Atto — Quantum Decision Engine

Atto is a Python SDK that implements a Quantum Decision Engine (QDE) — a system that models how beliefs evolve into decisions under uncertainty.

Where Atto Fits

Think of a modern decision stack in three layers:

RAG surfaces the right context. The mapper turns that context into a belief state. Atto takes that belief state and evolves it — through competing strategies, interfering signals, and collapsing uncertainty — into a decision.

Core Mental Model

context → belief state → evolving reasoning → decision

A belief state is not a static snapshot. It's a superposition of possible strategies, shaped by incoming signals, where the final decision emerges through a process analogous to quantum measurement.

How Atto Differs

Traditional systems:

features → probability → decision

Features are treated as independent inputs. A model produces a score. You threshold it.

Atto:

signals → evolving state → decision

Signals are not independent — they interfere with each other. The state evolves over time. The decision is not a score; it's the collapse of a rich, structured uncertainty.

Intuition

• Decisions emerge from competing latent strategies. The system holds multiple possible actions in superposition until evidence forces a commitment.
• Signals interact, not independently. A price signal and a forecast signal don't just add up — they interfere, amplifying or cancelling each other depending on context.
• Order of information matters. Receiving a forecast before a price update produces a different evolved state than the reverse. This is non-commutativity — and it reflects how real decisions work.
• Final decisions are a collapse of uncertainty. Measurement extracts a concrete action from a continuously evolving belief state, much like observation in quantum mechanics.

Example: Energy Dispatch

Given battery state, node forecast, congestion, and confidence — should we charge, hold, or discharge?

In Atto, this looks like:

1. Initialise a belief state from the current battery and market context.
2. Apply operators for each incoming signal — forecast, congestion, confidence — each one evolving the state.
3. Interference between signals shapes the evolved state (e.g. high confidence in a low-price forecast amplifies the "charge" strategy).
4. Measure the final state to collapse it into a decision: charge, hold, or discharge.

The decision isn't a lookup table or a weighted sum. It emerges from the dynamics of how the signals shaped the belief state.

Architecture

atto/
├── core/          # Domain-agnostic math engine
│   ├── state      # Belief state representation and manipulation
│   ├── operators  # Signal operators that evolve states
│   ├── dynamics   # State evolution logic
│   └── measurement# Collapse / decision extraction
├── learning/      # Mapping layer
│   └── ...        # Parameter learning, calibration
├── viz/           # 3D visualization of the decision process
│   ├── wave       # Interference pattern computation and plotting
│   └── pipeline   # Animated pipeline visualization
└── scenarios/     # Domain-specific logic
    └── energy/    # Energy dispatch mappings

• Core engine — Pure mathematical logic: state spaces, operators, evolution, measurement. Reusable across any domain. Built on numpy.
• Learning layer — Maps real-world signals to operators and calibrates the engine from data.
• Scenarios — Domain-specific translations. Each scenario defines how raw inputs become signals, which operators to apply, and how to interpret the collapsed decision. Scenarios never modify core math.

Getting Started

pip install -e .

For built-in visualization support:

pip install -e ".[viz]"

For the hosted licence + usage emission (see "Hosted licence" below):

pip install -e ".[console]"

Hosted licence

By default, AttoEngine looks at the environment to decide whether to talk to the Atto Console:

If both ATTO_API_KEY and ATTO_ORG_ID are set and the console extra is installed, the SDK transparently:

1. Calls the console licence endpoint before each decide() call.
2. Emits a UsageEvent to the console after each decision.

Otherwise, the SDK runs in offline mode with no-op licence and usage implementations — no network calls, no environment dependencies.

import os
from atto import AttoEngine, AttoOperator

os.environ["ATTO_API_KEY"] = "atto_live_..."
os.environ["ATTO_ORG_ID"] = "org_..."

engine = AttoEngine(dimension=3, labels=["charge", "hold", "discharge"], org_id=os.environ["ATTO_ORG_ID"])
engine.add_operator(AttoOperator.phase_shift(3, [0.5, 0.0, -0.3]))
decision = engine.decide()  # licence-checked + usage-emitted

Explicit offline opt-out

To force offline mode regardless of environment, inject the no-op pair:

from atto import AttoEngine, NoOpLicenceValidator, NoOpUsageEmitter

engine = AttoEngine(
    dimension=3,
    labels=["charge", "hold", "discharge"],
    validator=NoOpLicenceValidator(),
    emitter=NoOpUsageEmitter(),
)

For the full quickstart and signup flow, see the atto-qde-docs site.

Visualization

Atto ships a viz module that renders the QDE decision process as 3D wave interference surfaces. Each strategy (charge, hold, discharge) acts as a wave source — their complex amplitudes create an interference pattern that reshapes as signals arrive and the belief state evolves.

Quick Start

import numpy as np
from atto.scenarios.energy.adapter import EnergyBatteryAdapter
from atto.viz import PipelineVisualizer

adapter = EnergyBatteryAdapter(signal_strength=1.0)
viz = PipelineVisualizer(
    adapter,
    signal_names=["Price signal", "Congestion signal", "Confidence signal"],
)

context = np.array([0.85, 0.15, 0.70, 0.90])

Static Pipeline Trajectory

One panel per stage — initial belief, after each signal operator, after constraints, and collapse:

fig = viz.plot_static(context)

Animated Pipeline

Smooth 3D animation showing the interference surface morphing through each stage, with a probability bar chart tracking strategy distributions. The final collapse uses a smoothstep transition where all amplitude concentrates onto the winning strategy:

# In a script / interactive window
viz.show(context)

# In a Jupyter notebook
from IPython.display import HTML
anim = viz.animate(context)
HTML(anim.to_jshtml())

Single Belief State

Plot the interference pattern of any AttoState:

from atto.core.state import AttoState
from atto.viz import plot_interference

state = AttoState.uniform(3, labels=["charge", "hold", "discharge"])
plot_interference(state, title="Uniform superposition")

Pipeline Introspection

Access intermediate states for custom analysis or visualization:

states, stage_names, decision = viz.run_pipeline(context)

for name, state in zip(stage_names, states):
    print(f"{name}: P = {state.probabilities}")
print(f"Decision: {decision.label} (confidence={decision.confidence:.3f})")

API Reference

Design Philosophy

• Functions are small and composable.
• Clarity over optimisation.
• The core engine knows nothing about energy, finance, or any specific domain.
• Every decision emerges from state evolution — never from direct prediction.