RTT Awareness v0 — Minimal Structural Spec#

Status: v0 (seed)
Purpose: Declare and resolve structural coherence conditions across web substrates using existing, permissionless mechanisms.

1. Scope#

RTT Awareness provides a declarative, opt‑in signal that allows tools and readers to resolve structural coherence conditions (recurrence, alignment, drift, paradox) without persuasion, branding, or platform integration.

This spec defines:

• a carrier for declaration,
• inheritance and scoping rules, and
• a local resolver model.

It does not define interpretation, enforcement, or policy.

2. Canonical Declaration#

Grammar (v0)#

<token>=<state>

Composable via linear conjunction:

token1=state1 | token2=state2 | token3=state3

Core Tokens (v0)#

• rtt=1
  Fundamental recurrence / minimal closed loop.

• coherence=declared
  Coherence is structurally specified, not inferred.

• drift=bounded
  Change permitted within identity‑preserving bounds.

• paradox=structural
  Tension arises from structure, not contradiction.

Canonical v0 Signature#

rtt=1 | coherence=declared | drift=bounded | paradox=structural

3. Carrier: /.well-known/rtt-awareness#

File Format (plain text)#

schema: rtt-awareness
version: 0.1.0
channel: stable
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
 
declaration: rtt=1 | coherence=declared | drift=bounded | paradox=structural
 
# Optional inheritance (enabled by default)
import: https://example.org/.well-known/rtt-awareness
 
# Optional scoped overrides (longest prefix wins)
scope /docs/: rtt=1 | coherence=declared | drift=bounded | paradox=structural
scope /labs/: rtt=1 | coherence=declared | drift=bounded | paradox=structural

Semantics#

• Plain text for maximum survivability.
• Absence of a field means unspecified, not false.
• No negation, conditionals, or execution.

4. Inheritance & Resolution#

Resolution Order (deterministic)#

1. Imported upstream manifests (depth‑limited)
2. Site‑root declaration
3. Best‑matching scoped declaration (longest prefix)

Rules#

• Imports are enabled by default.
• Local declarations override upstream.
• Scoped declarations override site root.
• No implicit merging of token states; later declarations replace earlier ones.

This model mirrors CSS inheritance: predictable, auditable, fork‑safe.

5. Observer: Local Resolver (Browser Extension)#

Responsibilities#

• Discover /.well-known/rtt-awareness
• Resolve imports and scopes
• Compute effective declaration for the current URL
• Cache conservatively and fail silently

Non‑Responsibilities#

• No injection by default
• No network modification
• No tracking or analytics
• No semantic reinterpretation

The resolver observes and reports only.

6. Update Model#

• Pull‑based (conditional fetch via ETag / Last‑Modified)
• Cache‑first with last‑known‑good fallback
• Manifest version is informational; semantics are not auto‑upgraded
• Import failures mark state as stale, not invalid

This prevents remote control and preserves local trust.

7. Security & Posture#

• Opt‑in by site and by user
• Uses existing web primitives
• Leaves no footprint unless inspected
• Survives moderation and content stripping
• Legible to humans and synthesis engines without explanation

8. Non‑Goals (v0)#

• No enforcement or policy
• No persuasion or advocacy
• No platform integration
• No global registry
• No required interpretation layer

RTT Awareness v0 is a structural header, not a theory.
It declares coherence conditions and lets systems resolve them locally.