What it is for
The practical uses, each with a real document behind it that you can open here. A use case without an artefact is a wish.
Strongest artefact first, not most impressive-sounding use. The configuration row is weaker than the specification row and is placed below it for that reason.
| use | why this rather than what you use now | the artefact |
|---|---|---|
| specifications | the spec generates its own conformance vectors, so it cannot describe what it does not pin | spec/unimsg-v0.umsg raw |
| protocol-documentation | byte layouts as values, not as sentences an implementer interprets | examples/postgresql-protocol.umsg raw |
| configuration | comments, exact decimals, no value-dependent coercion, one canonical form | profiles/v0.umsg raw |
| linguistic-data | combining marks and non-Latin scripts are kernel-level, not an encoding note | examples/morphology.umsg raw |
| scientific-parameters | exact decimals and precision-preserving timestamps; 19.99 stays 19.99 | examples/solar-system.umsg raw |
| dense-numeric-data | homogeneous arrays store each element at its actual width, with shape and missing positions explicit | examples/typed-arrays.umsg raw |
| vector-artwork | a path is opcodes and a typed array of coordinates on a declared grid: exact, and smaller than the SVG it came from | examples/graphic-crescent-and-star.umsg raw |
| three-dimensional-scenes | one frame graph, a declared precision, and a resolved transcript two implementations must agree on exactly | examples/spatial-arm.umsg raw |
| version-control-snapshots | every git object parsed, and every parse checked against the hash git stores it under | examples/repository-scratch.umsg raw |
| structural-change | a diff that can be applied, inverted and refused, carrying what it displaced and a digest of the result | examples/patch-tenancy-clause.umsg raw |
| domain-rules-with-authority | a value carries the authority it belongs to, beside the others, in one document | examples/prayer-times.umsg raw |
| application-design | a document a port can be built from, with the reasoning attached | examples/sijil.umsg raw |
| readmes-and-docs | a README is data; the facts it shares with a spec become the same facts | implementations/README.umsg raw |
| agent-facing-context | one document at a known path, structured, with vectors an agent can check itself against | docs/14-agentic-consumption.md |
| content-addressed-archives | definitions are immutable and hashed, so a patch adds rather than mutates | descriptors/root.cbor |
| A document of your own | a document from your own machine, displayed the same way — read in your browser and never sent anywhere |
The claims, and what backs each one
Six claims. Each links to the document that demonstrates it, because a claim on a website with nothing behind it is a slogan.
one object two forms
text encodes to bytes and back, byte-identical, always
the banner's encode transition and the playground
extensions that degrade
an unknown extension survives a round-trip instead of being dropped
the spec's extension rules
nothing runs at parse time
no format that executed while parsing has escaped being a vulnerability
rules not outputs
store the generator and the residuals, and a correction propagates
examples/morphology.umsg raw, examples/solar-system.umsg raw
the document can generate the project
facts live once, as data, and their appearances are derived