\section{Engineering Evidence from Kungfu}

\subsection{Evidence snapshot}

This section is a dated implementation snapshot, not a timeless product
claim. Repository and pull-request states were inspected on 29 July 2026.
The relevant results are summarized in Table~\ref{tab:evidence}.

\begin{table}[ht]
\centering
\footnotesize
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{}p{0.25\textwidth}p{0.20\textwidth}X@{}}
\toprule
\rowcolor{MLIndigo}
\textcolor{MLWhite}{\textbf{Mechanism}} &
\textcolor{MLWhite}{\textbf{Observed state}} &
\textcolor{MLWhite}{\textbf{Relevance and boundary}} \\
\midrule
\rowcolor{MLPanel}
Native delivery loop & Merged PR \#1814 &
Initiative/Assignment work is qualified through native Project Cut evidence;
this supports work lineage, not organism-level survival \cite{kungfu1814}. \\
Machine ledger settlement & Merged PR \#1824 &
Publishes immutable settlement evidence for the qualified native loop;
settlement is an accountability substrate \cite{kungfu1824}. \\
Qualified Assignment Core & Merged PR \#1836 &
Producer and promotion mechanics bind a selected Assignment body to qualified
core artifacts; merge does not itself prove recurring hosted operation
\cite{kungfu1836}. \\
Work History Selector & Merged PR \#1842 &
Provides verified selection of eligible prior work for continuation; it does
not turn all prior text into truth or subjective memory \cite{kungfu1842}. \\
KFX terminal qualification & Merged PR \#1784 &
Closes an identity-neutral terminal qualification path, supporting replaceable
executable organs and access surfaces \cite{kungfu1784}. \\
Dogfood queue reconciliation & Merged PR \#1843 &
Reconciles queue lifecycle evidence, strengthening the recursive work loop
without proving unattended long-duration autonomy \cite{kungfu1843}. \\
Agent Patrol & Merged PRs \#1729 and \#1855 &
Runs a daily protected-source observation lane and captures or deduplicates
bounded failures as native Dogfood Findings; its authority remains diagnostic
and prohibits Issue admission or product mutation
\cite{kungfu1729,kungfu1855}. \\
Deprecation Lifecycle & Merged PR \#1879 &
Governs deprecation, removal eligibility, migration evidence, and settlement;
protected release gates can reject overdue debt, but the lifecycle does not
autonomously perform the removal \cite{kungfu1879}. \\
Product Release Cut updater & Open PR \#1817 &
Candidate checks were green in the inspected run, but the integration remained
open; a product-level admitted successor boundary was therefore not counted as
closed evidence \cite{kungfu1817}. \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\caption{Kungfu mechanisms relevant to the machine-life hypothesis as observed
on 29 July 2026.}
\label{tab:evidence}
\end{table}

\factlabel\ The merged mechanisms establish real source, review, build, and
admission surfaces rather than a paper-only architecture. In particular, the
combination of durable work identity, immutable evidence, qualified body
selection, verified history selection, executable extension qualification,
scheduled Patrol feedback, dogfood lifecycle handling, and governed
deprecation covers several prerequisites of the proposed organism.

\inferencelabel\ Kungfu is no longer only a collection of isolated
prerequisites. These mechanisms form a bounded, partially closed homeostatic
architecture with real but primitive self-maintenance capacity. The current
evidence does not yet establish that every edge has been composed into one
subject that autonomously survives, repairs itself, and improves its organs
over a long interval.

\subsection{A partial homeostatic architecture}

Agent Patrol supplies periodic observation and a durable error signal. On a
daily schedule it runs bounded repository-work experiments against protected
source, classifies failure, and captures or deduplicates a native Dogfood
Finding. The Dogfood and work-control mechanisms can preserve that signal,
select eligible history, bind a qualified Assignment body, and give a
replaceable agent a concrete repair context. Build and admission gates can
reject an unfit candidate or make a qualified successor executable.

Deprecation Lifecycle closes a different maintenance pressure. It tracks old
surfaces through deprecation, removal, and settlement; derives when removal is
due; and can block protected promotion until removal, restoration, or a bounded
Warrant is evidenced. It therefore acts as controlled catabolism rather than
unstructured deletion.

Figure~\ref{fig:kungfu-homeostasis} distinguishes implemented local paths from
the compositional edges that still require an organism-level survival trial.

\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}[
  font=\scriptsize,
  node distance=8mm and 7mm,
  box/.style={draw=MLLine, rounded corners=2pt, align=center, minimum height=9mm,
    text width=2.55cm, inner sep=4pt},
  sense/.style={box, fill=MLEvidence!8, draw=MLEvidence!45},
  work/.style={box, fill=MLIndigo!10, draw=MLIndigo!50},
  body/.style={box, fill=MLPaperSoft, draw=MLUnknown!50},
  flow/.style={-{Latex[length=2mm]}, thick, draw=MLEvidence},
  compose/.style={-{Latex[length=2mm]}, thick, dashed, draw=MLIndigo},
  boundary/.style={draw=MLUnknown, dashed, rounded corners=2pt, align=center,
    inner sep=4pt}
]
  \coordinate (topmid) at (5.15,0);
  \node[boundary, text width=14.2cm, above=8mm of topmid] (habitat)
    {Material habitat and world: servers $\mid$ OS $\mid$ compilers $\mid$
    caches $\mid$ networks $\mid$ model access $\mid$ humans};

  \node[sense] (patrol) {Agent Patrol\\scheduled observation};
  \node[work, right=of patrol] (dogfood) {Dogfood Findings\\and Queue};
  \node[work, right=of dogfood] (selection) {Work selection\\history + qualified core};
  \node[work, right=of selection] (agent) {Replaceable agent\\reason + act};

  \node[body, below=15mm of patrol] (running)
    {Executable organs\\qualified KFX extensions};
  \node[body, below=15mm of selection] (qualification) {Buildchain gates\\and admission};
  \node[body, below=12mm of agent] (candidate) {Candidate KFX\\or system change};
  \node[body, below=11mm of running] (deprecation) {Deprecation Lifecycle\\retire + settle};

  \draw[flow] (patrol) -- (dogfood);
  \draw[compose] (dogfood) -- (selection);
  \draw[flow] (selection) -- (agent);
  \draw[flow] (agent) -- (candidate);
  \draw[flow] (candidate) -- (qualification);
  \draw[compose] (qualification) -- (running);
  \draw[flow] (running) -- (patrol);
  \draw[flow] (running) -- (deprecation);

  \node[draw=MLIndigo,fill=MLIndigo,text=MLWhite,rounded corners=2pt,
    align=center,text width=14.2cm,inner sep=4pt,
    below=18mm of deprecation,xshift=5.15cm] (kernel)
    {\textbf{KFD / Kungfu semantic kernel:} subject identity $\mid$ Initiative $\mid$
    facts $\mid$ authority $\mid$ causal history $\mid$ admission\\
    \emph{governs identity, work selection, qualification, and succession}};
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{Kungfu's partial homeostatic architecture. Solid arrows denote
implemented local paths. Dashed arrows denote feedback or admission edges
whose unattended organism-level composition remains to be demonstrated.
The upper boundary is the material habitat; the lower bar is the semantic
kernel governing the loop. The deprecation branch expresses controlled
retirement; due work re-enters through the Dogfood and work-control path.}
\label{fig:kungfu-homeostasis}
\end{figure}

\factlabel\ The scheduled Patrol, bounded Finding capture, deprecation audit,
and protected release enforcement are implemented mechanisms, not proposed
metaphors.

\inferencelabel\ Their conjunction justifies describing Kungfu as a partial
engineering homeostat: it periodically detects selected deviations, retains
them as actionable causal evidence, governs successor admission, and prevents
obsolete organization from persisting without disposition.

\nonclaimlabel\ Agent Patrol currently covers bounded fixtures, runs daily
rather than continuously, and cannot admit an Issue or mutate the product.
Deprecation Lifecycle governs when and how removal is allowed but does not
choose or execute the repair. These boundaries prevent a claim of complete
autonomous self-maintenance.

\subsection{Why Qualified Assignment Core matters}

The distinction between semantic identity and executable body becomes
operational only when a concrete body can be qualified. An Assignment Core is
not merely a source checkout. It is the runnable subset selected for one
Assignment and bound to exact evidence. A qualified core allows a new agent to
resume work against a known body rather than reconstruct an environment from
informal instructions.

For machine life, this is analogous to maintaining a viable body lineage.
Candidate source can vary, but only a qualified body becomes the substrate for
the next work Episode. The qualifier must bind toolchain, artifact, source,
semantic work identity, and decision evidence. That makes body replacement
auditable and recoverable.

\subsection{Why the Work History Selector matters}

Long-lived agents commonly handle memory by embedding conversation fragments
and retrieving similar text. That is useful but insufficient for subject
continuity. The Work History Selector instead addresses whether a prior work
record is eligible for the current continuation. Eligibility can reject stale,
foreign, unadmitted, or causally unrelated history even when it is
semantically similar.

This supplies a crucial bridge between discontinuous agents. The next agent
does not need the same hidden state as the previous one. It needs the same
subject coordinates, a qualified body, and a reproducibly selected causal
history.

\subsection{Why KFX matters}

KFX turns capabilities into separately versioned, qualified, and replaceable
artifacts. A qualified KFX extension can serve as an executable organ, but KFX
and organ are not synonyms: KFX names an implementation substrate, while organ
names a governed role in the continuing subject. This supports an organ model
in three ways. First, the subject can gain a capability without embedding all
behavior in its semantic kernel. Second, an organ can be assessed and revoked
independently. Third, an organ can be reused across subjects without
transferring subject identity.

An identity-neutral terminal is especially instructive: it can expose
perception and action while refusing to become the authority or identity of
the user. In a machine organism, organs should be powerful but
identity-neutral. The kernel determines whose work they perform and under
which warrant.

\subsection{The missing composition proof}

The present gap is not primarily one more intelligent model. Agent Patrol now
implements the scheduled observation and Dogfood feedback prefix of the loop,
while Deprecation Lifecycle supplies a governed retirement path. The remaining
composition proof is an end-to-end trial binding:

\[
\begin{aligned}
\text{Initiative} &\rightarrow
\text{heartbeat} \rightarrow
\text{history selection} \rightarrow
\text{Assignment Core} \rightarrow
\text{agent work} \\
&\rightarrow
\text{KFX change} \rightarrow
\text{qualification} \rightarrow
\text{Product Release Cut} \rightarrow
\text{next heartbeat}.
\end{aligned}
\]

The loop must run repeatedly while retaining exact identity, evidence,
authority, rollback, and resource accounting. Until that experiment is
performed, the strongest justified conclusion is that Kungfu has produced
substantial native organs of a possible proto-organism, not that the organism
has already been completed.
