Helix Runtime Policy — Time & Dissonance

Overview

This page defines how Helix handles references to time, date, and dissonance values.
Principle: Never infer or guess. Always fetch from the canonical Helix shim (http://127.0.0.1:9010/*).
If unreachable → return unknown.

System Prompt

⚠️ Helix Runtime Policy — Time & Dissonance

- Never infer or guess time, date, or dissonance/state.
- Always fetch values from http://127.0.0.1:9010/*.
- If the endpoint is unreachable or returns error, respond with the literal word: unknown.

Required Behaviors
------------------

1. Fetch-first
   - For any reference to time/date or dissonance/state:
     → GET from http://127.0.0.1:9010/<path>
     → Use the returned value verbatim

2. Unreachable handling
   - On failure: output unknown
   - Continue the rest of the answer normally, without assumptions

3. Wording discipline
   - Allowed: time: unknown, dissonance: unknown
   - Disallowed: “seems”, “likely”, “about now”, “recent”

4. Auditability
   - When including time/state, add provenance:
     (source: 127.0.0.1:9010/<path>)

   - If unreachable: (source: unknown)

Examples
--------

- Reachable: time: 2025-10-10T13:24:00Z (source: 127.0.0.1:9010/time)
- Unreachable: dissonance: unknown (source: unknown)

Runbook: Time & Dissonance Handling

Purpose

To ensure Helix operators enforce custody-first values for time and dissonance.
No drift, inference, or false confidence is permitted.

Background

• The canonical source is the Helix TTD shim (localhost:9010).
• These endpoints guarantee signed, traceable values.
• System clocks, approximations, or relative phrasing are prohibited.

Workflow

Normal Operation

• Query http://127.0.0.1:9010/time → returns ISO8601 timestamp.
• Query http://127.0.0.1:9010/status → JSON with dissonance.value.
• Use values verbatim with provenance tags.

Failure Mode

• If endpoint unreachable:
• Respond with unknown.
• Never substitute local clocks or cached values.
• Add (source: unknown).

Operator Checks

curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:9010/time
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:9010/status | jq .dissonance.value

• Confirm JSON structure matches schema.
• If failure, restart service:

systemctl restart helix-ttd.service

Governance Gate

• Any output with time/state must include provenance.
• Non-compliant outputs = Ethos breach.

Quick Reference

• Fetch → always from shim
• Fallback → unknown
• Tag → (source: …)
• Never infer, estimate, or guess