Context visualization overlap: our Context Anatomy vs your Retrieval Trajectory visualization #311
Description
Hey OpenViking team 👋
Your "visualized retrieval trajectory" feature immediately caught our attention — we've been building something very similar called Context Anatomy in our OpenClaw fork.
The Overlap
Your approach: Filesystem-paradigm context management with L0/L1/L2 tiered loading and visualized retrieval trajectories — making the context pipeline observable instead of a black box.
Our approach: Per-turn decomposition of the entire prompt into a visual map — how much of the context window is system prompt vs. conversation history vs. tool definitions vs. retrieval pack vs. persona block. We log these as structured events so you can see exactly what the model was working with at every turn.
Both projects are solving the same fundamental problem: context is a black box, and you can't optimize what you can't see.
Our Broader Architecture
We have a full cognitive memory stack (~150 files, 7 modules):
| Module | Relevance to OpenViking |
|---|---|
| HIPPOCAMPUS — Pre-computed concept index, O(1) retrieval | Similar to your directory-recursive retrieval, but we pre-build at consolidation time |
| ENGRAM — Tiered memory (episodic, semantic, procedural, strategic) | Analogous to your context types (memory, resources, skills) |
| Context Anatomy — Per-turn prompt visualization | Direct overlap with your retrieval trajectory visualization |
| CORTEX — Agent identity + persona drift detection | No OpenViking equivalent (potential addition?) |
Research Papers
We've published 5 peer-review-style papers:
- ENGRAM (context compaction as cache eviction)
- CORTEX (persistent agent identity)
- HIPPOCAMPUS (pre-computed concept indexing)
- LIMBIC (humor detection via bisociation)
- SYNAPSE (multi-model deliberation)
Collaboration Idea
Your filesystem paradigm + our cognitive memory types + shared visualization approach could be a powerful combination. Specifically:
- Visualization standard — could we define a shared format for context/retrieval visualization that both projects emit?
- Tiered loading comparison — your L0/L1/L2 vs our HIPPOCAMPUS pre-computed tiers
- Benchmark on context observability — measure how much visualization improves debugging time