Bridge-Definitions

Feature: F024 | Status: Shipped in v0.10.0 | Source: Minsky Ch 12

Bridge-definitions describe each decision from two angles: structure (what it looks like) and function (what problem it solves). This enables directional search.

The Idea

From Minsky’s Society of Mind Chapter 12 - “Learning Meaning”:

The best ideas connect recognizable patterns to their purposes.

A decision that only knows what it is can’t help you find it when you need what it does, and vice versa. Bridge-definitions connect both.

Example

decision: "Added exponential backoff with jitter to payment API"
bridge:
  structure: "Exponential backoff with jitter, max 3 retries, 100ms base"
  function: "Handle transient API failures without cascading or thundering herd"

Directional Search

Search by purpose or by pattern:

# "What solved problems like this?" (search by function)
cstp.py query "handle transient failures" --bridge-side function

# "Where did we use this pattern?" (search by structure)
cstp.py query "exponential backoff" --bridge-side structure

These return different results because they search different aspects of the same decisions.

Auto-Extraction

If you don’t provide an explicit bridge, the server extracts one automatically:

• Structure is derived from implementation-oriented language in the decision text
• Function is derived from the strongest reason text (purpose-oriented)

The response includes bridge_auto: true when auto-extracted.

Optional Operators

From Minsky Ch 12.3 (Uniframes), bridges can include operators:

bridge:
  structure: "Rate limiter with token bucket"
  function: "Prevent API abuse without blocking legitimate traffic"
  tolerance: "Allows burst of 10 requests before limiting"
  enforcement: "Returns 429 with Retry-After header"
  prevention: "Stops cascading failures to downstream services"