Each pedestal in the ring is a local cache slot. Its height and color track how
fresh its entry is; requests orbiting from the app node above resolve against it
before ever reaching the distant network node:
age = now - insertedAt
age <= TTL → cache HIT (pulses in place, instant)
TTL < age <= TTL+stale → STALE HIT (instant, + background refresh flies out)
age > TTL+stale (or miss) → packet flies to the network node and back
- TTL — how long a slot's entry counts as fresh (tall & green).
- Stale grace window — with SWR ON, an expired-but-still-in-grace slot
(amber) keeps answering instantly while a background packet quietly refreshes it.
- Cache slots — ring size; a full ring evicts the least-recently-used pedestal.
- Network latency — real flight time of a miss packet to the network node and back.
- Offline — miss packets turn red and dissolve before reaching the network node;
hits and stale hits are unaffected, since they never leave the ring.
Same read-caching mechanic as the 2D pair, independent state and instanced
3D rendering — distinct from write-queue ordering or cross-device merge sync.