Thing/docs/eve-migration-roadmap.md
2026-07-08 23:58:32 +01:00

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# Eve Migration Roadmap
Date: 2026-07-08
The great Eve migration is the move from a useful pile of renderer proofs,
fixtures, provider demos, and platform experiments into a kernel-shaped system:
Eve core owns contracts, plugins own semantics, runtime repos own native
projection, and provider repos own live truth.
This is not a repo cleanup campaign. It is an authority migration. The split is
complete only when the old in-repo convenience paths can no longer decide
provider truth, plugin semantics, or runtime behavior by accident.
## Objective
Make Eve the stable interactive language for CultMesh surfaces without turning
`E:\Projects\Eve` into a permanent warehouse.
The target shape:
- Eve core: surface contracts, CultUI DSL, command/binding descriptors,
provider/plugin advertisement specs, browser reference, and conformance
harness incubation.
- EvePlugins: first-party reusable semantic plugins while young.
- Owner repos: Sai owns VN/Ink, Norn owns graph semantics, providers such as
Aetheria own live state and authored product surfaces.
- Runtime repos: EveUnity, EveFlutter, EveAndroid, EveIOS, EveGodot, EveElectron,
Fensalir/Direct2D, and future bodies own projection, build glue, plugin host
adapters, capture, and runtime tests.
- EveConformance: fixture corpus, parity runner, capability matrix,
screenshot/report artifacts, plugin packs, and CI once the harness is stable
enough to leave Eve core.
## Current Authority Map
Owner:
- Eve owns `gamecult.eve.surface.v1`, `gamecult.eve.command.v1`, CultUI,
provider/plugin advertisement contracts, plugin ABI shape, browser reference
behavior, and parity/conformance policy.
Inputs:
- Local fixtures under `web/fixtures`.
- Incubating plugin manifests under `plugins/incubating`.
- Runtime claims in `tools/parity/parity-manifest.json`.
- Provider advertisements such as Repixelizer's local fixture.
- Hermodr/Odin/CultMesh live provider surfaces when available.
Outputs:
- Browser reference lowering.
- Runtime capability reports.
- Plugin capability gaps.
- Parity reports under `artifacts/parity`.
- Split targets and graduation triggers in the parity manifest.
Derived state:
- Local provider lists are fixture advertisements, not discovery truth.
- Runtime capability status is diagnostic, not provider authority.
- Screenshot/golden artifacts are evidence, not portable state.
- In-repo runtime/plugin bodies are incubation, not permanent ownership.
Forbidden writers:
- Runtime lowerers must not import provider internals to recover missing
semantics.
- Plugins must not mutate provider truth or accept provider commands.
- Product demos must not become Eve core fixtures once they carry product state,
assets, receipts, or deployment assumptions.
- Compatibility HTTP routes and browser tabs must not replace provider
advertisements.
- Passing parity tests must not preserve a body that cannot name its owner,
inputs, outputs, and split trigger.
Shared paths:
- Every runtime claim flows through `tools/parity/parity-manifest.json`.
- Every fixture belongs to a conformance pack: `core`, `plugin`, `provider`, or
`runtime`.
- Every plugin claim names owner repo, split target, capabilities, required
fixtures, and graduation trigger.
- Every runtime claim names owner repo, repo role, split target, supported
features, plugin support, and graduation trigger.
Deletion line:
- Cut hardcoded provider tabs before adding new live providers.
- Cut renderer-specific product knowledge before claiming generic Eve support.
- Cut in-repo runtime/plugin bodies once their contract and release lifecycle
stop changing.
## Phase 0: Ledger And Contract Grounding
Status: underway.
Purpose: make ownership visible before moving code.
Work:
- Keep `docs/repo-strategy.md` as the repo boundary doctrine.
- Keep this roadmap as the migration sequence.
- Keep `tools/parity/parity-manifest.json` as the machine-readable ownership
ledger.
- Keep `docs/surface-contract-v1.md`,
`docs/provider-advertisement-contract.md`, and
`docs/plugin-architecture.md` as the contract source of truth.
- Keep browser reference and parity harness green after every migration cut.
Exit criteria:
- All fixtures declare a conformance pack.
- All incubating plugins declare owner, split target, capabilities, and required
fixtures.
- All runtimes declare owner, repo role, supported features, plugin claims, and
graduation trigger.
- Harness reports missing ownership metadata and plugin gaps explicitly.
Current proof:
- `node --test web\eve-dsl.test.mjs`
- `powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\run-parity-harness.ps1`
## Phase 1: Stabilize Core Surface Contract
Purpose: make the surface contract boring enough that runtimes and providers can
leave the repo without dragging hidden behavior with them.
Work:
- Normalize `surface.root`, `surface.styles.tokens`, `stateBindings`,
`embeddedDocuments`, command templates, and operation invocation descriptors.
- Keep compatibility fields such as `nodes`, `selectedNodeId`, raw `command`,
and string payloads as projections only.
- Add explicit authority/staleness witness UI in the browser reference for
stale, missing, predicted, denied, accepted, and reconciled values.
- Add provider advertisement fixture checks for local and live discovery paths.
First cut is in place for Repixelizer and Aetheria provider advertisements.
- Add plugin advertisement fixture checks before adding more plugin semantics.
Exit criteria:
- Browser reference can open all local fixtures through advertisement-shaped
provider entries.
- New renderer APIs construct commands from CultMesh operation descriptors, not
raw strings.
- New binding APIs carry CultMesh state binding descriptors, not renderer-local
stores.
- Parity harness fails if embedded slots, required bindings, command descriptors,
or provider advertisement fields disappear.
## Phase 2: Split Conformance Shape From Runtime Bodies
Purpose: make the evidence path portable before runtime repos leave.
Work:
- Promote `tools/parity` from a local script into a conformance pack layout:
fixture metadata, expected capability matrix, runtime adapters, plugin packs,
and report schema.
- Separate core fixtures from plugin/provider/runtime fixtures.
- Add screenshot comparison metrics for structure, token colors, bounding boxes,
text presence, and capability-gap overlays without pretending byte-identical
pixels are the goal.
- Keep generated reports under `artifacts/parity` as evidence only.
Exit criteria:
- A runtime repo can run conformance against Eve fixtures without importing Eve
source internals.
- Plugin conformance packs can be added without editing core harness logic.
- `EveConformance` has a clean split plan, or stays incubating only because the
report schema is still changing.
## Phase 3: Graduate Plugins
Purpose: move semantic ownership out of Eve core.
Work:
- Keep `plugins/incubating/sai-vn.plugin.json`,
`plugins/incubating/norn-graph.plugin.json`, and
`plugins/incubating/tex-math.plugin.json` as temporary manifests.
- Define `gamecult.eve.plugin.v1` and
`gamecult.eve.plugin_advertisement.v1` as explicit schemas. First-cut JSON
schemas live under `schemas/` and the parity harness validates incubating
plugin manifests and advertisements against them.
- Add plugin ABI fixtures for `describe`, `validate`, `project`, `apply`,
`lower`, and `measure` where relevant.
- Move `sai.vn` to Sai when VN/Ink story state, visual manifest, story commands,
and projection fixtures are stable.
- Move `norn.graph` to Norn when graph layout, interaction, fallback, and
conformance fixtures are stable.
- Move `tex.math` to EvePlugins when TeX source, macro, baseline, cached render,
and fallback fixtures are stable.
Exit criteria:
- Eve core knows plugin manifests and capability gaps, not plugin internals.
- Providers invoke plugins through the ABI object model.
- Runtimes declare plugin support through capability manifests.
- Unsupported required plugin capabilities appear as visible gaps.
## Phase 4: Graduate Runtime Bodies
Purpose: let runtime repos own native projection without losing conformance.
Work:
- EveFlutter: provider picker, command transport, plugin host, Android/iOS/desktop
build flow, native capture, and parity reports.
- EveUnity: UPM package release, plugin host behavior, resolver-backed embedded
documents, Unity test/capture lifecycle, and Aetheria consumption.
- EveAndroid: Kotlin device edge, generic surface traversal, sensor publishing,
Android-specific CI, and explicit discovery input.
- EveIOS: UIKit renderer, sensor edge release flow, fixed-device and simulator
capture, and generic surface lowering.
- Fensalir/Direct2D: Eve-to-`AquariumUiDocument` adapter, DirectWrite/Direct2D
token lowering, embedded slot preservation, and frame capture.
- EveWeb: stays in Eve while it is the behavior oracle; splits only if it becomes
an independently deployed runtime product.
Exit criteria:
- Runtime can build, test, capture, and report conformance without sharing Eve's
dirty worktree.
- Runtime consumes surface documents, plugin manifests, and provider
advertisements through contracts.
- Runtime has no provider-specific renderer brain unless it is explicitly a
provider-owned app.
## Phase 5: Move Product Fixtures To Provider Repos
Purpose: prevent demos from becoming quiet product authority inside Eve.
Work:
- Repixelizer owns job/session/artifact/operator fixtures once they carry real
product state or receipts.
- Aetheria owns RTS/ARPG world surfaces, assets, generated level state, command
receipts, and scenario conformance.
- Huginn owns `.cc` and Persona-state inspection fixture packs when they depend
on runtime stewardship details.
- Mimir owns sensor/media/control surfaces that depend on live stream timing or
room state.
Exit criteria:
- Provider repo publishes provider advertisements and fixture/conformance packs.
- Eve core keeps only minimal generic fixtures and references provider packs by
contract.
- Product assets and receipts are not stored as Eve core truth.
## Phase 6: Cut Compatibility Paths
Purpose: make old routes unable to reassert authority.
Work:
- Remove hardcoded browser provider tabs once live/local advertisements cover
the same flows.
- Remove direct Mimir deck probing from generic Eve paths.
- Remove renderer-private style shortcuts once token lowering is complete.
- Remove raw command construction APIs from new public runtime paths.
- Remove provider-specific renderer fallbacks from generic lowerers.
Exit criteria:
- The only normal path is provider advertisement -> surface document -> runtime
lowering -> command intent -> provider receipt -> republished state.
- Compatibility routes exist only as named lowerings or debug probes.
- Parity and runtime diagnostics report the same layer of reality the user sees.
## Active Work Queue
1. Add split-readiness reports for EveFlutter and EveUnity.
Recently cut:
- Direct2D is now recorded as an external Fensalir adapter spike, not an active
Eve runtime. Activation requires recorded `gamecult.eve.surface.v1` fixture
replay, command emission through the advertised boundary, and Direct2D frame
capture evidence from Fensalir.
- Fixture conformance metadata now lives beside each fixture and is validated by
the parity harness, so the corpus can move toward `EveConformance` without
relying only on Eve's local manifest layout.
- The browser reference now has an authority/staleness witness fixture. The
parity report verifies visible `fresh`, `accepted`, `stale`, `missing`,
`pending`, `denied`, `predicted`, and `reconciled` states, with provider and
renderer ownership kept separate.
- Command descriptor validation now runs for strict fixtures. Sai proves
`story.*`/`style.patch`; Aetheria proves the daemon command boundary; the web
lowerer resolves authored `action.command` through the shared Eve command
intent path.
- Provider advertisement validation now runs in the parity harness.
- Repixelizer and Aetheria provider advertisements are checked against
`gamecult.eve.provider_advertisement.v1`.
- Aetheria has a minimal provider-owned interactive world fixture in Eve so the
browser oracle can prove the surface path without owning Aetheria truth.
## Stop Conditions
Stop adding features and update the map when:
- a runtime needs product knowledge to render a generic surface;
- a plugin fixture needs provider state to prove plugin behavior;
- a provider fixture becomes necessary for core Eve tests;
- a compatibility route becomes easier to use than a provider advertisement;
- a generated report says "active" while listing missing source symbols,
features, metadata, or plugin support;
- a split target exists but the owner, inputs, outputs, and release lifecycle
are still awkward to explain.
If the sentence "X owns Y so that Z remains true" cannot be written cleanly, the
migration step is not ready. The machine may still be useful. It is not yet
coherent.