Concepts

Status: stable. The concepts here describe the model Gestalt commits to. Implementation status of any specific operation is labeled per page.

These pages teach you how to think about Gestalt. The vocabulary in the glossary is the floor; the pages here build the ceiling.

If you read only one concept page, read the-membrane.md. It is the line every other concept arranges around.

Pages

• The membrane — the line between Koerper and Geist.
• Geist and Koerper — what each side is for.
• Atoms and capabilities — the unit of business reality.
• Authority packages — how published governance enters Gestalt.
• Realities — record vs projected, projection, promotion, discard.
• Effects — how an admitted atom changes future admissibility.
• Receipts and proofs — what every membrane crossing leaves behind.
• Pendulums and Verlag — the authority topology.
• Advisor lenses — how external professionals interact.

How these pages relate

Geist ←→ Koerper           the trinity (mesh comes later)
   |
   v
membrane                   the line, crossed by intent envelopes
   |
   v
atoms                      the unit; cite capabilities
   |
  cite
   v
capabilities               accountable definitions of acts
   |
  bundled in
   v
authority packages         signed, versioned, lifecycled
   |
  emit
   v
effects                    change future admissibility
   |
  produce
   v
receipts → proofs          what is verifiable about the crossing

Pendulums (sources of authority) and the Verlag (publisher of operational instruments) sit upstream of authority packages. Advisor lenses sit alongside, giving professionals scoped access. Realities (record vs projected) cross-cut everything: every atom lives in exactly one named reality.

Reading order suggestions

If you have a concrete integration in mind:

1. The membrane
2. Atoms and capabilities
3. Receipts and proofs
4. Effects

If you want the conceptual whole:

1. Geist and Koerper
2. The membrane
3. Atoms and capabilities
4. Realities
5. Effects
6. Pendulums and Verlag
7. Authority packages
8. Receipts and proofs
9. Advisor lenses