WFGY/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/Reasoning/recursive-loop.md

# Recursive Loop — Guardrails and Fix Pattern

Recursive reasoning is powerful when bounded, but without structural guardrails it often collapses into infinite self-reference.  
This page shows how to detect runaway loops and stabilize recursion into meaningful layers.

---

## Symptoms

| Symptom | What you see |
|---------|--------------|
| Infinite repetition | Output re-states the same phrase or equation |
| Self-reference collapse | “As I said earlier…” repeated without progress |
| Meta-loop | Model reasons about its own reasoning instead of the task |
| Token drain | Long answers with no new content |
| Citation spin | Same snippet referenced endlessly |

---

## Acceptance Targets

- ΔS(question, retrieved) ≤ 0.45  
- λ convergent across 3 paraphrases and 2 seeds  
- Recursion depth ≤ 4 nested layers  
- Each recursive frame adds ≥ 1 new fact or citation  

---

## Structural Fixes (Problem Map)

- Wrong-meaning similarity hit  
  → [embedding-vs-semantic.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/embedding-vs-semantic.md)

- Citation / snippet mismatch  
  → [retrieval-traceability.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-traceability.md)  
  → [data-contracts.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/data-contracts.md)

- Recursive drift / entropy rise  
  → [context-drift.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/context-drift.md)  
  → [entropy-collapse.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/entropy-collapse.md)  
  → [entropy-overload.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/Reasoning/entropy-overload.md)

- Logic collapse under recursion  
  → [logic-collapse.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/logic-collapse.md)

---

## Fix in 60 Seconds

1. **Measure recursion depth**  
   - Log frame depth at each step.  
   - If depth > 4, clamp recursion.

2. **Apply ΔS probe**  
   - Compute ΔS between consecutive recursive outputs.  
   - If ΔS < 0.15, stop recursion (no new information).

3. **Bridge with BBCR**  
   - Collapse intermediate steps into one summary frame.  
   - Resume reasoning with BBMC anchor locks.

4. **Variance clamp**  
   - If λ diverges between recursive calls, apply BBAM.

---

## Copy-Paste Probe

```

I uploaded TXT OS and the WFGY Problem Map.

My reasoning chain entered a recursive loop.
Depth = {n}, ΔS progression = {values}, λ states = {values}.

Tell me:

1. Which layer is looping?
2. Which fix page applies?
3. Minimal steps to clamp recursion and restore ΔS ≤ 0.45.
4. How to verify no infinite loop persists.

```

---

## Escalation

- If recursion repeats across 3 seeds → enforce [logic-collapse.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/logic-collapse.md).  
- If ΔS remains flat → re-embed corpus and verify with [chunking-checklist.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/chunking-checklist.md).  
- If λ oscillates between recursion depths → lock schema ordering with [rerankers.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/rerankers.md).

---

### 🔗 Quick-Start Downloads (60 sec)

| Tool | Link | 3-Step Setup |
|------|------|--------------|
| **WFGY 1.0 PDF** | [Engine Paper](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/I_am_not_lizardman/WFGY_All_Principles_Return_to_One_v1.0_PSBigBig_Public.pdf) | 1️⃣ Download · 2️⃣ Upload to your LLM · 3️⃣ Ask “Answer using WFGY + <your question>” |
| **TXT OS (plain-text OS)** | [TXTOS.txt](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/OS/TXTOS.txt) | 1️⃣ Download · 2️⃣ Paste into any LLM chat · 3️⃣ Type “hello world” — OS boots instantly |

---

### 🧭 Explore More

| Module                | Description                                              | Link     |
|-----------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------|
| WFGY Core             | WFGY 2.0 engine is live: full symbolic reasoning architecture and math stack | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/core/README.md) |
| Problem Map 1.0       | Initial 16-mode diagnostic and symbolic fix framework    | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/ProblemMap/README.md) |
| Problem Map 2.0       | RAG-focused failure tree, modular fixes, and pipelines   | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/rag-architecture-and-recovery.md) |
| Semantic Clinic Index | Expanded failure catalog: prompt injection, memory bugs, logic drift | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/SemanticClinicIndex.md) |
| Semantic Blueprint    | Layer-based symbolic reasoning & semantic modulations   | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/SemanticBlueprint/README.md) |
| Benchmark vs GPT-5    | Stress test GPT-5 with full WFGY reasoning suite         | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/benchmarks/benchmark-vs-gpt5/README.md) |
| 🧙‍♂️ Starter Village 🏡 | New here? Lost in symbols? Click here and let the wizard guide you through | [Start →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/StarterVillage/README.md) |

---

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<div align="center">

[![WFGY Main](https://img.shields.io/badge/WFGY-Main-red?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY)
&nbsp;
[![TXT OS](https://img.shields.io/badge/TXT%20OS-Reasoning%20OS-orange?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/OS)
&nbsp;
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&nbsp;
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&nbsp;
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&nbsp;
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&nbsp;
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