---
title: "mova-whale-terminal — Mova code model"
description: "Mova code model of tools/whale/src/terminal.rs: components with their labels, obernants and the model text."
url: "https://groupants.elamur.ai/free/en/mova/tools/whale/src/terminal.rs.groupant/"
---
Elamur: [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · **Groupants**

This page as HTML: <https://groupants.elamur.ai/free/en/mova/tools/whale/src/terminal.rs.groupant/>

# mova-whale-terminal

The groupant beside tools/whale/src/terminal.rs in the Mova repository: what the code computes, what it never does, how to go back from its outputs, its invariants, cost and checks.

## Facts

- **kind:** groupant
- **status:** partial source bound model
- **source:** [`tools/whale/src/terminal.rs`](https://github.com/ElamurAI/mova-free/blob/main/tools/whale/src/terminal.rs)
- **source SHA-256:** `4e3ad12df3045fa8…`
- **repository folder:** [`tools/whale/src/terminal.rs.groupant`](https://github.com/ElamurAI/mova-free/tree/main/tools/whale/src/terminal.rs.groupant)
- **repository commit:** `48f2e6f74146`

> **Implementation material.** A Mova code model describes this code at one source revision: partial models, finite checks and their stated scope. It is not a reviewed general exposition, and its labels are shown as written, never raised.

## Components

| component | label | where |
|---|---|---|
| **approximant** | partial | [Forward approximant](#forward-approximant) |
| **ast** | partial | `syntax.json` |
| **composition** | partial | [Composition](#composition) |
| **cost** | partial | [Cost](#cost) |
| **descriptant** | present | [Descriptant](#descriptant) |
| **invariant** | partial | [Invariant](#invariant) |
| **tests** | finite evidence | `tests.md` |

## Obernants

The typed relations around the forward model: the behaviour complement (what the code never does), the reverse reconstruction (every input compatible with an output) and specialised views.

| id | type | label | where |
|---|---|---|---|
| `behavior_complement` | behavior_complement | partial source derived model | [behavior_complement](#behavior-complement) |
| `reverse_reconstruction` | reverse_reconstruction | partial source derived model | [reverse_reconstruction](#reverse-reconstruction) |

## Model text


### Descriptant

The narrow interface of a Whale's private terminal and its real implementation: TerminalConfig (path of a mova-terminal profile whose animal is the Whale, poll interval), TerminalLease (ROOT/holder.lock for the whole run), Question/Answer, AskError (limit, timeout, failed, unavailable), PrivateTerminal, MovaTerminal (thin adapter over mova-terminal), NoTerminal and FakeTerminal. Source: `tools/whale/src/terminal.rs`.

### Forward approximant

TerminalConfig::load -> terminal::Profile::load (absolute path, poll 100..60000 ms). TerminalLease::take(profile): create root, exclusive try_lease on ROOT/holder.lock or refuse. MovaTerminal::ask(q): terminal::ask(profile, q.text) (Failed on refusal: nothing sent); loop: terminal::answer -> Ok(answer, elapsed, terminal id); terminal::observe screen contains LIMIT_TEXT -> Limit (pending, never re-sent); elapsed > answer_timeout_seconds -> Timeout; sleep poll. NoTerminal: Unavailable. FakeTerminal: by subject, Limit after n answers.

### Invariant

One Whale holder per terminal root for a whole run; the adapter sends at most one task per ask and never re-sends; the screen is only read; answers are text, never executed.

### Cost

One mova-terminal ask plus one answer read and one screen observation per poll interval until answer, limit or timeout.

### Composition

Parent: whale-workers; used by paper.rs and main.rs; depends on mova-terminal (tools/terminal), whose session is held by crab-tmux-worker.

### behavior_complement

Not done: starting or holding a session, choosing the model, abandoning a pending question (an operator does it with mova-terminal abandon), retries, limit detection beyond the LIMIT_TEXT phrases on the screen. Evidence status: source-derived model with finite checks, not a proof.

### reverse_reconstruction

From the Whale journal (terminal question id, answer hash) and the terminal's own journal (reserved, sent, answered) one recovers which question each answer belongs to; the session's internal reasoning is not recoverable. No unique inverse is claimed.

### Epoch 2026-11-04 (learning Whales)

MovaTerminal::ask counts an answer only when its file exists and the pane is idle again (round 1 on 2026-11-04 sent its next question while the LLM was still working and the terminal refused it as not idle).

### Epoch 2026-11-04 (batched questions, replay)

`Question::items` carries a round's batched questions; `Answer::missing` lists items a terminal had no answer for. `Replay` answers from recorded state and paper run roots (by normalized term or sentence text) for measurement; it never starts or asks anything.

### tests.md


Command: cargo test --manifest-path tools/whale/Cargo.toml --offline --locked with MOVA_OCTOPUS_TEST_MODEL=$MOVA_DATA/download/0/0.4/en.bin (paper/terminal/reader tests: fixture paper with a fake terminal, pod config gates, lease exclusivity, licence admissibility; Mova-only dry run on five CC BY 4.0 papers, two byte-identical runs; 2026-11-04)

Negative controls 2026-11-04: appending answers to the description, asking on after a usage limit, and a lease that does not lock each turn the tests red; restored afterwards.
These are finite fixtures and a Mova-only dry run; no live terminal or teacher; not a proof.

2026-11-04: cargo test --manifest-path tools/whale/Cargo.toml --offline --locked with MOVA_OCTOPUS_TEST_MODEL=$MOVA_DATA/download/0/0.4/en.bin; tests/terminal_adapter.rs (3 tests: answer, usage limit, a full Whale run) against a fake bash LLM in a real tmux server on a private socket, tmux required, never a model (2026-11-04)
Negative control 2026-11-04: ignoring the limit text makes the limit test wait out the timeout and fail; restored afterwards.

2026-11-04: tests/terminal_adapter.rs an_answer_counts_only_when_the_terminal_is_idle_again (fake LLM writes the answer, works 1.5 s, then idles); negative control: returning on the answer file alone turns it red; restored.