Files
AILang/design/INDEX.md
T
Brummel dfdc65f21f audit: spec 0064 cycle close — drift-clean after two ledger fixes (#57)
Cycle-close audit for spec 0064 (the #57 hardening of the linearity
analysis, the #55-cutover precondition; four iterations 47964ab,
cc5991e, be259f9, 2769e50).

Architect drift review (39b674c..HEAD): both CLAUDE.md lockstep pairs
confirmed untouched (INTERCEPTS↔intrinsic markers; Pattern::Lit
typecheck↔pre_desugar_validation) — the cycle is genuinely
diagnostic-only. It found two drift items, both in the iter-3 contract
edit, both fixed here (fix path, folded into the audit close since they
are doc-only):

1. [medium] design/contracts/0008-memory-model.md — the iter-3 rewrite
   placed a "Covers let-aliases…" statement under the "What this
   widening does NOT do" heading (incoherent) and named only the
   linearity-check mechanism, silently dropping the codegen dimension
   the original carve-out actually referred to ("Iter A / pre-tail-call
   shallow-dec arm" = the drop gates). Verified the real current state:
   let-aliases are propagated on BOTH axes — the linearity diagnostic
   (Checker.aliases + resolve_alias, this cycle) AND the codegen drop
   gates (MTerm::Let's current_param_modes mode inheritance,
   ailang-codegen/src/lib.rs:1811, pre-existing). The bullet is moved
   out of the "does NOT do" list into a positive paragraph naming both
   mechanisms.
2. [low] design/INDEX.md memory-model row — the ratifying-test cell
   listed only uniqueness.rs while the contract trailer now also names
   linearity.rs. Cell updated to "uniqueness.rs + linearity.rs".

Regression gate (both green, exit 0):
- bench/check.py: 34 metrics; 0 regressed, 1 improved beyond tolerance
  (latency.implicit_at_rc.median_us -5.27%), 33 stable. The "improved"
  is measurement noise, NOT a real metric move — this cycle is
  diagnostic-only and touches no codegen/runtime, so it cannot have
  improved runtime latency. Baseline deliberately NOT updated (no
  ratify: nothing in the code moved the metric).
- bench/compile_check.py: 24 metrics; 0 regressed, 24 stable.

Outcome: cycle 0064 tidy (drift-clean). All four #57 hardening classes
(value-typed let-binders, local fn-param modes, let-alias propagation,
partition_eithers double-consume) shipped and ratified. The #55-cutover
precondition is met. Drift-clean is not a milestone close: #55 (the
irreversible ParamMode::Implicit deletion) is the next, separate step.

refs #57
2026-06-01 18:29:02 +02:00

7.8 KiB

AILang Design — Index

The sole addressable entry point. Every contract and model is reached from here. A contract is a prescriptive, test-linked invariant; a model is a whitepaper narrative. ratifying-test names the green test that proves a contract still holds. link is polymorphic: a design/ file, or the authoritative source //! header when the code is the single source of truth.

Project framing

Goal

AILang is a programming language for LLM authors. It compiles to LLVM IR. Performance: native, no GC for the MVP.

Optimised for:

  • Machine readability over human ergonomics. The source is structured.
  • Local reasoning. Every definition carries its full type and effects.
  • Provability. Pure core language, explicit effects, optional refinements.
  • Robustness against hallucinations. Symbols are hashable; tools can verify existence without spending context window.

Project ecosystem

AILang is not just a language but an ecosystem. The language on its own is only valuable when its surroundings make it usable, checkable, and extensible for its target user (LLM authors). The repo therefore contains several equally important components — none of them optional, all of them evolving in lockstep with the language:

  • Language core (crates/ailang-core, crates/ailang-check, crates/ailang-codegen): AST, type system, codegen.
  • Surface forms (crates/ailang-surface, crates/ailang-prose): the LLM-facing renderings of a module. ailang-surface is the lossless Form-A printer/parser — the canonical authoring surface, with a round-trip property parse ∘ print = id gating every release. ailang-prose is the lossy Form-B projection — human-readable prose for review and edit, with no parser; re-integration goes through the LLM-mediator round-trip documented in docs/PROSE_ROUNDTRIP.md.
  • CLI (crates/ail): toolchain for tooling consumers — manifest, describe, deps, check, build, parse, render, prose, merge-prose, etc., preferably with --json for machine consumption.
  • Examples (examples/): canonical .ail.json programs. They are specification anchors, not demos — the E2E suite hangs off them.
  • Skills (~/dev/skills/ plugin, wired in via .claude/dev-cycle-profile.yml): specialised disciplines (brainstorm, planner, implement, audit, debug, fieldtest, docwriter, boss) plus the agent rosters they dispatch. They form the project's development methodology; the plugin is versioned separately, the per-project profile is in-tree.
  • Design ledger (design/): design/INDEX.md (this file — the sole addressable spine for canonical state), design/contracts/ (test-linked invariants), design/models/ (onboarding whitepapers).
  • Docs (docs/): specs/ (per-milestone design specs), plans/ (per-iteration implementation plans). Project history lives in git log; the forward queue lives in the Gitea issue backlog (http://192.168.178.103:3000/Brummel/AILang/issues).
  • Tests: unit tests per crate plus E2E in crates/ail/tests/e2e.rs. Every new compiler path needs a test, otherwise the feature does not count as done.

Project language: English

All in-tree content is written in English: source code (identifiers, comments, string literals, CLI help), design documents, agent prompts, READMEs, commit messages, examples, and CLAUDE.md. The live conversation between user and me stays German for ergonomic reasons; everything that lands in git is English. This keeps diffs and tooling output uniform and matches the audience for AILang (LLM authors), for whom English is the default.

Contracts

id consumer / lifetime ratifying-test link
feature-acceptance brainstorm-gate / stable CLAUDE.md design/contracts/0004-feature-acceptance.md
authoring-surface LLM author / stable crates/ailang-surface/tests/round_trip.rs design/contracts/0001-authoring-surface.md
roundtrip-invariant every release / stable crates/ailang-surface/tests/round_trip.rs design/contracts/0009-roundtrip-invariant.md
language-constraints LLM author / stable crates/ailang-check/src/uniqueness.rs (in-source mod tests) design/contracts/0015-language-constraints.md
memory-model LLM author / stable crates/ailang-check/src/uniqueness.rs + linearity.rs (in-source mod tests) design/contracts/0008-memory-model.md
data-model LLM author / stable crates/ailang-core/tests/design_schema_drift.rs design/contracts/0002-data-model.md
mangling codegen / stable crates/ail/tests/eq_ord_e2e.rs crates/ailang-codegen/src/lib.rs //!
env-construction codegen / stable crates/ailang-check/tests/duplicate_ctor_pin.rs crates/ailang-codegen/src/lib.rs //!
qualified-xref check→codegen / stable crates/ail/tests/codegen_import_map_fallback_pin.rs crates/ailang-check/src/lower_to_mir.rs (classify_callee) + design/contracts/0018-check-codegen-boundary.md
frozen-value-layout embedding ABI / one-way-frozen crates/ailang-codegen/tests/embed_record_layout_pin.rs design/contracts/0006-frozen-value-layout.md + runtime/rc.c §layout
float-semantics LLM author / stable crates/ail/tests/eq_float_noinstance.rs design/contracts/0005-float-semantics.md
typeclasses LLM author / stable crates/ail/tests/show_no_instance_e2e.rs design/contracts/0013-typeclasses.md
method-dispatch LLM author / stable crates/ail/tests/show_no_instance_e2e.rs design/contracts/0016-method-dispatch.md
prelude-classes LLM author / stable crates/ail/tests/show_no_instance_e2e.rs design/contracts/0017-prelude-classes.md
str-abi runtime ABI / stable crates/ail/tests/e2e.rs (Str path) design/contracts/0011-str-abi.md + runtime/str.c §heap-Str
tail-calls codegen / stable crates/ailang-check/src/lib.rs (in-source tail_call_in_non_tail_position_is_rejected) design/contracts/0012-tail-calls.md
honesty-rule architect+grounding / stable crates/ailang-core/tests/docs_honesty_pin.rs design/contracts/0007-honesty-rule.md
embedding-abi embedding host / stable crates/ailang-codegen/tests/embed_record_layout_pin.rs design/contracts/0003-embedding-abi.md
scope-boundaries architect+author / stable crates/ailang-core/tests/effect_doc_honesty_pin.rs design/contracts/0010-scope-boundaries.md
verification architect / stable bench/architect_sweeps.sh design/contracts/0014-verification.md
check-codegen-boundary architect / stable crates/ailang-check/tests/lower_to_mir_ty.rs (callee_classification_builtin_and_static) design/contracts/0018-check-codegen-boundary.md

Models

id consumer / lifetime link
rc-uniqueness onboarding / evolves design/models/0004-rc-uniqueness.md
typeclasses onboarding / evolves design/models/0005-typeclasses.md
effects onboarding / evolves design/models/0002-effects.md
authoring-surface onboarding / evolves design/models/0001-authoring-surface.md
prose-projection onboarding / evolves design/models/0006-prose-projection.md
pipeline onboarding / evolves design/models/0003-pipeline.md
kernel-extensions onboarding / evolves (mechanisms milestone closed 2026-05-28; ratified end-to-end by the ailang-kernel/src/raw_buf base extension; series milestone pending) design/models/0007-kernel-extensions.md