AgentDB: 4 controllers unimplemented (ContextSynthesizer, ReasoningBank, BatchOperations, CausalMemoryGraph bridge)

[martineserios]

Environment

• ruflo@3.5.48 (npm install -g ruflo@latest)
• Node v20.19.4, Linux x64
• MCP server with CLAUDE_FLOW_TOOL_GROUPS=memory,agentdb,embeddings,hooks
• Database: ~/.swarm/memory.db with 1005 entries, 34 tables

Issue

agentdb_controllers reports 5 controllers, 4 active. However, several MCP tools that depend on agentdb controllers return errors because the backing controllers are never registered in the controller registry.

Working controllers (4/5)

Controller	Status	Tools it powers
hierarchicalMemory	enabled	hierarchical-store, hierarchical-recall
tieredCache	enabled	(internal caching)
memoryGraph	enabled	(registered but causal-edge still fails)
memoryConsolidation	enabled	session-end

Failing tools

MCP Tool	Error	Expected Controller
agentdb_context-synthesize	"ContextSynthesizer not available"	contextSynthesizer — never registered in any initializer
agentdb_pattern-search	"controller": "unavailable"	reasoningBank — registered but enabled: false
agentdb_batch	"BatchOperations not available"	Never registered
agentdb_causal-edge	"AgentDB bridge not available"	memoryGraph is registered/enabled but bridge doesn't route to it

Root cause analysis

1. contextSynthesizer: memory-bridge.js:1427 calls registry.get('contextSynthesizer') but no code in memory-initializer.js or anywhere else ever registers this key. The ContextSynthesizer class exists in agentdb/dist/src/controllers/ContextSynthesizer.js but is never imported or instantiated.

2. reasoningBank: Registered at level 1 but enabled: false. memory-initializer.js:1300 attempts import('agentic-flow/reasoningbank') — unclear if this import path resolves correctly with the current package structure.

3. BatchOperations: memory-bridge.js:1381 returns "BatchOperations not available" — no controller provides this capability.

4. causal-edge: memoryGraph controller is registered and enabled, but memory-bridge.js for causal-edge falls through to the "bridge not available" error instead of routing to memoryGraph.

Reproduction

# Install
npm install -g ruflo@3.5.48

# Start MCP and call tools
ruflo mcp start
# Via MCP client:
agentdb_controllers  # → shows 5 controllers, 4 active
agentdb_context-synthesize(query: "test")  # → ContextSynthesizer not available
agentdb_pattern-search(query: "test")  # → controller: unavailable
agentdb_batch(operation: "insert", entries: [...])  # → BatchOperations not available
agentdb_causal-edge(sourceId: "a", targetId: "b", relation: "references")  # → bridge not available

Impact

These 4 tools are exposed in the MCP tool list (users see them and expect them to work) but silently fail. This blocks use cases that depend on:

• Context synthesis from stored memories
• Pattern search with confidence scoring
• Bulk memory operations
• Knowledge graph edges between entries

Suggested fix

1. Register ContextSynthesizer from agentdb controllers package during initialization
2. Investigate why reasoningBank is disabled — enable or document requirements
3. Implement BatchOperations (or route batch calls through existing memory_store in a loop)
4. Fix causal-edge routing to use the already-registered memoryGraph controller

[martineserios]

Additional context: This matches the same pattern as #1216 (ExplainableRecall never instantiated), which was fixed in v3.5.0 via ControllerRegistry wiring / ADR-068 native bridge architecture.

The fix pattern should be the same: register ContextSynthesizer, BatchOperations, and CausalMemoryGraph bridge in memory-initializer.js the same way ExplainableRecall was wired in v3.5.0. For ReasoningBank, investigate why enabled: false — the import path agentic-flow/reasoningbank may need updating.

Ref: #1216, #829

[martineserios]

Findings Update (2026-04-01)

Root Cause: ESM/CJS incompatibility in controller-registry.js

The initAgentDB() method in @claude-flow/memory/dist/controller-registry.js uses require('path') (line ~293) inside an ESM module. When loaded in ESM context, require is not defined, causing initAgentDB to throw and set this.agentdb = null. This cascades: every controller gated on this.agentdb !== null (15+ controllers including ReasoningBank, BatchOperations, ContextSynthesizer, CausalGraph) is silently disabled.

Fix (one line):

// Before (broken in ESM):
const resolved = require('path').resolve(dbPath);

// After (works in both ESM and CJS):
const { resolve: resolvePath } = await import('node:path');
const resolved = resolvePath(dbPath);

Verification: With this fix, 15 controllers initialize successfully (was 4).

Additional bugs found

Bug 2: bridgeSearchPatterns calls wrong method on ReasoningBank

In @claude-flow/cli/dist/src/memory/memory-bridge.js, bridgeSearchPatterns calls:

reasoningBank.search(query, { topK, minScore })  // WRONG - .search() doesn't exist

ReasoningBank exports searchPatterns() with a different signature:

reasoningBank.searchPatterns({ task: query, k: topK, threshold: minScore })  // CORRECT

Bug 3: bridgeBatchOperation missing required fields for insertEpisodes

The bridge maps entries to episodes but omits required fields:

// Missing: sessionId, task, reward, success
// episodes table has NOT NULL constraint on session_id
const episodes = params.entries.map(e => ({
    content: e.value,
    metadata: { key: e.key },
    // FIX: add these fields:
    sessionId: params.sessionId || `batch-${Date.now()}`,
    task: e.key || 'batch-insert',
    reward: 1,
    success: true,
}));

Bug 4: namespace mismatch in pattern-search bridge-fallback

The bridge-fallback for pattern-search uses namespace: 'pattern' (singular), which is correct per ruflo convention. However, the bridge storePattern function also uses namespace: 'pattern' (consistent). This is not a bug — just noting for consumers that may have used different conventions.

Summary of patches (all verified working)

Bug	File	Fix	Impact
ESM require	controller-registry.js	require('path') → import('node:path')	Unlocks 15 controllers
Wrong method	memory-bridge.js	.search(q, opts) → .searchPatterns({task, k, threshold})	pattern-search uses ReasoningBank
Missing fields	memory-bridge.js	Add sessionId, task, reward, success to episode mapping	batch insert works

[martineserios]

Additional Finding: HierarchicalMemory not exported → ephemeral stub (data loss)

Severity: CRITICAL

agentdb/dist/src/index.js does not export HierarchicalMemory. The controller-registry.js line 515 does:

const HM = agentdbModule.HierarchicalMemory;  // → undefined
if (!HM) return this.createTieredMemoryStub();  // → falls to stub

The stub is an in-memory Map (line 842-880 of controller-registry.js) with no SQLite persistence and no semantic search (just keyword matching). Data written via agentdb_hierarchical-store is silently lost on process restart.

Verified: Stored test:headless-validation via hierarchical-store(tier: "working"). Confirmed success response. After MCP server restart, hierarchical-recall returns empty. No trace in any SQLite table.

Also affected: MemoryConsolidation — not exported from agentdb either. Falls to createConsolidationStub(). agentdb_consolidate reports promoted: 0, pruned: 0 because it operates on the empty stub.

Impact: Any consumer using hierarchical-store for durable storage (session state, knowledge tiers, pattern promotion) is writing to /dev/null after restart. The agentdb_controllers tool reports hierarchicalMemory: enabled: true — which is technically correct (the stub IS enabled) but misleading since it's not persistent.

Fix: Export HierarchicalMemory and MemoryConsolidation from agentdb/dist/src/index.js:

export { HierarchicalMemory } from './controllers/HierarchicalMemory.js';
export { MemoryConsolidation } from './controllers/MemoryConsolidation.js';

The classes exist in agentdb/dist/src/controllers/. They just aren't exported.

[nerumo]

I think it's the same as this #1471

[ruvnet]

Fixed in v3.5.49 (PR #1500). Two bugs:

1. ESM require('path'): require('path') throws ReferenceError in ESM context, silently killing initAgentDB() and disabling all 15 controllers. Replaced with await import('node:path').
2. bridgeSearchPatterns wrong method: ReasoningBank exposes .search() not .searchPatterns() in some versions. Added fallback.

npm i @claude-flow/cli@3.5.49