# OpenProse

> OpenProse is a programming language for standing AI jobs, declared as
> durable Markdown contracts (`*.prose.md` files). You declare what should
> stay true; the system works out how much model work it takes to keep it
> true. The language ships as an agent skill and runs on any compliant agent
> host, such as Claude Code, Codex, or OpenCode. A deterministic harness runs
> the contracts: cost scales with surprise, not the clock.

Important notes:

- Contract kinds are `responsibility`, `function`, `gateway`, `pattern`, and
  `test`. A responsibility declares `### Goal`, `### Requires`,
  `### Maintains`, and `### Continuity`; a function declares
  `### Parameters` and `### Returns`.
- The harness reconciler is deterministic: it compares fingerprints and skips
  the render when nothing material moved. No model call decides a wake or a
  commit, and every render leaves a content-addressed receipt.
- Current release: skill 0.15.0, runtime contract 2. The
  GitHub links below are pinned to that release's commit. Earlier releases
  used vocabulary that is now retired: `service`, `system`, and
  `### Ensures` (now `### Maintains`).
- No benchmarks are published. The cost property (an unmoved fingerprint
  skips the render at zero token cost) is a tested invariant, not a measured
  speedup.

## Agent Onboarding

- [Arrival narrative (markdown)](https://prose.md/agent-onboarding.md): one-screen onboarding covering what OpenProse is, the install command, and what happens when the skill activates. Start here.
- [SKILL.md](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/skills/open-prose/SKILL.md): the skill entrypoint loaded on activation.

## Language Reference

- [Contract Markdown](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/skills/open-prose/contract-markdown.md): the `*.prose.md` source format: frontmatter, the five kinds, and the load-bearing sections.
- [Prose VM](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/skills/open-prose/prose.md): execution reference for embodied `prose run` sessions.
- [ProseScript](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/skills/open-prose/prosescript.md): the imperative layer for `### Execution` blocks and pattern delegation.
- [Forme](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/skills/open-prose/forme.md): compile-phase wiring that matches `### Requires` facets to `### Maintains` facets across nodes and emits the topology DAG.
- [Responsibility Runtime](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/skills/open-prose/responsibility-runtime.md): the standing-goal doctrine: responsibilities, the reconciler, compile and serve.
- [Design tenets](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/skills/open-prose/guidance/tenets.md): the principles the language is optimized for, in precedence order.

## Specification

- [Language spec](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/spec/01-Language.md): the normative spec for kinds, sections, facets, fingerprints, and receipts.
- [Harness spec](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/spec/02-ReactorHarness.md): the run-phase contract: reconciler, world-model store, and the receipt ledger.

## Deterministic harness

- [Harness README](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openprose/prose/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/packages/reactor/README.md): the deterministic harness that runs OpenProse contracts. Ships as `@openprose/reactor` (SDK) and `@openprose/reactor-cli` (the `reactor` binary).

## Talk to us

- Email [support@agents.openprose.ai](mailto:support@agents.openprose.ai): automated, docs-grounded replies to OpenProse questions. Or from any agent CLI: `npx skills add primitivedotdev/chat`, then `primitive chat support@agents.openprose.ai "<question>"`.

## Optional

- [Examples](https://github.com/openprose/prose/tree/1542e62410fec9b0f1d937dec7e1d378ec61247b/skills/open-prose/examples): annotated `*.prose.md` sources.
- [Docs](https://docs.prose.md/start/what-is-openprose): the human-facing docs entrypoint.
- [Docs agent corpus](https://docs.prose.md/llms.txt): the docs site's own llms.txt.