Schema Namespace Overview¶
Status: orientation index. This page does not define a schema. It records the current top-level Assay schema namespaces, their scope, and their stability promises.
Assay uses schema strings to state what kind of artifact is being validated. A file path can help humans find the sidecar, but the schema string carries the contract boundary.
Namespace Rules¶
| Namespace | Scope | Stability Promise | Sidecar Convention |
|---|---|---|---|
assay.runner.* | Runner archive, evidence, projection, and report contracts consumed by Runner-adjacent tooling. | Reference contracts unless marked historical or embedded vocabulary. | Reference docs under runner/, with JSON sidecars under runner/schema/ when machine validation is active. |
assay.experiment.* | Time-limited measurement evidence for a named experiment line. | Experiment-scoped; may change between slices and does not become product surface without promotion. | Sidecars live under the owning experiment's schema/ directory. |
assay.observability.* | Research/reference vocabulary for comparing traces, measured-run archives, joined artifacts, and external receipts. | Reference vocabulary for research output; not a Runner archive artifact and not experiment-scoped measurement evidence. | Reference docs under observability/, with JSON sidecars under observability/schema/. |
Governance¶
- A new top-level namespace should add a row here before it becomes a reviewable surface.
- Moving an artifact from
assay.experiment.*intoassay.runner.*or another reference namespace requires a reference page or ADR that states the new stability promise. assay.observability.*contracts can cite Runner and experiment artifacts, but they do not promote those artifacts into new evidence claims by themselves.- Runner archive health gates remain Runner-owned even when an observability comparison uses their results.
- Compliance, legal, and product-positioning claims require their own docs. Schema validation alone does not create those claims.
Detailed Indexes¶
| Index | Role |
|---|---|
runner/schemas-overview.md | Detailed Runner and Runner-adjacent schema list. |
artifact-families-inventory.md | Canonical, reference, experiment-scoped, and proposed artifact-family inventory. |
observability/README.md | Observability reference contracts for claim classes and joins. |
observability/claim-boundary-positioning.md | Post-arc positioning and public next-arc selection discipline for claim-boundary and evidence-fidelity work. |
observability/observability-fidelity-calibration.md | Reference note for requested-vs-observed signal retention before timing, throughput, or absence claims. |
../experiments/mcp-tool-evidence-binding-harness-2026-05/README.md | Synthetic MCP tool description/call/effect binding harness using assay.experiment.mcp_tool_evidence_binding.binding_cell.v0. |
experiments/namespace-governance.md | Naming, promotion, and cross-arc field guidance for experiment-scoped schemas. |
experiments/arc-lifecycle-guide.md | Plan, harness, delegated-gate, and findings-summary lifecycle guidance for experiment arcs. |