CKS Runtime

The canonical operational environment for Canonical Knowledge Structures.

CKS Runtime is the canonical execution environment for Canonical Knowledge Structures (CKS).

Where CKS Core defines the semantics of knowledge, CKS Runtime defines its operational lifecycle.

Runtime provides the infrastructure required to execute, manage, version, persist and expose Canonical Knowledge Structures without becoming a semantic authority itself.

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Ecosystem

CKS Runtime is part of a family of interoperable projects built on the Canonical Knowledge Structure.

Project	Description	Repository
cks-core	Semantic engine – the single source of canonical truth.	Deus-corp/CKS
cks-runtime	Operational environment – sessions, transactions, persistence.	Deus-corp/cks-runtime
cks-mcp	MCP server – exposes CKS to LLMs via the Model Context Protocol.	Deus-corp/cks-mcp

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Why Runtime?

Canonical knowledge is immutable.

Operational state is not.

Applications need to:

• create sessions
• execute transactions
• maintain history
• persist state
• expose APIs
• coordinate diagnostics

These responsibilities belong to Runtime rather than CKS Core.

Canonical Knowledge Structure
            │
            ▼
        CKS Runtime
            │
 ┌──────────┼──────────┐
 ▼          ▼          ▼
Session  Versioning  Storage

Runtime manages operational behaviour.

CKS Core defines semantic behaviour.

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Core Principles

CKS Runtime is founded on four architectural principles.

Runtime is not a semantic authority.

Semantic meaning permanently belongs to CKS Core.

Runtime never redefines knowledge.

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Runtime orchestrates semantic services.

Validation.

Evolution.

Serialization.

Diagnostics.

These services originate from CKS Core.

Runtime coordinates their execution.

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Operational state belongs to Runtime.

Sessions.

Transactions.

Persistence.

Version History.

These are Runtime responsibilities.

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Observable behaviour is standardized.

The Runtime Standard specifies observable operational behaviour rather than implementation techniques.

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Runtime Architecture

The CKS ecosystem is organized into four architectural layers.

Applications
        │
        ▼
Adapters
        │
        ▼
CKS Runtime
        │
        ▼
Public CKS Core API
        │
        ▼
CKS Core

Responsibilities are strictly separated.

Layer	Responsibility
CKS Core	Semantic authority
CKS Runtime	Operational orchestration
Adapters	Protocol exposure
Applications	Business logic

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Features

The current Reference Runtime provides:

• Runtime Sessions
• Transaction Management
• Version History
• Storage Abstraction
• Runtime Diagnostics
• Explainability Coordination
• Canonical Runtime API
• Reference Runtime Architecture
• Runtime Conformance Model
• CKS Core Integration (via cks_runtime_core)

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Design Goals

CKS Runtime is designed to be:

• deterministic
• implementation-independent
• transport-independent
• storage-independent
• session-oriented
• transaction-oriented
• semantically neutral

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Relationship to CKS Core

CKS Runtime depends upon CKS Core.

CKS Runtime never replaces CKS Core.

CKS Core
    defines semantics

        │

        ▼

CKS Runtime
    orchestrates semantics
    manages operational lifecycle

Runtime communicates exclusively through the public CKS Core API.

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Installation

From PyPI:

pip install cks-runtime

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/Deus-corp/cks-runtime.git

cd cks-runtime

pip install -e .

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Quick Example

from cks_runtime import Runtime
from cks_runtime_core import CksCoreAdapter

# Create Runtime with real CKS Core attached
runtime = Runtime(core=CksCoreAdapter())

session = runtime.sessions.create(
    knowledge_structure=my_structure
)

transaction = runtime.transactions.begin(session)

# Runtime coordinates execution. CKS Core defines semantics.

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Documentation

The Runtime Standard consists of the following normative specifications.

Specification	Purpose
SPEC-001	Runtime Overview
SPEC-002	Session Model
SPEC-003	Runtime API
SPEC-004	Diagnostics
SPEC-005	Transactions
SPEC-006	Storage
SPEC-007	Version History
SPEC-008	Runtime Conformance

Supporting documents include:

• Runtime Charter
• Architectural Analyses
• Architecture Decision Records
• Reference Architecture

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Project Status

Current implementation status:

Component	Status
Runtime Architecture	✅ Complete
Session Model	✅ Complete
Transaction Model	✅ Complete
Version History	✅ Complete
Diagnostics	✅ Complete
Storage Abstraction	✅ Complete
Runtime API	✅ Complete
Runtime Documentation	✅ Complete
Core Integration	✅ Complete
Reference Implementation	✅ Complete
Adapter Infrastructure	🚧 In Progress

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Long-Term Vision

CKS Runtime aims to become the canonical operational foundation shared by every CKS-compatible implementation.

Future adapter standards—including MCP, CLI, HTTP and others—will rely on Runtime rather than communicating directly with CKS Core.

This preserves a single semantic authority while allowing unlimited operational implementations.

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License

MIT