Esoteric Webb

Version	V4
Tests	166
Rust files	32 (~8.5k LOC)
Experiments	5 (exp001–exp005)
MSRV	1.87 (edition 2024)
License	AGPL-3.0 + ORC + CC-BY-SA 4.0
Unsafe	#![forbid(unsafe_code)]
C deps	Zero (ecoBin compliant)
Bridge methods	23 (all domains, all degrading)
Primals consumed	8 domains (ai, game, viz, dag, lineage, compute, storage, provenance)
Last validation	2026-03-24 (V4)

A sporeGarden project — the primals as a composed CRPG.

Esoteric Webb is not a spring. It is a standalone cross-evolution substrate that composes deployed primals (genomeBins/ecoBins from plasmidBin/) into a creator/player game system via BYOB composition. Its dual purpose:

1. Build a real game — a Disco Elysium-inspired CRPG with DAG-traced narrative, deep NPCs, emergent ability interactions, and meaningful bounded endings.
2. Find every gap — in rendering, AI, science, provenance, discovery, compute, and composition. Gaps feed back as evolution pressure on the primals that need to grow.

Tool vs Science

Webb is a working tool, informed by science, anchored in primal capabilities. Springs are not primals — springs PRODUCE primals. Webb consumes primals like primalSpring does, via JSON-RPC IPC and capability-based discovery from ecoPrimals/plasmidBin/. This makes Webb leaner than the springs it draws science from.

Springs (science + experiments)  →  produce  →  primals (genomeBin/ecoBin)
                                                       ↓
                                               plasmidBin/ (deployment)
                                                       ↓
                                          Webb discovers + composes via IPC

Architecture

Esoteric Webb sits atop the primal stack as a narrative direction engine. It consumes primals via JSON-RPC IPC — zero Rust crate dependencies on any spring. Primals are resolved from plasmidBin/ or discovered via Songbird at runtime.

Domain	Primal	Role	Wired in act()	IPC methods
game	ludoSpring	Flow, DDA, engagement, NPC dialogue, narration, voice	Yes (V4)	game.evaluate_flow, game.npc_dialogue, game.narrate_action, game.voice_check, game.push_scene, game.begin_session, game.complete_session
ai	Squirrel	Narration fallback, summarization	Yes (V4)	ai.chat, ai.summarize
visualization	petalTongue	Scene rendering, input polling	Yes (V4)	visualization.render.scene, interaction.poll
dag	rhizoCrypt	Provenance DAG lifecycle	Yes (V4)	dag.session.create, dag.event.append, dag.session.complete, dag.frontier.get, dag.merkle.root, dag.query.vertices
lineage	loamSpine	NPC personality certs	Bridge ready	certificate.mint
compute	toadStool	GPU compute dispatch	Bridge ready	compute.dispatch.submit
storage	nestGate	Key-value persistence	Bridge ready	storage.store, storage.retrieve
provenance	sweetGrass	Creative attribution	Bridge ready	attribution.record

The Core Thesis: Bounded Space, Infinite Exploration

Traditional CRPGs have branching narratives where NPCs can only say so many things and player input variety is masked. Esoteric Webb inverts this:

• The narrative topology (DAG structure) is finite and authored
• The traversal state (knowledge, trust, conditions, inventory, arc phases) is combinatorially vast
• Abilities interact with state in ways authors cannot predict, creating emergent paths through authored structure
• Bounded endings carry more meaning because they reflect genuine paths through a rich state space

Quick start

# Build
cargo build --workspace

# Validate content
cargo run --bin esotericwebb -- validate --content content/

# Preview (text mode, no primals required)
cargo run --bin esotericwebb -- preview --content content/

# Full BYOB niche (requires primal stack from plasmidBin/)
cargo run --bin esotericwebb -- serve --content content/

For Creatives

Esoteric Webb is a dual-surface system: developers work in Rust, creatives work in YAML. No Rust, no engine license, no publisher required.

• esotericwebb validate — lint your content for broken refs and dead ends
• esotericwebb preview — play through in text mode, iterate immediately
• esotericwebb graph — visualize your narrative DAG as DOT/SVG
• esotericwebb new-world — scaffold a blank world with template YAML

See specs/CREATOR_PROFILES_AND_SYSTEM_DESIGN.md for how the system maps to the creative DNA of teams like ZA/UM (Disco Elysium) and Cliche Studio (Esoteric Ebb), and specs/CONTENT_AUTHORING_SPEC.md for the YAML format.

Project structure

webb/              Main Rust crate (narrative engine + IPC + director + bridge)
  src/bin/         CLI binary (serve, validate, preview, graph, new-world)
  src/ipc/         JSON-RPC client, bridge, discovery, launcher, resilience
  src/narrative/   Graph, validator, predicate, effect, visualization
  src/director/    Game director (outcome evaluation, DDA integration)
  src/content/     YAML content loader, ability/NPC/scene models
  src/state/       World state (knowledge, trust, inventory, flags, conditions)
content/           YAML game content (authored by creative teams)
experiments/       5 standalone validation crates (exp001–exp005)
graphs/            biomeOS deploy graphs (20+ TOML fragments)
niches/            BYOB niche definitions
deploy/            Composition fragment for biomeOS/primalSpring
specs/             Design specifications (4 documents)
wateringHole/      Handoffs to primal and spring teams
config/            Launch profiles for primal composition

gen4 — The First Consumer

Esoteric Webb is the first gen4 entity in the ecoPrimals ecosystem (see ecoPrimals/whitePaper/gen4/). Where gen3 proved the infrastructure computes correct science across 7 springs, gen4 asks: can people who didn't build the primals compose them into tools they care about? Webb answers yes — the primals become invisible infrastructure inside a creative product.

Quality gates

make check    # fmt + clippy + test + doc
make deny     # supply chain audit

License

ScyBorg triple license:

• AGPL-3.0-or-later — code (see LICENSE)
• Open RPG Creative (ORC) — game mechanics (see LICENSE-ORC)
• CC BY-SA 4.0 — documentation and creative content (see LICENSE-CC-BY-SA)