Specification

// SPEC · v1

Vivarium specification.

The reproduction-verdict contract — a small, stable surface that describes whether the upstream bug reproduces against today's runtime.

// 01 · OVERVIEW

A versioned surface.

The Vivarium specification is the small set of files that lets a reproduction page declare itself, lets external tools read the verdict, and lets external repos publish their own reproductions without bespoke glue.

Reproduction pages declare conformance via <meta name="vivarium-contract" content="v1">; external tools read the same surface to know whether a page reproduces today.

// 02 · CURRENT SURFACES

Three surfaces, one contract.

Contract v1
verdict surface (runtime).
Manifest v1
publication surface (TOML).
Recipes index v1
machine-readable catalogue.
Live endpoint
aletheia-works.github.io/vivarium/api/recipes.json — refreshed on each deploy

Contract v1 — verdict surface

Contract v1 defines what every reproduction page promises: a verdict DOM band, a structured result envelope on window.VIVARIUM_RESULT, and the same reproduced / unreproduced / pending semantics across all three layers. The Layer 2 / 3 verdict snapshot file follows

verdict.schema.json

(JSON Schema draft 2020-12).

Manifest v1 — publication surface

Manifest v1 is the TOML manifest that an external repo ships at .vivarium/manifest.toml to declare a Vivarium-runnable reproduction. Schema:

manifest.schema.json

.

Recipes index v1 — catalogue endpoint

Recipes index v1 is the machine-generated JSON listing of every reproduction this repository hosts. Consumed by the Vivarium MCP server and other programmatic catalogue tooling. Schema:

recipes.schema.json

.

// 03 · TOOLING

Reusable workflows that consume the contract.

Consumer workflow

Consumer workflow — a reusable GitHub Actions workflow any repo can uses: to verify a Vivarium-hosted reproduction in their own CI.

Branch-fix verdict pipeline

Branch-fix verdict pipeline — a workflow_dispatch workflow that captures a verdict for a contributor-supplied branch-fix Docker image and bundles it alongside the deployed original for side-by-side comparison.

// 04 · SCOPE

What this spec is — and is not.

What this spec is for

  • Reproduction pages (Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3) under aletheia-works/vivarium declare conformance via the meta tag and the JSON envelope.
  • External tools (CI, IDE plugins, AI reviewers, third-party reproduction definitions) read the same surface to know whether a page reproduces today.
  • Vivarium-compatible reproductions hosted outside this repo can declare conformance the same way.

What this spec is not

  • It is not a full reproduction protocol — it covers the verdict surface, not how the reproduction itself is constructed (that is per-layer convention, in the layer READMEs).

// NEXT

Browse the reproductions

Real bugs from real upstream projects, reproducing in your browser.

VIVARIUM IS PART OF ALETHEIA-WORKS · OPEN THE SOURCE ON GITHUB →