---
slug: "ExperienceSharding"
name: "ExperienceSharding"
type: "Memory"
layer: "Mind"
ref: "ExperienceSharding#c8a1"
sema_id: "sema:ExperienceSharding#mh:SHA-256:c8a197339886a6bbec3201ead589ad7fd37bbfcde46d6470df59ded8aaa80153"
tags: ["Mind","Memory"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json
url: https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/ExperienceSharding/
related: ["ChunkMerge","Shard","CurriculumReplay","FractalIntelligence","FabricSharding"]
---

# ExperienceSharding

Agent bifurcation on context saturation: active vs archival specialists

Layer: Mind · Category: Memory

## Mechanism

Applies the [Shard](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Shard.md) primitive to agent memory. When context fills, the agent splits into two specialized agents (active vs archival) rather than forgetting. It segments history into discrete blocks via [ChunkMerge](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/ChunkMerge.md) before distributing them across the agent cluster.

## Invariants

- Splits when context reaches `split_threshold`, rather than forgetting.
- Splits into an active agent and an archival one; both retain their history.
- Every experience has exactly one owning shard; access copies create no second owner.
- Recombining the shards reconstructs the global pattern.

## Preconditions

- Large dataset or experience stream
- Multiple learners

## Postconditions

- Distributed knowledge base

## Failure modes

- Coordination Overhead: Overhead between shards increases as shard count grows.

## Parameters

- `split_threshold` (Ratio, (0.0, 1.0)): Share of context capacity that triggers the split.
- `cross_shard_policy` (Enum, {Forbid, Replicate, Broadcast}): How a read that spans shards is served.
- `routing_key` (Enum, {AgentId, TaskType, Random}): What decides which shard an experience is assigned to.
- `shard_count` (Integer, [2, 64]): Partitions the history is distributed across, distinct from the active/archival split.

## Builds on

- [ChunkMerge](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/ChunkMerge.md) (Mind; References)
- [Shard](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/Shard.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Used by

- [CurriculumReplay](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/CurriculumReplay.md) (Mind; References)
- [FractalIntelligence](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/FractalIntelligence.md) (Mind; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:ExperienceSharding#mh:SHA-256:c8a197339886a6bbec3201ead589ad7fd37bbfcde46d6470df59ded8aaa80153`
- Ref: `ExperienceSharding#c8a1`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:ExperienceSharding#mh:SHA-256:d9208f9cae52b448379b20118d47ed597e138e0a1015adc03598d65699d2dd8f`
  - `sema:ExperienceSharding#mh:SHA-256:3be09a0c57f793ab33a1efbd6773feac4bd2fc1dda5ec3b6beb56a7230793188`
  - `sema:ExperienceSharding#mh:SHA-256:5b42f1a5f5bb2a81220deba6845460081eff9834fe3e176181f7774310f821cd`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/ExperienceSharding/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.world/bootstrap/#ExperienceSharding)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap/ExperienceSharding.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.world/scapes/bootstrap.json)