Explain: shorter answers, streamed, remembered, and prepared for settings
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ai-explain spec, amendment 1 (EX-22 to EX-28):
- answers are three or four sentences, max_tokens 160, cut at 700 chars;
- POST /api/explain streams the answer as server-sent events;
- each node remembers answers in memory (1,000, 24 h), keyed by the facts,
  prompt version and model, shared by server-level administrators;
- resources/explain/settings.json.gz ships answers for settings at their
  defaults, generated with prepare_setting_explanations (717 for 2026.9.27);
- the system prompt no longer carries the per-request marker, so a model
  server can reuse it;
- inbuxa:Explanation gains source, answeredAt and preparedFor.
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-26 16:11:43 -07:00
parent e50222d518
commit 7e7eca0883
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/*
* SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Coffey Labs
*
* SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
*/
//! Remembered and prepared answers (ai-explain spec, EX-24 to EX-27).
//!
//! A question is keyed by everything that decides its answer: the kind of
//! subject, the facts and reference notes the server built, and the prompts'
//! version, plus the model for answers a model gave just now. The same
//! question is then answered from memory instead of asking the model again.
//! Prepared answers, shipped with each release for settings at their
//! defaults, use the same key without the model.
//!
//! Nothing here is written anywhere: the memory is this node's, and a restart
//! forgets it (EX-10).
use super::{Facts, Kind, prompts::PROMPT_VERSION};
use serde::Deserialize;
use std::{
collections::HashMap,
sync::{Mutex, OnceLock},
time::{Duration, Instant},
};
/// The most answers a node remembers (EX-24).
pub const CAPACITY: usize = 1_000;
/// How long an answer is remembered (EX-24).
pub const TTL: Duration = Duration::from_secs(24 * 60 * 60);
/// The key a question is remembered by. `model` is the model's name and
/// entry id for a live answer, and empty for a prepared one (EX-26). The hash
/// is xxh3, so the same question gives the same key on every machine and in
/// every build, which is what lets a release ship prepared answers.
pub fn key(kind: Kind, facts: &Facts, model: &str) -> u64 {
// Separators that can't occur in labels, values or notes
let mut text = format!("v{PROMPT_VERSION}\u{1d}{}\u{1d}{model}\u{1d}", kind.as_str());
for (label, value) in &facts.lines {
text.push_str(label);
text.push('\u{1f}');
text.push_str(value);
text.push('\u{1e}');
}
text.push('\u{1d}');
for note in &facts.grounding {
text.push_str(note);
text.push('\u{1e}');
}
xxhash_rust::xxh3::xxh3_64(text.as_bytes())
}
/// A key as prepared answers write it: sixteen lowercase hex digits.
pub fn key_hex(key: u64) -> String {
format!("{key:016x}")
}
/// An answer this node gave, as remembered.
#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
pub struct Remembered {
pub text: String,
pub model: String,
pub node: String,
/// When the model gave it, seconds since the epoch.
pub answered_at: u64,
pub grounded: Vec<&'static str>,
}
struct Entry {
answer: Remembered,
stored: Instant,
used: u64,
}
/// A node's remembered answers: at most `CAPACITY`, the least recently used
/// going first, each for at most `TTL`.
pub struct Memory {
inner: Mutex<(HashMap<u64, Entry>, u64)>,
capacity: usize,
ttl: Duration,
}
impl Memory {
pub fn new(capacity: usize, ttl: Duration) -> Self {
Memory {
inner: Mutex::new((HashMap::new(), 0)),
capacity,
ttl,
}
}
/// This node's memory.
pub fn global() -> &'static Memory {
static MEMORY: OnceLock<Memory> = OnceLock::new();
MEMORY.get_or_init(|| Memory::new(CAPACITY, TTL))
}
pub fn get(&self, key: u64) -> Option<Remembered> {
self.get_at(key, Instant::now())
}
fn get_at(&self, key: u64, now: Instant) -> Option<Remembered> {
let mut guard = self.inner.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
let (map, clock) = &mut *guard;
let expired = map
.get(&key)
.is_some_and(|entry| now.saturating_duration_since(entry.stored) >= self.ttl);
if expired {
map.remove(&key);
return None;
}
*clock += 1;
let used = *clock;
map.get_mut(&key).map(|entry| {
entry.used = used;
entry.answer.clone()
})
}
pub fn put(&self, key: u64, answer: Remembered) {
self.put_at(key, answer, Instant::now());
}
fn put_at(&self, key: u64, answer: Remembered, now: Instant) {
if self.capacity == 0 {
return;
}
let mut guard = self.inner.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
let (map, clock) = &mut *guard;
*clock += 1;
let used = *clock;
if !map.contains_key(&key) && map.len() >= self.capacity {
// Expired first, then the least recently used
let ttl = self.ttl;
map.retain(|_, entry| now.saturating_duration_since(entry.stored) < ttl);
if map.len() >= self.capacity
&& let Some(oldest) = map
.iter()
.min_by_key(|(_, entry)| entry.used)
.map(|(key, _)| *key)
{
map.remove(&oldest);
}
}
map.insert(
key,
Entry {
answer,
stored: now,
used,
},
);
}
pub fn len(&self) -> usize {
self.inner.lock().map(|g| g.0.len()).unwrap_or(0)
}
pub fn is_empty(&self) -> bool {
self.len() == 0
}
}
/// Prepared answers shipped with a release (EX-26), read from
/// `resources/explain/settings.json.gz`.
#[derive(Debug, Clone, Default, Deserialize)]
pub struct Prepared {
/// The release they were prepared for.
#[serde(default)]
pub release: String,
/// The model that wrote them.
#[serde(default)]
pub model: String,
#[serde(default, rename = "promptVersion")]
pub prompt_version: u32,
/// Answers by `key_hex(key(kind, facts, ""))`.
#[serde(default)]
pub answers: HashMap<String, String>,
}
impl Prepared {
/// Reads the shipped file's JSON. Answers written for other prompts are
/// dropped, since their keys can't match anyway.
pub fn parse(json: &[u8]) -> Prepared {
let prepared: Prepared = serde_json::from_slice(json).unwrap_or_default();
if prepared.prompt_version == PROMPT_VERSION {
prepared
} else {
Prepared::default()
}
}
pub fn answer(&self, kind: Kind, facts: &Facts) -> Option<&str> {
self.answers
.get(&key_hex(key(kind, facts, "")))
.map(String::as_str)
}
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
use super::*;
fn facts(value: &str) -> Facts {
let mut facts = Facts::default();
facts.push("Setting", "x:Domain › DNS Management");
facts.push("Current value", value);
facts.ground("schemaDescription", "dnsManagement: how DNS is managed");
facts
}
fn answer(text: &str) -> Remembered {
Remembered {
text: text.into(),
model: "m".into(),
node: "n".into(),
answered_at: 1,
grounded: vec!["schemaDescription"],
}
}
#[test]
fn keys_follow_everything_that_decides_the_answer() {
let a = key(Kind::Setting, &facts("Manual"), "m@1");
assert_eq!(a, key(Kind::Setting, &facts("Manual"), "m@1"));
assert_ne!(a, key(Kind::Setting, &facts("Automatic"), "m@1"));
assert_ne!(a, key(Kind::Event, &facts("Manual"), "m@1"));
assert_ne!(a, key(Kind::Setting, &facts("Manual"), "other@1"));
assert_ne!(a, key(Kind::Setting, &facts("Manual"), ""));
// Stable across builds and machines: prepared answers depend on it
assert_eq!(key_hex(0xab), "00000000000000ab");
}
#[test]
fn remembers_and_forgets() {
let memory = Memory::new(2, Duration::from_secs(10));
let t0 = Instant::now();
memory.put_at(1, answer("one"), t0);
memory.put_at(2, answer("two"), t0);
assert_eq!(memory.get_at(1, t0).unwrap().text, "one");
// Full: the least recently used (2) goes
memory.put_at(3, answer("three"), t0);
assert!(memory.get_at(2, t0).is_none());
assert!(memory.get_at(1, t0).is_some() && memory.get_at(3, t0).is_some());
// Expired
assert!(memory.get_at(1, t0 + Duration::from_secs(10)).is_none());
}
#[test]
fn prepared_answers_match_only_their_prompts() {
let f = facts("Manual");
let json = format!(
r#"{{"release":"2026.9.27","model":"q","promptVersion":{PROMPT_VERSION},"answers":{{"{}":"Prepared."}}}}"#,
key_hex(key(Kind::Setting, &f, ""))
);
let prepared = Prepared::parse(json.as_bytes());
assert_eq!(prepared.answer(Kind::Setting, &f), Some("Prepared."));
assert_eq!(prepared.answer(Kind::Setting, &facts("Automatic")), None);
let old = json.replace(
&format!("\"promptVersion\":{PROMPT_VERSION}"),
"\"promptVersion\":1",
);
assert_eq!(Prepared::parse(old.as_bytes()).answer(Kind::Setting, &f), None);
assert!(Prepared::parse(b"not json").answers.is_empty());
}
}