AXL / ROSETTA / V4.0.1 / SPEC

v4.0.1 Spec Index

Three documents. One kernel. Pluggable modules.

The v4.0.1 specification is split across three normative documents and one formal grammar. The kernel defines packet syntax. The router defines module dispatch. The code layer defines lossy structural compression for source code. All three are co-authoritative with spec/grammar.bnf.

Deep Dives

Kernel

94 LINES · NORMATIVE

Packet syntax, field constraints, class codes, parsing contract, version negotiation, error contract, alias scope, backward compatibility. The kernel is the deterministic syntax that never changes.

Router

4.1.0-BLUEPRINT · IMPLEMENTED

Kernel router architecture. The ^rosetta:MODULE META flag dispatches to a domain module. Six proposed modules with fidelity contracts and cold-read scores. Implementation complete, 217 tests passing.

Code Layer

4.0.0-DRAFT · LOSSY IR

Source-code compression as a lossy structural intermediate representation. Code primitives, language tags, body compression rules. Decompressed output preserves intent, not byte-identity.

Raw Spec Files

Verbatim, line-for-line copies of the source markdown files. Served as plain text. Suitable for download, ingestion by AXL-aware tools, or piping to a parser.

Kernel
/v4
spec/v4-kernel.md verbatim
Router
/v4-router
spec/v4-kernel-router.md verbatim
Code Layer
/v4-code
spec/v4-code-layer.md verbatim

Formal Grammar

The full BNF grammar is co-authoritative with the kernel document. When the prose spec and the grammar conflict, the grammar governs syntax and the prose governs semantics.

  • Source: spec/grammar.bnf in axl-research (private repo)
  • Version label: 4.0.2-draft
  • Coverage: top-level structure, all 7 fields, META extension dispatch, mode dispatch (kernel-arg / math-arg / code-body), error taxonomy
  • Parse order: EXTRACT → SPLIT → VALIDATE VER → VALIDATE CLS → PARSE META → MODE DISPATCH → VALIDATE FIELDS → RESOLVE ALIASES

Backward Compatibility

This is a hard guarantee, enforced at the parser level. The kernel format does not change between v3, v3.1, v3.2, and v4. What changes between versions is the optional META flags that activate extended parsing modes (math operators, ideographic composition, code body, Rosetta module dispatch).

  • v3 packets without META → parsed under kernel-arg productions
  • v3.1+ packets without ^mode:code → ARG2 parsed under math-arg productions
  • v4 packets with ^mode:code → ARG2 parsed under code-body productions
  • v4 packets with ^rosetta:MODULE → module-specific decompression vocabulary; older parsers ignore the flag and fall through to prose

Source Provenance

All three normative spec documents are pinned to the same source tag:

tag:    v4.0.2-r6-freeze
commit: 51e75de1f81fad1471a7173c6413c1bb920c559a
repo:   github.com/dcarranza-axl/axl-research (canonical, private)
mirror: github.com/axlprotocol/axl-research (org, private)
files:  spec/v4-kernel.md, spec/v4-kernel-router.md, spec/v4-code-layer.md

OpenTimestamps proof of the freeze: /timestamps/v4-freeze.html.