mrs-scaffold 1.1.7

MRS: Modular Reasoning Scaffold — a lightweight meta-reasoning layer for structured cognition in inference-time LLMs.

Modular Reasoning Scaffold (MRS) — v1.1.4

Author: Sabouhi (2025)

Lightweight Meta-Reasoning Architecture for Small & Medium LLMs

Overview

MRS is a model-agnostic meta-reasoning architecture that overlays an explicit recursive structure on top of any language model (LLM) without modifying its weights. It gives tiny models the ability to:

• maintain intermediate variables
• perform structured multi-step reasoning
• detect drift and stabilize outputs
• ground reasoning through rules and patterns
• execute self-correction and verification steps

MRS behaves like a symbolic cognitive skeleton wrapped around an LLM, providing:

• State slots (persistent memory)
• Update rules (monotonic + stable transformations)
• Constraint layers (drift, contradiction, instability)
• Topology engine (flow, recursion, branching, halting)

This creates the effect of a “larger mind’’ without increasing parameter scale.

Why MRS Matters

Small LLMs normally fail at reasoning because they cannot:

1. Store intermediate results
2. Maintain coherence across steps
3. Prevent drift or contradictions
4. Stabilize their own trajectories

MRS externally supplies these abilities through structure rather than scale.

It is:

• Model-agnostic
• Parameter-free
• Computationally cheap
• Robust against drift
• Transparent and interpretable

Ideal for:

• On-device / low-resource reasoning
• Safety layers
• Interpretability research
• Emergent behavior study
• Multi-agent coordination
• Deterministic / reproducible inference

Core Components

1. Recursion Nodes (Rᵢ)

Rᵢ = (input xᵢ, rule φᵢ, drift Δᵢ, output oᵢ)

2. State Trackers (S)

Persistent memory for slots and signatures.

3. Constraint Monitors (C)

Guardrails preventing collapse.

4. Topology Engine (𝒯)

Determines recursion depth, continuation, halting, branching.

Architecture Diagram (v1.2)

[Diagram omitted in markdown rendering]

Mathematical Core

Recursion node:

Rᵢ = (xᵢ, φᵢ, Δᵢ, oᵢ)

State aggregation:

Sₙ = {o₁, …, oₙ}

Cumulative drift:

C(Sₙ) = Σ Δᵢ

Continuation:

C(Sₙ) < τ

Stop:

C(Sₙ) ≥ τ

Topology:

Rᵢ₊₁ = 𝒯(Rᵢ, Sᵢ, C(Sᵢ))

Minimal Reference Implementation

class MRS:
    def __init__(self, model, num_slots=4, max_depth=8):
        self.model = model
        self.slots = [None] * num_slots
        self.max_depth = max_depth
        self.depth = 0

    def update_slot(self, i, value):
        self.slots[i % len(self.slots)] = value

    def drift(self, text):
        return abs(hash(text)) % 1000 / 1000.0

    def run(self, prompt):
        x = prompt
        history = []

        while self.depth < self.max_depth:
            self.depth += 1

            o = self.model(x)
            Δ = self.drift(o)
            history.append((x, o, Δ))

            if Δ > 0.65:
                break

            self.update_slot(self.depth, o)
            x = o

        return {
            "history": history,
            "slots": self.slots,
            "final": history[-1][1]
        }

Example Usage

Run the included example script to see the scaffold in action:

python example_mrs_usage.py

This will demonstrate:

1. Initializing MRS with slots and limits
2. Running a query
3. Inspecting internal metrics (steps, drift, halt reasons)

Legacy Example

python scaffold.py --prompt "Explain gravity at two levels of detail."

Outputs:

• slot history
• drift scores
• stability markers
• topology transitions
• verified final answer

Roadmap

v1.2

• upgraded diagrams
• improved drift monitors
• clearer slot signatures

v1.3

• probabilistic drift model
• dynamic slot allocation
• multi-branch topology

v1.4

• differentiable topology engine
• multi-agent shared MRS states
• hardware/runtime integration

Citation

Sabouhi (2025). Modular Reasoning Scaffold (MRS).

Running Tests

pytest -q

Contact

For research or collaboration: Email: [e-mail] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-sabouhi/