VSMCP

Elixir implementation of Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) with MCP integration, AMQP messaging, and CRDT-based distributed state.

Status

Early-stage (v0.1.0). Core supervision tree runs. No hex.pm release exists despite badge placeholders in the previous README. The CI badge pointed to a viable-systems org that does not match this repo's owner. Test coverage is unknown.

What It Does

Maps Beer's 5 VSM subsystems onto an OTP application:

VSM System	Role	Elixir Module
System 1 (Operations)	Autonomous work units, MCP tool execution	Vsmcp.Systems.System1
System 2 (Coordination)	Conflict resolution, anti-oscillation	Vsmcp.Systems.System2
System 3 (Control)	Resource allocation, audit channel (3*)	Vsmcp.Systems.System3
System 4 (Intelligence)	Environment scanning, MCP server discovery	Vsmcp.Systems.System4
System 5 (Policy)	Identity, governance, goal alignment	Vsmcp.Systems.System5

Additional subsystems:

Component	Purpose
AMQP Nervous System	RabbitMQ message routing between VSM layers
CRDT Store	Conflict-free replicated data types (OR-Set, G-Counter, LWW-Register, HLC)
MCP Server/Client	Model Context Protocol for dynamic tool discovery
Consciousness Interface	Meta-cognitive reflection layer
Variety Calculator	Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety metrics

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	Elixir 1.17+ / OTP 26+
Messaging	RabbitMQ 3.13+ (AMQP)
State	CRDT (custom), optional PostgreSQL 14+
Protocol	MCP (TCP, WebSocket, stdio transports)
Deployment	Docker, Kubernetes (manifests in k8s/)
Telemetry	OpenTelemetry-compatible, Prometheus on port 9568

Project Layout

lib/vsmcp/
  systems/          # System 1-5 implementations
  amqp/             # Connection pool, channel manager, consumers, producers
  crdt/             # OR-Set, G-Counter, LWW-Register, HLC, storage
  mcp/              # Server, client, protocol, capability/tool registries
  consciousness/    # Meta-cognitive interface
  core/             # Variety calculator
config/             # dev.exs, runtime.exs, test.exs
k8s/                # Kubernetes base + production overlay
examples/           # Demo scripts (AMQP, Hermes MCP, Telegram VSM)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/jmanhype/VSMCP.git
cd VSMCP
mix deps.get && mix compile
mix test
iex -S mix

Docker:

docker build -t vsmcp .
docker run -p 4010:4010 vsmcp

Kubernetes:

kubectl apply -f k8s/base/

Configuration

Key environment variables:

Variable	Default	Purpose
VSMCP_MCP_PORT	4010	MCP server port
VSMCP_MCP_TRANSPORT	tcp	tcp, websocket, or stdio
VSMCP_AMQP_URL	amqp://localhost:5672	RabbitMQ connection
VSMCP_AMQP_POOL_SIZE	10	Connection pool size
VSMCP_METRICS_PORT	9568	Prometheus metrics
VSMCP_LOG_LEVEL	info	debug, info, warn, error

See config/config.exs for full tuning parameters (variety check intervals, recursion depth, prefetch counts, timeouts).

Limitations

• No published hex package. The old README badges were aspirational.
• Telegram bot integration exists in examples/ but the polling system had known issues (see TELEGRAM_POLLING_INVESTIGATION_REPORT.md).
• The "consciousness interface" is a structural placeholder, not an AI cognition system.
• CRDT implementation is custom and not benchmarked against established libraries like Delta-CRDT.
• No integration tests for the full AMQP nervous system path.

License

See LICENSE.md.