Cognition-OS/docs/030-architecture-overview.md

Architecture overview

Cognition OS is layered:

Layer 0: Classic kernel

FreeBSD / Linux provides:

• process isolation
• memory protection
• basic resource controls
• device drivers
• confinement primitives (jails/namespaces)
• security primitives (Capsicum / seccomp+LSM)

Layer 0.5: Cognitive kernel (control plane)

A minimal trusted base that provides:

• identity + provenance hooks
• capability minting and enforcement boundaries
• budget enforcement hooks (time/compute/context/risk)
• isolation domain management
• event bus for intent + constraints

This can begin as a userland daemon, later optionally gaining kernel hooks.

Layer 1: Cognitive runtime (userland++)

Composable services:

• scheduler/router
• context manager
• memory services (working/episodic/semantic/symbolic)
• tool broker (sandboxed execution)
• policy engine (deterministic)

Layer 2: Workers

Replaceable modules:

• LLM inference worker(s)
• retrieval workers
• verification workers
• perception workers (future)

Invariants

• models do not directly invoke tools
• tool execution requires explicit capabilities
• provenance is produced for every side effect