An agent can retain information before receiving a future question and later retrieve evidence from an archive. Evaluating this arrangement requires accounting for both retained information and the width of each retrieval response. Decision-tree capacity bounds describe individual sets of distinguishable records, but a memory writer must encode every possible record before the query is known. We study fixed-length retention beside an immutable binary archive, with a worst-case limit on raw bit or word reads. We characterize feasible one-bit-read memory cells and construct encoders that partition the complete record space. Supporting pairwise exclusive disjunction and conjunction with one bit read is equivalent to supporting every Boolean query. For multiple reads, we combine explicit encoders with decision-tree counting and an entropy converse. The word-read bounds differ by at most two retained bits when the read budget is at most half the archive length. Under an explicit condition on word width and archive length, raw-word caching attains the exact optimum among all writers. A related condition preserves this optimum under positive average error. Exhaustive checks validate the implementations. In a matched dialogue-agent study, a categorical sufficient statistic preserves source decisions with less storage and lower decoding latency than the universal encoder. A catalogue-specific index reduces private state further and requires additional shared storage. The results characterize how response width and future query structure determine retention requirements.
Figures & tables
Figure 1. Pre-query writing and bounded raw retrieval. A full record enters the writer before a query exists. The writer produces fixed-length retained state. Later the reader uses that state, a query, and charged accesses to the unchanged raw archive to produce a Boolean answer.
Affine-hull characterization and equivalence of pairwise XOR-plus-AND support with universal one-read support.
Theorem 2
Binary-stump capacity and simplex-code features
Full-domain offset partitions attaining fixed-bit optima, with an affine-writer comparison.
Theorem 1
Selector shattering ( Yıldız, 2012 ) and decision-tree counting ( Leboeuf et al., 2022 )
Compatible global encoders and converse bounds, with an exact affine-writer optimum.
Theorem 1
Counting finite tree descriptions and the binary entropy inequality
A converse for randomized writers fixed before the query and uniform-source average error.
Theorem 1
Multiway capacity ( Yıldız, 2012 ; Yıldız, 2015 ) and multiway tree counting
Word-width bounds, a uniform two-bit gap, and an exact raw-caching regime.
Proposition 2
The entropy converse and the word-tree count
A finite-error condition under which integer retention still makes raw caching optimal.
Table 1. Established ingredients and retained-state conclusions. XOR denotes exclusive disjunction and AND denotes conjunction.
Check
Cases
XOR construction
458,748
Boolean-pair construction
1,212,352
Arbitrary truth tables
6,272
Multi-read construction
699,608
Independent binary-cell enumeration
65,808
Independent codec checks
201,660
Table 2. Construction and structural checks. XOR denotes exclusive disjunction.
Figure 2. Retention bounds for bit retrieval. The left panel compares one-read savings by query family. The right panel compares universal bounds and affine retention as the read budget increases.
Figure 3. One-word-read savings and upper bounds relative to raw caching. Bounds on the extra savings decrease as the response width increases. The exact caching regime has zero extra savings.
Quantity
Value
Record lengths (bits)
10, 16, 64
Worlds per method-condition cell
2,000
Method-condition cells
96
Archive bit-corruption probabilities
0.01, 0.10
Displayed condition
n=10 , B=8 , R≤1 , corruption 0.10
Table 3. Controlled-source evaluation protocol.
Query
Method
Coverage
Reads
Removed coverage
Stale error
Pair XOR
Universal
1.000
0.937
0.068
0.088
Pair XOR
Raw cache
0.983
0.346
0.607
0.040
Pair AND
Universal
1.000
0.612
0.401
0.067
Pair AND
Raw cache
0.992
0.193
0.819
0.012
Masked parity
Universal
1.000
0.875
0.141
0.086
Masked parity
Raw cache
0.754
0.506
0.267
0.065
Table 4. Coverage, mean bit reads, and conditional stale error. XOR denotes exclusive disjunction. AND denotes conjunction.
Figure 4. Coverage and conditional error under archive failures. The panels compare fresh coverage, removed-archive coverage, and conditional error under archive corruption for matched retained budgets.
Quantity
Value
Official test dialogues
1,000
Included final states
999
Observed user turns
7,372
Primary dialogue clusters
738
Primary queries per source
67,346
Compatible / incompatible primary queries
19,242 / 48,104
Table 5. Matched dialogue-agent evaluation protocol. B denotes bytes.
Decision source
Accuracy
Balanced accuracy
95% interval
Native update
0.4725
0.6170
[0.4487, 0.4978]
History classifier
0.8070
0.8461
[0.7846, 0.8288]
Always reject
0.7143
0.5000
[0.6992, 0.7293]
Always accept
0.2857
0.5000
[0.2707, 0.3008]
Table 6. Offer-validation accuracy and dialogue-bootstrap intervals. Intervals concern accuracy.
Method
State (B)
Archive (B)
Rmax
Returned (B/query)
Write ( μ s)
Query ( μ s)
p95 ( μ s)
Posterior summary
312
0
0
0.0000
31.042
8.250
26.500
Category vector
7
0
0
0.0000
4.250
1.208
2.708
Mixed radix
3
0
0
0.0000
7.333
1.708
5.459
Catalogue statistic
2
0
0
0.0000
14.625
2.875
4.834
Universal bit code
4
4
1
0.1322
54.167
39.875
143.959
Raw cache, 0 B
0
4
4
1.2382
10.042
10.500
35.375
Table 7. Native-source resource costs. B denotes bytes, Rmax is the cap on byte reads per query, and p95 is the query-latency 95th percentile.
n
R
Bits
Bytes
Write ( μ s)
Query ( μ s)
Query p95 ( μ s)
10
1
8
1
7.5
14.2
14.8
10
4
5
1
6.6
14.5
15.0
10
10
0
0
3.2
5.6
6.1
64
1
62
8
29.2
21.3
22.2
64
4
59
8
28.0
21.3
22.5
64
16
47
6
23.5
22.5
23.2
Table 8. Median bit-codec latency, query 95th percentile (p95), and retained state.
Appendix figures & tables9 assets
Supplementary material from the paper’s appendix.
Appendix
Method
State (B)
Archive (B)
Rmax
Returned (B/query)
Write ( μ s)
Query ( μ s)
p95 ( μ s)
Posterior summary
312
0
0
0.0000
15.791
5.500
11.291
Category vector
7
0
0
0.0000
2.000
1.000
1.625
Mixed radix
3
0
0
0.0000
3.583
1.208
3.375
Catalogue statistic
2
0
0
0.0000
11.875
2.167
4.000
Universal bit code
4
4
1
0.1202
38.667
34.458
55.916
Raw cache, 0 B
0
4
4
1.3297
4.416
7.833
20.209
Appendix
Table 9. History-source resource costs. B denotes bytes, Rmax is the cap on byte reads per query, and p95 is the query-latency 95th percentile.
Source
Method
Removed coverage
Stale coverage
Stale disagreement
Native
Mixed radix
1.0000
1.0000
0.0000
Native
Catalogue statistic
1.0000
1.0000
0.0000
Native
Universal bit code
0.8678
1.0000
0.0009
Native
Raw cache, 1 B
0.3274
0.9527
0.0084
Native
Raw cache, 2 B
0.8530
0.9848
0.0027
Native
Raw cache, 3 B
0.8617
0.9937
0.0017
Appendix
Table 10. Archive-failure coverage and disagreement with source decisions. Stale disagreement is conditional on answering.
Source
Method
Queries
Coverage
Conditional error
Native
Catalogue statistic
12,900
0.9606
0.7334
Native
Mixed radix
12,900
1.0000
0.7244
History
Catalogue statistic
12,900
0.8663
0.1774
History
Mixed radix
12,900
1.0000
0.1952
Appendix
Table 11. Selective answering on unseen attribute profiles.
Source
Query population
Queries
Accuracy
Balanced accuracy
Native update
Active constraints
67,346
0.4725
0.6170
Native update
All domains
221,778
0.8318
0.6322
History classifier
Active constraints
67,346
0.8070
0.8461
History classifier
All domains
221,778
0.9331
0.8679
Appendix
Table 12. Accuracy under a change of query population.
Source
Predictions
Text (B)
Extraction (s)
Update (s)
Load (s)
Native update
51,604
1,094,742
0.639
1.134
3.014
History classifier
7,000
1,238,071
0.307
0.000
0.784
Appendix
Table 13. Shared model processing costs. B denotes bytes.
Method
State (B)
Archive (B)
Extra shared (B)
Cohort total (B)
Posterior summary
312
0
0
311,688
Category vector
7
0
0
6,993
Mixed radix
3
0
0
2,997
Catalogue statistic
2
0
8,878
10,876
Universal bit code
4
4
0
7,992
Raw cache, 0 B
0
4
0
3,996
Appendix
Table 14. Cohort storage and catalogue amortization, excluding common resources. B denotes bytes.
Observation source
Peak resident memory (B)
Allocation pairs
Native source
223,133,696
200
History source
260,161,536
200
Appendix
Table 15. Upstream resident memory and traced writer/reader call pairs. B denotes bytes.
Source method
Slot accuracy
Relation accuracy
95% interval
Mismatches
Native Nous
0.792
0.900
[0.894, 0.906]
0
Full-history classifier
0.901
0.947
[0.942, 0.952]
0
Last local report
0.772
0.891
[0.884, 0.897]
0
Appendix
Table 16. Source accuracy and encoding mismatches on dialogue-derived records. Intervals are dialogue-bootstrap confidence intervals.
Quantity
Value
Controlled record lengths (bits)
10, 16, 64
Worlds per method-condition cell
2,000
Method-condition cells
96
Archive bit-corruption probabilities
0.01, 0.10
Displayed controlled condition
n=10 , B=8 , R≤1 , corruption 0.10
Complete dialogues / included user turns
999 / 7,360
Appendix
Table 17. Evaluation protocol and physical resources.