The GALF Contract

GALF is the GAAD Architectural Language Framework. GALF defines the Architectural Language Contract that every GAAD Architectural Language must implement.

GALF is not a single language, not a geometry format, not a BIM replacement schema, and not tied to Blender or any execution engine. GALF is the contract that PRAL, GRAL, MHAL, FWAL and future Architectural Languages conform to.

The base vocabulary s6 has always referred to and never had. A triple is valid when its relationship_type is in this set, or is declared by the language in its own s6 with a definition. Ten types, small enough to hold in the head - a vocabulary nobody can remember gets reinvented, which is how the drift started.

Measured across Languages/ on 17 Jul 2026, and corrected the same day after the first count proved wrong. 21 distinct types are in use, not the 13 first reported: the first scan read only three-element triples and so missed FWAL entirely. Base set covers PRAL, GRAL, MHAL and FWAL's belongs_to/defines. Outside it: TWAL uses has, holds and 'is one of' (retired below), and FWAL brings eight of its own - responds_to, grows_from, projects_over, anchors, reveals, transitions, frames, reinforces - which are real architectural relations and are candidates for FWAL's declared_relationship_types, not for the base. See T030.

OPEN, for the Chief Architect: s6 describes a three-element triple. FWAL's 11 rows carry a FOURTH element, a rationale in plain English saying why the relation holds - and it is the most useful thing in any s6 in the estate. Either FWAL is non-conformant, or the contract should allow an optional fourth element. Not decided here.

NORMATIVE from v0.008: a language file addresses the contract by CODE - s1 to s18 - and carries every section, with no exceptions. A section either holds content or states unknown. Sections are not omitted.

Before this rule, sections were found by guessing at each file's chosen key names, and content sat in x_ extensions because no section claimed it. Nothing could be checked, so the conformance table was typed by hand and went stale the day a language moved (it rated MHAL v0.004 while MHAL was at v0.006, and covered four languages of six).

An empty section states unknown. Silence is not an answer: it cannot be told apart from an oversight. Amendment A2 still stands - Mission, Identity and Validation must carry meaningful content, never only the unknown marker.

The one-sentence reason the language exists - what body of architectural knowledge it captures and why. May never be empty.

What the language must be able to express or generate to count as complete - the acceptance conditions it holds itself to.

Name, full name, framework (GALF), the conforms_to version, and the two status axes (knowledge_status, platform_status). The language's passport.

The controlled vocabulary of named objects and concepts. Every term used elsewhere in the file must be defined here (coherence rule 3.6).

How the terms nest - the containment tree from largest to smallest (e.g. Site to Building to Space). Every hierarchy term must exist in Terminology.

Typed triples (source, relationship_type, target) using base or declared relationship types. How objects relate beyond mere containment.

The measurable dials of the language - values with units. Carries the s18 provenance schema and the dimensional standard (m/m2 to 2dp, sub-cm in whole mm).

What the language can DO in its own vocabulary - the verbs it supports, kept implementation-independent (it names no engine; s10 neutrality).

The architectural behaviours the language enforces - the 'shall' statements that make output recognisably in-family. The heart of a design language.

Hard limits and forbidden states - what the language must never produce, distinct from Rules which shape what it should.

The provenance ledger - where the language's knowledge came from, verified vs unverified, and what remains to be sourced. Pairs with s18.

Per-concept maturity using the fixed vocabulary (known/assumed/inferred/unknown/deprecated/future) - how settled each part of the language is.

How the language proves its output belongs to the reference family - the acid tests it must pass. Recognition, not geometric duplication.

What the language preserves across evolution - the design reasoning, pruned branches, and rule provenance that make it Design Memory not just geometry. May never be empty.

The language's own version lineage and how its knowledge accumulated - provenance of the file itself, never restarted.

The honest current state of any prototype - what runs, what does not, and how it runs through the Connector when built.

The scale ladder the language operates on (e.g. Site Response, Scale, Building) - declared so languages at different resolutions can be compared.

NEW v0.006. The Honest Knowledge section: the 7-level evidence vocabulary, the parameter provenance schema, and the dimensional standard. Records how confidently each fact is known and from where.

GAAD is written GAAD and pronounced GAD. It must not be written as GAD and must not be confused with CAD.

• Required-but-empty (F016): an absent Required section fails validation; a present section holding only status: unknown passes with a knowledge signal
• Unknown keys (F017): undeclared keys warn; experimental keys live in the reserved x_ namespace and do not warn
• Terminology linkage (F018): platform terms are referenced from gaad_terminology.json by id, never silently redefined
• Replay honours the recorded language: a stage replays under the language and versions that made it
• Status vocabulary is mandatory; friendly labels may display but stored values use the six-value set
• Internal coherence: all Hierarchy/Relationships/Parameters/Operations terms exist in Terminology; Hierarchy never contradicts Relationships
• Sub-language mechanism defined (parent_language); no sub-language currently exists
• platform_terms_referenced is present in every language file, even when empty (3.3, v0.005)
• Two-axis status vocabularies are mandatory stored values (5.2, v0.005)
• Relationship triples may carry an optional informative note as a fourth element (3.6, v0.005)
• Resolution Axis FROZEN (s17, Recommended): an ordered ladder of knowledge resolution, rungs drawn from Terminology; not applicable is honestly absent
• Conformance-pass convention is the official language amendment mechanism (11.1)
• Validation layer 1 is executable: GALF conformance checks run against Languages/ (8)
• Honest Knowledge (s18, v0.006): a language records not only WHAT is known about a reference case but HOW CONFIDENTLY it is known and WHERE the knowledge came from. Uncertainty, derivation and verification are first-class citizens. Generalises Honest Geometry (fake no geometry) to fake no confidence. Ratified by all three seats 11 Jul 2026.

• language
• language_version
• galf_version

• GALF validates the contract - EXECUTABLE from v0.005: conformance checks run against every file in Languages/ (sections + levels + 3.1/A2, identity axes on mandatory vocabularies, platform_terms_referenced present, internal coherence 3.6, per-concept status 3.4, Resolution Axis ladder rungs in Terminology)
• The language validates its domain
• The platform proves the integration: proving steps in Validate Scripts via gaad_assert.py (F030)

• GALF is versioned independently from each Architectural Language
• Each language declares conforms_to with a GALF version
• A child language's conforms_to must be the same or newer than its parent's
• Language file counts continue across stewardship or naming changes; v0.001 only for a first file - version numbers are provenance, never restarted
• Conformance-pass convention (11.1): steward pass, version bump, mandatory Changes-from section, original author credited; a language does not conform until a conformance pass says so

• Spec/GAAD_GALF_v0_0X_Architectural_Language_Contract_Specification.md
• Spec/GAAD_GALF_v0_0X_Architectural_Language_Contract_Specification.json

Missing geometry is a knowledge signal, not a modelling failure.

• A1 Relationships restored to Required
• A2 Mission, Identity and Validation must carry minimum meaningful content - never only the unknown marker
• A3 Internal coherence validates typed relationship triples (subject, relationship_type, object) against a base vocabulary, not natural-language text
• A4 Implementation examples removed from the contract body; the contract never names tools

GALF is owned by the Specification Owner and versions on the GAAD spec track, filed in Spec/. v0.005 is the first content version cut under stewardship (v0.004 was stewardship-only).

• Resolution Axis frozen: promoted from the s9 EXPERIMENTAL note to contract section 17 (Recommended); the axis orders knowledge resolution, not physical containment (the FWAL refinement).
• Two-axis vocabularies become mandatory stored values (5.2 amended, same rule as 3.4): knowledge_status = seed/exploring/prototype/mature; platform_status = unintegrated/partial/active/retired. Proof case: FWAL v0.001 stored not_active.
• platform_terms_referenced must be present even when empty (3.3 amended): an explicit none is a statement; absence is silence.
• Triple annotations codified (3.6 amended): optional fourth element (subject, type, object, note), informative only, never validated.
• Conformance-pass convention codified (new 11.1): steward pass, version bump, mandatory Changes-from section, original author credited; a language does not conform until a conformance pass says so.
• Contract-as-code (8 amended): validation layer 1 is executable - GALF conformance checks specified to run against every file in Languages/.
• Registry refreshed (s6): FWAL at v0.002, Resolution axis = Site Response; conforms_to versions recorded per language.

• axis name (the language's interpretation)
• ordered ladder (rungs must be Terminology terms)
• status (3.4 vocabulary)

OPEN (11 Jul 2026): whether a separate Confidence field is retained is undecided. evidence_status already encodes confidence; a Confidence field is admitted only if it captures something evidence_status cannot (e.g. numeric tolerance). Held pending seat decision.

• name
• value
• units
• evidence_status
• source
• date_verified
• verified_by
• notes

• metres (m) and square metres (m2) to 2 decimal places
• lengths below 1 cm in whole millimetres, not fractional metres
• verified precision finer than a whole millimetre rounds to whole mm
• ratios, counts and non-length values are not governed by this rule
• the unit is always stated with the value

• Chief Architect (Miles Walker)
• Specification Owner (Claude)
• Architecture Reviewer (ChatGPT)

v0.006 (11 Jul 2026): Honest Knowledge adopted. Added s18 Knowledge Status (Recommended) - seven-level evidence vocabulary, parameter provenance schema, and the dimensional standard (m/m2 2dp, sub-cm in whole mm). Confidence field held OPEN. The 7-level and MHAL 4-level vocabularies coexist by seat decision. Now 18 sections. Ratified by all three D140 seats. Site/Experience/Fidelity remain open candidates for a later version.

The GAAD Architectural Language Framework - the contract every Design Language implements

v0.007 (11 Jul 2026): clarity revision, no normative change. Explicit title 'The GALF Contract'; one-line definition added for each of the 18 sections (readability layer, not ratified prose); full revision history for today added. s18 and all section levels unchanged.

v0.008 (17 Jul 2026): two things, both of them holes that were found rather than invented. FIRST, the base relationship vocabulary. s6 has always said triples use 'base or declared relationship types' and amendment A3 ruled they validate against a base vocabulary, but no such vocabulary existed anywhere in the contract - so nothing could be validated, and 13 types drifted into use across five language files, including 'is one of', which is a sentence. Ten base types are now defined, extras may be declared per language, and has/holds/'is one of' are retired with their replacements named. SECOND, section addressing by code. Sections are now found by number, not by guessing at each file's key names, and every section is carried - content or unknown. Both were ruled by the Chief Architect on 17 Jul after MHAL v0.007 proved the shape. The languages are NOT yet migrated: MHAL alone is on the spine.