Counterfactuals as content-addressed, self-validating first-class objects

[flyingrobots]

Salvaged from old Continuum crates/jitos-core/src/delta.rs, preserved only in git history (formerly listed in GoodIdeas.md, now deleted).

Idea: counterfactuals/deltas should be explicit, hashed, content-addressed, self-validating first-class objects.

• a counterfactual/delta spec is a first-class runtime object
• it should be content-addressed
• it should validate itself on deserialize

This maps cleanly to current work on strands, causal slicing, and witnessed merge/obstruction handling.

Scope: Echo / git-warp runtime-internal concern, not a Continuum-owned contract. Filed here to preserve the idea before deleting the salvage note; move it to the owning runtime repo when picked up.

[flyingrobots]

Re-homing to Echo: counterfactuals as content-addressed runtime objects are Echo causal-runtime work; Continuum can coordinate shared vocabulary later if needed.

[coderabbitai]

🔗 Related PRs

#298 - feat(warp-core): TTD domain logic — provenance storage + causal cone walk [merged]
#309 - feat: add Doghouse PR flight recorder [merged]
#329 - Stack Witness 0001 fixture-backed jedit walking skeleton [merged]

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[flyingrobots]

Superseded/refined by #640.

The content-addressed object idea remains useful, but strict vocabulary now matters: counterfactual means legal but unselected. Obstructed attempts and repair candidates belong in the broader strand-neighborhood taxonomy rather than being renamed counterfactuals. Closing this salvage note so follow-up work routes through #640 and the contract-strands line.