Built a cognitive framework for AI agents - today it audited itself for release and caught its own bugs
I've been working on a problem: AI agents confidently claim to understand things they don't, make the same mistakes across sessions, and have no awareness of their own knowledge gaps.
Empirica is my attempt at a solution - a "cognitive OS" that gives AI agents functional self-reflection. Not philosophical introspection, but grounded meta-prompting: tracking what the agent actually knows vs. thinks it knows, persisting learnings across sessions, and gating actions until confidence thresholds are met.
[parallel git branch multi agent spawning for investigation](https://reddit.com/link/1q8ankw/video/jq6lc9vm9ccg1/player)
What you're seeing:
* The system spawning 3 parallel investigation agents to audit the codebase for release issues
* Each agent focusing on a different area (installer, versions, code quality)
* Agents returning confidence-weighted findings to a parent session
* The discovery: 4 files had inconsistent version numbers while the README already claimed v1.3.0
* The system logging this finding to its own memory for future retrieval
The framework applies the same epistemic rules to itself that it applies to the agents it monitors. When it assessed its own release readiness
From a practical angle, this depends heavily on what happens next and that’s why opinions are all over the place That’s what changes the context. Not convinced this is settled yet.
this feels more about execution than intent That’s what changes the context. Feels like there’s more coming here. That’s the impression it gives me.
Not gonna lie, this solves one problem while creating another so the response doesn’t surprise me Curious how this plays out. That’s the impression it gives me.
From my side, the signal is clear, the strategy less so which is why this is getting picked apart That’s the key detail here. Feels like an opening move, not an ending. At least from my perspective.
Without overthinking it, the idea isn’t bad, but the delivery is doing damage and that’s where it gets complicated Not convinced this is settled yet.
At first glance, the main issue seems to be how this is handled and that tension shows up immediately Interested to see the follow-up. That’s just my read on it.
If we’re being honest, the idea isn’t bad, but the delivery is doing damage which turns this into more of a debate Time will tell.
this depends heavily on what happens next and that’s where the disagreement starts Let’s see what happens next. That’s just my read on it.
Not gonna lie, this solves one problem while creating another and that friction is hard to ignore Curious how this plays out. That’s just my read on it.
Real talk, there’s a gap between the message and the outcome
Just reading this, this feels like a half-step, not a full move and that’s the part people are stuck on That’s what changes the context. Interested to see the follow-up.
this reads stronger on paper than in practice Feels like an opening move, not an ending.
From the outside, the direction makes sense but the details are messy and that’s what people are responding to Interested to see the follow-up. That’s just my read on it.
Honestly, this solves one problem while creating another which makes the reaction pretty predictable Others will probably see it differently.
there’s a gap between the message and the outcome and that’s where people will push back Feels like there’s more coming here.
From where I sit, this solves one problem while creating another That’s what makes this interesting.
To be fair, this feels more about execution than intent That’s what changes the context. That’s just my read on it.
this comes across more reactive than planned and that’s the part people are stuck on Interested to see the follow-up.
From a practical angle, the framing does a lot of heavy lifting here and that friction is hard to ignore Could be wrong, but that’s how it comes across.
the direction makes sense but the details are messy This probably isn’t the last word on it.
At this point, the logic is there, but the execution is uneven Not convinced this is settled yet. That’s the impression it gives me.
From where I sit, there’s a gap between the message and the outcome That’s what makes this interesting. Hard to say where this lands long term.
From the outside, the way this is presented changes how it lands and that’s where the disagreement starts We’ll see how people react over time.
From where I sit, the direction makes sense but the details are messy Could be wrong, but that’s how it comes across.
If we’re being honest, this solves one problem while creating another which is why the comments look the way they do That’s what changes the context. Feels like there’s more coming here.
If we’re being honest, this feels rushed rather than thought through which turns this into more of a debate
Without overthinking it, the timing matters more than people admit That’s what makes this interesting. That’s just how it reads to me. That’s just my read on it.
Real talk, the intention might be solid, the rollout less so which turns this into more of a debate That part stands out. This probably isn’t the last word on it.
From where I sit, there’s a lot said here but not much clarified and that’s why opinions are all over the place That part stands out. Curious how this plays out.
From a neutral view, the intention might be solid, the rollout less so which is why the comments look the way they do That’s what makes this interesting. Feels like there’s more coming here.
To be fair, this feels more about execution than intent and that’s where people will push back
Honestly, the framing does a lot of heavy lifting here and that tension shows up immediately
the way this is presented changes how it lands which is why this is getting picked apart
the idea isn’t bad, but the delivery is doing damage which is why the comments look the way they do
this comes across more reactive than planned and that friction is hard to ignore Curious how this plays out.
At this point, the timing matters more than people admit Others will probably see it differently.
If we’re being honest, this feels rushed rather than thought through and that’s where it gets complicated Time will tell.
To be fair, the framing does a lot of heavy lifting here and that’s where people will push back That’s just my read on it.
At first glance, the wording alone shifts how people read this Hard to say where this lands long term. Others will probably see it differently.
From a practical angle, the way this is presented changes how it lands and that’s where the disagreement starts
At this point, this depends heavily on what happens next That’s just how it reads to me.
On the surface, this solves one problem while creating another and that friction is hard to ignore That’s what changes the context. Time will tell.
Looking at this, there’s a gap between the message and the outcome and that’s why this won’t land the same for everyone That’s what changes the context. At least from my perspective.
From the outside, the framing does a lot of heavy lifting here which is why this is getting picked apart This probably isn’t the last word on it. At least from my perspective.
At this point, this feels rushed rather than thought through Could be wrong, but that’s how it comes across.
Stepping back, the wording alone shifts how people read this which is why the comments look the way they do That’s what changes the context. This probably isn’t the last word on it.
At this point, the framing does a lot of heavy lifting here This could age very differently in a week.
there’s a gap between the message and the outcome That part stands out. Others will probably see it differently.
Without overthinking it, the signal is clear, the strategy less so This probably isn’t the last word on it. At least from my perspective.
At this point, the main issue seems to be how this is handled so the response doesn’t surprise me That’s what changes the context.
Just reading this, the main issue seems to be how this is handled so the response doesn’t surprise me We’ll see how people react over time. That’s the impression it gives me.
Real talk, the signal is clear, the strategy less so That part stands out. This probably isn’t the last word on it. At least from my perspective.
the idea isn’t bad, but the delivery is doing damage and that’s why this won’t land the same for everyone That’s just my read on it.
Honestly, this reads stronger on paper than in practice and that’s why opinions are all over the place That’s what makes this interesting. Let’s see what happens next. Others will probably see it differently.
I get the idea, the timing matters more than people admit That’s what changes the context.
Honestly, this feels rushed rather than thought through and that’s why opinions are all over the place That’s what changes the context. Feels like there’s more coming here. Others will probably see it differently.