# design-md-consolidation iter 1 — sweep 1: history anchors

> **Parent spec:** `docs/specs/2026-05-10-design-md-consolidation.md`
> §"Sweep 1 — Remove history anchors"
>
> **For agentic workers:** REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: use `skills/implement`
> to run this plan. Steps use `- [ ]` checkboxes for tracking.

**Goal:** Remove every iter tag, family tag, date anchor, status
marker, and historical bench data-point anchor from `docs/DESIGN.md`
without changing the semantic content of any decision.

**Architecture:** Documentation-only refactor. Each task targets one
marker class; "RED" is a pre-task grep that lists hit sites, "GREEN"
is the post-task grep returning empty for that class. No code
changes; `cargo test --workspace` and the bench gates serve as
sanity checks at end-of-iter.

**Tech Stack:** Edit (`docs/DESIGN.md`), grep, `cargo test
--workspace`, `bench/check.py`, `bench/compile_check.py`.

**Files this plan modifies:**
- Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md` — five marker-class removal passes.
- Append: `docs/JOURNAL.md` — one iter entry summarising what was
  discarded with anchor examples.

---

## Task 1: Status markers

**Files:** Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md` (4 sites — lines 168, 509, 595,
684 at iter start; line numbers shift as edits land).

- [ ] **Step 1: Pre-test — list status-marker sites**

```bash
grep -nE '\*\*Status: ' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: 4 lines:
```
168:**Status: shipped.** Form (A) was chosen in Iter 14b and implemented as
509:**Status: shipped.** Family 20 (Iter 20a–20d, 2026-05-08) ships a
595:**Status: REVERTED in Iter 14g.** This decision was made on shaky grounds —
684:**Status: half-retirement as of 2026-05-09.** Originally framed
```

- [ ] **Step 2: Remove `**Status: shipped.**` prefix at line 168**

The bold-marker-plus-period plus trailing space introduces the
sentence. Strip the marker; the sentence reads cleanly without it.

Edit (Decision 6, "authoring surface" section opener):
- old: `**Status: shipped.** Form (A) was chosen in Iter 14b and implemented as`
- new: `Form (A) is implemented as`

Note: `Iter 14b` reference is left for Task 4 to handle.

- [ ] **Step 3: Remove `**Status: shipped.**` prefix at line 509**

Edit (Decision 6 §"Form (B) — human prose projection"):
- old: `**Status: shipped.** Family 20 (Iter 20a–20d, 2026-05-08) ships a`
- new: `AILang ships a`

Note: `Family 20`, the date, and the iter-range are left for Tasks 2,
3, 4 to handle.

- [ ] **Step 4: Remove `**Status: REVERTED in Iter 14g.**` prefix at line 595**

The reverted-decision body itself is removed in sweep 2. Sweep 1
strips only the marker; the body text remains as transitional state
between iterations.

Edit (Decision 7 opener):
- old: `**Status: REVERTED in Iter 14g.** This decision was made on shaky grounds —`
- new: `This decision was made on shaky grounds —`

- [ ] **Step 5: Remove `**Status: half-retirement as of 2026-05-09.**` prefix at line 684**

Edit (Decision 9 opener):
- old: `**Status: half-retirement as of 2026-05-09.** Originally framed`
- new: `Originally framed`

Note: the "Originally framed ... then re-framed ... 2026-05-09
revision flips" narrative is sweep-2 territory; sweep 1 only strips
the marker.

- [ ] **Step 6: Post-test — verify no status markers remain**

```bash
grep -nE '\*\*Status: ' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: empty output.

- [ ] **Step 7: Commit**

```bash
git add docs/DESIGN.md
git commit -m "design-md-consolidation 1.1: drop **Status:** markers from DESIGN.md"
```

---

## Task 2: Family tags

**Files:** Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md` (4 sites — lines 33, 507, 509,
2060 at iter start).

- [ ] **Step 1: Pre-test — list family-tag sites**

```bash
grep -nE 'Family [0-9]+' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: 4 lines (or 3 if Task 1's edits coincided with line 509,
which is acceptable — the family tag survived Task 1 only at the
suffix).

- [ ] **Step 2: Strip `Family 20` from "Project ecosystem" entry (line 33)**

Edit:
- old: `parse ∘ print = id` gating every release. `ailang-prose` (Family 20)`
- new: `` `parse ∘ print = id` gating every release. `ailang-prose` ``

The parenthetical is removed entirely; the surrounding sentence
already names the crate.

- [ ] **Step 3: Strip `(Family 20)` from Decision 6 §"Form (B)" header (line 507)**

Edit:
- old: `### Form (B) — human prose projection (Family 20)`
- new: `### Form (B) — human prose projection`

- [ ] **Step 4: Strip `Family 20 (Iter 20a–20d, 2026-05-08)` from line 509**

Already partially edited by Task 1 (the `**Status: shipped.**`
prefix is gone). The remaining sentence opener "AILang ships a" is
free of the family tag, but line 509's body may still contain "Family
20" — re-grep to confirm.

If still present:
- old (whatever Task 1 left): `AILang ships a` (this should already
  not contain "Family 20")
- expected: line 509 contains no `Family [0-9]+` after Task 1; if
  the grep at Step 1 of Task 2 reported it, the residue is the
  sentence "Family 20 (Iter 20a–20d, 2026-05-08) ships a" survived
  partially. Recheck and edit accordingly.

If still present (Task 1 did not touch this region as expected):
- old: `**Status: shipped.** Family 20 (Iter 20a–20d, 2026-05-08) ships a`
- new: `AILang ships a`

- [ ] **Step 5: Strip `Family 20` from CLI table (line 2060)**

Edit:
- old: `ail prose     <module.ail.json>          — JSON-AST  → form-B (lossy human prose, no parser; Family 20)`
- new: `ail prose     <module.ail.json>          — JSON-AST  → form-B (lossy human prose, no parser)`

- [ ] **Step 6: Post-test — verify no family tags remain**

```bash
grep -nE 'Family [0-9]+' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: empty output.

- [ ] **Step 7: Commit**

```bash
git add docs/DESIGN.md
git commit -m "design-md-consolidation 1.2: drop Family-N tags from DESIGN.md"
```

---

## Task 3: Date anchors

**Files:** Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md` (≤13 sites at iter start; subset
already removed by Tasks 1-2 — re-grep at Task 3 Step 1).

- [ ] **Step 1: Pre-test — list date-anchor sites**

```bash
grep -nE '2026-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: ≤13 lines. The expected residue spans Decision 9 (lines
~684-688), Decision 10 (`Committed 2026-05-08`, mentions of
`2026-05-09`), Decision 11 (`Committed 2026-05-09`,
`2026-05-10 mono-vs-vdisp`), and the Pipeline section
(`since 2026-05-09`).

- [ ] **Step 2: Decision 9 opener (line 684 + surrounding paragraph)**

The Decision 9 opener is currently a three-paragraph narrative of
how the framing changed across three dates. Strip only the dates;
the narrative-of-changes-across-dates is sweep-2 territory.

For each occurrence in lines 684-688:
- `Originally framed` → keep ("Originally framed" is sweep-2
  territory but no date here)
- `(2026-05-07) as "transitional Boehm…"` → strip the parenthetical
  date wrapper
- `(2026-05-08)` → strip
- `The 2026-05-09 revision flips` → keep "The revision flips"
  (sweep 2 will rewrite this whole paragraph; sweep 1 only strips
  the date)

Edit pattern (apply to each line):
- `(2026-05-07)` → ``
- `(2026-05-08)` → ``
- `2026-05-09 revision` → `revision`
- `2026-05-09 default-flip` → `default-flip` (line 1410 region)

Note: clean up any double-spaces created by removing inline parentheticals.

- [ ] **Step 3: Decision 10 opener (line 835)**

Edit:
- old: `**Committed 2026-05-08, after the GC bench (`bench/run.sh`) showed`
- new: `**The GC bench (`bench/run.sh`) showed`

- [ ] **Step 4: Decision 10 §"Why not other memory models" (line 1436)**

Edit:
- old: `mainstream RC position. The 2026-05-08 follow-up discussion`
- new: `mainstream RC position. A follow-up discussion`

- [ ] **Step 5: Decision 11 opener (line 1451)**

Edit:
- old: `**Committed 2026-05-09 (Iter 22a), as the design pass that gates`
- new: `**The design pass that gates` (the trailing `Iter 22a` is
  Task 4 territory; this step strips only the date and the
  "Committed" framing).

- [ ] **Step 6: Decision 11 §"Why mono, not virtual dispatch" (line 1611)**

Edit:
- old: `indirect-jump cost. The 2026-05-10 mono-vs-vdisp micro-benchmark`
- new: `indirect-jump cost. A mono-vs-vdisp micro-benchmark`

- [ ] **Step 7: Decision 11 §"What 22a explicitly does NOT support" (line 1723)**

Edit:
- old: `rationale recorded in JOURNAL 2026-05-09; constraint-bearing`
- new: `rationale recorded in JOURNAL; constraint-bearing`

- [ ] **Step 8: Decision 11 §"Prelude" (line 1753)**

Edit:
- old: `fixture); see `docs/specs/2026-05-09-22-typeclasses.md``
- new: `fixture); see `docs/specs/22-typeclasses.md``

NOTE: this step renames the spec-file reference. The actual file
`docs/specs/2026-05-09-22-typeclasses.md` exists on disk; sweep 1
does NOT rename the file (that would lose git history). Instead,
the in-text reference is left as the date-prefixed actual filename
because it points to a real file. **Revert this step** if the
filename on disk uses the date prefix.

Verify before editing:
```bash
ls docs/specs/2026-05-09-22-typeclasses.md
```

If the file exists with the date prefix, KEEP the reference and
add the bare filename to a "deliberate exceptions" list to be
recorded in the JOURNAL entry at Task 6. The grep pattern at the
sweep-1 acceptance check then reports this single line as a known
exception.

- [ ] **Step 9: Pipeline section (line 2024)**

Edit:
- old: `since 2026-05-09: the typechecker enforces`
- new: `the typechecker enforces`

- [ ] **Step 10: Default-flip mention in Decision 10 (~line 1410)**

Edit:
- old: `default-flip (2026-05-09 — `--alloc=rc` becomes the CLI default,`
- new: `default-flip (`--alloc=rc` is the CLI default,`

Sentence-level cleanup: the surrounding "executes in two steps:
first a default-flip … ; second a full removal" describes a state
that is partly past (default-flip happened) and partly future (full
removal pending). Sweep-1 stays mechanical: the date goes; the
narrative of "first … second" is sweep-2 territory.

- [ ] **Step 11: Post-test — verify date anchors gone (with permitted exception)**

```bash
grep -nE '2026-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: empty, OR exactly one line — the spec-file path
`docs/specs/2026-05-09-22-typeclasses.md` (if the file on disk
uses that prefix). Record this in the JOURNAL exception list.

- [ ] **Step 12: Commit**

```bash
git add docs/DESIGN.md
git commit -m "design-md-consolidation 1.3: drop date anchors from DESIGN.md"
```

---

## Task 4: Iter tags

**Files:** Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md` (~97 sites at iter start; subset
already removed by Tasks 1-3 — re-grep at Task 4 Step 1).

The iter-tag class has the largest count and the most contextual
variation. Pre-test reveals all sites; the editor walks them
top-to-bottom, applying the matching pattern below per site.

- [ ] **Step 1: Pre-test — list iter-tag sites**

```bash
grep -nE 'Iter [0-9]+[a-z]?(\.[0-9]+)?' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: ~70-90 sites (down from 97 after Tasks 1-3 stripped some
co-located in Status/Date sentences).

- [ ] **Step 2: Apply per-site pattern, top to bottom**

Walk the grep output top to bottom. For each line, apply the matching
rewrite pattern below. Some sites need a custom rewrite — when in
doubt, prefer "remove the iter tag and surrounding bookkeeping
phrase, keep the technical content".

**Pattern set (apply the first that matches):**

a. **Subsection header `### Iter Xy — feature name`**
   - old: `### Iter 18a — parameter modes on \`Type::Fn\``
   - new: `### Parameter modes on \`Type::Fn\``

b. **Bold prefix `**Iter Xy — feature name.**`**
   - old: `**Iter 18a — parameter modes on \`Type::Fn\`.**`
   - new: `**Parameter modes on \`Type::Fn\`.**`

c. **Parenthetical `(Iter Xy)` standalone**
   - old: `... mode wrappers (Iter 18a):`
   - new: `... mode wrappers:`

d. **Inline `Iter Xy chose / introduced / shipped / extended ...`**
   - old: `Iter 14b chose Form (A)`
   - new: `Form (A) was chosen`

e. **`since Iter Xy` / `from Iter Xy onward`**
   - old: `since Iter 13a`
   - new: `currently` or remove (whichever scans cleaner)

f. **`per Iter Xy` / `from the Iter Xy …`**
   - old: `per Iter 14e`
   - new: remove the qualifier; the sentence describes the rule, not its origin

g. **`(Iter Xy, …)` with multiple parts**
   - old: `(Iter 16b.1, lift_letrecs)`
   - new: `(lift_letrecs)`

h. **Cross-reference `see Iter Xy` / `Iter Xy onward`**
   - old: `see Iter 14e`
   - new: remove the cross-reference; the prose preceding/following
     it must stand alone. If the iter-cross-ref is load-bearing
     (i.e. the meaning is unrecoverable without it), bounce to
     orchestrator — that signals a content-not-mechanical edit.

i. **Anchor in a list item like `// Iter 18e opt-in; omitted when false`**
   - old: `"drop-iterative": true   // Iter 18e opt-in; omitted when false (pre-18e hash-stable)`
   - new: `"drop-iterative": true   // opt-in; omitted when false (hash-stable when omitted)`

The "pre-Xy hash-stable" form occurs in the Data-model section
several times. Pattern: `(pre-Xy hash-stable)` → `(hash-stable when
omitted)` or removed if the surrounding "omitted when …" already
carries the meaning.

- [ ] **Step 3: Spot-checks for sentence integrity**

After all sites are edited, read the affected sections end-to-end
in the editor (or use `head -200 docs/DESIGN.md` / `sed -n
'500,700p' docs/DESIGN.md` for spot reads). The most common drift
mode after iter-tag stripping is: the surrounding sentence
referenced "Iter Xy" structurally and now reads as "X was chosen
in" with no agent. Fix by trimming the dangling phrase.

Specific high-risk sections (re-read each):
- Decision 6 §"Why this is opening up" (lines 181-220 region) —
  references "Iters 1 through 14a" structurally.
- Decision 6 §"Form refinements during Iter 14c implementation"
  (line 454) — the section title itself contains the iter tag.
  Rewrite header to `### Form refinements during implementation`.
- Decision 9 — `Iter 14e tail-call notes`, `Iter 14f`, `Iter 17a`.
- Decision 10 §"Migration plan" — 7 numbered iters. Sweep 2 will
  delete the whole section; sweep 1 still strips the iter tags
  inside it for grep cleanliness.
- "What is not (yet) supported" §"Recently lifted gates" — every
  bullet is iter-anchored. Sweep 4 deletes the paragraph entirely;
  sweep 1 strips the iter tags inside for grep cleanliness.

- [ ] **Step 4: Post-test — verify iter tags gone**

```bash
grep -nE 'Iter [0-9]+[a-z]?(\.[0-9]+)?' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: empty output, OR the date-prefixed spec-file reference
from Task 3 Step 11 (the path
`docs/specs/2026-05-09-22-typeclasses.md` does not match this iter
pattern, so the exception list need not grow here).

- [ ] **Step 5: Commit**

```bash
git add docs/DESIGN.md
git commit -m "design-md-consolidation 1.4: drop Iter-N tags from DESIGN.md"
```

---

## Task 5: Bench data-points

**Files:** Modify: `docs/DESIGN.md` (12 sites at iter start, lines
836, 843, 855, 857, 865, 873, 875, 876, 899, 1615, 1619, 1620).

The bench-data-point class has the most per-site judgement. Each
site is decided as **REMOVE** (transient measurement) or **KEEP**
(target / contract / policy commitment).

- [ ] **Step 1: Pre-test — list bench data-point sites**

```bash
grep -nE '[0-9]+%|[0-9]+\.[0-9]+×|[0-9]+\.[0-9]+x' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: 12 lines.

- [ ] **Step 2: Apply per-site decisions**

| Site | Today's text fragment | Decision | New form |
|------|------------------------|----------|----------|
| 836 | `Boehm contributing ~60% of runtime on allocation-heavy workloads` | REMOVE the percentage; keep the structural claim | `Boehm contributing a substantial fraction of runtime on allocation-heavy workloads (bench notes in JOURNAL)` |
| 843 | `~2.8× slower than a bump pointer` | REMOVE; structural claim | `structurally slower than a bump pointer` |
| 855 | `target 1.3× on \`bench/run.sh\`` | KEEP — this is the active retirement contract | unchanged |
| 857 | `**Workload scope of the 1.3× target.**` | KEEP — header references the kept target | unchanged |
| 865 | `closure-chain fixture's measured \`rc/bump = 4.14×\`` | CONDENSE — historical measurement | `closure-chain fixture measures wider than the 1.3× linear/tree target (current value recorded in JOURNAL bench entries)` |
| 873 | `1.3× retirement target therefore applies` | KEEP — repeats the target | unchanged |
| 875 | `21'g baseline records \`4.14×\`` | CONDENSE | `baseline records the closure-chain ratio with ±15% tolerance` (the iter tag `21'g` is also stripped here per Task 4 — order-of-operations: Task 4 already ran, so this site no longer carries `21'g`; verify) |
| 876 | `as the \`rc_over_bump\` reference value with ±15% tolerance` | KEEP — config metadata; tolerance is a contract | unchanged |
| 899 | `Boehm's bench number (~60% allocate-…` | REMOVE percentage | `Boehm's bench overhead is structurally on the allocate path (JOURNAL bench notes)` |
| 1615 | `1.000x on Zen 3 / clang -O2` | REMOVE — bench-setup detail | reformulate sentence: `the same-shape non-inlined direct call is comparable in cost to indirect dispatch when the branch predictor saturates on a monomorphic target` (drop the number) |
| 1619 | `3.31x vs non-inlinable direct call` | CONDENSE — kept claim is "mono enables inlining" | `substantial vs the non-inlinable direct call` |
| 1620 | `4.00x vs polymorphic vdisp (4 distinct targets cycling)` | CONDENSE | `larger again vs polymorphic vdisp` |

The 12-site pass collapses around two patterns: (a) policy
commitments tied to the 1.3× target stay verbatim (sites 855, 857,
873, 876); (b) historical measurements either disappear from the
text (with the policy claim they grounded surviving in surrounding
prose) or condense to a JOURNAL pointer.

- [ ] **Step 3: Post-test — verify only KEEP-class numbers remain**

```bash
grep -nE '[0-9]+%|[0-9]+\.[0-9]+×|[0-9]+\.[0-9]+x' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: 4 lines, each anchored on the 1.3× target (sites 855,
857, 873, plus the ±15% at 876 — note that ±15% does not match the
percent regex if the regex is `[0-9]+%` matching `15%`; the
tolerance does. Re-evaluate which sites the regex flags
post-edit). Acceptable residue: any line that mentions the 1.3×
retirement target or the ±15% tolerance.

If unexpected residue: re-walk the table above, find the site that
slipped, fix it.

- [ ] **Step 4: Commit**

```bash
git add docs/DESIGN.md
git commit -m "design-md-consolidation 1.5: condense historical bench data-points in DESIGN.md"
```

---

## Task 6: Final validation + JOURNAL entry

**Files:** Read: `docs/DESIGN.md`. Append: `docs/JOURNAL.md`.

- [ ] **Step 1: Run the sweep-1 composite acceptance grep**

```bash
grep -nE 'Iter [0-9]+[a-z]?(\.[0-9]+)?|Family [0-9]+|^[^/]*2026-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}|\*\*Status: ' docs/DESIGN.md
```

Expected: empty, OR up to one line (the
`docs/specs/2026-05-09-22-typeclasses.md` path from Task 3 Step 11,
*if* the file on disk has that prefix). The leading `^[^/]*` in the
date regex pre-filters paths that begin with `docs/specs/`.

If a path-anchored exception remains, record it in the JOURNAL
entry below as a deliberate exception.

- [ ] **Step 2: Run the cargo test sweep**

```bash
cargo test --workspace 2>&1 | tail -20
```

Expected: `test result: ok. … 0 failed` for every test binary.

This is a sanity check: no source-code changes were made in this
iter, so any test failure is a real regression unrelated to the
sweep.

- [ ] **Step 3: Run the bench gates**

```bash
python3 bench/check.py && python3 bench/compile_check.py
```

Expected: each script exits 0 / prints `0/N` with no failures.

- [ ] **Step 4: Append the JOURNAL entry**

Append to `docs/JOURNAL.md` (after the last entry):

```markdown
## 2026-05-10 — Iteration design-md-consolidation 1: history-anchor sweep

First iteration of the milestone defined in
`docs/specs/2026-05-10-design-md-consolidation.md`. Sweep 1 closes
the "history anchors in DESIGN.md" item: every iter tag, family
tag, date anchor, status marker, and historical bench data-point
that anchored the document to a specific moment is removed.
DESIGN.md now reads as a state-only document; the *narratives* of
how decisions changed (Decision 9's three-frame story, Decision
11's mono-vs-vdisp correction) remain in their narrative form
this iter and are condensed in sweep 2.

Sites stripped (counts at iter start):
- Iter tags: ~97 sites across all decisions and the data-model /
  pipeline / what-is-not-yet-supported sections.
- Family tags: 4 sites.
- Date anchors: 13 sites.
- Status markers: 4 sites (`shipped` ×2, `REVERTED`, `half-retirement`).
- Bench data-points: 12 sites — 4 KEPT (the 1.3× retirement target
  and ±15% tolerance, which are policy contracts), 8 REMOVED or
  CONDENSED.

Specific anchor examples discarded (representative):
- Decision 6 opener: `**Status: shipped.** Form (A) was chosen in
  Iter 14b and implemented as` → `Form (A) is implemented as`.
- Decision 9 opener: `**Status: half-retirement as of 2026-05-09.**
  Originally framed (2026-05-07) as "transitional Boehm…"` →
  `Originally framed as "transitional Boehm…"` (the narrative-of-changes
  paragraph is sweep-2 territory).
- Decision 10 opener: `**Committed 2026-05-08, after the GC bench
  showed Boehm contributing ~60% of runtime…` → `**The GC bench
  showed Boehm contributing a substantial fraction of runtime
  (bench notes in JOURNAL).`

Deliberate exceptions to the sweep-1 grep pattern (if any):
- `docs/specs/2026-05-09-22-typeclasses.md` — date-prefixed spec
  filename, kept verbatim because the on-disk file uses that
  prefix and renaming would lose git history. Record only.

Acceptance:
- composite grep returns empty (or the one path-anchored exception above).
- `cargo test --workspace` 0 FAILED across all test binaries.
- `bench/check.py` and `bench/compile_check.py` 0/0.

The 1.3× Boehm-retirement target and the ±15% closure-band
tolerance are KEPT verbatim — they are policy contracts, not
historical measurements. The historical bench data-points that
grounded those targets (60% allocate-path overhead; 2.8× malloc
slowdown; 4.14× rc/bump on closure-chain; 3.31x / 4.00x mono-vs-vdisp)
are removed from DESIGN.md; their values remain in JOURNAL bench
entries (`bench/run.sh` baseline records, mono-dispatch micro-bench
2026-05-10 entry).

Carried into sweep 2: Decision 7's body (still present, awaiting
removal), Decision 9's "Originally framed … then re-framed …
revision flips" narrative, Decision 10's "Migration plan", Decision
11's "Why mono, not virtual dispatch (the empirically-grounded
version)" correction history, and the "future iter may"
speculations.
```

Adjust the discarded-anchor examples and the carried-into-sweep-2
list to match what was actually edited; the template above lists
the planned outcomes.

- [ ] **Step 5: Commit the JOURNAL entry**

```bash
git add docs/JOURNAL.md
git commit -m "design-md-consolidation 1: journal entry"
```
