Encoding loop (CB-008)
Ven’s meaning-moves — what he says, what he ratifies, what he rejects — become substrate that outlives the moment: memos, F- invariants, CB-*, foundations. The encoding loop is the closed circuit from ephemeral conversation to durable record back to the agent’s behavior.
Where named
CB-008 in coo/identity_layer.md.
Detail
The loop has three legs. (1) The BDFL says or does something — ratifies a memo, rejects a draft, narrows a claim. (2) The agent encodes it: a memo binding future sessions, an F-invariant the integrity check verifies, a CB-* in the identity layer. (3) The encoding shapes the next session, which boots into the substrate and reads what was encoded.
What CB-008 names is that this loop is the primary mechanism by which Ven’s intent becomes the agent’s behavior across discontinuity. Without the loop, the agent forgets between sessions and Ven has to re-explain. With it, a meaning-move made once binds indefinitely, subject only to revision via the same loop.
The loop also runs the other way — agent observations and proposals enter the substrate and shape Ven’s next move — but CB-008 emphasizes the encoding direction.