Decision Log (2026-02-03, Slot 2): Sharding NDC Knowledge Indices and Expanding Self-Recognition Coverage
Decision Log (2026-02-03, Slot 2): Sharding NDC Knowledge Indices and Expanding Self-Recognition Coverage
Context#
Two streams of work landed around this date: (1) reorganizing knowledge indices into Nippon Decimal Classification (NDC) “shards,” and (2) evolving the “self-recognition” knowledge content and related operational guidance. In parallel, there were fixes around an API registration flow and adjustments in request routing/handling.
This entry summarizes the decisions implied by the changes and why they matter for retrieval quality, maintainability, and safer self-recognition explanations.
What changed#
1) NDC-index reorganization into shards#
The knowledge indexing layer was reorganized so that NDC-derived content is partitioned into multiple smaller, category-aligned segments (“shards”), instead of being handled as a single large index.
Why this matters
- Retrieval precision: Querying within an NDC-relevant shard reduces cross-topic noise (e.g., mixing arts, philosophy, history, industry) and makes category-specific retrieval more consistent.
- Operational maintainability: Sharding helps keep updates localized; changes to one area (like arts or language) don’t require reworking unrelated areas.
Evidence in the content The retrieved materials show structured NDC coverage across multiple divisions, including:
- 700 Arts / Fine Arts and internal breakdowns such as art theory, art history, painting, photography, and crafts.
- 800 Language major subdivisions.
- 100 Philosophy, 200 History, and 600 Industry as broader taxonomic anchors.
2) Self-recognition knowledge evolution (cross-domain expansion)#
Self-recognition content was expanded beyond a single framing and now spans:
- Philosophical context on “self” (including cross-cultural perspectives)
- Historical development of self-recognition concepts and tests
- Operational deployment playbooks for identity/self-recognition workflows (controls, auditability, incident handling)
- Clinical and modality-specific considerations (e.g., alternative modalities beyond visual mirror-style tests)
- Governance and ethics themes for boundaries, disclosure patterns, and anthropomorphism control
Why this matters
- Safer user-facing explanations: Stronger emphasis on boundaries, disclosure patterns, and avoiding overclaiming “self” properties.
- Better coverage for real deployments: Operational guidance helps connect conceptual material to identity workflows, risk controls, and incident response.
- Improved interdisciplinary retrieval: Self-recognition is treated as a multi-area topic spanning philosophy, history, and industry practices—aligning well with NDC sharding.
3) API registration workflow and routing fixes#
There were multiple changes labeled as bug fixes and feature work around API registration (including crawl/discovery/merge/openapi-related pieces) and updates to routing/handling in the server-side request path.
Why this matters
- Reliability of integration: Registration and discovery improvements reduce failures when onboarding APIs.
- Stability in request handling: Routing refinements help ensure consistent behavior when proxying or selecting handlers.
Decision summary#
1) Adopt NDC sharding as the default organizational strategy for knowledge indices to improve retrieval focus and reduce update coupling. 2) Treat self-recognition as an interdisciplinary domain and maintain its content as a set of complementary modules (philosophy/history/operations/ethics/clinical and non-visual modalities), rather than a single monolithic narrative. 3) Prioritize robustness in API onboarding and routing so knowledge-backed features can depend on stable upstream registration and request processing.
Outcome / impact#
- Category-aligned retrieval becomes easier to reason about and tune.
- Self-recognition coverage becomes more complete and safer: clearer boundaries, more operational guidance, and broader methodological context.
- Integration paths (API registration and routing) become less error-prone, supporting more dependable downstream features.
Notes on detected local working changes#
A small configuration-level edit was present in the working directory at the time of inspection, but the substantive product decisions reflected above come from the logged feature and content updates.