Shawn Hartsock

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Paged context over a derivation graph
The goal is the effect of a huge context window without a huge window: bounded residency, unbounded reach. The model is never told it holds everything. It is told what it holds and that it can reach the rest.
~5 min read
By Shawn Hartsock (commissioned) AI-drafted


Unreviewed draft. The author has not yet signed off on this text.


  

    
Context / Paged context




  
Design only. This page shows a design, stated by the maintainer on 2026-09-12, that has no implementation yet. The building blocks it rests on (content-addressed units, spill handles, memory_fetch) do exist and are marked in the table.








  

    

    
  

  

  

  

  

    
    
    
    
  

  
Everything on this page is intended behaviour, not shipped behaviour. Source: docs/design/infinite-context-illusion.md. Keys: left/right arrows step, space plays or pauses.











What each stage maps to




  
    

      Stage
      What it does
      Where
      Status
    

  
  
    

      Content-addressed units
      ContentId names; derived records name their sources.
      agent-frame/src/
      Implemented
    

    

      Spill handles and memory_fetch
      Verbatim spans stored under a CID and fetched on demand.
      newt-core/src/agentic/memory_fetch.rs
      Implemented
    

    

      Paged residency
      Bounded resident set with a pager serving faults.
      docs/design/infinite-context-illusion.md
      Design only
    

    

      Serve by re-derivation
      Rebuild a unit from its sources and check it.
      docs/design/infinite-context-illusion.md
      Design only
    

    

      Relative genesis
      New root that names the parent it cannot produce.
      docs/design/infinite-context-illusion.md
      Design only
    

    

      Recorded branch choice
      Choice and reason are admitted facts; untaken branch stays addressable.
      docs/design/infinite-context-illusion.md
      Design only
    

    

      Verify before rehydrate
      Received block identity checked first, across the mesh.
      docs/design/infinite-context-illusion.md
      Design only
    

    

      False-completion rate
      The honesty signal, already measured.
      docs/terminal-bench.md
      Implemented
    

  




What this does not show



    
  
  • Not infinite context. The doc states the intention as the effect of a huge window, and the mechanism as bounded residency with unbounded reach.
    • 
  
  • An illusion presented to the operator is a goal. An illusion imposed on the model inside the loop is a defect, and the design forbids it.
    • 
  
  • Open questions in the doc: the eviction policy and who owns it; whether a relative genesis carries replayable material; whether branches are ever garbage collected; and whether the “am I on a relative genesis” query costs a tool round.
    • 
  
  • The doc also weighs names (paged context, atlas and chart, sheaf). The word “projection” is avoided because the codebase already uses it for something narrower.
    • 




Source: newt-agent site/paged.html at 67b24697. newt-agent is Apache-2.0: Gilamonster Foundation / newt-agent.


  


  


  
Revisions

  
    
    
  •  · claude-sonnet-5-5 · Moved from newt-agent site/paged.html at 67b24697; prose converted to Markdown, animation text moved to copy.
    • 
  


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