autoresearch — closed-loop Bayesian optimization of Mu2e geometry

A botorch GP proposes candidate Mu2e geometries. The contract engine evaluates each one end to end — geometry render, a local 1-event Geant4 pre-check, grid (or local) Geant4 steps, and the analysis — and the result lands as a row on the study's leaderboard. The GP refits against the board and the loop goes on.

Start here: QUICKSTART.md — install, check a study, run a point and a campaign, follow it, read the results.

How it fits together

• Study — one research line in one JSON file, mode_specs/<name>.json: knobs, geometry, kits, evaluate steps, objectives, leaderboard. Every key is required. Format and rules: mode_specs/README.md.
• Kit — what a step runs on. It speaks one contract, submit/status/results. A native kit is an MCP server with one kits.toml entry (toykit, the test kit). The others are in-process adapters declared in core/kit_registry.py:
  • prodtools — builds and submits the Geant4 jobs, grid or local (Mu2e/prodtools);
  • offline_preflight — the 1-event geometry pre-check (mu2e -n 1 with G4's surface check) from the study's code tarball;
  • anakit — M. MacKenzie's analysis server (sob, flash, ce_chain's plot);
  • beamkit — G4beamline jobs for ptg4bl.
• Runners — graph.run evaluates one point; graph.closed_loop runs a campaign (a pool of points, a picker per replacement); graph.check_study checks a study without submitting anything.
• Leaderboard — one TSV per study. Each row carries measure_sha, and a board holds one measurement only.

Layout

path	what
core/	study loader, engine (contract, scheduler, score), boards, adapters
graph/	the runners: run, closed_loop, check_study
service/	the autoresearch MCP server (study and campaign tools) and the dashboard
surrogate/	the surrogate MCP server (GP fit, predict, suggest over the boards)
mode_specs/	the studies
stage_entries/	the prodtools job templates a step names as its entry (hashed into measure_sha)
kits.toml	native kits and the servers the adapters start
tests/	the test suite (no grid contact)
wiki/	background, decisions and incidents (index)

Domain words are defined in CONTEXT.md. The engine's design record is wiki/drivers/contract-engine.md.