169 lines
8.2 KiB
Markdown
169 lines
8.2 KiB
Markdown
<p align="center">
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<img src="assets/ontoref-logo.svg" alt="ontoref" width="320" />
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</p>
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<br>
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**ontoref** is a protocol specification and tooling layer for structured self-knowledge in
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software projects. It provides schemas, Nushell automation, and Rust crates so that projects
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can describe what they are, record architectural decisions, track operational state, and
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execute formalized procedures — all as typed, queryable artifacts.
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---
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## Axioms
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| Axiom | Meaning |
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| --- | --- |
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| **Protocol, Not Runtime** | Never a runtime dependency. Projects adopt the protocol; ontoref provides the schemas and modules to do so. |
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| **Self-Describing** | Consumes its own protocol: `.ontology/`, `adrs/`, `reflection/` in this repo ARE ontoref running against itself. |
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| **No Enforcement** | ontoref defines contracts. There is no enforcement mechanism. Coherence is voluntary and emerges from justified adoption. |
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| **DAG-Formalized Knowledge** | Concepts, tensions, decisions, state — encoded as DAGs. Enables transversal queries and impact analysis. |
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## Layers
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```text
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ontology/ Protocol specification — Nickel schemas for nodes, edges, ADRs, state, gates
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adrs/ Architecture Decision Records — typed NCL with constraints and ontology checks
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reflection/ Operational tooling — Nushell modules, DAG modes, forms, and schemas
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crates/ Rust implementation — typed struct loaders and mode executors
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.ontology/ Self-description — ontoref's own ontology, state, gate, and manifest
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```
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## Crates
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| Crate | Purpose |
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| --- | --- |
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| `ontoref-ontology` | `.ontology/` NCL → typed Rust structs: Node, Edge, Dimension, Gate, Membrane. `Node` carries `artifact_paths` and `adrs` (`Vec<String>`, both `serde(default)`). Graph traversal, invariant queries. Zero deps. |
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| `ontoref-reflection` | NCL DAG contract executor: ADR lifecycle, step dep resolution, config seal. `stratum-graph` + `stratum-state` required. |
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| `ontoref-daemon` | HTTP UI (10 pages), actor registry, notification barrier, MCP (21 tools), search engine, search bookmarks, SurrealDB, NCL export cache. |
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`ontoref-daemon` caches `nickel export` results (keyed by path + mtime), reducing full sync
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scans from ~2m42s to <30s. The daemon is always optional — every module falls back to direct
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subprocess when unavailable.
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### Daemon Capabilities
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**Unified Auth Model** — all surfaces (CLI, UI, MCP) exchange a key for a UUID v4 session token
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via `POST /sessions`. Token lifetime: 30 days, O(1) lookup. Project keys carry `role`
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(admin|viewer) and `label` for audit trail. Daemon-level admin via `ONTOREF_ADMIN_TOKEN_FILE`.
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`GET /sessions` and `DELETE /sessions/{id}` for session visibility and revocation. Key rotation
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invalidates all sessions for the rotated project. CLI injects `ONTOREF_TOKEN` as Bearer
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automatically.
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**Q&A Knowledge Store** — accumulated Q&A entries persist to `reflection/qa.ncl` (typed NCL,
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git-versioned). Not localStorage. Any actor — developer, agent, CI — reads the same store.
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**MCP Server** — 21 tools over stdio and streamable-HTTP. Categories: nodes, ADRs, modes,
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backlog, Q&A, sessions, search, bookmarks, notifications. Representative subset:
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| Tool | What it does |
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| --- | --- |
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| `ontoref_qa_list` | List Q&A entries with optional filter |
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| `ontoref_qa_add` | Append a new Q&A entry to `reflection/qa.ncl` |
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| `ontoref_action_list` | List all quick actions from `.ontoref/config.ncl` |
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| `ontoref_action_add` | Create a reflection mode + register it as a quick action |
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| `ontoref_backlog_list` | List backlog items |
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| `ontoref_backlog_add` | Add a backlog item |
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| `ontoref_describe` | Describe project ontology and constraints |
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| `ontoref_sync_scan` | Scan for ontology drift |
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**Search Bookmarks** — search results persist to `reflection/search_bookmarks.ncl` (typed NCL,
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`BookmarkEntry` schema). Same atomic-write pattern as Q&A. IDs are sequential `sb-NNN`.
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Concurrency-safe via `NclWriteLock`. Add and remove from the daemon search UI.
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**Personal Ontology Schemas** — `ontology/schemas/career.ncl`, `personal.ncl`, `project-card.ncl`
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provide typed contract layers for career and content artifacts (Skills, WorkExperience, Talks,
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Content lifecycle, Opportunities, PublicationCards). All types carry `linked_nodes` referencing
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core ontology node IDs — bridging career artifacts into the DAG. Five content/career reflection
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modes (`draft-application`, `draft-email`, `generate-article`, `update-cv`, `write-cfp`) query
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these schemas to ground output in declared project artifacts rather than free-form prose.
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**ADR–Node Linkage** — nodes declare which ADRs validate them via `adrs: Array String`.
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`describe` surfaces a **Validated by** section per node (CLI and `--fmt md`). The graph UI
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renders each ADR as a clickable link that opens the full ADR content in a modal via
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`GET /api/adr/{id}`.
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**Passive Drift Observation** — background file watcher that detects divergence between Yang
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code artifacts and Yin ontology. Watches `crates/`, `.ontology/`, `adrs/`, `reflection/modes/`.
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After a 15s debounce runs `sync scan + sync diff`; emits an `ontology_drift` notification when
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MISSING/STALE/DRIFT/BROKEN items are found. Never applies changes — `apply` is always deliberate.
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**Quick Actions** — runnable shortcuts over reflection modes, configured as `quick_actions` in
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`.ontoref/config.ncl`. Accessible from HTTP (`/actions`), CLI (`ontoref`), and MCP
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(`ontoref_action_list/add`).
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## Install
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```sh
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just install-daemon # build + install binary, bootstrapper, CLI, UI assets, config skeleton
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ontoref config-edit # browser form → ~/.config/ontoref/config.ncl
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ontoref-daemon-boot # NCL pipe bootstrap: nickel export config.ncl | daemon --config-stdin
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ontoref-daemon-boot --dry-run # preview composed JSON without starting
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```
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Installed layout (`~/.local/bin/`):
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| Binary | Role |
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| --- | --- |
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| `ontoref` | Global CLI dispatcher — all reflection modes, ADR lifecycle, daemon control |
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| `ontoref-daemon` | Bootstrapper (public entrypoint) — validates config via Nickel, pipes JSON to binary |
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| `ontoref-daemon.bin` | Compiled Rust binary — never called directly |
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Global config at `~/.config/ontoref/config.ncl` (type-checked Nickel). Global NATS stream topology at
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`~/.config/ontoref/streams.json`. Project-local topology override via `nats/streams.json` +
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`nats_events.streams_config` in `.ontoref/config.ncl`.
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## Onboarding a project
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```sh
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cd /path/to/my-project
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ontoref setup # idempotent; kind: Service by default
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ontoref setup --kind Library # Library | DevWorkspace | PublishedCrate | AgentResource | Mixed
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ontoref setup --parent /path/to/fw # implementation child: adds framework layer + browse mode
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ontoref setup --gen-keys ["admin:dev" "viewer:ci"] # bootstrap auth keys (no-op if keys already exist)
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```
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`ontoref setup` creates `.ontoref/project.ncl`, `.ontoref/config.ncl` (with logo auto-detection),
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`.ontology/` scaffold, `adrs/`, `reflection/modes/`, `backlog.ncl`, `qa.ncl`, git hooks, and
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registers the project in `~/.config/ontoref/projects.ncl`.
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For existing projects that predate `setup`, the adoption mode is still available:
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```sh
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ontoref --actor developer adopt_ontoref
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```
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`ONTOREF_PROJECT_ROOT` is set by the consumer wrapper — one ontoref checkout serves multiple projects.
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## Prerequisites
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- [Nushell](https://www.nushell.sh/) >= 0.110.0
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- [Nickel](https://nickel-lang.org/) (for schema evaluation)
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- Rust toolchain (for building crates)
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- [Just](https://just.systems/) (for CI recipes)
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To build `ontoref-daemon` and `ontoref-reflection` with NATS/SurrealDB support, the
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stratumiops repo must be checked out at `../../../stratumiops`. Without it, build without
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default features:
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```sh
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cargo build -p ontoref-daemon --no-default-features
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cargo build -p ontoref-ontology # always standalone
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```
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## Development
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```sh
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cargo check-all # check all targets + features
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cargo test-all # run full test suite
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just ci-lint # clippy + TOML + Nickel + Markdown
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just ci-full # all CI checks
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nu --ide-check 50 reflection/modules/<file>.nu # validate a Nushell module
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./ontoref --actor developer <mode> # run a reflection mode
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```
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## License
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MIT OR Apache-2.0
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