Template — Surface specification

Copy this file, fill every field, and attach it to the Registry entry before design or implementation begins. An unanswered field means the surface is not ready. See RUBRIC.md.

1. Identity

• Registry ID. SURF-__ (assign the next free ID; permanent)
• Route. /...
• Taxonomy. institutional | division | member | operator | verification | machine (Codex 0 §11.2)
• Owning division. exactly one DIV-__
• Status on ship. partial | built, with what remains named

2. The eight registry answers

1. 1What it is. One sentence.
2. 2Why it exists. Which of the eight institutional strengths it increases (Codex 0 §01.5).
3. 3Who uses it. User types and role scopes (Codex 0 §04.4, §08.3).
4. 4How it connects. Upstream and downstream registry IDs.
5. 5Governing Codex.
6. 6Owning division.
7. 7Data. Entities consumed → produced (Codex 0 Chapter 07), and the boundaries used (Chapter 10).
8. 8Future dependents. What is planned to be built on this.

3. The question and the action

• The one question this surface answers for the person.
• The single primary action, named as the outcome it produces (not "Submit").
• Secondary paths, and why each may not be primary.
• What a person can do here that they could not do before.

4. Progressive disclosure

State what is deliberately withheld on arrival and why.

5. Two audiences, one surface

• First-time path. What they see, what is explained, what is not yet demanded of them.
• Expert path. What they can reach immediately without being slowed by explanation.
• Terms introduced here, and where each is defined (glossary or in place). Budget: three.

6. Cognitive load budget

7. States

8. Data and permissions

• Reads. entities and boundaries.
• Writes. entities, and the audit records emitted (Codex 0 §17).
• Authorisation. the role and scope required, enforced server-side; state explicitly that no visibility depends on UI concealment.
• Never visible here. the "never sees" clauses of every type that can reach this surface (§04.4).

9. Metadata

• Title (< 60 chars, unique):
• Description (< 160 chars):
• og:title / og:description:
• og:image / twitter:image (absolute https URL, only if the surface renders a meaningful cover):

10. Register

• Primitives and components reused:
• Semantic tokens used; confirmation that no colour value is hardcoded:
• Anything new introduced, and why an existing primitive would not serve:

11. Tests

• Six Questions (Codex 1 Art. III) — one line each.
• Institutional Test — the strength it increases.
• Seven-axis evaluation (Codex 8) if the surface carries cost or revenue.
• Institutional Critic (Codex 10) if the surface is major.

12. Rubric self-score

Did this make the person's life better? One paragraph, honest.

13. Open questions

What is genuinely undecided about this surface, and who closes it.