Relational Machine Runtime
What this is
A RelationalMachineRuntime is a live, operational instantiation of the RelationalMachine.
The RelationalMachine is the abstract specification: the mathematical description of what a machine with fiber Heyting algebra state and dual-nucleus normalization must be. The RelationalMachineRuntime is that specification running — a concrete system that receives steps, maintains State, normalizes fibers, and emits settled sections.
A RelationalMachineRuntime IS an ExpertSystem: its DataStore is the knowledge base (H_t) and its Engine is the inference engine (π_t = σ_t ∘ Δ_t).
How it differs from RelationalMachine
The RelationalMachine is the specification — the abstract mathematical structure. The RelationalMachineRuntime is the realization — it IS running, it IS processing steps, its DataStore IS holding actual State.
The distinction is the same as between a program specification and a running process, or between a theory and one of its models. A RelationalMachine that is not running is not a RelationalMachineRuntime.
How it differs from RelationsSystem
A RelationsSystem has no Engine. Agents drive closure through skill invocations; there is no continuously-running processing component. A RelationsSystem is static; a RelationalMachineRuntime is live. This is not a ranking — they are different kinds of things that happen to share the same mathematical fixed point (R = U_G(R)) from different operational angles.
A RelationalMachineRuntime MUST have all components of the input boundary running — RelationalMachinePort, RelationalMachineInterface, RelationalMachineSteppingMap — along with DataStore, Engine, and Observation Layer. The DataStore MUST persist State durably across Engine invocations. The Engine MUST be stateless between invocations — all durability lives in the DataStore. The RelationalMachinePort declares the independence relation I; the RelationalMachineInterface MUST enforce it: commuting steps MUST produce the same history class regardless of order, and step processing MUST be idempotent so that at-least-once delivery does not corrupt State. A RelationalMachineRuntime MUST NOT share State with a RelationsSystem — the two are categorically different systems with different operational models and no defined interoperability.