devpage 0.2.3

Live documents from a repository: sites, docs and slides from Markdown, and UI designs drawn from code — with comments, link checking and PDF
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# The system catalog

Every part of devpage is explained here once, in the folder of the subject that
owns it. Start from the [vision](../vision.md) for where this is going; come
here for how the system works.

The boxes are listed under [Topics](#topics) below: the viewer, which is the
program; engineering, which is how the program is changed; and the showcase
deck, devpage presenting itself.

```mermaid
flowchart LR
  catalog["System catalog"] --> viewer["Viewer<br/>the devpage program"]
  catalog --> engineering["Engineering<br/>how changes reach main"]
  catalog --> showcase["Showcase deck<br/>devpage's pitch"]
  catalog --> constraints["General constraints<br/>checked on every review"]
  click viewer href "./viewer/README.md" "Viewer"
  click engineering href "./engineering/README.md" "Engineering"
  click showcase href "./showcase/README.md" "The showcase deck"
  click constraints href "../constraints/README.md" "General constraints"
```

## How to read the catalog

Every subject has one home: a folder under `boxes/` whose README is its
entrance. Folders are the hierarchy, and nesting means containment — a part
that merely uses another does not contain it, so follow links to reach the
owner. One box looks like this:

<FileTree>

- viewer/
  - README.md — the entrance: what the subject is, a picture of its parts, and its Topics
  - glossary/README.md — the words it owns, one anchor per term
  - constraints/
    - the-served-folder-is-the-boundary.md — one rule per file: the rule, why, how it is checked
  - writing-a-document/README.md — a concept or task article
  - serving-pages/README.md — a mechanism page

</FileTree>

A README's Topics section leads down layer by layer — essentials that teach the
mental model, concept and task articles organized around what a reader wants to
do, mechanism pages that explain one part fully, and reference. A broad box
summarizes its parts and links to focused child designs; a focused box can
explain its behavior fully. Code belonging to a child remains bound by its own
and its ancestors' constraints. Each subject's words are in its glossary — the
[viewer's](viewer/glossary/README.md) for documents and pages,
[engineering's](engineering/README.md#glossary) for the development flow.

The docs on `main` describe the system as it is; a design that isn't built yet
lives on a design branch until the code catches up. A box appears when its area
is designed. Exact contracts stay beside their definitions in code; box docs
explain them and link to them. A change updates the explanations, contracts,
examples and incoming links it affects; a design decision lives in its owning
focused design, linked from the box entrance, and the reason for changing it
belongs in the commit message, not an ADR.

## Constraints

Rules that belong to no single subject are the
[general constraints](../constraints/README.md), checked on every review. Every
other constraint lives with the subject it governs, one file per rule listed
one line each in that subject's Topics, and applies to its descendants.

## Topics

- [Viewer](viewer/README.md) — the `devpage` program: serves a document and
  keeps open pages live.
- [Engineering](engineering/README.md) — how changes reach main and how the
  system documents itself.
- [The showcase deck](showcase/README.md) — devpage's own presentation: what
  each slide proves, and the rules that keep it current.