Overview

Introduction

UPAS (Unified Procedures and Advisory System) is a prototype of an offline-first procedural guidance system designed for humanitarian responders operating under pressure. It is intended to run entirely in the browser with no server-side APIs, keys, or external credentials required.

Planned key capabilities include:

• Offline availability with cached procedure packs
• On-device AI inference via WebGPU (with WASM fallback)
• Provenance display for source attribution at point of use
• Safe degradation when model artefacts are unavailable

Quick Example

Here's how UPAS works at a high level:

// Load cached procedure pack
const pack = await loadProcedurePack({
  domain: "emergency-response",
  version: "3.2.1",
  locale: "en",
});

// Query guidance locally (no network required)
const guidance = await pack.query({
  question: "What is the triage protocol?",
  context: { role: "field-medic" },
});

// Returns stepwise actions with provenance
console.log(guidance.steps);       // Clear action sequence
console.log(guidance.source);      // SOP title + version
console.log(guidance.provenance);  // Publisher, date, hash

Core Components

UPAS is being designed with several core parts:

Getting Started (Planned)

The following workflow describes the intended user experience for the production release:

Safety Disclaimer

Runtime Architecture (Prototype)

The prototype uses a progressive enhancement strategy for AI inference:

// Primary path: GPU-accelerated inference via WebLLM
import { CreateMLCEngine } from '@mlc-ai/web-llm';

const engine = await CreateMLCEngine(modelId, {
  initProgressCallback: (progress) => {
    updateStatus(progress.text);
  },
});

// Streaming chat completion
const response = await engine.chat.completions.create({
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: prompt }],
  stream: true,
});

// Fallback path: CPU-based inference via wllama
import { Wllama } from '@wllama/wllama';

const wllama = new Wllama(wasmAssets);
await wllama.loadModelFromUrl(modelUrl);

const result = await wllama.createCompletion(prompt, {
  nPredict: 128,
  sampling: { temp: 0.7, top_k: 40 },
});

// Graceful degradation when AI is unavailable
function showDegradedMode() {
  // Show manual navigation interface
  showOfflineLibrary();
  
  // Display clear notice
  showRuntimeNotice(
    "AI-assisted guidance unavailable. " +
    "Browse procedures manually."
  );
}

Procedure Packs

Procedure packs are the core data structure in UPAS:

interface ProcedurePack {
  id: string;
  version: string;
  publisher: string;
  publishedAt: Date;
  domain: string;        // e.g., "wash", "health", "logistics"
  locale: string;        // e.g., "en", "fr", "ar"
  integrity: string;     // SHA-256 hash
  
  documents: Document[]; // SOPs, checklists, forms
  embeddings: Float32Array; // For local semantic search
}

interface Document {
  id: string;
  title: string;
  type: "sop" | "checklist" | "form" | "reference";
  effectiveDate: Date;
  content: string;
  hash: string;
}

Privacy by Design

UPAS is being built for environments with vulnerable populations:

• No prompt exfiltration: Queries never leave the device
• Minimised logging: Operational logs focus on cache health, not query content
• No API keys: No external credentials or server-side processing
• Explicit provenance: Source attribution without tracking user queries