Warm Start is the MD-OS method for carrying recent working context from one host runtime, hardware node, session, or Git clone into the next without using raw chat history as identity or operational memory.
It exists because a first boot with only long-term filesystem state can be stable but slow to reorient. A warm boot loads stable MD-OS filesystem state first, then imports a verified capsule of recent volatile context as working memory.
Compact formula:
cold boot = versioned filesystem only
conceptual cold boot = filesystem + generated conceptual summary
portable warm boot = filesystem + verified versioned operational snapshot
local warm boot = portable warm boot + verified host-local recent context
Warm Start preserves the volatile context that makes a system resume faster:
The portable and host-local Warm Start capsules must not preserve full chat transcripts. A portable capsule also excludes Codex thread identifiers, model identifiers, host paths, and credentials. Private conversation continuity is a separate local artifact with a separate publication boundary.
The clone-carried capsule is:
md-os/continuity/portable_state.json
It is a reviewed, schema-valid, hash-bound source artifact. Only the version present in the checked-out Git commit can cross a clone boundary.
Host-local volatile capsules remain under:
md-os/ops/warm_start/current.json
md-os/ops/warm_start/current.md
Private folder-carried conversation continuity lives at:
md-os/ops/local/cortex/conversation.ndjson
It is a hash-chained sequence of human inputs and final assistant responses. It excludes hidden reasoning, tool traces, model ids, and Codex thread ids. A physical copy of the repository folder carries it, but Git ignores it, so a commit, push, or clone does not transfer it.
Crash recovery checkpoints live under:
md-os/ops/warm_start/checkpoints/
md-os/ops/warm_start/recovery_journal.ndjson
Cortex implements portable capsule validation and prompt injection. The full host-local checkpoint and recovery command surface remains incomplete and must not be treated as available runtime behavior.
Warm Start is read only after stable identity, core state, and conceptual cold boot summary:
AGENTS.md
-> ME.md
-> md-os/kb/COGNITIVE_BOOTSTRAP.md
-> md-os/ops/core/agentic_core.md
-> md-os/ops/summary/conceptual_boot_summary.md
-> md-os/continuity/portable_state.json if its hashes verify
-> bounded recent private conversation tail if its hash chain verifies
-> md-os/ops/warm_start/current.md if present
The capsule imports as working context:
canonical = false
import_mode = working_context
Therefore it can orient the next action, but it cannot override identity, permission, connector capability, claim status, replay, or generated readback. The current human request always wins over the portable capsule.
If the self-hash, an identity-source hash, or an evidence hash fails, Cortex rejects the entire portable capsule. It does not partially import it or fall back to a chat transcript.
Conceptual Cold Boot is deterministic and rebuildable from repository state.
Portable Warm Start is reviewed recent context committed with repository state. Local Warm Start is volatile context and must be validated against that repository state before action.
Conceptual Cold Boot = what the repository currently means
Portable Warm Start = reviewed operational handoff in the current commit
Local Warm Start = what this host's last session was doing
Codex provider history is optional host data. A normal Cortex process starts a
fresh Codex thread and does not search that provider history. When a verified
private folder chronology is present, the fresh thread receives its bounded
recent tail. /resume explicitly opts into the latest matching provider-stored
conversation; /new returns to a fresh thread and can again hydrate from the
private folder chronology.
Hydration necessarily sends the selected excerpt to the configured model provider. GitHub exclusion is therefore not the same as fully offline privacy.
Warm Start does not claim consciousness, subjective continuity, resurrection, or identity transfer. It transfers bounded operational context. It also cannot reconstruct uncommitted work after a clone: that requires a reviewed commit or another explicitly authorized transfer channel.