acdream/docs/README.md

# acdream documentation map

This page is the entry point for project documentation. It distinguishes
current sources of truth from implementation history so an old plan or issue
banner cannot silently override the current program state.

## Current snapshot — 2026-07-24

- **Milestone state:** M3, “Cast a spell,” landed 2026-07-21. M4, “Live in the
  world,” is active.
- **M4 gameplay program (paused while the authorized performance program
  executes):** the pre-M4 world-interaction completion program
  in
  [`plans/2026-07-23-world-interaction-completion.md`](plans/2026-07-23-world-interaction-completion.md).
  The eight-slice `GameWindow` decomposition and its connected visual matrix
  are complete.
- **Current active engineering program:** Slices A–D and Slice E0–E3 of
  [`plans/2026-07-24-modern-runtime-architecture.md`](plans/2026-07-24-modern-runtime-architecture.md)
  are complete. Production world-mesh streaming consumes the validated
  prepared package, typed residency is bounded/accounted, and streaming now
  has typed admission plus immediate old-generation quiescence and metered
  retirement cursors. E4 cursor-budgeted publication is next. Physical
  GPU/FPS gates wait for the physical console because the desktop is RDP. See
  the [Slice D residency report](research/2026-07-24-slice-d-unified-residency-report.md).
- **Completed gates:** R6 locomotion/collision/projectile/teleport/radar and
  the final two-client portal-out/materialization observer comparison (`#218`).
- **Separate visual verification:** the shared-alpha lifestone/particle result
  in `#225`; its connected resource-lifetime and performance routes pass.
- **Carried behavior debt:** `#153` (far teleport onto an unstreamed edge),
  `#116` (two narrowed slide-response cases), and divergence rows TS-50/TS-51.
- **Deferred engineering tracks:** render ECS/MP3 remains behind its explicit
  user decision gate; Linux/headless automation (Track LH) remains future work.
- **Divergence audit:** 178 active rows — IA 17, AD 37, AP 85, TS 34,
  and UN 5 — plus the retained retired TS-37 history note.
- **Latest automated baseline:** Release build succeeds; 8,148 tests pass and
  five are intentionally skipped. The capped, uncapped, and dense-Arwic
  physical prepared-asset routes all completed their portal/input/lifetime
  assertions and disconnected gracefully.

## Sources of truth

Read these in this order when deciding what to do next:

1. [`plans/2026-05-12-milestones.md`](plans/2026-05-12-milestones.md) — the
   active playable outcome, freeze boundaries, and visual gates.
2. [`plans/2026-04-11-roadmap.md`](plans/2026-04-11-roadmap.md) — strategic
   phase ledger: shipped, active, deferred, and future work.
3. [`ISSUES.md`](ISSUES.md) — tactical defects and small follow-ups. The status
   inside an issue is authoritative; physical order is not.
4. [`architecture/retail-divergence-register.md`](architecture/retail-divergence-register.md)
   — every known place runtime behavior can differ from retail.
5. [`architecture/acdream-architecture.md`](architecture/acdream-architecture.md)
   and [`architecture/code-structure.md`](architecture/code-structure.md) —
   ownership, dependency, update-thread, and extraction rules.
6. [`architecture/worldbuilder-inventory.md`](architecture/worldbuilder-inventory.md)
   — rendering/DAT code already owned in-tree versus mechanisms still ours to
   port.

If these disagree, milestones control the current outcome, the roadmap controls
work ordering, the issue status controls the individual defect, and the
architecture documents control implementation shape. Reconcile the stale
document in the same change; do not leave both claims standing.

## Research and implementation records

- [`research/named-retail/`](research/named-retail/) is the primary retail
  oracle: named pseudo-C, headers, symbols, and types from the Sept 2013 build.
- [`research/decompiled/`](research/decompiled/) is the older Ghidra fallback.
- [`research/`](research/) contains focused pseudocode, traces, fixtures, and
  gate reports. A dated research note records evidence; it does not become a
  new roadmap.
- [`superpowers/specs/`](superpowers/specs/) and
  [`superpowers/plans/`](superpowers/plans/) are per-slice design and execution
  records. Completed plans remain historical.
- [`audit/`](audit/) contains completion and conformance audits.

## Durable memory

- [`../claude-memory/MEMORY.md`](../claude-memory/MEMORY.md) indexes the live
  subsystem memories and the render/physics digests. Read a domain digest
  before changing that subsystem, especially its DO-NOT-RETRY table.
- [`../memory/`](../memory/) contains stable engineering references such as the
  modern rendering pipeline, two-tier streaming, and toolchain notes.

Memory accelerates recall; it does not outrank the canonical documents above.
When current truth changes, update the relevant canonical document and distill
only the durable lesson into memory.

## Historical and deprecated documents

- [`bugs.md`](bugs.md) is the April 2026 bug snapshot. It is preserved for
  archaeology and is not an active ledger.
- Dated plans and specs describe the decision at that time. Their completion
  wording is historical unless the current milestone/roadmap explicitly links
  the item as active.
- Old `R1→R8` architecture sequencing is superseded. Current execution comes
  from the milestones and strategic roadmap.

## Documentation maintenance rules

- Update milestone, roadmap, issue, divergence, architecture, and memory claims
  in the same commit when a shipped change affects them.
- Keep one issue ID per defect. Narrow an issue in place; do not reuse another
  issue's number as a shorthand.
- Mark automated, connected, and visual gates separately. An automated pass is
  not a visual acceptance, and an RDP throughput sample is not a local-display
  visual comparison.
- Preserve research history, but remove stale “current/next” claims from living
  documents once the state advances.