# V8 Documentation Guide This guide is the curated front door to V8, **Ariadne: The Self-Authoring Detective Universe**. V8 connects the authored investigation world of V5 to the generative and agentic platform, but keeps one non-negotiable thesis: an LLM may propose the experienced surface; symbolic constraints and independent gates must prove the mystery fair and uniquely solvable before a player receives it. V8 is an integration and generation-completion version. Its originating design documents describe the target; the derived backlog, actual symbolic core, compiler/runtime bridges, generated artifacts, tests, preregistered quality evidence, deployments, and release decisions establish completion. ## Documentation map ```mermaid mindmap root((V8 documentation)) Player promise Endless fair solvable cases Living interrogatable suspects Realized prose media and voice Continuity and open-world direction Solve-first pipeline Clew case proposal Minos constraint proof Palimpsest canon graph Anansesem and Loom realization Delivery Ori suspects Daedalus compiler and V5 bridge Theseus evaluation Oracle direction Truth Eight release-decision gates Gap and SOTA analysis Backlog dependencies and decisions Replay provenance and human evidence ``` ## Start with the question | Question | Canonical starting point | What it covers | | ---------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | What does the player receive? | [V8 overview](../README.md), [feature hub](../V8_features.md), and [feature index](../features/README.md) | Player experience, generated-case boundaries, living suspects, delivery, operations, and non-goals. | | How is a case proven solvable? | [Case/proof feature](../features/case-generation-proof-and-canon.md), [symbolic-core architecture](../architecture/clew-minos-palimpsest-symbolic-core.md), and [canonical contracts](../architecture/canonical-data-contracts.md) | Constraint proposal, uniqueness/completeness proof, fair-play constraints, canon, and typed verdicts. | | How does a verified skeleton become a playable case? | [Realization feature](../features/realization-and-living-suspects.md), [surface realization](../architecture/anansesem-loom-and-ori-suspects.md), and [compiler/eval](../architecture/daedalus-compiler-and-theseus-eval.md) | Prose/assets/voice, living suspects, compilation, V5 bridge, playtesting, and regeneration. | | What directs delivery and operations? | [Delivery/operations feature](../features/delivery-direction-and-operations.md), [cross-cutting feature](../features/cross-cutting-pipeline-and-localization.md), and [Oracle/deployment](../architecture/oracle-director-cross-cutting-and-deployment.md) | Direction, orchestration, gates, determinism, cost, localization, observability, rollout, and rollback. | | What is real versus missing? | [Gap analysis](../V8_GAP_ANALYSIS.md), [product review](../V8_PRODUCT_REVIEW_2026-07-07.md), current code/tests/artifacts, and [backlog](../V8_TODOS.md) | File-level reuse/new work and conservative completion state. | | Which research and decisions govern the system? | [SOTA research](../V8_SOTA_RESEARCH.md), [orchestration decisions](../V8_ORCHESTRATION_DECISIONS.md), and [dependencies](../V8_DEPENDENCIES.md) | External grounding, authoritative decisions, reused systems, new components, and providers. | | Which gate vocabulary is canonical? | [Architecture hub](../V8_ARCHITECTURE.md) and [Oracle/deployment](../architecture/oracle-director-cross-cutting-and-deployment.md) | The eight `ReleaseDecision` gates and the separate seven-gate platform content harness. | | Where are the visuals? | [V8 diagram atlas](./diagram-atlas.md) and the global diagram gallery | Curated case, proof, data, lifecycle, ownership, generation, and release models. | ## Case truth model ```mermaid stateDiagram-v2 [*] --> Proposed Proposed --> ConstraintValid: schema and world constraints pass ConstraintValid --> UniquelySolved: Minos proves one intended solution UniquelySolved --> FairPlayVerified: clue completeness and fair-play pass FairPlayVerified --> Realized: prose assets voice and suspects generated Realized --> Compiled: Daedalus emits versioned V5 case bundle Compiled --> Evaluated: Theseus and independent release evidence pass Evaluated --> Released: Oracle admits an eligible cohort Proposed --> Rejected: invalid contradictory or unsatisfiable Realized --> Regenerate: surface quality safety or canon failure Regenerate --> Realized Evaluated --> Withheld: required human-aligned or operational evidence absent Released --> Retracted: regression rights safety or canon conflict ``` Do not collapse proof, heuristic evaluation, independent human-aligned evidence, compilation, or live delivery. A generated solution is not a proof; solver SAT is not unique solvability; a fair skeleton is not a good experienced case; a Theseus diagnostic is not G5 evidence; a compiled fixture is not a released case; and a successful generation cannot bypass canon, safety, rights, cost, or rollback requirements. ## Recommended reading journey ```mermaid journey title From V8 case idea to released mystery section Propose Resolve world canon cast motive and constraints: 5: Clew, Palimpsest Emit typed replayable skeleton: 5: Engineering section Prove Prove uniqueness completeness and fair play: 5: Minos, QA Reject contradiction ambiguity or missing inference: 5: QA section Realize Generate prose media voice and suspect behavior: 4: Anansesem, Loom, Ori Compile and test the complete player path: 5: Daedalus, Theseus section Release Satisfy independent gates and stage cohort: 5: Governance, Release Observe retract roll back and update evidence: 5: Oracle, SRE ``` ### Product, narrative, and puzzle design Start with the [feature index](../features/README.md). Separate immutable ground truth and deduction structure from regenerable prose/media/performance. Define what the player can observe, infer, challenge, and recover from; document how the system handles ambiguity, contradiction, canon conflict, generation delay, and unavailable modalities. ### Symbolic, agent, and integration engineering Start with the [architecture index](../architecture/README.md). Trace typed case contracts through Clew, Minos, Palimpsest, Anansesem, Loom, Ori, Daedalus, Theseus, Oracle, and the V5 runtime bridge. Preserve seeds, versions, solver/proof artifacts, source/provenance, prompt/model/tool envelopes, and gate receipts so every release decision can be replayed and audited. ### QA, governance, and operations Exercise unsatisfiable, multiply solvable, trivial, contradictory, misleading, unsafe, canon-breaking, rights-blocked, over-budget, localized, inaccessible, provider-failed, compiler-incompatible, and retracted cases. Validate both the symbolic skeleton and the full player experience. Current preregistered human quality evidence and production rollout posture—not a model judge alone—decide release readiness. ## Page-set organization - [Feature index](../features/README.md) — five consolidated topics covering promise, proof/canon, realization/suspects, delivery/operations, and cross-cutting pipeline/localization. - [Architecture index](../architecture/README.md) — six focused topics covering pipeline thesis, contracts, symbolic core, realization, compiler/eval, and Oracle/deployment. - [V8 diagram atlas](./diagram-atlas.md) — generation, proof, typed data, lifecycle, component ownership, player journey, and release. - Root analysis/research/decision/dependency/backlog/review documents — why, evidence, binding decisions, delivery truth, and remaining work. ## Documentation quality contract Every canonical page stays substantial, indexed exactly once, visually explicit, and precise about proof versus generation, immutable versus regenerable data, gate identities, evidence independence, versioning, provenance, and release state. Changes update contracts, solvers/compilers, tests/evals, backlog/decisions/evidence, and rollback procedures together. Generated integrity, freshness, search, gallery, and desktop/mobile checks pass.