The complete semantic-sort naming rules are defined in prompts/flavors/01-semantic-sort-naming.md.
DELTA protocol
DELTA applies minimal corrections.
A DELTA applies to the immediately preceding assistant output unless another artifact is identified.
A DELTA changes only the named portions.
A DELTA does not regenerate full output unless explicitly requested.
If a DELTA cannot be applied without changing additional portions, clarification is required.
Universal failure-prevention rules
Universal failure-prevention rules apply across supported languages, tools, and file formats.
These rules define scope, clarification, anti-hallucination, safety, privacy-boundary, risky-operations, and output behavior.
One-sentence-per-line
Each prose sentence occupies one line when the applicable document convention requires it.
This rule does not apply to code blocks.
One-statement-per-line
Independent statements must not be combined on one physical line when the target language supports separating them.
The target language formatter and syntax rules take precedence.
Feature file
A file in prompts/features/.
A feature file defines a project capability.
A feature file describes requirements and behavior.
A feature file applies only when referenced by the task or a directly referenced feature dependency.
Plan block
A block listing ordered steps.
Output block
A block containing final output.
An output block follows the exact requested format.
An output block contains no unrequested commentary.
Context block
A block providing additional information.
A context block contains file contents, requirements, notes, samples, or constraints.
A context block does not add instructions unless explicitly labeled as a constraint.
Scope-based identifier length
The amount of identifier detail appropriate to the identifier’s scope.
Ordered transformation pipeline
A sequence of transformations applied in a defined order.
Generated file
A generated file is produced by a script, build tool, generator, or other automated process.
Generated files must be identified as generated.
Generated files must not be edited manually unless explicitly requested.
Generated output must be written only to the designated output directory.
Incident record
A record of an incident: what happened, root cause, fix, lessons, and safeguards for a retry.
An incident record is written after the incident settles and before new work starts.
Handoff record
A record written at a session boundary so a fresh session resumes without the prior conversation’s memory.
A handoff record lists the verified current state and the next tasks in order.
Live-state test
A test that verifies a documented model against live reality.
A live-state test requires declared access and reports PASS/WARN/FAIL.
Live-state tests form one tier of the test policy in prompts/02-workflow.md.
Privacy boundary
Owner-declared content that is off-limits to the LLM.
Privacy boundaries are authoritative scope exclusions.
Stability rules
Stability rules define project behavior that should not change without explicit instruction.
Elseon (the language)
A systems programming language for the Linux kernel and embedded systems.
The design lives in documents/07-elseon-language.md; the requirements in prompts/features/03-language-core.md, 04-c-header-ingestion.md, and 05-llvm-backend.md.
PFE (Proudly Found Elsewhere)
The project does not re-implement what C has already perfected.
C headers are treated as first-class semantic modules.
NIH inversion
“Not Invented Here” is inverted: the project believes in “Found Elsewhere and Made Better.”
Existing logic is ingested and wrapped in Elseon’s safety guarantees.
Kernel Test
The admission test every Elseon feature must pass: zero hidden control flow, zero runtime/garbage collection, predictable memory layout, and C-compatibility.
Kernel-Ready guarantees
No garbage collection.
No hidden allocations.
No hidden control flow.
Deterministic memory layout.
Facet
A small, modular, specialized capability module composed onto a core entity (a mixin / extension object).
Facets replace inheritance as the composition mechanism.
Nominal typing
Type aliases give structural descriptions a semantic, named identity.
Programmers navigate by names rather than nested structural shapes.
C-header module
A C header imported into Elseon as a first-class semantic module.
The import is a semantic operation, not a textual #include.
LLVM backend
The code-generation path of the Elseon compiler.
The front end (lexer, parser, semantic analysis) is owned by Elseon; code generation goes through LLVM.