Architecture
The substrate sits at the centre.
Everything else wraps it.
How Kernal fits into a relationship-driven firm: from the SQLite file the partner owns, through the substrate that gives the agent something to know, up to the AI host the consultant already trusts — all enclosed by the firm that the institutional memory survives.
06 · The Firm
Partners, consultants, methodology, day-one onboarding
Kernal is a company asset — same principle as Outlook or shared drive. Issued on day one. Surfaced through tools the user already chose. Captured automatically as a byproduct of work that would happen anyway. Stays when the person leaves.
05 · Agent Hosts
Whichever AI host the user already trusts
Substrate-agnostic. The consultant uses the tool of their choice; Kernal is the brain underneath.
Claude DesktopClaude CodeCursorCodexChatGPTCopilotAny MCP runtime
04 · Lifecycle Hooks
What makes memory automatic
Four hooks fire across every agent session. Memory happens whether anyone is paying attention or not.
Session start → pre-loadEvery prompt → routePre-compact → preserveSession end → capture
03 · Knowledge Production
Write-time synthesis, not query-time
Every source updates a maintained graph. Pages get better with every addition, not just longer.
Wiki pagesCluster meta-pagesApex WikiBig LibraryPatterns
02 · Kernal Substrate
The ontology, the resolver, the MCP surface
Five-layer ontology (Intent · Commercial · Intelligence · Execution · Conversation). Entity resolution. Relationship graph. 73 MCP tools.
5-layer ontologyEntity resolverRelationship graphMCP server73 tools
01 · Foundation
Your data. One SQLite file. Your hardware.
No Postgres, no Pinecone, no separate vector service. sqlite-vec embeddings live in the same .db file. Backup is copy. Migration is sqlite3 dump.
SQLitesqlite-vecLocal-firstPortableMIT-licensed core
Read this way
Start at 01 Foundation — your data, in a file you own — and read up. Each layer adds power. The 02 Substrate turns the file into a structured graph the agent can reason against. The 03 Knowledge Production layer turns sources into synthesised, durable understanding. The 04 Hooks make capture automatic, no admin required. The 05 Agent Hosts let the user keep whichever tool they already trust. And the 06 Firm envelope is the reason any of this matters — knowledge that stays when the partner leaves.
Go deeper
One diagram, four ways to read on.
Each layer has a story behind it. Pick the depth that matches the time you have.