PACT 0.4.0 adds compound intelligence for AI coding agents

What PACT solves

AI coding agents forget everything between sessions, guess at package APIs from stale training data, confidently edit files they haven't read, and make fixes that break downstream systems. These are architecture problems that prompt engineering can't fix.

PACT 0.4.0 structure

The toolkit creates a directory structure in your project:

your-project/
├── CLAUDE.md # 19 cognitive redirections + rules
├── SYSTEM_MAP.yaml # Architecture wiring map
├── cutting_room/ # Visual prototyping workspace
├── .claude/
│   ├── hooks/ # 10 shell hooks (blocking + warning)
│   ├── bugs/ # Structured bug tracker + solutions KB
│   ├── sessions.yaml # Multi-agent coordination
│   └── memory/
│       ├── PENDING_WORK.yaml # Cross-session task tracker
│       └── file_edit_log.yaml # Edit awareness
├── docs/
│   ├── feature_flows/ # Lifecycle state machines
│   └── reference/
│       ├── packages/ # Verified package knowledge
│       ├── research/ # Cross-session research synthesis
│       ├── KNOWLEDGE_DIRECTORY.yaml # Tag index across ALL systems
│       └── PACT_BASELINE.yaml # Agent capability self-awareness

The six pillars

• Mechanical Enforcement — Shell hooks that block violations before they land. Hardcoded secrets, force pushes, editing files you haven't read, committing when local is behind remote. All blocked mechanically.
• Context Replacement — Architecture maps and lifecycle flows replace memory. The agent reads SYSTEM_MAP.yaml before editing and traces dependencies in both directions.
• Self-Evolving Reasoning — 19 cognitive redirections (started with 6 in v0.1). These are questions the agent asks itself at key decision points, not rules. Rules get skimmed under pressure. And the agent can add its own when it notices patterns.
• Structure/Behavior Separation — Architecture map = "what files do I touch?" Feature flow = "what breaks if I touch them wrong?" Two files, two jobs. Never mix them.
• Multi-Agent Resilience (v0.3) — Claude and Gemini share the same hooks, rules, and task tracker. When one is down, switch to the other with zero context loss. Gemini hooks are thin adapters (~20 lines each) that translate its JSON format and delegate to the same .claude/hooks/ scripts. One set of rules, two agents, zero drift.
• Compound Intelligence (v0.4) — Research synthesis, knowledge directory, and capability baseline that make each session smarter than the last.

Compound Intelligence details

A fresh Claude session has training data and a context window. A session running PACT has training data + context window + every synthesis every previous session earned.

Three systems make compound intelligence work:

• Research Knowledge Base — When the agent researches something real (combining code analysis with online docs), the synthesis gets saved. Not the raw facts, those are re-findable. The reasoning that connected project context to external evidence. Future sessions find it by tags, deepen it, or reframe it from new angles.
• Knowledge Directory — One YAML file that maps tags to files across ALL knowledge systems (research, bugs, solutions, packages, feature flows). The agent reads it once and knows what already exists about any topic. A hook blocks commits if you add knowledge files without updating it, so it stays accurate.
• Capability Baseline — Documented in PACT_BASELINE.yaml, this provides agent capability self-awareness.

PACT started as a set of hooks to stop Claude from making the same mistakes over and over. Four releases later, it's turned into a system that makes every session genuinely smarter than the last.