkpoint invariant are concrete patterns Manual Slop can adopt.
The "Case-study methodology" GAP is the methodology-level insight; the per-case-study sections (§10, §11) are the empirical evidence.
The "YAML avoidance" SUBSUMED is a "do not adopt" flag, not a "must not exist" ban. The user can still read and parse YAML (e.g., when reading nagent's source); the avoidance is for new Manual Slop artifacts.
The "Agent context-window observations" GAP is the structural insight (warm-up + window + safe zone + cycle); the nagent --hook-per-run pattern is the structural mechanism that closes the gap.
The "Fine-tuning observations" is observational, not a comparison. Vendor analysis is a separate future track.
v3.1 candidates are in decisions.md; the bridge doc is nagent_takeaways_v3_1_20260620.md.

Format commitment: literal 7-column table

Symbol	Name	Signature	Semantics	Example	Borrowed from	Shape
§1	Campaigns	`nagent-campaign update {slug} [--dry-run]`	Run one bounded pass; merge worker results, check completion, gate decomposition, dispatch unblocked items; exit	`nagent-campaign update migrate-config --dry-run`	nagent `bin/nagent-campaign` (24cf16d)	[M] mutable aggregate (markdown + frontmatter, NOT YAML per §12)
§2	Safety net	`run_safety_net(conversation_file, root, llm, settings)`	Wall-clock cadence + burst guard for checkpoints; sync checkpoint first on rebuild; widen tail on writer failure	`checkpoint_interval_minutes: 60, checkpoint_max_new_kb: 256, rebuild_at_kb: 384`	nagent `bin/nagent:1455-1687` (38d3d4f)	[B] boundary (sync-checkpoint invariant)
§3	Hooks	`--hook-per-run CMD` + `--hook-per-file-edit CMD`	Run configured shell hook; inject exit code + stdout + stderr; CLI > config > disabled	`nagent --hook-per-run ./prove-optimized-harness.sh`	nagent `bin/nagent:1442-1484` (a4fb141)	[B] boundary (LLM failure surface)
§4	Project-local roots	`resolve_default_root(root_arg) -> Path`	Root in `{git-toplevel}/.nagent` inside repo, `~/.nagent` outside; 4-layer context (install → user → project → root) with once-per-directory dedup	`--root` overrides	nagent `bin/helpers/nagent_cli.py:36-44` (54c8741)	[S] string concatenation
§5	Provider expansion	`generate_text_with_usage(prompt, provider, model)`	6 providers; per-model `MODEL_CONTEXT_WINDOWS` verified table; rebuild on byte OR 0.85·window; Together always streamed	`provider="together", model="meta-llama/Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct-Turbo"`	nagent `bin/helpers/nagent_llm.py:13-19` (bdfa2a6)	[B] boundary (SDK call surface)
§6	Delegation rewrite	(no API; prompt-only)	Decompose or isolate, never offload; don't delegate a single small action whose result is no smaller than doing it yourself	"Context isolation is worth more the longer-lived your conversation is"	nagent `bin/nagent:666-673` + `:790-806` (65787a6)	[B] boundary (delegation is the model's call)
§7	Robustness	`dedupe_nodes(nodes) -> list[TagNode]`	Lenient parser extracts valid tags + records IgnoredSpans; dedupe collapses exact duplicates; per-conversation scratch dir	`dedupe_nodes([tag1, tag2, tag2_dup])`	nagent `bin/helpers/nagent_tags.py:248-265` (6b762da)	[I] inspectable transformation
§8	Operating rules	`simplify-pass(current_machine, data_shape) -> improvements`	9-question pass; Q9 = "different machine?" when plateau detected	`Q9: is there a different algorithm that fits the data better?`	nagent `context/data-oriented-design.md:151-164` (a1f0680)	[S] string of questions
§9	Case-study methodology	`case-study(input, model, target) -> result`	5-element pattern: 4 prompts + harness + log + freeze + subject; parameterizable match contract	`prompts/create-{reference,optimized-test-harness,optimized,visualizer}.md`	both case-study repos (cross-cutting)	[B] boundary (data-meets-measurement)
§10	PEP case study	(empirical)	2.04× speedup aggregate; byte-identity-strict; 24-image benchmark; 6 kept optimizations	`palette hash + block-prefix sums + early-abandon + ...`	`macton/pep-copt/src-optimized/OPTIMIZATION-LOG.md`	[B] boundary (case study as artifact)
§11	Collisions case study	(empirical)	101.06× committed; tolerance-based; 26+ iterations; 4 explicit REJECTED	`GJK/bisection + per-type SAT + analytic witness + ...`	`macton/differentiable-collisions-optc/src-optimized/OPTIMIZATION-LOG.md`	[B] boundary (case study as artifact)
§12	YAML avoidance	(do not adopt)	nagent uses YAML for campaigns/distill/knowledge; Manual Slop uses markdown + frontmatter (TOML precedent) + custom DSL (survey grammar + SSDL)	`+++ slug = "..." +++` TOML frontmatter + markdown body	user directive 2026-06-20; `intent_dsl_survey_20260612` Cluster 5; `superpowers_review_20260619`	[M] mutable aggregate (markdown+DSL, NOT YAML)
§13	Agent context-window observations	(empirical)	~100-150k warm-up; ~500k window (MiniMax M3); 250-350k safe zone; compact→re-warm→continue; nagent `--hook-per-run` is the structural mechanism	`--hook-per-run "cat conductor/workflow.md"`	user directive 2026-06-20; nagent §3 Hooks cluster	[B] boundary (per-turn ground-truth injection)
§14	Fine-tuning observations	(observational)	Current models bottlenecked by not having conventions baked in; curated dataset (Manual Slop's own tracks + styleguides); 6 prosumer vendors surveyed; vendor selection deferred	Together.ai, Fireworks.ai, OpenAI 4o-mini, Anthropic Haiku, Gemini Flash, local Unsloth	user directive 2026-06-20	n/a (observation, not comparison)

13 KiB Raw Blame History Unescape Escape