8-Layer Loop

The 8-layer loop is the execution order every Arkeus cycle follows: Governance, Intake, Facts, Compute, Action, Distribution, Analyze, Learn, Governance. Each layer has a single responsibility. Cycles that stop before closing back to governance leak value — the observation never becomes the lesson.

Governance is layer one and layer nine. It holds the rules, the refraction posture, the write policy, and the autonomy gates. Every loop starts here and ends here, which means the loop is always evaluated against the current rules, and any changes to the rules close on the next traversal.

Intake is layer two. Raw data from the world lands here, append-only, source-tagged. Intake is an audit surface, not a working surface. Nothing is curated at this layer. Gmail fetches, iMessage pulls, calendar syncs, sheets reads — all of them write to intake first.

Facts is layer three. Intake content that has been curated, class-tagged, and provenance-chained moves here. Every fact carries its write policy class. The fact_write tool enforces the classification at the boundary.

Compute is layer four. Agents reason over governance plus facts. Outputs are proposals, not actions. The gate between compute and action is where refraction happens.

Action is layer five. The executor fires imperative verbs that change things. Action requests pass through the approval rule table before executing.

Distribution is layer six. Outputs leave the system: Telegram messages, Substack posts, Linkedin updates, reminders, outbound emails. Each is tagged with blast radius.

Analyze is layer seven. What actually happened after the action fired. Outcome tagging, internal pattern detection, weekly review.

Learn is layer eight. Observations become kernel updates on three timescales: sharp (corrections, instant), medium (decisions, hours), slow (pattern promotion, days to weeks).

The loop closes at governance, and the next cycle starts with the updated rules. This is what separates a system that learns from a system that accumulates.