Canon

Understanding the canon -- your converged dialog, the single source of truth.

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What is a canon?

A canon is the output of The Pantion Dialog – a verbatim converged conversation where all ambiguity has been resolved. Not a summary, not a spec – the dialogue itself is the source of truth. Everything else – code, specifications, prompts, creative briefs – is derived from it.

Unlike a chat transcript, a canon has a proven endpoint: the moment where further questions produce no new decisions.

Structure

A canon contains:

  • The verbatim dialogue – every question and answer, exactly as spoken
  • HARD and FLEX classifications – every decision marked as invariant or default
  • Convergence stamp – metadata block with status, date, open questions, constraints, and inference policy
  • Human stamp – explicit approval by the person who owns the intent (PENDING, APPROVED, or REJECTED)
  • Authority budget – what the system may do, what it must never do (rights + consumption)
  • Traceability markers – canon anchors (H1, A3) linking dialog turns to derived files

A canon without an approved human stamp may not be translated or built.

Canon statuses

A canon moves through a lifecycle:

graph LR A["DRAFT"] -->|converge| B["CONVERGED"] B -->|approve| C["APPROVED"] C -->|amend| D["AMENDED"] D -->|re-approve| C C -->|redialog| E["RECONVERGED"] E -->|re-approve| C
  • DRAFT – open questions remain; can be resumed later
  • CONVERGED – all questions resolved, stamp set, ready for human approval
  • CONVERGED (DIALOG) – fast convergence with conservative assumptions marked with :zap:
  • CONVERGED (REVERSE) – intent extracted from existing code or artifacts
  • AMENDED – converged canon modified through an amendment dialog
  • RECONVERGED – re-evaluated by a newer model that identified and resolved gaps

HARD vs FLEX

Every decision in a canon is classified:

  • HARD – This is a core constraint. It never changes unless explicitly amended. Example: “The system must never delete user data without confirmation.”

  • FLEX – This is a safe default that can evolve. Example: “Default pagination is 25 items per page.”

Amendments

Canons are append-only. When something needs to change:

  1. A short amendment dialog is conducted about the change
  2. An amendment block is appended with a Was/Becomes table
  3. The original history is preserved completely
  4. No decision is silently lost

Traceability

Every generated file links back to the exact canon element it came from. This means:

  • You can trace any rule to the conversation that produced it
  • Changing the canon and regenerating produces predictable results
  • Nothing exists in the generated output without a source in the canon