If you keep getting confused on the layers read this

I kept thinking of layers as cascading folders or files. This is what AI explained to me about ICM, I thought other people might find valuable. If your experienced and this looks off to you, please let us know.

"Layer" is about WHEN a file loads, not how deep the folder is

This is the thing making it feel strange. Layer 0 (AGENTS.md) isn't "the top folder" and Layer 3 isn't "three folders deep." The layers are about when an agent reads the file:

- Layer 0 (AGENTS.md): always, the moment it wakes up

- Layer 1 (CONTEXT.md router): when it enters the lab with a task

- Layer 2 (a stage contract): when it starts that specific task

- Layer 3 (reference): only if that stage's Inputs table names it

- Layer 4: the working files of this particular run

Jake's own folder proves it: his _config/ sits at the very top of his workspace, right next to CLAUDE.md — and he labels it L3. His annotation says so explicitly: "_config/ files: L3 (reference, loaded selectively per stage)." So the pillar file sitting at the top of the lab does not mean it loads early or often. Nobody touches it until a stage contract says "go get the pillar file." Top-of-the-folder and top-of-the-load-order are two different things.

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If you keep getting confused on the layers read this