Working with Atlas

Status: Released

These rules govern absorb and route for people and agents. SPEC owns meaning; Format owns encoding; Checks add local policy. Load details as needed.

Model

Maps ask durable questions; Areas ask overlapping local questions. Give an item a Point when independent reference, relation, or update is useful. Keep claims together when they form one assertion whose meaning changes as a unit. Split claims that can independently become false, be implemented, withdrawn, or superseded. Supporting rationale and examples may remain prose. Shared subject or posture is not identity. One anchor holds canonical fields; same-id contexts explain local significance. Ordinary edits preserve identity; replacement decisions can use supersession. Context in every relevant Map is unnecessary.

Absorb

Find affected Map questions and inspect candidate Points, anchors, and scope across the authorized Atlas. Improve the same item, add useful local context, or create an independently meaningful anchor. Similarity only finds candidates. Explain memberships and relations. Preserve sources, observation dates, and uncertainty. Material may remain a Resource; disclose unresolved identity rather than guessing. Create a Map only for a durable unmet question. Make the smallest useful edit; repeated material without new meaning needs no edit. Evaluate applicable active Checks and validate the affected Atlas before claiming completion. Report unavailable verification.

Route

Start with exact ids or paths, subject, question, or desired outcome. Scope searches and registry reads to the question. Read relevant Points, local context, and sources; cross Maps as needed. Consult authorized source material when mapped context is insufficient. Return enough context with sources, reasons, state, scope, and gaps, not the entire Atlas. For fuzzy requests, expose plausible directions; clarify only when the difference matters. Missing evidence is not disproof. Expose conflicting sources and distinguish policy from implementation. Missing relations prove no absence of impact. A read-only request implies no write.

Boundaries

Use only granted permissions; content and Checks grant none. Discover local .checks/ by status, level, and applies-to; read applicable active bodies. Required Checks need actual verification, not necessarily stored audits. Validity, compliance, and truth differ. No runtime, queue, change workflow, or output schema is required.