# The paperspec specification

This specification states exactly what each paperspec file holds and how every value in it is computed.
The schemas, SQL, JSON-LD context, registries, vectors and fixtures are normative too, and each chapter says which of them it relies on.
A chapter and a vector that disagree signal a bug, so please report it in the repository, <https://git.scient.ing/infra/paperspec>.

Two readers will get the most from it: implementers who build a reader, writer, converter or checker, and experts who want the precise rules.
Newcomers should start with the [guides](../docs/README.md), which explain what the formats are for.
This text assumes you know why and tells you how.

## Reading paths

Find the row for the job you are doing and read its chapters after those in the first row.
Chapter numbers are those in the table below.

| If you are writing | Read |
| --- | --- |
| Anything at all | 0, 1, 3, 4 and 5: introduction, conventions, nodes, identity and the content values. |
| A reader of packages | Then 2, 6, 7 and 12: the model, anchors, geometry and the package. |
| A converter | Then 9, 10 and 11: figures and tables, references, and corrections with the gate. |
| A store or a server | Then 8, 13, 14 and 23: receipts, the database form, rights, and the transparency log. |
| A writer or reader of annotation, teaching or data files | Then 15 to 21. |
| A validator | Chapter 22, with [registry/rules.json](../registry/rules.json). |

## Chapters

| Chapter | Subject |
| --- | --- |
| [0. Introduction](00-introduction.md) | Scope, conformance, versions and status, and how the repository is arranged |
| [1. Shared conventions](01-conventions.md) | Canonical JSON, numbers, hashes, normalization, offsets, times, determinism, IDs, keys, files and prose |
| [2. Works, versions, witnesses and documents](02-model.md) | The four objects; `document.json` and `witnesses.json` |
| [3. Nodes](03-nodes.md) | Nodes, their kinds and children, content, attributes, inline runs and the plain projection |
| [4. Identity](04-identity.md) | Minting IDs, permanence, retirement, aliases, `ids.jsonl`, store-qualified names and record IDs |
| [5. Content values](05-hashes.md) | The five content values, the projections, alignment, suspects, keyed hashes and the metadata hash |
| [6. Addresses and anchors](06-anchors.md) | Addresses, anchors and the five resolutions, with drift |
| [7. Geometry](07-geometry.md) | Page fingerprints, stamp rules, `pages.jsonl` and `locations.jsonl` |
| [8. Fidelity, receipts and spot-checks](08-fidelity.md) | Fidelity levels, receipts, signatures, Merkle roots, the roster, revocations, spot-checks and error bounds |
| [9. Figures, tables and equations](09-figures-tables-equations.md) | Figures, panels, tables, cells and equations |
| [10. References and citations](10-references.md) | Reference nodes, `references.jsonl` and its resolutions, and sentence-level citations |
| [11. Corrections](11-corrections.md) | Corrections and the gate |
| [12. The package](12-package.md) | The files of a package, paths, manifest, provenance, text policies and assets |
| [13. The database form and the bundle](13-database.md) | The database form and the SQLite bundle |
| [14. Rights](14-rights.md) | Rights records, policies, stages and backends |
| [15. Datasets](15-datasets.md) | Frictionless Data Packages with units, uncertainty and origin; `anchors.jsonl`; content hash |
| [16. Digitization records](16-digitization.md) | How values were read off a figure panel: target, axes, series, method, verification and confirmation |
| [17. Views](17-views.md) | Vega-Lite specifications that pin their data, and optional computations |
| [18. Layers and annotations](18-layers.md) | Layers and annotations |
| [19. Exercises, submissions and grades](19-exercises.md) | Exercises, submissions and grades |
| [20. Projects](20-projects.md) | Members and roles, documents, reading paths, held layers, datasets, views and drafts, and settings |
| [21. Drafts](21-drafts.md) | Drafts: snapshots and sentence-ID sidecars |
| [22. Conformance](22-conformance.md) | Conformance, the suite and the rule catalog |
| [23. The transparency log](23-log.md) | A team's log of receipts, revocations and rosters, its checkpoints, and what it settles |