Nidus: Externalized Reasoning for AI-Assisted Engineering

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05080v1
• Date: Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:32:09 GMT
• Title: Nidus: Externalized Reasoning for AI-Assisted Engineering
• Abstract summary: We present Nidus, a governance runtime that mechanizes the V-model for AI-assisted software delivery.<n>Three LLM families delivered a 100,000-line system under proof obligations verified against the current obligation set on every commit.<n>Nidus externalizes the engineering methodology into a decidable artifact verified on every mutation before persistence.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: We present Nidus, a governance runtime that mechanizes the V-model for AI-assisted software delivery. In the self-hosting deployment, three LLM families (Claude, Gemini, Codex) delivered a 100,000-line system under proof obligations verified against the current obligation set on every commit. The system governed its own construction. Engineering invariants - traced requirements, justified architecture, evidenced deliveries - cannot be reliably maintained as learned behavior; assurance requires enforcement by a mechanism external to the proposer. Nidus externalizes the engineering methodology into a decidable artifact verified on every mutation before persistence. Organizational standards compile into guidebooks - constraint libraries imported by governed projects and enforced by decidable evaluation. Four contributions: (1) recursive self-governance - the constraint surface constrains mutations to itself; (2) stigmergic coordination - friction from the surface routes agents without central control; (3) proximal spec reinforcement - the living artifact externalizes the engineering context that RL and long-chain reasoning try to internalize; the specification is the reward function, UNSAT verdicts shape behavior at inference time, no weight updates; (4) governance theater prevention - compliance evidence cannot be fabricated within the modeled mutation path. The constraint surface compounds: each obligation permanently eliminates a class of unengineered output. The artifact's development history is a formal development - every state satisfies all active obligations, and the obligation set grows monotonically.

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