Numbers are identity; the reading order is a generated, checked index
Decided after measuring what renumbering actually costs: 96 references in code comments across two repositories, none of which would have failed to compile. They would have pointed at the wrong reasoning, which is worse than a broken link because nothing reports it. So a number identifies a record and never changes. It cannot also be a position -- a position moves when the set changes, and an identity that moves is not one. The reading order moves into an index generated from each record's `topic:`. Six topics, in the order somebody learns the system. The index is WRITTEN rather than only generated on demand, which reverses what this repository previously said. The reason it said otherwise is that a hand-written index drifts -- but a reader looking at the folder on a forge sees the folder, not a command, and the drift objection is answered by checking rather than by refusing to write one. That is §5's own rule: a rule states how it is checked. Two checks, both confirmed to bite. index.py fails when the written order no longer matches the records. records.py fails when a record has no topic or one nobody defined -- the quiet failure being a record that vanishes from the order rather than appearing in the wrong place.
This commit is contained in:
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: the mesh
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-22
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: the mesh
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-02-25
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: the mesh
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-07-12
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: the tiers
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-28
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: the tiers
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-28
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: the tiers
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-28
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: the tiers
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-28
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: the tiers
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-26
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: what runs on it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-28
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: what runs on it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-28
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: building it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-04-03
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: building it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-23
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: building it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-05-14
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: building it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-06-04
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: building it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-07-10
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: building it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-28
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: checking it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-24
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: checking it
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-24
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: how we work
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-28
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -77,11 +78,25 @@ settled. Everything else belongs in the design document, where the reasoning is
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**There is no ledger** — no separate document summarising, ranking or tracking decisions. A
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chronological view is generated from frontmatter, which is what a ledger was actually for.
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**The numbering is the flow here too.** Records are ordered the way somebody would learn the
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system — what the mesh is, then its tiers from the bottom up, then what runs on them and how it
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gets there, then how it is built, how it is checked, and how we work. **Not chronologically**: the
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date is in the frontmatter and a consolidated record holds decisions taken across a week, so
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ordering by age would order by an accident that no longer exists.
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**A number identifies a record and never changes.** It is not a position, and it cannot be
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both — a position moves when the set changes, and an identity that moves is not one.
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That is not a preference. Records are referenced from **outside** this repository: code
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comments, commit messages, the knowledge base. Renumbering once cost 96 references across two
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code repositories, and nothing in either would have failed to compile — the comments would
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simply have pointed at the wrong reasoning, which is worse than a broken link because nothing
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reports it.
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**So the reading order lives in a generated index**, from each record's `topic:` — what the mesh
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is, then its tiers from the bottom up, then what runs on them and how it gets there, then how it
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is built, how it is checked, and how we work.
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**And the index is written, not only generated on demand.** A reader looking at the folder on a
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forge sees the folder, not a command. The objection to a written index is that it drifts, and
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that is answered by **checking** it rather than by refusing to write one — which is §5's own
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rule: a rule states how it is checked. A record with no topic, or a topic nobody defined, fails
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the same check, because the quiet failure is a record that vanishes from the order rather than
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appearing in the wrong place.
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**The design layer is what you read.** These records explain *why* a thing is as it is. They are
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not a description of the system, and needing to read them to understand it would mean the design
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: how we work
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-07-10
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: how we work
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-23
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: how we work
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-26
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deciders: jochen
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@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
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---
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topic: how we work
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-08-26
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deciders: jochen
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+59
-3
@@ -62,6 +62,62 @@ rather than guessing.
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## Index
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The index is **generated, not maintained** — run the `hq-status` skill, which reads the
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frontmatter of every record. A hand-written index drifts from the folder it describes, and
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this one had already done so after a single addition.
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**A number identifies a record and never changes.** Records are referenced from outside this
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repository — code comments, commit messages — so a number that moves invalidates them silently.
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Renumbering once cost 96 references across two code repositories, and that is why the numbers
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are now fixed.
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So the folder is in creation order, and **the reading order lives here.** It is generated from
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each record's `topic:` and written, because a reader looking at the folder on a forge sees the
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folder rather than a command. The objection to a written index is that it drifts — which is
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answered by checking it rather than by refusing to write one:
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```
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python3 00-META/checks/index.py --write regenerate
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python3 00-META/checks/index.py fail if stale
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```
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<!-- index:start -->
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### What the mesh is
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- **0001** — [The mesh brokers capabilities; nodes host; agents think](0001-mesh-brokers-nodes-host-agents-think.md)
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- **0002** — [Nodes communicate over a message broker, not over HTTP](0002-nodes-communicate-over-a-broker.md)
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- **0003** — [An agent is a persistent employee, not an instance of a pool](0003-agents-are-persistent-employees.md)
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### Its tiers, from the bottom up
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- **0004** — [A node, and how it joins](0004-a-node-and-how-it-joins.md)
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- **0005** — [The node host](0005-the-node-host.md)
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- **0006** — [The substrate and the control plane](0006-the-substrate-and-the-control-plane.md)
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- **0007** — [Connectivity](0007-connectivity.md)
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- **0008** — [A context owns its store, exclusively](0008-a-context-owns-its-store.md)
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### What runs on them, and how it gets there
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- **0009** — [Modules and the graph](0009-modules-and-the-graph.md)
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- **0010** — [Delivery](0010-delivery.md)
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### How it is built
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- **0011** — [Managed files are generated onto nodes and never edited there](0011-managed-files-are-generated-never-edited.md)
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- **0012** — [The mesh creates no symlinks — a derived file is a copy](0012-the-mesh-creates-no-symlinks.md)
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- **0013** — [Schema and state changes are numbered migrations, in the same language as the code](0013-schema-changes-are-numbered-migrations.md)
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- **0014** — [No workspace — each module is a standalone package consuming published dependencies](0014-no-npm-workspace.md)
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- **0015** — [Applications live in their own repository; the monorepo is for the mesh](0015-applications-live-in-their-own-repository.md)
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- **0016** — [The lab](0016-the-lab.md)
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### How it is checked
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- **0017** — [A test defends a decision](0017-a-test-defends-a-decision.md)
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- **0018** — [A picture of a system is read from the system, never from what asked for it](0018-a-picture-is-read-from-what-runs.md)
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### How we work
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- **0019** — [How this repository works](0019-how-this-repository-works.md)
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- **0020** — [The mesh is governed by a constitution, injected where work is decided](0020-the-mesh-is-governed-by-a-constitution.md)
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- **0021** — [HQ is the source of the mesh constitution](0021-hq-is-the-source-of-the-constitution.md)
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- **0022** — [The constitution absorbs what is already enforced](0022-the-constitution-absorbs-what-is-enforced.md)
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- **0023** — [The approval is the checkpoint, not the second pair of hands](0023-approval-is-the-checkpoint.md)
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<!-- index:end -->
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Block a user