Hardcore Mode

Hardcore Mode (omp.hardcore: true) is godotz.ai’s maximum-constraint operating posture. It disables all fallbacks, rejects unverified plugins, enforces hard budget limits, and tightens every concurrency and timeout knob. Use it for production deployments where cost predictability and security matter more than convenience.

1. The Toggle Script

The omp-hardcore script switches the fleet between normal and hardcore posture with a single command.

# Enable hardcore mode
omp-hardcore on

# Disable hardcore mode (returns to defaults)
omp-hardcore off

# Show current status
omp-hardcore status

Example status output:

OMP Hardcore Mode: ENABLED
Since: 2025-06-07T14:23:00Z

Active Constraints:
  [✓] No model fallback
  [✓] Hard budget cap
  [✓] Plugin signature required
  [✓] Sandbox enforced
  [✓] Context promotion blocked
  [✓] EMA tracking active
  [✓] Rate limit: strict
  [✓] Retry limit: 1
  [✓] Telemetry: verbose
  [✓] Unverified MCP: blocked

Budget (current cycle):
  Spent: $12.43 / $50.00
  Remaining: $37.57
  Reset: 2025-06-30

What the Script Does

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# omp-hardcore — toggle OMP hardcore mode
# Usage: omp-hardcore on | off | status

set -euo pipefail
CONFIG="/etc/omp/fleet.yml"
STATE_FILE="/var/lib/omp/hardcore.state"

case "${1:-}" in
  on)
    yq -i '.omp.hardcore = true' "$CONFIG"
    echo "$(date -Iseconds)" > "$STATE_FILE"
    docker compose exec litellm kill -HUP 1   # reload config
    omp agent reload --all
    echo "Hardcore mode: ON"
    ;;
  off)
    yq -i '.omp.hardcore = false' "$CONFIG"
    rm -f "$STATE_FILE"
    docker compose exec litellm kill -HUP 1
    omp agent reload --all
    echo "Hardcore mode: OFF"
    ;;
  status)
    if [[ -f "$STATE_FILE" ]]; then
      echo "ENABLED since $(cat "$STATE_FILE")"
    else
      echo "DISABLED"
    fi
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: omp-hardcore on | off | status" >&2
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

2. The 10 Optimization Categories

Hardcore Mode tightens ten independent dimensions. Each can also be configured individually in fleet.yml.

1. No Model Fallback

model_fallback: false

In normal mode, a failed claude-opus-4-6 call falls back to claude-sonnet-4-6. In hardcore mode, it fails immediately. Forces callers to declare intent explicitly.

2. Hard Budget Cap

budget:
  hard_cap: true
  action_on_exceed: reject   # not warn

Requests are rejected (HTTP 429) the moment a virtual key’s budget is exhausted. No grace period.

3. Plugin Signature Required

plugin_eval:
  require_signature: true
  block_unsigned: true

Unsigned plugins do not run, period. Not even for testing.

4. Sandbox Always Enforced

sandbox:
  enabled: true
  bypass_allowed: false

No sandbox bypass flag is accepted. Agents cannot request elevated filesystem or network access.

5. Context Promotion Blocked

context_promotion:
  enabled: false

Workers cannot escalate to Antigravity models. If the task is too complex for GLM, it fails. Forces task decomposition at the design level.

6. EMA Tracking Active

ema_tracking:
  enabled: true
  alpha: 0.2        # smoothing factor; lower = slower decay
  window: 100       # requests in the EMA window

EMA (Exponential Moving Average) of success rate, latency, and cost per model is recorded continuously. Used to detect silent degradation before it becomes an incident.

7. Strict Rate Limiting

rate_limits:
  strategy: strict          # vs. adaptive in normal mode
  queue_overflow: reject    # vs. queue indefinitely
  request_timeout: 30s      # vs. 120s in normal mode

8. Retry Limit: 1

retries:
  max: 1                    # normal mode: 3
  backoff: fixed            # no exponential backoff

One retry on transient error, then hard failure. Prevents runaway cost from retry storms.

9. Verbose Telemetry

telemetry:
  level: verbose
  include_prompt_tokens: true
  include_cost: true
  langfuse_flush_interval: 5s   # vs. 30s in normal mode

Every token and cent is tracked and immediately flushed to Langfuse. Verbose mode makes cost attribution exact.

10. Unverified MCP Blocked

mcp:
  require_cve_clear: true
  block_unscanned: true

Any MCP server not cleared by mcp-scan is blocked from registration. This includes newly added servers until they pass the gate.

3. When to Use vs Normal Mode

The key question: can this run cost you unexpectedly or expose sensitive data? If yes, use hardcore mode.

4. EMA Tracking

Hardcore mode enables continuous EMA tracking of model performance metrics. This feeds the fallback chain and budget reforecasting.

# View current EMA stats
omp ema status

# Output:
# Model              EMA Success%  EMA P95 Latency  EMA Cost/1K tokens
# claude-opus-4-6    98.2%         4.3s             $0.085
# claude-sonnet-4-6  99.1%         1.8s             $0.018
# glm-5.1            96.4%         2.1s             $0.003
# glm-4.5-air        97.8%         0.9s             $0.001

EMA updates after every request in hardcore mode (vs. every 10 requests in normal mode). This gives near-real-time health visibility.

Configure alerting thresholds:

# config/ema-alerts.yml
ema_alerts:
  success_rate_min: 0.90      # alert if EMA drops below 90%
  p95_latency_max: 10s        # alert if P95 exceeds 10s
  cost_spike_factor: 2.0      # alert if cost EMA doubles
  notify: ntfy

5. Budget Enforcement Flow

Incoming API request (worker virtual key)
        ↓
  [Budget Check] ─── Exceeded? ──→ HTTP 429 + ntfy alert
        ↓ OK
  [EMA Update] ─── track tokens + cost
        ↓
  [Model Route] ─── no fallback in hardcore
        ↓
  [Provider Call]
        ↓
  [Langfuse Flush] ─── immediate in hardcore (5s interval)

6. Disabling Individual Constraints

If you need most hardcore constraints but want to allow one exception (e.g., a single trusted unsigned plugin), override only that key:

# fleet.yml
omp:
  hardcore: true

# Override: allow this one unsigned plugin
plugin_eval:
  unsigned_allowlist:
    - "omp-team/internal-debug-plugin@sha256:abc123"

Allowlist entries require a SHA256 pin. Version ranges are not accepted in hardcore mode.

Next Steps

• Security Gates — Understand what each gate enforces
• Model Routing — EMA feeds the routing decision
• Fleet Setup — Apply hardcore mode at boot via .env.secrets