02.1 / Lab notebook

Universal Reduction Plane

How much work can a system skip while preserving the result you need?

Released v0.1.0 Apache-2.0 Source on GitHub

01 / Abstract

Storing, moving and computing the same thing twice costs money. I built URP to test when a system can skip that work. First you specify what the result has to preserve. Then URP checks the reduced result and returns the baseline if the check fails.

Scope and limits

By default, URP accepts exact reductions. Changes in meaning, loss of data or deletion require policy approval. The Docker, Helm and Terraform artifacts pass CI checks. Deployment and production savings remain untested.

Read the paper Technical report · 16 pages · CC BY 4.0

URP / Workflow

When can URP use a reduced result?

Plan
Read the work unit’s preservation contract and policy to choose an eligible reduction.
Execute
Produce a candidate result, for example with exact caching.
Verify
Check whether the candidate meets the preservation contract.

Two possible verifier outcomes

Choose an outcome to read why the next action changes. This illustrates the logic; it does not run a verifier.

Pass · Accept candidate Return the reduced result after verification succeeds. Fail · Return baseline Use the baseline if verification fails.

Pass · Accept candidateThe verifier found that the candidate meets the preservation contract. Return it and record the accepted reduction in the manifest and ledger.

Fail · Return baselineThe candidate did not pass the preservation check. Return the baseline and record the failed reduction in the same manifest and ledger.

After either outcome, the manifest and ledger record the decision.

Worked explanationFollow an exact-cache candidate

Input: A work unit defines what must be preserved, and policy allows exact caching.
Decision / rule: Treat the cached result as a candidate. Verify it against the preservation contract before accepting it.
Outcome: Pass returns the candidate; failure returns the baseline. Either outcome enters the manifest and ledger.

Scope of this exampleA conceptual example of the local proof. Selecting an outcome in this diagram does not perform a cache lookup or verification.

Exact preservation is the default. Policy must allow semantic, lossy or deletion paths. This is a local proof, not a deployed service or a measured savings claim.

02 / Reproduce

Try it locally.

Run these commands from a checkout of the project. The repository includes setup details and prerequisites.

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv/bin/urp --state-dir .urp-demo execute --kind byte_object --input "hello hello hello"

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