the folder
what each directory holds, and why the split is where it is.
| where | what belongs there |
|---|---|
AGENTS.md |
the working agreement and the reading order |
conventions.md |
definitions, notation, standing assumptions |
goals/ |
the current questions, concise and editable |
journal.md |
chronological reasoning, and changes of direction |
notes/ |
arguments, examples, computations, informative dead ends |
canonical/ |
the claims currently load-bearing, and their support |
review/ |
exact review units, reports, responses, outcome records |
proposals/ |
optional proposal, clarity, panel and response forms |
method/ |
how the room operates |
.codex/ |
local Codex configuration and adapted base instructions |
why the split is where it is
the three that are easiest to collapse into each other are goals/,
journal.md, and notes/ — and collapsing them is what makes a research
archive unusable.
a goal is a question as it stands now. it gets edited as the question sharpens; its history is not interesting.
the journal is the opposite: chronological and append-only in spirit. it is where a change of direction gets recorded as a change of direction, so that six months later the reason a line was abandoned is still there.
a note is reusable evidence — an argument, an example, a computation, a dead end worth not repeating. it is written to be read again out of context, which is what separates it from a journal entry.
canonical/ is narrower still: what is currently load-bearing, with its
support attached. a claim moves in when it is carrying weight and moves out
when it stops.
method/
eight files, read when their subject applies rather than on every turn.
culture.md and execution.md cover how work proceeds. reporting.md and
artifacts.md cover what gets written down and in what form. review.md is
the longest — the certification process. proposals.md covers when a proposal
panel is called for, and when it is not. resources.md carries the adjustable
bounded-experiment policy, which is what lets a cheap uncertain computation
start without ceremony. handoffs.md is optional.