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02 -- System boundary

Inside the system

  • The simulator process (nous serve / nous tick / nous scenario).
  • The MCP tool surface that a controller drives.
  • The audit log and the SQLite state database.
  • The OAuth issuer for HTTP transport.
  • The interop adapters (CoT/TAK, SensorThings, MISB KLV, NMEA 0183, STANAG 4774/4778, MQTT).

Outside the system

  • The Anthropic API (the inference_cloud call site reaches outside the boundary).
  • The TAK server, MQTT broker, or other downstream consumer of an adapter's output.
  • The operator's body and environment. The biometric subsystem produces parametric outputs about a simulated operator; the hazards of harming a real operator are out of scope.
  • The Hetzner VM kernel and Linux distribution. Faults there are treated as a deployment environment concern, not a nous concern.

The boundary is what makes the simulator simulable: everything inside is observable, controllable, and replayable.