Principles

These principles are constraints. When in doubt, follow them.

Architecture

• UI is composed of independent Web Components.
• Components communicate using CustomEvents only.
• Components do not call methods on other components.
• State flows through events, not direct imports or global singletons.
• The app shell is the coordinator, not a mega-controller.

Interaction

• Hover is a preview, never commits.
• Click commits navigation.
• Every view reflects hover/selection instantly.
• Back/forward and shareable URLs are first-class.

Data

• Multiple webs are supported from day one.
• Export/import must be simple and portable.
• External enrichment is optional and pluggable, not required.

Incremental delivery

• Build by vertical slices, not by “complete modules”.
• Every slice must be demoable in the browser.
• Every slice must update specs when it introduces new contracts.

Style

• Vanilla JS and ESM.
• Standard JS coding style.
• Prefer readability and small modules over clever abstractions.

Ethics and bias

• Make the “box” visible. Every web is partial and biased.
• Avoid presenting unknown/low-confidence data as fact.