WEE Execution

Status: Admitted as platform direction

The World Evolution Engine kernel framing (K-WEV-*) is admitted at the contract level — semantic-owner boundary, replay/checkpoint semantics, supervision boundaries, effect-stage ordering, commit- request staging. WEE is a future runtime engine that produces well-formed mutation requests for Realm to admit; the runnable shape is not shipped today.

What WEE Is

The World Evolution Engine (WEE) is the runtime-owned engine that turns participant inputs and scheduled events into typed mutation requests for Realm to admit. It is the contract that says: "a world should feel alive — characters acting, scenes progressing, events accruing — but every change must be auditable, replayable, and fail-closed."

WEE runs inside Runtime. Realm remains canonical truth authority; WEE produces well-formed mutation requests; Realm admits or rejects. WEE never bypasses Realm.

Authority Boundary (K-WEV-001..K-WEV-002)

Owner	What it owns
Runtime kernel K-WEV-*	Execution-event semantic home, replay semantics, checkpoint semantics, supervision + fault-isolation, effect-stage ordering, commit-request staging
Platform kernel	Placement and cross-layer boundary text (only)
SDK	Downstream projection (only)
Realm	Canonical truth owner for shared world state and history

The runtime-local execution evidence WEE produces — execution events, replay metadata, checkpoint metadata, supervision state, effect-stage evidence, operator-facing execution correlation — stays under Runtime semantic ownership. These artifacts are not Realm shared present-state truth and not Realm canonical happened-fact truth.

WEE Is Not Workflow

WEE	Workflow
Drives world evolution under Realm authority	Drives general-purpose orchestration
Has its own admitted execution event family K-WEV-003	Workflow event family K-WF-*
Stages typed commit requests for Realm	Does not stage Realm commits as its primary purpose

Conflating the two is a known error. WEE has a distinct semantic home; even when WEE introduces a stable execution event or envelope, its semantic home is K-WEV-*, not K-WF-*, K-AUDIT-*, SDK projection, or platform boundary text.

Reuse Anchors (K-WEV-003)

Future WEE execution event / envelope contract:

Must reuse	From
Realm provenance anchors	R-WHIST-003
Commit-envelope anchors	R-WSTATE-002
Runtime correlation floors	K-AUDIT-001, K-AUDIT-003, K-AUDIT-019, K-AUDIT-020

Must not redefine:

• Realm run-mode authority
• Realm effectClass vocabulary
• Realm commit-envelope authority
• Runtime audit-record schema as semantic truth

Commit / History / Audit Boundary (K-WEV-004)

WEE produces typed commit requests; Realm admits. The truth chain:

Surface	Owner
WEE commit-request staging	Runtime (K-WEV-*)
Commit envelope shape	Realm (R-WSTATE-002)
State write authorization	Realm (run-mode authorization matrix per R-WSTATE-005)
History append on STATE_AND_HISTORY effectClass	Realm (R-WHIST-*)
Runtime audit record	Runtime (K-AUDIT-*) — execution evidence, not Realm semantic truth

WEE does not invent run modes. WEE does not invent effectClass. WEE does not silently demote a CANON_MUTATION to a REPLAY to bypass authorization.

The Nine Stages

WEE has its own execution stage taxonomy:

Stage	Order	Purpose
INGRESS	1	Receive an event proposal
NORMALIZE	2	Canonicalize the proposal shape
SCHEDULE	3	Order the work in the engine's queue
DISPATCH	4	Hand the work to the right handler
TRANSITION	5	Compute the typed state transition
EFFECT	6	Compute downstream effects (presence, social, economy)
COMMIT_REQUEST	7	Stage the proposed mutation as a typed commit request
CHECKPOINT	8	Snapshot the engine's intermediate state for replay
TERMINAL	9	The work has reached a terminal outcome

Each stage has typed inputs and outputs. A stage that produces malformed output fails closed; the engine does not silently fall back to a generic stage handler.

Reader Scenario: A World Event Flows Through WEE

A scheduled world event fires (e.g., a periodic season change).

1. INGRESS. WEE receives the event proposal.
2. NORMALIZE. Proposal canonicalized into the admitted event shape.
3. SCHEDULE. Engine orders the work.
4. DISPATCH. Right handler picked.
5. TRANSITION. Typed state transition computed.
6. EFFECT. Downstream effects (presence, social, economy) computed.
7. COMMIT_REQUEST. Mutation request staged for Realm.
8. Realm admits or rejects. Per R-WSTATE-005 authorization matrix. If effectClass=STATE_AND_HISTORY, history append happens.
9. CHECKPOINT. Engine snapshots intermediate state for replay.
10. TERMINAL. Work reaches terminal outcome.

Each stage is typed. Each transition emits runtime-local execution evidence. Realm is the truth admitter; WEE is the request producer.

Reader Scenario: Replay From Checkpoint

A new node joins or recovery is needed.

1. Checkpoint loaded. The most recent admitted checkpoint is resolved.
2. Events replayed. The execution event family replays from the checkpoint forward.
3. Realm truth re-derived. Through the same admit pipeline; no silent shortcut to "trust the checkpoint, skip Realm admission."
4. Operator correlation. Runtime-local audit shows the replay chain.

Replay is the engine's correctness primitive. The contract pins that replay does not bypass admission.

Reader Scenario: A REPLAY Run Tries To Append History

WEE replays a prior canon mutation under REPLAY mode.

1. Replay path executes. WEE re-derives the original mutation.
2. Realm history admit. Per R-WHIST-004, REPLAY runs must not append shared world history.
3. Append rejected. No new history row is created; the prior canon row stays as the truth.
4. Audit reflects. Runtime-local audit shows the replay; Realm history is unchanged.

The replay path does not become a side door for double-history appends.

What WEE Does Not Do

• It does not redefine Workflow event semantics.
• It does not become Realm truth authority.
• It does not bypass Realm commit envelope or authorization matrix.
• It does not let runtime-local execution evidence claim Realm truth ownership.
• It does not redefine effectClass or run modes.
• It does not silently fall back to a generic stage handler on malformed stage output.

Boundary Summary

Concern	Owner
Execution semantics + replay + checkpoint + supervision + effect-stage + commit-request staging	Runtime (K-WEV-*)
Execution-event semantic home (when stable)	K-WEV-*
Runtime-local execution evidence	Runtime (non-canonical)
Realm shared present-state truth	Realm (R-WSTATE-*)
Realm canonical happened-fact truth	Realm (R-WHIST-*)
Cross-layer placement boundary text	Platform kernel
Downstream projection	SDK

Source Basis

• .nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/world-evolution-engine-contract.md
• .nimi/spec/realm/kernel/world-state-contract.md
• .nimi/spec/realm/kernel/world-history-contract.md
• .nimi/spec/runtime/kernel/streaming-contract.md