Governing principleAdd the smallest coherent capability that makes semantic artifacts easier to understand, inspect, verify, or carry between systems.
Meaning precedes geometry
Authors declare entities and relationships. Orbweaver derives dimensions, coordinates, routes, and presentation.
Preserve identity
Metadata and provenance survive validation, layout, rendering, interaction, and export wherever the artifact can carry them.
Prefer determinism
Equivalent accepted inputs and explicit options should produce equivalent artifacts.
Keep core independent
Core owns the semantic pipeline—not accounts, persistence, collaboration, credentials, or host components.
Treat dependencies as weight
Capability and difficult domain work must justify runtime, maintenance, compatibility, and security cost.
Interact to comprehend
Selection, emphasis, zoom, pan, and fullscreen help readers understand without turning the artifact into an editor.
Let hosts own experience
Orbweaver exposes semantic payloads and narrow controllers; applications decide how to present and act on them.
Build accessibility in
Keyboard access, focus, summaries, labels, reduced motion, and non-color cues are part of the artifact contract.
AI proposes
Untrusted model output passes limits, validation, review, and acceptance before entering the deterministic pipeline.
Earn scope with evidence
Capabilities advance through examples, tests, compatibility checks, and a clear ownership argument.
Decision test
- 01What reader or integrator problem does this solve?
- 02Is the problem semantic, artifact-level, or host behavior?
- 03Is Orbweaver core the smallest correct owner?
- 04Which invariant must remain true?
- 05What is the lightest predictable implementation?
- 06What happens without pointer, color, animation, or network?
- 07Does the result remain deterministic and inspectable?
- 08How will contrasting graph shapes test it?
- 09What maintenance or bundle cost is accepted?
- 10What adjacent features remain out of scope?
If the answers are unclear, the work needs more definition rather than more code.
A disciplined no
Orbweaver declines work that requires authored coordinates, couples core to a framework or provider, primarily serves freeform drawing, makes browser navigation surprising, hides meaning in presentation state, or adds substantial runtime weight for an optional experience.
Saying no protects the conditions that make Orbweaver useful as infrastructure: a small contract, strong artifacts, clear ownership, and dependable composition.
An Orbweaver capability should feel inevitable after it exists.