Files
hq/03-DESIGN/00-as-is
jschoubben 333356cff3 Order the records the way the system is learned
Jochen asked whether the order made sense. It did not -- it followed when
things happened to be decided, which after consolidation is fictional anyway
since record 5 alone folds decisions taken across a week.

Concretely wrong before: the domain statement sat at 8, after five engineering
rules; the constitution was scattered across 5, 12 and 17; the tiers landed at
15, 16, 21 and 22 with process records in between.

Now it walks: what the mesh is (1-3), its tiers from the bottom up (4-8), what
runs on them and how it gets there (9-10), how it is built (11-16), how it is
checked (17-18), how we work (19-23).

Two things made this safe rather than free. It is a permutation, not a
compaction, so the renames go through temporary names -- otherwise two files
want one slot and one is lost. And the reference rewrite is a single
simultaneous pass, because almost every number moved into a slot another number
was vacating; replacing one at a time would have cascaded and pointed things at
the wrong record while still resolving.

Verified: 284 [ADR NNNN](path) links across the repository, all with matching
text and target.

The ordering principle is now stated in 19 rather than left implicit -- the
repository already said "the numbering is the flow" about its folders, and
there was no reason for the records to be the exception.
2026-08-28 23:30:42 +02:00
..
2026-08-25 01:55:52 +02:00

03-DESIGN / 00-as-is

The mesh as it stands. These documents describe what runs, including the parts nobody would choose again — an as-is layer that only records the good decisions is a brochure.

They are written from the implementation and from the operational record, not from intent. Where the two disagree, the implementation wins and the disagreement is stated.

Document Covers
00-overview.md The whole in one pass — what a node is, what a module is, how work reaches it
01-mesh-and-transport.md The mesh database, the broker, discovery, and how a call reaches another node
02-modules-and-manifests.md The module, the manifest, and features as the unit of work
03-provisioning.md Declared requirements, provisioners, credentials, and cross-node grants
04-delivery.md Push to running: the three silos, levels, and what a green pipeline proves
05-runtime-and-installation.md The node runtime, its modes, and how a node comes into being
06-configuration-and-secrets.md Managed files, value resolution, and where secrets live
07-knowledge.md The two knowledge stores, and what each is for
08-agents-and-work.md Agents as employees, tasks, workflows, and the meeting model
09-interfaces-and-observability.md How the mesh is reached and watched — tools, board, proxy, health, thoughts
10-module-catalogue.md The catalogue's shape, and what its shape says
11-the-lab.md The lab — the first piece of the new shape that exists, and what it does not yet do

What these documents are not

They are not a runbook. Operational procedure — how to fix one occurrence of something — lives in the knowledge base, which is indexed on symptoms and is the right place to search when something is broken.

They are not exhaustive. A subsystem is described to the depth at which its design is visible; below that is code.