> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ngram.space/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# A changing internal state

> The simulated body signals that influence an Entity between and during turns.

Soma is ngram's simulated body-state engine. It maintains numeric bars, changing affects, impulses, and generated fragments that can influence prompt context and autonomous behavior. These are implemented mechanisms, not evidence of subjective experience.

## Bars, events, and coupling

The checked-in configuration includes social, curiosity, creative, tension, and comfort bars. Each has an initial value, bounds, and time-based dynamics. Events can apply changes, while coupling rules let one bar influence another's behavior.

The runtime renders a body document from this state. The model reads that representation as context; it does not directly assign arbitrary bar values through normal conversation.

## Somatic appraisal

Appraisal is a configured model pass that interprets an interaction into state effects. This is distinct from fixed event effects: a routine message need not receive the same curiosity adjustment as a novel problem.

Appraisal can use inference in addition to the main response. Its model budget and enablement belong to harness soma settings.

## Affects, impulses, and conflict

Affects provide generated descriptions of the current state. Impulses apply thresholds and cooldowns to candidate actions. Conflict rules capture simultaneous drive pressures. These signals can feed [autonomous wake](/architecture/autonomous-wake).

## Generative Entropic Noise (GEN)

GEN produces short associative fragments that can appear in the body context. Its generation has its own cadence, output budget, and optional seed sources. See the [GEN pipeline](/architecture/gen-noise-pipeline).

## Ebb

Ebb controls how much body and GEN context reaches a turn. Salience determines quiet, normal, or high presentation, rather than putting the full body document into every prompt. Quiet settings can also skip selected post-turn noise work.

## Wake voice

When a wake condition is met, the optional wake voice composes a stirring from body and memory context. It is another configured generation step before autonomous action.

## Circadian rhythms

Time-based gates influence mechanisms such as optional dream cycles. Check the host's timezone and the specific subsystem configuration when comparing behavior across local and deployed runtimes.

## Configure and observe

Configure `soma` in the harness defaults. Do not assume a top-level `soma` block in Entity YAML is merged by the Entity loader.

Use runtime status, body inspection, and optional soma metrics to observe the state. Use inference pause to stop model-backed soma activity; changing what the UI displays does not stop those calls.

Source: [`ngram/identity/soma.py`](https://github.com/ngramspatial/ngram/blob/main/ngram/identity/soma.py) and [`configs/default.yaml`](https://github.com/ngramspatial/ngram/blob/main/configs/default.yaml).