Continuum Prime

Systems evolve. Structure is a consequence. Structure emerges from tension.

Continuum is a deterministic, causality-first simulation engine. It models systems where behavior emerges from declared signals, operators, constraints, and coupling, compiled into a deterministic execution graph.

Core Principles

• Causality is Primary: Simulation behavior must arise from declared causes.
• Graph-First Execution: Logic is compiled to a deterministic execution DAG.
• Determinism is Mandatory: All ordering is explicit; randomness is derived.
• Signals are Authority: State is expressed as authoritative resolved values.
• Observer Boundary is Absolute: Observation (fields, chronicles) never influences causality.

Architecture

Continuum is built as a modular workspace of Rust crates:

Core Kernels

• continuum-foundation: Core stable identifiers, hashing, and primitives.
• continuum-dsl: Parser, AST, and validation for the Continuum DSL (*.cdsl).
• continuum-ir: Typed Intermediate Representation and lowering logic.
• continuum-runtime: The execution engine, DAG scheduler, and state storage.
• continuum-vm: Stack-based bytecode virtual machine for expression evaluation.

Kernel System

• continuum-kernel-registry: Distributed registry for engine-provided functions.
• continuum-kernel-macros: Proc-macros for defining kernels (#[kernel_fn]).
• continuum-functions: Standard library of mathematical and physical kernels.

Tooling

• continuum-tools: Library API for running simulations, and transport-agnostic IPC server.
• continuum-inspector: Web-based inspector UI for interacting with worlds.

Documentation

Comprehensive documentation is available in the docs/ directory:

• Philosophy: @docs/manifesto.md, @docs/principles.md
• DSL: @docs/dsl/language.md, @docs/dsl/syntax.md
• Execution: @docs/execution/lifecycle.md, @docs/execution/dag.md
• Concepts: @docs/signals.md, @docs/time.md, @docs/eras.md

Usage

To run a simulation world with the web inspector:

cargo run -p continuum_inspector -- examples/terra

To execute a world programmatically via the library:

use continuum_tools::run_world_intent::{RunWorldIntent, WorldSource};

let source = WorldSource::from_path("examples/terra".into())?;
let intent = RunWorldIntent::new(source, 100);
let report = intent.execute()?;