---
layout: default
title: Meal Advancement & Position States
parent: System Topology
nav_order: 2
---

# Meal Advancement & Position States

TheFatCat moves forward through meal-by-meal accounting. Each time window is a **Meal**:

{% capture diagram_content %}Previous meal closes ──► Current meal runs ──► Next meal begins
                         At least eight hours  Successful advance transaction
New position deposits ─► No current-meal share ► Joins at Notch 1{% endcapture %}
{% include components/diagram-frame.html tag="MEALS" title="Meal Advancement and Position Activation" content=diagram_content %}

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## 1. Cadence and Participation

- A meal meets the time requirement after at least **8 hours**.
- **Anyone can help maintain it**: Public participants or official maintenance must still submit a successful transaction. Automation does not guarantee immediate or continuous availability.
- **How delays are handled**: Each successful advance closes one meal and starts the next at the current time. Allocation counts at most 16 hours. A 48-hour stop does not create six meals at once or allocate 48 hours of budget. See [FEED & Decentralized Maintenance]({% link guides/community-keeper.md %}).

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## 2. What Is Recorded at a Meal's Close?

The completed meal's shares use its eligible position weights. New positions and later diet changes do not retroactively change participation in that meal.

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## 3. How Does Seniority Increase?

An ordinary new position activates at Notch 1 when the next meal begins. Each completed active meal then adds one notch, up to 22. Continued participation at the cap does not raise it further. See [Meals & Seniority]({% link protocol/meals-and-seniority.md %}).

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## 4. Allocation and Receipt Are Different

Advancing a meal only determines the reward budget; funds remain in Belly. Purchases or fallback settlement must then complete before rewards become claimable. Settled rewards can be claimed separately, and principal redemption does not wait for these steps.