brenner

name	brenner
description	Brenner Bot CLI for research sessions. Use when in your brenner_bot repo, managing hypotheses, searching corpus, or running multi-agent sessions.

Brenner Bot

Core Insight: Exclusion beats confirmation. Design experiments to kill hypotheses, not prove them. A theory that survives elimination is stronger than one with supporting evidence.

Install

Repo: https://github.com/Dicklesworthstone/brenner_bot

Runtime: Prebuilt TypeScript binary (compiled with Bun) — no Rust toolchain needed.

Quick install (Linux x64 / WSL)

curl -fsSL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Dicklesworthstone/brenner_bot/main/install.sh?$(date +%s)" \
  | bash -s -- --easy-mode --verify

Downloads brenner-linux-x64 (~93 MB) to ~/.local/bin/brenner and verifies SHA256. Installer also pulls ntm, cass, cm from their upstream manifests.

Build from source

curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash      # if bun missing
git clone https://github.com/Dicklesworthstone/brenner_bot.git
cd brenner_bot
bun build --compile ./brenner.ts --outfile brenner
cp brenner ~/.local/bin/brenner

Prerequisites

Requirement	Notes
Linux x64 or macOS	WSL1/WSL2 both supported (use Linux x64 binary)
~/.local/bin in PATH	fish: fish_add_path ~/.local/bin
Agent Mail server	am alias starts it; required for session commands
OPENAI_API_KEY	Set in env or .env in project root

Smoke test

brenner --version
brenner doctor --skip-ntm --skip-cass --skip-cm --json | jq '.status'   # expect "healthy"

---

Table of Contents

THE EXACT PROMPT | When to Use What | Critical Constraints | Artifact Schema | Heuristics | References

---

THE EXACT PROMPT — Research Session Workflow

1. Health Check: Verify toolchain before any session
   brenner doctor --skip-ntm --skip-cass --skip-cm --json

2. Corpus Search: Find relevant Brenner transcript sections
   brenner corpus search "model organism"
   brenner corpus search "reduction to one dimension"

3. Build Excerpt: Create cited context (ALWAYS before session)
   brenner excerpt build --sections 58,78,161 > excerpt.md

4. Start Session: Launch multi-agent research thread
   brenner session start \
     --project-key "$PWD" \
     --sender GreenCastle \
     --to BlueLake \
     --thread-id RS-$(date +%Y%m%d)-SLUG \
     --excerpt-file excerpt.md \
     --question "Your research question here"

5. Monitor: Check session progress
   brenner session status --thread-id RS-YYYYMMDD-SLUG
   brenner mail agents --project-key "$PWD"

6. Compile: Merge agent deltas into artifact
   brenner session compile --thread-id RS-YYYYMMDD-SLUG

7. Validate: Lint against 50+ Brenner-style rules
   brenner artifact lint artifact.md
   brenner artifact nudge artifact.md

Why This Workflow Works

• Doctor first — Catch toolchain issues before wasting a session
• Excerpts before sessions — Corpus context grounds the research
• Thread ID consistency — Same ID across Agent Mail, ntm, artifacts
• Compile frequently — Don't wait for session end; incremental merges

---

When to Use What

You Want	Use	Why
Start research	session start with excerpt	Corpus context grounds everything
Find quotes	corpus search "term"	236 sections with §n anchors
Check progress	session status --thread-id	See agent activity
Merge outputs	session compile	Deterministic delta merge
Validate artifact	artifact lint then nudge	50+ Brenner-style rules
Debug setup	doctor --skip-ntm --skip-cass --skip-cm	Minimal health check

---

Critical Constraints

1. No vendor API calls — Use CLI tools via ntm, not direct API calls
2. Thread ID is the join key — Same ID across Agent Mail, ntm, artifacts, beads
3. Agent names = adjective+noun — GreenCastle, BlueLake, RedStone
4. Always build excerpts first — Corpus context before session start
5. Third alternative required — Every hypothesis slate needs "both could be wrong"

Thread ID Formats

Context	Format	Example
Research sessions	RS-{YYYYMMDD}-{slug}	RS-20260119-cell-fate
Engineering work	Bead ID directly	brenner_bot-5so.3.4.2

7-Section Artifact Schema

Research artifacts must contain:

1. research_thread — Stable problem statement
2. hypothesis_slate — 2-5 hypotheses (must include "both wrong" third alternative)
3. predictions_table — Discriminative predictions per hypothesis
4. discriminative_tests — Ranked "decision experiments"
5. assumption_ledger — Load-bearing assumptions + scale/physics checks
6. anomaly_register — Explicitly quarantined exceptions
7. adversarial_critique — What would make the whole framing wrong?

Delta Operations

Agents emit changes via fenced JSON blocks:

{
  "operation": "ADD",
  "target_section": "hypothesis_slate",
  "payload": {
    "id": "H3",
    "statement": "Both mechanisms are wrong",
    "state": "proposed"
  },
  "rationale": "Third-alternative injection per Brenner operator #3"
}

Operation	Behavior
ADD	Insert new item (no target_id)
EDIT	Modify existing (requires target_id)
KILL	Mark as killed (requires target_id)

Key Brenner Operators

#	Operator	Core Insight
1	Model Organism Selection	Choose simplest system preserving phenomenon
2	Reduction to One Dimension	Strip to A→B→C causal chain
3	Third Alternative Injection	"Both could be wrong"
4	Potency Test	Distinguish "didn't" from "couldn't"
5	Reconstruction Criterion	Build it from primitives or you don't understand
7	Exclusion Over Confirmation	Design to kill hypotheses, not confirm

Full operators: See references/OPERATORS.md

Heuristics

Signal	Meaning	Action
Lint fails HYP-002	Missing third alternative	Add "both wrong" hypothesis
line_number 1-3 in corpus	Key Brenner quote	Use §n citation format
Session status "stalled"	No deltas in 10+ min	Check Agent Mail, nudge agents
Artifact >5 hypotheses	Scope creep	Kill or merge hypotheses
Anomaly count >3	Quarantine overload	Review if pattern emerges
No potency control (TEST-003)	Uninformative negatives	Add positive control to test

---

Troubleshooting

Error	Fix
"Missing --question"	Required flag for session start
"Missing --sender"	Add --sender GreenCastle or set AGENT_NAME env
"Agent Mail not available"	Start Agent Mail server on localhost:8765
Invalid agent name	Use adjective+noun format (GreenCastle, BlueLake)
Lint fails silently	Run with --json for detailed rule violations
Deltas not merging	Check thread ID matches across all systems

References

Need	Reference
Brenner's 13 operators	OPERATORS.md
50+ linting rules	LINTING-RULES.md
Delta format details	DELTA-FORMAT.md
Tribunal personas	TRIBUNAL.md
Workflow recipes	RECIPES.md
Prediction locks, hypothesis arena	ADVANCED.md

---

Validation

# Quick health check
brenner doctor --skip-ntm --skip-cass --skip-cm --json | jq '.status'

# Should return: "healthy"

If unhealthy, check:

1. Agent Mail server running on localhost:8765
2. Corpus files present in $BRENNER_ROOT/corpus/
3. Bun runtime available

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Related Skills

• agent-mail — Agent Mail coordination
• ntm — Multi-agent tmux orchestration
• cass — Session archaeology
• br — Beads task tracking