Architecture Standards

Purpose

Define architectural standards and constraints that govern design and implementation decisions. These standards are normative, not descriptive.

Canonical vs. derivative artifacts

Canonical artifacts are sources of truth and must be open, inspectable, and tool-independent.

Derivative artifacts are projections or renderings and may be lossy.

Proprietary tools and formats

Proprietary tools and formats are permitted but constrained.

They are optional integrations and must never be authoritative. A repository must not depend on proprietary formats for defining or interpreting canonical data.

File format standards

Prefer text-based, declarative, diff-friendly formats for canonical data.

Binary-only formats are discouraged for sources of truth.

Tool and domain independence

Core artifacts must remain tool-agnostic. Tools may assist, but they must not define meaning or introduce hidden dependencies.

Versioning and stability

All documents are explicitly versioned.

Breaking changes require version increments and explicit rationale.

Scope notes

UI design, rendering aesthetics, and performance optimizations are out of scope for these standards.