synapse-usage

name	synapse-usage
description	Use the th0th Synapse cognitive modulation layer to get focused, low-noise retrieval during multi-step coding tasks. Open a session, prime the buffer with known-relevant memories, pass synapseSessionId on every search, and prefetch when opening a file. Triggers on tasks involving repeated searches in the same context (debugging, code review, refactor, onboarding) where retrieval quality matters more than one-shot speed.
license	MIT
metadata	{"author":"S1LV4","version":"1.0.0"}

synapse-usage Skill

Use the th0th Synapse cognitive modulation layer to get focused, low-noise retrieval during multi-step coding tasks. Synapse does not replace th0th_search or th0th_optimized_context — it modulates which results survive and in what order based on session context, task alignment, agent affinity, intent, recency, and result diversity.

When to Apply

Activate Synapse whenever the same task will issue more than one search in the same conversation:

• Multi-step debugging (error → handler → config)
• Code review (PR → history → tests)
• Refactor across files (usages → definitions → tests)
• Onboarding to a new module (entry point → calls → decisions)
• Any prolonged session where the same files/concepts will reappear

Skip Synapse for one-shot lookups; the overhead does not pay back.

Interface

Synapse is exposed via the tools-API at http://localhost:3333/api/v1/synapse/... (no MCP tools yet). All interaction is curl against six endpoints:

Endpoint	Purpose
POST /api/v1/synapse/session	Create a session, returns sessionId
GET /api/v1/synapse/session/:id	Inspect session state
PATCH /api/v1/synapse/session/:id	Update task context (refreshes TTL)
DELETE /api/v1/synapse/session/:id	End session
POST /api/v1/synapse/session/:id/prime	Seed buffer with known-relevant entries
POST /api/v1/synapse/session/:id/access	Record access for agent-affinity scoring
POST /api/v1/synapse/session/:id/prefetch	Plan + execute prefetch on file open
GET /api/v1/synapse/sessions	List active session count (debug)

Search integration: pass synapseSessionId on POST /api/v1/search/project (the th0th_search MCP tool maps to this endpoint).

Lifecycle (the five moves)

1. Open a session at task start

SID=$(curl -sS -X POST http://localhost:3333/api/v1/synapse/session \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "agentId":"claude-code",
    "taskContext":"investigating ECONNRESET errors in auth middleware under load",
    "enableBuffer":true
  }' | jq -r .data.sessionId)

• agentId — stable identifier for which agent is calling. Used by agent-affinity. Keep it the same across calls.
• taskContext — 1-2 sentences describing what you are doing. Feeds the task-alignment signal of the attention scorer.
• enableBuffer: true — activates the working-memory cache (top-20 warm hits, TTL 15min).

2. Pass synapseSessionId to every search

When using th0th_search (or POSTing directly to /api/v1/search/project):

th0th_search({
  query: "where does the timeout get applied?",
  projectId: "my-project",
  synapseSessionId: "syn_mp16isfr_nvfo1g7c"
})

That is the only integration point on the search side. Synapse does the rest:

• Buffer hits from previous queries surface automatically
• Attention re-ranking (opt-in) uses the task context
• Chain inhibition boosts results aligned with detected intent (decision, debug, pattern, symbol)
• Diversity penalty stops the top-5 being five chunks of one file
• Confidence gate cuts noise relative to raw cosine, not RRF-inflated score

3. Update task context when the focus shifts

When the agent moves from "investigate" to "fix", update the context. It changes what attention considers aligned.

curl -sS -X PATCH http://localhost:3333/api/v1/synapse/session/$SID \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"taskContext":"implementing a configurable timeout in auth middleware"}'

Update when the kind of work changes, not after every query.

4. Prefetch when opening a file

Right after deciding to read a specific file, fire a prefetch so the buffer is warm before the next search.

curl -sS -X POST http://localhost:3333/api/v1/synapse/session/$SID/prefetch \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "filePath":"src/auth/middleware.ts",
    "symbols":[{"name":"verifyJwt"},{"name":"tokenTimeout"}],
    "entries":[
      {"id":"mem-1","content":"decided to use jwt with 15min expiry","score":0.9},
      {"id":"mem-2","content":"ECONNREFUSED workaround in prod deploy","score":0.85}
    ]
  }'

entries are memories you (typically from a prior th0th_recall) believe will be relevant. The endpoint can also be called with just filePath/symbols and no entries — Synapse then builds a prefetch plan (returned in the response) which you can execute with th0th_recall and POST back as entries.

5. Close the session at task end

curl -sS -X DELETE http://localhost:3333/api/v1/synapse/session/$SID

Optional — sessions auto-expire after 1h (TTL slides forward on every get/recordAccess). Closing explicitly frees memory immediately.

Reading the pipeline output

When synapseSessionId is provided and the server logs at LOG_LEVEL=debug, one structured log fires per query:

{
  "before": 16, "after": 14,
  "queryClass": "specific",
  "intent": "decision",
  "appliedFilters": ["buffer-hit","pre-gate","attention","chain","diversity","temporal","confidence-gate","spectrum","buffer-put"],
  "flags": {
    "lowConfidence": false,
    "noStrongMatch": false,
    "definitiveMatch": true,
    "spread": 0.31, "mean": 0.78, "confidence": 0.24
  }
}

Signal	Reading
appliedFilters contains buffer-hit	Buffer had warm results — priming/prefetch is paying off
appliedFilters contains pre-gate	Early raw-score filter cut noise before attention
queryClass = "specific"	Symbol-like query; gate at 0.55 threshold
queryClass = "focused"	Tech terms; gate at 0.40
queryClass = "broad"	Exploratory; gate at 0.25
intent != "general"	Chain inhibition modulated results by Memory.type
flags.definitiveMatch = true	A dominant hit; trust the top-1
flags.lowConfidence = true	Results clustered; query is ambiguous, refine it
flags.noStrongMatch = true	Nothing crossed threshold; answer probably not in corpus

Practical patterns

Debugging session

1. CREATE session   taskContext = "investigating <error> in <area>"
2. th0th_search     for the error message  (pass synapseSessionId)
3. PREFETCH         on the file that owns the failing code
4. th0th_search     for context (config, related handlers, recent changes)
5. UPDATE context   "applying fix for <root cause>"
6. th0th_search     for affected tests
7. DELETE session

Code review

1. CREATE session   taskContext = "reviewing PR #N about <feature>"
2. th0th_search     each touched file's history
3. PREFETCH         on each touched file
4. th0th_search     tests covering the change
5. DELETE

Refactor across files

1. CREATE session   taskContext = "renaming X to Y across the codebase"
2. th0th_search     references — wide net first
3. POST /access     on each true hit (agent-affinity boost for next iteration)
4. PREFETCH         per file as you decide which to edit
5. th0th_search     again later for the same X — buffer surfaces prior hits
6. DELETE

Priming with domain knowledge

If certain memories will always matter for the task (architectural decisions, recent incidents, project idioms), seed the buffer upfront:

curl -sS -X POST http://localhost:3333/api/v1/synapse/session/$SID/prime \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"entries":[
    {"id":"ad-001","content":"auth uses jwt with 15min expiry by design","score":0.9},
    {"id":"ad-002","content":"chose pgvector over chromadb for HNSW","score":0.9}
  ]}'

Primed entries surface only when their content tokens overlap with the new query — they don't pollute unrelated searches.

Things to avoid

• Reusing one mega-session across unrelated tasks. Signals (taskAlign, agentAffinity, buffer) drift into noise. Open a fresh session per task.
• Updating taskContext after every query. Defeats the purpose; the signal must mean something.
• Calling prime with hundreds of entries. Buffer is capped at 20 by default; flood eviction wastes the priming work.
• Treating flags.lowConfidence as "search failed". It means the corpus had no clear winner — usually a hint to refine the query, not abort.
• Sending synapseSessionId on a stateless one-shot call. No benefit; same overhead.
• Sending a different agentId per call. Agent-affinity needs a stable identity.

Minimal happy path

# Once per task
SID=$(curl -sS -X POST http://localhost:3333/api/v1/synapse/session \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"agentId":"claude-code","taskContext":"add retry to auth client","enableBuffer":true}' \
  | jq -r .data.sessionId)

# Every search (or use th0th_search with synapseSessionId param)
curl -sS -X POST http://localhost:3333/api/v1/search/project \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{\"query\":\"auth client retry\",\"projectId\":\"my-project\",\"synapseSessionId\":\"$SID\"}"

# At cleanup
curl -sS -X DELETE http://localhost:3333/api/v1/synapse/session/$SID

That is the entire surface area. Everything else (attention, chain inhibition, diversity, gate, spectrum, buffer eviction) is automatic when Synapse is enabled in the server config.

Decision Flow

Starting a multi-step task?
  → POST /api/v1/synapse/session   (open session, get sessionId)
  → th0th_recall                   (collect known-relevant memories for the task)
  → POST /session/:id/prime        (seed buffer with those memories)

Running a search inside the task?
  → th0th_search  with synapseSessionId param
  → (server applies the full pipeline automatically)

Opening a file the agent will dig into?
  → POST /session/:id/prefetch     (warms buffer with related decisions/code)

Task focus shifted (investigate → fix)?
  → PATCH /session/:id             (update taskContext)

Found an important hit?
  → POST /session/:id/access       (record for agent-affinity)

Task done?
  → DELETE /session/:id            (free resources)

Configuration

Synapse is enabled by default in the server config. To toggle:

Env var	Default	Effect
SYNAPSE_ENABLED	true	Master kill switch; false bypasses the entire pipeline
SYNAPSE_ATTENTION_ENABLED	false	Enables the multi-signal attention re-ranker (opt-in until validated per project)
LOG_LEVEL	info	Set to debug to see the Synapse pipeline applied log line per query

Reference

• Endpoints documented in Swagger: http://localhost:3333/swagger — filter by synapse tag.
• Source: packages/core/src/services/synapse/ (manager, buffer, session, scoring, inhibition, metacognition, plasticity, prefetch).
• Route: apps/tools-api/src/routes/synapse.ts.
• Design rationale: docs/rfc-venvanse-for-agents.md, docs/synapse-dev-plan.md.

This skill is about using Synapse from the agent side. To diagnose retrieval quality regressions or measure pipeline behavior, see the project's benchmark scripts at scripts/synapse-benchmark-v2.sh and scripts/synapse-bench-analyze-v2.py.