Protocol Overview (v0.1)

The RIGOR protocol defines the formal rules for AI-generated backend systems. It transforms architectural intent into a deterministic and verifiable contract.

1. The Structural Problem

Structural entropy emerges in AI-generated systems when implementation velocity exceeds human structural oversight. It manifests when:

• State is mutated outside explicit transitions.
• Context grows without typed constraints.
• Events are not contractually declared.
• Execution lacks deterministic transactional boundaries.
• Version evolution is not formally governed.

This produces divergent behavior, undetectable drift, and non-reproducible execution paths. RIGOR exists to formally eliminate these conditions by ensuring that structural change never outpaces structural governance.

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2. RIGOR's Protocol Response

The protocol introduces deterministic governance through five foundational invariants:

2.1 Validation Before Execution

Every process specification must pass structural, schema, and version compatibility checks. No process may execute unless valid. This prevents undefined runtime behavior.

2.2 Typed Context Schema

Every process declares a static context_schema. All fields must be declared, and all mutations must conform to declared types. No implicit field creation is permitted.

2.3 Explicit Event → Transition Model

Transitions must be declared as explicit mapping: (state, event) → target_state. No implicit transitions are allowed, and each pair must be unique.

2.4 Mutation Only Within Transitions

Context mutation may occur exclusively inside declared transitions triggered by events. Background, side-effect, or arbitrary state modifications are prohibited.

2.5 Transactional Event Processing

Each event is processed as a single atomic transaction. The state transition, context mutation, and event emission all succeed or rollback together, ensuring strong consistency per event.

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3. Before vs After RIGOR

Property	Without RIGOR	With RIGOR
State	Implicit	Explicit
Context	Untyped	Typed
Transitions	Hidden	Declared
Mutation	Arbitrary	Controlled
Validation	Runtime only	Static + Runtime
Evolution	Ad hoc	Versioned
Determinism	Weak	Strong

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4. Execution Cycle Diagram

The following diagram illustrates the atomic execution cycle of a single event in a RIGOR-compliant system:

graph LR
    E[Event] --> V[Validate]
    V --> T[Transition]
    T --> M[Mutate]
    M --> P[Persist]
    P --> Em[Emit]
    
    subgraph Transaction Boundary
    V
    T
    M
    P
    Em
    end

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5. Protocol vs Implementation

RIGOR maintains a formal separation between the standard and its runtime interpretation:

• The Protocol defines: Semantic invariants, structural contracts, and behavioral guarantees.
• The Engine implements: Parsing, validation, transaction execution, and persistence strategy.

The protocol remains valid independently of any specific engine or programming language.

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6. Deterministic Evolution Governance

Each process specification includes a rigor_spec_version and a spec_version. Evolution is explicitly versioned and validated during migration to prevent silent behavioral drift.

7. Structural Guarantees Summary

A RIGOR-compliant system formally guarantees:

1. No implicit mutation.
2. No untyped context growth.
3. No undeclared events.
4. No non-atomic event processing.
5. No silent structural evolution.

This is the formal elimination of structural entropy.