F043: Distributed Decision Merge

Status: Proposed Priority: Low Inspired by: Beads (steveyegge/beads) - hash-based IDs + git-backed storage for zero-conflict multi-agent merge

Problem

CSTP is centralized - all agents must be online and connected to the server to record decisions. This creates issues:

• Agents can't record decisions during network outages
• No mechanism for merging decision histories from independent CSTP instances
• Short sequential IDs (8-char hex) can collide across instances
• Multi-team setups require a single shared server

Solution

Add offline-capable decision recording with content-addressable IDs and a merge protocol for synchronizing independent CSTP instances.

Content-Addressable IDs

Replace short hex IDs with content-hash-based IDs:

decision_id = sha256(
    agent_id + timestamp + decision_text + category
)[:12]  # "dec-a3f8b2c1d4e5"

Benefits:

• Globally unique without coordination
• Deterministic - same decision always gets same ID
• Collision-resistant across instances

Offline Recording

# Agent records locally when server unavailable
cstp.py record --offline -d "decision" -f 0.85 -c arch -s medium
# Stores in local SQLite/JSONL

# Sync when back online
cstp.py sync --server http://192.168.1.141:9991
# Merges local decisions into server, resolves conflicts

Merge Protocol

1. Export: cstp.export - dump decisions as JSONL with content-hash IDs
2. Import: cstp.import - ingest external decisions, detect duplicates by hash
3. Conflict Resolution:
   • Same hash = duplicate, skip
   • Different hash, same topic = potential relates_to link
   • Contradicting decisions = flag for human review

Federation Sync (extends F038)

# Instance A exports to Instance B
cstp.federate --push --target http://other-instance:9991
cstp.federate --pull --source http://other-instance:9991

Phases

1. P1: Content-addressable ID generation (backward compatible)
2. P2: Offline recording with local SQLite cache
3. P3: Sync/merge protocol with conflict detection
4. P4: Federation push/pull between CSTP instances

Integration Points

• F038 (Cross-Agent Federation): Distributed merge is the transport layer for federation
• F039 (Protocol Stack): Merge protocol as part of the CSTP protocol specification
• F040 (Task Graph): Tasks sync alongside decisions
• F042 (Dependencies): Links preserved across merge