RFC: Documentation graph atlas for maintainers and SDK users

Status: implemented (accepted 2026-07-03)

Context

The repo already had several high-trust documentation surfaces, each on a different axis: module-graph.md is generated from package peerDependencies, cordis-catalog/events-and-services.md is generated from Cordis Events and Context declarations, tool-catalog/tools.md is generated by booting shipped tool plugins, and core-data-structures/ uses ts type-equiv blocks to keep pasted type definitions synchronized with source.

Those references are accurate, but they are mostly catalogs. A maintainer still has to synthesize the relationships: which packages form a capability seam, which app bundles a concrete spine, which event is durable vs live, where a hook or policy plugin can intercept work, and which model-facing tool depends on which service. An SDK user has the same problem from another angle: "Which package do I install or load for the behavior I want, and which event/service/tool do I extend?"

The pressure is already visible in the open stacks even though this implementation is based on origin/master: the hooks stack through PR #129 makes event producer/consumer topology and interception points much more important, while the filesystem stack through PR #128 makes capability seams, policy vetoes, tool presentation, and SDK assembly paths much more important. Graphs based only on today's small bash/todo/subagent surface would become obsolete as soon as those stacks land.

Decision

Add a generated graph atlas under docs/graphs/, produced by scripts/gen-doc-graphs.ts and verified by pnpm run verify-doc-graphs as part of doc-sync.

The atlas is a relationship layer above the existing catalogs. It does not replace exact references; instead, it links to them and explains how their pieces fit together.

Maintenance modes

Every graph page declares one maintenance mode:

Generated: all nodes and edges are discovered from source; --check fails if the committed artifact is stale.
Hybrid generated: source discovers the inventory, a small manifest classifies irreducible policy, and a completeness guard fails if discovered items are unclassified.
Curated: the diagram explains design intent, temporal order, or ownership; it is emitted by the generator so the atlas remains a single regenerated unit, but the content is deliberately authored.

First shipped atlas

The first atlas ships twelve files: the index plus eleven graph pages.

Graph	Maintenance mode	Source of truth
package topology by group	generated	`packages///package.json` peer dependencies plus package group paths
capability seams and core services	hybrid generated	Cordis service declarations plus a role manifest in `gen-doc-graphs.ts`
app composition	hybrid generated	`examples/*/cordis.yml` plugin lists plus curated app/bundle expansions
event producer/consumer matrix	hybrid generated	Cordis event declarations, AST-scanned `ctx.on/emit/parallel/serial/waterfall` sites, and explicit dynamic dispatch overrides
tool affordance map	hybrid generated	boot-harvested tool catalog plus a manifest of required services and shipped aliases
agent turn and step lifecycle	curated	architecture.md loop lifecycle, Cordis catalog links, and session event semantics
tool execution pipeline	curated	tool pipeline semantics and the `tools/execute` waterfall
session surface and message projection	curated	session surface/event-sourcing docs
subagent and session lineage	curated	subagent seam docs and replay/fork semantics
plugin disposal and hot reload ownership	curated	Cordis fiber/effect ownership conventions
ACP snapshot replay	curated	snapshot harness behavior

Why one generator

Keeping the atlas behind one generator gives reviewers one freshness gate and keeps cross-page terminology synchronized. The tradeoff is that curated diagrams are edited in TypeScript string blocks rather than directly in Markdown. That is acceptable for this first cut because the user-facing artifact is still plain Markdown/Mermaid, and a future change can split the curated pages out if authorship ergonomics matter more than one-command regeneration.

Completeness guards

The hybrid pages must fail loud when their manifests are stale:

The capability seam graph imports the Cordis service collector and asserts every discovered harness ctx.<key> is classified in SERVICE_ROLES, and every classified key still exists.
The tool affordance graph boot-harvests the shipped tool catalog and asserts every tool package has TOOL_PACKAGE_META.
The event producer/consumer matrix labels itself hybrid because subagent lifecycle events deliberately use ctx.events.dispatch for per-listener containment; those dynamic edges are explicit overrides rather than invisible omissions.

Format choices

Use Mermaid for committed diagrams because GitHub renders it in Markdown and it adds no new docs build dependency. Use Markdown tables for dense many-to-many data such as event producer/consumer relationships. Do not adopt PlantUML, hosted diagram services, or generated SVGs until Mermaid becomes the limiting factor.

Consequences

Maintainers get visual entry points for topology, seams, event flow, lifecycle, session replay, and snapshot behavior.
SDK users get a path from use case to package composition instead of only bottom-up package references.
doc-sync now includes verify-doc-graphs, so graph drift is caught with the other doc freshness gates.
Future fs and hooks work has a concrete place to land new complexity: fs should expand the capability and tool graphs, while hooks should expand the event matrix and tool execution pipeline.

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