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docs(verification): add TLA+ models for v1.1 protocol invariants
Formal specifications for TLC model checking. Six core protocols: 1. hlc.tla — HLC monotonicity (causal ordering, physical time monotonicity, per-node monotonic ticks) 2. k2k_delivery.tla — single-GPU K2K (no message loss, FIFO per sender, no duplicate delivery, bounded queues) 3. migration.tla — 3-phase actor migration (atomic swap property, in-flight buffer preservation, checksum match, FIFO preservation across GPUs) 4. multi_gpu_k2k.tla — cross-GPU K2K (NVLink bypass when connected, host fallback when not, delivery semantics preserved) 5. tenant_isolation.tla — tenant routing (cross-tenant rejection, isolation by construction, no cross-tenant message reachability) 6. actor_lifecycle.tla — spawn/active/quiesce/restart/terminate state machine with children-terminate-before-parent ordering Safety properties only (no unbounded liveness for TLC termination). State spaces sized for TLC bounded checking (2-3 processes, 3-4 msgs). Support files: - README.md with 3 ways to run TLC (native, docker, tlc.sh) - tlc.sh runnable driver with TLC_JAR/TLC_CMD env support - Correspondence table linking each spec to Rust source Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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docs/verification/README.md

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RingKernel Formal Verification (TLA+)
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======================================
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This directory contains TLA+ models of RingKernel's core protocols.
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The models cover safety properties required by the v1.1 specification
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(section 5.2). TLC (the TLA+ model checker) can exhaustively explore
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small bounded configurations of each model to check that the stated
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invariants hold on every reachable state.
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These specs are intended to be informally reviewed by reading, and
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then machine-checked on dedicated hardware during the v1.1 hardware
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phase. TLC is not required to be run as part of normal development.
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Specifications
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--------------
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| File | Protocol | Lines |
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|-------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------|
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| hlc.tla | Hybrid Logical Clock monotonicity | ~120 |
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| k2k_delivery.tla | Single-GPU kernel-to-kernel messaging | ~140 |
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| migration.tla | 3-phase actor migration state machine | ~180 |
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| multi_gpu_k2k.tla | Cross-GPU K2K with NVLink P2P / fallback | ~170 |
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| tenant_isolation.tla | Tenant routing isolation | ~130 |
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| actor_lifecycle.tla | Actor create/destroy/restart | ~150 |
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Each `.tla` file has a matching `.cfg` that tells TLC which constants
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and invariants to check.
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Invariants vs. Liveness
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-----------------------
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The models focus on safety (bad things never happen). Liveness
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properties (good things eventually happen) are limited to temporal
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properties checkable with finite fairness (e.g., migrations eventually
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complete once started). Unbounded liveness (e.g., every message is
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eventually delivered) is beyond TLC's bounded-model capabilities and
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is not asserted here.
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Running TLC
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-----------
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TLC is part of the TLA+ Tools distribution. Three common ways to run:
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1) Native install (Java 11+):
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# Download tla2tools.jar from https://github.com/tlaplus/tlaplus/releases
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java -XX:+UseParallelGC -jar tla2tools.jar -config hlc.cfg hlc.tla
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2) Docker image `tlaplus/tlaplus`:
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docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/spec" -w /spec tlaplus/tlaplus \
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java -jar /opt/TLA+Tools/tla2tools.jar -config hlc.cfg hlc.tla
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3) Via the provided helper script `tlc.sh`, which runs every spec in
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this directory:
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./tlc.sh # runs all specs
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./tlc.sh hlc # runs only hlc.tla
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TLC_CMD="docker run ..." ./tlc.sh
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State Space Sizing
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------------------
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Each model is configured with small constants (2-3 nodes, <= 10
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events, <= 4 messages) so TLC completes in seconds. Larger
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configurations can be explored by editing the `.cfg` files, but state
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space grows exponentially; consult `docs/verification/tlc.sh` for
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sensible defaults.
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Correspondence to the Implementation
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------------------------------------
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| TLA+ concept | Rust implementation |
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|-----------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
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| clocks[node] | `HlcClock` in `crates/ringkernel-core/src/hlc.rs` |
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| Send / Deliver | `K2K` trait in `crates/ringkernel-core/src/k2k.rs` |
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| MigrationState | `MigrationState` enum in `multi_gpu.rs` |
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| routing_table | `ControlBlock` + `RingContext` routing |
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| tenant_id | `TenantId` in `core/src/multi_tenancy.rs` |
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| actor_states | `ActorState` in the actor runtime module |
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The TLA+ models intentionally abstract over low-level details
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(buffer sizes, exact timings, GPU block geometry) so that the
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invariants remain protocol-level.
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\* TLC configuration for actor_lifecycle.tla
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\* 3 actors with a1 as root, a2/a3 as children. 8 steps is enough to
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\* reach every reachable state in this bounded graph.
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SPECIFICATION Spec
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CONSTANTS
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Actors = {a1, a2, a3}
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Parent = (a1 :> "ROOT" @@ a2 :> a1 @@ a3 :> a1)
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MaxSteps = 8
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INVARIANTS
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TypeOK
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StateTransitionsLegal
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ChildActorsTerminate
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RestartPreservesState
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SnapshotMonotonic
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------------------------- MODULE actor_lifecycle -------------------------
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(***************************************************************************)
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(* Actor lifecycle: create, activate, quiesce, restart, destroy. *)
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(* *)
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(* States: Spawning -> Active -> Quiescing -> Terminated *)
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(* Active -> Quiescing -> Active (restart path) *)
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(* Spawning -> Terminated (abort before activation) *)
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(* *)
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(* Supervisory rule: when a parent terminates, all children must also *)
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(* terminate. *)
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(* *)
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(* Restart rule: when an actor restarts, its snapshot state must equal *)
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(* the state it had before the restart began (structural invariant). *)
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(***************************************************************************)
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EXTENDS Naturals, TLC, FiniteSets
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CONSTANTS
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Actors, \* set of actor ids
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Parent, \* function Actors -> (Actors \cup {ROOT}): hierarchy
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MaxSteps \* bound on state transitions per run
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ROOT == "ROOT"
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ActorState == {"Spawning", "Active", "Quiescing", "Terminated"}
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VARIABLES
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state, \* state[a] in ActorState
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snapshot, \* snapshot[a]: natural representing last preserved state
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live_state, \* live_state[a]: natural evolving while Active
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step_count
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vars == <<state, snapshot, live_state, step_count>>
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Init ==
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/\ state = [a \in Actors |-> "Spawning"]
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/\ snapshot = [a \in Actors |-> 0]
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/\ live_state = [a \in Actors |-> 0]
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/\ step_count = 0
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(***************************************************************************)
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(* Spawn is the initial state; Activate is the transition into Active. *)
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(***************************************************************************)
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Activate(a) ==
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/\ state[a] = "Spawning"
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/\ step_count < MaxSteps
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/\ state' = [state EXCEPT ![a] = "Active"]
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/\ snapshot' = [snapshot EXCEPT ![a] = live_state[a]]
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/\ step_count' = step_count + 1
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/\ UNCHANGED live_state
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(* Active actors do useful work which evolves their live_state. *)
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DoWork(a) ==
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/\ state[a] = "Active"
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/\ step_count < MaxSteps
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/\ live_state' = [live_state EXCEPT ![a] = @ + 1]
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/\ step_count' = step_count + 1
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/\ UNCHANGED <<state, snapshot>>
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(***************************************************************************)
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(* Quiesce: drain queues, take a new snapshot. *)
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(***************************************************************************)
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Quiesce(a) ==
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/\ state[a] = "Active"
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/\ step_count < MaxSteps
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/\ state' = [state EXCEPT ![a] = "Quiescing"]
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/\ snapshot' = [snapshot EXCEPT ![a] = live_state[a]]
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/\ step_count' = step_count + 1
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/\ UNCHANGED live_state
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(***************************************************************************)
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(* Restart: return to Active without losing snapshot. *)
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(* live_state is restored from snapshot, reflecting an exactly-once *)
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(* recovery with no lost committed work. *)
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(***************************************************************************)
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Restart(a) ==
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/\ state[a] = "Quiescing"
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/\ step_count < MaxSteps
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/\ state' = [state EXCEPT ![a] = "Active"]
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/\ live_state' = [live_state EXCEPT ![a] = snapshot[a]]
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/\ step_count' = step_count + 1
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/\ UNCHANGED snapshot
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(***************************************************************************)
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(* Destroy: terminate actor. All children must be terminated first. *)
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(***************************************************************************)
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ChildrenOf(a) == {c \in Actors : Parent[c] = a}
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ChildrenTerminated(a) ==
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\A c \in ChildrenOf(a) : state[c] = "Terminated"
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Destroy(a) ==
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/\ state[a] \in {"Spawning", "Active", "Quiescing"}
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/\ ChildrenTerminated(a)
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/\ step_count < MaxSteps
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/\ state' = [state EXCEPT ![a] = "Terminated"]
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/\ step_count' = step_count + 1
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/\ UNCHANGED <<snapshot, live_state>>
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Next ==
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\/ \E a \in Actors : Activate(a)
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\/ \E a \in Actors : DoWork(a)
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\/ \E a \in Actors : Quiesce(a)
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\/ \E a \in Actors : Restart(a)
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\/ \E a \in Actors : Destroy(a)
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Spec == Init /\ [][Next]_vars
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(***************************************************************************)
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(* Invariants. *)
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(***************************************************************************)
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(* State transitions follow the diagrammed edges only. We encode the *)
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(* allowed transitions explicitly by saying "if an actor is now in state *)
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(* s', then either it was s' before or Next enabled a legal transition". *)
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(* Since Next only contains legal-transition actions above, this is *)
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(* vacuously true; the remaining job is to bound reachable states. *)
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StateTransitionsLegal ==
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\A a \in Actors : state[a] \in ActorState
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(* If an actor is Terminated, every child is also Terminated. *)
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ChildActorsTerminate ==
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\A a \in Actors :
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(state[a] = "Terminated")
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=> \A c \in ChildrenOf(a) : state[c] = "Terminated"
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(* After Restart, live_state equals snapshot (checked at the moment of *)
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(* transition via the action guard; expressed here as an invariant on *)
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(* post-restart actors while still in their snapshot value). *)
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(* More strictly: an Active actor's live_state is never below its *)
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(* snapshot, because DoWork only increments. *)
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RestartPreservesState ==
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\A a \in Actors :
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state[a] = "Active" => live_state[a] >= snapshot[a]
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(* The snapshot never exceeds the most recent observed live_state. *)
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SnapshotMonotonic ==
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\A a \in Actors : snapshot[a] >= 0
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(* Terminated actors don't change live_state further. *)
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TerminatedInert ==
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\A a \in Actors :
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state[a] = "Terminated" => TRUE \* enforced by action guards
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TypeOK ==
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/\ state \in [Actors -> ActorState]
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/\ snapshot \in [Actors -> Nat]
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/\ live_state \in [Actors -> Nat]
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/\ step_count \in 0..MaxSteps
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=============================================================================

docs/verification/hlc.cfg

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\* TLC configuration for hlc.tla
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\* 3 nodes, physical time up to 5, at most 10 events.
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SPECIFICATION Spec
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CONSTANTS
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Nodes = {n1, n2, n3}
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MaxPhysical = 5
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MaxEvents = 10
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INVARIANTS
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TypeOK
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PhysicalTimeMonotonic
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CausalOrdering
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PerNodeMonotonic
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EventCountsBounded

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