A block document described in words: an outline of its blocks joined by the ways control passes between them, and one line of English per block and per edge (ADR-0016).
iex> alias StatifierBlocks.{Block, Describe, Document, Palette}
iex> root =
...> Block.new("core.sequence",
...> id: "root",
...> slots: %{
...> "body" => [
...> Block.new("core.wait", id: "wait", config: %{"duration" => "14d"}),
...> Block.new("core.send", id: "send", config: %{"event" => "loan.overdue"})
...> ]
...> }
...> )
iex> root |> Document.new() |> Describe.outline(Palette.core(), []) |> Describe.render([])
[
"Run its steps in order",
"Wait 14d",
"Send loan.overdue",
"Run its steps in order starts with Wait 14d",
"After Wait 14d (done), Send loan.overdue",
"Send loan.overdue (done) ends Run its steps in order"
]Pure, and no model anywhere
outline/3 is a function of the document, the palette and its options,
and render/2 of the outline and its options. Neither compiles the
document, reads a clock or a random source, starts a process or sends a
message of its own, reaches a network or asks a language model, and
equal input answers byte-identical output. The one way either can reach
another process is not of its own making: a module is made sure of
(Code.ensure_loaded?/1) before it is asked - a palette's block-type
module by StatifierBlocks.Palette.declares?/3, the host's phrasing
module by render/2 - and a module not yet loaded is loaded by the
runtime's code server. The only code either runs that this package does
not own is the palette's block-type callbacks, the host's phrasing
module and, because outline/3 builds the document's view model with
StatifierBlocks.ViewModel.build/3, every
StatifierBlocks.DocumentValidator in the palette's validators list.
Each is held to be a pure function of its arguments by its own contract
(StatifierBlocks.BlockType, StatifierBlocks.Describe.Phrasing,
StatifierBlocks.DocumentValidator), and by contract only: nothing here
enforces it, so a host callback that reads a clock or sends a message
does so inside outline/3 or render/2. A validator's findings take no
part in the outline: a document describes the same with or without its
palette's validators.
Nodes
One StatifierBlocks.Describe.Node per block, every block exactly once,
in StatifierBlocks.ViewModel.outline/1's order. A block whose type the
palette cannot resolve is described as its placeholder rather than
refused.
Edges, from the document's structure
The edges are the block-level flow graph of the package's note
docs/block-level-flow-graph.md, read from the document's tree and the
block types' declarations; nothing is compiled. Edges are found inside a
resolved block of exactly the four types the note works through:
core.sequence: an:entryedge from its entry to its first child, a:sequenceedge from each child to the next, and an:exitedge from the last child to its exit. An empty body is one:entryedge from its entry straight to its exit.core.group,core.resumable_group: the same three over thebodyslot, then one:interruptedge per handler in theinterruptsslot whoseoutcomeisabandon(to the group's exit) orresume(to the group's body, carrying a resumable group'shistory).core.branch: per arm, in slot order, a:branchedge from the branch's entry to the arm's first child - or to the branch's exit for an empty arm - followed by that arm's:sequenceedges and the:exitedge from its last child to the branch's exit, where the arms converge.otherwisealways has its edge;undecidedhas one only when it holds a block.
A type is recognised here by the module the palette resolves the
block's type name to - StatifierBlocks.Core.Sequence,
StatifierBlocks.Core.Group, StatifierBlocks.Core.ResumableGroup or
StatifierBlocks.Core.Branch - not by the name itself; under
StatifierBlocks.Palette.core/0 the two agree. A palette that registers
a host's own module under core.sequence gets that block described by
containment only, and one that registers StatifierBlocks.Core.Sequence
under a name of the host's own gets a sequence's edges. The timer edge
below recognises its sends, rules and awaits the same way.
A child here is one StatifierBlocks.ViewModel.flow_children/1 answers
for the slot: a drafts shelf is a node and takes part in no edge.
A :sequence or :exit edge carries every outcome name the source
block's type declares, on the one edge. They are the declared outcomes,
not a compile's finals: core.await declares received and timed_out
whatever its config, so both ride its edge even with no timeout set.
Every other type - core.parallel, core.foreach, core.map,
core.subchart, core.invoke, a composite, a host type - is described
by containment and its node's fan_label alone, and draws no edge among
its children; a block of one still takes part in its parent's edges.
The timer edge, the one edge an event name draws
An event name shared by a send and a handler is not an edge, with one
named exception (ADR-0016's amendment of 2026-09-27, ADR-0017 decision
3): a delayed core.send, one whose delay is a duration
StatifierBlocks.Core.Duration.duration?/1 accepts, draws one :timer
edge to every core.on_event and core.await anywhere in the document
whose event is the send's event, the same string. The edge runs from
the send to the rule or await, its container is the send's parent, and
it carries the event and the delay as the send's config holds it. Only
blocks the palette resolved take part, and a block inside a drafts shelf
takes part in none. An undelayed send draws none. It is read from config,
never compiled, and it is not a transition: it says that the send arms an
event the other block waits for.
Timer edges follow every other edge, in the outline's order of their sends and, for one send, of their targets. A document with no delayed send describes exactly as it would without them.
Lines
render/2 answers one line per node, then one per edge, in the
outline's orders; ADR-0016 decision 2 gives each default line's words,
and a timer edge's line is In <delay>, <event> reaches <target>, the
delay written in the words core.send's own sentence uses (24h reads
as 24 hours).
Every line is non-blank English with no newline, carriage return or tab,
and uncapped: a newline, carriage return or tab inside an author's text
is written as one space. A block's id never appears in a default line.
Summary
Functions
The outline of document under palette: its id and revision, one node
per block and the edges between them, as the moduledoc describes.
One line per node in the outline's node order, then one line per edge in its edge order.
Types
@type t() :: %StatifierBlocks.Describe{ edges: [StatifierBlocks.Describe.Edge.t()], id: StatifierBlocks.Document.id(), nodes: [StatifierBlocks.Describe.Node.t()], revision: non_neg_integer() }
Functions
@spec outline(StatifierBlocks.Document.t(), StatifierBlocks.Palette.t(), keyword()) :: t()
The outline of document under palette: its id and revision, one node
per block and the edges between them, as the moduledoc describes.
opts is a keyword list; no key is read, and an unknown one is ignored.
One line per node in the outline's node order, then one line per edge in its edge order.
Every line is first written in the package's own words. With
phrasing: module, a module implementing
StatifierBlocks.Describe.Phrasing, each line is then offered to the
module's callback for the node's or edge's kind, where it declares one;
a usable answer replaces the line, and :default or a refused answer
keeps it (Phrasing gives the refusal set). Without the option every
line is the default.
The option's value is a module atom, and phrasing: nil is the same as
leaving it out. An atom that names no loadable module answers the
default lines; a value that is not an atom is outside this contract and
raises.