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Realtime agent harness — gap register (voice + video/avatar) reference
kradle's control plane is real and fairly complete; the media plane is almost entirely stub. The harness can already model a meeting agent, dispatch it as a K8s Job with a headless-Chromium Jitsi sidecar, render the agent as a participant tile in the web UI, and expose meeting MCP tools — but the agent currently publishes only Chrome's fake spinning-ball video + beep (--use-fake-device-for-media-stream), and the agent's reasoning never actually reaches the sidecar at runtime. Closing the harness = (1) fix the load-bearing runtime gap (agent↔sidecar socket client), then (2) build the media plane (avatar render, real A/V tracks, lipsync, screen-share, tool-driven visuals), then (3) extend the CRD/UX surface to declare & drive video capability.
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Nearby pages in the same section.
agent-browser — verify changes in a real browserai-cli — image + video gen via CLIEmulate — emulate third-party APIsG0-RT — Live-cluster validation runbook (kradle realtime avatar agent)Portless — no port conflicts, worktree-friendlyRealtime Voice **+ Video / Animated-Avatar** Agent Stack — with babysitter as the inner governance layer`@a5c-ai/voice-adapter` — media-governance bridge (draft spec, **audio + video/avatar**)
Realtime agent harness — gap register (voice + video/avatar)
**Status:** Living gap map for the realtime audio+video avatar agent harness on kradle.
**Date:** 2026-06-23.
**Companions:** `realtime-voice-agent-stack.md` (architecture), `voice-governance-bridge-spec.md` (bridge + CRD + UX flow), `g0-rt-live-validation-runbook.md` (the operator runbook to boot the sidecar into a live room + verify A/V publish + the G13 governance round-trip).
**Legend:** **HAS** = real & usable · **PARTIAL** = real but incomplete/unwired · **LACKS** = absent/stub. Seams are
file:lineinpackages/….
0. The shape of the problem
kradle's **control plane is real and fairly complete**; the **media plane is almost entirely stub**. The harness can already model a meeting agent, dispatch it as a K8s Job with a headless-Chromium Jitsi sidecar, render the agent as a participant tile in the web UI, and expose meeting MCP tools — but the agent currently publishes only Chrome's **fake spinning-ball video + beep** (--use-fake-device-for-media-stream), and the agent's reasoning never actually reaches the sidecar at runtime. Closing the harness = (1) fix the **load-bearing runtime gap** (agent↔sidecar socket client), then (2) build the **media plane** (avatar render, real A/V tracks, lipsync, screen-share, tool-driven visuals), then (3) extend the **CRD/UX** surface to declare & drive video capability.
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1. LOAD-BEARING gap (everything else depends on it)
| # | Gap | State | Seam / evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **G0** | **Agent→sidecar socket client at runtime** | **DONE (impl) · live-pending** | Implemented jitsi-agent-sidecar/src/ipc-client.js (createAgentIpcClient: connect → NDJSON command → command_result correlation → onEvent stream; no silent fallback) + bin/agent-ipc-client.mjs CLI consuming the MCP {socketPath,command} descriptor (kradle/cli/src/mcp-server.js:724-732). Verified via runtime.test.js (9/9, non-socket) + ipc-client.test.js (real AF_UNIX socket, runs on Linux CI; platform-skips where AF_UNIX is unbindable). | **Was the load-bearing gap; now built + unit-verified.** Residual = wire it into the in-pod agent wrapper so a dispatched agent actually invokes it (and the live G0-RT meeting boot). |
| **G0-RT** | **Agent-Job runtime substrate + live meeting boot** | **DEPLOYED green · live join CONVERGING in CI** | Board→agent E2E verified live (memory project_dispatch_emptydir_agentimage_task). For the meeting path the prerequisites are now **deployed green to kradle-staging**: (a) the **sidecar image** builds+publishes to ACR and is threaded to the controller via KRADLE_JITSI_AGENT_SIDECAR_IMAGE (publish.yml + jitsi-agent-bridge.js:16); (b) **in-cluster Jitsi** runs (jitsi.install=true; kradle-jitsi-subchart-web/-jvb + kradle-prosody live); (c) the **JWT secret-sync fix** — the controller now signs the meeting JWT with the same KRADLE_JITSI_JWT_SECRET prosody validates with (it previously fell back to dev-jitsi-secret → every dispatched JWT rejected). A repeatable **live E2E** (scripts/g0-rt-jitsi-e2e.sh + .github/workflows/g0-rt-jitsi-e2e.yml standalone, plus a gated publish.yml job via -f run_g0rt=true) dispatches a video agent into a meeting and asserts the sidecar joins. | The fast standalone E2E (gh workflow run g0-rt-jitsi-e2e.yml --ref staging, ~3 min) drove the live boot through, in order: cluster-auth → jitsi service discovery → namespace → provider/appearance/AgentStack apply (role: participant; CRD enum is `observer\ |
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2. Media plane — sidecar (`packages/kradle/jitsi-agent-sidecar/src`)
| # | Gap | State | Seam | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G1 | Render avatar in-browser | **DONE (impl) · live-publish pending** | puppeteer-jitsi-client.connect() now injectAvatar()s when JITSI_VIDEO_MODE==='publish': a node:http static server serves src/browser/{avatar,compositor,publish-effect,lipsync}.js (promoted byte-identical from avatar-poc/), grafted into the live Jitsi page via es-module-shims (shimMode) + CDN importmap + importShim(), building the avatar from JITSI_AVATAR_* env and defining window.__kradleAvatar. verify-sidecar.mjs S1 confirms a non-blank render headless. Residual: real-GPU TalkingHead quality (cluster). | |
| G2 | Publish generated **video** track | **DONE (impl) · live-publish pending** | injectAvatar() builds createCanvasPublishEffect({canvas,fps}) + attachToConference → localVideoTrack.setEffect(effect) (the JitsiStreamPresenterEffect pattern) off the composited output canvas. verify-sidecar.mjs S2 confirms a live video track + setEffect on a mock conference. Residual: the real window.APP.conference publish into a live Jitsi room (G0-RT). | |
| G3 | Publish **TTS audio** track | **DONE (impl) · live-publish pending** | audio.js now routes speak() → pluggable TtsProvider (mock synthetic default) → audio descriptor; puppeteer-jitsi-client.publishAudio builds a Web-Audio MediaStreamAudioDestinationNode audio track (avatar-poc verify-audio.mjs A1/A2 confirm a live kind:audio track headless). Residual: real TTS provider (creds) + the live window.APP.conference publish are manual/config. | |
| G4 | **Lipsync** (viseme/mouth sync) | **DONE (impl) · live-publish pending** | src/browser/lipsync.js buildVisemeSchedule on the AudioContext clock + LipsyncRunner (X1), now folded into the live sidecar: publishAudio() drives lipsync on the shared window.__kradleAudio.ctx when the avatar is present and the descriptor carries viseme timing (no silent fallback — a lipsync fault surfaces, never degrades to a plain tone). verify-sidecar.mjs S3 confirms the audio track + replaceTrack. Residual: real Azure visemes + live publish. | |
| G5 | STT (hear the user) | **PARTIAL (impl) · inbound wiring pending** | audio.js transcribe() → pluggable SttProvider (mock canned default), capability-gated; runtime.onInboundAudio routes to the existing transcript event. Residual: the page-side inbound-audio tap emits only a signal (no PCM) and isn't wired to onInboundAudio yet — real inbound PCM + a real STT provider are manual/live. | |
| G6 | VAD / turn detection | **DONE (impl)** | audio.js detectVoice() → pluggable VadProvider (energy-threshold local-vad default); capability-gated; energy detail opt-in (keeps the deepEqual success shape). Residual: a real Silero/framework VAD adapter is config-driven. | |
| G7 | Screen-share / VNC into video | **DONE (impl) · live-publish + real-VNC pending** | The compositor now has a real screen layer: compositor.setScreenSource(el)/clearScreen() + drawScreenLayer composite a source (canvas/video/image) into #out (full/inset/region, readiness-guarded), and a real annotation layer (pushAnnotation/clearAnnotations — text/rect/line/image). window.__kradleAvatar.startScreenshare({source,url}) feeds it: **noVNC** RFB (lazy CDN-importmap @novnc/novnc, ws/wss VNC url) → canvas → screen layer; getDisplayMedia→<video>; image url→<img>. verify-sidecar.mjs S6 confirms a synthetic source composites while the avatar base + published track stay live (S5 confirms annotations). The legacy share_screen (window.open) action is marked **deprecated** in favor of start_screenshare. | The real noVNC RFB against a live **websockify/VNC server** (actual desktop pixels) + desktop **input/operate**, getDisplayMedia on a real display, and the live window.APP.conference publish (G0-RT) stay manual/cluster (X7 throughput). |
| G8 | New IPC actions for visuals | **DONE (impl) · drives the live avatar** | Added set_expression/set_posture/play_gesture/look_at/set_view/draw_canvas/start_screenshare/send_video_metadata to SUPPORTED_ACTIONS + handleCommand → jitsi.* puppeteer methods. With the media plane now wired (G1/G2), setExpression/setPosture/playGesture/lookAt/setView mutate the **real** window.__kradleAvatar (verify-sidecar.mjs S4 confirms set_expression changes the rendered mood). Dispatch verified (runtime.test.js, exact args). With G7 landed, draw_canvas→compositor.pushAnnotation (S5) and start_screenshare→compositor.setScreenSource (S6) now drive the **real** compositor too. | Only send_video_metadata remains a no-op — it is the **governed** data-channel path (G13). |
| G-chat | Inbound chat events not emitted | **DONE (impl) · live-pending** | runtime.js now emits a normalized chat event, and puppeteer-jitsi-client.connect() installs the onEvent listener it previously **ignored** (the real reason no inbound event flowed). Round-trip verified non-socket. | The in-page Jitsi message listener is best-effort/unverified against a live page (real Jitsi API surface) — confirm on a live meeting. |
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3. Control plane — CRDs & controllers (`packages/kradle/core/src`)
| # | Gap | State | Seam | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G9 | AgentStack **video capability** | **DONE (impl)** | agent-stack-controller.js JitsiCapabilityReady now validates capabilities.video:'publish' + avatarRef (resolved against AgentAppearance) + video tools + governedTools⊆tools + observer-cannot-publish gate (audio/chat path intact). node:test verified. | Residual: kradle_speak is allowlisted but not yet MCP-wired. |
| G10 | Appearance/voice **threaded to sidecar** | **DONE (impl) · live-publish pending** | Closed the resolved-but-undelivered gap: prepareMeetingContext now receives identity (agent-dispatch-controller.js:483), the bridge embeds meetingContext.{avatar,voice,video} (bare-stack falls back to jitsiConfig.avatarRef, **hard-fail** on unresolvable — no silent fallback), and createJitsiSidecarContainer emits JITSI_VIDEO_MODE+JITSI_AVATAR_*+identity JITSI_TTS_*. node:test verified end-to-end. | Residual: the sidecar must actually consume the env to render/publish (G1/G2 live wiring). |
| G11 | AgentAppearance avatar **model** field | **DONE (impl)** | resource-model.js AgentAppearance gains optional renderer/avatarModelUrl/visemeSet/defaultMood/defaultView (no required-field regression). | — |
| G12 | JitsiMeeting **media/session status** | **DONE (impl) · live-pop pending** | jitsi-meeting-controller.js reconcile adds status.media/session/transcript/governanceRuns, **status.recording preserved**. node:test verified. | Residual: governanceRuns is reserved ([]) — live population is the G13 bridge; media/transcript populate from the live sidecar. |
| G13 | Governance of consequential visual tools | **DONE (impl) · bridge-delivery + live-pop pending** | The consequential visual tools (draw_canvas content, share_surface/screen-share start, send_video_metadata to external sinks) now route through the babysitter media-governance boundary instead of emitting a direct socket write; cosmetic animation stays fast-path (unchanged). cli/src/mcp-server.js governedToolDescriptor returns a governance descriptor ({governed,correlationId,filler,policy,governedProcess,inputs,socketPath} — **no direct command**; hard-deny → {denied:true}), gated on the meeting's governedTools (G9 validates governedTools⊆tools). A pure PolicyEngine (cli/src/policy-engine.js) decides allow/require-approval/deny with the load-bearing auth./destroy. breakpoint prefix. SDK-side (cli/governance/, committed, imports the SDK from root node_modules at bridge/verify time only — kradle cli stays zero-dep): a **deterministic** governed-visual-tool.process.js (resolveTarget→policyCheck→auth./destroy. owner breakpoint→emit approved socket command / denied) + an in-process run-driver.js. The socket command is produced **only** by an approved run; the journal is the per-decision audit record. Verified: kradle cli node --test 77/77 + SDK-driven verify-governed-visual.mjs (approve→command, policy hard-deny→no command, breakpoint-reject→denied, replay determinism). No package/dep/lockfile change. **Bridge delivery (spec §3.2/§3.3) is now built in-place** (cli/governance/{mcp-http-server,async-delivery}.js, node:http only): an HTTP MCP server a LiveKit worker connects to with one line (MCPServerHTTP(url=…)), where a governed tools/call returns immediately with {correlationId, filler, status:'waiting-approval'} (fast tools synchronous, unchanged), the G13 run drives out-of-band, and the terminal outcome is delivered via SSE (GET /mcp/events) + poll (GET /governance/:id); the owner approve/deny channel (`POST /governance/:id/approve | deny) resolves the run's breakpoint — **the socket command is delivered only after approval** (no default auto-approve, no timeout). Verified verify-bridge-delivery.mjs` 6/6 over loopback HTTP. |
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4. Surfaces — web UX & MCP
| # | Gap | State | Seam | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G14 | Stack-builder video/meeting section | **DONE (impl)** | The active GraphStackBuilder gains a "Meeting / Video" section + provider/avatar/voice/role pickers (new agents/appearances + agents/voices list routes); pure buildStackResource emits jitsiCapability/jitsiConfig/jitsiMeetingProviderRef per modality. A node:test round-trips the emitted spec through the **real** reconcileStack G9 validator (True/False). Web suite 353/353. | Residuals (minor): validator doesn't *require* avatarRef for video (worth a small follow-up); live React render/POST + the dispatched sidecar publishing are manual. G15 overlay + G17 (genty/ui avatar editor) deferred. |
| G15 | Agent overlay/controls in call UI | **DONE (impl) · live-render pending** | A pure deriveAgentOverlay(meeting) (web/app/components/jitsi/agent-overlay.js) reads the real JitsiMeeting status (media.agentTracks/session.agents/governanceRuns) to surface which participant is the agent avatar, what it publishes (audio/video/screenshare), and any pending governance approval (a G13 run at phase waiting-approval); rendered in jitsi-meeting-experience.jsx as an overlay + a minimal mute/hide-agent control (held api.executeCommand). Missing status → correct emptiness (no placeholder, no silent fallback). node:test (jitsi-overlay-spec.test.js) added to the web suite (357/357). | Live React render of the overlay + the mute/hide control actually muting the iframe tile, and status.governanceRuns/media populating live, are manual/cluster (ride G13 live-pop + G1/G2/G10 live publish). |
| G16 | Video MCP tools | **DONE (impl)** | cli/src/mcp-server.js adds 9 video tools (kradle_set_expression/play_gesture/set_posture/look_at/set_view/draw_canvas/publish_video/share_surface/send_video_metadata), each returning the {socketPath,command} descriptor with role/requireVideoPublish gates; MCP_TOOLS 33→42. node:test verified. | The descriptor is **written to the socket by the G0 ipc-client** (live wiring), not the tools. |
| G17 | Agent voice/avatar editor UX | **DONE (impl) · live-render pending** | The existing genty/ui/.../AgentAppearanceEditor.tsx is extended with the G11 AgentAppearance avatar fields (renderer, avatarModelUrl, visemeSet, defaultMood, defaultView) + a pure buildAppearanceSpec/parseAppearanceSpec mapping (omits unset, preserves avatar/emoji/badge/theme); AgentVoiceEditor + profile-image editing intact. Targeted vitest 8/8 (round-trip + defaults). | Live React render + the appearance POST whose realtime fields actually drive the sidecar renderer (rides G10 sidecar-env consumption + G1/G2 live publish) are manual/cluster. |
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5. External components to integrate (not in repo — must add)
| # | Component | State | Source / choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| G18 | Realtime media server + SIP | **LACKS** | LiveKit server + livekit/sip **or** the existing Jitsi (already wired) — Jitsi is the path of least resistance since the sidecar+CRDs target it |
| G19 | Avatar renderer | **LACKS** | TalkingHead.js (RPM GLB + Three.js) in headless Chromium; Live2D alt (Cubism Core proprietary) |
| G20 | STT / TTS providers | **LACKS** | Deepgram / faster-whisper (STT); Azure (visemes) / ElevenLabs / Cartesia (TTS) |
| G21 | noVNC + websockify | **LACKS** | screen-share/desktop-into-video |
| G22 | (optional) server-side face anim | **LACKS** | NVIDIA Audio2Face-3D (MIT SDK, audio→blendshapes; still needs a renderer) for higher-fidelity lipsync on GPU |
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6. Cross-cutting hard problems / unknowns
| # | Risk | Why it's hard |
|---|---|---|
| X1 | **Cross-track A/V sync drift** | Audio + canvas video are separate WebRTC tracks; not auto-lip-synced beyond RTCP. Must originate both from one page/one audio clock; network jitter buffers still add offset. Budget testing. |
| X2 | **Headless WebGL + WebRTC** | Headless Chromium needs real GPU/ANGLE (SwiftShader is slow); older headless modes broke mediaDevices/captureStream. Verify under --headless=new + GPU on the sidecar host. |
| X3 | **GPU cost** | One GPU box per concurrent video bot (WebGL composite readback; worse if Audio2Face). Capacity/scheduling concern for the kradle scheduler. |
| X4 | **Lipsync retargeting accuracy** | Azure ARKit blendshapes are tuned for ARKit, not Oculus/TalkingHead rigs; TalkingHead's rule-based EN mapping ~80%. Retarget quality varies. |
| X5 | **Governance latency budget** | babysitter governance round-trip (seconds) must hide behind filler speech + async tools; never on the audio/animation hot path. Unbenchmarked — measure create→iterate→commit on target disk. |
| X6 | **lib-jitsi-meet setEffect/replaceTrack reliability** | Reported multi-second/20s delays, null-old-track failures. Pin a known-good LJM version; test the effect path. |
| X7 | **noVNC throughput** | Full-desktop RFB over WebSocket at video frame rate is bandwidth-heavy; rate-limit / dirty-region. |
| X8 | **Licensing** | Live2D Cubism Core proprietary (revenue-gated); RPM sample avatar CC BY-NC; Mixamo raw files no-redistribute; Audio2Face NIM under NVIDIA AI license (not OSS); HeyGen/D-ID closed SaaS. Ship own-licensed assets. |
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7. Recommended build order (dependency-aware)
0. **G0-RT** — confirm the meeting-sidecar dispatch actually boots (the Job runtime already works for board dispatch; build/publish kradle/jitsi-agent-sidecar:latest and prove the 2nd container joins a room). Precondition for everything below. **Operator steps + manifests + the landmine checklist are in `g0-rt-live-validation-runbook.md`.** 1. **G0** — the agent↔sidecar socket client (unblocks everything; makes today's text chat actually work). 2. **G3 + G5 + G-chat** — real audio out (TTS) + audio in (STT) + chat events → a working **voice** agent in a meeting (the voice stack MVP). 3. **G1 + G2 + G4** — avatar render + video-track publish + lipsync → a working **talking-avatar** agent. 4. **G8 + G16 + G17** — visual tool calls (expression/posture/gesture/canvas) end-to-end (IPC actions + MCP tools + editor). 5. **G7 + G21** — screen-share / VNC into the video. 6. **G9 + G10 + G11 + G12 + G14** — CRD video capability + appearance/voice threading + status + stack-builder UX (the full declarative flow). 7. **G13** — babysitter governance over consequential visual tools (canvas content, screen-share, external metadata). 8. **X-items** — harden sync/GPU/latency/licensing as each lands.
Prior **voice gaps** (STT/TTS/VAD/WebRTC/SIP from the original voice research) are absorbed here as G3/G5/G6/G18/G20 — they are the same media-plane gaps, now grounded in the kradle sidecar.