the specification

One envelope, four verbs, one graph.

The whole language, written down: the nine-key envelope and everything under it. Each chapter has its own page and its own digest, so you can cite the paragraph you mean instead of linking a document and hoping. Read at the pin, never retyped.

• 0018chapterseach citable
• 01174sectionsanchored
• 0271584wordsnormative

1. 00OverviewThe one-page vision.10 sections · 1770 words→
2. 01EnvelopeEvery Nika workflow starts with one header line, `nika: <id>`.10 sections · 7529 words→
3. 02The 4 verbsEvery task in a Nika workflow binds to **exactly one** of 4 verbs.6 sections · 4281 words→
4. 03The flow — four graphsA Nika workflow is a **Directed Acyclic Graph** of tasks.12 sections · 13832 words→
5. 04VariablesNika uses **one substitution syntax everywhere** · `${{ ...7 sections · 6795 words→
6. 05ErrorsNika has a **typed error model**.8 sections · 7174 words→
7. 06Stdlib contractThe stdlib is the set of **providers** · **extract modes** · and **builtins** that ship with v0.1 conformant engines.11 sections · 1271 words→
8. 07ConformanceAn engine MAY claim « v0.1-compliant » if it passes the conformance test suite at [`../conformance/tests/`](../conformance/).10 sections · 3676 words→
9. 08Out of scope for v0.1The 5 pillars are immutable forever.14 sections · 5896 words→
10. 09TypesNika has a **decidable type core**.10 sections · 3804 words→
11. 10AuthorityA workflow's authority is **declared in the file and judged before a token is spent** — three blocks, three questions, never conflated: [`permits:`](./01-envelope.md#permits--optional--the-declared-capability-boundary) says what the workflow **may touch** (capability) · the **unconditional laws** say in what **order and shape** it may act (this chapter) · [`secrets:` + `egress:`](./01-envelope.md#egress--optional--sanctioned-destinations-declassification) say where a sensitive value **may go** (flow).13 sections · 4214 words→
12. 11DecisionA typed, bounded, secured, traced workflow can still *decide* by fuzzy rules.12 sections · 1644 words→
13. 12GatewayNika is the semantic execution kernel that **connects** agentic standards without reinventing them: a skill, an agent profile, or a workflow from any ecosystem enters Nika, is understood, typed, secured, locked, executed and attested — without losing its semantics and **without gaining invisible authority**.8 sections · 1311 words→
14. 13OutcomesEvery task settles in exactly one of **four terminal classes** — that much has been law since the graph chapter.7 sections · 856 words→
15. 14CompositionA workflow can call another workflow — as a **typed, bounded, authority-contained** step, not as a shell-out.8 sections · 1296 words→
16. 15ProofEverything before this chapter made a workflow *checkable*.10 sections · 2985 words→
17. 16ProjectionsThe first fifteen chapters define what a workflow *is* and what a run *proves*.8 sections · 1279 words→
18. 17TraceEvery run leaves a journal · one NDJSON file, one event per line, each line chained to the last by hash.10 sections · 1971 words→

read at nika-spec@2b3d6ac3e · every chapter carries its own sha256 · the pack upstream