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Local SAE Steering Inference Readiness

Status: inspection and registration record. This document records current repository evidence for a Neuronpedia-compatible local steering path. It does not implement an inference server and does not claim runtime readiness.

Summary verdict

Agent Machine is not currently ready to run local SAE steering for MODEL_SOURCESET=gpt2-small.res-jb.

The repository now has:

  • a backend-neutral InferenceProvider contract
  • a probe-only llama.cpp provider example
  • a local /steer contract stub from Issue #32
  • registered steering sourceset records from Issue #33

The repository still does not have:

  • downloaded model artifacts
  • locked SAE artifact digests
  • storage receipts for model/SAE artifacts
  • a controlled activation path that starts a steering inference server
  • real activation injection into a model forward pass

This remains consistent with the repository status: provider activation is not implemented, and production readiness remains blocked by provider discovery and controlled provider activation.

Repository evidence inspected

Initial inspection occurred on 2026-05-20 against main at commit c306852f26f4fbe62421a9b7801a59815d4daf9e. Sourceset registration was added after Issue #32 closed.

Relevant repository evidence:

  • README.md describes Agent Machine as a bootstrap runtime-control substrate and marks provider activation as not implemented.
  • BOOTSTRAP_STATUS.md states activation remains dry-run control-plane evaluation and does not start a provider.
  • docs/index.md lists InferenceProvider as a contract family but keeps production blocked by provider discovery and controlled activation.
  • contracts/inference-provider.schema.json defines backend-neutral provider metadata and API surfaces such as OpenAI-compatible chat/completions/embeddings and native HTTP.
  • examples/asahi-llama-cpp.inference-provider.json is status: probe-only, uses llama.cpp, and exposes an endpoint/health path for llama-server; it is not a steering server.
  • docs/local-steer-endpoint.md defines the local /steer contract and stub behavior.
  • contracts/steering-sourceset.schema.json defines the sourceset registry shape.
  • examples/steering-sourcesets/ registers GPT-2 Small and Gemma 2B candidates by reference only.

Current sourceset readiness

Sourceset Current repo status Ready today? Reason
gpt2-small.res-jb Registered by reference No Sourceset record exists, but artifact digests, storage receipts, policy/grant admission, activation injection, and smoke proof are missing.
gemma-2-2b.pt-res Registered by reference, access-sensitive No Sourceset record exists, but model terms/access, artifact digests, storage receipts, policy/grant admission, activation injection, and smoke proof are missing.
Gemma 9B Not registered No Not admitted in Issue #33; register only after hardware/runtime profile and access posture are settled.

Weight and artifact requirements

GPT-2 Small

Model weights:

  • Hugging Face model: openai-community/gpt2
  • Public model page: https://huggingface.co/openai-community/gpt2
  • Observed license on model page: MIT

SAE artifacts:

  • Hugging Face repo: jbloom/GPT2-Small-SAEs-Reformatted
  • SAELens release: gpt2-small-res-jb
  • SAE id: blocks.6.hook_resid_pre
  • Neuronpedia layer: 6-res-jb

Still required before readiness:

  • exact artifact digest lock
  • storage/cache receipt
  • policy admission
  • agent-registry grant
  • controlled activation injection
  • local smoke record

Gemma 2 2B

Model weights:

  • Hugging Face model: google/gemma-2-2b
  • Public model page: https://huggingface.co/google/gemma-2-2b
  • License/access: Gemma terms; operator must verify account access and accept applicable terms before runtime use.

SAE artifacts:

  • Hugging Face repo: google/gemma-scope-2b-pt-res
  • Artifact path: layer_20/width_16k/average_l0_71

Still required before readiness:

  • operator access/terms verification
  • exact artifact digest lock
  • storage/cache receipt
  • policy admission
  • agent-registry grant
  • controlled activation injection
  • local smoke record

Expected local endpoint shape

Target local endpoint for Noetica compatibility:

POST http://localhost:8080/steer

Expected request payload shape:

{
  "prompt": "Write one short sentence about Paris.",
  "model_id": "gpt2-small",
  "steering": {
    "feature_id": "10200",
    "layer": "6-res-jb",
    "strength": 5,
    "preset": "optional"
  }
}

Expected response payload shape compatible with Noetica SteeringResult:

{
  "status": "applied",
  "baseline": "baseline text",
  "steered": "steered text",
  "diff_summary": "short description of observed steering effect",
  "feature_id": "10200",
  "layer": "6-res-jb",
  "strength": 5
}

Allowed status values must align with Noetica steering semantics:

  • applied: a real steering backend applied the requested activation steering.
  • not_configured: required model/source/SAE/backend configuration is absent.
  • noop: the endpoint accepted the request shape but deliberately applied no runtime intervention.

Issue #32 provides a stub endpoint that can return not_configured or noop. applied remains blocked on Issue #34.

Current Agent Machine commands

Current safe bootstrap commands from existing docs:

agent-machine version
agent-machine paths
agent-machine doctor --format json
agent-machine probe --format json
agent-machine render plan examples/local-podman-llama-cpp.agent-pod.json --pretty

Local endpoint contract stub from Issue #32:

agent-machine steer serve-stub --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080 --status not_configured

Current validation command:

make validate

Follow-up issues

  • Issue #32: local /steer endpoint contract — closed.
  • Issue #33: steering sourceset registration — current.
  • Issue #34: controlled activation for a local steering inference provider — still required.

Readiness conclusion

Current status: registered but not loadable.

MODEL_SOURCESET=gpt2-small.res-jb now has a registry record, but it is not loadable today from the repository state. The self-hosted M2b path still requires at least:

  1. artifact digest locks
  2. storage receipts
  3. policy/grant admission records
  4. controlled activation path
  5. evidence and grant wiring
  6. successful local smoke record

Until those are complete, Noetica should use NEURONPEDIA_BASE_URL=http://localhost:<port> only as a configurable endpoint target for contract and UI testing, not as proof that Agent Machine can already perform local SAE steering.